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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | Today four of us from work had a group ride to lunch. The 2009 Blue Ultra, a 2007 Deluxe the BSA rat bike and me.
The guy in the video linked below on the BSA was the last inside the restaurant. He informed the group that his just found out that his rear axle nut fell off. That was followed by...Gasps...What?...and....Really??
Below are the pictures of the missing nut and the fix the owner put in place to ride it home.
He put a screwdriver through the axle to keep it from turning. Held in place by tie wraps and bailing wire.
He wrapped wire around the axle threads so not to mess them up and used a cheep pair of Lock Grip pliers to act as a nut on the other end of the shaft. Then held that in place with tie wraps and bailing wire.
I am so spoiled riding my Vision.
Thanks goodness that I gave him a Bell last week to protect him on the way to lunch and then on the way home.
BSA Rat Chopper Video link.
http://www.vision-riders.com/bb/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=7555
Ride Safe
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 40
Kansas | WTF! |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | You might be a BSA riding redneck if.....your rear axle is held in place by a screwdriver, cheap vice grips and bailing wire!!!!
I kid you not...on the way to eat lunch we were on IH 410 for about four miles at speeds up to 65mph!!! |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | Now there's a guy who can think on his feet! How many others do you know who would call and wait for a tow rig to show up? It may not be very pretty but it's safe enough to get 'er 'ome innit mate? And he put some forethought into the fix too, it can't be quick and cheap to find an axle shaft with Whitworth threads.
Question,
How do you know that you have British electronics components in your computer?
There will be a puddle of oil under your printer- |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 742
North Orange County CA | Were you guys out of Duct Tape?
BTW: A loop of bailing wire around the vice grip handles would qualify that as a permanent repair.
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Iron Butt
Posts: 965
New York State | Flash backs to my youth My Bonnie was a real bitch Can't tell you how many times I heard "That bike does more miles on a truck than any road." |
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Central Wisconsin | Funny looking Redneck repair! I know a guy who had his tires replaced at a dealership. Him and his wife rode the bike that day.
The following day a friend stopped over and looking at the new tires noticed the axle nut missing.
Thanks goodness that I gave him a Bell last week to protect him on the way to lunch and then on the way home. Good thing he noticed the axle nut missing. Saved by the Bell!
Legend goes on to say that, by attaching a guardian bell to your bike, the evil spirits will become trapped inside the guardian bell. There, the constant ringing will drive them insane, making them lose their grip until they fall to the ground."
Edited by Thomas 2011-04-29 5:05 PM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 804
Perry Hall, MD | An HD rider in the office claims to know someone who picked up his new Victory (unk model) and on the way home from the dealer the front axle backed out. OOPS and OUCH |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | The wholesalers who do the assembly from crated to ready to go to the dealership don't hire assemblers because they have Phd's in Psychology, they hire guys who rarely stab themselves with screwdrivers!
But that story also sounds a bit like 'I know the guy who knows the guy who stood near the horse...' |
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Visionary
Posts: 2300
Georgia, west of Atlanta | All the old bikes were like that, my friends and I started riding street bikes in 1974 and we had Triumphs ( 500cc Daytonas, 650 & 750 Bonnevilles and Tigers ) one Norton 750 Combat, a couple XLCH's and a couple of PanHeads. No one I knew owned a BSA. We all carried tools, points, condensors and spark plugs..............What eventually made all bikes better was the coming of the Honda 750. Alas it was too late for the British Bike Industry. |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| Sears could use this as a add for best tools ever.
What no wentwort nuts at the hardware store. Better call the prince and his new wife and have them send you one.
Edited by john frey 2011-04-29 6:53 PM
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | Remember, I Merrie Olde when you buy any sort of electrical device, it comes without a plug because there are somewhere over 350 different styles of electrical plugs in use in the U.K. depending on when your house was electrified, and what the town council specified as acceptable. So it's off to the DIY and purchase an appropriate wall plug, and if your home is really old, the wiring is run on the walls in conduits because it's impossible to run it in stone walls.
The British use Whitworth, Armstrong, and British Standard nuts and bolts sometimes all on the same project!(depends on who the subcontractor suppliers are) When I was crewing in hydroplane racing, the R/R MERLINs we used had all three and some SAE, the Snap it Off guy loved it when we ordered a Whitworth wrench from him to do some task on the engines, because our 'American adjustable spanners' wouldn't work and in 1968 dollars they cost over $45.00 and up. When it comes to British Standard, there isn't one-there's a hell of alot of difference between 5/8th Whitworth and 5/8ths British Standard. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | XRsteve - 2011-04-29 6:23 PM
All the old bikes were like that, my friends and I started riding street bikes in 1974 and we had Triumphs ( 500cc Daytonas, 650 & 750 Bonnevilles and Tigers ) one Norton 750 Combat, a couple XLCH's and a couple of PanHeads. No one I knew owned a BSA. We all carried tools, points, condensors and spark plugs..............What eventually made all bikes better was the coming of the Honda 750. Alas it was too late for the British Bike Industry.
