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Bikes, Pictures, Stories & more => Introductions, Stories, Meetings & Pictures => Topic started by: CheeserBeezer on 17.12. 2021 10:20

Title: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 17.12. 2021 10:20
Just in case anybody needs a good cry I thought I'd post some photos of the Rocket Gold Star I'm attempting to restore. I use flickr as a photo hosting site so, rather than dumping a mountain of data here, I've pasted a link to the 'Mersey RGS' album. It makes me weep (well, almost!) to see photos of what was obviously a definitive Rocket Gold Star in such a state. Obviously some of it is beyond redemption and I'm going to be realistic about what can and can't be salvaged.. Have a look...have a laugh...have a cry!
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/157743213@N02/albums/72177720295334866 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/157743213@N02/albums/72177720295334866)
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Black Sheep on 17.12. 2021 11:07
There's enough... Quite a project but it'll be well worth the effort.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Bsareg on 17.12. 2021 13:58
Bet that took some thought and effort to take apart, but well done.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 17.12. 2021 16:31
What year is it?

Were you able to discover why it was dumped?
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 17.12. 2021 16:43
Some information came to me via an unofficial channel!.... Insurance fraud maybe!
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 17.12. 2021 16:44
Bet that took some thought and effort to take apart, but well done.
Actually I didn't take it apart, that's how it arrived! I was originally just offered the frame as the 'dismantler' reckoned the rest of it was worthless so hadn't even mentioned he'd got it. When I asked about the other stuff he introduced me to it as it was piled up in a wheelbarrow at the back of his garage. Good job I asked!
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 17.12. 2021 17:02
Some information came to me via an unofficial channel!.... Insurance fraud maybe!
So it might have been a viable machine up to point it got dumped.

The condition is really pretty good considering. I can't imagine the metals would have survived in brine, so was it in fresh water, do you know? Maybe it was not in the water for very long; maybe a few months.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 17.12. 2021 17:54
Some information came to me via an unofficial channel!.... Insurance fraud maybe!
So it might have been a viable machine up to point it got dumped.

The condition is really pretty good considering. I can't imagine the metals would have survived in brine, so was it in fresh water, do you know? Maybe it was not in the water for very long; maybe a few months.
Apparently dumped near where the Mersey joins the Manchester Ship Canal in the Helsby area, so not tidal and not salty but was in the water for at least 16 years. Definitely a viable bike when dumped in 1964ish. Was dredged out in the early 1980's when they were making a new quayside.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: trevinoz on 17.12. 2021 22:25
Plenty to do, Andrew.
Strange that it has a Rocket instrument bracket or is that standard on a Clubman?
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: a10 gf on 17.12. 2021 22:46
Quote
flickr as a photo hosting site so, rather than dumping a mountain of data here
Please post pics here. At least some of the principal images?
Tons of file capacity available on the forum server, zero problem.

Using any external hosting, someday one changes host, moves files around etc > links on forums don't work, topics loose context & meaning.

Thanks!

& as an anecdote & example, this is what I got from flickr today for some unknown reason... (see attach.)
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 18.12. 2021 10:34
Plenty to do, Andrew.
Strange that it has a Rocket instrument bracket or is that standard on a Clubman?
Hi Trev! That's exactly as it came out of the river. I don't know if the owner had made any alterations but, according to unofficial information, it was the first owner of the bike who chucked it in the river and I'm told it was pretty much untouched from new. However, it has fork gaiters, rather than steel shrouds, and the gaiters are held on with really nasty pipe clips which look as they've been shortened with tin snips. If anybody knows if the Rocket type instrument mount was ever used on an RGS from new I'd be interested to hear. The problem is, with the RGS, there are so many 'experts' out there, some of whom have collected information from other sources and some have actually owned an RGS from new so it's difficult to filter out what's good information and what isn't. The other problem is that the RGS left the factory in a number of guises and, I'm told, there wasn't really a definitive version as there were so many customer specific options. I'm trying to keep this one as I found it and I'm assuming that what i've got is how it left the factory, but I can't be 100% sure. I'm told that the RGS had double damped forks, this one hasn't. I'm also told that the RGS should have a battery tray with the wire clip fixing for the battery, this one hasn't... etc. etc.!! I've got the RGS parts supplement which suggests it should have the later type battery mount but there's another example of inconsistencies.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 18.12. 2021 19:52
Quote
flickr as a photo hosting site so, rather than dumping a mountain of data here
Please post pics here. At least some of the principal images?
Tons of file capacity available on the forum server, zero problem.

