Sitting on a trials bike is uncomfortable……sitting on a Montesa trials bike on a public highway might be very uncomfortable bordering on madness! Be a while yet for this 349 as the engine hasn’t been touched yet, but has been promised end of this month!
That's a result well worth the effort of writing the letter...
Could I ask what office/department of the DVLA you wrote to ?
Might give it a shot and see if my 348 was registered in a past life..
Hi Barnsey, I wrote the following letter to DVLA along with form V888 [downloaded from DVLA's website].
I received the answer from a Jacqueline Davies 'Vehicle Casework Unit'. I'm thinking that if your bike was registered with the DVLA it's on their database & all they need to do is access that using frame & engine number, confirm it with you, then you fill in a V62 + £25 & Bob's your Aunt's second cousin, sorted! All it took was a few minutes & a second class stamp, well worth trying at least.
Let us know how you get on please.
Re: V888
I bought this 1981 Montesa with a view to restore back to it’s original condition. There are signs that lights & lighting wires from the magneto are present, indicating that this bike may have been registered as a ‘road bike. Would you mind checking your database to see if this bike has been registered?
Well, I'm still awaiting the engine back from the guy who said he'll strip & rebuild it........he's been so busy he hasn't managed to do it yet, which in fairness, ain't no real problem.
Ok, so twiddling my thumbs, I noticed the bike has "lighting wires" coming from the magneto so "assumed" this could have been for a road registered bike? I had no paperwork for her, no plates, no nothing
to say she had ever been on the road. I read loads on here & other forums & it seems nye impossible to register a bike with DVLA without some sort of paperwork.
I wrote a really nice letter, very informative, photo's of the frame & engine numbers etc etc expecting DVLA to write back [if at all!] & say "can't be done"....end of. Blow me down, received a letter from Vehicle Casework Unit
c/o DVLA saying "Thank you for your recent enquiry" etc etc please find your registration number as *** ***X. If I want register her, send £25 + V62 & it's all done. Even checked the reg on the 'car history' on DVLA's website & it shows me she was indeed an October 1981 349cc Montesa, last taxed 30th September 1986, last V5c [log book] change 7th July 1983. I find that fascinating myself.
Big question is........does this make the bike more desirable?........more appealing?..........more valuable? I shall register her but whether I put her on the road I don't know. I cant imagine it can be much fun flat out at 40mph on an old trials bike...can you?
Dr Nosh: I’ve put the 22mm bars on & everything seems to tighten down fine, the risers/saddles (call them what you may) seem old/original. They have 1-5 on the lower saddle, not exactly sure why? The shims you were talking about, I assume, go top & bottom of the bar itself? In this case, a) are they needed and b) would they fit? Appreciate your thoughts.
Tayld: made the point that I’d got original tapered rear sprocket bolts on a non countersunk sprocket. I had noticed that but it didn’t sink in as a possible problem. I’ve put an M8 bolt & spring washer just to show what it’ll look like ( I need some new spring washers from the “ironmongers”😜), I think when all the bolts are changed to M8 it’ll be fine.
Front mudguard on, front wheel tightened up, new pinch bolt installed & she’s looking ok I think. W.I.P. Work In Progress as they say!😁
If you think I’m doing summat wrong, then please just shout, no umbrage will be taken I assure you! Thanks for looking.
Bars. 22mm = 7/8". The original bars would have been 1". You will probably need a set of shims to go into the standard clamps. I have a set available. PM me.
Rear sprocket. What locking have you got on the nuts? Spring washer or thread lock?
M8 pinch bolt in the bottom of the r/h fork leg?
Agree, I had good service from Bike Revival UK.
Thanks Dr Nosh
The old bars were Micron 22mm so I assumed that 7/8” (22mm) were standard fitment. The new bars seem to sit ok so again, I assume one of the previous owners had changed the bars & fixings..
The front & rear wheels are only a finger tight fit just to see how things line up. The rear sprocket had ( and still has) tapered bolts on the rear sprocket so couldn’t use any washers (I assume that’s correct?) thread lock is a good idea & when everything lines up I’ll probably remove the rear wheel & loctite the bolts on the sprocket as suggested, good idea!
Well spotted the missing pinch bolt.....mitigating circumstances M’lud......I draw my learned friend to the previous paragraph stating “front & rear wheels are only finger tight”😁😁 I had been down to the local ironmongers (do people still call these ironmongers?) & bought a load of s/s nuts, bolts & washers, one of which was specifically for the front fork pinch bolt but hadn’t fitted before the photo was taken. Phew, got out of that one!😳
Again, I use the word slowly to emphasise the rate this refurb is taking.
Local engineering guy turned me out a couple of spacers for the front & rear wheel, how anyone previous can lose a spacer, heavens knows. Doesn’t really matter as a tenner for both spacers is money well spent. Both front & rear wheels now line up pin straight. The rear shocks were quite short according to one of the comments on here, so a pair of Betor ‘steels’ were acquired from Bike revival uk, ace guy Simon listened patiently to my thoughts then came up with a pair of these, £105 all in inc delivery, again, money well spent. The old ones were 310mm & these are 360mm, makes the a*** end look really nice!
