Honda-SOHC
Other Stuff => Misc / Open => Topic started by: chrisr58 on June 18, 2020, 03:17:24 PM
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If you would care to log on to www.carpe-tdm.net as a guest you will be able to read my epic saga
concerning my 550 and it’s “restoration” Hopefully it will save anyone else making my mistake. It is in the Hyde Park Inn section
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I read through it via the link, that certainly leaves a nasty taste!
Just the safety aspect and mot of it in that condition bring up serious questions as to what was going on there. Sounds like he was obviously struggling on a personal level, but that has nothing to do you and how a bike in that condition was delivered. If he'd been honest and said he was unable to fulfill the contract, you could have then gone from there.
At least you've a route to getting it competently assessed and worked on now.
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What a story! I admire your patience chris.
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Wont let me log in as guest and dont want to open account just to look at pictures.
From read the man is an A hole of the first water, anybody can make a mistake but not that many and to lie about brakes is a criminal act to me, too late to got to vosa about test faults but worth a letter to put them on guard as it were
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That’s a shit situation to end up in, but glad you are getting sorted now. Lie and deny. A terrible trait.
Is incompetence curable.😡
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Hello again, it’s been a while, so the bike is now almost back to what it should have been when returned to me by Aspire. Only problem is my man can’t get the carbs right and no matter what he does no 2 will not play fair. Can anyone tell me what are the best carbs to look for for this bike, we understand the PDs are inherently unreliable.
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Unconscious incompetence is not curable. ;D
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I can't find the article have you a link to the page in question?
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Ted, articles on page 7 of that section of the forum.
Damn, sounds like the restorer was a bit of a cowboy to put it mildly. I'm afraid motorbike mechanics that are good can be hard to find, its basically why I do most bike repairs DIY these days, local big dealership were equally inept and unhelpful, I decided I could do incompetence at home far cheaper. Thing is I actually found I often did a better job than some pros, though I wouldn't advertise myself as a mechanic. It's not that I am very good, rather that some of the pro work I have had done was bloody awful and dangerous. A tyre with no rim tape on a cb550/4- spoked wheels, and a inner tube valve secured with gasket goo and 2 half nuts on dads bmw r80 mono stand out as prime examples of our main dealership 'service's.
There are some incredibly good mechanics out there too, it's just finding them. Sadly the one I found locally had to close after 3 breakins in as many years put his insurance through the roof, happened to two local independent dealers in town. Main dealership seems immune from these depredations. The thieves were pretty determined too, cut through brick walls and lifted roofs off to nick a few crosses. That is a tale for another time.
Hope the mk3 gets sorted, I loved mine, sorted those mk3 carbs deliver great fuel economy, they are a bit of a pain once neglected though.
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This bloke?
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18879227.motorbike-enthusiast-fleeced-sick-elderly-relative-150-000-oxford-con/
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Thanks for the link I think it could have been a lot worse i.e. the bike was lost never to return - as can happen in such cases.
Gut wrenching reading.
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This bloke?
https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/18879227.motorbike-enthusiast-fleeced-sick-elderly-relative-150-000-oxford-con/
Wow if it is then he is seriously in the sh*t. A jailbird in fact
That 'restorer' gave a restoration lecture at Stafford Show a few years back. Told me he powder coats frames and then paints them on top of PC. Sounded a bit weird to me at the time
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Definitely the same bloke who appeared with Henry Cole on the motorbike Show. Sounds like a right character.
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He only showed remorse cos he got caught, oh well that’s my small claims case up the Swanee!
I’m sure plenty haven’t got their bikes back so could be worse. “Motorcycle enthusiast” So not a classic bike restoration expert then? I blame Henry Cole!
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he showed remorse because his solicitor told him he would get a lighter sentance if he did.
I wonder if the august Mr Cole would like to do a follow up piece on his 'recommended restorer'. But I suppose, he could at least make use of his jail time by applying for a mechanics course while he's inside!
Feel sorry for the folks whose unfinished work he has left behind. Why isn;t the bike finished? er...I was doing 4 years for theft and deception......
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Just read this story and amazed at how anyone could be so callous.
I remember 'Pete mate' as Henry Cole used to call him restoring the Honda Britain. I'm sure Henry had to get the silencer remanufactured and had a few made to recover the cost. To be fair the finished bike really did look nice. I don't understand how he went from undertaking restorations like that to what he did to the CB550. Maybe the magic of TV made the Britain look better than it actually was but I know when HC first saw it in someone's garden it was a wreck. I think he has since sold it, one of the few restored bikes from the series he has sold.
Alan Millyard and Sam Lovegrove are his sidekicks now and they really are proper engineers.
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Is it the same Pete? as Henry's mate showed uo in the recent series
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It aboslutely 100% IS the same guy.
I did some searching, and found The Motorcycle Show....Episopde 8 2017...
Henry and his mate Pete 'the restorer' Thorne....restoring the Classic Bonneville. 41 minutes in, and Cole is walking up to see his mate Pete ...and you can clearly see the sign 'Aspire Classic Restorations Inc' on the workshop where Henry 'restores' stuff by handing it over to other people to do the work.
In this case.....to a man who ChrisR noted as living at 86 The Slade, Daventry....and unless their are multiple Pete Thornes, restoring motorcycles and living at the Saldes, Daventry..... it's him. ChrisR's tale begins in 2016...and went on until 2020, so the episode I found is in the right timeline for Cole and Pete the Restorer to be the same folks.
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That's a really nasty person. Can't believe anyone would have the hall to act like that - both the bike and the relative. I hope you are enjoying a great 550 now!