Today the Sun, here in Kent, is on full throttle, in fact I'd say it's been up rated to Bloody Marvellous And this very morning I had to visit a very pretty nurse to get me stitches taken out. My she was a beauty, course I HAD to drop me trousers As y'all know it pays to advertise

And to get to the clinic I took the Purple Plunger, now I've got an air temp gauge on there and in the Sun it said it was 40c, so I'd say in reality it was in the high 30's, best of all hardly any wind.

So back home and the Plastic thing in the garage, I rolled out the Commander, fired it up SECOND kick (Yes Split Ring 2nd KICK) and off into the lanes for a test Bimble, t'other day the Amp meter went from a healthy charge to nothing? So that needed sorting, can't leave for the early morning Ferry with no lights can I, and that Ferry is but a few short weeks away.

Now before I took the bike to the lanes, I'd cleaned up and reseated the dynamo wires, them two that poke out, they're supposed to be Yellow & Green. Mine are Blue and Green, and the Green one isn't in the field hole! Best of all the wires are only about 6" long before one goes into a Red & Yellow one, and t'other goes into a Blue one? All extremely dodgy, and NO Grandad didn't do it, so don't start.

Well with the two wires fitted and cleaned up, off we went, what a fine ride in the warm Sun shine, just makes you feel so good don't it? But that Amp meter wasn't moving So back at base I started the ritual I've learnt over the years, and the reason I'm spreading the word.

I got me some Meths (Think y'all call it Wood Alcohol) and the lovely Janette's finest tooth brush, dipped the brush into the meths, and with the engine running, cleaned up the dynamo's commutator, that's the copper thing that spins, with the carbon brushes sitting on it. Cleaned it up real good, so it looked like Gold. Left it for a few minutes so that any meths could evaporate. Then checked to see if I had a charge, where I never had, and indeed I had

Boxed it all up, took it for a spin, job as they say, is a good un. So that's me now back to working lights on the Commander, I'm all set for that ferry to France and the long ride to Holland.

Another top tip from Kent Shaun

So Split Ring lad, that's one UP for BSA, let me see I've got THREE BSA's now that I can ride in the dark, tell me again lad? How many Triumph's have YOU got that can do that?... Let me help you out here, you've got two Triumph's and not one, I say NOT ONE of them can you ride in the dark

I think our American chums can remember the panic in Yorkshire, as the Sun was setting and we were miles from the camp site. So don't give me that about you don't ride in the dark rubbish

I thought that wood alcohol was distilled in a still in the woods by hillbilly's and that it was for drinking.
Isn't it also known as moonshine?

Coming to think of it some types here drink Meths too!

Whisper lad, well you could use that as well, it would work just as well, all you need do is clean off the carbon left by the brushes, some people use abrasive paper. But this can bugger up the commutator, spirit wouldn't have this effect lad

Shaun lad

I think we hit a bit of a culture-gap here.

The last thing on my mind was a commutator, the spirit of my reply concerned spirits rather.

Whisper -

Nope, the Brits aren't onto anything dodgy in the alcohol line; "methanol" or "methyl alcohol" or "meths" or "methylated spirits" or "wood alcohol" is all the same thing. It's alcohol distilled from wood cellulose, and it's not remotely related to "moonshine". It's deadly poison in any form, you can't drink it without dying soon.

Moonshine is Ethyl Alcohol, or Ethanol, and it's distilled from various grains and sugars. Moonshiners sometimes used to use car radiators as condensers for their still, and the process would leach lead solder out of the radiator and make the ethanol poisonous too, but ethanol without the lead just makes you drunk and silly.

"Denatured Alcohol" is ethanol with stuff like pyridine and bone oil mixed in, which can't be distilled or filtered out of it, and makes it so bitter and nasty that you'd throw up trying to drink it. It's used as a solvent and as fuel for stoves and lab burners. Winos and real bad alcoholics would sometimes try to strain it through a loaf of bread or something, and MAYBE keep it down, but otherwise horrible.

So the "meths" that Shaun is using to clean his commutator is more like acetone or methyl ethyl ketone than drinkable alcohol.

Oh lord, Floyd's going to be on me again, it's Chemistry 101 this time ....

Lannis

Lannis lad. You seem to know an awfull lot about elegal substances, I thought you were sailing a bit close to the wind over on the I.O.M. on occasions (but I we'll just keep quiet about it for the moment) Reargards to you and the lovely Faye.

TTJohn

"....sailing a bit close to the wind .... " ?

I know what "sailing to close to the wind" means, in a sailboat, means that you're steering the boat at too acute an angle to the wind's direction, and are likely to "be taken aback", or shiver the sails and come to a sudden stop and have to "wear around" to get going again.

