Job done!

The RALWS project is now at an end as the little C110 has gone to a new home.  The sale price has been added to the sponsorship total bringing it to almost £6.5k.  Just as important as the money raised has been the opportunity to increase the awareness of prostate cancer, and the response to this has been great throughout the project.

This success wouldn't have been possible without the support of others though.  So a big thank you to all of you who have donated sponsorship or contributed to the project.  It is really appreciated.

A particular mention needs to go to V-Ten motorcycles for their advice and help during the restoration and with selling the bike.  Piston Broke Engineering and Griff's Reality Motorworks also gave much appreciated support during the restoration.  David Silver Spares helped me with publicity, as did Bertie Simmons at Classic Motorcycle Mechanics. Bertie edited together a three page article on the bike from the information I sent him.  It has made a huge difference to raising awareness and really helped with selling the bike.

Garry and Scott Clark kindly assisted in getting some of the important spares shipped over to the UK from the US. Achieving the standard of finish that the project deserved wouldn't have been possible without their help in sourcing the exhaust parts.

The ACU National Road Rally organisers helped in publicising my project (thanks to Alison in particular).  I've been confirmed as achieving a Silver award and have also been kindly awarded the Spirit of the Rally award.  It's a great event and a lot of fun to partake in.  It'll be held on the first weekend in July during 2015, so give them a follow on Facebook or Twitter and get your entry in early when they start accepting them next year.  I've got it in the calendar already and will be entering on my '67 BSA.  In 2015 Gold will be mine!

Bristol and Avon Roadrunners MCC manned the Chipping Sodbury control on the National Road Rally, which was my start point.  When they realised that I was doing the run for charity they kindly decided to collect for Prostate Cancer UK during the rally, ending up making a contribution of over £70 to the sponsorship total.

Covent Garden Laminates made up the number plate logos for the front of the bike and did a really nice job of it too.

David Casper at the National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club was very helpful in liaising with the DVLA to regain a V5 for the bike.  They're a large club with some very helpful and knowledgeable members.

Adam Beaumont came up with the logo, based on a photo of my Dad taken during the 1964 rally, and that helped with creating a bit of an 'identity' for the project. It was important to me to have that link back to Dad's efforts all those years ago.  Thanks Adam.

And finally, my very patient wife!  She's been extremely understanding and supportive during this project and for that I'm extremely grateful.

If you happen to have a C110, or one of the related models, and require any spares then please get in touch with me as I have quite a few left over which are for sale.

For sale!

With the rally over, and having had a few weeks off to recover, I've now given the little Honda a good service.  With the points readjusted it's now running as well as it ever has, and I quite enjoyed the commute to work on it one day this week.

So now comes the hard part.  It was always the intention to sell the bike when the rally was completed, with me donating the sale price to the sponsorship total (~£3100 so far!).  It will be hard to part with it, after having put so much effort into restoring it, but I'm sticking to the original plan.

It is difficult to peg it's worth, as they don't come up for sale often in a restored state.  Project bikes, like this was at the start, usually go for ~£500 which is what I paid.  The only restored bike for sale which I'm aware of was originally sold at auction for £2000, although it is currently listed on Ebay for £5000!

I know what I think the bike is worth, and I'm open to offers.  It has been thoroughly restored, as the story on this blog and the article in this months Classic Motorcycle Mechanics will testify.  It is not a concurs restoration, but it has been restored to what I feel is a high standard.

V-Ten motorcycles in Thornbury have very kindly offered to display the bike in their shop, so if you are local you can have a look at it in the flesh.  Alternatively if you would like any other information on the bike, or additional photos to support the ones on the blog, then please get in touch with me here.

Finally, who ever does buy the bike will know that through their purchase a sizeable donation will have been made to a charity that are working very hard to reduce the numbers of men that die from prostate cancer each year (~10,000 at the moment).

C110 post-rally

C110 ready for the rally 

Freshly restored 

 Freshly restored 

Freshly restored 

My rally

It's quite a few days since the rally now and the aches and pains have faded.  The rally was a great experience, and much more enjoyable than I thought it would be.  The ride was broken into short enough legs that it wasn't tedious and everyone I met was friendly and willing to chat.  There was a real sense of camaraderie.

I started from Chipping Sodbury, and Dad met me there to see me off.  We had a nice chat with the Bristol and Avon Roadrunners MCC who were manning the control, as well as Adrian a fellow participant.

Photo: Derek Freegard

At the strike of midday I politely grabbed my control card and was off as quick as the little Honda would allow.  The run through to Swindon, the first stop, was good fun and probably the part of my route that was best suited to the little Honda.  On the tight lanes I even got held up by a Mercedes estate at one point, didn't think I'd end up being quicker than anyone else on the road!

A quick stop at Swindon and I was on my way to Kettering via Carterton, Bicester and Milton Keynes (the control point was at a BMX track and it was tempting to do a lap). By the time I had reached Kettering I was 20 minutes up on my threshold time for Gold, mainly due to a couple of the legs being predominantly dual carriageway.

