Gloria is off to a new home

Well, Gloria was always likely to be with me for a relatively brief amount of time, until I had finished the Crusader restoration.

I don’t have a garage; just a couple of fairly substantial sheds and a workshop, so I’m really limited to having 2 bikes on the road at any one time. With the arrival of Ella, my new Enfield Classic 350, I have one bike too many, so Gloria  is going to a new home in Northern Ireland.

I’ve loved bringing her back up to scratch as a usable classic; we’ve had some great adventures and I’ve indulged my nostalgia for my 18 year old self, but time to move on. I pretty much covered my costs on her as well which is a bonus!

If you’re interested in future adventures, all further updates will be on my new site Adventures on Two Wheels 

Longer journey to the Midlands

I had a long overdue trip planned to visit the National Motorcycle Museum with Rob. The weather forecast was really good - no rain and temperatures starting to creep up. At just about 100 miles, it was a longer journey than I’ve done so far on Gloria but everything has been running fine so I decided to put my faith in her and give her a longer journey to stretch her legs.

We stuck to A roads - A41 south, then the A5 (the route of the old Roman road known as Watling Street) towards Tamworth and then the A38 down past Birmingham to the Museum which is just near the NEC. 

All in, it took just over 2.5 hours with a couple of short stops just to stretch my legs.

Rob arrived shortly after and we went into the museum to be met my hordes of men carrying pistols and rifles - there was also a “military” fair on there 😳. 

The museum is amazing. Over 850 British bikes on display and apparently at least one example of the more than 130 British bike manufacturers that have existed at various times.

It was nice for me to see an example of how my Royal Enfield would have looked when it was newly delivered to a dealer in 1961. I appear to have got most things right on mine and entertained Rob by turning into a super-geek, identifying a couple of areas where they hadn’t quite got it right. God, I never thought I would turn into one of those “types”!

We got to saturation point and couldn’t stand to look at anymore - fortunately as we were in the last hall - so we mounted up and took the back roads for a 20 mile spin back to Rob’s place in Tamworth.

So 120 miles today and Gloria didn’t miss a beat. My confidence in her has taken another leap forwards.

Monday morning we had a lazy breakfast and then I hit the road for the journey back. Slightly shorter at about 80 miles. The weather was gorgeous although it did get quite blustery for half an hour or so. 

I stopped off at the Lockside Cafe - one of my favourites if I’m passing through Whitchurch on the bike - and had a bite to eat and a coffee sat outside in the sun, watching the canal boats go up and down the staircase lock there.

So, another excellent adventure. We aren’t doing the Manx Grand Prix this year but have an even bigger adventure planned in May. This was a bit of a trial to see how confident I was in Gloria managing longer distances and she passed with flying colours, so we’re Full on with planning “the big one” now. Watch this space.

First trip out of 2023

The start of February 23 has seen the early indications of spring. Most of my time over winter has been spent working on the house and, more recently, a big push to finish the restoration of my 1962 Royal Enfield Crusader, but I've been itching to get back out on Gloria.

My son Rob was visiting the area for the weekend on his 125 Grom, so we took the chance to get out for a couple of hours around the lovely roads of North Wales. 

I'd been really slack, putting Gloria away after her last trip out sometime around October and hadn't drained the fuel tank, so I was half expecting some problems starting but, after pumping some fuel through on the starter and quickly cleaning up one of the spark plugs, she fired up and settled into a nice steady idle ☺ I put a dose of Redex into the tank to give any winter fuel build up a chance to clear.

I forgot to take any photos but we did a lovely 75 miles through two areas of outstanding national beauty, with a stop in Ruthin for lunch and to warm up! Gloria ran faultlessly.

Lovely stuff and can't wait to get out again soon.

Manx Grand Prix Adventures

My son, Rob, and I have been fairly regular visitors to the Isle of Man for both the TT races in May/June and also the Manx Grand Prix / Classic TT races in August, but it was 5 years since we both last went. So a plan was hatched that Gloria's first big adventure would be the 2022 Manx Grand Prix. 

Rob's daily rides tend to be big sportsbikes but, to keep things fair, he came on his little Honda 125 "Grom". The bikes turned out to be pretty evenly matched up to about 55mph, then the G5 still had something left in reserve. But the Grom's luggage capacity was nil and Rob had a huge backpack load on the way there and back.

