I know many of you have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles/kilometers on your Vincents and other bikes and many of those miles/kilometers were in the rain and it was no big deal...Well as a new guy to the Vincent world with fewer then 4000 miles on my Vincent, I finally found my self at the far end of a run from my garage at the start of some gully washing downpours . At this point the rain that was threatening all day finally decided to hit the ground and it did so, all at once...
I was on the motorway at 75mph when Noah got the first call. I cut the speed to 55mph, and got out of the passing lane and opened up the distance between the car in front of me to 4 car lengths or more. I switched from the driving light to the high beam H4 quartz halogen 6Vdc 8 inch head light...Yea I know none of that is stock but screw it, it cuts a nice beam into the darkness and it is easy’ish to see in the rain.
Kept and eye out in my rearview mirrors and tucked in behind the 5 inch Vincent speedo as a wind screen... I was almost 2 hours from home... The bikes motor way performance was ok the bike seem to bog on acceleration a bit no doubt due to a rich running condition as my air filters got soaked. It was coming down in buckets !!
The brake effectiveness was down by 30% or so but with a good squeeze and the application of both the FT and rear stopping was not an issue, just the effort was increased.. I decided to get off the big roads and take the two lanes home the rest of the way. Now by this time Noah had the wood delivered and had figured out what a cubit was..
The back roads were less stressful and I kept my distances in front and behind in view and in consideration... At this point the bike was running well but the bike’s typical low idle was not as smooth and rhythmic so I kept some throttle on at the lights just in case. Shifting was good acceleration was good and even the stopping was under control with a monster grip. One hour to home and Noah had the keel laid and the animals started to gather. My riding gear at this point had decided that it had had enough and my right water proof boot was proving that it holds water in, just fine. My riding jacket normally good for an hour in a good downpour was struggling to keep me dry and failing..My riding pants were doing OK but they are way past their prime.. That darn boot was really pissing me of though...Only 4-5 years old and 50-70K miles on them ..Gona have to see about this once it all dries out.. I hate wet feet, I had a bad experience on a 1000 mile 24 hour trip many years ago and I have yet to recover.see if interested.http://www.largiader.com/stories/ss1k.html
So soaked in an out we soldered on the old bike and I though the tree covered lanes that provided some degree of cover and the cross roads that resembled fast moving streams 1-4 inches deep... Still the bike was fine, a bit soggy and down on power at the low end but she was fine. The Ammeter showed a steady charge the head light was a blaze, well it was still on at least , even the horn was working which is a sometimes affair. I was gona pull this off yet! I geared down for a stop light applied the brakes early and came to a stop, just as I got the thumbs up from the coast guard from their ship on the cross street, the bikes fire went out and she coasted to the road side dead... dang..
Now that the the engine was off, I did notice that the rain drops seemed to be the sized of golf balls and they made a lot of noise hitting my helmet even past the ear plugs. So I set to check the bike over...Kill the lights , check fuel by priming the carbs and WTF kick it over....BINGO we are a go!! Full speed ahead Capt’n! Wow that was a surprise..
I was 20 mins from home the inside of my visor was dripping wet my jacket weighed 20lbs and I swear I could hear the water sloshing in my right boot...Noah had clearance to depart and was only waiting for the debris to clear from the shipping lanes.. BTW I was the debris...
Traffic was becoming light and I was now motoring downhill to my town. The huge drops were now just a steady heavy downpour and the water level in the streets was down to a trickle. I looked and looked for a problem but the bike simply was not having any of it..She seems to say, you call this rain? Let me tell you about Manchester UK in 1958 not that was bloody rain! As the heavy stuff stopped the power seemed to come back and the bike was smoothing out. My nerves were easing up as was my grip on the handle bar.. 5 mins from home I was actually smiling in the rain and motored down into my neighborhood like it was any regular day... Noah decide to hang out on Mt Ararat for a while as the floods pulled back 39.9 days early...
Once in the garage I let the bike drop into its normal low idle, chugging away like she always does...As I was sitting there with the bike running I swear I heard a faint female voice with a British accent say, “ your going to wash me off one day soon, right?”
