Ireland 2007

The Trip Daily Diary

Irish Trip January 2007.

           Well it was time to take the first adventure on the Ural and asses the reliability of the

Russian beast.

         I set of around 08:00hrs for the 14:00hrs Ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. It was unfortunately

one of the stormy days, strong winds and torrential rain.  I was doing quite well until the M6 west of

Manchester when the charging light came on and stayed on. The traffic was very busy and it was

lashing down with rain, so I decided to get as near to Holyhead as I could with nackered

Russian Alternator.  I switched off the sidelights and hoped for the best, it is at times like this that

the solar panel that I fitted paid for itself.  The Speedo has started to read a speed similar what

I'm actually driving at, must be the extended use and all the rain.  The bike seems to be handling

well but I get a few scary moment with the cross wind and the rain. I managed to get to Holyhead

in one piece ready for the ferry, rest the bike and give the solar panel a chance to recover the

battery before I had to restart the bike to board the ferry. By this stage the lefthand exhaust was

blowing out of the push fit  joint on the cylinder head, gently warming my plastic jerry can full

of fuel, lovely another job to do!!

      

   Safe and sound on the ferry to Dublin.             I finally arrive at the guesthouse in Nass.

The ferry gets into Dublin around 20:30hrs and the bike thankfully fires into action but its

dark now and the Irish law states constant dipped headlights for motorcycles on the road.

The guesthouse is only an hour away so I may make it, or so I thought until I joined the queuing

traffic along the river Liffy. There were road works on the orbital motorway and the traffic was

backed up all the way to the city center, just what I did not need. It took me over an hour just

to reach the motorway, then is south to the Madcow roundabout but by this stage the bike was

cutting out with just the sidelights on. After queuing for another 25 minutes I eventually reach the

Madcow roundabout to take the right turn towards Nass and a hopefully a quick run to Nass.

Unfortunately the bike cut out just before the lights so I had to bump start it by rolling down the

ramp taking be back in towards the center of Dublin. This was depressing as I could see the

queuing traffic approaching the roundabout.  The bike bumped and I refueled it had a coffee

 as there was no point joining the queuing traffic again. Thankfully a local driver gave me a push

to start it again, it is actually quite light to push and easy to bump when she is warm.

I'll have to get the knack of using the kick start. Unfortunately the kick start is better suited to

the solo bikes and is a little restricted with the sidecar and towbar fitted. Not impossible as I

will find out later when the starter motor relay fails. I pulled the bike onto the ramp into an industrial

unit and wait for the traffic to clear. 20 minutes and some cold coffee later I bump it down the

ramp and managed to get passed the Madcow roundabout and I'm onto the dual carriage way to

Nass tucked in between cars and only using sidelights as the last straw and the engine labors

the moment that I switch them on.  I make it to the guesthouse about 1 1/2 later than expected

but safe and sound. Tomorrows going to be a day of runaround after the bike.

                   I nip into town and get a battery charger, an extension cable and the details of a local

Auto Electrician. The rain is abating so its time to pop the alternator off and jump in a taxi to see

if it can be fixed. To remove the alternator the airbox and ducting needs to come off first, the

mounting bracket uses on the  main gearbox to engine mounting bolts which I don't want to

touch so I decide to dismantle the airbox from the top as the mounting bolts to the engine/gearbox

bracket are not held captive bumper!!.  Possibly one of the most over engineered airbox ever. It is

full of draw bolts, spacer shelve and everything drops inside as you remove the nuts.  When I

get home I'll weld the mounting bolts in place then the airfilter will come out in one piece and can

be easy adjusted when lining up the carb air ducting. On removal of the alternator is looks like

a cooling fin? has come of the rotator and flown out damaging the windings and taken out some

of the cooling slots on the ally casing.

 

The exploded alternator.                                      The noisy drive gear for the alternator

   

Some of the components from the airfilter unit.   The inside of the starter relay.

             After two taxi trips to the Auto Electrician he can not help, I reassemble the bike in the dark as

the weather is due to worsen tomorrow with more severe gales expected.

            The next day I take a 3 mile walk to Halfords and get a small car battery which I install in

the boot of the sidecar and wire into the electrician system  So now when I charge the bike, I

also charge the sidecar battery which is enough to power the bike all day without a working

alternator All Sorted! I go to start the bike after a night of torrential rain and the starter motor fail

to turn I suspect that I have water in the starter motor relay as when I short the starter motor

solenoid it turns over. At this point I start to practice with the kick start which after a few attempts

starts the bike. I also have the option to bump the bike down the driveway of the guesthouse.

            So the bike is sorted the best I can do for now so it is time to relax and drink in the Irish

culture while I can, as I need to be back home for my two grandson christening services.

            On arrival back home I removed the Alternator and Airfilter for replacement and

modification. After a week of trying to get the Alternator repaired I gave in and drove down

MPC for replacement. It was a nice comfortable drive out and I had a chance for chat with Mick

while he was servicing a Ural which was fortunate as they are certainly a hands on bike.The

Airfilter unit I welded the mounting bolts captive and secured with nyloc bolts, a lot easier to fit

and adjust to fit the air ducting to the carbs. I'll leave the spare battery fitted to the sidecar until

I need the extra space.

    

Airfilter box mounting bolts welded captive      A new Russian Alternator, the adventure continues

which will save a good 30mins everytime.