"All the old bikes were like that". Yep!! Even the Hondas. I started riding in 1965. I had a Honda CL77 (305 Scrambler). Those things were notorious for the charging system failing. I had the dealer put three new regulator/rectifiers on the thing in the time I owned it, plus new windings in the alternator. It never would keep the battery charged with the headlight on. I got used to riding home with only the moonlight lighting my way. I would only turn the headlight on when meeting a car, then turn it off again. Learned that trick from the Triumph riders. I sold that bike to a younger neighbor, who simply tied a car battery on the rear seat and rode it with a non-working charging system. That bike is still in his shed, but hasn't run for 40 years. He rides a Goldwing now.
Everybody who rode in those days had to be resourceful, since the machinery of the day wasn't very reliable. Hondas were better than the competition, but they weren't perfect either. I agree that the Honda 750 was probably the turning point towards better quality. They were a lot more reliable than the earlier Hondas.
Redneck Roadside repairs: One time I went too far on my tire and wore right through the cords to the tube. I made a "boot" (tire liner) from an old bicycle tire and rode it that way for several days until I could get a new tire. Another time, my chain broke about 30 miles from anywhere. I got my always present tool kit out and cut a piece of baling wire I found in the fence next to the road. I used the wire to make a "link", tying the chain together, and rode it home.
Bikers back then had to be resourceful mechanics too.
We're sure spoiled by the quality of bikes and cars today.
Ronnie |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | I was told that his BSA has Whitworth, SAE and Metric fasteners on it. Before that lunch I had never works on a British product that had Whitworth parts on it. I had never even heard of those standards.
Today he sent out an email that he just installed the Bell we gave him!!! What, is wasn't already on the bike....That explains everything!!!!
On Monday he will be inducted into the "Order of the Axle Nut"
Below is the official commendation.
It was created with some ribbon picked up at an University of Tennessee Knoxville Jurist Doctor commencement, cardboard from a Victory oil filter box, an oil stained red rag, duct tape, wire with connectors, the crush washer from an oil drain plug, a fender washer, a short piece of leather, two white reflectors, a spark gap wrench and some nuts picked up from the area that he parks his BSA at work.
It is held together with Gorilla Glue and Duct Tape.
The top picture is the back of the award.
Ride Safe!
Edited by radioteacher 2011-05-01 5:57 PM
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Cruiser
Posts: 166
Bullhead City, AZ | NO duct tape! |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | I would like to honor your request for No Duct Tape....but I am a big fan of the stuff.
I once had the passenger window break out in Arkansas and Built a Temp replacement window out of a tarp, a piece of clear plastic (so I can see the side mirror) and duct tape. The repair lasted over 500 miles at 75 miles an hour through rain and wind. I almost hated to see it go in the trash.
Ride Safe! |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | loren2,
Ok, I am more then a little slow on most Sunday's....you were talking about the repair...not the award.
I am sure that if the repair required duct tape...he would have used it!
Ride Safe |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 742
North Orange County CA | Duct tape used to be like motorcycle penicillin before the advent of drug resistant bacteria. It's fallen on hard times due to over use, and substandard foreign imitations, but GOOD duct tape deserves a little respect.
I once dropped my Yamaha dirt bike somewhere around mile 25 of the Natchez Trace Enduro. I was chasing some dude from the Don Thava Factory Works Team down a rain swollen Tennessee creek at what, in reflection, seemed an insane rate of speed given the oiled BB on glass like traction afforded by the algae covered limestone that comprised the creek bed.
I passed the rider that I was chasing, but any joy in the accomplishment faded at the next bend in the creek, when the rear end went out from under me.
A big chunk of submerged rock punched a dime sized hole low on the left side of the gas tank. I also stripped the splines on the shift lever.
Duct tape to the rescue for the tank, vice grips clamped on the shift shaft got me to the next check point, and back to the start. I would have had to push the bike out of the woods if the fuel had continued to pour out.
Thanks Duct Tape!
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Visionary
Posts: 1359
New Bohemia, Va | ...works for me... |
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Visionary
Posts: 3006
San Antonio, TX | Here is the BSA Rider wearing his commendation "The Royal Order of the Axle Nut". It was upgraded with small snap ties and some Velcro.
It was bestowed on him at a departmental meeting last week.
Ride Safe
Edited by radioteacher 2011-05-20 9:29 PM
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Insane lunchtime repair of BSA Chopper