Gloria was prepared and waiting as Rob travelled the 2 hour journey up from the Midlands to Chester.

We managed to grab a couple of hours sleep before quietly sneaking out into the road and setting off at 1am, bound for Liverpool Pier Head and the IoM Ferry.

Gloria made it onto the ferry without incident and was tied down with the other bikes for the 2.5 hour journey.

We got to the campsite at Douglas Rugby Club before 7am and very quietly set up our tents before snuggling down into sleeping bags to catch up on a couple of hours sleep.

There was supposed to be a practice session and the first race on our first day, but variable weather across the island meant that the racing was postponed and then cancelled. We had a great day over on the west side of the island though, heading out to pay our respects to the fairies before exploring around Castletown, Port St Mary and Port Erin and included taking in a couple of laps of the Southern 100 road circuit.

The "roads closed" time for Saturday racing was postponed by a couple of hours, so we took the chance to do a lap of the 37.74 mile course. We've done that many times over the years but this was the first time on smaller bikes and we both loved it being able to have a blast without ever feeling like you were riding beyond the bike's limits. Gloria had the upper expanses of her rev range tested out and passed admirably - made me laugh later when Rob referred to them calling a good thrashing an "italian decoke" when they are struggling to set bikes up at work.

Finally, we made our way to our first vantage point at the bottom of Barregarrow, a fast left hander with a vicious dip on the bend to unsettle the bikes. 

We watched the "practice lap" for Senior GP and Classic Superbikes followed by the postponed lightweight 250 race from here and then made our way up the lanes on the inner part of the island to get up onto the top of the mountain part of the circuit, at Brandywell for the Junior (supertwins) race. I find the variety of scenery on the course stunning and it was lovely being up there in the sunshine for the first race.

And to round off our "spectating from places beginning with B" day, we then made our way back down the lanes to Bradden Bridge. I adore spectating from there - it completely sums up the madness of the place, sitting on a stone wall 10' above the circuit, with an ancient oak tree plonked in the middle of the chicane, and a churchyard full of spectators opposite! To see, hear and smell the Classics racing through there is most definitely one of my real happy places in life. Rob is the 3rd generation of Shearers to spectate from there, as my mum and dad also used to go there in the 50s.

A wonderful day, with excellent riding, company and weather, was rounded off in the Rugby Club bar, where we shared a pint with a lovely French couple, Evelyne and Francis, visiting for the first time from Pau in the Pyrenees. What an adventurous pair, backpacking around England and Ireland (and wherever else took their fancy!) in their 70s.

Sunday was a non-race day and we did more exploring. We went up to the Grandstand and explored the pits; then went down into Douglas and were again struck by how bizarre the IoM is as a horse drawn tram trundled past our row of parked bikes on the prom.

While we were parked up, Rob spotted that Gloria was having an OCD moment...

We also did another lap of the circuit and I was chuffed that one of the photographers got a couple of good shots of us approaching and taking the Gooseneck, as we headed up onto the mountain.

We took the back road from Douglas out to Laxey and had ice creams on the beach and then made our way up to the Point of Ayre in the remote North Eastern part of the island where, for a minute or two, we were the most northerly people on the island!

On the way back, we swapped bikes for a while. The Grom was great fun - tiny and very flickable and surprisingly good acceleration for a 125, but I was glad to get back on Gloria 😁It did give me a chance to see what she looked and sounded like though while Rob was riding her.

The last day of racing was the bank holiday Monday. Three new vantage points for me today, the first being Ramsey Hairpin for the practice lap. One of Rob's work colleagues was racing (see next two videos) and it gave a really different perspective to understand the financial and time commitment that he had made to be there.

Next we moved a short distance up the circuit to the Gooseneck to watch the Senior race (which was where we had been "papped" the previous day 😄) .

And then for the final race we decided to head to Windy Corner on the way down from the mountain. It looked on the map like we could get quite close on the bikes and then walk the final part, but the last part of the track was on a goat track up the mountain! We ended up walking about a mile and a half in leathers up a 700' climb. It took us so long that we missed the first lap and just saw the second lap coming around, but then we also got to see the last 2 laps. Again, spectacular scenery and we were kindly offered a lift back down to our bikes by a couple of island residents in their Jeep.

