Hi All,
Bit off topic it may appear but bear with me.
Yesterday (7th July 2011) I purchased the remains of a James Comet from our local clean waste tip for the princely sum of £5!
I have frame, Wheels, Girder Forks, Tank, 1 tool box, part of the rear mudguard, handlebars , all in salvagable condition, and a very incomplete dilpadated 98cc 2 speed Villiers engine.
Colour is pretty original - never been repinted as far as I can see.
John Bull block tread tyres fitted and they still pump up - or they did until the pressure caused the front tyre to disintergrate. I have now deflated them.
Year I am guessing is 1948.
My point is this bike was going in the skip. I know them well at the tip and had asked before about old bikes that come in for scrap. They had promised to keep anything good but this is the problem. What they and I, and probably yourselves, think is good is very much a subjective thing. They think I am bonkers mad to even save the bike but at least now they now know when I say I will have anything they know I mean it!
So if you have a clean waste tip near you go along you never know what people will throw out. Sure it would have been better if it had been a James ML but beggers can't be choosers.
I don't know about the continent or across the pond whether you have reclamation yards or such like, but if you do find them out and start haunting them.
Well I'm off to get stripping!

Regards

Clive Andrews

email (option): cliveandjo@lineone.net

a friend told me about some old motorcycle and bits including a sidecar frame at a large scrap yard near me went down there straight away wouldnt let me go into the yard health and safety had to go to the office sat in the reception for half an hour before someone came to see me they told me it wasnt company policy to give the public scrap eec regs so maybe a some good spares went for scrap it used to be much easier with the small scrap yards which are getting less and less

The Comet (oxymoron) belonged there. You took it from it's rightful home!

i dont understand comet or oxymoron i am not educated like some of the forum members there were no GSE s when i went to school

Hi Douglas,
I am 44 years old and not that many years ago I remeber people saying much the same thing about BSA M20's!
When the Classic Bike scene got started all people had eyes for was the sportier OHV twins, etc. Side valves and other 'Grey Porridge' were scorned.
I am not claiming the James is anything special, it isn't, wasn't and never will be but it is important to save what you can.
It means I can have my first ever girder forked bike at a cost which, with 4 young children, that I can afford. Also, now the clean waste yard know I am willing to take stuff like this who knows what next will appear!
Regards
Clive

email (option): cliveandjo@lineone.net

Hi Roger,
I understand your problem only too well.
A local metal yard to me, Huntshaw, near Torrington will not sell or save anything also claiming eec regs, health and safety and no doubt sun spot activity!
However, if you can find a good place cultivate a friendship, worm, weedle and if neccesary prostitute yourself.
It takes time and effort but it is worth it for the chance that something really good can and does turn up.
It is bad enough if you find out someone got there before you, but even worse when you find out something has gone in the crusher.
Regards
Clive

email (option): cliveandjo@lineone.net

Well said Clive.

At this distance, anything mechanical which has survived becomes interesting and the James is typical of what constituted post-war mobility for many.

With a bit of luck, you'll have something supremely accessible and stylish for riding to the shops on.

I sat outside a French café last year and a young chap rode past on a small girder-forked Motobecane wearing a pudding basin and with a Gauloise clamped between his teeth. He out-posed all the middle aged men on Harleys with tasselled luggage.

You may not believe this, as I still find it hard, but last year a friend of mine pulled most of a J12 out of a skip in London. He got the engine, g/box, frame, forks, tanks and various sundries. When he inquired the men clearing the house had found the bike in the cellar. The guards, primaries and other parts had been thrown in the previous days skip, they had no idea what they were dumping! Unfortunately scouring the tip where the skip went proved fruitless. What is left is undergoing restoration.
I'm amazed that some people still think this stuff is worthless.
Cheers, mick.

email (option): mick@motorbikemike.org.uk

My 16H was only saved because a lock-up was being cleared and the new occupant insisted on the buyer of a couple of complete bikes taking all the old bits and junk as well.

