R is for?
R is for – Resurrection, Reclamation, Renovation, Re commissioning, Restoring, Riding, and probably a few more. Having purchased an old bike most people will attack it with gusto using one of the ‘R’s. Some will take a different view and leave as is with the patina and all the history on view. Everyone has a view on this and is obviously an expert on the right course of action to take with any bike, regardless of marque.
Of course there is freedom of choice to do what you like, no English Heritage telling you what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do. The only judgment comes from your peers who like God are all knowing and will dismiss your enthusiastic endeavor’s with such words as:
It’s not all original
that has the wrong bolts
that part is from 1966 not 1965
the colour is not quite right
Should this worry you? No, but since you have lavished time and money (plenty of it) it is going to make you at the least feel deflated.
Bad taste and poor judgment, like beauty – are subjective, what is perfect in the eye of the beholder causes others to recoil in horror.
There probably are very few bikes that are perfect; in fact as soon as you have tinkered with them you will have altered the originality. Many processes such as Cadmium plating are not carried out due to H&S and EU legislation therefore even the most original Vincent will have modern parts or coatings. So should we worry about these modern updates? I have a quandary over nuts and bolts; I always use BSF as they are what the bike was built with. The new ones are stainless so if I am putting in a modern bolt why bother with TFS? Why not Metric, which are significantly cheaper, and nobody will be the wiser?
Perhaps the introduction of sensitive or sympathetic to the ‘R’ words will help. Where possible keep the originality don’t replace everything with Stainless, perfection is not necessarily judged by how shiny the bike is. Of course for some they like to see the bike as it came off the production line, often better. There is often little evidence of these types of bike being used. Nothing wrong with that, whatever floats your boat, and derogative remarks like ‘Trailer Queen’ are unfair, less they are made in a positive way. Remember that not everyone is fit and able to ride, their enjoyment might now be restricted to polishing and cherishing what they have achieved with the bike in the past and now.
As an example my TFS Trail, bought off eBay, as a rolling chassis. Since half the engine was missing, exhaust, air filter, handlebars, binnacle and more - it was always going to be a resurrection, sympathetically restored with the correct parts. The plan was to get all the missing parts before I started restoring the bike. Well that was the plan.
The frame was powder coated (Suffolk Stove Enamellers) and the engine rebuild by Simon Bateman, the wheels are the original ones cleaned up. This gave me a rolling chassis on which I could then slowly add to as I sorted out the various missing parts.
The exhaust gave me a problem for a while until I found a silencer and got
Tube Engineers Ltd. to form the pipe work, which was not easy. Fortunately I had some good photographs of Malcolm’s TFS Trail and could use them for reference. Thanks to Brian for some useful drawings, to Phil and others who offered advice.
The bike is finished and hopefully retains some character and is not just the some of its parts. It is important to make sure that the process is enjoyable and the end result satisfies you. I certainly got enjoyment from finding the elusive parts and I am happy that another Greeves is getting muddy.
* Of course R is for Relaxation as well, but with the Ranger next I think that is unlikely and R of course is probably for repetition as I have one too many Rangers.
R is for – Resurrection, Reclamation, Renovation, Re commissioning, Restoring, Riding, and probably a few more. Having purchased an old bike most people will attack it with gusto using one of the ‘R’s. Some will take a different view and leave as is with the patina and all the history on view. Everyone has a view on this and is obviously an expert on the right course of action to take with any bike, regardless of marque.
Of course there is freedom of choice to do what you like, no English Heritage telling you what you are allowed to do and what you are not allowed to do. The only judgment comes from your peers who like God are all knowing and will dismiss your enthusiastic endeavor’s with such words as:
It’s not all original
that has the wrong bolts
that part is from 1966 not 1965
the colour is not quite right
Should this worry you? No, but since you have lavished time and money (plenty of it) it is going to make you at the least feel deflated.
Bad taste and poor judgment, like beauty – are subjective, what is perfect in the eye of the beholder causes others to recoil in horror.
There probably are very few bikes that are perfect; in fact as soon as you have tinkered with them you will have altered the originality. Many processes such as Cadmium plating are not carried out due to H&S and EU legislation therefore even the most original Vincent will have modern parts or coatings. So should we worry about these modern updates? I have a quandary over nuts and bolts; I always use BSF as they are what the bike was built with. The new ones are stainless so if I am putting in a modern bolt why bother with TFS? Why not Metric, which are significantly cheaper, and nobody will be the wiser?
Perhaps the introduction of sensitive or sympathetic to the ‘R’ words will help. Where possible keep the originality don’t replace everything with Stainless, perfection is not necessarily judged by how shiny the bike is. Of course for some they like to see the bike as it came off the production line, often better. There is often little evidence of these types of bike being used. Nothing wrong with that, whatever floats your boat, and derogative remarks like ‘Trailer Queen’ are unfair, less they are made in a positive way. Remember that not everyone is fit and able to ride, their enjoyment might now be restricted to polishing and cherishing what they have achieved with the bike in the past and now.
As an example my TFS Trail, bought off eBay, as a rolling chassis. Since half the engine was missing, exhaust, air filter, handlebars, binnacle and more - it was always going to be a resurrection, sympathetically restored with the correct parts. The plan was to get all the missing parts before I started restoring the bike. Well that was the plan.
The frame was powder coated (Suffolk Stove Enamellers) and the engine rebuild by Simon Bateman, the wheels are the original ones cleaned up. This gave me a rolling chassis on which I could then slowly add to as I sorted out the various missing parts.
The exhaust gave me a problem for a while until I found a silencer and got
Tube Engineers Ltd. to form the pipe work, which was not easy. Fortunately I had some good photographs of Malcolm’s TFS Trail and could use them for reference. Thanks to Brian for some useful drawings, to Phil and others who offered advice.
The bike is finished and hopefully retains some character and is not just the some of its parts. It is important to make sure that the process is enjoyable and the end result satisfies you. I certainly got enjoyment from finding the elusive parts and I am happy that another Greeves is getting muddy.
* Of course R is for Relaxation as well, but with the Ranger next I think that is unlikely and R of course is probably for repetition as I have one too many Rangers.
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