Restoring a J2
So I got word from Mr Royal Enfield aficionado Mick Lemon (it’s easy to become addicted to Royal Enfields when you know Mick) that there is a J2 on Gumtree. It looked too expensive for me. I’ve done a few bike and car restos over the years but they were just a quick tidy up and I wasn’t too fussy either. I did some quick internet research, estimated what it would cost to re-commission the thing, and came up with a figure. The seller eventually agreed and even dropped the bike off that afternoon. By the way, in hindsight, I forgot the golden rule of estimating a job – figure out the cost and time then double it. I forgot the ‘double it’ bit. I dismantled the entire bike, got into it with the wire brush attachment on the angle grinder, primed everything, and then painted either black or silver depending on my mood. I wanted to retain any existing patina. The spare front guard, headlight bucket and rear guard were left original and I tried my hand at creating matching patina on the tank, primary cover and tool boxes. It’s amazing what three layers of paint, a couple of large buckets and a bag of 1” scoria can do.
Surprisingly, the bike, along with the box of bits and pieces that came with it, was almost complete so I was very lucky. All those hard to get parts were there. Everything on the bike was covered in, or filled with wood dust so it must have been stored behind the shed at the timber mill or somewhere similar. It also seems it was used as a farm bike because there was a lot of agricultural nuts and bolts holding it together – like fencing bolts. I reckon the farmer’s sons found grand-dad’s bike parked behind shed, asked if they could play with it, got a ‘yes’, got it going, slopped some red tractor paint on it, and thrashed the living daylights out of it around the paddocks until it finally gave up.
During the rebuild, I was continually pestering the members of our Royal Enfield resto group for info and decided to take on their advice of ‘do it right, do it once’. I used all original types of nuts bolts and threads and even managed to find an old set of quality BS spanners in a junk shop. That didn’t stop me using non original paint or slapping on a couple of cool fishtail mufflers which I got off eBay for probably a third of the cost of a repro original set.
It’s far from perfect but it’s pretty genuine.
Everything I went to put back on the bike had an issue and needed attention. I created a small but comfortable workspace and learned a whole bunch of new skills like welding, auto electrics, steel fabrication, engine and gearbox overhauling, cutting threads and all that bike restoring stuff. It was a pleasure and very satisfying as I did all the work myself. Next project I’ll learn more, like making my own cables. I get cranky when the new cable arrives in the mail, after all the time waiting, and it doesn’t fit. It’s then I get reminded after ranting and raving to the other RE-Resto members, “it’s our hobby mate, we do it because we love it”. The bike starts and runs very well and always creates a grin from ear to ear when riding it. It’s got heaps of grunt compared to my old Bullet 350. If anyone has any history of this bike, I’d appreciate if you could forward it to me. It was delivered to the Domestic Machinery Company in Newcastle NSW in November 1948.
“...and thrashed the living daylights out of it around the paddocks until it finally gave up.”