Using any external hosting, someday one changes host, moves files around etc > links on forums don't work, topics loose context & meaning.

Thanks!

& as an anecdote & example, this is what I got from flickr today for some unknown reason... (see attach.)

As requested.....
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: a10 gf on 18.12. 2021 21:15
wow !  *eek* What's amazing is that you will very probably succeed in turning that heep of junk into something fantastic. Good luck, looking forward to some photos as it advances.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: trevinoz on 18.12. 2021 21:17
Hi Andrew,
I have had mine since 1970 and it had been messed about with pretty much.
It is a touring version so has gaiters on the forks which are undamped. The original stanchions were chrome plated on the top section which I believe is standard for Clubman bikes.
The battery tray is the wire clip type without the pressed section for an air filter mount.
The gaiter clips were the flat steel type with the hexagon pins.
It was pretty much all there except for the rear guard and a pear shaped badge tank but I got the original beaten up tank with it which I have since had repaired and fitted.
Your barrel is the rare late type, supposedly only fitted to the RGS.
There weren't many of them sent to Australia, I have been told only six, but three of them came to my home town of Newcastle, two in 1962 and one in 1963. Mine is 1962, the other one was around in the late 60s and I believe that the owner took it to Queensland. The 1963 is also still here.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 26.12. 2021 13:51
1956 R R in original chrome.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/480489475393623/?ref=share
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Triton Thrasher on 26.12. 2021 19:16
the forks which are undamped

Are they forks off a Francis Barnett?
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: trevinoz on 26.12. 2021 20:39
TT, I wasn't very clear with that statement. What I meant was that the forks didn't have double damping as conjectured by Andrew.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: trevinoz on 26.12. 2021 20:42
GB,
That RR is well known to me. It has just had an overhaul to the engine and that photo was taken by the owner yesterday at Paterson, N.S.W.
Did you notice the rocket on the front guard?
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 26.12. 2021 22:29
Did you notice the rocket on the front guard?
I did, and once again I thought, 'That thing on the front mudguard looks dangerous' 😉
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: trevinoz on 27.12. 2021 00:25
Probably just as dangerous as the British number plates.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 27.12. 2021 11:29
Probably just as dangerous as the British number plates.
Yes. They were banned.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Colsbeeza on 28.12. 2021 22:55
Hi Trev,
About 10Km further west at Vacy Trev, where I was raised on a dairy farm. My Great Uncle Amos built that store in the late 1920's. I happened to be going past there yesterday. The Paterson store doesn't have a bowser, so that tipped me off. I hope the rider was going over Bingleburra mountain for a fang.
Col
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Sav on 29.12. 2021 09:09
Probably just as dangerous as the British number plates.
Yes. They were banned.

Only banned on modern bikes
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Greybeard on 29.12. 2021 13:27
Probably just as dangerous as the British number plates.
Yes. They were banned.

Only banned on modern bikes
I thought they'd been banned. It seems they were 'no longer required' after 1975.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Rex on 29.12. 2021 16:00
Most of my bikes have them. I wonder if there really were any cases where pedestrians were hurt more than if that 1/3 ton of bike and rider travelling at speed didn't have a front number plate fitted?
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Black Sheep on 29.12. 2021 18:05
In the days of my youth, two bad people tried to stop me when I was riding my Norton. The number plate didn't bother them, it was a handlebar end to each of their goolies that seemed to upset them most. I didn't stop to see just how upset they were.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: CheeserBeezer on 29.12. 2021 19:41
Suggest a new thread is started, namely "numberplate goolie slicers" as the last twelve posts are nothing to do with the Mersey RGS. To be technically accurate it is actually out of the Manchester Ship Canal where it flows alongside the Mersey.
Title: Re: Mersey RGS
Post by: Sav on 30.12. 2021 09:10
Probably just as dangerous as the British number plates.
Yes. They were banned.

Only banned on modern bikes
I thought they'd been banned. It seems they were 'no longer required' after 1975.

Still wrong! (UK rules)

Registered September 2001 onwards - front plates banned.
Prior to that voluntary.

 https://www.gov.uk/displaying-number-plates/rules-number-plates

Agree with Andrew, new thread on 'ballcutter plates' required as way off original topic