now that's the way a classic bike should be: UNRESTORED and beautiful!!!!!!!!

Eh?...Abused, neglected and buggered up more like! ...Ian

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

Time and nature have left their traces, so it be

Amen!

Yeah Yeah! Just fix the broken bits and call the rest 'PATINA' Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I'm thinking of pushing my B33 into the village pond and leaving it there till next spring...in the whacky world of old motorcycles it will probably add a few hundred to its value ... ...Ian

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

Ian, I thought the correct BSA term would be "Plunge" .....

Is there not some room for middle ground here, if every part of a bike is found to be unuseable, & will be replaced with a serviceable part, could it not be argued that rather than that thing end up as a box of useless rusty bits, it could be left as kind of art ? ?
There will come a time when no more "original" wrecks are found.

My sentiments entirely Fred. Just let the plants grow through it as a garden ornament. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Could anyone who's ever broken fins on an engine (especially more than one and not in a road traffic accident), tell me just how the f**k it's possible ?

I've been bodging around with engines since my mid teens and I started knowing absolutely nothing but even at that young age, it was obvious that inserting a pry-bar at a cylinder joint or pounding a finned component with a hammer clearly couldn't be a good thing.

Strangely, there are people all over the world capable of doing it and they seem to have no shame in sharing photos of their handywork ?

The usual way is to use a ring spanner on head bolts instead of the required box or socket spanner. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hi Rik, I caught one on a brand new M20 cylinder head whilst tightening the head bolts...I should have used that extension bar ...It was just before leaving for France and I didn't like to look scruffy 'on parade' so I glued it back on with some liquid metal..That worked fine until I got home and did a proper repair job...I still get annoyed thinking about my carelessness...Ian

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

I got annoyed once after agreeing a price over the phone & traveling 160 miles for an engine that had been described verbally to me as having no fin damage after I had specifically asked about fins, only on arrival to immediately see one missing & one chipped fin.
The Guy said "oh, I didn't really look" I love people like that.

Yep! My M20 also has a brand new head on it. I bead blasted it and painted it. Then as I carried into my workshop, the door handle went up my sleeve and a I dropped it. Three broken and now repaired fins. Bugger!!

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

90% of the exhisting m20's are the same, they all look like new ones (fitted together with replica parts). how boring is that?

I have 2 broken fins on the cylinder, a few broken off the head. Came into my possession like this.
It's an ex-military bike, they obviously were shot off in service!

email (option): vinver@ns.sympatico.ca

I'm sure you're right Vincent! Probably being ridden by David Niven during his time with 'Phantom Signals'

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hi Ron, Don't forget they had door handles during the war also

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl