Body Paint

I like to live dangerously.  Some people might say I was a fool to get all my body bits painted before making a dry-fit assembly first.  But I am;

• Impatient
• Apt to lose motivation in a project if its not showing signs of progress
• Concerned that summer is on its way and I don't want to miss riding my Manurhin in the sunshine
• A true believer in "Done is better than perfect" - Scott Allen
• A true believer in "Relax, everything will work out OK"

And so a few weeks ago I focused my garage time on panel bashing, welding and grinding to get the body work good enough for powder-coating.  I make no apology for "Good Enough" being good enough for me.  That done, I sent all my body parts (sounds a bit Frankensteinish) to Redditch Shot Blasting - Not even knowing if it would all fit back together again once I'd spent lots of money on paint :-/

That was 4 weeks ago.  Today Dave the powder-coater phoned me to say the job would be complete this evening but he wanted to check with me about the quality of the finished job;

"Do you know that the surface of the parts you bought in is a bit wrinkly and pitted?  We can build up the powder in some areas to cover some marks, but some of the marks aren't going to be disguised by powder coating alone"  he said.

"Thats OK" I said, "I know its a bit tatty, but I don't want to spend time or money on making it perfect.  It's what you might call a 'three-foot bike' -  It'll look great from 3 feet away"

There was a pause at the other end of the phone "Well...... maybe a 10-foot bike" said Dave dryly

And so it was a little intrepidation that I drove over to collect my parts tonight.
I shouldn't have worried.  It all looked fabulous :-)  Yes there are wrinkles and dents (actually, far more than I thought there would be - there is nothing like a shiny surface for showing off what you couldn't feel with your hands...... maybe I should have taken my welding gloves off first ;-)

 So for £240 (plus that damn VAT) I now have all my bodywork ready to go.  In theory I could have this looking like a scooter relatively quickly - whether she runs like a scooter should is another question.

In the traditional way of all my projects, I proudly displayed the painted body parts around the house for my wife to admire.  She wasn't impressed.  Maybe its not her colour?

I'm trying to convince her that a Manurhin body cowl with a glass top would make a lovely coffee table...... she hasn't said 'No' :-)

Engine air-duct

A very obvious missing part from my engine is the air ducting that fits over the cylinder head and directs the cooling air flow blown by the magneto/flywheel.  Obvious as it is, not having it doesn't actually stop you from running the engine and so when I was working to get the engine started, I didn't really worry about it - and as I say, it didn't stop me from getting the engine fired up.

However, having seen the video of me running the engine, a fellow Manurhin owner, Francois, in France warned me that because of the poor cooling design of the engine, you should always run the engine with the "complete air-intake and starter casing", or else the engine can over heat and seize.

Since then, Ive been playing with the idea of either sourcing an original one or fabricating my own.  I've seen them come up now and again on eBay and Leboncoin.fr, but with an eye on my budget I decided that I'd make one to see me right until I was rich enough to buy an original one one-day.

So armed with 3 photos of an original duct, some cardboard, and a roll of masking tape I went about mocking up a pattern.  Generally speaking, its a pretty simple cone that bolts to the starter case;  pretty simple that is until you get to the shaping required to avoid fouling the carburetor.  It wasn't long before I was getting a bit frustrated with tight internal bends and I wondered if it might actually be a better idea to bite the bullet, spend some cash and buy the real thing.  So there and then, in the garage, I got onto eBay (what? you don't have wifi in your garage??) and found the chap selling a duct in Germany.  His was a little beaten up but at £20, not a bad price I thought.  I was just about to click to buy when I saw the message "Item does not ship to GB"!  What?  What's GB done to deserve this mean snub?

Well that was it - The challenge was on.  I would have a duct in spite of someone refusing to sell me one.

 A few hours later, I was the proud (?) owner of a good-enough air duct.  It should certainly see me good to start with, and with a quick powder-coat, shouldn't look too silly either

Oh Bugger - again

I am always on the lookout for Manurhin parts (there are a lot of missing parts that still need sourcing for my bike), and one way of doing this is by setting a global 'saved search' on eBay for 'Manurhin'.  Once I've filtered out all the hits for revolvers, CNC machines and meat processing machines, I sometimes get lucky and find an item or two of interest.
Sometimes I even see a complete Scooter come up for sale too.  And now and then they are actually in the UK!  But rarely (if ever) do you see a Manurhin Scooter come up for sale in the UK at a bargain price - So I was rather excited to see one come up at a starting price of £100.

The chance of such a bargain seemed to cloud my better judgement.  I didn't seem to pay much attention to the sellers clear description "Manurhin hobby scooter believed to be 1960 some parts missing engine runs fine body in fair condition no v5 requires some tlc" and nor did I look too closely at his 3 blurry photographs.  I was simply motivated by a bargain price [On reflection, I have realised that I can no longer moan at my wife for her ridiculous behaviour of buying shoes she doesn't need simply because they were 'such a good price']

To cut a long story short.  Bidding began on this Manurhin and a fellow Manurhin-renovating friend of mine suggested that we bid for it together as there might be bits we could both salvage off it.  Brilliant.  I started to bid with a vengeance. And we 'won'.  We were now the proud owners of "some parts missing... body in fair, condition no v5, requires some tlc" for the bargain price of £120.21
I was very excited (and I still hadn't looked at those blurry photos properly)

I took a van down to collect the Scooter.  I arrived in the dark.  The seller was a nice chap; Into scooters, and had come across this one as part of a trade-in (he had no history of this bike and was selling it now because he "wasn't into large scooter wheels" - in his mind scooters should all have Vespa like 10 inchers).  He was into stock-car racing and so had originally fancied it as a matt black slick thing - I wasn't concerned about the colour, but the external petrol tank modification seemed a bit odd.  As we loaded it into the back of the van, and I noticed that the wheels and handlebars weren't original, my heart began to sink.

