laird387

HANDYMAN HUSBAND Wife texts her handy husband at work on a cold winter morning: "WINDOWS FROZEN ~ WON'T OPEN" Husband texts back: "GENTLY POUR SOME LUKEWARM WATER OVER THE EDGES AND THEN TAP EDGES SHARPLY WITH HAMMER" Wife texts back 5 minutes later: "LAPTOP REALLY BUGGERED NOW’’

Hi, Nice to see all the old friends in action - sad that Islwyn MCC no longer exists.

Photoreport of the Nostalgia will be in the next issue of our digital magazine - agreed a very special thanks to all concerned, Nelson would have been proud............

Too much knocking by people who don't really understand - and most likely are not willing to put in the time and effort to do something other than just complain, complain, complain...........

The green is the ground or earth connection from the generator in the flywheel, on your photograph it is connected to the white wire which you can't see because it's behind the connector. It is the green lead that needs to be connected directly to the Sherpa frame. I don't know exactly which year etc. your Sherpa is but I suspect the red and yellow wires are from the lighting coil, but you need a real Sherpa expert for that, I'm just a retired electronics engineer.

Hi John, Thought it would be for Chris - anyway, as you know I have been a photographer for a while, so I thought I would try the treatment on one of your pics to give other potential readers a chance to see how we would present the picture in ORRe. I have and 'lifted' some of the shadows round the engine so that you can see a little more detail of the build, and this is the size it would appear in ORRe. Anyone with photographs of interesting machines, just join in the fun and email me copies of your machines, and I will apply the professional techniques for you - for free if you are an ORRe member. Enjoy - and keep watching, John, I have more pics of yourself and Chris coming along.

Hi Netley, On the pic on post22 above, I would suggest you take the green lead coming up from the flywheel and put it into a connector direct to fit under the screw clamp, instead of the white wire as you have done, then take out that bolt through the mounting plate and scrape the paint off the frame itself (on the other side, under the head of the bolt not under the nut) That way you get a direct connection to the grounded side of the coil, whereas you are relying on the quality of the connection to the coil mounting plate which may not be really electrically connected to the frame. Equally I would always solder wires in connecting spade or circular lugs and not just rely on clamping them because the vibration and chemical reactions always have the potential to create corrosion over time. Just to help further I am including one of the photographs from our feature on improving ignition systems in our digital magazine, ORRe. It shows the way Sammy Miller modified his ignition on his own Sherpa in 1967. As you can see he fitted a spare ignition coil complete with plug lead and plug cap already wired in and tucked up under the tank. But note that his ground to frame connection is quite separately made direct to the Sherpa frame, the ground connector spade closest to the steering head. When I visited Sam in his workshop and we talked about various topics, Sam agreed that he also always soldered spade terminal connections, never relied just on crimped ones.

Send reports and pix of Vic Brittain to me and I guarantee you'll get a 25/30 photos account in ORRe. Indeed, send me the pack that you sent to 'the Media' and I'll see what can be published out of that. I started in TMX when it was trials and Motocross News and Bill Lawless was editor, it grieves me to see how their standards have changed.

Hi, Off topic, as usual, but for anyone taking photographs of bikes the 'most usual professional practice' we were taught was to line up the centre of the camera lens level and in line with the spark plug and then make sure the camera itself was perfectly level. Then get as far away from the machine as possible, and use your lens selection to keep away from the wide angle end of a zoom. That way the resulting image was more likely to be correctly in proportion with the wheels appearing to be circular. I hope you can see, John, that the rear wheel of your interesting Bantam looks to be slightly oval? Only trying to help, is it for your future events, or your lads next ride?

A little off topic but a useful tip that many are not aware of. Using the rear brake to control traction - or more correctly to control the amount of traction - can help when driving the car, either from a muddy field, or better yet, when there is ice about. To get away from rest keep the footbrake just biting as you feed in the clutch - the drag of the light brake on each wheel prevents the wheel with least grip starting to spin, which would bring the differential into action and remove drive from the wheel where there is grip. Instead of just sitting there with a wheel spinning you will begin to move off. With practice on a muddy patch you can even get to the stage where you can start off in second gear when you know the surface has little grip, and that is even better in really gripless situations.

Bit of fun! For the full Photoreport of Yorks Classic at Cockhill see ORRe-46. Photos by Jack Knoops. Enjoy - and there are plenty of shots of John Feather in serious action in other events........... Attached Images

Irish Fire Insurance A man and his wife moved back home to County Cork, from London. The wife had a wooden leg and to insure it in Britain was £2000.00 a year! When they arrived in Bailieborough, they went to an Insurance agency to see how much it would cost to insure the wooden leg. The agent looked it up on the computer and said to the couple, '€39.00.' The husband was shocked and asked why it was so cheap here in Ireland to insure, because it cost him £2000.00 in England! The agent turned his computer screen to the couple and said, 'Well, here it is on the screen,it says: *Any wooden structure, with a sprinkler system over it, is €39.00.* I often do find the Irish Logic far superior to most others.

A man fell asleep on the beach in Queensland for four hours and got a horrible sunburn, specifically to the front of his legs above his knee. He went to the hospital, and was promptly admitted after being diagnosed with second-degree burns. With his skin already starting to blister, and the severe pain he was in, the doctor prescribed continuous intravenous feeding with saline, electrolytes, a sedative, and a Viagra pill every four hours. The nurse, who was rather astounded, asked, 'What good will Viagra do for him, Doctor?' The Doctor replied, 'It won't do anything for his condition, but it'll keep the sheets off his legs!!!

