The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

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Mike H
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#511 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Mike H »

Yep. Loads of watches in the '60's had luminous hands. I must have had two or three over the years when I was a kid. Not just from Russia they all did it. True about the workers getting irradiated, but only came to light later, a bit like asbestos. :shock:
 
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#512 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Cressy Snr »

Mike H wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 10:55 am Yep. Loads of watches in the '60's had luminous hands. I must have had two or three over the years when I was a kid. Not just from Russia they all did it. True about the workers getting irradiated, but only came to light later, a bit like asbestos. :shock:
As a kid in the 1960s, I collected all six “luminous spooks” that were given away with Sugar Puffs. I bet they were just as ‘hot’ as GPO “Trimphone” dials. :shock: Worse, the luminous toys were mixed in with foodstuffs with no packaging to separate them from the cereal.
When I worked for BT, Trimphone dials recovered from customer premises, had to be treated as low level radioactive waste for disposal purposes and the containers had to carry the ubiquitous radioactive material signage.
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#513 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by jack »

Tongue cancer & radiation poisoning. The women used to lick the brushes to get a fine point for the luminous paint.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls

My understanding is that you can replace the dials with non-radioactive ones...
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#514 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Mike H »

Cressy Snr wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 11:25 am
Mike H wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 10:55 am Yep. Loads of watches in the '60's had luminous hands. I must have had two or three over the years when I was a kid. Not just from Russia they all did it. True about the workers getting irradiated, but only came to light later, a bit like asbestos. :shock:
As a kid in the 1960s, I collected all six “luminous spooks” that were given away with Sugar Puffs.
So did I! :D Was quite taken with the skeleton one as I remember.

I also remember assembing a plastic model kit of Frankenstein's monster (the Boris Karloff one) with luminous face and hands
 
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#515 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Baggy Trousers »

Evenin' all.

Advancing age with concomitant infirmities has meant that I am disposing of my "men's bikes" and in sort of substitution, have acquired a 1988 XBR500 Honda. Goes well but rather bland, although Honda's resolution of the geometric problems posed by a single-axis camshaft and four radially disposed valves is intriguing. I do like the little red button on the handlebars - an enormous boon to geriatric limbs.

Anyway, for what I'm told is a "simple" bike, it seems remarkably complicated and without the benefit of a workshop manual or owner's' handbook, even simple things take on a new menace. My present wonder is how do I tell if the alternator is charging? Of course, there's no meter such as was provided on proper machines and there is no idiot light relating to ignition. So if the battery fails to receive a charge, how am I warned before the lights go yellow? When turning the key, the "neutral" light comes on. Also, the "tail light" warning illuminates but only briefly before going off. What is that supposed to mean? I suspect other models might be similar in this regard. :? Does anyone have an answer, please?

This is my first Japanese bike and I'm finding it alien in several senses; one of them being coil ignition which is something to be regarded with great distrust by one brought up on magnetos.
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#516 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by ed »

cor Baggo, you're a tad slow off the mark here, I made the transition in 1970 when I ditched my C15 for a nifty fifty...XNK 47J...I remember it well, fabulous little machine made the run from Hitchin to Stevenage every morning for 2 years without a single complaint. Bought from Jimmy Lane's in Hitchin for £105 17s 6d...well sorry to let it go. Had to make the transition though, as I recall I couldn't drive the C15 on the road without a valid m/c license.

Can't help with the XBR500 though, that's way out of my league, sorry.
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#517 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by pre65 »

Hi Baggo, I'd say worry not about coil ignition, it's been proven over many years.

Re the battery charging indicator, I'd be looking at something like this.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LED-MOTORCYC ... 0010.m2109

read the details and see what you think.
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#518 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Greg »

BSA C15. Coil ignition surely?

Baggo, free workshop manual here. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/11017 ... br500.html You could also always purchase a Haynes (book if lies) workshop manual. Plenty of original hard copy manuals on eBay. Owners manual is harder to find, but Honda may offer a download from their website.
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#519 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by IslandPink »

Did somebody say 'Magneto' ?
Mag_topfueltiming07-640x427.jpg
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#520 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by ed »

Greg wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 5:17 pm BSA C15. Coil ignition surely?
I don't know, it was 50 years ago!

I do know that the Garelli Capri had a magneto though..it gave me no end of trouble..went like stink for about 3 miles then just cut out and wouldn't go again for at least an hour
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#521 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Mike H »

Mark: :D
Also, the "tail light" warning illuminates but only briefly before going off. What is that supposed to mean? I suspect other models might be similar in this regard. :? Does anyone have an answer, please?
To me that says you have a warning light for if your rear light bulb has blown. Or for whatever other reason isn't working. The momentary light up at switch on suggests some electonic gizmo is involved, and is a self test. To prove warning light works.
 
