Your own kiwi ingenuity moment

[Conquiztador]

Most of us have been there. There is this problem that you need a quick solution for on the bike. So you sit down with a beer and do some thinking. And then it hits you. A solution so brilliant you should really get the Nobel prize for it!

This is your chance to show off and tell the rest of us how clever you really are.

So I start:

My first real bike was a Royal Enfield Meteor Minor Sport 500cc. It had one of those old type light switches on top of the big head light that you turn. But when I rode it home first time from the shop in the rain, the switch knob fell off. So I ended up using a pair of pliers to turn off the lights. Where I lived there was no shop to buy bits and I wanted to ride. So I needed to figure out something. At 16yo my contacts were limited. But not my imagination. So after some thinking and some looking around I noticed that the knobs on the stove were similar... I pulled one off, went down to the bike, pushed it on. And it fitted!!! I had the bike for over 2 years and never purchased the real knob, but I did get a new knob for the stove to get my mother off my back.

After that modification has become an important part of my biking.

[R6_kid]

Was on my final coro loop riding the venerable old Team MILF racing ZXR-250A. Got up to Coromandel town and were all getting ready to leave when it was pointed out to me that my exhaust hanger was coming loose and i was at risk of losing my $300 carbon fibre exhaust.

The only thing on hand was a roll of race tape... so i taped my exhaust to the bike. 'Reinforced' the hanger and bracket with half a roll of tape.

[Holy Roller]

After my head on when riding my XZ400 back from Rotovegas to Jaffa land I had rebuilt it but it failed the warrent due to the frame being bent. It was just the tail section and the shop would not touch it. I was lying down on the seat in the bus that I was living in at the time thinking how I would be able to fix this problem:mellow:
Then I got a brain wave on how to use the forklift tilt function and a steel bar. So get the bar, manouver the bike under the forks, had to lift the whole bike off the ground some distance before I could tilt the forks to straighten the frame. At that point the Mrs came around the corner and saw the bike up in the air..... had to convince her that it was alright, anyway it was almost done. A bit more on the tilt lever and the frame straightened a tad more for luck then back to terra firma and reattached all the bits again. Took it back for the warrant and they were amazed that I had fixed it overnight. Got the bit of paper and several more after that. that would have to be my eureka moment.

[gijoe1313]

I was riding around Mission Bay at night, as you do - when my lights failed. Neither low nor hi-beam worked... but the passing flasher did. I had yanked off bits in the carpark of Kelly Tarltons when I remembered I had a spare cable tie in my pocket (always handy to carry several of those around!).

Quick as a whip I had sorted it out, tilted the lights down a bit to stop giving oncoming cagers the evil glare and off home. Funnily enough, that's when I got Jeaves to help me out and take care of the prob once and for all!

[T.W.R]

Had a GSX250ES many many years ago that was a great little bike until it started having a nasty habit of running on one cylinder at the least appropriate time (twice happened while passing cars on the open road :sick: ). Sent it to the shop to fix the problem, it came back with the shop saying they couldn't find a fault.
Then a few days later same thing happened so off back to the shop again with the same result :angry:. So with little knowledge of what to look for one afternoon started exploring checking everything that I thought may be causing the problem. got to the sparkplug leads & caps, had a nosey and hey the caps come apart so dismantled each one to find little ceramic resistors in the core of the caps and #2's resistor was broken. Seeing it was roughly 3mm dia & 15mm long I started checking what I had of similar size, mmm a 4in nail is similar diameter :yes: so I cut one to the same length, put it in the cap, reassembled everything and took the bike for a blast and it never missed a beat. Had the bike for another 6mths and in that time it ran like a dream.

A few years later a mate on his SE Katana spat it's chain whilst playing silly buggers down the road from home, luckily the chain threw out the back of the bike but on it's way sheered the clutch push-rod (that runs just in front of the front sprocket) off at it's housing into the engine casings.

We pushed the bike home fixed the chain and opened up the sprocket cover & clutch slave cylinder to see what damage had been done, seeing the push-rod was missing 30mm off it's length. dredging through the workshop for something that could be used found a 8in nail that was the same diameter, checking the length there was just enough by cutting the head & tip off the nail so with a quick tidy up it was put in place, things put back together and tested. It worked perfectly and was still in the bike the day he sold it a year or so later.

[shcabbeh]

I was heading back towards New Plymouth from Auckland at dusk. Had just gotten past Mokau and ready to take on Mt. Messenger when a bolt from my gear lever fell out (I think from rust), never to be seen again.

I stopped the bike after seeing the lever dragging on the ground and being unable to shift. It was on a long stretch of road, deserted.

Had a look around on the road and beside a fence to see if there was anything I could use 'til I got home. Found a piece of fencing wire that was the perfect shape, so I bent it in and around the hole to secure it and away I went!