Back in school, I used to work in the college Chemistry Lab during the summer. I would sign for the shipments of chemicals for the supply room, and we would get cases of U.S. Pure Ethyl Alcohol. Case was supposed to be sealed, but there were always two or three quarts missing, and I wouldn't sign for it. The truck driver sympathized, and told me tales of his days in the Navy, where sailors would get into the fuel for the torpedoes (ethyl alcohol) and "cut" it with grapefruit juice to make a lower-deck cocktail. Sounded nasty then and would probably kill me now.

But how does that relate to the IOM? I'm pretty sure I didn't drink anything there, maybe the odd pint at The Creek ...?

No need in keeping quiet, my behavior can stand scrutiny (I think?)!! Tell it as you saw it, and I'll tell my side! Hope to be back someday, sooner than later ... !

Lannis

Oi, Shaun lad....

Get yourself out to the shed, and take some decent pictures of the rack, and how it is fitted to the M21 please, as I need to get this sorted for Holland... ta.

I think that methylated spirit is actually mostly ethanol, but with a dash of methanal (hence methylated) to denature it, so to make it undrinkable, even by Graham. ;-)

You's right, in the UK that's what it is, we don't use the term much here.

Anything they use to "denature" ethanol has to have a distillation point very near ethanol, otherwise a simple still would make all the mixing alcohol one wanted.

Wouldn't be much for me, but I've heard rumors about others ....

Lannis

well if one were to seek *meths* here in the USA, you'd have to go into a shady neighborhood OR risk arrest by the FUZZ. might even become an *incidental casualty* in a drive-by shooting?

meth (here in the good old USA) is short for *methamphetamine* which USED to be called *biker crank*, made from ephedrine, power steering or transmission fluid and other things one can buy in any store...
also formerly known as *bath-tub crank*...
because it was likely made in the...wait for it-
BATH-TUB.
DOH!

read it on wikipedia.

Yeah, SURE you did !!! Flash will be asking questions in a minute ... !

Lannis

Up here in the Great White North "Meths" is sold as gas line anti-freeze or lock de-icer and is clear, not coloured like the UK. In season (the cold 6 months of the year) it can be found in 4 litre jugs as well as little 1 shot bottles to add to the fuel when you fill up. Never had to add any to any of my bikes!

Lannis,
Your wide range of knowledge on virtually every subject is always a source of shock and awe for me . . . I watch Jeopardy every evening just sure that our resident wizard will show up and make Ken Jennings nothing more than a fading memory.

I dabbled in Chemistry 101 in the late 60's, early 70's, but the results are kind of a blur, and I can't seem to find my notes on the subject.

O Dear

I started this thing off as a tongue-in-cheek reference to spirits, in other words drinks. Seems like I opened a can of worms.

Lannis, we are very well aware what methylated spirit is, after all we used to be part of the British empire at some stage.
It used to be a favourite drink of winos here as well, before a horrible purple additive was added.
The straining through bread trick is known here too.
Apparently when the purple is gone the stuff is considered fit to drink.

We also have our own versions of moonshine, witblits is distilled from grain and mampoer from fermented fruit.

Many farmers used to have their own stills quite openly and I am sure there are still quite a number of them left in the sticks.
Potent stuff!

Now both mampoer and witblits are also sold commercially.

Teacher showed the class the evils of alcohol. Dropped a worm into a glass of water and another worm into a glass of witblits.
When she asked the class what this proved little Johnny said:
"If you drink witblits you wont get wurms!"

Whisper lad, indeed you did ruin a perfectly good thread So lad as punishment, you now have to get that camera and show us ALL South Africa The photos of England & America can be seen every day on here, I've NEVER seen South Africa.

So come on lad tell us & show us more, what's the Brit bike scene like down your way? I've heard about the shows that go on over there, when on a Bimble, do you have to watch out for Lions

Shaun

Wish I could. For some reason my (company) PC doesn't let me post pictures.

However if you look at the pictures in your Ricochetrider Dude post, all of these could have been taken in South Africa.
Apart from the language on the menus off course.

The Brit Bike scene is pretty vibrant.
Having been part of the commonwealth there was a heavy British influence here, therefore lots of British bikes.
The police used to ride BSA's before the Japanese took over.

Every major city has at least one Brit Bike club.
I know of at least 2 in Cape Town.

These 2 had a combined rally a while ago called the 100 rally.
That meant that the combined age of the bike and rider had to be at least 100 years. In other words a 40 year old rider had to ride a bike of at least 60 years old. A 70 year old rider could get away with a 30 year old bike. A 20 year old with an 80 year old one.

There is also an annual rally from Johannesburg to Durban (roughly 400 miles)where the bike has to be pre-1930. Doesn't have to be British though.
Very well attended. A time-trial with no tachometers allowed as there were no tachos pre-1930.