I hit the kill button and she was quite, the only sound left was the water dripping on the floor and the ticking of the pipes....It was a good ride;-)
Cheers,
Eric
I was on the motorway at 75mph when Noah got the first call. I cut the speed to 55mph, and got out of the passing lane and opened up the distance between the car in front of me to 4 car lengths or more. I switched from the driving light to the high beam H4 quartz halogen 6Vdc 8 inch head light...Yea I know none of that is stock but screw it, it cuts a nice beam into the darkness and it is easy’ish to see in the rain.
Kept and eye out in my rearview mirrors and tucked in behind the 5 inch Vincent speedo as a wind screen... I was almost 2 hours from home... The bikes motor way performance was ok the bike seem to bog on acceleration a bit no doubt due to a rich running condition as my air filters got soaked. It was coming down in buckets !!The brake effectiveness was down by 30% or so but with a good squeeze and the application of both the FT and rear stopping was not an issue, just the effort was increased.. I decided to get off the big roads and take the two lanes home the rest of the way. Now by this time Noah had the wood delivered and had figured out what a cubit was..
The back roads were less stressful and I kept my distances in front and behind in view and in consideration... At this point the bike was running well but the bike’s typical low idle was not as smooth and rhythmic so I kept some throttle on at the lights just in case. Shifting was good acceleration was good and even the stopping was under control with a monster grip. One hour to home and Noah had the keel laid and the animals started to gather. My riding gear at this point had decided that it had had enough and my right water proof boot was proving that it holds water in, just fine. My riding jacket normally good for an hour in a good downpour was struggling to keep me dry and failing..My riding pants were doing OK but they are way past their prime.. That darn boot was really pissing me of though...Only 4-5 years old and 50-70K miles on them ..Gona have to see about this once it all dries out.. I hate wet feet, I had a bad experience on a 1000 mile 24 hour trip many years ago and I have yet to recover.see if interested.http://www.largiader.com/stories/ss1k.html
So soaked in an out we soldered on the old bike and I though the tree covered lanes that provided some degree of cover and the cross roads that resembled fast moving streams 1-4 inches deep... Still the bike was fine, a bit soggy and down on power at the low end but she was fine. The Ammeter showed a steady charge the head light was a blaze, well it was still on at least , even the horn was working which is a sometimes affair. I was gona pull this off yet! I geared down for a stop light applied the brakes early and came to a stop, just as I got the thumbs up from the coast guard from their ship on the cross street, the bikes fire went out and she coasted to the road side dead... dang..
Now that the the engine was off, I did notice that the rain drops seemed to be the sized of golf balls and they made a lot of noise hitting my helmet even past the ear plugs. So I set to check the bike over...Kill the lights , check fuel by priming the carbs and WTF kick it over....BINGO we are a go!! Full speed ahead Capt’n! Wow that was a surprise..
I was 20 mins from home the inside of my visor was dripping wet my jacket weighed 20lbs and I swear I could hear the water sloshing in my right boot...Noah had clearance to depart and was only waiting for the debris to clear from the shipping lanes.. BTW I was the debris...
Traffic was becoming light and I was now motoring downhill to my town. The huge drops were now just a steady heavy downpour and the water level in the streets was down to a trickle. I looked and looked for a problem but the bike simply was not having any of it..She seems to say, you call this rain? Let me tell you about Manchester UK in 1958 not that was bloody rain! As the heavy stuff stopped the power seemed to come back and the bike was smoothing out. My nerves were easing up as was my grip on the handle bar.. 5 mins from home I was actually smiling in the rain and motored down into my neighborhood like it was any regular day... Noah decide to hang out on Mt Ararat for a while as the floods pulled back 39.9 days early...
Once in the garage I let the bike drop into its normal low idle, chugging away like she always does...As I was sitting there with the bike running I swear I heard a faint female voice with a British accent say, “ your going to wash me off one day soon, right?”
I hit the kill button and she was quite, the only sound left was the water dripping on the floor and the ticking of the pipes....It was a good ride;-)
Cheers,
Eric
