Classic Triumph Bonneville

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The little set of drawers full of nuts and bolts I inherited did include one filled with old pre-decimal currency...

Is there a grote and a florin?

[JackyJoll]

People sometimes get off with knocking the rocker spindle out a little bit and putting sealant on it before pushing it back in.

The inside of the hole will be oily, so that fix might not always work.

[JackyJoll]

Is there a grote and a florin?

We’d still have change from a tram tour of the slums and a slap-up bowl of gruel.

Eee! Or words to that effect.

[Mr. Dazzle]

White fivers probably aren't oil tight are they?

[JackyJoll]

White fivers probably aren't oil tight are they?

Try Scottish banknotes. That’s oil money.

[Rockburner]

White fivers probably aren't oil tight are they?

Try Scottish banknotes. That’s oil money.

You mean it's a lubricant?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

White fivers probably aren't oil tight are they?

Try Scottish banknotes. That’s oil money.

You mean it's a lubricant?

It's been used to lubricate the wheels of Scottish government

[slowsider]

White fivers probably aren't oil tight are they?

Try Scottish banknotes. That’s oil money.

They'd be an interference fit.

[JackyJoll]

They'd be an interference fit.

A fiver in a Scotchman’s fist.

[Rockburner]

They'd be an interference fit.

A fiver in a Scotchman’s fist.

I'd call that a solid long term investment.

Unless he's from Glasgow, obvs.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I gooped the spigots back in place last night. I got some "copper silicone" from Amazon, which claims to work at up to 1000°F (units seem appropriate for an old vehicle I guess). Presumably it's copper filled silicone, it's orange and really thick/viscous either way.

I just put a big fat bead of it on the ''outboard'" end of the spigots before threading them in. Probably 90% of it got squashed out again, which suggests all the gaps are full. Then just the classic finger wipe around to get a neat bead. Looks alright, just need to wait 24hr for it to cure.

[Taipan]

I'm really enjoying this thread but its certainly made me get rid of any romantic ideas I've sometimes had of getting an old brit bike! Good on you for persevering with it!

[Mr. Dazzle]

Mate she's an absolute piece of crap

But then she also has my FiL's name on the fairing and people give me thumbs up at traffic lights. I don't get that on the CBR.

Plus kick starting will never not be cool.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Mate she's an absolute piece of crap

All "classic" bikes are, it's why people buy new bikes.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Mate she's an absolute piece of crap

All "classic" bikes are, it's why people buy new bikes.

Oh yeah for sure.

This is why I don't have a problem with K-series BM's or old CXs being a bit shit. People always say "but if you used engine XYZ it'd be way better". That's beside the point IMO. I start out from a position that any old bike is a bit shit, so telling me that one old bike has a better engine/brakes/whatever than another old bike is missing the point. If I wanted an objectively good bike I wouldn't be looking at old stuff at all, would I? They're ALL shit in relative terms

[JackyJoll]

I'm really enjoying this thread but its certainly made me get rid of any romantic ideas I've sometimes had of getting an old brit bike! Good on you for persevering with it!

Dazzle has the disadvantages of starting with a far from standard bike with quite big faults.

But you’re right, old bikes are not as good as new ones and nowadays there isn’t an infrastructure of service agents and expertise to make them practical as powered transport. Even when there was, if your 1948 Drudge had done 20,000 miles they’d try to sell you a new one.

Probably the most reliable old bikes were the 350 singles. They’re pretty dull though.

[Count Steer]

I'm really enjoying this thread but its certainly made me get rid of any romantic ideas I've sometimes had of getting an old brit bike! Good on you for persevering with it!

Dazzle has the disadvantages of starting with a far from standard bike with quite big faults.

But you’re right, old bikes are not as good as new ones and nowadays there isn’t an infrastructure of service agents and expertise to make them practical as powered transport. Even when there was, if your 1948 Drudge had done 20,000 miles they’d try to sell you a new one.

Probably the most reliable old bikes were the 350 singles. They’re pretty dull though.

The thing was though, although they weren't reliable, they were fixable/maintainable for the most part. Modern bikes are usually more reliable. On balance I think I'd rather have an old bike than an unreliable new one* (they exist!) because one needs a set of tools and a bit of ingenuity, the other needs the RAC, a trained technician with a diagnostic computer and a workshop stacked with specialist tools.

* A reliable modern one is, obvs, preferable to both.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

My 1982 Kawasaki is about as simple as a 4 cylinder 4 stroke gets, you can strip it and rebuild it with ordinary tools, you don't need any special tools, but that doesn't stop it being made out of metal with the consistency of hard cheese and suffering from having been apart about a million times, I've lost count of how many repaired threads it has, every time something needs doing on it you wonder how many threads are going to strip and whether the engine is going to have to come out to repair them.

Fork bushes for a 30 year old FZ750, I ended up buying ones that nearly fitted and filing them to fit.
Anything electronic has a good chance of being shagged once it gets over 30, modern fuel clogging pilot jets and rotting fuel tanks, owning a classic is an endless cycle of fixing minor annoying problems, and sometimes it wears a bit thin, if you want a bike to ride buy a modern one, if you want a bike to fiddle with, buy an old one, if you want to make money, don't buy a bike.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I have to say, if I won't the lottery I'd probably get a man in, much as it pains me to say it!

My old (millionaire) boss was like that. All his classic cars were looked after for him, all had to do was drive them. He got involved as and when he fancied it on restorations and obviously made all the decisions, but he never had to wrestle a stuck bolt.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I have to say, if I won't the lottery I'd probably get a man in, much as it pains me to say it!

My old (millionaire) boss was like that. All his classic cars were looked after for him, all had to do was drive them. He got involved as and when he fancied it on restorations and obviously made all the decisions, but he never had to wrestle a stuck bolt.

I don't think I'd get someone to do the work (I'd only trust one person to do it and he'd probably tell me to feck off and do it myself) but I would quite like to have a fully equipped workshop and aforementioned person on hand to offer advice and take the piss.