The downside of the dual carriageway (other than the speed difference to the rest of the traffic) was that it didn't really hold my attention very well, which allowed my mind to wander to discomfort in my back and wrists.  Both were quite uncomfortable at this point so I varied my riding position.  As well as getting into a proper racing tuck (which added a few mph onto the top speed) I tried out some other new riding positions.  I settled on one where I rested my elbows on my knees, taking the strain off both my back and my wrists.  It was pretty effective but it took a while to adapt to having my upper body 'joined' to my lower half.  My brain took a good few miles to work out how to steer the bike properly!

I had a half hour stop at Kettering before pushing on to St Neots, a cracking ride along the B645 which would have been better with a few more bhp.  From there it was a fairly uneventful trip down the A1, popping off when it became the A1M, on the way to Stevenage.

The Stevenage control was at Bike Stop, a bike shop in the old town. The welcome there was one of the warmest, and they were well kitted out with drinks and sandwiches.  Unfortunately, by this point, my 20 minute 'advantage' was being eroded.  Partly due to the smaller roads when I came off the A1 but also as the bikes performance was dropping off.  Possibly due to heat but the points gap had closed up as well.  I'd had a quick look at Kettering but decided not to adjust the points.  I resolved to ponder this over on the next leg.
If I'd had more time in hand then I'd have taken a proper rest at Bike Stop, they were friendly and interested in the bike (and why I was riding it).  I felt a bit rude having to rush off but I think it was understood why.

Photo: Bike Stop

From Stevenage it was the longest leg (40 matrix miles), to the Chiltern Golf Course near Tring.  Naturally this was the part of the overall route that had the most hills, and the Honda was struggling up some of them.  I decided to show some mechanical sympathy and found a rev/gear combo at which she'd pull up the slopes without being too strained.  It did mean sacrificing time though, travelling at 20mph up some hills.

Again, it was a warm welcome from the chaps manning the control but after a quick chat with Jim it was time to push on.  By this stage I had only 15 minutes in hand and I was about to embark on what would be the slowest stage of the rally, heading into London.

I had considered avoiding London completely but having constrained myself to the south and the south east to avoid the hills (Chilterns excluded) I needed to go into London to get the mileage up.  It also felt 'right' as the route through to Watford and then the Ace Cafe would take me past the street in Harrow where Dad lived when he did the rally 50 years ago, I'd be travelling the same roads as he had.  Although Dad's most popular hang out in the 60's was The Busy Bee he'd also spend quite a bit of time at the Ace Cafe.  How could I not include it on my route?!  I'd planned on taking a 30 minute rest stop there.

I got a bit of a shock when I arrived at the Ace though.  It looked like a scene out of The Fast and the Furious, with plenty of loud and low cars with flaming exhausts and excessive bass.  It turns out that these days the Ace is a hang out for petrol heads of any type.  I checked in and then pushed the bike through to the cafe, planning on checking the points.  It was immediately clear that this wasn't the place to do any spannering, there was far too much going on to distract me.  And I was glad for that as I had one of the most enjoyable 30 minutes of the rally.  I pretty much immediately got accosted by a tall, long haired and very happy Dutch chap called Bart, accompanied by his mate Chris.  Apart from when I dived off to get a coffee we spent the time chatting about bikes/mopeds/cars and by the time I left I was on quite a high.

There was a bit of a crowd lining the road on the way out, watching the cars hoon past and the occasional sports bike hoist a wheelie.  Sure enough I got the universal sign, both hands palms up being jerked skywards, a tongue in cheek command to lift the front.  As I rode past I made a good show of bouncing the front suspension up and down, gave a pantomime shrug and rode off to the sound of a quick cheer and loud laughter.

Coming out of London it was obvious that it was unlikely that I would get the Gold.  Progress on the country lanes was slow, the C110 has 6V electrics and the headlight was about as effective as an elderly glow worm.

What finally put an end to getting a Gold was passing through Henley, on the way from Bagshot to Abingdon.  Unknown to me it was the weekend of the Henley regatta and the town was at a standstill as masses of people moved from pub to pub.  I filtered as far as I could but with the crowds spilling onto the street I ended up sat in the queue, alongside a Police motorcyclist.  I had a quick chat with him before engaging in some banter with a couple of very smartly dressed, and very inebriated lads.  They shouted over to me saying they were impressed that I had an iPad attached to my bars!  I took a little time to convince them that actually it was a sheet of paper and a book light.  "Old school!" was the exclamation when they finally accepted I was telling the truth.

Most of the controls on the rally are manned.  Groups of people, sometimes from bike clubs, set up stall in a layby or wherever they can and man the control through the rally.  There are a few that are manned by just one, incredibly dedicated, person.  Without these volunteers the rally would not be possible and the participants are very grateful to them for the time they dedicate to it.  Unsurprisingly it can be hard to find enough volunteers to cover all the controls and so some end up being unmanned.  These controls are usually at a 24hr petrol station, and you show evidence of having been there (a receipt) at your next manned control.  Unfortunately the 24hr petrol station in Abingdon decided not to serve anyone in the early hours of Sunday morning!  So, having taken a photo to show I'd been there, I moved on to Hungerford.

