I have not long returned from a visit to my home town of Weston – super – Mare in the UK. The trip was to catch up with members of my family and start getting the Velocette's rolling chassis and fuel tank ready to bring home to France.
I wasn't expecting an oil painting since the bike has been left outside in my Mum's back yard for the last ten years, albeit tightly wrapped in plastic sheeting, it was going to be ugly. As I peeled the sheets away, having cut off the brambles, I noted that some of the sheets had actually stuck together and my heart began to weigh heavy. In fact, it took a good ten minutes to free the bike (minus engine of course) from the wrappings and I felt my worst fears were confirmed. There isn't one area where the chrome plating is saveable, most of the painted parts are in need of a re-paint and I have a suspicion that the plastic coated frame from Geoff Dodkin will need a heavy touch up. The picture says it all.
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| Oh dear. |
The front tyre was flat and cracked through but amazingly the rear one was still inflated. I gave it a tug and it rolled free of the longest parking place of it's existence very easily (allowing for the flat tyre). Two minutes with a household broom removed the cobwebs, insect corpses and years of accumulated clag and dust, revealing my old friend still has those beautiful lines.
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| It could be worse, it could. She is very beautiful nonetheless. |
The swinging arm still works, the shocks don't leak and do still damp (mind you, with no engine, so that could change) and there was no play in the swinging arm bearings. I expect the wheel bearings are shot though and I'd be living in denial if I didn't pull all the bearings and bushes apart for an inspection. Nonetheless it's nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.
The exhaust is completely rusted all over, but mine had a strange kink in the end that made the fish tail ground too easily, so I don't mind replacing that part. It may well be cheaper to replace the silencer than try to re-chrome it but I'll look at that later.
The fuel tank was very bare, the paint having fallen off in large areas, but the metal revealed underneath was in some areas not rusty at all. Again it could have been worse. Then I found the five gallon fibreglass racing tank that was on the bike when I bought it. It's as ugly as sin, but somehow I was pleased to find it even though I didn't bother unwrapping it.
Then a final piece of luck. Amongst a load of old papers was a letter from Geoff Dodkin confirming that he had exchanged my old frame for the current one. I have explained previously how I had an altercation with a Ford Cortina back in 1979 resulting in a written off frame. This could be a very important document when it comes to trying to road register the old girl.
All in all a fruitful trip. Transport to arrange and lots of other things to get on with then.