Not being a club-person myself I don't get too involved with the clubs.
However some of my friends own some pretty rare bikes, a Triton, a couple of Vincents, a Scott Squirrel etc.
NOT FOR SALE!

It is also amazing what you used to pick up in the bush in the surrounding countries. Most of them were colonies at some stage and the colonial masters had a lot of money and time to play and imported some pretty fancy stuff, which was left to rot when they left.

Came across a Douglas with sidecar being used as a chicken-coop in Angola once.

Namibia used to be a German colony and there were a lot of old German bikes there.

Swaziland, Botswana, Zambia (Nothern Rhodesia)and Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) were off course English.

Picked up an Ariel Square 4 up in Malawi once for next to nothing.

And because of the climate most of these bikes were in pretty good condition.
Away from the coast rust was virtually unheard of.

Up to some 20 years ago there were lots and lots of English bikes available but then the rest of the world caught on and a lot of them were exported.
I seem to remember that we sent a Black Shadow to the National Bike Museum in the UK. Or was it a Brough?
Memory is not what is used to be.

Then off course we can ride all year round because of the weather.
Pretty good roads, unbelievable scenery, mountain passes, twisties, you name it.
All within a couple of miles from the city.
And not too much traffic when away from the cities.

AND ON TOP OF IT ALL THERE IS USUALLY A PUB TO BE FOUND AT THE END OF THE TRIP! Sometimes even an English one.

And off course beer is about a third of the price than in England.

Yes, in certain remote parts of the country you could run into a lion, or elephant, or jackal, buck are quite common.
However not much chance in or near the metropolitan areas.

Then again it's a big country!

Whisper -

It's ALL tongue in cheek, some of these inside jokes get pretty hard to figure out after we've been daffing with each other for 10 or 12 years ...

I'll go along with Shaun, we need pictures. We're getting to know Kent and Yorkshire and Derbyshire and Virginia and Pennsylvania and North Carolina pretty well, we need some bimble pictures from ZA.

You can figure out a way around that "company PC" thing. Email them two or three at a time to one of us and we'll post them.

Just send some pictures of your commute, or your last weekend run, it doesn't have to be national monuments or Valentino Rossi, just whatever you do ...

Lannis

Whisper lad, Lannis is right If you could find a way of sending some photos in, that would be really good. Even if it's just your ride to work, or going for a coffee. I wager I'm not the only one on here who'd LOVE to see South Africa, then once you've got us all drooling, you could tell us the best place to pay a visit. THEN you could buy the beer

But all that's in the future lad, first things first, get them photos sorted. South Africa has something to do with the Dutch don't it? Well now's your chance Ger lad, teach us some nice words to greet Whisper with as we get off the flight And nothing with the word Pippen in

So many BSAs and clubs ---- Why have we not had an International rally in Cape Town?

I second the emotion for photos Whisper!!

Shaun

I will buy the beers when you come to South Africa if you buy the beers when I come to the UK, which should be next year some time. Deal? (You could be in for a surprise!)

Yes, the Dutch connection is that the Dutch East India company (on their way to Indonesia) established a refreshment-station at the Cape of Good Hope in the 1600's and left some Dutch settlers there to grow fresh produce. Very soon they were joined by Franch Huegenots who were forced to flee France during the reign of King Louis the watever, and Germans and Scandinavians.
Therefore Afrikaans is a mixture of these languages with a smathering of Bahasa Indonesia as Indonesians were imported as slaves.(I lived in Indonesia for a while and was surprised by the amount of words I recognised).
Afrikaans is about 95% Dutch although the grammar is considerably different, for instance the double negative of the French. Grammar is much simpler than Dutch.

Over the years English has become the lingua franca.
We have 17 official languages!

I have been in contact with Ger in the past and he has kindly posted some photographs for me.
Ger has actually visited South Africa during his sea-faring days.

Which brings me to photographs.
I actually don't take any photographs. I am the only person I know of who has travelled extensively without a camera.
Therefore I have no pictyre-library.
My wife joined me during recent trips and does take photographs.
I do however take pics of any project I am busy with.

As for taking photographs during my bimbles I don't ride much anymore. This is due to a medical condition that affects my balance. Age is also creeping up but this is not an issue.

This does not stop me from buying the odd bike and restoring it as I enjoy doing this. I am also of the opinion that a man should have at least one motorbike in his garage at any given time.
I am currently busy with an ex-police T65 thunderbolt.

As mentioned earlier I am not a club-person and am therefore not up-to-date with any Brit-Bike rally's.
Will keep my eyes and ears open and revert.

The major rally in South Africa is the annual Buffalo-rally which is not restricted to Brit-Bikes. Compares to Sturgiss I suppose although the Harley-content is not as large.

I will see what I can put together as far as photo's is concerned.

Jack