Melbourne Cup long weekend

A message from Andrew who's just tried what many would be scared of doing (including myself)

"Just finished a rally, on my ABC where we did over 400 km and the ABC went brilliant.
The new gearbox parts and the restored crankshaft worked flawlessly.

After running it sedately for the first few km I found that it cruised effortless at about 70 – 75 km/h.
The motor was smooth as silk. The suspension soaked up the bumps. The brakes worked really well. Even the automatic engine lubrication worked perfectly.

The only problem was me changing gears and trying to develop the technique so as not to crash the gears.

To sum up I do not know why more owners do not use their ABC’s as they are the perfect vintage bike and they “tick all the boxes”.

We had a great long weekend with all sorts of weather and the ABC just rode through it all.

In a word BRILLIANT.


I do not understand why the ABC would be in doubt to cover that kind of distance as it is very well designed and manufactured, as I said the only problem was the gear changing and that was my fault as I am still getting used to a crash type gearbox.

I also found that the steering is so good that I could actually ride hands off and just steer by leaning left or right. I did not try this in town , and not for long. I notice that when wheeling the bike around it “flops” from side to side but when riding it takes no effort at all to steer. In fact the looser you grip the bars the better it tracks.


So may I encourage more ABC owners to get out and use their bikes. There is an old saying “either use it or lose it” These bikes are too good to lose.

Kind regards Andrew Cox"

Well done to Andrew ! I must admit that the brief rides I have had around the Brooklands' site in the past would indicate that relaxed touring is well within the capabilities of the ABC.

Hi
I have just finished another Melbourne cup weekend rally and completed 400+ Kms on my ABC. It went beautifully with no problems.
Last year I had a problem with the piston oil rings failing but I replaced them and all is now OK.
I have now covered about 1500 Kms since I rebuilt the engine and apart from some oil leaks all is running great.
Again I would like to encourage more ABC owners to get out and ride them they are the ideal vintage rally bike.
Kind regards Andrew

Well done! I have to agree that they are a superb touring machine, although my furthest in one stint is about 50 miles, it is a shame that there are not that many events here for the vintage machine.

george

also well done. What part of the engine does the oil leak?.If you want runs to suit an abc the vmcc has them most weekend in the summer period

Hi Keith
Thank you for the invitation however VMCC UK is a bit too far to ride for the weekend even for my ABC.
I am a member of the VMCC here in Melbourne Australia.