New member - belated introduction

[lawnmowerman]

Hello to all on the forum. I joined the forum back in December and although I have posted a few topics I failed to properly introduce myself for which I apologise. First of all thanks to all the members who have offered advice ? the site is an absolute gold mine of information and just following some of the topics is an education in itself.

I am retired and after living in London and working for BT as an engineer for most of my working life, I have recently moved to Kent. (South of England near the coast for all international members).

My biking experience started when I was fourteen and someone gave me a Phillips Panda moped which I rode around the garden and local footpaths until it fell apart. Then came an AJS 500 which cost me £12 back in 1965 and being too young for a licence I rode it off road.

My first road legal bike was a plunger M21 with a double adult sidecar which I passed my test on. I bought a Zundapp 200 next and when the engine packed up I fitted an Ariel Arrow engine, managed to get it through an MOT and rode it for a while. Then came a Super Flash with a Steib snub nosed Sports sidecar. Next was a Norton Dominator 650SS café racer which to my eternal regret, I traded in for a Mini.

There used to be a rather interesting bike shop in Greenwich, London called Pratts and when I was looking round there I saw a rather unusual special tucked away at the back of the shop? two Ariel Arrow engines grafted together and fitted in a Royal Enfield Bullet frame using the RE box. I had to have it and rebuilt it with new paint, rims and tyres. One of the engines had the crankshaft ends reversed and ran backwards (good old two strokes) but unfortunately the crankshaft reassembly was not as good as it might have been and after a few months use when winding up the engine the crank decided to fall apart so I lost interest after that.

Next was a 750 Norton Commando Interstate Combat which unfortunately I traded for a new Suzuki 750 triple (kettle).

Then came the house and kids and the bike was sold in favour of a ?family car? and the only biking I did over the next twenty years was on a Yamaha DT 175 to work and back.

Last November in an attempt to regain some lost youth I bought a 1959 Super Rocket which has just been rebuilt with a JB conversions engine with end feed conversion and thick flange barrels. Also belt drive 12v leccies and loads of new and reconditioned parts.
The bike was not registered but came with a dating certificate from BSAOC and a folder full of receipts. I MOTd the bike and applied for an age related plate and after the bike was inspected at the local DVLA office I received a call saying that they had found the original registration matching the frame number. The plates are now made up and I am waiting for the salt to wash off the roads before I give the bike its first run.

All I have done since I bought the bike is to fit a pair of goldie silencers - I know they are not original but they sound awesome! It was not the easy job I thought it would be because although it is possible to buy a pair of the smaller bore goldies, they will not fit straight on to stock pipes. As far as I know the RGS had a Siamese system with just one goldie on the right. The silencers need brackets to set them about 1 ½ inches further back and a bit shaved off the end on the pipes due to the kink at the end of the drive side pipe. I ended up using new pipes too so I have a complete stock system spare if I want to change it back sometime.

The only work left to do is change the oils and then ride it to see what falls off! I would like to fit a Craven rack and top box but they are few and far between ? perhaps a mission when the bike jumbles start in the Spring. I have been in touch with Renntec and it looks like their Bonneville carrier could be adapted but it would be nicer to have a 60s rack to match the age of the bike.

I have attached a few pics of the bike ? is the front brake original or is it from an Ariel?

Safe riding

Jim

[tombeau]

Hi Jim,
welcome. Your front brake is a '69 type BSA/Triumph twin leading shoe type.
A popular conversion on this board... so popular that I wonder what happened to all the bikes they came off.
The bike looks lovely!
Cheers,
Iain

[muskrat]

G'day Jim,
             Real nice bike mate, looks a gem. Those brakes are hard to find now let alone the bikes they came off.
Cheers

[a10 gf]

Thanks for the very nice introduction post.

[rocket man]

welcome jim shes a gem


dave

[Desburnett]

Great bike and like the history. The brake is the later version with the fulcrum arm, the earlier versions had the cable acting direct on the forward lever, this lead to an overlength cable and long loop which was tieded up by the version you have where the cable is shorter and has a direct run.

Any more stories?

Regards,

Des

[bsa-bill]

Does anybody have the correct part number for that cable that Des describes (the short one) I believe for A50/65 models there is two, one with and one without a in-line stop switch, I don't need the switch).
I have bought two cables so far the first was too long and the last one had the inner a tad short and was too light would look about right on a pushbike!! ( could give you the name of the seller but best give them the chance to replace first).

Jim - after re-reading your post I though I better check my Goldie silencer (not sure silencer fits trade description) for fit to exhaust pipe, it fits fine, this is the Goldie type to fit A10 pipes and the pipes I have are Siamese, I am not building a RGS repro though, in fact I haven't been building anything for five or six weeks now (if Noah had taken as long to build the Ark as I have to build this bike none of us would be here now)

All the best - Bill

[lawnmowerman]

Thanks to everybody for the warm welcome to the forum. I hope that my reminiscences of the old days and the bikes I have owned have bought back some memories.  I am sure that I will have loads of questions when I finally get out on the road if the snow ever stops (150 cm last night in Kent).

