Hi, new to this forum with a 1957 A10 GF Plunger.
Just bought the bike that was taken fully apart 30+ years ago and left in a shed.
Acorns in the crank and pistons a pile of dust, you get the picture I’m sure.
The good side, it had a V5 and the tin work had a coat of black Dulux that protected it.
A nice retirement project and hopefully a good community of fellow enthusiasts and committed vendors.
Got it home, laid it out on the floor, made a list of missing items and items to be replaced.
Estimate £2k+ to put right, including stainless rims, spokes, pistons etc.
Googled venders and selected a couple.
Fecked and Dragonfly, and what a difference! Dragonfly were excellent.
But Fecked have really upset me. I gave them all the correct info and they sent me a wrong inlet valve.
First they claimed I had given them the wrong part number, I hadn’t, I just copied it off the valve I was replacing and it matched Dragonfly’s part list for A10 so I knew it was right.
Feked then said I needed a valve with a different part number, I looked it up it was for an A7!!!!
I sent a very detailed table of sizes I required, what they had sent me in error and what they recommended to me in error.
Their defence to this was to blame their supplier.
So I looked at the packet, Hepolite trade mark, nothing else just blank, the same with the valve, no identification.
I looked at Hepolite’s website to see how elaborate and detailed their genuine packaging really is.
Where has this valve come from? Any ideas? Answers on a post card?
To be fair Fecked offered to refund but only if I paid the return postage for their mistake.
No explanation, no apology!!!
Another wrong item sent is a clutch cover, they cannot supply one for a A10 plunger so sent me one suitable for another unidentified bike.
Why? Again if I want a refund I will have to pay for the postage.
So, as you can tell, I’m fecked off. I tried to get Gordon Williamson, the owner, to intercede but have heard nothing from him. I was hoping to hear, after all their website tells me how good they are.
Apart from that bad experience, the bike will come together, the crank just needed 10thou off, the bores cleaned up ok and eBay supplied std pistons.
I’m tempted to spray it Gold after all it’s in the name. But I was thinking a modern bright gold with lacquer, not the sandy original gold.
I’m not sure though and I do like them in black with a bit of chrome. Would it be a mistake to use a modern paint?
I think the mag has suffered, especially as the capacitor is inside the windings.
Electronic ignition is expensive and I like a challenge, so I’m thinking of using the mag points as a trigger for a Sparkright type electronic box powering a wasted spark dual coil unit. I’ve got a couple of Sparkright units and one would fit in the tool box, this solution would also maintain the auto advance. Alternatively, for classic cars there are comparatively cheap hall-effect sensors that replace the points in a distributor and again could power a dual output coil. One might be made to fit replacing the mag points. Has anyone thought of this cheap solution before?
Ok, it’s stopped raining, I feel a bit better having ranted a bit, time to get up and back into the garage, who said retirement was easy?
Thank you for reading.
mod edit: edited title. For supplier comments, best to use the "Services, Parts Suppliers, Manufacturers" board.