That evening, we headed into Peel for fish and chips and then back to the campsite for a couple of pints of Bushys Ale. I found this plaque in the bar that they were selling and presented it to Rob in recognition of a fantastic few days!

So, our last day finally arrived and we had the morning spare before heading for the afternoon ferry. After packing up our gear, we headed off to Jurby Airfield where the VMCC had organised a race / track parade. As always, it was as interesting looking around the bike park, as it seemed that every visitor on a motorbike had descended there!

We then raced back to the campsite to pack the tents away and headed down to the ferry terminal, arriving with minutes to spare before the official check-in time! 

So, to sum up, a wonderful few days in motorcycling heaven. Gloria performed flawlessly, other than the iffy float valve that I've been working around and will fix in due course. In total, we did just under 400 miles and I really started to get to know her character and how best to ride her. There were some hills where some extra power would have been nice, but none that we couldn't make it up by changing down a gear and taking it easy! A lot of the time, it was me trying to ride her like the big bikes I've had in the past and relying on raw power!

Roll on the next adventure.

Fork Seals

The final job that needs doing (fingers crossed!) so that I've addressed all of Gloria's "known" little issues, is to replace the fork oil and seals. I've no idea how long it is since the oil was last changed and one of the fork leg seals is weeping slightly, so new OEM seals have been ordered from David Silvers and away we go.

It was a fairIy straightforward half hour to remove the front wheel and then the fork legs. I supported the front of the bike on a bottle jack to make it easier to get the wheel out and also zip-tied the front brake caliper up to make sure the hoses weren't stressed.

I didn't take any photos during the strip down and seal replacement - didn't seem like much to show, as it's a fairly straightforward process, following the manual. The first leg went very well, with everything unbolting easily and the seal came out with little persuasion. I used a large socket to drift the new seal in, making sure it went in nice and square. The dust seals were both a bit cracked so, as a temporary measure, I wrapped some black insulation tape around them to regain some integrity. I'll get hold of some new ones and replace them sometime but for now they are doing the job.

When it came to do the second leg, I realised that the first one had lulled me into a false sense of security! Firstly, I couldn't unbolt the fork tube inside the slider - the  tube was just spinning inside. Essentially, this is what holds the top and bottom of the fork legs together. Various solutions to this are proposed on internet forums, including the use of a sharpened broom stick rammed up the inside to apply pressure. I chose to use an elaborate arrangement of socket extensions and adaptors, with masking tape wrapped around the final one, which was then hammered into place in the hollow end of the fork tube. Then I used an impact driver on the socket screw and it finally let go. 

The second challenge was getting the old seal out. It just wouldn't budge. I ended up soaking the fork leg around the seal in a tub of boiling water while I had lunch. When I came back to it, it popped straight out :-).

Once the new seals were both in and everything reassembled, I refilled each leg with 140cc of Halfords Fork Oil and then put everyting back together on the bike.

A short spin round the village confirmed everything working nicely and no oil leaks, so I take that as a success. Gloria is now ready for her "big trip" at the end of the week, over to the Isle of Man for a 4 day camping adventure to watch the Manx GP with my son Rob. We haven't been for 5 years so really looking forward to that one. I'll be well stocked with tools etc but really I'm hoping that, with all of the recommissioning I've done to the various systems over the last 6 months, she should be fairly reliable now. However, I'm old and wise enough to know that life isn't always that way....!

Day out - Middlewich Classic Car and Bike Show

I was feeling confident enough now to take a trip out to the Middlewich Show, just a half hour or so ride away on 16 - 17th July.

It was a lovely sunny weekend - perfect riding weather and I went up on the Sunday. Gloria rode beautifully on the way there, and I found that my work around for the weeping float valve worked well (apart from the time I forgot to turn the fuel back on and she started spluttering as she ran out!!)

There were some lovely bikes there from all eras and Gloria drew some admiring glances and sparked up some great conversation as always.

There were some great cars there as well - one that caught my eye was a Lada 1300, that I was amazed was still in existence, as they used to rot so badly. My sister had one that I took my test in and it used to break down with amazing regularity. It only just made it around my test route! This one hadn't been restored but had obviously been well sheltered for most of it's life.

And then there was a lovely display of old Minis of most variants. Who doesn't love an old Mini?

The journey home was equally as nice - one of those where you start to think whether there is a way to extend the route as you get towards home, so you can enjoy things for just a bit longer 😁. It was lovely to start to feel the confidence building in Gloria now, that she'll get me home from our adventures each time.

