Peter Sprot - The 2009 Tour

  • Thread starter Graham Smith
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Graham Smith

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Peter Sprot (with trusty Rapide) and his friend Graham have left for their 2009 tour of Europe taking in France, Italy, Malta, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Belgium and Holland

Click HERE to be taken the the VOC's main website, and to follow their progress.

Their progress will be updated on a daily basis, so make sure you check back to see how they're getting on.

Any discussion regarding Peter's trip can be made on this thread…
 
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Shadowman

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Technical issues

Having reached Malta with around 2000 miles travelled I find that the 22 watt pilot light which has been on all the time is at times not as bright as it should be, also the whiring noise has been getting louder and is now happenig even when the engine is cold. I took a look inside the inspection cap and find that I can move the gear on the end of the five year old Alton up and down so I guess it is a bearing. I will phone Alton on Monday and ask what can be done. Coming from the ferry last night the lights where no more than a glimmer even when I revved the engine. This morning I tried it with a cold engine and they worked fine but the battery is completely flat which it shouldn't be having ridden so far yesterday. Both speedo bulbs have blown yesterday. I checked inside the headlight and no wires are amiss and the earth is good so I am confused and can only guess that the Alternator is disintegrating slowly inside. I don't want to going 3000 miles more without lights in fear of being arrested so removing the gear to the Alton is not possible. Ho Hum At least I'm in a nice place with no hotel bills to pay.
Regards to all Peter Sprot
 

Shadowman

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Alton Alternator

I phoned the very helpful Paul Hamon at Alton who told me how to strip the four year old 3 phase. Inside there is a steel gear driving a nylon one which in turn drives the rotor. One of the two bearings on the primary shaft onto which fits the Vincent drive sprocket was not good. The other one was border line so I went to a local bearing supplier and bought exact replacements for less than 4 euros each. The bad bearing was very hard to get off the shaft and without the use of a workshop I would not have been able to get it off. I put it all back with lots of grease in the box (The grease was everywhere but on the gears when I took it apart) and Voila it works and my light are bright once again. I'm not at all convinced that the bearings had anything at all to do with the poor charging or the whining noise which I'm doing my best to ignore and have convinced myself that I have a weird helmet that filters and amplifies certain frequencies into my ears because when I close the visor or better still remove the helmet the nasty noises disappear. Time will tell if I'm wrong.
 
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