As much as we love to hate Harley's, there is this company called S&S and they can make a Harley really romp.
I did catch him though, just as the Miller unspooled itself....
I did catch him though, just as the Miller unspooled itself....
Some good points have been made here, none of which apply to me, if you have owned a Vincent long enough, in my case coming up to 54 years, there was a time when there was simply no choice to be had other than 6volts of very inadequate, unreliable electricity, riding at night was quite frankly dangerous, before Chinamos, Altons and reworked 6-12 volt dynamos, car alternators were probably the only way to go, I clearly remember 50 odd years ago Harvey Bowden installed a car type Lucas alternator driven off a pulley attached to the outer clutch plate, and I remember the delight Harvey expressed when he was able to blind inconsiderate oncoming car drivers with a dose of their own medicine, it all looked bloody awful, but it was all reversible, and it worked.A car alternator is certainly great for those who really need a lot of power for whatever to run. But then for classic looks it is just ab-so-lu-tely no way I´d be willing to throw one onto my bikes - same as for elephant breathers and various contraptions of luggage carriers, ignition coils at the cylinder base - and so on. At my age I am no longer keen on doing long motorbike travelling and if so, instead of ruining the style of a Vincent to turn it into somewhat suitable for travelling I´d rather get me a used BMW twin - or Jap - with all that is required in one package and you are ready to go, no compromises. If you don´t care about horrible looks so you can opt for a BMW or Jap just as well. Don´t see the point why to spoil a Vincent in lots of aspects just to go travelling.
Anyway, putting an alternator at the mag place has a few serious flaws: You´d have to have a gearbox in there to boost the output due to only half speed there. That means the drive inflicts the alternator with high loads - some shock loads too - at same ration as you up the speed in there. Sure, there is no ESA to blame , but the gearbox in the alternator needs extra lubrication, produces noise and with a ratio of, say, 1:3 , it is loaded with threefold acceleration when blipping the throttle. The load from inertia of the rotor is in consequence threefold as well and so all gears in the timing side get a high additional load - which I would not want to have.
Instead of a gear drive in the alternator at the mag position one may find a big three phase motor , bigger diameter than at the old Miller place possible. 90 mm o.d. is about max there I guess, as I will put that size of car magneto there - just. So yes, a starter at the old dyno place may be an option then, haven´t seen one yet.
Speaking for myself, my numbers I have found from REAL load tests with these permanent magnet motors , no gears, look great for me and I will never need more power from them so no need to opt for car alternators. When seeing 14 V at 2100 rpm at the crank with a 100 W quartz bulb connected that is good for me and for a lot more Vincenteers I believe. There seem to be a few reasons why the car type alternators did not catch on a lot more.
To this day I have not seen wattage numbers of non-geared Altons at various speeds. With the B-series engines and cast-in dyno cradles Alton is limited to a small diameter motor due to the 1/2 " offset of drive shaft. I did a little machining for 68 mm motors, 70 mm is about max for the old cases. So my guess, these 68 mm China motors will supply more power than the non-geared Altons - at a fraction of costs. You can have 5 to 10 motors for one Alton, regulator included - great for those who love messing around at the lathe or mill.
ESA drama aside, a low mass of the rotor is a bonus and desirable at the old Miller dyno place, all drama in the primary is really the consequence of the ESA, so the triplex chain induces shock loads into the rotor which adds to the harsh behaviour of this chain drive. My pictures below show internals of the old Miller dyno and brush and brushless type China motors. The Miller has more than one kilogram more weight than the motors. An even bigger brushless is on order, will take another three weeks to arrive here I think. So watch this space for more details.
Vic
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I have a variety of bikes some more suitable for a particular purpose than others. I've put a "Like" on Peter's post. A like doesn't express my agreement with his post adequately. My comment: "I couldn't agree more."Some good points have been made here, none of which apply to me, if you have owned a Vincent long enough, in my case coming up to 54 years, there was a time when there was simply no choice to be had other than 6volts of very inadequate, unreliable electricity, riding at night was quite frankly dangerous, before Chinamos, Altons and reworked 6-12 volt dynamos, car alternators were probably the only way to go, I clearly remember 50 odd years ago Harvey Bowden installed a car type Lucas alternator driven off a pulley attached to the outer clutch plate, and I remember the delight Harvey expressed when he was able to blind inconsiderate oncoming car drivers with a dose of their own medicine, it all looked bloody awful, but it was all reversible, and it worked.
Anyone who regularly carries a pillion passenger simply has to go fully sprung, if you want to retain your pillion passenger that is, or you only ride on billiard table flat roads, and there are not to many of those around these days, I have run with a CTG carrier and Craven Dolomites for many years now, that set up got us over the Grossglockner Pass a week ago, two up with luggage and in comfort, despite the fact that Sue had ruptured her achillies tendon the previous evening whilst dancing at the international gala dinner, ( she is now wearing a huge surgical boot and will be out of action for possibly 12 weeks, what a pain, do not dance, it is dangerous)
Elephant trunks in their various guises do look hideous, and although the jury is still out they do seem to serve a useful purpose, I run with one having tried various types over the years, I did use the Ivan Caffrey, or was it Mac Read, bouncing nylon ball valve thing, but the extra metal tubing and the clatter did not sit well with me, I now have a simple atmospheric breather running off the ATD cover, it seems to work, and again is reversible in 5 minutes. I was at the Godet workshop a couple of months ago and was shown a really neat solution to engine breathing using replacement valve caps, almost indiscernible from standard, might look into those at a later date.
Well I have tried other bikes with all these improvements built in, the first was a Yamaha FJ 1200 which did everything OK in an anodyne sort of way, drank loads of fuel though, Sue was not overly impressed, much preferred the Vincent, then came the BMW R100R Classic, I was rather drawn to this bike, last of the BMW Airheads and I liked its classic teutonic looks, wasn't that keen on the flywheel effect, much prefer the way the flywheels effect the Vincent, Sue did not like the BMW at all, I still have both of those bikes if anyone is interested in them.
So a much modified Vincent will remain my everyday steed, all totally reversible when the need arises, not anytime soon I hope, strangely enough all mods do not seem to detract in any way from the admiration the bike gets whilst out and about, it can be be a little irritating when you are all suited, booted and helmeted, and roasting hot and someone wants to chat, but I always try to maintain my accommodating happy disposition, it always reminds me of that old cigarette advert, you are never alone with a Strand, (Vincent)
Cheers Peter