A visit from those in the know

 Every day's a school day

You may recall I wrote in to Practical Sportsbike magazine a few months ago for help in un-locking the fuel cap on my Trophy. A few weeks ago I was contacted by Alan Seeley asking if they could come over and do a piece for their Resto SOS section. Now while I was confident in my abilities to finish getting Tabitha back on the road, a little help is never turned down, especially when those offering the help are far more experienced than myself. After all, I’m just a desk jockey with no real training in things mechanic.

The knock on the door came at 7.00pm one Thursday evening, Alan turning up first followed a few minutes later by a photographer, and I apologise for not remembering your name (something to upset photographers around the world). Sometime later Gary Hurd arrives and the bike chat begins. I won’t go over what was discussed as most of it is here in this blog, but one thing I found out earlier in the day is that Tabitha has been off the road for around 12 years before I got her. In one of my first blog entries about Tabitha I mentioned that Keith laid her up in the garden when he bought a Speed Triple. I had a sneeky look at his Facebook profile which showed some photos of his Speed Triple going back to 2008. This ties in with there being no on-line MOT record (2006-).

Most of the Tabitha related chat was around work I’d already done and I’m happy to report that I’m going in the right direction. Gary offered me a few tips, things I hadn’t considered when working on bikes in general, including buying some Jis screwdrivers. I’d thought about this a while ago but never really thought they could be that much different from normal posidrive screwdrivers. I’m told they are and well worth the expense, so I’ll be looking out for some soon.

Gary took a long look at the carbs, taking off one of the float bowls to see what condition they’re in and to my surprise, they’re not too bad. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not good, far from serviceable, but considering how long they’ve been stood, not too bad either. One of the carb caps needs replacing and the rubber caps that cover where you’d connect a vacuum gauge to balance them, is missing. I think the float also needs replacing but apart from that, a good clean and replacement jets should see them serviceable again. Gary even volunteered to come back & balance them for me when the time comes (something about a follow up article)

Gary confirmed that the fork stanchions were corroded beyond use and suggested new ones. I’m not too sure he agreed with my plan to send them off to Dynasurf, but he didn’t discourage me either. He also confirmed I need to replace the brake lines, chain & sprocket and rebuild the carbs, which I already knew and had budgeted for. However, he also mentioned the rear shock needed replacing as well as the brake discs, adding around £600 to the project cost.

He also suggested while the rear of the bike is striped down (because of replacing the shock) to lube the swing arm (on my list) and I also might want to consider dropping the headstock and regreasing the bearings. The steering feels ok, no notchiness, but while the forks are out, it would be silly not to do it anyway.

There was some discussion around the fuel tank as there is some rust in there and it looks like the liner could be flaking. Alan suggests getting it properly treated while Gary suggested giving it a good clean out and throwing some fresh fuel in it. As I suspected, I need a complete new fuel tap, rather than just a rebuild kit, which I was going to do anyway as the filter attached to the tap has had it & cannot be replaced separately. I also need t buy a new fuel tap knob anyway as the original plastic one is broken. It’s going to cost me £40 more than a rebuild kit, but if I’m going to do it, it might as well be done right.

Alan pointed out that the finish on the footrest hangers are flaking and asked what I intended to do about it. I considered spraying them black, as I have the mirror brackets but if I did that, I’d then need to also spray other bits of engine covers black, so I think I’ll see if I can find a Gray/silver to match & spray them. The wheels also need looking at. Whether I spray them myself or get them powder coated, I haven’t decided yet. They’re currently silver, so I also need to consider if I want them the same colour or not.

So, like I said, every day’s a school day. I’m pretty much on the right track, there are a few things I didn’t really think about, some things in all honesty, I thought I might get away with but it seems not, but for the most part, I’m doing what needs to be done in the right way.

With all the extra cost, and given the project cost to date (£370.00), the estimate for completing this is around £1800, probably what the bike would be worth if I was to sell it (which I’m not planning to do). A quick look on-line suggests anything from £1400 up to £2100 for early Hinkley Trophy’s, so even if I did sell her, I’d be lucky to break even, cost wise. Besides which, I agreed to ride her back to Bletchley and show Keith when I’ve finished her.

I didn't take any photo's while they were here, but as soon as the magazine article appears, I'll probably pinch soke of their photos and add them in later.