Despite there being no starter mechanism, the seller claimed that he last started it with the aid of an electric power drill, and went on to inform me that if i ran with if fast enough I could bump start it! hmm!
There were still a couple of parts on this basket-case that I and my friend could still make use of, so I handed over the cash, and as the cheery seller waved me goodbye he (genuinely I think) claimed "You've got a lot for your money there mate!"  hmm!

So when I got home I parked the new addition to my garage up in the corner and tried to forget about it.  Mainly to forget my embarrassment for being so foolish in not either walking away from it, or negotiating a price more reflective of its worth.

A few weeks have passed now, and I don't feel so bad about myself and so I went and did a 'stock-take' of useful / valuable parts.  After my friend and I have taken the bits we both want, I think we are left with a little collection of eBayable bits that might just about claw back our 'investment';

• Aluminum footrests
• Leg-shield "Hobby" badge
• Huret speedo
• Frame and rear suspension
• Some body panels
• Floor rubbers
• A bunch of ancillaries (that sometimes come up individually on eBay at quite high prices)

So Ive learnt some interesting lessons out of this experience;

1. Irrational spending isn't just a 'shoe' thing
2. There is no such thing as a 'bargain'
3. One mans "Requires some TLC" is another mans "Sleepless nights"
4. People don't take blurry photos for no reason

But that all said;   It might have been a heap of crap, but I still felt amazingly excited to have another motorbike in the back of my van :-)

How to register an old scooter

My bike was found in a barn stripped of all its registration identification - a suspected victim of number-plate trading.  I should be thankful I suppose that the frame number and engine number still existed - I've heard of people grinding those off as well.
So how do I go about getting it verified as an original motorcycle and applicable for an age-related number-plate?

Old Bike Mart ("The autojumble in your armchair") has a fascinating column called "Unearthed" in which motor historian Mike Worthington-Williams helps readers research the origin of their strange and unusual rusty old motorbikes.  I emailed Mike a while back and asked if he might be able to help with the authentication of my scooter.  It took me a little while to get round to it, but in the end I collated 16 pages of 'evidence' that I could send to Mike that might help him verify that my scooter is indeed original and give it an official age.

Mike is the Chairman Emeritus of the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain (UK Chapter),  so I guess if anyone knows, Mike knows.  His service costs a very reasonable £30, and he can turn a response round in 24 hours!
And so last week I received from Mike an official (recognised by the DVLA) dating certificate for my Manurhin scooter.  I was rather pleased.  My scooter is now officially recognised as a 1958 model.

But now what?  How do I apply for a registration number?  Well Mikes service also includes a step by step guide to the application process.  In essence;
1.  Sign a V55/5 (Mike had filled this all in for me)
2.  Get the bike MOT'd and insured. [and this is the bit that surprised me - I can get the scooter MOT'd and insured by using the frame number as the VIN number]
3.  Fix an appointment with your local Vehicle Registration Office.  Take along all your documents, including the dating certificate, and they will issue an age-related registration number (for a fee of £55)

Sweet.  As simple as that.  So all ive got to to do is get the bike on the road and to an MOT center....... hmm not quite so simple.

Handlebars and chroming

It comes to something when your mind starts wander to the blingy bits.  Who would have thought 8 months ago when I took on this basket-case that I'd ever get round to thinking about chrome!

My handlebars are pretty tatty.  The chrome is long gone and at some time they've been painted with silver paint.  And now the rust is coming through.  Of all the bits on this bike, the handlebars probably need the least functional rework.  I could put them straight back on the bike as they are and they would work perfectly well as they were designed...... but something in me makes me think they need to look good too.
And so I went in search of a polisher and chromer.

20 years ago, I worked in a business that used a lot of polishers and chromers. There were at least 3 companies I used to work with that were within 5 miles of my house.  I set off to say hello to them again.  But I should have guessed; a lot of change has happened in Birmingham in the last 20 years, and the companies I used to know are no longer there.... not even the buildings!  In their place now are shops, apartments, and building developments for "the creative industry".  The face of Birmingham is changing rapidly.  Gone is the heavy industrial heritage, welcome the clean & tidy "creative industry"

And so I opened my search out a little wider and thankfully Dudley and the black-country are still hanging in there with their traditional industrial skills.
I phoned a couple of platers and without even seeing my handlebars they reckoned about 60 quid!  But someone suggested I go and see Castle Chromers (right close to the castle in Dudley).  From what I saw of their unit, they certainly looked like they knew what they were doing (lots of classic car parts around the place)
I showed them my handlebars (and I also had my headlamp bezel with me too).  Without hesitation, the response was £60.  I tried to bargain with them but no joy.  On reflection I suppose its about a right sort of price by the time you've paid a man for a couple of hours work - but sadly its well out of my budget - especially on a non essential job.  But before I left the fella at Castle Chrome said "why not just buy a new handlebar?"

"Ridiculous" I mumbled as I drove away.  "This handlebar is 60 years old.  You cant buy a new one".  As I drove home I happened to drive past Streetbike (not best know for its vintage parts).  I'm not sure why I stopped, but I did.  I felt a bit foolish walking in past all the superbikes and monster machines with my rusty 7/8" scooter handlebar.  I dropped it on their spare parts counter and they pointed me to a rack of anodized coloured bars - not really what I was looking for.  But then from behind the counter, one of the chaps bought out a chromed handle bar that looked remarkably like mine.  Pretty much the same angles and rise - just a couple of inches wider (which I rather like)...... and they were £25.  It was a no-brainer really.  I could keep my original bars for when I was rich enough to get them renovated, but in the meantime I could have some shiny bars for 25 quid.  As for the headlamp bezel, I can think on that for a while