Nothing major but made me happy to think I'd passed my first minor test of roadside maintenance. :D

[scumdog]

Had the timing-plug unwind itself and fall out of my faithful old iron-heard Sporty once (I KNEW I shouldn'y have touched the dam thing just before heading to the Off-The-Rails rally!!!) while doing about 100kph and a 'bit' - so the plug is still 'somewhere near Waihola'.

Stuck at the side of the road with a threaded 3/4" hole in the side of the crankcase (riding it like that meant my fav.pair of cowboy boots got sprayed with oil!!) and no bung.

Looked around, got me trusty Schrade folding knife out and whacked a piece off a nearby willow tree branch.

Shaved the bark off the bit of branch, wrapped some insulation tape around it and screwed it in the hole.

Used my tent-string to tie it in place and carried on to the rally and back.

Bloody thing leaked less than the metal one I had fiddled with just before heading away to the rally:shit:

[pete376403]

Riding a borrowed Honda 350 twin long ago. The owner was a self proclaimed "mechanic" who liked to do things "good and tight" and scorned torque wrenches. Anyway puttering along and with a pretty loud bang, a spark plug blew out - threads stripped. No spare plug in the tool kit. Walked back along the road and found the plug - unbroken. Pushed it back into the hole, there was no thread left. Found a piece of wood and jammed it between the bottom of the tank and the plug cap. That got me home running on both cylinders. On another bike (350 Kawasaki Bighorn), fell off on a trail and the brake pedal broke a hole in the clutch cover. That was fixed sith a piece of willow jammed into the hole, which got me home so I could fix the hole properly with Araldite. Wood is handy stuff, especially when there's nothing else

[Jantar]

A real brain wave saved me $$$$. Described in
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=16601

[sAsLEX]

Used 12 cable ties to hold on a broken foot peg.

Had a piece of No.8 wire as a drum brake rod.

Used a piece of stick to fix a fuel hose problem.

And all these are still in use.

[Oscar]

Blew a sump plug out of an XR (we won't go into why), in the middle of Tokoroa Forest. Couldn't find the plug, so I snapped a spark plug in half and used that. For oil, I took the oil out one fork leg on three bikes.

[MSTRS]

Had a XJ750 with rotted mufflers. No money to replace. Ummmm.....
Under the bench I had a pair of stubby Cobys with a 2" bore and slashcut chrome extensions. They fitted perfectly. And not as loud as they were on the old Holden V8.

[vifferman]

Meh.

My bikes are always a mass of Kiwingenuity. Drives the vifferbabe up the wall, my constant fiddlin' and a-farklin', so much so, that the VifFerraRi is now no longer OUR bike, due to unauthorised modifications.

Examples: garage door opener switch, home-made stoplight flasher, home-made oxygen sensor eliminators, home-made confirminator replacements....
But the bestest examples are the things I made for the FahrtSturm when I had it, after realising I didn't have a centrestand, for the first time in years. from a piece of 2X1 pine, and a 4-inch nail, I made a prop to lift the back wheel off the ground for chain oiling and the like, and a piece of scrap aluminium 100mm X 20mm X 3mm was quickly fashioned into a parking brake that clipped over the brake lever. I made a portable underseat version of the stand from alumininiiniumium (actually an old TV aerial) for Fish one time, back when he had a zealous Zeal.

And then there's the HandyDandyChainCleaner'N'Lubing Tool, which was made out of scrap loitering in the gargre. I can clean the chain with kero or whatever, then lube it with melted pig fat or KY jelly or whatever, and have no mess to clean up when I've finished. :first:

(http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/1117000344/gallery_3710_217_419955.jpg)

[Bonez]

A branch and duct tape to hold Phantoms foot peg in position to get him home from a cold kiwi.

Give cowboyz a bit off one of my hondas for his suzuki then the bastard sells the bike. The bit must have raised the value of the bike at least a grand :).

Quick repair on my cb550 at the back of Vineger Hill to bypass the melted main fuse holder(using teeth to do the wire stripping/trimming-didn't have my trusty tupperware tool kit for a change OUCH!!).

Carried a master chain link on my first CX500(force of habit on my previous bikes) and fix me mates Suzi GT750 chain on the way to a cold kiwi(chain spat out about 3 miles away from the rally site).


Using myself to cushion Gerty from further damage after being t-boned and having my left tib/fib boken then trying to operate the side stand(that stuff that ambos give ya is good shit man).

[slopster]

I had a zxr 250 and lost the key 400km from home (it fell out while I was riding). I took the tank off and hotwired it (bloody easy on these bikes) and resumed my journey. At the next gas station I realised that I couldn't get into the tank to fill it up so I brought a 10L jerry can and 1m of fuel hose. I tied the jerry to the pillion seat with bailing twine and ran the fuel hose from the jerry to the carbs. I taped a big bolt to the end of the hose in the fuel so that it would stay at the bottom of the jerry. Worked just fine though I had to fill up all the time on the way home.

