December - Not a good month.....

[Atodini]

So, my fully rebuilt, pristine 500/4 now needs to be done again as much of it is presently missing...... I will explain.

It wasn't running as I liked. Peter, the guy who rebuilt it did not do engines so farmed that out to a local Honda dealer to have done. Based on what we found I wouldn't even trust them to check my tyre pressures!!

After a few miles running around, I popped it over to Buzzard Motorcycles for Ian to have a look at - Ian's been a mate for many years now. A compression test showed it to be low on two cylinders, and a wet test indicated that this was valve related. It was also displaying oil misting from the barrel/crankcase joint at the rear left hand corner and was a tad smokey on one cylinder, so we decided to whip off the head and barrels to have a look - better to be done there as Ian obviously had all the facilities necessary.  We also investigated the clutch which was dragging somewhat.

The clutch was simple, the silver steel pushrods had "mushroomed" where the ball bearing goes - new ones ordered. The engine less so though.

Peter had been billed (I have the receipt) for new pistons - these were obviously not new pistons. Every piston had at least one broken ring on it and no hone marks were visible in the bores suggesting that the rings had been renewed - badly!!! Thankfully the bores tested fine and the pistons themselves were in good order. He'd also been billed for new valves but only two (exhausts) were visibly new. On removing them it was clear that they had simply been fitted - no trace of any grinding/lapping on the seats..... Now you know why I wouldn't let these cowboys even check my oil!!!!!! Peter's bill for the engine rebuild was well into 4 figures by the way........

So new valves ordered, plus new rings and a gasket set. Also valve seals which, for some odd reason, were not included with the gasket set and needed to be ordered singly as well - weird! The oil leak from the bottom of the barrels was a missing "o" ring.

Anyway, on Friday 6th (my birthday!) I got a call from Ian to tell me all the bits were in and he'd reassemble the bike on Monday - I could have it back Wednesday - so far so good.

Alas, early Monday afternoon a fire broke out - within 15 minutes the entire industrial unit, complete, was razed to the ground. They got all the bikes out of the showroom (including my rolling frame) before the roof came down but the flames and smoke were too severe to save anything from the workshops. One of the guys suffered smoke inhalation but otherwise, thankfully, no injuries........

The fire, according to the fire brigade, was a complete accident caused by an overheating main supply cable.....



This was taken by one of the unit owners (actually the unit behind Buzzard M/c) within 5 minutes!!!!!! Steve told me that the heat was unbearable even from this distance..... The fire officer reckons that the temperature well exceeded 2000 degrees C!!!

The small industrial estate was completely destroyed, right down to ground level with only the gable end walls on the upwind side remaining standing (it was a very windy day). It was housed in an old RAF building (the complex was located on the old Wing aerodrome, a ww2 bomber base) and it appears that the original roof was made of bitumistic sheets with the galvanised corrugated steel roofing sheets simply fitted over it - no wonder it went up so quickly. Factor in fifty plus motorcycles in the back store rooms....... Other units contained exotic cars (Ferraris!!), all lost, another unit apparently had new crated Harleys in it, again all lost.....

Fortunately all is insured although how long this will take to go through is anybody's guess. My losses should be covered by Leighton M/c's insurance but I've given my own insurer a "heads up" just in case.

I now have my rolling frame back, still pristine, but there's a lot missing, in fact everything removed during the repairs. So I'm missing barrels, head complete, carbs complete, air box and filter, points cover, gear lever, chain side engine cover, rear footrests, exhausts (these had done less than 15 miles!), petrol tank complete, side panels plus all the fixings for these.... Quite a lot really.

A day's 'phoning around has tracked down pretty much everything but the cost is eye watering so I've decided just to buy another bike and break it for the bits, possibly a US import.... There's an affordable import on e-bay at the moment but it has fin damage so no way..... I'd even consider a US spec 550 (just to get it back on the road) as these had the same tank, side panels etc.

I have already ordered another new exhaust system though (from CMS). Whatever I buy is most unlikely to have usable ones!

We've decided to simply repair it, keep all receipts and sort out the insurance bit later as no way should the cost get near the £10k agreed value......