It is a cliche but 'Never look a gift horse in the Mouth!'
I am still looking for an M20, or 16H and at present the only way I will be able to afford it is if does come from a skip
But I do agree, it is amazing what people will throw away. Mind you I am not going to knock it if it keeps me in cheap fun projects.
It's all less costly than fags, booze and broads.
Regards
Clive

email (option): cliveandjo@lineone.net

Clive
I think the James Comet is a charming little bike. Well done on rescueing it, and good luck with restoring it.

email (option): gasboy@btinternet .com

My Velocette Viper I got many years ago was in bits in 2 tea chests waiting to go to the tip until I spoke to the owner who gave it to me, he was splitting up from his wife and had to clear out of the house.

well done clive,i set up an engineering works from demoliton sites, total cost about £4000.00 .twenty five years on, all all machines still working ,we now employ about fifteen people and hopefully it will carry on long after i retire cheers rick. ps .i wish i knew of a good 1970s tip now id be there every day ,bikes ive had phew,isnt worth tinking about. or is thatthinkking or tinkering

email (option): richardholt@rocketmail.com

Somehow i knew i'd get this reaction!. But you'll never convince me of their restorable prospects!Fine for trading for bits and pieces, but when people restore these things, do you actually see them riding them? They're just a novelty which soon wears off!Please don't be offended, they simply aren't practical.I once rode a Yamaha 80cc for a hundred miles when my Matchy broke down once which belonged to my brother, what a nightmare!The Yammy probably had twice the horsepower as a 98cc villiers!

I can assure everybody on this web site that practicality is never something that comes high on my agenda.
If I wanted practicality I would put my Honda back on the road. It never goes wrong, handles O.K, goes O.K, in fact does everything O.K. By God is it DULL!!!!!!
Give me a ridiculous contraption with a grin factor everytime.
Anyway, whoever said motorcycling was practical?
A car is practical - I, of course, have one of those. That is even more dull. I don't even do my own servicing on it. I can't, it's too complicated.
Like most things don't expect a machine to do more than was expected of it.
A 98cc was built for cheap transport to the shops or work over short distances. It will do 100 miles in a run if you want it to but it will do it slowly! You are asking it to do something it was never designed for.
Mind you Lands End to John O Groats on a Comet? Now there's a thing.
Anybody got an AA routeplanner to hand
Regards
Clive

email (option): cliveandjo@lineone.net

thinking about scrapping motorcycle i have to plead guilty i scapped my father's 1938 sunbeam lion 9 and a triumph i think 5t with duel down tubes sorry sorry

I now have a complete BSA Clifford M20 industrial engine I fully intend to restore when time permits. This came from a rotorvator...which I don't have..so I won't be able to turn over the vegetable patch when it is completed..The point is it is an example of alternative applications for the M20 power unit and as such has some interest for an M20 enthusiast, despite having no real practical use or much financial value.
The James at the end of the day CAN be used for local transportation (as most were when new) so it is quite reasonable to restore it and save it from oblivion as an example of the type.
If all decisions about preserving motorcycles from the past were based on comparisons to modern machines or an arbitrary performance criteria hardly anything would be saved!!
The 'Jimmy' is a good example of basic transport from another era and should be preserved...the world then wasn't full of Vincents and Gold Stars. Furthermore with so much comment on 'insane' prices this James certainly 'bucks the trend'.. ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

But would it be useful to put a stroke and big bore kit in your rotavator? Or will you preserve this in its original trim?

I may know of a complete one, and have been harassing the owner for some time now, but sofar no sale.

MMMM...720cc rotorvator...I'd certainly get my potatoes in quicker! I got a Big 4 engine from a rotorvator I found in a hedge about 1/2 a mile from where I live...the farmer obligingly dragged it out of the undergrowth with his tractor and said if I took the engine out I could have it for nothing.
The rotorvator was a beast..about 7-8 ft long and with a chain driven gearbox with sliding dogs to engage the different ratios...it didn't have a makers plate so I know no any more about it... ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

That's a "Trusty Tractor" Ian. Ron.


1943 TRUSTY 2-wheeled tractor

Trusty 2-wheeled tractors were produced from 1933 to the late 1950's, with many modifications and improvements during its history. All machines had a centrifugal clutch from the engine, with independent dog clutches on each wheel to disengage drive when turning. Early Trustys were single-speed machines, usually powered by a 5hp JAP engine. Later versions had 2-speed and reverse gearbox and could be powered by either JAP 5hp, Douglas 8hp or Norton 14hp engines. During the war years, it seems a few were fitted with Briggs & Stratton engines, and our machine is an example of this. You could buy almost any attachment you could need for the Trusty, including ploughs, self-lift toolframes, sawbench, rollers, disc harrows, and even a ride-on seat and trailer.

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

And a four wheeled Norton Big4. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I think it might have been the 'Twusty 2 Wheeled Twactor'...but with the fuel tank, engine cowlings, gearbox cowlings...and now the engine, missing..(but with extra brambles, grass and rust) However, the vintage tractor worlds loss is Rob Millers gain..it donated some nice low mileage parts to his Big 4 sidecar project..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com