[pete376403]

I've had car "ingenuity moments" or two over the years as well, but this was my best. Coming back from Whangamata beach with the family one sunday in the XE Falcon wagon, heading to Hamilton. Stopped at Waihi (i think) for icecreams and it wouldn't restart - no fuel getting to the carb. The diaphragm in the petrol pump had split. No pump or pump kit for sale at any of the gas stations that were open. Tried to MacGyver it by making another diaphragm cut from an old inner tube found behind the service station. It worked for all of five minutes until the gas made the rubber swell up. What got us back was to drain the water out of the windscreen washer bottle, and connect the pipe from the pump to the carb inlet. Fill the washer bottle with gas, pull the washer switch until the carb was full (could hear the pump noise change) Start up and drive off! When the engine spluttered, pull back on the lever again. Had stop fairly regularly and refill the washer bottle from the jerry can, Got back to Hamilton about midnight. Went to Repco the next morning and got a pump overhaul kit, then flushed out the washer bottle and reconnected the pipe. I fully expected the washer pump to be rooted but it continued to work fine as long as I had the car, another 4 years or so.

[Aiolos]

DMNTD, take a bow.

CLICKY (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=44462)
CLICKY (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showpost.php?p=942470&postcount=7)

[breakaway]

^ Aren't keys supposed to be locked in position when the ignition is on?

[deanohit]

Riding a mates quad up a trail one time when a rear wheel fell off on a landing. Not a pretty sight, but still had to get back. Found a solid branch, stuck it under the swingarm and over the foot peg. Managed to get back just fine, wasn't very comfy though.

[Bonez]

^ Aren't keys supposed to be locked in position when the ignition is on?
Not forever. Cowboyz lost his keys on the same weekend his rear brake hose split. Two of my bikes need the keys clipped on a bit of string just in case. Mind they're older bikes and been "around the clock" at least once.

[DMNTD]

My effort(with a lot of help from Nodrog) after I binned my "old" ZX10.
Had to make alterations to ensure I could get my arse to Paeroa.

Ingredients:
Duct Tape
Bamboo
Needit
Bourbon
Lack of sanity






<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7036/p1030249hn2el3.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>

[kiwi cowboy]

Riding a mates quad up a trail one time when a rear wheel fell off on a landing. Not a pretty sight, but still had to get back. Found a solid branch, stuck it under the swingarm and over the foot peg. Managed to get back just fine, wasn't very comfy though.

u related to burt munro e did that on trailor he was towing

[deanohit]

u related to burt munro e did that on trailor he was towing

Yea, saw that in the movie, I did it about 5 years ago though. It works bloody good aslong as you remember to keep feeding the log through as it wears out.:scooter:

[Conquiztador]

That's what I am talking about! Never give up, never surrender.

Sitting here looking at the rain bucketing down and remembered once I was out riding for a w/e. Was a nice sunny one, (the predictions was sun all the way...should have guessed) and so did not worry about the wet weather gear.

Yep, it started raining. Heaps. First I took some cover, but as time went I relly needed to get back as was a working day next day. And there was still many K's to travel. So the option was to get wet (don't U like it when the jeans and the leather jacket gets soaked...) or to come up with something. Jumped on the bike, took my self to the closest dairy when there was a short break in the rain. Bought a bunch of black rubbish bags and a roll of packing tape. Fitted the bags and taped them on to me. Best rain gear I ever have had. Got some strange looks at the petrol stations. But must have looked like hell as nobody even smirked, they just kept away.:Punk:

[Kflasher]

Can't use back brake due to limited ankle movement so:
Rigged up an old thumb throttle control off a 4 wheeler via cable to parabolic wheel (off carburettor) to rear brake master cylinder plunger.
Presto I have rear braking, via right thumb

[pzkpfw]

This isn't really so ingenious, but since car stuff is being added this might provide a laugh.

Went to drive from Palmy (North) to Wellington one night in the Mk IV Cortina (this was about 11 years ago, but it was already pretty old). The light switch shat itself all over the floor of the car, little springs and detent ball bearing all over the place. So we went back to bed, to try again in the morning - without the lights.

We get to Waikane, and it starts raining. Of course, the buggered switch assembly (at home on the kitchen table) included the windshield wiper controls.

Now, to get ignition noise out of the cruddy old radio, I had a big capacitor wired across it's power inputs. As I was scared of leakage draining the battery I also had an ugly old toggle switch wired in before the capacitor.

Ripped out the switch and with a few sparks for guidance found which terminals to bung the wires in, to allow the wipers to be used.

So we drove the rest of the way to Wellington with my wife sitting there feeling silly going click - click - click on the switch.

(Made it back to Palmy that day, just on dusk.)