We did retrieve the pipes from the ashes but, alas, they're more Salvador Dali than Honda, having distorted more than a little. Also all the chrome has burnt off...... That said, at first glance the actual silencer boxes don't look too bad so maybe these can be recycled (welded to a good set of downpipes) and rechromed in the future. They got very hot though, even the flanges (cast iron!) have melted and are very mis-shaped so in truth the effect of the heat on the steel of the pipes, however new, is probably terminal.....

I wasn't planning a winter rebuild (at least not on the 500/4) but...........

John

[mickwinf]

So sorry to hear your bad news and hope you get it sorted soon.

[Bitsa (Ralph Wright - RIP)]

Plus 1 with Mick
Christ what a blaze.
Cheers
Bitsa

[UK Pete]

Wow, bad news so much valuble stuff was lost, but good news it was only possessions and no people were hurt
pete

[Green1]

Bugger Welcome shame it couldn't be on a more cheery note but hay ho 

If the engine was rebuilt at a Honda main agent contact Honda UK they take things like that very seriously.
They will come down on them like a ton of bricks.
One of my customers are a massive well known car dealer.Any whiff of a complaint they come down and inspect the garages. 

Mick

[Atodini]

Surprising you should mention this........ Whilst the Fire Brigade report makes it absolutely clear that the fire was accidental, starting in a main electrical intake cabinet, conversations / information received over the last few days have prompted me to open a family-sized tin of suspicion........

None of this should affect insurance though, at least not in my own case. Whilst my losses should be covered by Leighton M/c's insurance (and indications thus far is that they will be), I am insured in my own right and am informed that if necessary I can claim on this......

Likewise with Ian, the proprietor/owner of Buzzard M/c's. He's a personal friend. We go back many years, at least 3 decades in fact and I cannot believe that anything like this is in his mind. My suspicions go further back in the chain than Ian, and even his landlord Graham, who, again, I've known for quite a while now.........

Wing aerodrome was a WW2 Bomber base, flying Wellington bombers and the buildings concerned were the maintenance hangars for these, converted in the late 1940's into a dozen or so industrial units when the base was decommissioned. The complex is a lot larger than it appears in the fire picture, at the time this was taken maybe only half of it was ablaze. Now all is razed to the ground. The land was handed over by the MOD to the county council under a covenant for agricultural use with light industrial permissions for the buildings. Over the years, several attempts were made by the council to get permission to develop the site for housing but all have been refused..... The whole site was sub-divided into 4 sections and leased to local farmers (of which Graham is one).

Talking to another local farmer, I've been told that the council has sold the lot to a developer and a couple of days after the fire he had gotten a letter from the developer informing him that his lease (due soon) would not be renewed. Graham has subsequently confirmed the same....... So I'm suspicious......... I can't see at the moment that any of this will affect my situation though.... Not good for my farming friends though, their livelihoods are at stake......

So, I'm continuing with Plan A - fix the bike and get it back on the road! On a positive note I've had confirmation from CMS (yesterday) that my exhaust system has been dispatched via UPS so it should be here over the Christmas period...... It's allegedly a genuine Honda one (from a batch recently re-manufactured) and at 1850 euros or so, including the rubber balance pipes and clips, appears good value - we'll see when it gets here. I still have the hanging brackets on the old "Salvador Dali" pipes which, while obviously burned, otherwise appear fine so will bead blast and repaint OK.

Over the holiday period I'll be trying to source more bits....... This will make a bigger hole in my "slush" fund (which was earmarked for another on-going project) but that is a long-term project anyway........... Not a Honda by the way...... I'm leaning towards the mind-set that anything I can get back towards the cost of the works will be a bonus, so I won't be devastated if the wheels come off......... Just furious!!

John

[Bryanj]

I have a head that needs cleaning and guides(which should be OK on the burnt one) and severl sets of cylinders in various states that could go cheap to help. PM me if you are interested and i will try for some pics

[Atodini]

Well the new year has started better.........

