Living with an AMC single

STARTING:

TO START THE AJS from cold, you put it on the centre stand, tickle the carb, and give it full choke. Then engage the decompressor and kick it over three or four times to get fuel and oil circulating. Disengage the decompressor, bring it to top dead centre (TDC), re-engage the decompressor, push the piston just past TDC. Then bring the kickstart back to the top, let go the decompressor and give it a good solid swing. The AJS manual says that if it won’t start after a couple of kicks, you’ve got a problem.

Fortunately, it did. One thing that did momentarily faze me was stopping the engine on a bike with no ignition switch. Until I realised you just pulled the decompressor again. Starting it when warm is another matter entirely.

GETTING LEGAL:

the fourth call a lovely lady suggested an alternative course of action. If I insured it and took the green slip that I did have to a Post Office, they would record it as tax and MoT-exempt over the counter and all would be well. My insurance company was duly called, and after paying £8.13 for the increased premium and £25 for the admin costs, the Post Office was visited, and tax was obtained. I was road legal.

Then I had to change the registration number on the bike, which wasn’t as easy as you might think. The AJS has a traditional number plate/taillight combo in black and white. Finding a supply of the right sized letters was tricky and I ended up with a set the size for a front pedestrian slicer number plate which are too small, and another set for a car, which are too big. Again, the curse of COVID-19 had caused problems: Most shows and jumbles have at least one supplier of the right sized digits.

PREPPING FOR THE ROAD: