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Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 10:37 am
by G-Man
Sara

Welcome back! I have missed your narrative. I'm having to build myself another workshop so that I can generate sufficient room to work on my projects.

Enjoy the motorcycle 'therapy'. The guys who do my zinc plating leave everything hanging on the wires so I spent a few hours at the weekend "un-knitting" a pile of re-plated spokes and re-matching them all to their respective projects. Nice to have everything shiny, though.

G

Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:29 pm
by sarals
Hi, G!

Yes, it's good to be back. Bicycle racing, and the especially the training for it, really takes a lot of time. And then, there's work! Anyway, the Old Girl has been beckoning, and I finally have the time to get going on her again. Heavens, this is going to be a "rest of my life" project if I don't moving!

I'm just cleaning, not replating. Sometimes I think I should do a full blown restoration, but then I look at the less than perfect but still nice bits that make up the Old Girl and I go back to the more realistic "fix, clean, and then ride" approach. There is something about patina - quoting Wayne Carini again - "It's only original once".

Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 8:07 am
by G-Man
Sara

My 1966 Matchless 350 is like that. Untouched from new when my Uncle bought it. She became mine in 1980 and just runs and runs. I have a knee problem now so quite a chore to start. I couldn't part with her.

Image
Matchless G3 1966 at Derby Industrial Museum by graham.curtis, on Flickr

And guess who, around 1968......

Image
Me on Uncle Ted's 350 Matchless G3 by graham.curtis, on Flickr

G

Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 11:35 am
by malcolmgb
That's a great story about the Matchless Graham, are you a VMCC member?

Posted: Tue Jun 18, 2013 4:15 pm
by G-Man
Malcolm

Yes - an "armchair" VMCC member at the moment. The Matchless appeared in the Classic Motorcycle in 1994, I think and I did one of the Burton Parades around the same time.

Not enough time for playing with bikes at the moment.

G

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:12 am
by malcolmgb
Okay Graham you may know Mick Leach then, he is an AJS fan, used to go Derby Section but now a Burton Section regular. I have done Burton Parade last 3 years, won 2 rosettes for 'Highly Commended' 1 with 400 & 1 with 175, you are welcome to come over to meets anytime.

Sara sorry for 'highjacking' your thread.

Posted: Wed Jun 19, 2013 4:51 pm
by sarals
Malcolm, that's perfectly okay! Conversations about old friends, in this case bikes, are something I welcome!

Graham, wow. That is quite a story. And of course, the pictures tell a few thousand words. What a gorgeous machine.

For me, there were two bikes "that got away". I always wanted a CB400F and a CBX. "Wanted", I've never owned either, and probably never will.