Back on the job!

Sorry guys that I haven't posted for a while. School, Christmas and the cold got in the way of me working on the bike. Now it's half term, so I'm back on the job.

I have been begging my Dad to help me do some work on my bike. Yesterday me and my Dad got time to work. We tried putting the front wheel on and it wouldn't go in properly. It was bending to one side. We found out the problem and it was because we forgot to put in a little metal bit near the wheel. We put it in and it worked! Phew! I was very relieved.

As you can see, near my left hand there is a bit of rust. That is the bit that we forgot to put in, because we didn't know what it was for. The old owner had it put in. Now it is on it's wheels again.

This is a good picture of the new foot rest.

I'm going to start working on the fairing next.

Frame together!

Sorry but I've been busy the last few weeks with school, so I haven't had time to write an update.
Right, lets get back to the good stuff!
After we sprayed all the bits of the bike, we could start putting them together. First, I put the frame and sub-frame together. Then there was a decision! Should I keep the rear shock absorber, or should I buy a new one?... My Dad, who's helping me on this project, thought that we should buy a new shock absorber because the old one was leaking oil and it looked quite tatty. In the end we chose to buy a new one. My Dad looked on Ebay, and he found a nice one, so we bought it. When it arrived, we got ready and put it in.

Then, we thought about putting the forks in. So my Dad started cleaning inside the head stock and there was another problem. When he was cleaning a ball bearing came out which he thought was bad news as he couldn't get it back in. But then he noticed the ball bearing was cracked, so my Dad went on a hunt for some new ones. We put some grease in and fitted in the ball bearings.
Next, we put the forks on and put in more ball bearings.

We then put the two foot rests on. Annoyingly one of them isn't original as it had been broken off. When we went to Founders Days a few weeks ago, I found one and we bought it. There was a bit on it that poked out which would clamp on to the bike which we cut off. We smoothed it down, and then asked my friend to weld it on to the frame. The other footrest, we clamped on.

We put the side stand on, which stops the bike from wobbling over.

Next we put on the wheels. We nutted them on, and called it a day! I was very pleased with how it looked, as it was no longer just bits and pieces, but it now looked like a bike.

'Founders Day'

On Sunday me, my Dad and some friends went to a motorbike show. It was 'Founders Day' at Stamford Hall, Leicestershire.

I really enjoyed the Jumble Sale. I liked the experience of looking at all of the bits, like cylinder heads, kick starts, engines and farings. As well as looking at some fully assembled bikes. One of the people who was selling some bits, told us they used to be a speed record holder.

At the Jumble Sale, I bought a footrest as the old footrest had been broken off. The good thing is now both of the footrests can fold up if you drop the bike.

I also bought some hand grips. The old ones I didn't really like and they were damaged. I thought '50:50' they would fit on the bike or not. I was relieved that they do fit, snug and tug!

The BSA Bantam Owners Club were there and I went in and I said to my Dad, 'it would be funny if there was BSA Bantam wallets'. My Dad said 'go and look' and luckily they had some! So we bought one for me to use at my new school.

I met the man who wrote a book called 'Over Land to Egypt' which he did on a BSA Bantam D1, which was interesting.

In the ring, they were showing different types of bikes. When I've finished my bike I am going to take it down there to show it and hopefully drive it in the ring. There was a push start bike. They started it and after a few seconds of it running nicely, there was a 'chug' and he stopped the bike and the flywheel had come off. He put it on the seat and wheeled it out!

I am happy that it didn't rain that day! I loved hearing those engines ROAR!