I revised the ignition system by doing away with the Lucas contact breakers and coils (one coil was dud), and fitted a Boyer Bransden kit, which drives a pair of Honda C90 6V coils which are wired in series. This system has been 100% reliable over the years, and never needs any attention.

The carburettors were completely worn out, and were replaced with a (less worn) set; I bored the bodies on the lathe and sleeved the slides in brass, which has worked well, although it was a time consuming job.

The exhaust is a stainless steel Siamese system, with a ‘standard’ Triumph silencer from Armours. This was chosen to boost mid-range power as well as to reduce weight, and seems to be effective when compared to bikes which use the normal full system. It was cheaper too, and sounds good!

The frame was checked for damage and found to be ok, although the swinging arm bushes were worn out (probably due to lack of greasing). I made new bushes and fitted them. I then dropped the engine unit in the frame, and made sure everything lined up exactly; reaming through the mounting bolt holes meant that all the bolts could be made a tight fit, which helps to prevent slackening – off caused by vibration. I also used ‘Aerotight’ nuts wherever possible.

The frame was cleaned up by hand (a long job), and brush–painted using Woolworths polyurethane paint, which has proved to be highly durable! The tank was rubbed back by hand and painted with Halfords aerosols, and it has lasted well too. Nowadays there are better paint options, but I doubt if there’s anything cheaper.

Like everything else, the back wheel got new (sealed) bearings; it also needed a couple of new spokes and to be trued up. The QD sprocket/brake drum had broken teeth (probably due to a slack chain), so was replaced with a new one. The rear shocks were shot, and were replaced with a set of Marzocchis from a T140; these have since been replaced (they were worn out) by a set of Hagons.

Mudguards are period accessory alloys with self-made brackets, stays, etc; some time was spent making rubber mounts for vibration isolation, as otherwise these crack double-quick. The same attention was given to fuel and oil tank mounts, battery carrier, and so on. Strangely enough, the headlamp unit seems to be immune, although it’s not rubber mounted (it’s the original shell fitted with the halogen light unit from a Honda CX500 – so you can see in the dark…)

The original speedo and rev counter were destroyed in the crash that wrote the bike off, so I fitted a Smiths Chronometric speedo of unknown origin, recalibrated to read correctly, and an oil pressure gauge. There’s no rev counter fitted, the approved technique (so far) is to rev it till the valves bounce then change up – it’s taken it ok up to now!

The bike runs on Super Unleaded with a lead replacement additive, engine oil is Duckhams Q20-50, gearbox oil is Castrol GP50 (never use EP or ‘hypoid’ oil in an old British gearbox, it will eat the bushes), and the primary drive uses Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF), which improves the clutch action and hence the gearchange.