BARN FIND OF THE YEAR
Ten different bikes, 10 differing visions of what they could become. Vote for CB’S best barn find on p50
The top ten contestants in our new competition – vote for your favourite
What a mixture. You’ve scoured the barns, lock-ups and sheds of the UK and come up with a legion of worthy projects to keep you all busy in the workshop over the coming year. We’ve had to whittle down the entries to arrive at just 10 bikes and their owners to fight it out for the title of Classic Bike’s Barn Find of the Year – supported by Coys Auctions and Godin Sporting Cars and Motorcycles.
We’ve got everything from a ’60s moped to a ’70s superbike and a vintage lightweight – and concepts as diverse as retro desert racers, oily-rag rebuilds and catalogue-correct restos. Now it’s time for you to take a long, hard look at the 10 finalists and decide which one you think should take the top prize of 1000 guineas in cash to help with its restoration or rebuild. If you can’t quite decide after seeing them here, you can check them out in the metal at the MCN London Motorcycle Show at Excel on February 16-18. Every vote counts!
So, get voting – go to page 50 to find out how to do it.
1958 Triumph TR6 Trophy
Owner: Ian Williets, Bradford on Avon Ian has already done a groundup restoration of a unit Triumph TR6 and a pre-unit rigid ‘Blackbird’ he now rides. But when he spotted this decaying 1958 TR6 at Stafford last April, it ticked a box for him.
“I’ve got the unit and the preunit rigid, so I wanted a swingarm pre-unit. I know it looks pretty awful at first glance but I can see the potential. The important original components are all there: wheel hubs, forks, top and bottom yokes. The engine and frame are matching numbers and the crankcases and gearbox are intact. There are plenty of wrong parts on it – mudguard, seat, exhaust pipe – but they don’t really matter.
“It’s going to take a lot of work to put it as it should be, but as soon as I spotted it, I knew how I’d want to build it – with the correct high-level pipes for a street scrambler look. Weirdly, there was a restored one in the show that day, so I could go and daydream about how mine would look. I’ll aim for mine to be correct right down to the right nuts and bolts.”
Just getting the basics right before rebuilding it will be a task in itself. “The biggest challenge is going to be sorting the frame out,” he said. “The gusseting in the headstock is a welded plate with filler slapped over it. Lots of lugs have been cut off the frame so they all need replacing. There’s no sidestand mount and holes drilled in the frame. I’ve got to get that all sorted before it goes to powder coat.
“Engines are never a problem and Ace Classics have a huge range of pre-unit Triumph spares (aceclassics.co.uk). First of all, though, I need to thoroughly research the model. The more homework you can do to learn about the bike, the easier it is to restore it.”
1951 BMW R51/3
Owner: Paul Wilson, Chesham There’s a bit of a shady past to Paul Wilson’s latest restoration – a 1951 BMW R51/3. “It was impounded following a police raid back in the ’60s,” Paul explains. “My uncle was a copper back then and managed to buy it after whatever had gone on was all sorted out. But from 1961 it was in my grandad’s garage. Since then, it’s moved twice – in 1998 it was stored in boxes in my mum’s barn and since 2000 it’s been in my attic. It’s got to the front of the queue for restoration – I’ve already restored a Triumph T150 and a flat-tank BSA.”
When Paul collected the bike, the wheels were in bits, but he isn’t daunted. “Parts are fairly easy to source,” he says. “And I’ve got a good workshop and plenty of patience. I know I’ll have to rebuild the bevel box and the engine completely – though the crank was rebuilt by BEMW (bemw.co.uk) back in 1998, so that might be OK – and get the wheels built. But I aim to do nearly all the work myself. I’ve got a copy of the Barrington Motor Works (barringtonmotorworks.com) restoration manual for the bike and the schematics on Mark Hugget’s website (bmwbike.com) are indispensable.”
Paul plans a two-stage restoration for the bike. “I’m going to rebuild it ‘as is’ cosmetically first. But I’ll be doing it in the style of a 1939 R51/RS racing machine. So, no lights, minimal electrics, alloy mudguards and a seat pad made from an old leather jacket. I think it will look cool and it should allow me to get the bike back on the road quicker. After that, I may have another go at it and restore it cosmetically but, who knows? There are still another eight bikes and a sidecar needing restoration in mum’s barn. I can’t see myself getting bored in the foreseeable future, that’s for sure.”