I was scheduled to take a 30 minute rest at Hungerford, but now that Gold had gone I actually had a few hours to kill.  So I stretched out on my back beside the bike and had a rest.  I think I managed 20 minutes kip before waking up, feeling completely refreshed.  It was 04:00 and I only had 50 miles to cover before the final control at Warminster turned into a 'final' control, so I could have stayed there longer.  I decided to get on with it though and hit the road for the last push.  Despite having been riding almost non-stop for 16hrs at this point I felt remarkably good, if slightly chilly.

As I moved on from Hungerford the sky was starting to lighten.  By the time I'd reached Silbury Hill on the A4 the sun was close to peeking over the hills casting a dim light over the landscape, just enough to show the fields had a layer of mist.  It was a really nice sight, and I was tempted to stop, sit and watch the sunrise. Instead I decided to press on to the next control, just beyond Devizes.  I had a quick stop there and headed straight for the final control at Warminster.

The final control didn't become active as such until 6am and as I had an hour in hand I sat in a layby waiting to end the rally.  Come five to six I fired the bike up again and rode the last half mile to the services at Warminster.  I had a mixture of emotions as I parked up, relief at having completed the rally, slight disappointment at not achieving the distance for Gold and happiness that all the effort had been worthwhile.

Photo: Tim Fairbrother

I had a chat with Tim Fairbrother, who as well as manning the control acted as Clerk of the Course for the rally, handed over my control card and went for breakfast.  A well earned fry up and coffee, with my finishing award for company, whilst waiting for Dad to arrive with the trailer to get me home.

By the time Dad arrived my brain had shut down and my muscles were starting to ache, I was shattered but happy.  We loaded up the trailer and headed home.

I'm taking a few weeks off from tinkering in the garage, it has completely dominated my spare time over the last year in order to get the little C110 ready for the rally.  It was worth the effort but I'm now having a break.  Once I've caught up with some of the jobs round the house and had a rest I'll give the bike a good service and it'll be up for sale.

Being such a rare bike its value is hard to pitch so I'm going to consider what I think it is worth over the coming weeks.  In the meantime, if you would like to own a fun little bike that has a bit of history then please get in touch with me.  All the money from the sale will go to my sponsorship total, which is currently around £2.8k.

Thanks to all those who have sponsored me so far, and if you haven't managed it yet there is still time!

Rewards

Coffee, breakfast and finishing awards! Success!

The end

I forgot to do an update from Devizes, I had an hours rest at Hungerford and decided to get back on the road a bit earlier.
I'm now sat about a mile away from the final control at Warminster, waiting for six o'clock when it becomes a final control.
So I've made it! I could push it from here if I had to!
Unless I've made a mistake on the route then I should get a silver which is a pretty fair achievement. I'm slightly disappointed that the opportunity for gold slipped away, but I knew it was always an outside chance.
The rally was fun and I met some very friendly people. I would consider doing it again, although maybe next time on my BSA.
Thanks for the messages of support during the rally, I'll check them properly when I get home.

Hungerford

Only fifty more matrix miles to go for silver. I've covered about 365 real miles so far. I can't finish before 6 so am going to take a longer rest here and head off sometime after 4.
Feeling a bit tired now but I'm a lot fresher than I thought I'd be. Main niggles are sore wrists and back but it's quite manageable.
Time for some kip!

Abingdon

20 minutes down now. Not helped by getting stuck in the middle of Henley regatta! On to Hungerford next. Gold has gone so no need to rush. Easy does it from now on.

Bagshot

I'm now five minutes behind a gold schedule. Too much urban riding and, since the sun went down, my progress has slowed on the rural routes too. 6v electrics don't cut it! I think the gold has slipped away but I have three more controls before I have to commit.
I've left the points alone. There was too much going on at the ace and I didn't want the distraction. Going to push on now..

Ace cafe

15 minutes in hand. It's very busy here! Lots of loud cars and slightly drunk people. Going to have a go at checking oil etc and leave the points.

Watford

Up by twenty

Chiltern

Only fifteen minutes up now. In two minds about adjusting points at ace cafe. There's a chance for gold but don't want to scupper a chance of finishing through spannering when tired! Will mull it over on the next leg.

Stevenage

20 minutes up time but losing between each control. Performance quite flat. Will do points at Ace Cafe rest stop.

St Neots

Still about 20 minutes ahead. Left timing as is. Slightly retarded so not too bad. Stevenage next.

Kettering

Made it to the first rest stop 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I lost ten minutes through a navigational error so it could have been even better.
I'm making up time on the A roads but my estimated average on the lanes is about as expected.
I've made one fill up too so overall making ok time.
Main concern is the difficulty in starting. I wonder if it is timing based so will check the points gap once the engine has cooled.
Thirty mins rest here and then on to St Neots.

Milton Keynes

Made up more time! Bike getting difficult to start though. Ketteringham next.

Bicester

Ten minutes ahead of schedule after quick but boring dual carriageway!

Carterton

Lost a few minutes again. Bicester next.

Swindon

Good run. Two minutes behind schedule! Must press on!

Chipping Sodbury

All ready for the start. And rain has even stopped! 10 minutes until the off!

Ready for the off.

