2020-01-01_Motorcycle_Trader

68 MOTORCYCLETRADER

ROOT H Y: Well, that went okay– 5000

kilometres over seven days for some of us and

hardly any fighting, either with the locals or

each other. We must be getting old.

S PA N N E R :Respect, brother. You nursed a

vintage R100LT the whole distance while I was

on the you-beaut new R 1250 RT and I spent

plenty of time following you. I don’t know

how you build your engines, but your Norton

is the quietest, most dignified engine I’ve ever

heard in a Commando, and I can say the same

about the BMW engine. It sounds faultless and

it sounds like you couldn’t hurt it if you tried.

How do you do it?

ROOT H Y: Money, Spanner, and maybe

experience now. As in spending on good oil,

filters and quality parts. For half my life I used

to just patch stuff up to get it working again.

But now I take my time, source the good gear

and, mostly, try for better than manufacturer’s

specifications. My work trucks taught me

that balancing and blue printing diesels was

the way to go for smoothness, and any motor

that’s not hammering itself tends to be more

reliable. There was lots of stuffing things up

in the early days, though, with a couple of

dead Perkins and a totally flogged Lister still

sitting in the back paddock. And I killed my

first Shovelhead Harley with too many home

remedies that weren’t good. Oh, and that old

IT400 that went bang after we tried freeing up

the throttle with WD40.

Most impressive was the Norton Villiers OHV

pump motor we rebuilt in the ’Ridge. Took my

time until the last stages when I tacked the old

split pin back into the Governor. One minute

it’s pumping, then it’s pumping great and bang,

she blew up about the same time the magneto

housing sheared off and shot up the puddler

ramp. Fastest Norton ever... for about 15 seconds.

I take my time a bit more these days. Tends

to be the way, eh? Bit of age, slow down, enjoy

every minute of everything you do. Ceramic

coating worked on the Harley’s long-stroke

pistons, so I’ll be doing more of that. And

cleanliness is a key - learnt that from working

with the blokes down at Wynnum Engines

rebuilding my old Jeep motor. If you can pass

a white rag up a bore or across a shaft without

it showing any change, it’s clean enough to go

together. Then I use FlashLube oil additive as

an assembly lube and old-age gentleness as a

running-in technique. Add regular changes of

the Penrite and lots of attention to filters and

my old machines are smoother than ever. I’d

better go touch some wood after saying that.

I’ve got a couple of good torque wrenches and a

digital micrometer too these days. Add modern

silicones and tools and playing in the shed has

never been easier. The old LT copped some slow

shed time. You had a ride, what did you think?

S PA N N E R :It brought back a lot of memories.

I’d forgotten that if you crossed the 100km/h

mark on the early faired BMWs, the wind

would start pushing into your back. What

Onereasonridersaren’t

buying new bikes is that

theold bikes are so good

PANNER

MUSINGS FROM YOUR TWO FAVOURITE OLD BLOKES

ABOVE Different

windscreens

but either one

will do the job.

Spanner

n’ Strooth

Something

Old,

Something

New