IN COMING!
SAILING BY
In the BSA article in RC193, the caption under the photo of Len Page riding his M20 surely should read; ‘Len Page and his old salt sailing forth’, as the RN on the tank and the bike’s blue colour must surely mean that this forces machine was Royal Navy and not army. You could also have added ‘fair winds and following seas’ or would that have been over-egging it?
Alan Deacon, member
FAMILY ALBUM
This is my uncle Keith with his 1928 (?) HRD Model 90. I have not seen one of these, so I imagine they are not that common. I wish it was in my shed.
Joe Perfect
EXPERT ANNEALING
Recently PUB seemed to be a bit unsure on this subject so here are words of wisdom (?) from a very old engineer. To anneal aluminium, a small blowlamp is fine. Put a bit of soap on the ally and heat it up till it turns black, then quench in cold water. As Clive says, repeat as required. When annealing copper it’s the same, but needs to be much hotter. Annealing steel, you heat to red and let it cool SLOWLY.
John Hulme, member 2058
CLUTCH TROUBLE
Rob Nelson in issue RC192 mentioned problems with a slipping clutch in negative temperatures. I had a similar problem with my 1982 Yamaha TT250 in cold weather. I switched from my summer bike, a 1983 Yamaha XT550 when the snow started sticking to the roads.
Pulling in the clutch lever to shift gear, the lever would stay in! I discovered the cable lube I was using would turn to grease in freezing temperatures and not allow the clutch to close. I flushed the cable with diesel and the problem disappeared.
Derek Smith in Canada
ENVOY ENVY
Great article in RC193 from Reg Eyre regarding the little known (to me) Ambassador Envoy. A tidy little bike in all respects. Why should he choose between that and his equally tidy Ariel? Keep both! Use the Envoy for trips to the shops and other local journeys, which is what they were designed for, and the Ariel for sure-footedness when riding at open road speeds. If it had to be just one, then the Ariel wins