The bike is all loaded up, the forecast isn't too bad and I'm ready to go!  I can't quite believe that it's time for the rally.  I bought the bike almost a year ago, and the time has gone very quickly.  To finally be at the point of embarking on the rally itself feels a bit weird.

This will be my 'home' for 20hrs, starting at midday on Saturday.  I'm sorted out with a route card holder, a map light for the night time leg, a watch so I can check progress to see if a Gold is possible and a picture of Dad on 'his' C110 50 years ago.  I'm anticipating that it's going to be quite difficult to keep motivated so having a picture of Dad will remind me why I'm doing the rally, and perhaps it'll give me a psychological slipstream!

My matrix route is below, starting at Chipping Sodbury (14) up to Kettering (31) and down to London and the Ace Cafe (3).  The main decision point is at Devizes (18), right at the end of the Silver route.  I'm pretty confident of achieving a Silver (400 miles) so my wife has sorted out a route that allows me to add on the extra 100 miles for Gold right at the end of the Silver route.  When I get to Devizes, as long as it is before 02:45 on Sunday, I should have enough time to go for Gold.  If not then I'll get a few hours kip and head to Warminster (60) once the final controls become active at 06:00.

I intend to update this blog at each checkpoint so if you'd like to follow my progress then check in from time to time.  Alternatively you can follow me on Twitter @duleyp, where I'll post a link to the blog at each update.  Unless I get too pressed for time of course!

One week to go!

The matrix of control points came out last week and it took until this Wednesday to settle on a route. The reason it took a while was I was trying to put together a route that would allow me to fall back from a Gold route (500mile min) to a Silver  (400mile min) to a Bronze (300mile min). I'd also printed out a relief map of the UK and was constraining myself to the flattest areas possible, all important when you have a maximum of 5bhp on tap!
Credit for the final route goes to my wife though. As patient and supportive as ever she stayed up one night after I'd given up and came up with the best route possible.
I'm now drawing up route cards for the journey between each control. I'll laminate these and use my extremely unaerodynamic clipboard to view them whilst riding. To assist at night I've bought a book light which will be firmly secured to the bars.

I had a practice run out to the first control this morning and averaged 32mph. So a Gold may be possible, even if it is not probable. I'll have to see what the true distance of my route is when I've finished planning it. That's the aim for this weekend, finish the route and print out all the route cards.

Finally, I'll be updating the blog through the rally so you'll be able to track my progress. Give me a follow here, or on Twitter (@duleyp) to keep upto date.

If you've sponsored me already then thank you, it is appreciated. If not then you can use the link on this page 'Sponsor Me'. Every donation counts no matter what the size.

Cheers.

Getting ready...

I didn't manage any miles on the C110 last week, as the cylinder head was off.  It's been getting very smoky when under load and I suspected the valve guides were worn.  I had managed to get a set from the USA a month or so ago, just in case.  So, the weekend that we got back from holiday I had the head off to fit the guides and new valves.  Unfortunately the new guides were ever so slightly too large and wouldn't fit the head.  With the old ones a bit damaged after their removal it was a case of sorting through the spare cylinder heads to find the one with the least wear.

Having got the new valves installed I refitted the head.  The bike is now a lot less smokey (it's barely noticeable), and it does seem as if it'll hold 40mph on the flat a bit more easily.  I think there is also an improvement in fuel economy, I haven't had a need to fill up yet and I've gone further than 100 miles since the last fill up.  This is a good thing!

One of the jobs I've had to do for a few weeks now is to make a map holder.  I looked at quite a few options before settling on something that looks a little officious but will hopefully do the job.  I'm going to make up A6 sized route cards to take me between controls, hopefully they'll be large enough to show all the information that I'll need.

Finally, a lot of the riding on the rally will be done during the night.  To be honest I find it a bit unnerving riding the bike on A roads during the day, the speed differential to the rest of the traffic is so high.  So I'm really not looking forward to doing the same during the night.  To reduce the chance of getting squashed I've bought myself a hi-vis jacket.  I couldn't resist the temptation to get it customised though!

Number crunching

We've been away on holiday for the week so no bike updates to report on.  Instead I've been crunching numbers.

mpg:

The second fill up showed that the bike returned 125mpg.  So, the 131mpg on the first fill up wasn't that far off.  However, the tank is going on to the reserve tap at about 3.5l, which is only ~90miles.  That's not far to go between fill ups when every minute counts.  I might have to look at modifying the tap to give more miles on main and leave myself with smaller reserve.  Or I could get really good at the mental arithmetic required to keep track of the miles completed on each tank...

Compression:

After the assembly of the top end I measured the compression, which came out at 120psi.  Now the rings and bore have bedded in it has increased to 140psi.  This is a good sign!

Average mph:

Thanks to an online matrix for the 2013 National Road Rally, courtesy of the Leicester Phoenix MCC, I've had a bit of practice at planning a route.  A Gold Award route needs to be between 500 and 540 miles according to the matrix (the actual distance may be a bit greater or less).  I pieced together a route of 505 miles, taking in 20 controls.

