‘Keep your classic in good order by using it regularly’

irst off, my apologies if any customers have struggled to get hold of me recently. My wife Sue and I suffered a motorcycle accident back in July and, while I got away relatively lightly, Sue suffered some nasty injuries. Naturally, my main concern has been to help her as much as possible with her recovery, so please bear with me.

I’m back at work, though – albeit slightly part-time – and we’re moving into a part of the year that’s always busy for us. Ever since I started running Classic Super Bikes, October has always been a good month.

I’m certainly not struggling for stock. When I first started out, I used to scour the ‘for sale’ ads in the papers, go to auctions – whatever it took to find bikes. But now, I’ve built up a good network of former customers and their friends who know I’ll always offer a fair price and will offer me bikes they’re thinking of selling first. I just need to sell some of the bikes we have in stock right now to make room. And that means a busy time in the workshop.

We’re a small business, with just myself and Gerry Fry (who runs the workshop) on full time, with Paul Ralph helping out when he can. The workshop is the key to happy

Fcustomers – and Gerry is the man who works the magic on our bikes. We used to take on outside work, but Gerry’s flat-out sorting the bikes we sell now. There’s a surprising amount of work in recommissioning a bike that may have been unused for some time – and that’s often the case with many classic machines.

Perhaps surprisingly, Japanese classics are often more time-consuming and expensive to recommission than British iron. They have a justified reputation for reliability when they’re being ridden frequently – but there’s more to deteriorate when they’re not. Typically, we’ll strip and rebuild carbs, replace perished rubber components and go right through the hydraulics. And these days, we’ll often have to sort out deteriorating tank liners, too. British bikes are a bit more straightforward, but it all takes time.

The best thing you can do to keep a bike in good order is to use it regularly. You don’t have to clock up huge mileages on your classic, but leaving it standing in the garage for months on end will do it no favours. That’s a great excuse to take your bike out for a ride, too – win, win! classicsuperbikes.co.uk