I love bringing the old bikes back to life

 I love bringing the old bikes back to life. To me they are living things that with a bit of attention , can be brought back to the land of the living. 

A Sketch and a Poem -

KTT Handlebar Mounts

 Two of my Velo customer/friends have Velocette KTT Mk8 race bikes, and are missing their handlebar mountings.  

I have had a drawing from Ivan Rhodes in England and was getting ready to order in some material to machine them up.  I was pleased to get a message from Alex in New York, that he had cut out a couple extra sets of blanks, when he made the set for his own KTT Mk8, and would send them out, which is greatly helping with moving the project forward.

Andy's 1937 KSS 350

 Andy's 1937 KSS 350 on the lift, to get it's power unit out for Inspection and Service as needed,  it's Webb girder forks checked out, and new rear mudguard fitted.

How I Do My Rebuilds

For those that have never restored a bike - The way I do them is :
The first step is to take it all apart, noting any obvious areas
that will need extra attention - then group the parts , am using totes for this current one. Next is the start of the fun - clean and check every part. I usually prep the frame next, powder coating or painting it, so I have someplace to start mounting the parts on. Then make every part look like new - or better then new. Polishing all the alloy, sending out the chrome, getting fasteners replated, The restoration re-assembly is exactly like building a giant 1 : 1 full size scale model - but is one that you can actually ride when you are finished !
These photos are of a Thruxton replica I did- which is a Venom that I kitted out with all the special Thruxton parts , like the big valve head, shorter barrel, special cam followers, carb and manifold to suit the head, special oil and fuel tanks -
This one was used as a regular rider by Bill Maxell , up here in the Pacific Northwest ( Seattle area ), for about ten years - . After each ride he would spend many hours cleaning and detailing it out and kept it in ' as new ' shape. It was not a ' trailer queen ' . He said during those years, the bike never broke down or needed anything, other then the usual oil changes and regular maintenance -
I didn't do anything special , other then very careful assembly to original specs. -

I will be using this opportunity, & add the two Thruxton replica projects - one for Bill Collings daughter in Austin Texas, and the other for Kevin Neary, into this group of bikes as they all will be nearly identical. Also photographing the parts to be used as art subjects as I still want to do an illustrated spares book for the Thruxton models. Lots of fun times ahead ! 🙂

 

The Tail of Three Thruxtons - continued

 This is Mark's beautiful 1966 Velo Thruxton  # VMT 198, in for a bit of service -

This one, to bring it back original, will be having it's e-start removed. With the e-start off, found it had been converted to belt primary, and electronic ignition. All three of the modifications, coming off, and the bike to be brought back to as close to original and stock as possible. 

 

The Tail of 3 Thruxtons

 Mark from Studio City California , had always wanted a Velocette Thruxton, since seeing them when growing up in England. First acquiring a lovely 1969 model in black # VMT 1004C.  The bike had a runnability issue,, and was shipped with another bike of Mark's,  a Venom Clubman, to be checked over. 

A bit later Mark called to say that he had found another Thruxton come up for sale, an what were my thoughts on getting another. I told him that Velo's Thruxton model was the one model that everyone wanted, and very collectable, and if a person has the 'where with all' (funds in their toy budget), that they should buy them, as their value will only go up. Mark then purchased two more Thruxtons. 

This one of Mark's , a very stunning blue and silver 1969 Thruxton # VMT 967 C ,with Avon fairing is one of the two. In for a bit of maintenance, which turn out will be a full rebuild, frame was found to be bent, and needs to be sent out for straightening, with probable need to straighten fork triple clamps and fork tubes. Blown head gasket, burnt exhaust valve, leaking exhaust pipe at head, to name a few of the items needing service. But a very nice bike and worthy of the effort of going over very carefully - 

Servicing the Webb girder front fork on Larry Wright's 1948 Velocette MSS 500

 Larry Wright was up from Portland Oregon, with the Webb Girder forks off his 1948 Velocette MSS 500 for service yesterday. With new fork spindles and fork bushes in hand he had purchased through the Velocette Owners Club, UK , I set to work at removing the old bushes, fitting the new bushes, and fitting the spindles to the fork links, then finally reaming the new bushes to size.

This would have made an awesome video, of how I service a set of Webb forks, but I didn't take the time to stop and take even one photo. The job took a lot longer then normal, about two hours, as the bushes and spindles and links all needed careful fitting, and took about 8 hours - from ten till six - working straight through, with no breaks . Oh well - next time -.
I have been feeling much better, and had a very enjoyable day -
Some photos I lifted from Larry's Facebook page