The rally is 20hrs long, less 2hrs of rest breaks (with particular restrictions on when those can be taken.).  Assuming that I take 5 minutes at each control and have 5 fill ups taking 5 minutes each, then I need to average 32mph.  If I allow for the matrix being 10% under on distance then this increases to 35mph.

Given that I'm struggling to hit 40mph on the flat then achieving an average of 35mph over this distance seems improbable.  Although the time I'm allowing at each control may be pessimistic.  I've not done the rally before so don't have a feel for how busy they get.

When Dad entered the rally he had to cover 600 miles, but had a genuine 24hrs of riding to achieve it.  He did stop for food and drink, but even taking 2hrs out for this the average speed he needed to achieve was just shy of 28mph.

What I need to do is a couple of long rides, to see what an achievable average speed is.  A job for one evening this week perhaps.  In advance of this I've had a look at some of the period articles on the bikes.  In John Thorpes book "The Book of the Honda", printed in 1964, he records an achieved average mph of 35mph for a C110 during Honda's successful attempt at winning the Maudes Trophy.  This arduous event involved seven days non-stop riding around the Goodwood race circuit.  That 35mph average should be optimistic for the road, as there were clearly no villages to slow down for riding around Goodwood!  It also managed between 124mpg and 140mpg.  So perhaps my mpg figures are about right.

He does say elsewhere in the book that the C110 can average 40mph on the road, but I can't see how that is achievable given the above.

Although I had initially set out to achieve a Gold Award, and would still like to, I will have a Plan B and a Plan C.  These will be to go for Silver (400 miles minimum) or Bronze (300 miles minimum) award instead.  I intend to plan out  my route with break points.  If I haven't hit particular controls by a certain time I will divert onto one of the shorter routes.

I've revised my goal to finishing the rally with an award, of whatever colour is possible!

One week in.

The C110 has been on the road for a week now, and so far things are going OK.  I double checked the points gap during the week and it was a bit tight, effectively retarding the ignition.  After resetting the gap the spread of torque was increased (slightly!) and the bike will sit at 40mph more comfortably on the flat.

I filled up mid-week, to get a feel for the fuel economy.  Up to that point it managed 130mpg, which I found a bit disappointing really.  However, the ignition was a bit retarded and the over flowing float chamber won't have helped.  I'll see what it is at the end of next week, I should have another 100 miles on it by then.

The chain has needed adjusting a few times, as has the headset, and I had a slightly unnerving discovery on getting home one day when I found that the swinging arm nut had gone AWOL.  Other than that there has been no maintenance necessary.

I've got used to the handling now, and am quite enjoying throwing it through the corners.  I'm missing the speed of my other bikes though!

Finally, I owe a thanks to Dan of Covent Garden Laminates who made up some really neat stickers to fit on the front number plate board. It makes for a nice bit of advertising space!  Thanks Dan.

Change(s) of plan.

So this weekend was the Spirit of the Sixties weekend and I was expecting to go on the back of Dad's A7 BSA as I didn't think the V5 for the C110 would arrive in time.  However, the V5 pitched up on Wednesday morning.  Some quick phone calls later the insurance was arranged and an MOT booked for Saturday morning.

The bike passed with flying colours on Saturday so, theoretically, it was possible to go to the Spirit of the Sixties on it on the Sunday.  We were both looking forward to the run, it's probably the best classic run of the year, but Dad and I eventually decided to prioritise getting some shakedown tests done on the C110 from home.  

The main observation from the first ride out was that the C110 is slow!  It wasn't really possible to gauge it's performance on the flat as the weather was so windy (pretty much constant 25mph westerly with up to 40mph gusts).  I think it'll be able to hold 40mph on the flat though, based on how it ran today. What the weather, and the local hills, did show up was the penalty you pay for having so little torque.  The slightest headwind or uphill meant dropping to 3rd (max of 35mph) or 2nd (max of slightly over 25mph).  Quick gearchanges were a must in order to maintain momentum.  

We had a quick stop at Sharpness docks, to make sure that nothing important had vibrated off, which gave an opportunity to take a snap of the C110 with Dad's BSA.  Dad's had his BSA since 1962 so had it when he entered the National Rally on 'his' C110.  Therefore it seemed appropriate to take a picture of the two bikes together.  There's quite a difference in size!

The need to conserve momentum on the C110 brought back memories of riding my old Yamaha FS1E as a 16 year old. Cornering becomes an exercise in wide sweeping lines and avoiding touching the brakes.  A lot of fun on the lanes, until you have to knock it back a gear for the next slight up hill!  I was surprised by how well the C110 handled, very quick steering but pretty accurate and stable, and the limited suspension worked smoothly too. The brakes are pretty useless though.  It does have new shoes fitted so hopefully they'll improve over the week as I use the bike for commuting to work.

The first ride out showed up a slightly slipping clutch and, more importantly, a sticking carb float.  The latter resulted in fuel pouring over the top of the engine, a slightly risky situation.  Stripping the carb down showed that the cause of the sticking float was that the new float chamber gasket I had made was slightly too large. It was just catching the edge of the float preventing it returning and closing off the fuel supply.  A bit of time with a Stanley knife soon sorted it out and all was fine on the second ride out.  It wouldn't have been feasible to fix that if we'd been on the Spirit of the Sixties, which vindicated our decision. 

