20 I AUGUST 2019 More old bikes online: Real-Classic.co.uk
OILYORIGINALS!
RL Smith’s remarksinRC183 aboutover-
restored machines broughttomind abike
Iboughtin2008. Some years earlierIhad
beencontactedbyafriend who hadaTiger
Cubfor sale.Iwenttos ee thisvery early
1954 machine several months laterbut by
thattimehehad decided notto sell.We
agreed‘first refusal’termsin case he ever
changed his mind.
Severalyears latermyfriend contacted
me again.WasIstill in terested? He had
found a1939 Tiger 100 thathejust hadto
have.Weagreed aprice and Ibroughtthe
Cubhomeint he back ofmy hatchback
with the frontwheel hanging outover
the road.After looking closelyat my
purchase withmy wife, Isaid to her that
Iwould‘doajob’and fullyrestor eit. It
wasundamagedexcept forafew little
dinks and bumps hereand there, several
areas of scuffed and chipped original
paintworkand places wherethe black had
beenrepainted. My wife, amost wise and
sensitivelady,was aghast.
‘Don ’t yo udare!’she said.‘There’shistoryin those scars andrestoring itwould
completely spoil an otherwise lovely bike.’
She wasrightofc ourse.Every woman
alwaysis( well,mostly).So Icleaned it up,
replaced theexhaust pipeforthe correcttype
forthe year andtook it to the StaffordShow.
Stone me if it didn’t win the prizefor Highly
CommendedBest UnrestoredMachine.Not
only that, but the previousowner hadrebuilt
the engine and itranlikeaSwiss watch.
Some bikeswould be severely spoiledby
restor ation and thiswassurely one of them!
Mike Estall,memberAt the risk of incurring the wrathof
Rowena,Ihave to sayItotally agreewith
the letter from JamesCaptainownerRL
Smithregarding originality. It’s beenmy
experiencethat, if abikeisr estoredto the
condition itwasinwhenitl eftthe factory,it
performsadequately in allrespects.
Seeing some‘restorations’Ido wonder
whether theownerreallywanted an
old bikeat all.He/she mightjust as
well ha ve purchasedaJapanese bikewhich already had all or most of the
modificationsfitted as standard, and
savedthemselves some money.
Depending on howcomprehensivesome
alter ations were,anold bikecould have lost
its originalityforever as the partsremoved
could have been lost or destroyed.
Pete Trow,member 13,396Zerowrath here;I’mnot particularly fond of
over-restored motorcycles either.Ithink one
of the triples in Buyer’s Eyeacouple of months
back had chrome-platedcarbs and that alone
had me choking onmycornflakes!
Idothink it’s abit judgmentaltocondemn
all (for example)powder-coated old bikes
asworks of satanic deviance, however.
Sometimes ifamotorcycle is goingtobeused
asamotorcycle and not simplyamuseum
piece, then practical steps havetobetaken
tomakeitmechanically sound.Wesharea
passionfor machines which mightbe50,
60, 70 or evenahundredyears old...many
decadesbeyond thetoleranceoftheiroriginal
engineering.Rowena20 I AUGUST 2019 Moreoldbikesonline:RealClassiccouk