Post by Noel PatonI suspect it was the gearing or spindle-size used that caused the
problem - if the alternator was run of a slightly larger spindle, the
speed required would have been reduced in proportion - so it was
Laverda's design error, rather than Bosch's.
No, no gearing, it was mounted directly on the crankshaft.
Post by Noel PatonI'll bet it was fun trying to keep the headlight going! (I assume
we're talking bikes here, rather than combine harvesters? - I just
had this vision.....)
Yes, I remember my surprise watching the movie about the assassin - I get
the feeling it was James Coburn - visiting the retired predecessor Sterling
Hayden who has a farm (in Italy?) and is driving a Laverda tractor. But,
yes, bikes; specifically the 140mph Jota 180 (the original 'muscle bike').
And being a 180 - that is, 180 deg. crank which meant serious vibration
(being a triple, the 120 deg. arrangement as with the BSA Rocket 3/Triumph
Trident would have been exceptionally smooth, but originally they opted for
180, which made it more like a 1.5 650 Bonnevilles and joined the ranks of
bikes whose components would vibrate loose and drop off or would fracture. A
year or two after my model they redesigned it to have a 120 deg. crank but
tamed it somewhat in the process and I wouldn't want one - whereas I feel
the 180 is a bike I should have again while I still can). Anyway, one time
the petrol tank vibrated through the stupidly routed wiring harness and
shorted out the power lead. Coming back (to Basingstoke) from London late
one night - alone, apart from my gf on the back - the bike died just south
of Blackbushe, on the A30. This is about midnight, December, nowhere near a
streetlight, effectively in the middle of nowhere (could have walked to
Hartley Wintney but nothing would have been open). First I had to figure out
what was wrong, in total darkness. You can figure a certain amount from e.g.
that the headlight is dead - which otherwise I'd have removed from the shell
and pointed at the bike so I could see something. As it was I had to do it
by feel. I seem to recall getting an inkling but as I couldn't see for
sure...so figured I better try to start the bike and if so, rev it to at
least 3500 to keep it running, jump on and get back home like the proverbial
bat! The Jota is a high compression 1000cc massively over-engineered motor
that even a brand new fully-charged battery struggles to turn. Naturally
there is no kickstart and for that even today I thank the FSM. So it was
bump it or walk. Wonder of wonders I did manage to bump it, and I doubt
anyone remained asleep in Hartley Wintney or Hook as we went through that
night (it is a very loud bike, exemplary of the Italian production racer put
on the road with the minimum of legal niceties).
I once got back (to Basingstoke) from Henley-in-Arden, just south of
Solihull, again at about midnight, along the old A34 (fabulous biking road!)
in driving rain, in about an hour (on the Jota). I forget whether I had
Pirelli Phantoms or Michelins - the former I think - but it also helps to
have Italian handling. But whichever it is a remarkeable feat, I think, if
you care to work out the average speed and bear in mind that the old A34 -
between Brum and Woodstock - is a wonderfully windy road going through the
likes of Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shipston-on-Stour and several small villages
and there is no way in hell I went through *those* at that average speed. I
set out - from my aunt and uncle's - intending to try not to drop below
90mph except where it was unavoidable. Incidentally, I was still courier-ing
(?) at the time. This was when I would over/undertake vehicles on the M25 by
squeezing between them at 125mph.
One time - on the Jota - I was stopped in Churchill Way, Basingstoke, having
been clocked at 90mph under the town centre and I genuinely had no idea I
was going that fast! Another time I got pulled heading out of the New Forest
towards Bournemouth under-taking (almost appropriate) a traffic jam. The
bike cop said I was going too fast for a reading - but as they knew I was
doing over 70...Amazingly I escaped automatic bans the entire two years of
courier-ing, though I did get to where one more speeding ticket and I would
have been banned. After I quit that career came time to take stock and I
found I couldn't justify riding like that, and stopped. On Ilkley Moor Bah
Tat! it was a thrill, but one lost to Evolution.