When I took on this endeavour my main concern was getting the bike running reliably enough to complete the 524 miles on the rally.  After today's limited mileage my two concerns are whether I can maintain a high enough average speed (more on this in a later post) and if my back will take it.  I hadn't realised what a hunched up riding position the size of the bike demanded.  I broke my back a few years ago and it can be a bit uncomfortable at times.  After doing a mere 40 miles today I was in a fair bit of discomfort.  I'm hoping that commuting on it each day will allow me to adapt to the riding position.  Otherwise I'll be needing a lot of painkillers come the rally itself!

All-in-all it was a fairly successful weekend and I'm now well set up for starting to rack up some miles on it.

There are still a few things that need to be sorted:

1) A better way of fitting the seat (it fell off at one point!)
2) Perhaps some improvements to the electrics, a more modern rectifier and maybe the addition of a regulator
3) A method of holding the route map during the National Rally
4) A method of illuminating the route map during the dark hours of the National Rally
5) Sourcing a steering lock
6) A decent throttle grip

All together!

This week has been spent putting the final touches to the bike, fitting the mudguard, engine cases and chain case.  It's now all together and ready for the MOT.  The only thing stopping it from being on the road is waiting for the V5 to come through from the DVLA.  As it had been stood for so long the V5 had been lost, and the bike was no longer on their system.  Thanks to David Casper at the NACC for processing the forms for me to reclaim the numberplate.  This is a great service that the club offers up and they are a sociable lot with plenty of knowledgeable members.

I've had one technical problem this week; the pattern fuel tap stopped working.  Upon further investigation it appears that the plastic components in it had swollen, preventing any flow.  I've fitted the original Honda fuel tap instead but I have a concern that this tap will have a similar problem.  This will be down to the ethanol that gets added to fuel these days, it's a constant challenge with older bikes to find components that are resistant to modern fuels.  It's caused me no end of grief with my '67 BSA as well.

Unfortunately the lack of a numberplate will mean that I can't take the bike on the Spirit of the Sixties run next weekend.  With the BSA in bits I'll be consigned to riding pillion on Dad's '57 BSA A7.  Perhaps if I promise him a beer in the evening he'll let me have a go up front too.

There are only 8 or so weeks left until the National Road Rally now, so getting on the road and racking up some miles is becoming a lot more important.  I can't wait to see how it runs on the open road!

It was such a lovely day here I took the bike into the back garden to get some photos to mark the end of the evenings in the garage (for now at least).  I'm very pleased with the outcome, it's quite a fine looking  machine.  I've come to quite like these little bikes whilst working on this one, whether that fondness persists after sitting on one for 524 miles in one go remains to be seen!

Forward motion!

About 8hrs of garage time has been spent this week, for what might seem like little progress.  However, the project has made some important steps forward.

The footrests and gear change are fitted, the clutch cable is installed (what a saga!), and the headlight properly put together.  I've fitted the seat off the black C110D (it's not a C114 as I said in one of the earlier posts), but it's not an original seat and isn't a great fit.  I'll aim to sort out something better before the National Road Rally.  This is a good example of what has slowed me up over recent weeks, trying to get pattern parts to fit properly.  In quite a few cases I've had to refit the original item (such as with the clutch cable) and sacrifice having a nice shiny new part for something that fits/functions correctly.

Of course, what this all means is that it is rideable!  So I ignored the rain showers and carried out a few short runs somewhere quiet.  I was a bit wobbly at first but by the end I'd got used to the light weight of the bike, and the riding position.  Getting the engine nice and warm allowed me to set up the carburation to get a fairly reliable idle.  I also ran it up through each gear, so know that the gearbox is working as it should (as expected from the bench tests after the rebuild).  It's another important milestone.

I'd like to use the C110 for the Spirit of the Sixties classic run in two weeks time.  It's a bit of a stretch objective as it's 220 miles riding but it would make a great practice run for the National Road Rally.  The main thing that is likely to stop me now is getting the V5 back from the DVLA.  I'm hopeful I'll receive it in time, but you never know.

Unfortunately the head light bulb (main beam) has blown already. The only source I've found for these so far is quite expensive, so I need to get trawling the internet to look for somewhere else.  It appears to have had a poor seal, as there is a lot of soot on the inside of the glass.  At the moment this is the only item that would stop it failing an MOT (apart from the missing front brake cable!).

There are a pile of cosmetic things that need sorting, as well as a few more important jobs.

Things to do:
Get a stock of headlight bulbs!
Fit front brake cable
Fit front mudguard
Fit side panels
Fit chain case
Miscellaneous cosmetics
Make up a new carb float bowl gasket

No words necessary...

... well maybe just a few.  After dealing with a leaking float chamber (I need to buy some gasket material to make a new one), buzzing out the ignition coil and about 150 kicks I'd had no joy.  So, knowing that all worked well with the original ignition system way back at the start I removed the CDI setup.  It was a bit of a pain, necessitated removing the flywheel, stator plate and rewiring.  However, it was worth it as she started second kick.

