Ameliasburg 2016
Ameliasburg 2016

Ameliasburg 2016

July 2016

After getting the engine back from Herb Becker, it sat in the garage.  As the Quinte CVMG rally in Ameliasburg approached I quickly got my 750 Norton Commando together, only running the day before heading out to Ameliasburg.

Paul and I left Toronto taking my favorite route out of the city. Up the DVP/404 to Elgin Mills, north on Warden to 19th line and then following 19th till it ended at York Durhan Line, north to Uxbridge Pickering Town Line. The corner has a great 1920’s garage across from a looming subdivision. We followed that until it ended at Glen Manor Forest and took Concession 7 north to Goodwood Rd (#21) till it hooked up with 7a. We then followed it to Cavan to pick up Malcom. Here’s the route https://goo.gl/maps/dZ77vWiaHTk

We left around 11 and got to Cavan Hall just around 1. At Malcolm’s house I noticed that the oil return line was slipping off so I put in on properly. Unfortunately I pulled the hose loose at the oil filter end and it slipped off 5 min down the road. At first I thought my clutch was slipping as the engine revved when I gave it throttle – it was the back tire spinning. I was in the middle of figuring out what was going on when Paul pulled up and motined to pull over. Poor guy was covered in oil, from boots to fairing and helmet, he even tasted it. At least it was nice new oil on a rebuild…  I got the hose on properly on the roadside, Malcolm eventually doubled back and found us.

Paul and I were a bit skittish on the corners for a while, even after hitting the local spray wash and doing our best to de-oil our tires. We stopped for lunch in Bewdley around 3.

We got on the road and about half and hour later Paul pulls over. Of course I have been relegated to the back position as the others feared another oil-bath. Wondering what could have gone wrong with the Buell, it turns out Malcolm’s Commando spit off it’s exhaust pipe. The pipe tore the bolts out of the outer skin of the pipe. We found the clamp and wired the pipe back on.

We eventually made it to Ameliasburg around 6. Had a beer, a swim in Roblin Lake and relaxed on the shady, crispy grass listening to classic tunes on the PA system.

We headed back on the 401 to make-up time and hit The Only patio in Peterborough. We covered 360km in one day, (approx 500km in total for the trip) not bad for a break-in ride.

My Commando was grumpy above 4000rpm, not a problem as I could keep it low and use the engine torque, however it got worse on the hot stop-n-go ride home, snapping and backfiring down to 2500 rpm. Herb replaced the Sparks three phase alternator with an original Lucas unit during the rebuild as the Sparks rotor lost its magnetism and the stator coil insulation was melting off. That was a waste of money, lasting barely 15years of light use.  I kept the Sparks regulator/rectifier as I assumed it was ok.

After suffering through 500k of grumpy bike I took voltage readings when I got home, the battery was reading 13v without the engine running. Perversely it was charging at idle but above 2500rpm the voltage dropped to 6.8v . This explains the engine behaviour as  the Boyer electronic ignition needs 7v to run reliably.

I dug the 46 year old rectifier and zener diode out and hooked them up, the bike now runs fine.