Motorcycle restoration for us is the combination of a hobby, an interest in all things mechanical and the joy of craftsmanship. For you, the satisfaction of collecting, the excitement of riding and the value of investment.
My passion for motorcycling was fuelled when my father. He employed me in his company that manufactured parts for many industries from nuclear to sewage handling equipment, what a range of work to take on! But my fondest memory remains the old Triumph Tiger 100 that was in and out of the workshop being fettled, ready for the latest sprint meeting. In his garage languishing in all four corners was his Francis Barnet Fulmar, BSA Goldstar, Rudge Radial, Vincent Black Shadow, Vincent Comet series B, Motobi, Itom and a host of other makes. I would ask him, why dont we restore them? Over two years of restoration ensued to bring them up to fully restored condition, as they are still now, thus, my passion for collecting and my interest in the way each bike worked mechanically, flourished. The passion didn’t stop there, I wanted to race them.
It started in 1976 when I sprinted a BSA Bantam C15 running on methanol, returning speeds of 98mph at Santapod Raceway. In 1980 I campaigned an Ariel Red Hunter 350cc and got a 9th place first time out.
In 1982 we bought two Ducati Mach 1s, one was 1961 and the other 1962, a lot of development work took place on them over the years. In 1983 I took my TT prepaired Benelli two stroke out for its first race, returning a second place at Snetterton. In 1984 I decided to race an Itom 50cc in the CRMC club, I was the only rider for several years with a 50cc and it aroused a lot of interest in the club. Back to the Ducats in 1985, one was left as a reliable sports bike that revved to 9500rpm with the red and white cam fitted, the other was an ultra, ultra short stroke at 237cc that revved to 13500rpm and won many races, including a second place to everyones amazement in the National Single Cylinder race at Mallory Park, second to a works Honda that was only a year old, not bad for a 1962 model, and I recon with the right rider on it now, it would still be a winner, easily. I was also racing and tuning within the late 1980s, a 1934 Rudge Full Radial, Puch EMC, water cooled disc valve Itom, Waddon Ehrlich, Motobi, Parilla, MV Augusta 175.
Eventually I retired from racing after a second place on the ducati ultra at RAF Raynham after falling off, just before the helicopter pad. Just to say a little more about the Ducatis on the race track, the ultra short stroke won the Twin Cylinder Championship and the Sports Duke won the Single Cylinder Championship in the same year with the CRMC. By the way, sometime in the early 1980s at Mallory Park, my father got a second place on the watercooled Itom in a 250cc race, coming second to an Aermachi.
Retired from racing, my dad and I threw ourselves into manufacturing motorcycle parts for clubs and companies. Clubs included Panther and Royal Enfield, companies included AMC Spares, Hamrax Motors and Hamilton Racing. So far up to this date we have worked Douglas, Harley Davidson, Indian, Jawa, Moto Guzzi, Morini, Minarelli, Kriedler, Honda, Jamathi, Suzuki, Tohatsu, Zenith, BMW, Norton, James. We have produced crankshafts from En 40B to camshafts in En 36 for Vincents.
A full machine shop in-house allows us to meet our customers needs, cutting out the middle-man, and so keeping our prices competitive. We also work on vintage and veteran cars including Panhard, Peugeot, Jaguar, Honda, Mini to name a few. Our latest projects include a Ducati 250cc 4 valve head with twin spark and a racing engine for a model aircraft.
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