EoinC Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share #61 Posted November 12, 2019 Advertisement (gone after registration) 4 hours ago, wlaidlaw said: About 4 years ago, I was very tempted to order a new RE Classic 500 but decided I was not brave enough and too old and arthritic, with too many metal bits already in my legs as a result of a racing car accident many years ago. As an alternative I got the nearest thing, which is a Three Wheeler Morgan. Sadly it proved to be incredibly unreliable, needing its entire chassis replacing after it failed in two places plus multiple components in the drive line and electrics. The French agent took 11 months to do this and made such a bad job that the whole car fell to bits within two weeks. I had to have it trucked back from the south of France to the factory in Malvern, who rebuilt the whole car from the ground up free of charge. I have tweaked the S&S 2 litre Vee twin engine somewhat, mainly to get it to run better than it did originally in higher ambient temperatures but the power has also gone up in consequence from 88hp to around 120hp. As it only weighs 500kg, the performance is more than adequate. I have also changed all the shock absorbers to better quality ones, modified the front suspension and steering geometry to improve roadholding and eliminate the horrible bump-steer it had as built. Morgan supplied it when new, with cheap and unsuitable Avon motorcycle sidecar tyres on the front, which had very little grip and tended to "tuck under". I now use Excelsior Competition H tyres, made for racing vintage Bugattis (35 and 37), which have much more grip and are far more progressive. I believe nowadays following protests from owners, Morgan supply the Three Wheeler on Blockley tyres, very similar to the Exclesiors I use. Here I am in Draguignan this year, just setting off on a classic car rally around Les Gorges du Verdon. Wilson Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Hi, Wilson - Thank you for adding some spice to the journey meal. You cut a fine strapping figure in this shot. I have an old Enfield Bullet 500 down in Perth, which I haven't had the opportunity to ride for over 10 years. This is a snap from about 18 years ago: 001 by Eoin Christie, on Flickr The S&S powering your Morgan looks a fitting replacement for the old J.A.P. and I'm guessing it produces a nice note. I also like the MGA in the background. Many years ago, when I was still at school, we were building a house (which took 9 years to complete), and my parents decided they needed a van to compliment our Austin 1300, for carrying materials. After our father had hauled us around to see countless Morris Minor vans, my mother, sister, and I boycotted the weekly search grind, leaving him to his own buying devices. When he finally dragged us off to see the van he had bought, it turned out to be a 1959 MGA, which delighted my sister and I, but I think my mother never forgave him for it, keeping him on close reigns thereafter... Fond memories - Thank you. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted November 12, 2019 Posted November 12, 2019 Hi EoinC, Take a look here Running-in... . I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
wlaidlaw Posted November 12, 2019 Share #62 Posted November 12, 2019 This is the second Three Wheeler Morgan I have owned. When I was 16 years old, I bought a 1930 Aero SS Morgan with an Aero Blackburn Tomtit Major 1000cc vee twin aero engine, from a scrapyard in Beauly (where Ffordes the Leica dealers are), for £30. You could drive a Morgan Three Wheeler at 16 years old on a motorbike licence without an accompanying passenger. The engine had 4 valves and twin plugs per cylinder, as was typical aero engine practice at the time but had been modified for racing at some time with a pair of huge Amal GP carburettors. With its half turn lock to lock steering, lever operated cable brakes on the front wheels (pedal rod to the back wheel brake) and the accelerator on a lever arm on the steering wheel, plus a power to weight ratio of around 280 BHP per tonne, driving was quite interesting. Sadly my father when he could not get it started to move it out of the garage one day, pushed it very hard into the stone end wall of the garage. It destroyed the twin Scintilla Vertex magentos and both the scavenge and pressure oil pumps. In the north of Scotland in the early 1960's no spares at all were available for this rare engine. I sold the rolling chassis for another owner to put a Matchless engine into. Wilson 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith (M) Posted November 12, 2019 Share #63 Posted November 12, 2019 On 11/11/2019 at 9:24 PM, pedaes said: Great record of a great trip that will stay in the memory for ever. Thanks for sharing. Wot he said, with bells on! A superb journey and thread. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted November 13, 2019 Author Share #64 Posted November 13, 2019 21 hours ago, Keith (M) said: Wot he said, with bells on! A superb journey and thread. Thanks, Keith. I've been observing myself and my reaction to the experience, which was largely aimed at seeing whether I could unlock some of the spirit of when I was younger, and specifically (i) the 'timewarp' effect that comes with not having a plan / following one's nose, and (ii) the mindset change that comes with being out of one's depth, and having to dig a bit deeper. Both of these occurred on that same day when I meandered off the safe option and took the track up to Xiengkok, and they both changed my mindset for the remainder of the trip. At the end of that single day, I felt more alive than I have for years (although physically battered). In fact, I could pinpoint the previous mindset waypoint as being a specific day in 2010 at the small town of Konso, in Ethiopia, where I similarly dropped all plans and stepped into the unknown. The difference this time was that I was aware of the possible effect, and took great pleasure in watching it happen. It doesn't need to be something as stupid as taking a road bike up a dirt track through warlord territory - There is something very special, and perhaps primal, happens when we drop the plans and follow our noses. Those long-forgotten human instincts bubble back to the surface, and we become very observant of the World around us, and of ourselves. I even found a hint of it when I missed a turn riding to a course yesterday morning in a part of Kuala Lumpur that I'm not familiar with - Rather than getting frustrated at trying to get off the spider-web of non-directional arterial highways that run through this city, I relaxed into the moment, ending up where I needed to be, but with another experience under my wing. From looking at your photo's, Keith, I think you get some of this heightened sense of observation when you are out on your walks, and become attuned to your surroundings. It is a fine and rejuvenating state to be in. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted November 22, 2019 Author Share #65 Posted November 22, 2019 I don't know if this link will work, but here's a little clip of a proud bridge owner (after paying him his toll)... https://www.flickr.com/photos/127789682@N04/49038287812/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2019 Share #66 Posted November 24, 2019 On 10/27/2019 at 8:41 PM, EoinC said: Indeed - I showed her this series https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEIs9nkveW9WmYtsOcJBwTg and next thing I know... 👌 I have other motorbikes, including an old Enfield, but they’re all in Australia, and haven’t been ridden for years. I’m curious, Eoin.....why the Interceptor and not the Himalayan? 😀 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share #67 Posted November 24, 2019 Advertisement (gone after registration) 29 minutes ago, Jumper said: I’m curious, Eoin.....why the Interceptor and not the Himalayan? 😀 Good question, Jumper. I like parallel twins, and I live in a city (Kuala Lumpur) where riding a bike changes a commute that can take 1-1/2hrs in my car on a bad day down to 15-20 minutes. My days of going fast on road and dirt bikes are long gone, so the sedate Interceptor is a good match for my sedate aspirations. I wasn't looking for an adventure bike - I just took my road bike on an adventure. It would have been much easier on a Himalaya, but difficulty (and stupidity) maketh the adventure. As it happened, I encountered plenty of riders along the way on adventure bikes (BMW RxxxxGS's) who were sticking strictly to the asphalt. If you haven't already read it, Ted Simon's book, "Jupiter's Travels", is a good tale of taking a road bike where it was never intended to go (In his case a 4 year circumnavigation on a 650 Triumph back in the 1970's). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 24, 2019 Share #68 Posted November 24, 2019 12 minutes ago, EoinC said: I wasn't looking for an adventure bike - I just took my road bike on an adventure. Kind of like that guy who rode a 105cc Aussie postie bike from Sydney to London.🤙 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share #69 Posted November 24, 2019 Or Ed Pratt, on a slightly more extreme journey... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
