Bit about my other project. It's a 1964 Royal Enfield Interceptor. It's a 750cc twin, something like the R1 of it's day(!). I've had it around 10 years now, and it's barely turned a wheel since. When I first bought it from my cousin Tony, it ran, but it needed some recommissioning. I spent a fair bit of money at the time having a proper service, the magneto rewound, new tyres and so on. I even had it MOT'd. It's been somewhat neglected for some time now, and it has to be said, in some places it's deteriorated. A year or so ago, I decided to strip it down and do something of a restoration. The state of the bike once the initial enthusiasm had waned (and time became short due to the arrival of a baby) was something like this:
I had bought quite a few odds and ends, but I hadn't got round to putting them on. The most obvious couple of points from when the bike was running was that (1) the carbs were so worn that starting the thing was a real chore and (2) the rear shocks were knackered and didn't keep the wheel off the rear mudguard if the road wasn't entirely smooth. Less obvious was that the electrics weren't really up to much (the Zener diode wasn't actually connected to anything), and the forks could really do with a rebuild. The real problem was with (2). The bike has twin Amal carbs, and as it's a twin, they are left and right handed. The left handed Amal carb is very hard to come by, and any sort of period equivalent is very expensive, and probably not much better than what I had. So I thought somewhat laterally, and looked at what was offered for other big twin bikes - I did think of going modern, something like a Yamaha TRX850, but really the effort in making it work, allied to the fact that it wouldn't really look the part put me off. Still, the idea of having some properly engineered (i.e. Japanese) [that should annoy a few purists] carbs on there made me think that I should look in that direction. It just so happens that you can get a Mikuni twin carb conversion for the Triumph Bonneville. These are about £450 here, so really not cheap. However, from the States they're a much more reasonable £235 or so. Given I had my in-laws in Florida, I sent a set there and they brought them home for me. Doing a dummy build up, they look like they will really work!
Just mocking up - so I do know they're not quite level, but overall the effect is pleasing (at least to me!) I also gain filtration, which I didn't have on the Amals!
The other thing I did was to try and take back some of the dullness that had affected the various casings. I am somewhat fannying around trying to avoid the wiring part of the puzzle (not that I hate wiring, it just requires a certain level of focus and mindset), but I did a bit of polishing. So this is before:
And this is after:
I also did the instrument binnacle:
although it's harder to see in that pic how shiny it is. It's much better than it was, that's for sure.
I also did fit the new Hagon shocks. They seem to be about 1" taller than the ones that came off. It's a while since I bought them, so I'm not sure if this was something that was intentional, but I do remember that they are uprated. They certainly were the from the top end of the Hagon range anyway:
As you can see from this pic, the forks are out of the bike. I need to find someone to recondition them. The basic idea is to get the bike working again. Hopefully reliably, so it becomes a pleasure to ride. I think I somewhat gave up with it because I knew that there was always a danger that if I ever stopped the engine (or I stalled it due to the slightly grabby clutch) that it would not restart without a lot of faff. Kicking over this bike is an effort - and there's no electric alternative!
I had bought quite a few odds and ends, but I hadn't got round to putting them on. The most obvious couple of points from when the bike was running was that (1) the carbs were so worn that starting the thing was a real chore and (2) the rear shocks were knackered and didn't keep the wheel off the rear mudguard if the road wasn't entirely smooth. Less obvious was that the electrics weren't really up to much (the Zener diode wasn't actually connected to anything), and the forks could really do with a rebuild. The real problem was with (2). The bike has twin Amal carbs, and as it's a twin, they are left and right handed. The left handed Amal carb is very hard to come by, and any sort of period equivalent is very expensive, and probably not much better than what I had. So I thought somewhat laterally, and looked at what was offered for other big twin bikes - I did think of going modern, something like a Yamaha TRX850, but really the effort in making it work, allied to the fact that it wouldn't really look the part put me off. Still, the idea of having some properly engineered (i.e. Japanese) [that should annoy a few purists] carbs on there made me think that I should look in that direction. It just so happens that you can get a Mikuni twin carb conversion for the Triumph Bonneville. These are about £450 here, so really not cheap. However, from the States they're a much more reasonable £235 or so. Given I had my in-laws in Florida, I sent a set there and they brought them home for me. Doing a dummy build up, they look like they will really work!
Just mocking up - so I do know they're not quite level, but overall the effect is pleasing (at least to me!) I also gain filtration, which I didn't have on the Amals!
The other thing I did was to try and take back some of the dullness that had affected the various casings. I am somewhat fannying around trying to avoid the wiring part of the puzzle (not that I hate wiring, it just requires a certain level of focus and mindset), but I did a bit of polishing. So this is before:
And this is after:
I also did the instrument binnacle:
although it's harder to see in that pic how shiny it is. It's much better than it was, that's for sure.
I also did fit the new Hagon shocks. They seem to be about 1" taller than the ones that came off. It's a while since I bought them, so I'm not sure if this was something that was intentional, but I do remember that they are uprated. They certainly were the from the top end of the Hagon range anyway:
As you can see from this pic, the forks are out of the bike. I need to find someone to recondition them. The basic idea is to get the bike working again. Hopefully reliably, so it becomes a pleasure to ride. I think I somewhat gave up with it because I knew that there was always a danger that if I ever stopped the engine (or I stalled it due to the slightly grabby clutch) that it would not restart without a lot of faff. Kicking over this bike is an effort - and there's no electric alternative!
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