The new pipes arrived from CMS, presently sitting in my garage still in the box - I won't actually open this until I'm ready to fit them...... I've also sourced and bought a complete bike - not an import either, a genuine "barn find" - been sitting unused in a garage for over 15 years. I bought it sight unseen, following a tip off from an ROC (Reliant Owners Club) friend of mine who's a pal of the vendor. It's pretty much complete and apparently started easily when they dug it out and fed it fresh fuel so can't be too bad. For £500 I wasn't going to argue!!!!!!!!! Odd thing was that his boss had just put it on e-bay (now de-listed) so I was able to take a look at a photo of it too - apart from the points cover it's all there and looks half decent too. These are easy to source, I'll just jive David Silver a call...... Once I've checked what else I'll need of course. If anyone caught it's brief listing, it was the poorly repainted gold one with a Motad..........

I've arranged a courier to collect it (from Manchester) and bring it here, another small business from Cublington Industrial estate whom I know - his unit is not located in the same complex as Buzzard M/c's so was not incinerated....... Hopefully will be collected next week sometime.

It'll need paint, so I'll get that done, returning it to my bike's original black. Peter, who restored it, changed it to brown during the restoration......

I have been back to pick through the ashes and absolutely nothing survived - everything alloy is now either dust or one of the numerous aluminium rivulets all over the place.......

John

[Atodini]

At last things are moving on...... Buzzard Mc/s are now fully functional again and are located in a nice modern unit on one of the industrial estates in Leighton Buzzard. Also, they've got the go- ahead to repair my bike and are collecting it today! Acacia Close on Cherrycourt Way if anyone's interested.

In the meantime I've been able to source pretty much everything needed - only the chrome trims that go on the tank seams to find, and we all know that these are made of "unobtanium"!!

If I can beg / steal / borrow / buy a reasonable set I might well try to get some new ones made. The actual plastic trim is not too hard to find, just the shaping / moulding of it.

I'll also have a load of surplus bits from the spares bike to move on once mine's up and running again. Obviously I'll keep all the switches, electrics and such but the bigger bits I really don't have room for, plus most of it looks to be in very reasonable order. Someone, long ago, spent a bit of money on this one - side-stand chrome plated - so is the swinging arm!!!

John

[Atodini]

Oddjob,

If you want to let them go, just contact me, if not fine...... I am not an impatient guy, a set will turn up sooner or later.........

I have made some enquiries about shaping this stuff - it seems that it can be done so when I do locate a set I'll see about using it as a pattern to get some more made - depending on cost of course. I already get parts made for the Reliant Kitten register so I'm well versed in sourcing such things - getting quotes for front suspension tie-bars at the moment!

I can be e-mailed direct via the link on the Kitten register home page http://www.kitreg.org.uk/

John

[Atodini]

Update:

The bike is now mechanically all back together and running beautifully - just the cosmetics to attend to, a bit of polishing, tappet covers, end caps and such, flashing over the replacement head and barrels with high temperature aluminium paint to match the rest of the engine (I got the Simoniz one as according to the spec sheets (gotta love Google sometimes) found it is the same formula as the Duplicolor! (both are marketed by Holts anyway)). Should have done this before assembling really as it'll be a nightmare masking job - good job I love doing pernickety things!!!

The tank has gone off to be professionally repainted. I dropped it over yesterday though not expecting it back too soon - the painter was at great pains to tell me how busy he is at the moment. I am, as I've often said, a very patient guy.

I've taken it here: http://www.precision-mc-paintwork.co.uk/ purely on recommendation from a chap who occasionally drinks at the Wheatsheaf in Leighton Buzzard (local bikers' pub)..... He has an old Velocette and they made a superb job of his..... As I'm returning mine to it's original black, if it comes out half as good I'll be pleased.......

I also included a set of decals, plus a set of tank and side panel badges and fixings (from CMS) and a pair of new side panels (from DS). I also included a new (genuine) petrol cap and latch (sourced from the states via e-bay) and a new petrol tap (DS again).......

Should be good to go for the summer!!!

John

[JamesH]

Nice update john. Did you get anywhere with the tank Trims? Did oddjob lend you his set to copy?

[Atodini]

Finally back on the road...... And running excellently as well so I'm a happy bunny again.









Still some minor setting up to do but at least I'm up and running again.... The chrome tank trim is not original by the way, but a "universal" one bought off e-bay. Looks good though and will be fine until I can source a correct set.

John

[Trigger]

Looks a lot better than the last time i saw it. I was wondering how it was going. Nice bike now.

[mickwinf]

A real beauty! hope mine looks as good when I get it finished!