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Photo GalleryCurrent Projects BSA Rocket III Metisse In late October 09 we just kicked off another exciting
project for a new customer. Here's a few photos the day after it arrived and we've already had our local designer/fabricator/welder genius, Richi Foss round and the initial engine plate designs have been kicked off.
Here's a few photos showing the bike almost finished fabrication by Richi. Richi has made the plates for mounting the engine, designed and fabricated a complete one off box for housing the bikes electrics and not to mention the fantastic seat/rear end. (both done in alloy) A complete exhaust system has also been beautifully designed and made completely in stainless steel having been cleverly routed to curve in around the electric box. The silencer hasn't been made yet at the time of the picture. Richi has had to do some major rework on the tank. We removed about a pound of filler from the tank and Ritchie has also remodelled the front end. Since these photos the bike has been returned back to us, stripped down, and is now off to the powder coaters, so watch this space. We've got the engine completely stripped down, primarily so we can get it bead blasted but it looks like it could do with a re-bore. February 2010 The frame is back from the powder coaters and is now looking great in silver. The tank is with the painter now and will hopefully be finished soon. In the meantime we've been bashing on with the engine and its now in the final stages of assembly. This week we plan to have the engine installed in the frame. We've just got back the bikes wheel hubs from our local machine shop where they've had some slight rework carried out, mostly to get rid of the casting/bead finish because we wanted a polished finish instead. We need to get the engine and swinging arm in so we can align up the wheel hubs to the chain run. Once that happens then its off to the wheel builders with the hubs, armed with the appropriate offset dimensions. March 2010 Engine's finally in for good, and so is the swinging arm now we've finished making the hub spacers. The wheels are back from the wheel builder, tyres fitted and are now on the bike. We've just been finishing off getting the front and rear brake calipers measured up and all the necessary plates and spacers made up. The tank and seat unit are back from the painters and look absolutely stunning in 12 their coats of green! The seat is also just back from our seat upholsterers. The pressure's on now because the bike has to be finished for this years Scottish Bike Show at Ingliston Highland Showground near Edinburgh on Sat/Sun 21st/22nd March. There's still loads of bits and pieces to be done and less than a week to go but unless there's any real disaster there's no real reason why it won't be ready in time!! Sorry there's no more new photos of the bike. That's deliberate but I'll be posting some after the bike show. 18th March 2010 Tomorrow the bike's owner is up to see it for the first time! The good news is that we've managed to get the bike ready just in time for the bike show this weekend. When the owner first saw his bike today for the very first time, to say he was pleasantly surprised must be the understatement of the year. He was almost lost for words. I'd said there be no photos until after the bike show but here's one as a wee taster. More will be taken at the actual bike show and I'll get some pasted in here sometime soon after.
You'll probably see us hovering about the bike over the two show days so feel free to come over and have a chat, maybe there's something that we can help you with.
20th/21st March 2010 Yahoo! The bike won an award at the show and we're all extremely happy and proud at how the bike performed at the show. A few pictures taken on the Saturday.
A few days later we got the engine running. Click on the play button below to hear the BSA Triple motor running!
(you may have to download a plug in before you can hear the audio clip) Triton (9th July) This is a customer's project bike we're working on. We don't have any before pictures but here's a few of the bits and pieces. We've had the frame powder coated silver after carrying out a dry build, making sure it will all fit together first. The engine has been completely rebuild so now its time to start to put it together!
Just like the Metisse, the Triton has also been off to our fabricator, Ritchie and has had a new alloy oil tank designed and made for it as has a seat/rear end unit and a superb head steady. The bike's back in our workshop again and is on the bench being worked on. Just finished rebuilding the amal monobloc carbs and now they're finally fitted as well as a new pair of bellmouths. Been zinc plating a few more bits and pieces. The primary outer case is next in line for a polish. Norton Model 18 In July we received a Norton Model 18, 490cc of 1947
vintage. Here are a few pictures on the day it arrived. Just click on an image to zoom in.
Progress..... By early August we had the frame completely stripped and hand delivered it to our powder coating experts down in East Lothian. We expect its return by the first or second week in September. The pile of parts, shown in the photo, for re-chroming and
bright zinc plating were also hand delivered to our plating experts. As soon as we get the wheel hubs back from the powder coaters they will be off to our wheel builders. The engine's been stripped and cleaned. The bottom half has been examined and the crank bearing declared in excellent condition. The bore, piston and rings are not so good so we'll need to examine these more closely and take some measurements. The crankcases were bead blasted on-site in our blast cabinet and now the bottom half of the engine has been rebuilt back up again. There's still work to be done on cleaning and blasting the barrel and head. Once we get the gearbox and mag/dynamo stripped down we'll get back on and finish the engine. 23rd Sept
We've also stripped down the dynamo/magneto unit.
The dynamo has been stripped down and is found wanting a new bearing and brushes. The steel and alloy casings have been grit and bead blasted ready for appropriate painting and final assembly when the parts arrive. Still no progress on the barrel and head. Perhaps next week! The Frame.... Good news is that the bike frame is ready to be collected from our powder coaters. Because we don't want to risk losing the frame we usually collect the frame ourselves, so by the end of this week the frame will be back on site. 29th Sept ... the frame is back from the powder coaters. Watch this space for pictures of the rebuild. When we got the frame back from the powder coaters the finished wheel hubs were ready too. We've since sent the hubs away to our wheels building specialists and they're also now back complete with new rims, spokes and fitted Avon Tyres.