A golf Story John, who lived in the north of England, decided to go golfing in Scotland with his buddy, Shawn. So they loaded up John's minivan and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night. ‘I realize it's terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed,' she explained, 'and I'm afraid the neighbours will talk if I let you stay in my house.' 'Don't worry,' John said. 'We'll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light.' The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of golf. But about nine months later, John got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the golf weekend. He dropped in on his friend Shawn and asked, "Shawn, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our golf holiday in Scotland about 9 months ago?' ‘Yes, I do,' said Shawn 'Did you, er, happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?' 'Well, um, yes!,' Shawn said, a little embarrassed about being found out, 'I have to admit that I did.' 'And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?' Shawn's face turned beet red and he said, 'Yeah, look, I'm sorry, buddy. I'm afraid I did. Why do you ask?' ‘She just died and left me everything.'

One piece of advice from years ago, the object during the turn is to have as much of the tread on the tyre biting whatever grip is available, so the bike needs to be leaning to try to get the flat of the tyre at right angles to the surface. Then you need maximum weight acting through that point of contact, so your body needs to be inboard of the bike with your weight acting perpendicularly through the line of contact. Many thought you needed the total weight of bike plus rider acting down through the point of contact, but repeated tries merely set the tyre sliding down the hill instead of gripping - 'cos only the edge of the tyre was in hard contact with the ground...........

Two young northern men were just leaving Kings Cross station during a trip to London when they were approached by a TV crew doing a market research project. The crew were looking for comment on a new local lager brewed in London - " Please try a sample, " said the keen young presenter, offering a tray with plastic cups filed with an amber liquid. The first northerner took the offered cup and had a drink. The presenter held his microphone at the ready..........."It reminds me of a summer's day, on the banks of a beautiful river a young man and his girl relax under the trees, there is warmth in the air and the scent of flowers, they gently kiss then sink into a deeper embrace and make deep satisfying love............" "Yes, yes," eagerly soaking up this wonderful advertising opportunity, and turning to the second northerner offers him a sample plastic cup, "What do you think of our new lager?" he eagerly asks. The second northerner takes a drink, swills it around in his palette and looks thoughtful. "Well, what do you think?" asked the gullible southern presenter. "Same as my mate," came the reply, "It's f*****ng near water......."

Anyone interested in classic action shots from the past of Montesa machines in action, please note that there is a feature in the next ORRe of Montesa photos from the archive that we have never published before, either in ORRe or on the website. They were mostly photographed before the days of digital photography so they are currently being scanned from the negative films - but they will definitely show you the real machines as they were.......... Enjoy

The 'original' improvement used by Arthur Shutt to be the first man on a Villiers powered machine to win the Scott was to lift the grounded end of the flywheel mounted ignition coil and connect it to the 8 volts output from the lighting coils, using the lighting coil and ignition coil primary in series. That was the way all the works trials Francis-Barnetts were wired subsequently.

Peter Gaunt is the inveterate independent engineer, rarely throughout his life, have his motorcycles conformed to the as-manufactured norm, but those of us who have been friends of his for decades know full well that he could transform a motorcycle and make it handle. So it came as no surprise to know that when most people would be enjoying a celebration on their eightieth birthday, Peter spent his day differently, sadly rushed to hospital with a thrombosis. Happily the attack was not fatal - but has given Peter a salutory reminder that life is precious and he needs to scale back his independance. He has lost full control of his left side, but can still move his fingers, so has hopes of regaining control in time. Similarly he can still walk, but not necessarily with the precise control that he is used to. We wish him well, please take care of yourself Geeky. I am attaching a typical photograph of him taken almost fifty years ago, when his works ride with AMC was fast 'disappearing down the plug hole' as the company went bust and in desperation they loaned him to Suzuki to develop a model for the UK market, based in the old James factory at Greet.

Hi geurn, Without knowing which part of the world you are located in - because like so many machines, the spec. etc., as supplied varied continent by continent - it is difficult to know how best to offer help - but as a starter here is a photograph of the creator of the Dalesman models, Peter Edmondson, trying out one of the early models in a Yorkshire Centre team trial in February 1967. Enjoy.

The passing of Derek Milner Allen in The Grange Crescent Care Home, Sheffield, on Wednesday at the age of 82 brought closure on a sidecar passenger who partnered Sheffield, latterly France, character and 1959 Yorkshire Centre A-CU President Jack Oliver who won the last Scottish Six Days Trial riding a sidecar outfit. Derek would have been 83 on Saturday. Former Alan Morewood passenger Phil Granby broke the news to ORRe early on Thursday morning. Jack Oliver was prominent in the sixties when his mother rode sidecar trials with her son, readers will remember the photographs of them in action in ORRe. No funeral details have been released as yet.

Hi Charlie, The other part of the spec was that there were a couple of anxious Norton mechanics riding round with Geoff, just in case he had problems that would impact on his racing activities. Trouble is the Scott is, of course, time and observation and the helpers, which Geoff certainly didn't approve because he was a very competent trials rider in his own right, couldn't keep up with him.......... Cheers Deryk

And the factory Colt ridden by Geoff Duke, effectively an HT with a Colt motor simply to have a 250, 350, 500cc line-up for class awards in the nationals. This image from my book The Scott Trial which I published in 1994. PHOTO: DON MORLEY

Pre-war Ariel Colt, full page on page 25 issue 35. Geoff Duke, I'll get back to you - I saw it in the Scott Trial in the late 1950s

Spen, Which Ariel Colt - the pre-war girder-forked one or the factory bike that Geoff Duke rode, almost a miniature HT? There are pictures of both in ORRe. Deryk