Post by glenn23 on Mar 15, 2020 13:47:56 GMT 1
In 2017 I posted a picture of my 'bike that I'd found and managed to buy back. Only the folks on this forum can perhaps understand the significance of having your old bike back!
In 1982 I bought the bike (for the first time!) and moved up from a Suzuki GP100. That started 10 years of ownership which included a couple of crashes, a blow up and an extended stay in pieces in various sheds and garages.
A career change required funding so I brought it out of retirement and rebuilt it. Quite what possessed me to bump start the bike from the top of a rise outside my flat, prior to refitting the brakes, I'm not sure! I thought it might take awhile to fire up but it started instantly, the delight of hearing it start was rapidly overtaken by the realisation the 90deg blind right at the bottom of the hill was going to require some desperate foot dragging and luck.
The photograph shows my bike now on a brief test ride last week. In all the years it was passing through the care of the other 7 owners it really hadn't changed much. The Allspeeds survived gaining a few scars along the way.
I've left the frame with the stove enamelling I had done in 91/92. If I'd known how brittle that finish was I'd have done something else but I was learning as I went. I've kept as much of my original bike as I could.
All went well, mostly, the first test ride revealed a nasty noise from 6th gear. Out with the motor, in with a better pair of 6th gears. Fixed.
So, now to enjoy the experience again!
Not many get the chance to be reunited with an old bike.
