photos

Len Matthews

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Note also the Bantam gaiters on the front spring boxes.
Not necessarily a good thing. I had a pair of Bantam gaiters on my outfit for years. On stripping the forks for overhaul I found that water trapped in the gaiters had corroded the outer springboxes
to the extent I had to replace them. Also, consider this: as the forks are compressed by road action, air has to be displaced from upper and lower springboxes. Gaiters will impede the free escape of any such pressure build up. The effect may be marginal but I like my Girdraulics to move as much as possible!
 

ClassicBiker

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VOC Member
Not necessarily a good thing. I had a pair of Bantam gaiters on my outfit for years. On stripping the forks for overhaul I found that water trapped in the gaiters had corroded the outer springboxes
to the extent I had to replace them. Also, consider this: as the forks are compressed by road action, air has to be displaced from upper and lower springboxes. Gaiters will impede the free escape of any such pressure build up. The effect may be marginal but I like my Girdraulics to move as much as possible!

Len,
Interesting point about the escaping air. On my Triumphs that have gaiters I've noticed holes molded in to allow the air to escape. Some of the Triumph gaiters are sided, topside and bottom side, to fit properly into the groove in the spring retainer at the top and have a slit molded to receive the flange of the spring cup on the bottom. The properly molded/thought out gaiters have the holes on the bottom surface of the bellows to prevent water ingress, the others have the holes willy nilly everywhere. Every set of Triumph forks that I've pulled apart inevitably has water accumulation in the spring cup and the damage that results. I've often thought of fitting the Bantam gaiters to my spring boxes, but after reading your account of the results, that's one mod I'll fore go.
Thanks for the heads up.
Steven
 

davidd

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VOC Member
If you look carefully at the Grey Flash racing photos you will see a hole drilled at the very top of the outer front spring box. I would guess that they did it to Lightnings also, but it is harder to see the black dot on a black cover.

David
 

clevtrev

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VOC Member
I have discussed this photo with a friend from the Balkans who has some interesting comments BUT would like to see an even better quality photo before proceeding.
Could this be provided - as I attempted to ask when trying to start a 'Conversation' with cinquecento ?
Could the original be scanned/photographed in greater detail/resolution and then sent to me using email via Graham?
Generate a better picture yourself. I`ve mentioned how to do it before. Right click on picture select, copy image, paste it into Paint. Bobs your uncle. Save it how you like.
 

Diogenes

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Generate a better picture yourself. I`ve mentioned how to do it before. Right click on picture select, copy image, paste it into Paint. Bobs your uncle. Save it how you like.
Trev, I assume your computing experience has been limited to using Microsoft Windows.
You may be surprised to hear that some users prefer not to support the Bill Gates pension fund and even use software from other suppliers.

Your instructions are only valid for computers using WINDOWS operating system.

I have used up to date Apple software to download the best image I can, but that is only 198 KB - which is SMALL by modern standards.
No matter what tricks are used one cannot download an image which is better than that placed on the web in the first place.

That is why I have politely asked the original poster [ cinquecento ] to provide a better image, so my Balkan pal has better material to work with.
When you have gained wider experience of computing systems, you may gain more understanding of them.
 

clevtrev

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
balkansvin1.jpg
 

cinquecento

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
sorry, no can do (supply better picture). I actually thought the picture had quite reasonable resolution.

Given that the wee fellah to the left of the rear wheel can be seen and those in the fore ground not bleached out i would have said the quality/exposure of the picture was very good and commensurate with professional standards of the time.

mebe technology has spoilt us, expecting everything to be pin sharp.
 

Diogenes

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
sorry, no can do (supply better picture). I actually thought the picture had quite reasonable resolution.

Given that the wee fellah to the left of the rear wheel can be seen and those in the fore ground not bleached out i would have said the quality/exposure of the picture was very good and commensurate with professional standards of the time.
mebe technology has spoilt us, expecting everything to be pin sharp.

Thanks.
I agree that the photo clarity is good and I am confident that it was taken by the traveller, not one of the locals, for that reason.
Cheap good automatic digital cameras were not readily available in 1950s, of course.
But when it comes to examining the locals' headgear in fine detail, in order to define the locality, then we have to scrape the barrel for best definition.
It appears that the photo placed on the web site was scanned from a published print.
If so,then could the scanning be done again using a finer setting or a better scanner?
Or even better, take a high res digital photo as a copy, using a tripod or a very steady hand?


I recognise that this photo is a minority taste, but the more one looks at it the more one sees in it.
For example, the failed inner tube spread open like a fish, split along the fold line and draped over the rear wheel, a bit like a hunting trophy.
No chance of repairing that inner tube with a few patches!
And I think it is wonderful the way every male seems to be doing his best to get his place in history in the photo.
If only we knew exactly 'where and when' we might be able to send a copy to any survivors.

It would still be useful to know the source of that photo.
Who knows, there may be an interesting Vincent story behind it.
And access to the original negative would be ideal!

[I have checked the clevtrev 287KB version against the 198KB version I downloaded earlier, and when ZOOMED to equal image size there is no discernible improvement.]
 
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