It didn't take long to establish that the spark from the magneto wasn't the best so we had already sent the magneto assembly away to be refurbish by our mag and dynamo expert and now its back with us ready for the dynamo to be fitted.
Past Projects Here's some of our past bikes that have been through us for whatever the reason.
Triumph Speed Twin One our past projects was a 1950 Triumph Speed Twin, 500cc with sprung rear hub. This bike had only done about 7500 miles from new when It would appear that the engine had seized. The story goes that it has been laid up for some 40 odd years before being sold on to its current owner and finally ending up at Loch Ness Restorations for a major and compete restoration. Anyway, here's a few pictures showing the condition when it arrived at our workshop, some more pictures as we stripped it, built the bike back up and finally when complete. The bike is now back with its owner who is currently enjoying blasting around the roads, here in the Scottish highlands. Just click on an image to zoom in.
Here's some more pics as we started to strip the bike down....
... and as it all starts to come together:
Some pics dedicated to the engine, before and after:-
And finally.....:-
Final pictures taken on completed bike in early May 08. Vincent Comet 1950 On November 28th 2008 we just managed to source a 1950 Vincent Comet in need of full restoration. This bike we sourced came from the south of Scotland. It was virtually a "barn" find, lain untouched for at least 20 years, and it came with a mountain of bike spares, albeit not Vincent ones.
So watch this space for updates as we sift through the spares and identify what all the bits are and get them all catalogued etc. 21st December 2008 We were considering restoring the bike ourselves but after careful consideration we decided not to so we decided to sell the Comet. On the 21st of December we passed on the bike to its new owner. Triumph Trident T150 1972 Vintage (23/09/08) Not only do we carry out full restorations we quite often get bikes in for some work to bring them up to spec. Here's another recent example of a bike from the Strathbran Speedshop brought over to us for some TLC. Its been in storage for 4 years.
... and now its back with its owner. JAP Speedway (19th Nov 08) This bike is a JAP Speedway and is owned by a local elderly gent who used to race it in his early days. He wanted it restored so he could put it on display in his living-room! It was decided that we shouldn't attempt to get the motor running. It wasn't in very good condition internally and also the fact that it run on methanol. Don't have any before photos but here's a few taken on the day we delivered it back to the owner.
DOT 250 (Devoid of Trouble) Early August we received delivery of a 1958 DOT Scrambler bike in
need of full restoration.
The bike isn't in its original colours but will be someday soon. 23rd Sept As with the Norton ES2. the frame is also ready to be collected, so we'll see it back here at the weekend. The engine and gearbox have been stripped down. No major worn parts but a few bearings in need of replacement so a full kit of bearings and oil seals will be ordered. The crank and box casings have been stripped down completely and have now been bead blasted ready for assembly once the bearings etc have arrived. Some gearbox pics....
Sept ... the frame is also back from the powder coaters and so are the wheel hubs. Just like the Norton ES2 wheels we've also got the DOT wheels back fully rebuild, ready to be fitted to the frame.
May 2009 We've been spending much of this month washing down all the bit 'n' pieces of the frame such as the nuts and bolts ready for frame/wheel assembly. If you look at our other web page you'll see we're getting into bright zinc plating so we've been spending some time plating all the rusty bits and now we're ready to start assembling the frame. Some parts for the engine and gearbox are on order so as soon as they arrive we plan to get the engine and box rebuild. Sometime at the beginning of the year we sent the rather battered tank away to get straightened and re-chromed. We've now got the tank back and its a belter!
End of May At last some progress on the frame! Its got to be finished for a show on June the 21st !! Since we decided to have a go at doing our own zinc plating on alll the nuts and bolts, brackets etc, its taken a little bit longer before we saw the frame taking shape. All the parts for engine and gearbox are now here so there's no stopping us now.......
June 4th Front wheel is now on and both the front shocks have been stripped, grit blasted and painted. The gearbox has also been re-build and hopefully we'll get the engine re-build as well this week and fitted to the frame early next week. The seat is away being recovered at the moment so we should see it back in 2 weeks time!
June 14th The engine has now been build (well most of it anyway) and it and the gearbox are now back in the frame. The new rear shocks were delivered the other and they're now on the bike. We had to get another rear tyre for the bike cause the one we got was just a wee bit too wide for the frame, never mind. No more new pictures though I'll get one in here soon! November 09 Its finally finished. We had some problems with it jumping out of 1st gear and after a few gearbox stripdowns we eventually sourced and cured the problem. This bike's got to be one of the noisiest bike we've ever heard. As you'll see from the photos there's no silencer, and the exhaust appears just behind your left foot!
BSA Side Valve Engine (19th Nov) This arrived last week. Its a 1929 BSA Side Valve, believed to be about 500cc. It's in for a complete refurbishment but hasn't started yet although we done an assessment on the magneto and its definitely a duffer, so it will be sent off for refurbishment soon.
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