Dances With Poultry
14th June 2007, 15:32
Hiya all.
We had a very nice 19 year old German girl stay with us for about 6 months, on and off, and became such a part of the family that we have "adopted" her. Anyone hanging around our place runs a serious risk of developing an interest in motorcycles and decided she wanted to learn to ride while she was here. So we had many pleasant afternoons, first in the park and then on the quiet country roads on a couple of the '60s A50s that I have. She eventually had one "opps" and came off into a Give Way sign post, cutting her hand quite badly and bruising her leg, but she got on the bike and bravely rode it home.
I told her she can ride a moped (50cc) with only a car learners license, so she sat her exam and passed after getting a special eye test as she has an eye problem. Then, together, we spent a couple of weeks in the workshop, rebuilding a '74 AC50 Maverick for her to tour New Zealand on for the remainder of her 1 year stay here. It was great showing her how the motor, carb and ignition system worked, and getting her to do things like change tyres and wheel bearings. The bike wasn't exactly a legitimate moped as it had been fitted with an A100 motor (but I'm sure her English will fail her if a cop questions her...). It needed a rebore and 0.5mm piston, and a de-coke of the exhaust system. We fitted a luggage rack, a new throttle and clutch cable from my spares collection, we set the oil pump, fitted a two tooth bigger front sprocket as it was still on AC50 gearing. All in all, we had fun.
It took us a couple of days to find an intermittent fault in the electrical system, finally swapping out the generator coils from a spare A100 motor I had.
She went off and on her first day she went over Porters and Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps, with the tight motor meaning she was usually running at no more than 70km/hr. By the time she had reached the top of the South Island, via the long way through the Takaka Hill road (the Mussel Inn delayed her for two days!) and Queen Charlotte Drive, the bike was well run in and she was touring at 70km/hr on about half throttle. A flat tyre in the middle of no-where let her exercise the tyre-changing skills she had and she put in the new tube she was carrying, but it wasn't until an elderly couple in a home-made camper, complete with air compressor came along that she got going again. Eventually she crossed from the South Island to the North Island, and got as far as New Plymouth when she lost a lens from her glasses as she wiped it riding along in the rain, and it took more than a week to get her glasses fixed, as the special lens had to be made and couriered. Just outside of town, she stopped to brew some coffee and then the bike wouldn't start. Remembering what I had told her, she fitted a new sparkplug and the bike started but not as easily as it had before. A guy on a '70 Bonneville (she even had started noticing details like this as where-ever she went bikers stopped to talk to this little girl on an even smaller bike) and took details for the Triumph Owners Club magazine articles he writes.
Eventually she reached Auckland, with more than 2000km under her.
I was talking to her this morning and the trusty Maverick is not so trusty at the moment. There seems to be a lack of decent spark, so if there is anyone on this list up there who can help her, either by having a look or recommending a mechanic with points and coil skills somewhere near Parnell can they let either me or Josephine ( josephine@gehrt.info ) know? Also if there is anyone who wants to meet her on the rest of her travels further north and then back down the east side of NZ, send her an email.
Thanks for reading this far.
Kind regards
Nigel in Rangiora
We had a very nice 19 year old German girl stay with us for about 6 months, on and off, and became such a part of the family that we have "adopted" her. Anyone hanging around our place runs a serious risk of developing an interest in motorcycles and decided she wanted to learn to ride while she was here. So we had many pleasant afternoons, first in the park and then on the quiet country roads on a couple of the '60s A50s that I have. She eventually had one "opps" and came off into a Give Way sign post, cutting her hand quite badly and bruising her leg, but she got on the bike and bravely rode it home.
I told her she can ride a moped (50cc) with only a car learners license, so she sat her exam and passed after getting a special eye test as she has an eye problem. Then, together, we spent a couple of weeks in the workshop, rebuilding a '74 AC50 Maverick for her to tour New Zealand on for the remainder of her 1 year stay here. It was great showing her how the motor, carb and ignition system worked, and getting her to do things like change tyres and wheel bearings. The bike wasn't exactly a legitimate moped as it had been fitted with an A100 motor (but I'm sure her English will fail her if a cop questions her...). It needed a rebore and 0.5mm piston, and a de-coke of the exhaust system. We fitted a luggage rack, a new throttle and clutch cable from my spares collection, we set the oil pump, fitted a two tooth bigger front sprocket as it was still on AC50 gearing. All in all, we had fun.
It took us a couple of days to find an intermittent fault in the electrical system, finally swapping out the generator coils from a spare A100 motor I had.
She went off and on her first day she went over Porters and Arthurs Pass in the Southern Alps, with the tight motor meaning she was usually running at no more than 70km/hr. By the time she had reached the top of the South Island, via the long way through the Takaka Hill road (the Mussel Inn delayed her for two days!) and Queen Charlotte Drive, the bike was well run in and she was touring at 70km/hr on about half throttle. A flat tyre in the middle of no-where let her exercise the tyre-changing skills she had and she put in the new tube she was carrying, but it wasn't until an elderly couple in a home-made camper, complete with air compressor came along that she got going again. Eventually she crossed from the South Island to the North Island, and got as far as New Plymouth when she lost a lens from her glasses as she wiped it riding along in the rain, and it took more than a week to get her glasses fixed, as the special lens had to be made and couriered. Just outside of town, she stopped to brew some coffee and then the bike wouldn't start. Remembering what I had told her, she fitted a new sparkplug and the bike started but not as easily as it had before. A guy on a '70 Bonneville (she even had started noticing details like this as where-ever she went bikers stopped to talk to this little girl on an even smaller bike) and took details for the Triumph Owners Club magazine articles he writes.
Eventually she reached Auckland, with more than 2000km under her.
I was talking to her this morning and the trusty Maverick is not so trusty at the moment. There seems to be a lack of decent spark, so if there is anyone on this list up there who can help her, either by having a look or recommending a mechanic with points and coil skills somewhere near Parnell can they let either me or Josephine ( josephine@gehrt.info ) know? Also if there is anyone who wants to meet her on the rest of her travels further north and then back down the east side of NZ, send her an email.
Thanks for reading this far.
Kind regards
Nigel in Rangiora