Cheers,

[breakaway]

Went to the BK drivethru today. Brought drink back without spilling much. Tested to up to 80KM/h :third:

<img src="http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4589/dsc00138zzzzhp4.jpg"/>

[Trudes]

OK, mine isn't bike related... so don't shoot me.
While in Melbourne last week we got caught in a shower, had a newspaper with me so fashioned a part of it into a rain hat that also covered my shoulders. Mr KD gave me utter shit for it, but I saw the envious looks from the wet Aussies passing by wishing they had as many brain cells as a kiwi to make a cheap rain hat!!

[onearmedbandit]

Broke the throttle cable on my earlier GSXR750 many years ago. Stuck in the middle of nowhere and on a ride with a bunch of guys I'd not ridden with before, I had to get mobile. Found I could operate the throttle from the bank of carbs, so rode the rest of the ride using my right hand (thumb) to work the throttle and my other hand on the bars. My first onearmed riding experience.

[westie]

My effort(with a lot of help from Nodrog) after I binned my "old" ZX10.
Had to make alterations to ensure I could get my arse to Paeroa.

Ingredients:
Duct Tape
Bamboo
Needit
Bourbon
Lack of sanity






<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7036/p1030249hn2el3.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us"/></a>

Thats priceless! Top effort.

[MSTRS]

Thats priceless! Top effort.

What was REALLY priceless was seeing him ride that sucker. Especially on left handers....

[surfer]

Metal battery box cover wore through the rubber/plastic around the live wire and caused it to arc on the side of the battery box resulting in it catching on fire. I had stopped to see what was happening as the bike wasn't running well. When I stopped the flames started to eat up the sides of the wire as there was no wind from riding pushing them back. Aaarrrggghhhh.

Fortunately I needed a piss so managed to put it all out. Replaced a grommet around the wire where it went in to the battery box and it was fine.

[Beemer]

My husband hit a hare on one of the 1000 Mile Grand Challenges and it broke the gear lever on his BMW. He wasn't interested in giving up, so he fashioned a new lever out of an Allen key and some of those metal clips (the name of which has escaped me) and continued!

He also made me a neat accessory for when I cleaned the chain on my RG150. It looked like a bit of wood, but it had a piece of thick wire at the top that was angled out and went into the middle of the wheel while the bike was on the sidestand. When you pushed the wood closer to the bike, it lifted the back wheel just enough to spin it while it was being cleaned and lubed - he even put a Suzuki badge on it!

He's made a lot of quirky things around the house too, but these are the nifty bikes ones I can recall.

[janno]

Fortunately I needed a piss so managed to put it all out. Replaced a grommet around the wire where it went in to the battery box and it was fine.

Yeah, but you're a guy. . . That option isn't available for some of us - not unless we are contortionists! The mind boggles!! :gob:

Anyway, you're lucky the current wasn't big enough to give you a tingle in the doodads. Or is that unlucky?

[Toaster]

Chewing gum to hold on the indicator and housing after the screw fell out.

[Street Gerbil]

Using a grommet from a burnt out computer power supply to stop wobbling of the rear hugger on my Street Magic.

[Flyingpony]

Couldn't pour new engine oil into my bike because its frame prevented the bottle from lining up nicely for no-mess-pouring. Standing around scratching my head I spied the yellow plastic funnel on the 5l fuel can. Fitted the oil filler hole like a dream, hands free too, and extends just right for oil to be poured down it's neck.

Was in mates cage and we ran out of fuel. Thought we were sweet as we were carrying spare fuel but quickly discovered its funnel was miles away in the garage. Stranded on road side at midnight we had to do some quick thinking or walk. Found a tiny plastic Cola bottle in the boot, down the hatch it went, BURB! Out with the trusty knife and wholla, we have a funnel.

[Timmay]

I was out for my first Wednesday night ride, pre ride check confirmed that my bike had emptied itself of oil again. These new plastic notes make great funnels when rolled up.

[scumdog]

Couldn't pour new engine oil into my bike because its frame prevented the bottle from lining up nicely for no-mess-pouring. Standing around scratching my head I spied the yellow plastic funnel on the 5l fuel can. Fitted the oil filler hole like a dream, hands free too, and extends just right for oil to be poured down it's neck.

Was in mates cage and we ran out of fuel. Thought we were sweet as we were carrying spare fuel but quickly discovered its funnel was miles away in the garage. Stranded on road side at midnight we had to do some quick thinking or walk. Found a tiny plastic Cola bottle in the boot, down the hatch it went, BURB! Out with the trusty knife and wholla, we have a funnel.

Arrr, in the old days we had to use a long screw-driver to whack the bum out of a Bavarian Bitter beer bottle to make a funnel - you young guys are so lucky...

[Conquiztador]

Had a 650 Triumph in my youth. The front tyre was worn (read no thread left!) but as money was not something I had heaps of I was hoping to get a few more K's outta it. Sadly it did not eventuate. And so a w/e when an hour from home, the tyre blew. I managed to stop without any more damage. But the tube was a goner.