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#522 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Baggy Trousers »

Mike H wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 6:15 pm Mark: :D
Also, the "tail light" warning illuminates but only briefly before going off. What is that supposed to mean? I suspect other models might be similar in this regard. :? Does anyone have an answer, please?
To me that says you have a warning light for if your rear light has blown. Or for whatever other reason isn't working. The momentary light up at switch on suggests some electonic gizmo is involved, and is a self test. To prove warning light works.
That may very well be correct. But it strikes me as being strangely odd, perverse even, to have all this sophistry to monitor the functioning of a poxy tail light when there is absolutely no means of determining what might be going on with the oil pressure (or absence thereof) which, perhaps, might be a matter of a little more consequence. But as I say, I'm new to Oriental machinery and thought processes!

I have to admit to being a bit tongue-in-cheek about the coil/magneto thing. I love mags, perhaps because they are mechanically interesting but providing the armature winding condenser works properly, they are very reliable. I've never questioned coil ignition in my cars so perhaps I need to get with the programme.

Thanks to you all for the advice. I've been told that Haynes did not do an edition for this model - too few to warrant the cost - and the Honda manual has been out of print for years. I look at the bike and think it is modern; to me it is, but its 30 years old so I suppose these shortages must be expected. I'll plumb the depths of eBay and see what I can trawl.

I've not taxed a bike for years, nor MOTed one. So judge of my surprise when today at the Post Office, I'm charged £66. And I don't even get a tax disc!
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#523 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Nick »

May be relevant: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ ... sure-32092
"The oil pressure in XT's is not high (I'm basing this on my 2003 model). The engine is mainly (I understand) rolling element bearings (ball, roller bearings) which do not create high back pressure. The pump is a low pressure unit. I checked my pressure by fitting a long poly tube (around 5mm bore) to the bolt on top of the filter housing. There was about 10 ft of this tube which I attached to the rafters in my garage. You're only looking for a few psi. so a manometer like I made should be adequate. The oil worked its way up to my rafters (around 8ft) and I called it good enough and turned the engine off, so I never found out how much further it would have gone).
A typical gauge reading up to 100 psi etc would not be sensitive enough to give you good information. Others may have a different view. "
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#524 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Baggy Trousers »

Nick wrote: Sat Oct 19, 2019 7:47 pm May be relevant: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ ... sure-32092
"The oil pressure in XT's is not high (I'm basing this on my 2003 model). The engine is mainly (I understand) rolling element bearings (ball, roller bearings) which do not create high back pressure. The pump is a low pressure unit. I checked my pressure by fitting a long poly tube (around 5mm bore) to the bolt on top of the filter housing. There was about 10 ft of this tube which I attached to the rafters in my garage. You're only looking for a few psi. so a manometer like I made should be adequate. The oil worked its way up to my rafters (around 8ft) and I called it good enough and turned the engine off, so I never found out how much further it would have gone).
A typical gauge reading up to 100 psi etc would not be sensitive enough to give you good information. Others may have a different view. "
Yes, relevant, Nick. Thank you.

I really know almost nothing about this machine. I bought it because it was cheap, relatively lightweight, more performance than a standard Gold Star, well regarded roadholding and might be a suitable replacement for the '57 VH Ariel who has been my friend of many adventures over a lot of years but has now become too heavy for me. Better to move him on before I drop something. I have yet to ride the Honda so the learning curve is all uphill. Part of this educational process has taught me that the Japanese are a law unto themselves when it comes to nut and bolt sizes. They are unconventional in this regard.

All of which is to explain that I had supposed, obviously erroneously, that the bottom end had plain bearings, hence the comment re oil pressure. Now I know better. True, non-friction bearings require little in the way of oil pressure; such flow as there might be is largely for the transfer of heat and just like the grease packing of slow-turning bearings, an excess of lubricant will prove counter-productive, especially in the case of crowded bearings. Which makes me wonder why Honda recommend a multigrade oil. These function well with "normal" bearings, particularly with liquid-cooled engines, but the long chain polymers used to vary the viscosity index get shredded by the high point loadings of ball and roller bearings which is why rolling element components usually require a straight oil.

Ho hum - it's all good fun. I think. Certainly makes a change from tube rolling!
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#525 Re: The Audio-Talk Motorcycling thread.

Post by Nick »

Mike H wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 2:55 pm
Cressy Snr wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 11:25 am
Mike H wrote: Wed Sep 25, 2019 10:55 am Yep. Loads of watches in the '60's had luminous hands. I must have had two or three over the years when I was a kid. Not just from Russia they all did it. True about the workers getting irradiated, but only came to light later, a bit like asbestos. :shock:
As a kid in the 1960s, I collected all six “luminous spooks” that were given away with Sugar Puffs.
So did I! :D Was quite taken with the skeleton one as I remember.

I also remember assembing a plastic model kit of Frankenstein's monster (the Boris Karloff one) with luminous face and hands
If I remember they were only luminescent after being exposed to a light source. So given they needed a source of energy I think we can safely say they were not radioactive.
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