"Dreaded Previous Owner" - repairs and modifications [ nightmares ].
I was about to start a thread after reading earlier in the chat room, and then Pat came along and suggested it as well - so I dedicate this one to Pat.
There were loads of little anecdotes along this theme which I had intended to incorporate in the Tales from the Day, but somehow they never seem to have stood up as a whole subject matter.
Maybe I will.
I'll start off with another brake story.............. Back in my early days of Cafe Racers I bought a very cheap 500 AJS twin. It was bought for next to nothing as a runaround when I was "in between bikes". They were actually quite a pleasant little engine, if totally underrated / unloved. In those days as soon as you bought a bike the first thing you did was to wring it's neck to see just what it would do. So I did, and that was very nearly the end of Beachcomber. I bought the bike after seeing it in some blokes driveway. The engine ran well but we couldn't get it out for a trial run. I made sure all the gears were operating - and that was it , the £10 duly changed hands and it was mine. He even agreed to drop it off for me as his brother had a Thames van.
SO, start her up and whizz down the road at maximum velocity .... only to realise I wasn't stopping at anything like maximum retardation. And there was a horrible smell coming from the front drum accompanied by what looked like whiffs of smoke. Brakes were notoriously bad in those days so I didn't think much of it. However, the braking effort seemed to be much worse that usual. With the weekend coming up and a ride out with the lads planned for the Sunday I thought I'd best get some new front shoes for it.
Anyone want to guess ?
On pulling the brake drum off I couldn't believe my eyes. The DPO had replaced the brake linings alright ..... with lengths of shaped bent hardboard !!
At the time brake linings / rivets were readily available from most bike shops and were relatively pennies.
I was about to start a thread after reading earlier in the chat room, and then Pat came along and suggested it as well - so I dedicate this one to Pat.
There were loads of little anecdotes along this theme which I had intended to incorporate in the Tales from the Day, but somehow they never seem to have stood up as a whole subject matter.
Maybe I will.
I'll start off with another brake story.............. Back in my early days of Cafe Racers I bought a very cheap 500 AJS twin. It was bought for next to nothing as a runaround when I was "in between bikes". They were actually quite a pleasant little engine, if totally underrated / unloved. In those days as soon as you bought a bike the first thing you did was to wring it's neck to see just what it would do. So I did, and that was very nearly the end of Beachcomber. I bought the bike after seeing it in some blokes driveway. The engine ran well but we couldn't get it out for a trial run. I made sure all the gears were operating - and that was it , the £10 duly changed hands and it was mine. He even agreed to drop it off for me as his brother had a Thames van.
SO, start her up and whizz down the road at maximum velocity .... only to realise I wasn't stopping at anything like maximum retardation. And there was a horrible smell coming from the front drum accompanied by what looked like whiffs of smoke. Brakes were notoriously bad in those days so I didn't think much of it. However, the braking effort seemed to be much worse that usual. With the weekend coming up and a ride out with the lads planned for the Sunday I thought I'd best get some new front shoes for it.
Anyone want to guess ?
On pulling the brake drum off I couldn't believe my eyes. The DPO had replaced the brake linings alright ..... with lengths of shaped bent hardboard !!
At the time brake linings / rivets were readily available from most bike shops and were relatively pennies.