Vintage Motorcycle Club WA Swap Meet 2012

The annual Vintage Motorcycle Club of WA swap meet was held on Sunday 25th March 2012. After a bit of a slow start it proved to be a good day with an impressive turnout for the display and swap meet.

Bikes started arriving for the display from 6.45am

Setting up

John W and Norm C admiring John's 1929 DKW.

1929 DKW E300 http://pre31.wordpress.com/about/





1927 Triumph 500 Delux

1927 BSA outfit

1929 Francis-Barnett Cruiser. The Cruiser was one of the first British bikes to feature enclosed mechanicals. One of these bikes appeared on the British "Heartbeat" TV program.

BSA Bantam



1959 Triumph Speed Twin

1968 Jawa



1972 Jawa Californian

A French Motobecane 125

1956 AJS

BSA Gold Star. There were 13 BSAs on display.


Now this is a BSA

1951 Ariel NH 350

1935 Ariel Four Square 600cc and a Matchless

I think it looks splendid in its unrestored condition





A couple of 1950s BSA and the Leader

1942 BSA in military trim

1940 Velocette 350 in military trim

Despatch rider's telephone

BMW R69s

1949 HRD Vincent Rapide 1000cc and 1945 Indian Chief 1200cc



1926 Harley-Davidson 1200cc original and unrestored



Indian



1942 Harley-Davidson

1946 Indian Chief 1200cc

Indian

Harley-Davidson

Harley-Davidson's first financial catastrophe - the Harley-Davidson Aermacchi. Aermacchi were a successful Italian sports bike company until Harley-Davidson took them over in 1974 and ran them into the ground. In 1978 Harley sold Aermacchi to the Italian company Cagiva, owned by the Castiglioni family. Sadly Harley-Davidson seemed to learn nothing from its experience, buying the Italian sports bike brand MV Agusta from Castigliona for US$109m in 2008. Sales were poor, debts were high and one year later Harley-Davidson sold MV Agusta back to Castiglioni for 1 euro!

There were some interesting bikes out in the carpark. Here is a 1958 Triumph 500cc bathtub model and a 2008 custom Triumph Manx Thruxton.

A latecomer arrives and causes a bit of sensation. 1948 Dnepr K750M

The Dnepr is manhandled into the hall

And draws an admiring crowd

Owner Ray has done a great job kitting the bike out with Soviet military trim





The display drew a considerable crowd

The gentlemen's quarter

The swap meet

Also drew quite a crowd

There was a range of stuff for sale from fully running bikes to.... rusty bits and bobs

Motobecane and bits

Dodge ute

An interesting little local lightweight. A Sachs engined Pagron 50cc moped

Ariel engined racer

A rusty later model BSA Bantam. A bit rough but looks to be all there.

An interesting looking sidecar and assorted pieces

Another BSA frame

European tanks

Ducati engine

A surprising acquisition. A couple of young guys found this DKW engine. It looks like a 50cc Hummel engine to me.

Troll Auspuff

The Troll was off the road for most of last year due to problems with its kick-start, steering and gearbox. The guys at The Vespa Shop got her fixed up smartly once I'd finally tracked down the replacement parts. I must admit that it felt strange riding her after so long. I found myself struggling again to remember which side was the gear change and which was the brake! One thing I did notice though was the engine was very spluttering and smoky.

A major part of the problem is the quality of the reproduction exhaust (May 2009 - http://www.heinkelscooter.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/running-in.html). Reproduction exhausts are available from a number of suppliers such as http://www.ost2rad.com http://www.sausewind-shop.com and other vendors on German ebay. The original exhaust was made from a long extruded tube that wrapped around itself much like a paper clip. All the seams in the original exhaust were welded making it very robust. The reproduction exhaust however was constructed of several interlocking pieces, making it much easier to manufacture but requiring a larger number of joins. None of these joins are sealed.

Shortly after I began running in the Troll in May 2009 the exhaust began to leak. The leaks were small though and a smear of sealant was enough to plug them. But over time it seems the exhaust has warped under pressure and heat and basically every seam was spewing gas, coating the sides and underside of the scooter in black soot. When parked, black oil residue dripped from a dozen places.

So it was time for a backyard repair. The exhaust was surprisingly easy to remove. A single bolt holds the exhaust to the footplate and a compression ring joins it to the exhaust pipe. It was positively filthy. The component parts were easily dismantled by removing two bolts at the front of the exhaust and all were given a good wash in degreaser.

The chrome came up well and all the soot was removed. After drying off I reassembled the parts. They are generally badly fitting and required a very liberal smearing of exhaust sealant around every join.

It was a bit of an effort to get the exhaust back on - these things are always easier to remove than reinstall - but I was pleased with the result. Although it hasn't completely solved the problem - there are still a few minor leaks - it's working much better than before as most of the exhaust is going out the back end, as it should. Next weekend I'll give her another good run and see if this has improved the performance. Maintaining pressure in the exhaust is critical to obtaining the correct compression in the engine and a leaky exhaust will substantially degrade the performance of a two-stroke engine.

One more point. I normally use Silkolene synthetic two-stroke scooter oil in all my machines. I find it works well and is low smoke. On a whim however I tried Valvoline racing two-stroke oil, which sold itself as a performance product with low smoke. In my experience to date it hasn't quite lived up to that claim. Maybe it is a better product and I've just used too much but the Troll now looks and smells like an archetypical East German machine, trailing an enormous cloud of blue smoke behind it. I'll give it another crack when I get to the bottom of this tank but if it doesn't improve I'll be saving the Valvoline only for East German car rally's!


Update 4 March 2012
I took the Troll out for a series of runs to test the resealed exhaust. I was pleased to note that the repairs provided a definite improvement on performance. The engine was a lot quieter and much more grunt. It was easy to run her up to 70 kph and I could feel that she had more in her. I should also mention I cleaned the carburetter.

That said though, the exhaust still leaks, but not as badly as before. Of course the leak is on the seam at the top of the exhaust where it bolts onto the floor plate so I'll need to remove it and reseal it again.

Since cleaning up the exhaust last week it's been easier to find where it is still leaking. If it can't be sealed up I might consider welding all the joins to solve the problem for good.

Update 10 March 2012

This weekend I removed the exhaust and re-examined the seals. The seal under the mounting bolt had completely opened up again.

I filled the exhaust with water to precisely locate the leak. The still shot doesn't quite do it justice but water pretty much gushed out of the seam on the left hand pipe.

The leak was far to serious for a smear of sealant so it was out with some exhaust tape. It's an unattractive but last ditch solution. After reinstalling the exhaust I took the Troll for a long ride to cure the silicone tape. I'm afraid I'm not convinced it has actually worked as there is already a long run of black oil along the edges of the tape. I think it's time to look for a replacement.