Strip Down

Collection was duly arranged from Glasgow down to Cheshire (I can highly recommend Shiply, by the way) and soon she arrived as a frame, engine, several boxes of parts and a spare back wheel.

Installed in my small workshop / big shed, the bike was already devoid of engine and was essentially a rolling chassis. So the first job was to strip all of that down. 

So, out with my imperial spanners and sockets ..... only to find that they don't fit. Down to Machine Mart to delve into the mysterious world of "Whitworth" spanners! This was great for most of them but actually there is a bit of a mix, with a few odd sized nuts that I'll need to sort as we go through the rebuild.

Usual recommendations at this point - you can't take too many photos and notes as you go along. I learned to my cost last time that the memory does fade over a couple of years!

Soon I was pretty much down to all the components, though I've left a few sub-assemblies, like wheels and forks, together at this stage for ease of storage mostly. I'm really pleased with the condition of it all - the seat and tail light assembly will need a little bit of welding work doing but most of the rest of it looks like straightforward refurbishment. It will be interesting to look back on that line in a few months!

The only bit that has fought me so far has been the swing arm axle, which doesn't want to leave it's resting home for the last 60 years! I have given it some gentle hammer persuasion; soaked it in oil before more gentle persuasion; heated it all with a blowtorch and hot air gun before more (not so) gentle persuasion and it's still stuck fast. 

One of the lessons from my last restoration was to recognise when I had reached the limits of what I could do with either my tools or my knowledge and then to call in the professionals. This is one such occasion, so the frame has gone off to my friendly mechanic Paul to see what he can do with an oxy-acetylene gun and a much bigger hammer! It turned out that the swinging arm "axle" was embedded in 2 rubber bushes - as I was hitting the axle with the hammer, it was just compressing against the rubber and rebounding. Paul pressed the axle out with his hydraulic press and the rubbers were also removed. Looking at the parts list - it appears that there is an updated set-up for this, so I need to buy a new axle tube and axle, which also has greasing arrangements built in - much better.

The aim now is to get everything assesed into three piles:

1. things to be sent off for powder coating
2. things to be sent off for re-chroming
3. everything else

As I do that, I'll be developing a plan of exactly what else I need to do.

Haven't we been here before?

 A new project means a new blog.

Many moons ago (well about 9 years ago) I finished my last motorbike restoration - an ageing Honda 400 Dream, which you can see all the gory details of here, if you are interested https://dreamrestoration.blogspot.com/

That was the latest in a fairly lengthy line of restorations I'd done, but was by far the most extensive, most challenging (and most expensive). I loved it but, after having ridden it for a while, got tempted by something else and a few more bikes came and went - Hinckley Triumph Bonneville; Honda Transalp 600; Suzuki V-Strom and finally a Kawasaki ZZR600.

About 3 years ago, I had a really quite nasty accident in my car, which freaked me out a bit really in terms of thinking "what if I'd been on my bike?" and I promptly sold the ZZR and hung up my helmet, so to speak.

I've been doing quite a lot of guitar building instead over the last few years but recently really started hankering after doing another restoration. I'm not desperate to be able to get out and spend hours in the saddle again, but I do like the idea of the occasional potter in the sun to a show or something. 

Anyway to cut a long story short, I've always fancied restoring an old British bike. A lot of them (e.g. Triumph twins) have become really collectable over the last few years and I didn't want to pay the sort of money they were fetching. I didn't want anything particularly big, either physically or engine size, and I wanted something that had a bit of relevance to me in some way.

The "old" British bikes I'd had anything to do with were limited to a BSA C15 (first bike I tried to ride ever in a mate's back garden); a  '70's Triumph Tiger 750 that I borrowed from a mate a couple of times and a Royal Enfield 250 Continental GT that a schoolfriend had bought when we were at school as a "basket case" in boxes. I discounted the C15 because I just think they are ugly! The Tiger 750 was too big and too expensive. But I quite liked the idea of the 250 Continental GT. Right size; I liked the styling and the parts availability for Royal Enfields is really good. I also remembered my dad telling me that a Royal Enfield & sidecar was his last bike he had in the 50s, which seemed like a nice link as he died a couple of years ago.

Anyway I started EBay surfing, as you do, and couldn't find any Continental GTs, but I did come across a Crusader Sport 250, which is what the GT was based on. When I did a bit of research, they were pretty well respected and I liked the style of them. The one I found was first sold in April 1962, which was within a few months of when I was born, so it felt like it was probably built around the same time as I was too! And that meant that April 2022 would be it's 60th birthday, so a nice milestone to try and breathe some life back into her for. Of course, I bought her!

These are the EBay photos - be kind, she has been off the road for 40 years:

She has spent all of her life around the Glasgow area and it's believed was taken off the road for an engine rebuild and tart up about 40 years ago. The engine machining work was done and she seems to have had a reground crank, new big end bearings, new little end and gudgeon, rebore and new piston. All seeming to be in good condition still.

All of the "tinware" is in good condition, though will obviously need rechroming and painting etc. Importantly, almost everything seems to be there, except the silencer (which I would probably need to replace anyway).

When the restoration is finished, she should look something like this:

Quite a bonny bike I think, and I particularly like the "ace bars" which were a standard fitting on the bike and the headlamp nacelle.

Even manages to look a little bit sporty (though this one has been pimped up a little bit).