Parts are collecting…
Parts are collecting…

Parts are collecting…

October 5, 2010

Well,  summer went by and I didn’t get much done on the bikes, didn’t get much riding in either.  Discovered a nice road just out of the city on an evening ride, up and down country lane at dusk – quite beautiful.

PING tinkle tinkle… was the sound I heard when I pulled my clutch lever. It was a lovely Friday afternoon and I thought I’d zip up the highway to a meeting- alas I didn’t make it as I got stuck in stop-and-go traffic when the clutch cable nipple went flying.
Luckily I didn’t rear end the car in front of me as I was only going at a walking pace, uncharacteristically I was positioned in the curb lane and rode up the shoulder to the next exit- whew.
The DVP rightly bears the nickname Don Valley Parking Lot, it was built for 60,000 cars a day and regularly sees 100,000. Needless to say,  the Norton gearbox was not happy about that ride home. On the bright side, I only had to stop twice – once on the off ramp and once for a delivery truck on doing a 6 point turn…  I avoided lights on major arteries by ducking into the residential streets, making my way by rolling stops and shifting fairly smoothly with throttle blips and careful foot work.

Last weekend I attended the CVMG Milton Swap meet, it was a bit chilly and we arrived late, so the pickings were slim and vendors were packing up. I picked up a new clutch cable for my Norton Commando and met “Drago” who is the local Puch expert. I’ve heard his name mentioned and now I know how to find him! He had a few bins of Puch parts. No doubt I will contact him as I dig into the restorations.

There were very few bike for sale, a nicely restored AJS scrambler, just begging to get dirty. The other extreme was this Sears badged Gilera. It is always nice to find bikes in worse shape then you own…!

Today I received 1.8kg of nuts and bolts. They will come in handy for when I reassemble the Puch 250 SGS.

I also recently received the seat springs for the solo seat for the Puch 250sgs. It was far more complicated than it should have been. The springs made it from Austria to Germany, into my father’s suitcase and finally to me. It was faster and easier to just ship 3.8lbs of nuts  directly to my door.

Lesson learned.

My plan is to get the ’66 SGS up and running – sort out the sidecar mounts (weld?) and then when all is fettled and sorted, do the body work, paint & chrome. Here’s my secret weapon- sandblasting pressure pot. I was going to make one – but it seemed like alot of work when this was on sale. Just need to make a blasting booth.

10 Comments

  1. sukmo

    that blast pot interest me. you made it your self?
    do you have certain web page to refer to if I want to make such pot?
    I have dual port jawa waiting to be cleaned up.
    I live in indonesia, we have lots of classics down here….

    1. Fastback

      It is for everything but the engine – I found it on Ebay from Austria. Email Claudia Rauter, c.rauter at elsnet.at for a catalogue of Puch parts.
      Phil

  2. Broncoman

    I am thinking about buying Puch 250 almost “basket case” motor project. Engine, seems not to be seized and have some compression…. but clutch is none. I wonder if in your experience, came across with any problems with puch clutches? (line is not broken).
    ths in advence for the reply….

    1. Fastback

      My clutch seemed stuck – I put the front tire against a wall and it came free. Not the most subtle technique, but I figured it might work- and it did!
      Haven’t pulled the engine apart yet so I can’t really comment on the clutch – but usually clutches are straight forward. Try asking in the forum.
      P.

  3. Pingback: M125 – seize the day – fastback

Comments are closed.