I don't doubt the CDI will work, but there are some ambiguities in the instructions about the installation and (for now) I just need to get her on the road and get some miles under my belt.

After that second kick I'm not ashamed to admit that I performed a clenched fist victory dance around the garage, topped off with a few rather loud shouts.  It's a relief to say the least.

As it's a bit late I didn't run the engine to get it warm, so the idle mixture needs tweaking.  It's also shown up an oil leak from the gravity return through the cylinder head.  The head will have to come off again whilst I investigate.  But I don't care.  SHE RUNS!!!!!

Close, but no "brum-braa"

So it wasn't quite possible to get the bike running this week, but I'm close!

I spent quite a while getting confident that the wiring loom was all correct.  I'd expected that the powder coating of the frame was going to effect the earth continuity in a number of places, but it took longer to resolve than I'd hoped.  Still, I'm now confident the electrics are all working OK, at least the ones that don't require the engine to be running.  My only concern is that the spark looks a bit weak, I might have to try swapping to one of the other ignition coils that I have.

I've also got the refurbished speedo fitted, it's good to see the 'cockpit' looking so different to how it was at the start of the project.

Finally, the exhaust is on, and with the heat guards fitted.  This was definitely a 'glory job', nice and easy to do but it gave me a great deal of satisfaction when I stood back to look at it.  I'm tantalisingly close now, I just need to fit the oil lines and I'll be ready to attempt firing it up.  Oh, and sort out what to do with the mouse eaten air filter...

A multitude of little things.

I've had a bit of a blitz on the bike, to make up for the neglect of the recent weeks.  The project has reached that point where the amount of visible progress against effort reduces greatly.  So you'll have to take my word for it when I say that a lot of effort has gone into it this week (~12hrs)!

The wiring loom is now largely sorted.  I spent quite a few hours remaking connectors and re-routing the loom, applying spiral wrap within the frame to prevent any chaffing.  Like a lot of blokes I'm colour blind, making the identification of green, brown and red wires particularly difficult.  When the wiring loom is over 50 years old (this one has a manufacture date of 1963 on it) and the colours are faded it even becomes difficult to differentiate between the greens and the blues!  Fortunately my wife didn't mind spending a half hour in the garage with me working out what went where.  In the end it was a lot simpler than I thought it would be.  With a new battery on charge as I type then I'm not far off being able to check the lights etc. all work as intended.  Fingers crossed the time spent rebuilding the switch gear won't have been in vain.  So many fiddly little bits of metal and tiny little springs!

Throughout this project I've spent a lot of time on the internet trying to source some of the more obscure parts.  Last week I spent a good few hours looking for a supplier for the indicator bulbs.  The bike has 6V electrics and I guess there isn't the demand for bulbs for such bikes any more.  In the end I found them, for a very reasonable price, on Paul Goff's site (http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/).  I've used Paul for parts for my BSA in the past and the service is always good.

I've now fitted the rockerbox and set the valve clearances.  With the refurbished kickstart attached I've managed to take a compression reading.  It came out at 115psi, after a few kicks, which seems pretty good for a cold engine that needs running in.  Hopefully this is an indication that nothing has gone too awry with the rebuild of the top end.

The carb is also now on, nice and clean inside and with all standard settings.  Par for the course this threw up a small problem, the thread in the casting of the carb body is stripped on the fuel intake side.  There isn't enough material there for a thread insert so I'll have to use a through bolt with a nut on the otherside.  Not ideal but it will have to do.  I'm finding more little problems like this, which eat up time in the garage, as the reassembly goes on.  For instance I wanted to replace the M5 screws that hold the switch gear together.  Simple, I've got a large stock of suitable bolts, or so I thought!  It turns out that the thread pitch used on some of these earlier Japanese bikes are unusual.  Rather than the, now standard, 0.8mm pitch for M5 they used a 0.9mm thread pitch.  This has been the case with fasteners in a few places on the bike, the M10 bolts tend to use a less common thread pitch and the M6 studs for the rockerbox are also a slightly coarser pitch.  Nothing insurmountable but little details that slow things up.

The chain is now fitted so I can get on with aligning the wheels and fitting the nicely painted chain guard at some point.

Next major jobs are:
Finish the electrics (mount headlight, instrument bulbs and modify the fittings for the new battery)
Fit the exhaust system
Fit the tank

Once these are done I should be able to attempt starting it up.
The stretch objective is to fire it up this week!

Distractions

Not as much progress to report this week as I spent two evenings removing the engine from my BSA. However, I've cleaned up the front indicators, fitted the headlight cowling and got the right hand engine case and cylinder head on.  Thanks again to V-Ten for their help with the head.  John was very patient in going through the sets of valves I had to find the ones in the best condition!

More on the electrics this week, and possibly renovating the rocker box.  We'll see how realistic that is as a target!

Engine in!

With the wheels now properly fitted, having installed new bearings, grease seals and brake shoes, I've managed to slot the engine into the frame.

Whilst I've not fitted the right hand engine case (I'm waiting on the kick start shaft seal) I have fitted the ignition system.  I've opted to ditch the points and condensor set up for a CDI system. It was a relatively cheap Ebay purchase and I've heard some good reports of them.  With the coil plate in place I just need to find somewhere to tuck the CDI unit itself away.  I'm hoping that this approach will give me a more reliable set up than the standard configuration.  I've a few other tweaks planned for the electrics, but they'll be done over the coming weeks.

Apart from completing the engine assembly the main focus of the next week or so will be the electrics.  This will also involve cleaning up the front indicators and switch gear so I can wire them in.  There are a few repairs needed to the switch gear loom, and the internal wiring of the switch gear itself. Nothing that a steady hand and a soldering iron can't fix though!

One step forwards, two steps back...

Had a half hour free this evening, so thought I'd pop the barrel on.  Piece of cake, needed some care to get the rings in (spacing the gaps 120° apart) but took 10 minutes tops.

Unfortunately, as I turned the crank the camshaft dropped out!  There isn't anything to retain it until the right hand case is fitted.  The problem with this is that it means that the camshaft to crank timing is now out.  To set the timing you need to be able to see the crankshaft pin (see last post), but it's hidden by the clutch.  Grrrr!

So, the clutch is off again.  I've learnt my lesson and scribed a mark on the crankshaft gear tooth that needs to align with the mark on the camshaft gear.  If it happens again I'll have a reference that I can see.

End result of the evening; barrel on, clutch off.  [Technically one step forward one step back]

Engine progress, and a shiny tank...

Some dedicated project time has brought things along a bit this weekend.  I fitted the chrome side panels, the knee pads and the tank badges whilst watching telly one evening.  I'm really pleased with how it's come up.

The chrome isn't perfect, a few tiny pits still show through, but the combination of the fresh paint and the re-chromed panels is great.  Thanks go to TJC Design for the paint work; they've also done the various plastic bits to match the powder coating that was done by Griff's Reality Motorworks.  Both places were really helpful, friendly and have done a great job.

Griff's also did the vapour blasting on the various aluminium parts, a fair bit of zinc plating and powder coating of a small luggage rack.  The crankcases came up very clean, as you'll have seen in the previous post.  They're not quite as nice now that I've had my grubby mitts all over them whilst assembling the engine, but a quick once over when the engine is in the frame will sort that out.

Here the gearbox is all back together, kickstart mechanism refitted and the camshaft in and timed.  I had a bit of a head scratch over the gearchange, and was worried I'd screwed it up for a while (although I couldn't see how).  Turns out the shift pattern is 'upside down'.  This Honda, although it is a left foot change, is a one ↑ three ↓ shift pattern.

I'm in for a confusing summer as my KTM has a left foot one ↓ five ↑ (conventional modern set up used by most manufacturers for decades) and my BSA has a right foot one ↓ three ↑.  So that's three different set ups in the garage.  If I ride my Dad's BSA at all then I think my head might pop as that is right foot change one ↑ three ↓.  To be honest I need a rest having just typed that out!

The timing is a funny one as well.  Usually there would be a mark on each gear, to allow you to set the relationship between the crankshaft and the camshaft.  On this model there is a mark on the camshaft gear (the 0 that you can see by the teeth where they mesh with the crankshaft gear), but not one on the crankshaft gear.  Instead the reference is the tooth by the puller bolt hole nearest the alignment pin on the crankshaft.  I had to read that bit of the workshop manual a few times to make sure I had the right idea.

The last couple of photos show the clutch reassembled and mounted to the engine.  I've replaced the mangled retaining nut and washer that I discovered when stripping it down.

I've also fitted the piston.  I was hoping to get the top end on this weekend as well but reached that point of being a bit tired where it's sensible to stop before making any stupid mistakes.  So hopefully I'll manage to get the top end on, and the engine in the frame, by next weekend.

My last thanks, for now, goes to Steve Riley at Piston Broke Engineering in Bristol (0117 9412300).  I've known Steve for about 15 years now and he has given me advice on rebuilds of pretty much every common engine configuration, as well as general engineering help.  He's reground and rebuilt cranks, rebored barrels and fixed so many mechanical messes that I've either discovered or created.  If you have anything engine related that needs an expert eye then you can't go wrong by giving him a call.  You're pretty much guaranteed a few amusing anecdotes as well!  Steve gave the C110 crank a once over, and rebored the barrel for me.  Thanks Steve, your help over the years and with this project is greatly appreciated.

Right.  Time for some sleep!

Update

Progress on a number of fronts this week.  Firstly, I've got the parts back from the platers, so I can start on rebuilding the speedo. 

The crankcases are back together, with everything moving freely.  The build up of the engine should hopefully move quite quickly from this point.

The sprocket carrier is all cleaned up, with a new bearing fitted.  I can now fit the rear wheel properly, instead of the quick lash up I had before.  There are some differences in gearing across the models, C110/C114/C102 etc.  The gearing fitted to this one when I disassembled it was 14/40, whereas standard should be 13/40 (I think!).  Once it's on the road I will probably have a play with the gearing to see what suits it the best.

Finally, I've sprayed up a number of engine and chassis parts to give them a better finish.  I booked an hour in the oven to cure the paint and they've come up really nice.  Was a bit stinky in the kitchen for a while though!