 

Carburetor rebuild and Starter Motor

To correct the rough low/mid range running, I bit the bullet and bought 2 Keyster refurb kits and then pulled the carbs off the bike yet again. When I started this recommissioning I think it took me about 45 mins to get them off but I've now practiced it so much that I reckon I have it down to about 20 minutes!

The kits are actually for the CB360 (250 version was unobtainable), which has a slightly bigger main jet, but when I came to fit them it was the same as was already in the carbs and seemed OK according to the spec in the Haynes manual. As it has been running OK on the main jet, I decided to install the new jet and see what happened.

So, it was a fairly easy process to swap over the bits and then reinstall the carbs - I expected to kick the engine over and it would settle into a nice smooth idle .......

What actually happened was that I kicked it over 3 times and then something went "clunk" and the engine locked up solid! I put everything away and came back to start again another day ....

Once I started pulling things apart, it fairly quickly became obvious what the problem was. A week or so earlier, I had been trying to fix the starter motor, which has never worked since I got it. I removed the motor and fitted new brushes and also noticed that one of the screws holding the magnets in place was missing. I found an appropriate screw and reinstalled but the motor still didn't work. I can only think that the spinning motor against a loose magnet has caused internal damage, so I sourced a working second hand one. However, when I pulled the motor out, I assumed (incorrectly) that the cog the splined end of the motor engages with was retained in place in the engine casing. It wasn't and had dropped down with the chain that engages with the crankshaft. When I tried to kick it over, the chain had wrapped around the alternator rotor and jammed. No damage was done and all was soon back in order. 

Having sorted that out I again kicked the engine over and it did indeed settle into a nice smooth idle. 

So I went out for a spin and it felt great, accelerating strongly right through the rev range. At that point I got cocky and decided to head out further afield - only about 10 miles away across country lanes, but as I slowed down into a village where I planned a stop for a pot of tea, she started running roughly at low revs again. I got to the cafe and sputtered to a stop. Being an eternal optomist, I thought that things might be OK once she'd cooled down a bit. I hoped so, as I had no tools with me!

Of course once the tea was downed, things were no better because motorbikes don't generally fix themselves, and whatever I did I just couldn't get her running again. Shamefully, I had to call the recovery service to take me home.

I felt like I'd kind of reached the level of my incompetence now and was all for getting a proper mechanic to look at it, but once I'd calmed down a bit I thought that all they would do was strip the carbs and check all the settings and ditto with the ignition side, so why didn't I do that one more time first? As an aside, I've found that retirement has changed my approach to stuff like this - when I had a very limited amount of "play time" at weekends, I would rush and get agitated but now I kind of think "oh well, let's try again!"

I pulled the carbs yet again and then very carefully set the float heights. One of them wasn't really quite engaging properly with the new float valve and I think as a result was flooding at low revs. I reassembled everything and also balanced the carbs again, just to be sure. I also spent a couple of hours checking all the ignition side and tappets etc - all was good, which it should have been as I'd only done less than 100 miles since setting it all up. I also installed the replacement starter motor at this point. (She starts so much better off the electric start than with the kick start - it obviously gives the engine a much better initial spin than you can manage with a kick.)

And she fired up and ran really nicely. But, after a short ride, started overflowing fuel from the RH carb again! I'm managing to ride around that issue at the moment - it's OK above idle and so I just switch the fuel tap to off as I approach a red light etc, and then turn it back on as I set off. Everything seems to be running fine like that (fingers crossed) and I managed a really nice 50 mile bimble around the Wirral Peninsula that way. I made sure that I had my tools with me this time!

Parkgate

West Kirby

I have seen a couple of articles now saying that new float valves can take a little bedding in, so I'm hoping it's that, but I also have one last thing to do to try and sort this properly (because, as I said earlier, I'm old and wise enough to know that motorbikes rarely fix themselves.) 

The inside of the tank on the bike is pretty good and quite rust free. The fuel flowing from it looks clear, but I am aware that there could be very small bits of rust or other debris still getting through and that could be causing the valve to stick open. So I have bought a couple of fuel filters and I'll pull the carbs again, clean the float valves meticulously and then install the filters. I may also just tweak the floats by 1mm to try and put a bit more pressure on the closing action. Watch this space....