Workshop

  • Classic Techniques: practical painting

    Classic Techniques: practical painting

    by

    –

    There’s a moment in every bike’s life when its paintwork needs a bit of a refresh – but you don’t want to go to the expense and extent of a full-blown professional makeover. Bob Pickett set to with the sandpaper and spray cans… Regular readers may well recognise this particular Morini 3½, which appeared many…

    Continue reading »

  • Tuning For Need, Part 2

    Tuning For Need, Part 2

    by

    –

    Paul Friday continues his quest to make his old banger sizzle. In this episode, your hero tries to find an ignition system to fit his single-cylinder Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone… Electronic ignition systems are so common now that they are taken for granted. It’s a box with some wires that makes the plug fire. It…

    Continue reading »

  • Tuning for Need, Part 1

    Tuning for Need, Part 1

    by

    –

    Paul Friday’s industrial relic – a Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone – produces a lot less power than it could. In this series of features from the RC RChive, he embarks upon a quest to make the old banger sizzle… My bike makes a lot less power than it could. While we all accept that old…

    Continue reading »

  • Classic Techniques: Amal Premier Carb

    Classic Techniques: Amal Premier Carb

    by

    –

    Paul Jennings had been perfectly happy with the Mikuni carb fitted to his BSA B44. So he had some misgivings about swapping to a brand new Amal Concentric. Here’s what he discovered… Six or seven years ago when I put my B44 together I was determined to make it as easy to start and reliable…

    Continue reading »

  • Tank Badge Repair

    Tank Badge Repair

    by

    –

    A damaged mounting can mean the end of an original component’s useful life. Alan Goff didn’t want to throw away the tank badge for his Triumph T90, so set about fixing it… I also own ‘Puddle Jumper’ a Triumph T20 Tiger Cub (seen on RC before at www.real classic.co.uk/newsfiles/news08101700.html), and recently acquired one of the…

    Continue reading »

  • Inspection Pit

    Inspection Pit

    by

    –

    If you can’t elevate your classic bike to get at its underside then Andy Bone has a suggestion: borrow a trick from the classic car crowd. Better than laying on the ground, any day! Some folk say that a man’s shed is an extension of himself, whether it is a shed on an allotment, a…

    Continue reading »

  • Petrol Tank Cleaning and Sealing

    Petrol Tank Cleaning and Sealing

    by

    –

    The sticky business of cleaning and re-sealing fuel tanks can be tricky to get right first time, especially as there are so many cleaners and sealants now on the market. Ian Potter of Tank Care Products shares some of his expertise with us… I have sold many thousands of these kits and coated many tanks…

    Continue reading »

  • Pazon Electronic Ignition for Laverda 750

    Pazon Electronic Ignition for Laverda 750

    by

    –

    Stu Thomson wanted to improve the low-rev running on his Laverda 750 twin. So here’s how he fitted a modern electronic ignition unit to it… I have fitted a Pazon Surefire ignition to my Laverda 750cc SF1. I used the unit designed for the Triumph, BSA and Norton twins. I am a retired engineer and…

    Continue reading »

  • Crankshaft Removal

    Crankshaft Removal

    by

    –

    Classic bikes can create all sorts of problems, especially the more unusual models. Phil Speakman has been puzzling over how to extract a seized crank on his Adler Favorit… When you’re rebuilding a classic bike there’s a certain amount of procrastination involved. Although maybe ‘procrastination’ isn’t really the right word now I think about it.…

    Continue reading »

  • Magnetos

    Magnetos

    by

    –

    The Power Behind The Bang Behind The Clutch Behind The Rear Tyre… Dave Minton explains about sparks… You may have grasped that I have, through probably crack brained deliberations, become the owner of a Velocette Venom. As to the reason why, rather than repeat myself or leave insufficient opportunity for further tales of the drive…

    Continue reading »