turner Posted November 29, 2019 Share #70 Posted November 29, 2019 So many wonderful views and what an amazing adventure! Safe travels 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share #71 Posted December 17, 2019 I’m still in Angola, with limited interwebby access, but here’s a little video of one of my rides in Northern Laos, and the nice people I met... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted December 17, 2019 Share #72 Posted December 17, 2019 Eoin, The ride on the Interceptor looks to be pretty good and the scenery very interesting. I was supposed to be doing a car rally in Laos and Vietnam earlier this year with my brother in a heavily modified (for rough road rallies; 8 ply rating truck tyres, raised suspension etc etc) 1970 ex-Safari Rally, Mercedes 280SL. Unfortunately, my brother was quite ill a few weeks before the start of the rally, so we had to cancel and just get the car returned to Europe. Wilson 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share #73 Posted December 17, 2019 It’s wonderful country, Wilson, all the way across from Shan State, Myanmar, to the hills of Northern Vietnam. Stunning scenery, ‘interesting’ roads, and even more interesting people. Did you ship the car to Vietnam? What was the routing of the rally? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted December 17, 2019 Share #74 Posted December 17, 2019 Eoin, Our route would have been as the map below. I was going to do the Danang to Shangri-La sector, as that is about the time limit for my bad back. The car was shipped to Haiphong and then would have been trucked to Danang. The rally organisers, who are excellent (we have done rallies in the far east with them before), arranged for safe storage of the car near Haiphong, until it could be shipped back to the UK, with another of the rally cars at the end of the rally. We usually get 2 cars in a 40 foot container. There is no rush to get this car back as the next rally is the Scottish Malts, where I will use my 911 RSR. Wilson Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here… Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! Link to post Share on other sites Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members! ' data-webShareUrl='https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/302864-running-in/?do=findComment&comment=3874869'>More sharing options...
EoinC Posted December 17, 2019 Author Share #75 Posted December 17, 2019 Excellent, Wilson! The video I posted is from up in the little ‘shark fin’ area of Laos to the Northwest of Oudomoxai (spellings vary) on your map. The hills around Sapa are stunning. That would be a very interesting routing. Hopefully you get another run at it in the future. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted December 18, 2019 Author Share #76 Posted December 18, 2019 Here’s an earlier video, but more accessible on YouTube... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sSHeeUJG1c 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted December 27, 2019 Author Share #77 Posted December 27, 2019 A higher res version of the ride in the hills video... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EoinC Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share #78 Posted January 4, 2020 ...and another little clip of the journey up there (including a silly horizontal moment)... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
farnz Posted January 4, 2020 Share #79 Posted January 4, 2020 Very enjoyable and definitely enhanced by Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' soundtrack. It immediately brought back to me that famous scene in Apocalypse Now where Robert Duvall takes his platoon surfing by helicopter behind enemy lines. Thanks for posting this Eoin. Pete. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlaidlaw Posted January 4, 2020 Share #80 Posted January 4, 2020 Eoin, Your low speed horizontal incident demonstrates why when I was in the market for a vehicle for mountain trails some 14 years ago, I opted for a Yamaha Raptor 700R lightweight sports quad rather than two wheels, Sadly it got stolen from my French house in the middle of the night on a trailer (it was all chained up) in 2018. It was the most reliable vehicle I have ever had. During the 13 years I owned it and did around 35,000 km, not a single thing actually went wrong. I was only on my second chain and pair of sprockets, which with a big (700cc) single thumping away, I had expected to wear out far quicker. They would actually have done a fair bit more mileage when I changed them for the first time at 25,000km and took the opportunity to make the gearing a bit higher for road use. Bike chains are one of these things that have improved enormously. I remember when I had a Norvin (Vincent Black Lightning engined Norton) in the 1960's, I always carried a spare chain and the chain rarely lasted more than around 1000 miles before it snapped. Even my 350 Aermacchi Ala d'Oro only got around 2000 miles out of a chain. Thanks for posting those great videos. Wilson Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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