Harvey’s Made it to the Bottom on his 1930’s HRD Vincent
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BREAKDOWNS Zero
MILES COVERED Zero, they are all kilometers over here
SCENERY Arguably the best in the world
NATIVES Very friendly
COMPANIONS Great mates
CONCLUSION Put it on your bucket list
On the left is Bill Irwin, bike collector and rider extraordinaire. At one time he had 50 bikes he was trying to keep on the road. He got wise and is now down to just 15 ready to go. More anon when we get back to Nelson. His HRD TT Rep broke down so he is riding his 1972 Moto Guzzi V7 Sport.
On the right is Steven Scullion on a matching numbers (That’s important for aficionados) Vincent Black Shadow. He’s a restorer working on museum cars and bikes so his works. The presentation is described as “patina” and saves endless work polishing unnecessarily. First kick starter and steady tickover which is the gold standard.
All down the west coast are river mouths. The photo is from half way across a single lane bridge in a passing place. In England’s gentle rivers you get mud in the bottom that settles from the slowly flowing water. In New Zealand, the land of the energetic, even the rivers play rugby. The southern ocean travels around the world and dumps it’s rainfall on the west coast of South Island. So when it rains it is measured in meters and when it rushes down to the sea it dumps rocks in the river bed. I think the word is awesome.
Stopping off at a seal nesting headland we see seal pups playing. Yup, they play just like us humans. Chasing each other around the rocks and sliding down a slippery one. Great to see.
Stopping off at Fox Glacier I thought we were going to get an ice cream. “Look up there” said Bill, and behind us was a glacier in the mountain above. Wow, where else do you see glaciers next to the sea!
Half way down we head back inland through the mountains and lakes. Lots of them and all stunningly beautiful just like the bikers and their bikes. Steven on the left and yours truly on the right grinning like they might be enjoying the ride.
Stopped off for tea with some friendly natives whereupon I was invited to look over his back yard. The local community kept the trains and carriages when the railway closed down and are going to open it up for tourists. Enterprising lot these Kiwis.
AND NOW FOR THE INTERESTING STUFF
Note the amount of oil on the floor. She is, thanks to Alice Leney’s efforts, getting less oil loose. Thanks Alice, my leg and boot appreciate not getting covered.
Here’s Bill Irwin before we set off, playing with the rear carburettor. We’ve had a constant petrol leak from the carburettor ever since we got her commissioned after Brian Verral’s museum restoration. Having checked seals and needle valves it always persisted no matter what. I even flew the carburetors back to England for a checkover by Amal. All to no avail.
So after the usual poking around Bill suggested another float chamber might have a better float or seal. As the new chamber filled up we noted a 5mm difference in height of the petrol level. A quick check of the part numbers and they are different. Voila, problem solved. It had the wrong float chamber which has taken 7 years to get to the bottom of. Way to go Bill. I can even leave the pet cock on without flooding the local area.
We are now in Invercargill and tomorrow brings “The Worlds Fastest Indian.”
Harvey’s Made it to the Bottom on his 1930’s HRD Vincent