It’s getting there
Mick Payne invents a new sport, finds the weather is an excuse for everything and reports on progress.
If you were anything like me as a kid, you climbed trees and swam in rivers and lakes. Suddenly these simple pastimes have become adventures or ‘wild’ as in swimming. I was a mountaineer for more than 30 years and it was common to take a dip in a convenient pool or even the green water coming from a glacier. What has this to do with a Velorex, you quite rightly ask? On my Model 700 (Tour) the clips that restrain the hood sticks had long since fallen off; I think the factory probably fits these before the rear portion of the body is fitted. I, of course, don’t have this luxury.
It was then that I came up with a new pursuit – adventure resto! The screws are only M4 but a nut has to be fiddled between a thick seal and a 28mm tube. Solution: superglue said nut to a finger tip. The theory is that you lose just one layer of skin, but it was thwarted by the high temperatures we were enjoying at the time. The nut didn’t stick and fell off before I could mate it with the screw – probably just as well really. I opted for a non-wild solution – I sourced some 30mm long threaded hex from eBay, and that painlessly did the job!
I hoped to have an outfit on its wheels by now but my powder coaters seem to have different ideas. What was less than a week turn-round became 10 days, then: “We’ll ring you when it’s ready”. The excuse? “The hot weather.”
I can spray bits with a rattle can at home, could they have a more lucrative job than mine, perhaps? I’ve been getting on well otherwise.
The front brake has been bled, brand new Grimeca master cylinder fitted, along with a mount for a TomTom and a USB socket to power it. Once again, that online market supplied the bits except for the brake components which came from Jawa Shop in the Czech Republic.
I’ve got to take the cylinder heads off to check the bores as it’s been standing; chatting to David Angel about the job, he recommended some slightly thicker gaskets. He’s had some copper ones made that are 2mm thick compared with the standard aluminium ones at 0.25mm – this is to help with the use of modern petrol. He does recommend annealing them; heating to red, then allowing them to cool naturally.
Not a problem for some of us but you might have to wait until the owner of the hob is not around…
The Velorex hasn’t been ignored with the aforementioned powder coating, a new tyre will go on and even a brand-new carpet will be fitted. F2 Motorcycles has ordered some new hoods and tonneau covers so I can replace the somewhat tatty original one that mine still sports. I have cleaned up the suspension, although it isn’t particularly old as David updated it to the current 20mm axle back in 2015. The way the outfit was loaded on our Team Katy trip it was definitely A Very Good Thing. This is available as an update for an older chassis and is certainly recommended if an early model is to be fitted, especially if the bike is going to be a little on the heavier side.
Powder coater allowing, the outfit will soon be on the road; I’ve already missed two events I wanted to attend with it. I’d like to get some miles under the wheels before winter, but that isn’t likely to stop me. When most solos are tucked away for the colder months then an outfit really comes into its own.