1967 Benelli 50 Sport
Owner: Ian Barker, March Ian Barker is steadfastly denying all responsibility for his latest restoration project. “My wife spotted it at Classic Bike Live in October,” he insists. “I was there showing my 1924 Royal Enfield H180 V-twin. My wife came up and asked for the keys to the van and when I asked her what she wanted them for, she told me she’d just bought this ’60s Benelli moped. I went to have a look at it, but the deal was done.”
Ian doesn’t seem too displeased with the bike, though. “It’s a lovely little thing,” he confirms. “I had no real idea what it was, though. Luckily, I know Benelli specialist Selwyn Stickler and he was able to tell me a bit about it. He reckons it’s a 50 Sport model from around 1967 and that parts are like ‘hen’s teeth’. That said, I’ve already found a pair of the correct mudguards and a NOS exhaust on Italian ebay. Enginewise, the seals and bearings are mostly standard sizes and my local bearing supplier has even managed to source the odd-size ball race in the gearbox. Luckily, the piston looks OK and I’ll probably just machine out the ring lands to suit readily available Suzuki piston rings.”
Being able to handle jobs like that is a legacy of a lifetime messing about with old bikes. Ian’s dad was a Post Office mechanic and he cut his twowheeled teeth on a succession of tired, ex-po Bantams, before going on to work for Montesa importer Jim Sandiford and early Ducati dealer Kings in Bury, Lancashire.
“I think that’s where I got my love of Italian bikes,” says Ian. I used to have a Ducati Elite when I worked there. I don’t think the Benelli will throw up too many problems. I aim to get it finished for the summer and my wife will ride it. I don’t ride much since having a back operation a few years back, but I still love the engineering side. I can’t wait to get stuck into it.”
1986 Rickman Triumph
Owner: Keith Pottinger, Essex
Keith saw this forlorn Rickman Metisse racer on a stand at a Kempton jumble and couldn’t resist it. “I had to have it,” he says. “I built a Rickman Triumph road bike in my bedroom during 1979. I found a used frame and then bought new forks and fibreglass from the Rickman factory.
“When I’d finished building the bike, I had to wheel it down the stairs. I rode it for a while, but sold it for £350 when I moved house. So, when I saw this for sale at Kempton it brought back some great memories.”
Keith’s latest purchase has a Classic Racing Motorcycle Club certificate confirming it was built in 1988 and eligible to race in Group 2, Period 2. It features a Triumph Bonneville motor with a modified top end.
“The guy selling it had bought it off the original owner. It came with a V5, so it’s been on the road, too,” says Keith. “But I have the CRMC certificate (with photo) as a guideline for the resto. The bike was built with a T120 engine, but it’s now got a 750 engine with the Rickman eight-valve head, produced by Weslake who then went on to produce their own eightvalve parallel twin.”
Keith is no stranger to restoration work. He’s currently finishing a batch of four immaculate 1950s Triumph 6Ts which he’ll sell, but plans to keep the Rickman. “I’ll put it back to exactly how it was for racing. Everything is there. It just needs stripping, cleaning, replating the frame and then rebuilding – doing the majority of the work here. I’ve always been a fan of Triumphs and the Rickman frames; now I’ve found something like this it’s a bike I intend to keep,” he said.
1973 Triumph TR5T Trophy Trail
Owner: Andy Burbidge, Trowbridge
Andy had 12 Trophy Trails - four that he’s got back on the road already, two complete restorations and two oily-rag ‘survivors’ – plus eight to restore. Then this rustedout 13th example turned up.
“To be truthful, this is the worst one I’ve bought,” he admitted. “I got it earlier this year off Caroline at Burton Bike Bits. She brought a consignment of bikes in from Massachusetts. All of them had been lying outdoors and this particular one had been open to the elements for some ten years.”
Andy bought it sight unseen, but even he was shocked at the decrepit state of the bike when he first clapped eyes on it. “It was sitting in a barn, it was dusk and I was trying to look it over with torchlight. I was speechless! You can see how bad it is – even the swingarm is rusted through.
“I’m going to have to flood it with release agent to stand a chance of getting it apart. I’ll do the entire restoration myself, except for the yellow scallop on the tank and the frame powder coating.