So what to do... Took wheel off, and tyre off. Then I took off my T-shirt, the sweater and my longjohns (yep, was cold riding in jeans) and tucked them nicely in to the tyre. Tyre back on, wheel back on and off I went. Apart from some serious vibration and a fraction of jumping all went well.

I used the bike for about 2 weeks like it was before I had enough money to buy the new tyre and tube. Only to work and back.

[Katman]

18 years old, parked up at a beach in the middle of nowhere for the night, sat back, rolled a joint and discovered I didn't have a light.

After accepting the fact that cursing and swearing wasn't going to help I finally decided to try soaking a zig zig with petrol, pulled out the spark plug and held the paper between the plug and the motor while winding the engine over.

Took a while to ignite, but turned out to be a great night after all.

:msn-wink:

[Kiwi Graham]

Used a screw to fix a puncture!!!!!!!!:crazy:

I was out and about on one of our normal sunny days, called into a rural gas station for the all important top up when I noticed a nail sticking out of my front tyre accompanied by a faint hissing :angry2:
The gas station was just that a gas station so no help in fixing a puncture. So I pulled out the nail and replaced it with a (larger in diameter) self tapping screw. re-inflated the tyre to 28Ibs and rode very slowly home. I had the tyre fixed the next day. :woohoo:

[turtleman]

My brother fell off his old XR250A twin shocker on gravel, and managed to puncture the steel fuel tank.
I fixed this by first covering the hole with a vulcanise patch from a tyre puncture repair kit that I'd sliced a very small hole in the centre of, and screwed a self tapping screw scavenged from the number plate on my bike into the hole in the tank with the patch in place. Worked primo !!

[jamiey]

Mines gotta be a Honda C90 with a petrol leak and no throttle handle. A small piece of old chewing gum fixed the leak, and a pair of pliers to pull the throttle cable, being only 15 years old the bike was v illegal and no cash to fix ot anyway, still plenty of fun in my local field!!!

[Motu]

My whole life is full of ingenuity moments,and all my bikes will have something that was near at hand and put to the task.

My first bodge was on my BSA Bantam as a naive 16 year old.Sometimes it wouldn't start,pretty common with elderly 2 strokes and young riders.Somehow I found that if I loosened the 3 screws holding the points baseplate it would start,then I'd do them up again.But it got worse and I'd have to lever the plate out and it would cut out if screwed in again.So I made a couple of little spacers to make the plate sit crooked - so that fixed it for some time.Ultimately even that didn't work and I had to find out the real cause - the alloy flywheel was loose on it's steel boss,and the flywheel was poling on the stator.

[Motu]

We had to dig deep to get a bike home once.We were heading to Taranaki one Xmas Eve,one bike,one car....and my VW blew up in Ohaupo....so two of us hitched,and the bike would catch up while we thumbed our next ride.Late in the afternoon pouring with rain in the Awakino Gorge we saw our friend and his bike in one of the corners...he had obviously had a crash.We turned to look at him and said ''hey,that's ****!'' The driver hit the brakes and said ''Do you know that guy?''....''No!'' we both replied in unison.No way we wanted to be dumped off in the middle of nowhere with a broken bike! Mateship can only go so far.

But we all ended up in town together,a big trip with lots of experiences for each of us.A few days later us 2 bikeless riders decided to take the 1953 Thunderbird for a ride...me as pillion as my license was safely held by the authorities.About 15km out of town we stopped for a drink.....lying on the ground we noticed the rear tyre (Model A car tyre) was covered in oil.And a further look we could see gears,the bottom of the gearbox had fallen out! We took it back home and told the owner he had busted his bike....like,it was nothing to do with us eh?

It must of cracked the gearbox as his bike slammed into the bank when he dumped it in the Gorge.The only other damage had been a broken left footpeg,but you could ride it with your foot on top of the chaincase.Using only a few tools like screwdrivers,plies and Cresents we found in a shed we pulled out the gearbox and figured out what we could do.

We went to Dalgety's and got some Ados and Sellys Spreadsole.Using the tin file from the Spreadsole we shaped a metal patch over the hole,then with some denim torn from a DJ and some matchsticks we soaked the lot with Ados and made a pretty tough covering.Next day when it was dry we covered over all that with the Spreadsole,it looked like a pretty good patch.Next we went to the service station and got some EP90,a can of Bardhol and a tin of grease.Back at base we used a camp stove to melt the grease and mix in Bardohl and gear oil....and then feed it into the gearbox.Then we put it all back together with our minimum tool kit.

A couple of weeks later the bike rode back to Auckland,no problems.We came back by bus,standing from New Plymouth to Mokau until someone vacated a seat.It was a couple of months before we replaced the gearbox of the Triumph,and it was in daily use.....looking inside it was all good,the grease was all there doing it's job.

