Fair comment on boats!! Good luck with the Bonny.
I quite fancy a bash at a 70s Jap stroker. Of a larger capacity than any of the two strokes I owned...

My sister and her husband have a self built ambulance to camper van conversion that they get a lot of fun out of. One of their boys did a basic conversion on a Transit. Henceforward, any camper conversion of a van is known in our family as a TrannyBago.

BTW - worth checking the regs on gas installations.

Who'd want to be a Possum in Kakapo country

Happy Christmas everyone.

Yes, but no car, however exotic, can match the feel of bend swinging on a good bike.

+1

You are so right Howard

BR
Colin

I've just bought myself a slightly easier project two weeks ago. It's a 1978 BMW R80/7, the points ignition and heavy flywheel version. I used to moonlight on my days off at a husband and wife specialist and know my way around them, and despite having the weight of a Tiger tank I love the feel of them and the solidity. It does mean that I'll have to put one of my other workshop fillers up for grabs and I think it will be the T140. I've had some nice rides on it, but I had to come home via a van on the last trip as it blew something electrical and it's sat under the dust sheet ever since. Since I've bought the MG TA, I've not had the time or the opportunity to get the Triumph on the bench as I'm too busy getting under the MG..!!!

Isn't it great to have these mechanical toys to play with, though..?

T140
Mind you, I say the same about the R-series airheads (as they are often, usually affectionately, known across the pond ). Have fun with it Steve.

Too right

Steve a good choice. I hope you enjoy the Bayerische Mist Wagen.

I once had a Hardly Ableson, a Sportster from the early days with chain drive and the Iron Head engine. Pushed that home in rainy weather several times, thankfully always local. But interestingly the problem was the japanese electricals rather than the Yank bits. Apart from one time when the complete carb vibrated off the engine and was hanging at the side on the control cables.

Had the same carb thing happen to me on a BSA at a set of traffic lights in Leeds .... fortunately the nuts had lodged on top of the crankcases so it was a quick fix.

If the old Brit bikes were competently maintained they were just as reliable as the contemporary Japanese ones .... the main difference was that the Brits were made to be maintained in your shed with a minimum of tools, so were prey to the incompetent .... even the early Japs were designed to need special tools and in a way that pushed owners to the Dealer workshops and their professional mechanics ... thus they appeared more reliable .... once they slid down the food-chain after a few years and fell into the hands of the impoverished 'hammer and screwdriver' brigade they were to be found expired at the side of the road just like the amateur maintained Brits.

K