“Hopefully the engine internals are alright and we’ll have a good starting point. I think we’ll be OK, but if we’re not, then there’s good money in the parts alone. That’s not what I aim to do, though.”
Andy’s plan is to get this one restored and back on the road by the end of next year.
“You could say restoring Trophy Trails has become an addiction,” he admitted. “Word got out that I’d
restored a couple and then bikes started finding me. If I don’t restore them, who knows what might happen to the rusty wrecks I’m offered? I’ve certainly got plenty of work ahead of me.
“I love the look of the model, the way they ride and the way they handle. It’s such a versatile motorcycle – a true off-roader, a true on-roader and great competition bike.
That will still leave him eight to do, but Andy’s Trophy Trail addiction extends beyond the hardware. He’s studied the official Triumph production records for this model that spanned 1973-74 and he hopes to create a register of all the existing models as part of the Burton Bike Bits’ website (burtonbikebits.net). He’s also aiming to write the definitive history of the model and how to restore them. Busy man!
1930 Ariel LF250
Owner: Jim Coleman, Fraserburgh Patience has brought rewards to Aberdeenshire-based joiner Jim Coleman in the shape of his latest restoration project – a rare Ariel lightweight dating from between the wars. “I’ve known about this bike for 10 years,” he reveals. “It hadn’t moved since 1965, when its last tax disc expired. The owner is a local man who planned to restore the bike when he retired, but never got around to it. I’ve watched it deteriorate over the decade I’ve known about it and the bottom has actually rotted out of the fuel tank, but it’s so original, I think I can do something with it.”
If anyone can, it’s Jim. He’s no stranger to the restoration game – he used the proceeds from the sale of his first solo restoration, a Triumph Tiger 750, to pay for his tools when he started his joiner’s apprenticeship. Since collecting an impressive array of speeding tickets in his twenties, he’s got more and more into older bikes over the years – including a 1929 BSA V-twin, a Triumph Tiger Cub and a Royal Enfield 300 twin. But he certainly knows his Ariels, too.
“I’ve got a couple of 1930 Ariel Model Gs,” he says. “And I’ve been collecting Ariel parts for years, including a pair of incomplete LFS – which should help me with the LF250 resto. The LF is a pretty rare model as it was built to come under a specific weight limit to benefit from reduced road tax and some aspects of its build are a little flimsy. Because of that, few complete examples survive. This one has been in Aberdeenshire all its life as far as I know. Apart from the tank, most of the tinware is OK and the engine turns over – though the magneto is dead. My plan is to use the tinware on the complete bike as patterns to fabricate the missing parts on the two incomplete machines. Eventually, I’d like to get all three back on the road.”
Amazingly, Jim reckons he’ll have the restoration finished in around six months. “I want to bring it back to original condition,” he confirms. “I plan to finish the tank and rims in chrome and red instead of the original chrome and black, though. Apart from chroming and the magneto rebuild, I plan to undertake everything myself.”
That’s admirable – a man who’s practical as well as patient.
1972 Yamaha DT2
Owner: Jason Bartlett, Skegness Early Yamaha trail bikes have long been a fascination for Skegness-based Jason Bartlett. This project is the latest in a long line of dirt-focused restos dating back to the late ’90s. “I bought my first RT3 (the 350cc version of the DT250) from specialist Keith Alderman of Motolink Yamaha (motolinkyamaha. weebly.com) in 1998 and I just keep coming back for more,” he admits. “A real community seems to have spring up around these early trail bikes and it helps if you know all the guys who deal with them. I’ve bought bikes from Ian Robinson at Ellastone Off Road (01889 590186), AP Motorcycles in Derbyshire (apincorporated.com),
Govnors Bridge Motorcycles (govnorsbridgemc.com) and DK Off Road (dkoffroad.com).
“I spotted this DT2 at Ellastone when I went to pick up an exhaust for a YJ2. It’s from Colorado – they were never officially imported into the UK. It’s pretty rusty and grimy on the surface. The engine turns over, but I’ll be stripping it and going through it.”
There’s not much Jason can’t tackle in his home workshop. “I do my own wheel building, I’ve got a small blast cabinet and two-stroke singles are easy to work on,” he says. “The only things I’ll need to farm out are possibly replating the spokes and one fork stanchion and the paintwork. The parts are out there – mostly in the USA. I’ve been buying up parts on ebay since ’98, so I’ve got a fair stash.”