[scumdog]

Not my effort BUT at the Remarkables Rally a few years ago a chap turned up with a three cylinder Jappa...'zuki I suspect.

Put it into the burn-out contest and all after riding down from the West Coast. (PROPER West Coast - like from the South Island eh)..
Thing was, it was actually a FOUR cylinder bike but had blown out a lung on the way down the 'coast, bits of rod, piston and cylinder everywhere.

So he got a Coca Cola tin, flattened it out, drilled some holes into the crank-case and with a few self-tappers and some orange silicone-sealer he 'plugged' the gap in the crank-case.

The big-end of the fourth cylinder just kinda flailed around inside the patched up crank-case.

Got him there and no doubt got him home - his burn-out effort was a tad lame. (understandably so)

[The Pastor]

Had a 650 Triumph in my youth. The front tyre was worn (read no thread left!) but as money was not something I had heaps of I was hoping to get a few more K's outta it. Sadly it did not eventuate. And so a w/e when an hour from home, the tyre blew. I managed to stop without any more damage. But the tube was a goner.

So what to do... Took wheel off, and tyre off. Then I took off my T-shirt, the sweater and my longjohns (yep, was cold riding in jeans) and tucked them nicely in to the tyre. Tyre back on, wheel back on and off I went. Apart from some serious vibration and a fraction of jumping all went well.

I used the bike for about 2 weeks like it was before I had enough money to buy the new tyre and tube. Only to work and back.


Howd u support the bike with the wheel off?

[Conquiztador]

Howd u support the bike with the wheel off?

Clearly not someone used to an old Triumph.

There was no plastic bits to worry about. Just drop her on her side in the grass. Axle out, leave brake on and wheel is yours.

You have to remember that these were the days when you carried tools, and if you had somehow (no mobiles...) managed to ring a garage asking them to come and fix your tyre they would have, after laughing for 30 minutes, asked you what the hell you were doing riding a bike you could not fix your self...

[n0regret5]

when i laid my cbr250rr down, i was with two other bikers on mt messenger (at least 30mins ride from any kind of civilisation) and my gear lever was gone. had to reach down and manually shift with my hand once i was rolling..when i got to work i used some electrical tape and a handful of allen keys that i didn't use, taped it all up to the remaining piece of aluminium. thing lasted till the bike got written off 3 months later (some moron reversed into it on the street).

[Motu]

Christmas time was always a time of drama,and the old BSA tripped me up a few times.

One Xmas day heading up north to be with the family,I was cruising the B31 pretty hard...like 70mph.The top speed of a B31 is 70mph....but I had Goldstar cams,hi comp piston,tuned exhaust,big carb,all the stuff.Just a few km from my uncles place of course it seized....I managed to free it up just before I stopped.It had no compression,none at all.....but I just wound it up on the kickstarter and it came to life and we limped to my uncles place.

On Boxing Day I stripped it down (you only need one spanner and a screwdriver to pull the top end off a BSA single).Both top rings were shattered,piston seized and a valve jammed open...on a single! I bludged my mother's Mini and headed back to Auckland....at a mates place I found an old B33 (500cc) barrel and piston that had been lying around outside....covered in dirt and mason bee nests,but seemed to clean up ok.A set of new rings from Weston-Webb,and grabbing a spare 500cc cyl head from my vast supply of BSA parts at home I head back over the Bridge.

After putting it all back together,it...um,doesn't go - no compression! Then I remembered where this head came from...it'd been in a blow up,and maybe the valves were damaged.I pulled the head back off and the exhaust valve had a nick in it.I removed the valve (double valve springs,no spring compressor) and using a file dressed the valve up as best I could,and then with some valve grinding paste from the service station lapped it into a good seat.Reassembled and she was a good runner.

So I head back home,all running sweet,now with 500cc of low compression power.But in the Dome Valley the engine gets a vibration....this piston is going out.By retarding the ignition with the manual advance lever I can ease the vibration,but then it runs hotter.The climb to Windy Ridge really strained it,and I stop at the top for a rest....and then coast down the hill,but it won't restart at the bottom...it's toast.There are still sheds at the bottom of Windy Ridge,and over 35 years ago I pushed my bike into them and pulled the top end down again.The gudgeon pin has flogged out in the piston,obviously lying around in the dirt damaged this area,and I couldn't see it.

I walk out onto the road and immediately get a lift from a Ducati 750 GT into the city.Xmas time in NZ in those days the city was deserted,and I walk to Newmarket and then get a lift from a BSA Lightning....he wanted to take me home,but you don't do things like that.I get him to drop me 5km from home,then head off in the opposite direction until he is long gone.I've got no more BSA pistons at home,350 or 500cc - but I do have Triumph pistons! A 650 Triumph has the same 71mm bore as the B31,and the same gudgeon pin size too...although a lower compression height.I find a good matching Triumph piston for a B31 barrel,pick up a Triumph ring set and another good B31 head...and bludge a lift from a mate back up to my bike,tucked up in a shed not far from the road,Not even the people in the house know it's there - I've stripped the bike,got home,got more parts and am back putting it back together before they even get home.

