The far, far north.

[alanjennings]

On our way back from a classic rally on Orkney.Took my 1926 side valve b.s.a. 1928 it decided to lose all compression when we crossed into Scotland! Out came the exhaust valve on the campsite and a kind Norton owner found me an electric drill and I carry a diamond stone and restored the compression to as good as new! Was a good rally with a good selection of bikes, cars and old tractors, 80 years of David Brown tractors. Orkney is a great place and full of Neolithic stuff! A bloody long way from home but worth it!

[cbranni]

Top marks for a good result.

Colin

[Iron Head]

Very enterprising being able to redress the edge of the valve Alan well done!

Iron Head

[SPRIDDLER]

Very enterprising being able to redress the edge of the valve Alan well done!

It probably ran on only 3:1 compression when new.

[alanjennings]

Maybe Sprid. But it is running better than ever! Bloke just came on the campsite at Perth and has a funny noise coming out of his Norton commando chain case. He has fitted an Alton starter, I bet that is his problem! After market bits seem to me to be sometimes problematic.Went to see the stone of scone today, but some "b" has stolen it again!

[SPRIDDLER]

Maybe Sprid. But it is running better than ever!

.
Good, well done Alan. It's overcoming the challenges that litter adventures along the way that appeals to me more than the arrival at a destination. That's what bores me about my modern reliable maintenance-free bike; it's just transport.

Bloke just came on the campsite at Perth and has a funny noise coming out of his Norton commando chain case. He has fitted an Alton starter, I bet that is his problem!

Pound to a penny it's the starter's sprag clutch. They seem to be problematic on all retrofit starters. Here's a clue from the Norton O.C:.........

Unfortunately the weak link in the Alton system has been the 'double gear' which meshes with the starter motor and transmits the power to the chain driving the sprag clutch. In order to provide some protection to the the starter motor from kick back etc the double gear has an elastomer in the gear housing isolating it from the sprocket which cushions the starter motor from any nasty effects of, say a backfire . They have been through 4 or 5 iterations of the elastomer/gear combination and are replacing early type gears which fail with the latest version, without charge, except for shipping; or at least they did with mine the first time it failed. After the second failure I've just left it alone and reverted to the human leg (as opposed to the electric one :p ) until I can be bothered to take the primary cover off and have a look. If your problem is the double gear then there will be a god-awful rattling graunch noise when the starter spins.

As an aside, Alton eventually replaced the acetal nylon drive gear on their alternators with a steel one as the earlier ones were (apparently) frequently stripping teeth.