Des. One memory which may bring a smile is the day when I bought my 1959 650SS Norton cafe racer. It was a Saturday morning in the summer so I wanted to show it off to the local lads with a run up the High St so I spent a few hours polishing and cleaning ready for a run past the local coffee bar (remember those in the 60s - Italian coffee in glass tumblers with the chrome holders and loads off different ice cream concoctions in tall sundae glasses and a huge chrome coffee machine with loads of pipes and levers which sounded like a steam train pulling out of the station).
The bike was highly tuned by a guy called Hartley and the crank had been balanced and a new cam fitted and sounded really nice with the goldie silencers and even had that goldie twitter.
So there I was, and while motoring up the High St past the coffee bar, stretched over the bike with the clip-ons in the lowest position in my brand new Levis and gleaming bike and watched by all my mates who were standing around outside the coffee bar, I gave it a handful. Now noboby ever told me never to polish a bike seat and the coefficient of friction between my bum clad in new cardboard-like Levis and the silicone waxed seat proved to be pretty low. I started sliding back along the seat, hanging onto the bars in a deathlike grip resulting in the throttle twist grip opening more and more the further I slid back ? also resulting in the aforesaid bum resembling a rabbit?s nose and me looking like Superman in flight. Fortunately I was in a low gear so when the power peaked out and the Gs reduced I managed to let go of the throttle and got back off the rear light and got my feet back on the rests. Then it was back home for new underwear. Moral of this story ? NEVER POLISH YOUR SEAT!


Bill, the problem I found with the goldies on my SR was when fitting to a twin pipe system. I think that the siamese system which is correct for the RGS must be a bit shorter than the twin pipes as I found that I could not get the goldie far enough onto the pipes to meet the rear footrest mounting due to welds inside the goldies which secure the short front baffle tube. If I had cut too much off the pipes then the driveside clamp would have ended up on the double kink on the pipe which drops the line of the pipe below the primary chaincase. I bought a pair of new pipes eventually rather than adapt the originals so that I had a complete stock system to put back on in case it all went pear shaped! I ended up having to cut about 35mm off the head end of each of the new pipes to get the front mountings on. I still needed to set the rear mounting back from the rear footrest using a pair of triangular brackets which I made up (need to save up and get them chromed) to clamp forward of the double kink in the drive side pipe. Even with the these difficulties I am really pleased with the result as the bike sounds superb ? although it remains to be seen what the neighbours think about it!

Jim

[brackenfel]

Hi Jim,
Like you I'm a recent member to the Forum..
You mention the Renntec carrier.. The previous owner of mine fitted what he described as a "carrier designed for a modern Triumph" , I presume he meant the Bonneville.
If you can't find  period one I could send you photos of mine so that you can guage whether you want to go that route.. It's not the most elegant fixing solution I've seen but it's sturdy and it works.

All the best,

Adrian

[MG]

Hello Jim!

Welcome to the forum, nice stories indeed!

From my personal experience I can tell you that it is absolutely not important what the neighbours think about your mods to the exhaust system. If done properly, you won't hear their complaints anyway 

Best wishes, Markus

[Desburnett]

Hello Jim.

Nice story about the coffee bar, which reminds me........................1967 the coffee out of the machine you describe was 6pence (Old Money). Many was the time we were moved on because we couldnt raise 6p between us. One of the coffee bars was in Cotteridge (A41 South Birmingham) on a corner with a road traffic island in front. Bikes would roar in and out negotiating the island before knee sliding was the thing. One evening a mate approached the island on his Road Rocket intending to take the third exit. From his left, intending to turn right appeared an invalid carriage. (Tricicle sort of thing with a tent on top...all black) The invalid carriage should have given way but collected said mate from his left side. The left footrest became jammed under the trike as rider desparatley tried to stay on. In an attempt to free himself mate pushed as hard as he could on the trike which flipped over spilling out the occupant. Old Bill arrived and summing up the situation carted off the innocent party.

I travel down to Kent time to time as we have relations in Sittingbourne, Herne Bay and Hyde.

Cheers.

Des

[lawnmowerman]

Hi Adrian

It would be a real help if you could post some pics of your bike showing the rear carrier. I am pretty sure it will be a Renntec as nobody seems to make carriers for classic swinging arm bikes apart from them and they only list a Triumph Bonneville one.
Renntec were very helpful and emailed me fitting instructions, dimensions and photos but from what I can calculate, the carrier will probably fit with a bit of bracketry to the rear guard but sit quite a long way back over the rear light. Shortening the side arms and welding together will mean destroying the chrome plate. I even thought of removing a section of the side arm tubes and then re-join them by epoxying a piece of tight fitting stainless studding inside them across the joint and butt-joining them. I think that the black version of the racks are powder coated which again means no welding is possible.

Thanks

Jim

[brackenfel]

Hi Jim,
Mine is chrome... I'm pretty sure mine has been fitted without major surgery anywhere.
Light is poor now so I'll go out to the garage & take some photos tomorrow.

Cheers,
Adrian

[brackenfel]

Jim,
Have sent a PM regarding photos..

Adrian