For not the first time in my years of Vincent ownership I have suffered failure of the C45 locking tang, self evident when the C20 clutch retaining nut unscrews itself and the handlebar clutch lever gradually ceases to disengage the clutch, this normally happens at the most inconvenient time and place, the time before yesterday in the middle of Dartmoor, thankfully yesterday it occurred very close to home, it is in reality a fairly easy fix, even at the side of the road, if you have the required tools and a spare spring, even if you don't have a spring you can simply bend another tang onto the old spring to get you out of trouble. (thanks for the tip Marcus)
But why does this happen repeatedly, am I the only person this happens to, I try to always use a new replacement Club Spares spring, I always do the C20 nut up FT, always to next available slot, no matter how hard it is to get it there, I never back off to the previous slot, the spring always breaks at the weakest point, on the 90 degree bend, my question is, is there a better engineering solution than the one currently used, other than resorting to one of the Loctite products, has anyone managed to make a flat plate key to lock the two slots rather than the rather flimsy spring, and if so how have they retained the key to keep it in place.
I now carry a spare spring and tools to carry out a roadside repair, but I don't really think it should ever be necessary if there was a decent engineering solution to locking the C20 nut in position.
But why does this happen repeatedly, am I the only person this happens to, I try to always use a new replacement Club Spares spring, I always do the C20 nut up FT, always to next available slot, no matter how hard it is to get it there, I never back off to the previous slot, the spring always breaks at the weakest point, on the 90 degree bend, my question is, is there a better engineering solution than the one currently used, other than resorting to one of the Loctite products, has anyone managed to make a flat plate key to lock the two slots rather than the rather flimsy spring, and if so how have they retained the key to keep it in place.
I now carry a spare spring and tools to carry out a roadside repair, but I don't really think it should ever be necessary if there was a decent engineering solution to locking the C20 nut in position.
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