2 Invest in decent quality tyres
Improvement rating 5/5 Cost From £250 Difficulty 1/5 Tyres are expensive and can bring out the Del Boy in people: given the choice between a big name brand and one resembling the last tile selection in a game of Scrabble, it’s tempting to go for the latter. Stop. Don’t be a plonker. The only interface between you and the road’s surface are the tyres and they can make or break the whole experience. Use your club or forums to find which tyres work best on your classic: radials may be a great upgrade from crossplies; certain brands may perform better than others; good quality crossplies might preserve appearance and key characteristics. The bottom line is this: cheapest is not always best, so shun the shoe-polished elephant-hide that’s long past its sell-by date and radials intended for the commercial sector that have sidewalls as unyielding as the Hoover dam. Always replace all five boots, making sure the balance marks are aligned with the valves to ward off eye-rolling and tutting from those with a sensitive disposition; don’t skimp on new tubes and tapes, if required; and do get all five wheels balanced.