49C Rapide

Glen, instead of selling it you should keep it and rent it out to guys from England and offer guided tours of that wonderful country of yours.

Where do I sign up...?
 
Sitting in the rain in Clinton this morning-
However-
The forecast says sun by 9 am so we'll breakfast here and wait a bit .
Do we run out of things to discuss? Not a chance, we just start in with the same old mechanical bits of brilliance, although it somehow seems new each time.

 
gortnipper said:
Does the somewhat pedestrian Interstate feel lonely among all of those upper crust Vinnies?
Click to expand...

The Interstate did alright. Our run ended up at just under a thousand miles, first big trip for the Interstate since a total resto.
It's a 71 750.
It leaked a lot less oil than my Vincent.
I have some work to do.
As far as power on hills and for passing, the 49 Vincent has a lot more than the 750 Commando. When following the Commando I had to roll off on every pass, even when it wasn't ideal to do so.
This surprised me, I thought the bikes would be close, or the lighter Norton even a little stronger.
The Vincent was packing about an extra 70 pounds of Human and luggage as well.

Glen
 
No surprises here Glen, a good Vin pulls strong. If it’s a good 750 I’m sure he could keep your pace, but only if he kept it on song at the high end of the rev range.

What’s leaking ?
 
I've always thought of my 850 as getting a little bit lazy in a top roll on after 75 or so. Just doesn't seem to have the same eagerness of the first three, although it still pulls well I can tell the steam is falling off a tad.
I know a lot of guys here road trip them, but I've never really viewed my Norty as much more than a medium weight cruiser or sprinter.
 
Fast Eddie said:
No surprises here Glen, a good Vin pulls strong. If it’s a good 750 I’m sure he could keep your pace, but only if he kept it on song at the high end of the rev range.

What’s leaking ?
Click to expand...

Its a fresh rebuild (3,000) miles to stock 71 750 spec. Runs and goes well.
He tried it many times but it couldn't stay there on big pulls.
It really only mattered for uphill passing, especially when the headwinds appeared.

I'm not sure what is leaking. There are many sources on a Vincent!
It could just be the oil tank return banjo. I snugged it before leaving and may have split the sealing ring.
The enemy of good is better!

Glen
 
It's the oil cap leaking!
The return oil line terminates inside the tank filler very close to the cap. Oil has been pumping thru the cap's spring loaded vent plate then running outside the cork seal and down the outside of the filler. From there it runs down the sides of the oil tank (UFM) and onto the engine where it spreads out everywhere.
This doesn't occur if putting around town but it does happen when you do 450 miles in a day at 70-75 mph, with the occasional run up to 85-90 or so when passing.
Sure made a mess!
A deflector plate may solve the leak. There is nothing wrong with the cap. It's a standard breather type oil cap that you would find on most British bikes of the era.
It isn't designed to have oil spraying on it.

Glen
 
Last edited:
I had that issue Glen and a deflector plate solved it.

Never could work out why I had the issue though. I’m sure folk rode them hard back in the day.

Maybe they just weren’t as fussy... what we call leaks, they called corrosion protection ??
 
What type of gasket are you using? My mk2 was spewing oil on that side and turned out it was the auto parts store gasket material even tho correct thickness. I installed the proper AN cork gasket and all was good.
 
It's the cork gasket which the Spares Co. sells for that cap, appears correct.

I was going to renew all the oil line seals, banjo sealing rings and inspection cap seals but nixed on that after finding this problem.
I'll try the deflector and see what happens.
I had to install a deflector in the Egli as well. It has the 2 start pump so it was no surprise. This bike has a standard pump.

The culprit

 
Last edited:
Here's the riding group minus Nigel Spaxman and his partner Allyson.
This was taken in front of the hotel in Wells, BC
Nigel and Allyson rode with the group as far as Lilloet then went back to Vancouver over the Duffy Lake Road, the rest of the group carried on thru the Cariboo to Wells.

From Right to Left

Michael Vane Hunt, Tony Cording, Howie Wong, Dan Smith, Ian Wylie and me, Glen Breaks
It was noted that the combined age of this group of riders and bikes is over one thousand. We did a thousand mile ride, no breakdowns.

 
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And another photo along the road. We are forced to stop and look at the scenery once in awhile.

Glen

 
I have a 74 mk2a 850 commando. I seem to be getting the oil out around the cap issue. Am interested in the deflector idea. Can someone explain best way to install a deflector?
 
A deflector works on a Vin cos the oil return is right up inside the ‘neck’.

It’s not like that in the Norton oil tank, so something else is the issue here ...
 

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