Is there an award for bodging ? The bloke who did my steering head bearings ought to have it. Waiting for gearbox pawl springs I thought I would get around to fitting sealed ball bearings in the steering head. Easy,lay complete handle bars on the tank, hang the head lamp from the roof, take off the front wheel and mudguard, undo all the top yoke fixings (Tele forks), drop the forks out change the head bearings.So far so good the previous Tw## had an odd top race and cone that was too large for the fork stem and too small for the frame. This had been partially fixed with Solder. The top bearing was effectively a plain white metal job and the slight play was the stem flapping in the oversize cone. Got it all sorted in the end !! The moral is I think that you need to go right through a bike from first principles not relying on past work. Sorry about the Sunday Rant.

Cheers Pat

It's amazing how much effort someone will put into bodging a job when doing it right would take half the time. At least now you know it's done properly.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

This is exactly the reason I question the wisdom of recommissioning 'barn finds' and prefer complete restorations. There's no harm retaining 'patina' if that's your thing but a bike has to be stripped, inspected and rebuilt to be sure it is completely sound (and safe). Without X ray vision you have absolutely no idea of what has been done to it previously or what state of wear/corrosion exists on many of the key components...Ian

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

i have finally(hopefully) got rid of the last of the 1960s 'bodges' on mine, a clutch with no rollers, an engine missing its casing bolts, an oval small end with a new bush in, to name a few of the wonders i have found, going over everything helps catch the obvious ones,

when i brought mine looked fully restored the clutch centre hub cone was worn and when clamped up the chain wheel would hit the back of the chain case their solution put some fibre washer on first then clamp the clutch up to these after 21 mile they had disintergrated causing the whole clutch to fall off

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

Lots of these bikes were owned at some point by ignorant, skint teenagers.

Cycle Fred

Lots of these bikes were owned at some point by ignorant, skint teenagers.

email (option): cruiserchooser@hotmail.co.uk

I bought my first bike..a Matchless, on my 16th. birthday..I wasn't earning much as a first year engineering apprentice and knew absolutely nothing about bikes. So I think I fitted that description as well. Unless you were born into money and popped into the world with a spanner in your hand I guess most of us fell into that category.. .In the early years there were definitely a few old bikes that suffered at my inexperienced hands and from the effects of a low budget..Ian

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

btb, I bought my first M20 when I was 18 but luckily my "dark years" on motorcycle maintenance was on a few bikes before that including various French mopeds & villiers off road heaps.

Ian, you just reminded me of my Italian Moped phase, yes 16 was F(r)antic GT time. That's why I had to learn about maintenance REAL FAST.

Cycle Fred

btb, I bought my first M20 when I was 18 but luckily my "dark years" on motorcycle maintenance was on a few bikes before that including various French mopeds & villiers off road heaps.

email (option): cruiserchooser@hotmail.co.uk

Mine was a load of parts most of which were used to identify more servicable replacements. It ended up with a non standard plunger rear end & girder forks, not many like that :-D
Those 37 bikes you had are nice, they are very different, engine, g.box & cycle parts wise to later years aren't they.

Yes, as a youth I was rather glad the bike was pretty much complete, and only in later ownership did I realise what a comparitively rare bird it was. Not much from the later models would fit it mechanically. It had done comparitively few miles from new but was always a bit temperamental. Interestingly a chap called Owen Wright did an article on it for 'The Star'many years ago.

email (option): cruiserchooser@hotmail.co.uk

I'm told the changes they later made to have the cams no longer run in bushes directly in the timing cover, was to reduce excessive noise but I have a 38 bike with that design (smooth timing cover) & I don't think it any more noisey than the 39 type design.

It was done to make manufacture and assembly easier..The original type M20 had to have the timing cover and bushes very accurately machined and located to ensure correct spindle alignment and fit. Also end float of the cams needed to be checked at assembly..impossible with the cover fitted, so a cut away cover must have been used. However, this may not have been dimensionally identical to the actual cover fitted on final assembly, thus potentially compromising the clearances.
The 'outrigger plate' that supported the outer end of the cam spindles etc. solved all these problems at a stroke...Ian

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

Fair few other BSA engines in the 30's with no way of checking cams end float after final assembly though, mind you, the early design is a real pain for idler gear dropping off while timing the ignition with the timing cover off, it sneaks its way slowly off, it must have cheered the workforce up putting the outrigger plate system on them, shame they didn't give mine a way of checking valve clearances, I don't mind the "feel for a hint of play" method though