The bike ran with that set up for some time.There is another BSA Xmas story or two if you have the time.....

[Griffin]

I think Im ingenuityless :crybaby:

[Conquiztador]

Love your stories Motu. The "never say die, anything can be sorted" attitude of the past. The good old days... ;) The young ones of today could learna thing or two...( If nothing else, then to pack tools!!!)

My Royal Enfield Meteor Minior Sport 500 1962 had a problem. Everytime I would get up in revs she would starve and loose umph. Nothing I did fixed it. Played with ignition, sparks, carbies (shit did I take those off and clean them!!!). Nothing helped.

Then one day I had played with the timing, set it early. I kicked, but she did not want to start. So I kicked some more. And she backfired and caught on fire! Between the carbies and the motor was a rubber tube. I am not sure if this was standard, but as a young chap (Iwas 17) I just took her as she was and i did not really ask any questions. Anyhow, these rubber tubes burnt well (the petrol inside them would have helped...) I managed to kill the fire with rags and water and sand...

But the two tubes connecting the carbies to the cylinder were goners.

So what to do. I was away from home. And it was Sunday...

I figured I needed two tubes of some sort to connect the carbies to the cylinder. The carbies sat happily where they were as they were connected to the airfilter.

After some head scratching and walking around (I was at a youth centre) I came to the conclusion that my best option was a pushbike that seemed to belong to no-one (???), and in particular the front wheel. And more in detail the inner tube. It had one of those ballon tyres. So I took my knife (these were in the days when you could still carry one without being put in jail for anything over 50mm) and I cut a big hole in the tyre and pulled out the tube and cut it off. I then cut two pieces of it and fitted it in to the carbies and on to the cylinder. Can't remember what held it on, but I am almost certain that there was hoseclamps.

A few kicks (after adjusting the timing back!!!) and I was up and running. But now the starving was worse then ever. Idling was OK, but a little more and she would die. I figured that it could not be the sand or the fire as she started well. And as the only thing I had replaced were the rubber tubes then...

I looked at them when turning the throttle, and yes! They would clamp together of the sucking from the motor!!!

So by putting the old ones on fire I actually found out what my problem was.

I managed to limp home and I then replaced them with two alloy tubes and that probelm never eventuated again.

[Motu]

The "never say die, anything can be sorted" attitude of the past. The good old days... ;) The young ones of today could learna thing or two...( If nothing else, then to pack tools!!!)


Yeah,they will start a thread moaning about standing room only on a bus to Auckland - but hanging on a rope as an SB Bedford goes over Mt Messenger still gives me a smile over 30 years later.

Not packing tools is a reason for another Xmas BSA story....Heading up to the Whanau Xmas day again on the B31 I was only on East Coast Bays Rd before trouble hit....a hell of a noise from the chaincase.Something is seriously wrong in there - there is a lump! Something is wanting to come out.I push it up behind a farmhouse (no one home,it's Xmas y'know).I have nearly everything to pull the chaincase,but for some reason I've fitted one bolt I don't have an Allen key for....it's countersunk and no way to get it out.

So I hitch again,and have to walk across the city from Ponsonby to the Eastern suburbs....it's a ghost town and I don't think I'm a passenger they want.No presents for me.Next day we head up with a mate on the rear of the Rickman Metisse,no pillion seat,no pillion pegs...and high pipes with no heat shields.With the cover off I see a clutch stud has fallen out.The pre unit BSA clutch was crap,cheap pressed steel with flat head nails for studs.I just remove the stud,and readjust the 6 spring clutch for even operation with 5 springs.

I took the bike away for the holidays,as far north as Doubtless Bay and back and I might off put another clutch in....can't remember such basic maintenance.The clutch was way over specced for the B31,as it was a 650 A10 clutch.....actually the whole bike was A10,I'd fitted the B31 engine.I was always looking for the very rare clutch hub that took the Triumph clutch....these days you'd just make one.

[Motu]

Ingenuity is finding a solution with what you have at hand.Garden hose for kick start rubbers,radiator hose for footpeg rubbers etc.When I got the Rickman Metisse it was a motocross bike,and had a 19in Velocete rear wheel with a huge sprocket,and another sprocket was not an option with that wheel.So I fitted a ''conical'' Triumph rear wheel....this meant I could fit a bigger Rocket III sprocket if I wanted to go off road.I cut both sprockets in half so I could change them without removing the rear wheel.

