Hello- I appear to have a Seeley!

[Eyeguy]

Hi everyone, Paul from West London ( near Kempton). New member here, but not new to 750/4's. Back in the day, I worked at Dresda in Putney and have owned a few of those, plus a Rickman. finally got a Seeley last week, which appears to only need a bit of recommissioning. It's a lovely piece of kit, much more integrated a design than the Dresdas I've owned and worked on.
I'll keep you posted on progress, if you like.

A tutto gas!
Paul

[UK Pete]

Hi paul and welcome, there is someone on this forum who has had a rickman a seeley and dresda in their barn, he may well chime in when he reads this
The seeley is quite a rare bike these days can you post up a picture
pete

[SteveD CB500K0]

Who would that be Pete?

[UK Pete]

Who would that be Pete?

ERMMM, i wonder steve

[JamesH]

That was subtle

[SteveD CB500K0]

Pics:

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All gone now...

[Bitsa (Ralph Wright - RIP)]

Love the wheels except the comstars and yeah I remember them well one off the gang I hung around with had a Rickman.
Nice photos Steve
Cheers
Bitsa

[Eyeguy]

the Dresda is my old bike, I rebuilt it about 12 years ago. What would you like to know about it, apart from the BS and chinese whispers you already know!

Cheers

ATG
Pau

[SteveD CB500K0]

Small world.
Are you the one who won it or the one who replaced the frame?

[Trigger]

Welcome Paul. Nice collection Steve.

[Eyeguy]

re: Dresda. Neither. It was won, as I'm sure you know, as a spot-the-ball prize. The winner sold it to the father of my best friend at the time ( and still is), Norman Gardner. Norm and his son rode it for several years before the son ( the eldest) pranged it super hard. A replacement frame was procured, one that had been raced, complete with rear disc, instead of the original drum.  There it languished, unfinished, until i bought it many years later. The reason the tank doesn't fit properly( it has that large rubber block) is that it was a display tank purchased from old Dodgy Dave when he sold up, not the original.  For me, it was a labour of love ,as it was the first bike i ever 'connected' with - my mate used to be brought to school on it. I have some original period photos which were used matching the paint, Dream Machine did a fantastic job ( it was Ray Leon, originally, of course).  Owning it was a dream of mine, riding it.....wasn't. A bit dull, tbqh. After a few years I sold it and struggled to find a buyer. The chap who had it wanted to beat his mate with a Triton and knew nothing about it, really. The next owner ( I don't know if it was you?) seemed to get a lot of publicity, implying that he'd done the work, bloody cheek of it! All I could see he'd done was drill a letterbox in the fairing for the oil cooler and fit a bar end mirror. He then tried to flog it for something like £14K, I think I sold it for £3800, having spent six grand on it, of course.  Didn't it surface at Bonhams or some such, recently?

Always raises a wry smile when I read increasingly tall stories about it. It won the Bol D'or, I was informed, without a hint of irony. It was also built for the Aga Khan who sold a race horse in order to buy it. Degens parked his fat arse on it and spouted the usual bowlocks he tends towards, also claiming to have been involved in the restoration. He wasn't, at any point.

Old bikes, eh? doncha just love 'em!

Cheers
ATG
paul

[JamesH]

Nice write up there

[SteveD CB500K0]

Hi Paul.

"The next owner" wasn't me but a mate of mine (let's call him "E").  He had a collection of 50-60 bikes and very good connections in the media. He loved nothing more than to have his bikes in the magazines. TBH, I'm not sure that he ever claimed to have done the work, he just looked after them.  It lived in my barn from 2006 until this September.

I rode it down to Dave Degen's place in the summer of '06 (hence the picture). On the way back it fried the electronic ignition and I had to swap the points plate from one of the K6s to get it back on the road. It was temperamental and uncomfortable. It didn't move (apart from the odd MOT) until recently. E has been quite ill and asked me sell the collection in my barn (which included the Rickman and the Seeley as well as A GS850G and a bunch of Hinckley Triumphs and XS750/850s. I also sold the PRR, which in my opinion, although not necessarily the best looking, was the best to ride. It had an excellent riding position as well as indicators and mirrors (!)

I sold the PRR, Rickman and Seeley to enthusiasts, but then got bored and irritated with the whole process and cleared the lot to a local guy who ran his own motor mechanics business and restored bikes in his spare time. By then it needed a fair bit of work. Fork seals, brakes stuck, rust, tyres etc. He did the lot, MOTd it and rode it for the summer before deciding that he couldn't live with it either!

He sent it to Bonham's at Stafford this October where it fetched £7,360. He also sold a CBX, Mach III, KH400, T350 Rebel, GPZ750 Turbo, CX500 Turbo, Kettle and a GS1000S (clearing the decks or what?)

I had a massive documentation pack with the bike (E always did that) including a copy of the original MCN, old photos and letters from the original owner. That's how I learned about the frame. The whole lot went with the bike (of course).

Anyways, I'd love to see any old photos that you have.

You may have seen it on our old website. The £14k was never serious as he always said he'd never sell it. When I insisted that he name a price he said "OK, £14k then!"

 

Good to have you on board.

Steve

[Eyeguy]

Thank you for the nice comments, it's good to be here. Apropos the Seeley, once it's on the road I might ask if anyone here has a PRR or Britain equivalent and could spare a day. I write for a couple of the mags and think some clarity between a Seeley and an F2 in Seeley garb might be interesting to the readers; it can confuse some folk.

I remember 'E' quite well, he called me , pressing for info and Norman's contact details. Having told me how much he loved it ( I think he had, or claimed to own, a sandcastle as well) I thought it amusing that it immediately went up for sale!
Love enthusiasts, hate speculators

I'm going for the body off photos at the weekend, will stick 'em up if you like ( that's the bike's body, not mine, put the sick bag down....)

Cheers
ATG
Paul

[Bitsa (Ralph Wright - RIP)]

Nice history here interesting more pics the merrier as far as I am concerned
Cheers
Bitsa