1947 BSA A7
Owner: Joss Creed, Market Drayton
He might be only 28, but Joss Creed is pretty clued up and passionate about classic bikes. He owns 10, plus “a few more in bits” – including a 1931 AJS Big Port and a BSA B44. Oh, and he’s a classic car restorer by trade, so he knows his way around the workshop. But he plans to keep his latest project – this 1947 BSA A7 – in its wonderfully patinated condition.
“It’s got such a nice back story,” Joss explains. “A gentleman in his mid-80s brought in a Villiers engine from a James he was restoring for me to have a look at. He mentioned that he had another bike that he wouldn’t get around to restoring. This is it. His dad bought it new and gave it to him in the ’50s. It was his only transport for years and he ran it, with a double-adult sidecar attached, until 1965. It hasn’t been touched since then.
“He agreed to sell me the bike. He says he just wants to hear it running again. The engine has never been apart and it’s totally worn out. The big ends and mains need replacing, the bores are shot and the valve guides are worn out. It needs a gearbox rebuild too. I think it had just been ridden until it stopped. But the paint is all original and I’m going to keep it that way.
“It should be a fairly straightforward job – most parts are available. I’ll probably make my own wiring loom. I can’t wait to have a ride over to see the previous owner when it’s finished. Oh, and I suppose I’ll need a seat cover!”
1980 Honda CB250RS
Owner: Joe Stanton, York Every cloud has a silver lining, so they say. But, as he was carted off to hospital after a crash on girlfriend Hannah’s Honda CB250RS-A at Dirt Quake 2017, Joe Stanton could have been forgiven for wondering where his silver lining was. “The bike was my first project,” says Joe. “I’d built it as a sort of street tracker and was reasonably pleased with it.” The weekend ended early, with Hannah loading the remains of her bike into the back of their van while Joe was loaded into the back of an ambulance with three broken ribs and a smashed up shoulder.
Undaunted, Joe now plans to get Hannah’s bike into top-notch order – this time as a reimagined desert racer/flat-tracker fusion. He’s already picked up another CB250 for spares and he’s ready to start. “I want to keep costs down by doing as much of the work myself, and the bikes only cost me £275 each,” he says. “I’ve even taught myself to build wheels and I enjoy it so much I’m going to take it up as a little sideline to my day job as a landscaper. I’ll outsource the paint and powder coating, but I’m prepared to give anything else a go.
“I’m not a trained mechanic, so I’ll keep the engine in standard tune for the time being. I would like to get more power out of it, though, so maybe that’s something for the future. The main thing is how it looks. I’m aiming for a more retro style than my first build – maybe with the headlight concealed in a competition-style front numberboard and that kind of detail. I want the bike to look retro, simple and effortlessly cool.”
And what about a return to Dirt Quake? “If I can get an entry, I’ll be there.”
1978 Foale Kawasaki Z1000
Owner: Simon Kuderovitch Milton Keynes
Performance Bikes was the first bike magazine a young Simon Kuderovitch ever bought back in the ’80s. And it was the green Harris Magnum on the cover that persuaded him to part with his cash. It’s the same inspiration that tempted him into buying this Foale Kawasaki on ebay early last year.
“It was a classic ebay purchase,” Simon confesses. “I’ve loved special frames since buying that magazine when I was a kid. I could never afford one back then but, since building two Harris bikes from bare frames upwards, I was tempted when I saw this. I knew who Tony Foale was and, on a whim, I bought it.
“The vendor was a bike dealer, but it had only one previous owner and was last taxed in the ’80s. It’s an oil-bearing frame and the seller told me it’s a Mead and Tomkinson tuned engine, but I haven’t looked inside it yet. The head has cracked in half at one stage, but it’s been professionally welded up and repaired.”
It’s a bit of a challenge, but Simon is the right man to take it on. He’s a design engineer for hydraulic systems at Red Bull Racing in Milton Keynes. But he plans a fairly low-key first stage for his project. “I’ve had the engine running and it sounds sweet,” he says. “So I’m going to sort out the bodges – the footrests are horrible, there are no lock stops, and the fairing doesn’t fit – and ride it for a bit to see if I like it. If I do, I fancy restoring it as an endurance racer on the road.”