There was a problem though - the backing plate was at such an angle that on bumps the rear brake came on.I couldn't reposition the backing plate for a better angle....but a shorter lever would help,and cut the power too as it was too easy to lock.I spied the solution on a mates garage floor - the gear linkage on the side of a FJ Holden gearbox.It was a perfect fit on the brake cam and gave the right angle....it stayed there.

[pete376403]

One my dad told me, many years ago. When he was a young man, he owned an Ansaldo car. Driving one day in the backblocks, it ran a big end bearing. He drained the oil into a can (i guess it was customary to carry such things) removed the sump and scraped the remains of the bearing off the crank. He then wrapped a turn or two of a thick leather belt around the crank, bolted the rod back on , replaced the sump, filled up and drove off. He said that repair lasted a couple of months, until he was able to get new bearings.

[DarkLord]

Just a wee story from a few days ago..... not really kiwi ingenuity but something I'm proud of myself for doing :)

I had to replace the battery on my whoflung as it crapped out. One day I was just about to leave work and I turned the key on, hit the starter and the bike just died. All the electrical systems went off, so I turned it off, waited for a bit and tried again - same thing happened. Then, I would turn the key on and nothing happened at all.

I could have panicked and called the AA or something but instead I popped open the storage part of the bike, popped my seat off and looked at the battery as I suspected this was where the problem was. Sure enough, one of the screws on top of the battery was loose, so I pulled out my handy-dandy screwdriver and screwed it on tighter. Turned the key on - all systems GO and have never had a problem since.

:D

[skidMark]

... Hmmm...


spark plug is undone...


...How the feck am i gunna get the sparkplugs outta that deep hole because the little rubber bit in my socket is too shit to grab it....

**shoves spark plug lead down hole, clip onto spark plug....pull out**

You can thank me later....:headbang:

[cooneyr]

This is all good stuff. Definatly get a kick out of doing this sort of thing. Nothing to serious for the bike. Made a new speedo drive washer (takes the drive from the wheel to the gears inside the wheel spacer) for the XTZ.

Most interesting one (car related) was last summer on the road between St Arnuad and Nelson. Came across a couple of braless German girls (rather loose fitting tops as well - even the missus noticed.) with a mazda 121 that had overheated. Thought originally that it was just out of water but a couple of quick trips to the river proved that wrong. The thermostat bypass hose (or there abouts) was split and was leaking water. Only had a pocket knife with me and nothing I could repair the hose with when the missus pipes up and says why don't you use the radiator header tank overflow hows. Tried it for size, cut it to length, another trip to the river for water and away they go. Don't know how long it lasted for as overflow hose wasn't reinforced but didn't see them again on the way back to nelson later in the day.

Got an eyeful for being helpful that day - sometimes it is worth being a good Samaritan.

Cheers R

[Conquiztador]

Many years ago when living in Europe I had a 750 Bonny. Nice bike, but you would not travel anywhere without tools. Still don't do, no matter what I ride!

I was on way to travel round Europe going through Sweden. Long straights. Middle of them on side of road I see a lone bike and the rider. I stop. He has a Ducati (no idea what type, never been my cuppa, but was in early 80's so someone probably would know) and it was going nowhere. All locked up. He had no tools (and no idea!), only the riding gear and on the way to Denmark.

So I have a look. Clutch not working. So I drop the bike on its side and say: "Lets see what she has been eating". Take side cover off and found the whole clutch fallen in part. Plates, bearings, casing. All loose!

So I start from scratch (I have never looked in to a Ducati before, but figured a bike is a bike and a clutch is a clutch, so...). Take all bits out, put them on a clean rag and try to make sense of whats there. Can not remember anymore the details re the clutch, but somewhere in back of my brain I have a vague memory that somehow something was back-to-front compared to Triumph and HD. But could be wong.

Anyhow, as I have put everyting on the rag and studied it I think I have it all sussed. And so I reassemble. But there is nothing holding the big nut in place. No washer. He tells me that he had resently bought it and had been told that all was serviced and motor had been worked on and all was sweet (how many times I have heard that!!) Anyhow, no lock washer.

I have some cans of beer. Nice and warm... And this was long before alloy became the material they were made off, all hard steel. So we share a warm beer (no way was I gonna pour it out!!) and then I use my trusty knife and cut out a piece, make it to fit and use it as lock washer. As it is too soft to be as the real thing, I bend all sides.

Reassemble the clutch and all back together. As the bike was on its side we lost almost no oil. All back together and completed. That was 2 hour of clutch repair on side of road. He had no idea what to do and was no help.

Start motor and try the clutch. Sweet.

He wants to have my details so he can send me somerting and also come for visit when back. I give them to him, shake his hand and he takes off like he had the cops hunting him down. Thats when I started thinking...wonder if he had stolen it? I had not taken the rego No.

And that was the last I ever saw or heard of the guy.

I did feel good that I managed to fix the problem, but had this gut feeling...

Never looked inside a Ducati again.