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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
Seat Failure
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<blockquote data-quote="timetraveller" data-source="post: 46826" data-attributes="member: 456"><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'">This type of failure became common 20 to 30 years ago. Recall that Vincents were producing most of our bikes between 1947 and 1954, the post second world war years. It is instructive to look at old films of people on the beach in those years. Nearly everyone has a stomach curved inwards and their ribs show through their skin. Rationing and lack of availability of many foods types means that post war people (remember that we were not occupied so the situation must have been much worse on some countries) were considerably lighter weight than most of us today. The series ‘D’s had been produced with fully sprung rear ends for more comfort and so many of us fully sprung the rear of our seats and the failures began. Recall also that there are two lengths of these particular stays. The solution adopted by most of us was to weld in a triangular gusset to the rear of these brackets to spread the load over a larger area and to reduce point loadings. There is a limit as to how far rearwards these gussets can extend because of the sliders for the tool box. If one does not want to go too far with changing things then this is probably the easiest and cheapest way to get round this problem.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'">However, Ian Savage of Spares Company fame made a very nice and almost invisible mod years ago. I hope that Ian will not mind me mentioning that he is robustly built as is Jenny, the lady in his life, and so his modification had to take a serious amount of force. I do not have photographs of the mod but it consists of a frame, roughly the same size and shape as the rear of a B/C seat base. It can contain a larger tool box than standard and the seat pivots from one side. It takes all the tensional forces of the seat trying to pivot rearwards and relieves the brackets in question of the forces which lead to their failure. It is a very neat mod and possibly Ian could post either a photograph or drawing here.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 12px"><span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri'">Within the context of ‘D’ rear ends and also with Laplander seeking advice on what model of Vincent to purchase it is worth noting the following. The ‘D’s were developed after consultation with members of the VOC and other riders and it was Vincents attempt to make the bikes better. Both spark plugs on the same side of the bike and both carb also on the same side of the bike for easier maintenance, coil ignition for easier starting, a fully sprung rear end for more comfort, a larger tool box and oil tank sited for easier removal and cleaning, different springs at the front end for more comfort and so on. Lack of finances and difficulties with post war supplies of material bedevilled the ‘D’s reputation and yet after all this time quality control problems have been long overcome. I have no vested interest in this as I have both a ‘C’ and a ‘D’ but it is the attempts of owners to make the rear end of ‘B’s and ‘C’s as comfortable as ‘D’s which leads to the failure of these brackets.</span></span></span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="timetraveller, post: 46826, member: 456"] [SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]This type of failure became common 20 to 30 years ago. Recall that Vincents were producing most of our bikes between 1947 and 1954, the post second world war years. It is instructive to look at old films of people on the beach in those years. Nearly everyone has a stomach curved inwards and their ribs show through their skin. Rationing and lack of availability of many foods types means that post war people (remember that we were not occupied so the situation must have been much worse on some countries) were considerably lighter weight than most of us today. The series ‘D’s had been produced with fully sprung rear ends for more comfort and so many of us fully sprung the rear of our seats and the failures began. Recall also that there are two lengths of these particular stays. The solution adopted by most of us was to weld in a triangular gusset to the rear of these brackets to spread the load over a larger area and to reduce point loadings. There is a limit as to how far rearwards these gussets can extend because of the sliders for the tool box. If one does not want to go too far with changing things then this is probably the easiest and cheapest way to get round this problem.[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]However, Ian Savage of Spares Company fame made a very nice and almost invisible mod years ago. I hope that Ian will not mind me mentioning that he is robustly built as is Jenny, the lady in his life, and so his modification had to take a serious amount of force. I do not have photographs of the mod but it consists of a frame, roughly the same size and shape as the rear of a B/C seat base. It can contain a larger tool box than standard and the seat pivots from one side. It takes all the tensional forces of the seat trying to pivot rearwards and relieves the brackets in question of the forces which lead to their failure. It is a very neat mod and possibly Ian could post either a photograph or drawing here.[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE] [SIZE=3][COLOR=#000000][FONT=Calibri]Within the context of ‘D’ rear ends and also with Laplander seeking advice on what model of Vincent to purchase it is worth noting the following. The ‘D’s were developed after consultation with members of the VOC and other riders and it was Vincents attempt to make the bikes better. Both spark plugs on the same side of the bike and both carb also on the same side of the bike for easier maintenance, coil ignition for easier starting, a fully sprung rear end for more comfort, a larger tool box and oil tank sited for easier removal and cleaning, different springs at the front end for more comfort and so on. Lack of finances and difficulties with post war supplies of material bedevilled the ‘D’s reputation and yet after all this time quality control problems have been long overcome. I have no vested interest in this as I have both a ‘C’ and a ‘D’ but it is the attempts of owners to make the rear end of ‘B’s and ‘C’s as comfortable as ‘D’s which leads to the failure of these brackets.[/FONT][/COLOR][/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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Tech. Advice: Series 'B' / 'C' 500cc/1000cc Bikes
Seat Failure
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