Britbike forum Forums Thread Like Summary - RF Whatley

I was reading a thread on the Triumph board yesterday, where member Trivin posed this question:


I did some checking and found that RF last posted on July16, 2021, appropriately enough in regard to a battery issue in a Boyer Bransden thread.

Then I searched and found this obituary notice on-line: Robert Fred Whatley

And another one here: Robert Fred Whatley

I had read last year that he was selling his tools, and I believe Lannis bought some or all of them. So, Lannis, could you or someone else who knew RF personally fill in some details here?

If I am wrong with all of this, I apologize, but I suspect I am correct. At minimum, RF Whatley certainly should have a write-up in the Remembrance board. I looked there but found nothing. I joined here in May, 2010, and he was a prolific poster here and on other boards long before that. I am deeply saddened by discovering this news!

Ray

Good thing it was a false alarm! There's enough other personal and media linkages networking the British Bike world that we'd have heard quick fast and in a hurry if anything had happened to RF. Hadn't realized, though, that it had been over a year since I bought his tools!

And for anyone concerned that he left BB because of "posts he didn't like", RF had almost 16,000 posts here (taking account of the count reset some years back), and probably twice that many on other sites .... and he had a gift of smacking down insults harder than they came in......

Lannis

If we hold folks to account for stuff that happened half a century ago, we'll probably be pretty lonely before long .....!

Lannis

Well, DUH! I knew his first name is Richard!

I'll just chalk this up as another age-related brain fart, even though I am one of the younger members on here. Richard, if you still look in here from time to time, and you see this, rest assured that I meant you no disrespect. In fact, just the opposite is true. This is making me think of Mark Twain, who is often misquoted on this subject. That story even had a British connection to it. Click HERE

Ray a small group of us have a text group and Richard’s ( much better looking) brother Lowndes is a member. He keeps us posted on Richard’s adventures.

A couple years back we held a “Reunion” camp and most of the usual suspects were in attendance. Try as we may we couldn’t get Richard to join us so a group went over to his place ( he was close) for a visit.

My “guess” is Richard and I share that “ All in or All out” mindset.

He’s still done a lot for the hobby and will probably be remembered by most for that.

But he’s still kicking and I hope he does for a long time.

One TSMR I was riding an overloaded 63 a65 Star home from Blowing Rock NC to Georgia on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This was leading Lowndes on his OneLegged BMW K and Richard on his R100RS. On the southside of Ashville just past I-26, the Star dimmed and ran out of electrons going silent and I pulled off into the grass. The bemused brothers on their modern BMWs pulled off as well. And we all contemplated the misbehaving coil switching electrical system with its decades old unencapsulated alternator.

Richard of course had the answer right away. Pull the headlamp from the nacelle and remove the headlamp bulb. This allowed the now somehow diminished quantity of electrons to directed exclusively to the ignition system, the tailight LED board being deemed "not a factor".

The bike started first kick and I was away leading once more all being right with the world. That is to say the BSA leading BMWs. And even though I was 4 hours and one gas stop from home, I was home before dark.

Thank you Richard (and Lowndes).

I would've thought that the first thing you learn with British electrics, especially 6V electrics, is to cut off the headlight to get home.
I've gotten home on nothing but the pilot light too many times to count.