Irkutsk, Siberien

Begge de nederste stelvanger er knækket lige under kronrøret. Som det kan ses, er der rust på venstre vanges brud, så den skade er ikke helt ny.

Both lower frame rails broke right under the steering head support plate. As seen on the pic, the left side rail fracture is rusty, indicating it has been broken for some time before the right side rail gave out.

Torsdag, 3. september 2009

Oversætters note: Først fik jeg en sms fra en ø 300 km fra Irkutsk. Stellet på Klaus' Nimbus var knækket. Nogle dage senere kom nedenstående email:

Jeg sidder i en tysk bar med wifi (trådløs internetforbindelse) og drikker Paulaner. Prøver at reparere skaderne fra i går, der skyldes vodka. Ved du hvad, der er gået så meget lort i den på det seneste at jeg ikke kan klare at gå ædru i seng. Jeg ville ønske jeg havde en stor pose pot, men da jeg ikke har det må vodkaen klare jobbet og lulle bæstet i søvn. Jeg er ikke så lidt træt af at reparere to motorcykler, foretage al rejseplanlægning, skrive, tage billeder og blablablablabla.

Nå, hvad stellet angår er det fixet for nu. Faktisk en ret trist historie. Jeg ville bore nitterne ud, og kun svejse stelvangerne. Eftersom de var revnet ved den nederste nitte ville man stadig have støtte til det svejsede område fra kronrørspladen. Planen var så at file hullet og dreje bolte til at få en perfekt pasning. På den måde kunne jeg undgå at ødelægge kronrørspladen, og samtidig anbringe det potentielle nye sted for en revne under svejsningen, godt inde under kronrørspladen.

Men – jeg fik Klaus til at skille maskinen ad for at gøre den klar til svejsning. Vi havde en aftale med en god svejser kl. 6, and en ven skulle komme og hente os dér. Klokken 4 holdt Klaus en pause, da der kun manglede at hive motor og forgaffel af. Men han sov gik en russer, der boede samme sted, i gang med at mig-svejse stelvangerne fast til kronrørspladen, uden at bruge gas, og uden at tænke på revnen to centimeter højere oppe. Resultatet var selvfølgelig at al fleks er væk, og at der er en svejsesøm langt under pladen.

Det ødelagde hele planen. Jeg kunne selvfølgelig begynde at svejse igen, men skaderne med varmen var allerede gjort. Hvad vi gjorde i stedet var at fjerne svejsningen, for så at skære et hul i pladen for at komme ned til revnen og svejse den. Derefter svejsede vi igen stelvangen fast til pladen, med et v-formet udskæring lidt ned ad stelvangen. På den måde tror jeg stellet har en chance, men det var ikke ligefrem den måde jeg ønskede det skulle være gjort.

Så forstår du hvorfor jeg har brug for at drikke mig i hegnet? Politiet forstår det i det mindste. Natten hvor stellet knak ude på øen (300 km fra Irkutsk), kom politiet og spurgte hvad der var sket. "Rama kaputt, piz dietz (røv og nøgler)" sagde jeg, og fortsatte; "Ja magazine, dva butilka vodka". Så de tog mig med i politibilen, og kørte mig ned til butikken med vodka. Vi drak en halv liter hver og lagde og til at sove i vejkanten. I det mindste er strømerne helt cool her.

Ah. Nå, jeg har det bedre nu. Fik lige 300 gram oste-fondue, og øllet begynder at virke. Nå ja, jeg ryger også på en indonesisk Sampoerna cigaret – tog et par pakker med til når det blev for hårdt. Vile ønske jeg kunne gå i seng nu, læse lidt Hemingway og bare falde i søvn, men som du ved; 'arbejdet adler', så det er vejen fremad mod frelsen.

Mange pilsner

Tormod

Translators note: First I got an sms saying they were stuck with a broken frame, on an island 300 k's from Irkutsk. Then a few days later the email message below arrived:

Hey man,

I'm sitting in a German bar now with wifi, drinking Paulaner. Trying to repair the damage from yesterday which was caused by vodka. You know, it has been so much shit lately that I can not stand to go to bed sober. I wish I had a big bag of reefer, but as I don't have the vodka will have to do the job and put the beast to sleep. I am very much tired of repairing two bikes, doing all the trip planning, the writing and the photographs and yadayadayada.

Anyhow, for the frame it's fixed now. It was a sad story actually. I wanted to drill out the rivets, and weld only the frame bar itself. As the fracture was at the lower rivet you'd still have support for the welded area from the steering head brace. Then the plan was to ream the holes and turn bolts to get a perfect fit. This way I'd avoid to destroy the steering head brace, and also to get the potential cracking place beneath the fusion line of the weld inside the steering head brace.

However, I got Klaus to disassemble the bike to get it done. We had an appointment with a very good welder at 6 o'clock, and a friend was to come and fetch us there. At four Klaus took a break as it was just left to take out the engine and the fork. While he slept a Russian living at the same place took the frame and mig-welded the frame bars to the steering head brace, using no cover gas, and totally ignoring the fracture itself two centimeters above. The result was of course that all flex were taken away, and there was a nice fusion line way below the brace.

This fucked up the plan completely. I could of course take up the welding again, but the damage with the heat was already done.

What we did was to remove the weld, and then cutted a opening in the brace to get access to the fracture and weld it. Then we re-welded the bar to the steering brace with a v-shaped weld-enhancement going down the bar a bit. This way I do belive the frame stand a chance, but it was really not how I wanted it to be done.

Do you understand my need for intoxication now? At least the police does. The night the frame broke at the island, the police came and asked whats up. "Rama kaputt, piz dietz" I said. "Ja magazine, dva butilka vodka" I continued. Then they took me in the police car, and drove me to the shop to buy vodka. We had a half litre of vodka each then and slept in the road side. At least the police is cool here.

Ahh. Well, I feel better now. Just had a 300gram cheese vondue, and the beer starts to work. Also, I smoke an Indonesian Sampoerna cigarett, I brought a few packs for rainy days. I wish I could just go back to bed now, read some Hemingway and go to sleep, but you know, ora & labora, that's the way forward to salvation.

Retards,

T