Tim's blog

Having just returned from 10 days with the infamous Shadley Bros. in Whitman, Mass, I have many a tale to tell. But I’m going to skip all the tales of madness and mayhem, and instead cut to the PG part of the program – the motorcycles.

Shadley Bros, Mark and Paul, run a number of businesses out of their facility in Whitman on Highway 18. There’s the mechanical shop where the crew repairs an amazing variety of vehicles, a fully equipped body shop, a fabrication/custom building shop, and a two man motorcycle repair shop. One of the motorcycle mechanics is Dean, Mark’s son, and the other is Mike. When I walked through the shop for the first time on this visit, Mike mentioned a certain “new” bike he’s acquired recently.

The bike is a 1983 Honda 1100F. Not only is the Honda in near-perfect condition, it’s also equipped with a Mr. Turbo kit. Even better, Mike’s friend Leo gave him the motorcycle. Leo explained that he just wasn’t riding it anymore and it needed to go to a good home. A home where it would get regular exercise and lots of TLC.

Mike explained that he really hasn’t ridden it much yet, and explains: “I’ve probably only put a couple of hundred miles on the bike, but boy, when the tachometer gets up to about 3500 rpm, it just turns into a whole new machine. When Leo ran it on the strip he was running in the mid-tens, so the bike is pretty fast.”

The 1983 1100F is a nice bike from back in the day – one that will still run with nearly any of the current bikes on the street.

When Leo built the bike he didn’t just drop the turbo kit on a stock motor. He did it the right way, with a compete rebuild on the motor, including Carrillo rods and forged pistons. Mike says the bike runs great and there are only two problems: It’s a little cold blooded in the morning, and once it does warm up it’s hard to keep the front wheel on the asphalt.

More than just an old Honda with a Turbo, this one is nicely detailed and sports a very stout engine.

A New Ride in the Wolfgang Garage

Just one town over from Whitman, Massachusetts is Hanson, home to Sullivans. Owner Bobby Sullivan is an old friend with a huge collection of Triumphs, many of which have been seen on the pages of various Wolfgang books. Among all those beautiful bikes are a few that he somehow never got around to restoring, like the 1969 Bonneville seen nearby. When I found the ’69 during an earlier trip, it was just sitting in a back corner of the warehouse, surrounded by mountains of old frames, engine cases and transmission gears. All alone and with no one to talk to. So I did the logical thing, I made Bobby and offer. Early last week they rolled the Triumph outside, tickled the iconic Amal carbs and it started on the first kick!

The real kick however, is the fact that I get to bring it home later this summer. And when the tax-man starts to scream for more money, I’m just going to tell him: you gotta wait, old motorcycles come first.

Bobby Sullivan started his adult life as a Triumph mechanic. The same mechanic who took this bike out of the crate, made it run and took it out for the first road test.

Author Doug Mitchel has a number of good habits, and turning all his material in on time, or a little early, is certainly one of his best. The book in question today is our Enthusiasts Guide – Honda Motorcycles. This is actually the first of a series of Enthusiasts Guides, and I’m pleased to say I think we are off to a good start. So far we have nearly 300 nice Honda images. Everything from the proverbial step-through 50cc bike some of us remember from our misspent youth, to Hondas that are better off forgotten – like the 400cc twins with the automatic transmission.

The new Enthusiasts book has generated a certain amount of buzz among the Honda faithful – many of whom have saved five dollars by buying the book well ahead of its publication date.

The bikes in our new Enthusiasts Guide – Honda Motorcycles, run the gamut from the classic SOHC Honda 750, to obscure bikes like the 90cc “touring” model.

Tim’s Polishing Shop
Given the less than pristine condition of the old Henry’s body panels, I’ve decided to just keep everything outside flat black, and try instead to do a nice job of detailing the motor. I’ve set the under-hood clock at 1969. That is, no Allen bolts, just plain old hex heads in chrome. For gas line I likewise chose to skip the anodized AN fittings and high-tech line and use 5/16 line from the auto-parts store. And that’s where I ran into my little dilemma. How could I use plain old steel line when everything else was either bright red or chrome plated?

My polishing kit isn’t real fancy: just an old drill equipped with a buffing pad and some paste-type polish. I even used the kit to shine up the stainless clamps.

Yes, I could have used stainless, but it’s not real easy to find. I bought a roll of aluminum line, and just didn’t like the finish. In the end I dug the “polishing shop” out from the bottom drawer of my tool box: One ½ inch electric drill, one cotton buff pad mounted to an arbor, and a tube of polish. Next I cut and bent the steel line from the auto parts store, and, once I was happy with the fit, mounted the drill in the vise and started buffing away. What people don’t understand is that with enough compound and patience and you can polish pretty much anything to a bright shine.

It’s amazing what you can do to a plain old flared steel line from the auto-parts store with a little polishing compound and a buffing wheel (the filter is polished aluminum from Speedway Motors).

Classic Triumph Calendar
Every year the vendors who buy our Classic Triumph Calendar seem to want them earlier than the proceeding year. This year we’re shooting for delivery by late July. Which is why we’ve been busting butt to get everything ready and delivered to the printer.

I’m sure I’ve said it before, but this year’s bikes are a nice mix, from a pre-war single to a U.K. market 1975 Bonneville, complete with rectangular gas tank. Other victims include a recreated Grand Prix bike and a Rickman triple. Look for more specific ordering information early in the summer.

Assembled during the Meriden Strike, this U.K. version, 1975 Bonnie is a rare bird indeed.

Electricity
Speaking of summer, it finally arrived in Minnesota last week. Yesterday was hot and muggy, with the typical late afternoon thunderstorms. All of which means motorcycles and hot rods are loose on the streets – and wouldn’t it be nice if the J-Bird actually ran.

Once we hung the fuse-box on the firewall, it was time to start sorting the wires into smaller sub groups.

My old friend and talented mechanic, Bob Larsen (aka: Yup), stopped over yesterday and we were able to get a good start installing the Painless Wiring kit. The fuse block is now mounted on the firewall, and the sub harnesses are sorted and routed to the engine, front lights, gauges, and taillights. The rest of it looks like a lot of slow and tedious work running wires, crimping connectors and making sure all the components have a good ground. Good work for weekday evenings in other words when I like to work for an hour or so at a time, and then be able to put the wrenches down until the next evening.

All this progress is a somewhat frightening, I’m starting to think this beast might actually run some day.

Here’s ace mechanic Yup grouping the “front harness” into sub-harnesses for the left and right headlights, and the parking and turn signal lights.