The old Micron handle bars weren’t in that bad a condition, but I felt if these were put back on it wouldn’t do the rest of the bike justice. Inmotion had a pair of ‘proper’ trials bars for £50 odd I think, there’s no ‘bridge’ between the bars which again, makes the bike look ok. They’re next to go on.
I was going to purchase a ‘long’ rear mudguard, the one I have at present is a ‘short’ one, it’s cleaned up ok so rather than fork out £60 (inc p&p) I thought I’d just leave it be for the time being. There is a financial limit to what I can spend on this. My 242 has a short one, previous owner made a plastic ‘bridge that gap’ to stop all kinds of crap flying towards the engine, I shall have to fabricate something similar in Perspex or plastic, I’ll see what the bank balance says first!
No sign of the engine, dare say it hasn’t even been started, it’s no hassle really, as this was always going to be a summer project in readiness for a winter trial or something next year. Now I’m on the home straight as it were, it would be nice to have the engine rebuild at least started. Once it’s stripped, I’ll have the casings to paint satin black.
If anyone spots something I’m doing daft or wrong (perfectly feasible knowing me!) then just shout!
The cheapy Chinese shocks look similar to the old Japanese ones, but even the shocks on my other half's Virago have more travel than what those appear to have!
If you keep your eyes open you might be able to find some useable ones second hand, try asking at a local club it's the sort of thing people have kicking around in their garages "just in case"
In motion have a budget pair for about a hundred pounds, which isn’t that bad, this is never going to be a competitive trials machine, nor is the rider 😜, just want it looking it’s best & be able to keep up with the others!
With the frame back from the powder coaters I set about assembling the fork yokes, simple job......nope!😳
The problem from day one, was, that ‘someone’ had been at the bike before me, previous owner intended on restoring it (bought most of the bits) but then moved it on to me. Everything is either loose or on the wrong way round. Looking at the front wheel for instance, the brake drum is on the offside, scouring dozens of photos on the ‘net, everyone shows it being on the nearside, no drama, just annoying that everything has been moved.
Back to the yokes, new tapered head bearings & races fitted to the headstock, everything adjusted ok, top yoke on, fine, then I found the chrome nut that secures the top yoke had only 3 or 4 threads to attach to! I couldn’t put the washer on as well as the nut but if I left the washer off I wasn’t comfortable in using just 3 or 4 threads to tighten the nut down. Everything apart again, thinking I hadn’t tapped the races down enough, checked those, fine. Scratch head time......and the answer is, I don’t know! The conical nut that adjusts the bearing free play, I decided to mill off 3mm from 6mm of the hexagonal part, still leaving 3mm plus the threads inside the cone. It’s not a stressed nut, not torqued so figured that’s all I could do. Local engineering firm kindly shaved 3mm off & the yokes all marry up lovely! I got round the problem but didn’t solve the problem. Pyramid parts confirmed the bearings were correct, the only thing I can think of is, the original ball bearing bearings & races were fractionally different?
Swinging arm is now on, the shock absorbers look very “road like” to me? Not sure what you think? After 40 years I’d be very surprised if they were the originals. Could be wrong.
The forks are on as well, not sure if I like the gaiters or not. The only reason I put them on was to protect the “new” stancions that have been totally refurbed. A hassle to remove them, unless I use a Stanley knife, might just keep them on while I carry on slowly.
Front wheel has been married up & I need a 27mm spacer between the fork shroud & the hub, it wasn’t with the bike, just copious amounts of washers to ‘bridge the gap’ which seems to be the order of the day with this bike from years gone by. I keep forgetting, it’s 40 years old, things break, things get changed, things get bodged! Oh well, onwards & upwards!
Autotek is acrylic paint and may not be resistant to petrol - most modern paints don't seem to be. If you spill any whilst filling the tank you could end up with an unsightly blemish if it isn't. Paint something else that doesn't matter and when cured pour / rub some petrol on it, better to find out that way than ruin you tank paint job.
Halfords paint for example is acrylic and although gives a really nice finish from a can, when it comes into contact with petrol it virtually dissolves
Autotek is acrylic paint and may not be resistant to petrol - most modern paints don't seem to be. If you spill any whilst filling the tank you could end up with an unsightly blemish if it isn't. Paint something else that doesn't matter and when cured pour / rub some petrol on it, better to find out that way than ruin you tank paint job.
Halfords paint for example is acrylic and although gives a really nice finish from a can, when it comes into contact with petrol it virtually dissolves
This is something I must admit I hadn't thought of. Spoke to James Briggs Ltd who make Autotek & Hycote & they say a 'clear coat' or lacquer will solve this problem. I can buy 'clear coat' off the net as well as 'lacquer' but unsure which is the better product. I'm also slightly nervy about applying either on the finished article?
Moving on to the forks, there were signs of past chrome on the fork outers so this was flap wheeled off, primed & coated silver (photo not my silver job😜) looked ok, but didn’t jump out & say “that’s nice!”. Reading a comment or two on here plus looking on the ‘net I saw the majority of 349’s had red fork outers & not silver, this convinced me to re-spray them again, this time Montesa red, turned out ok, really pleased with them. If anyone is thinking of painting the same colour, it’s VW Mars red, I chose Hycote paint as it’s readily available on eBay at various prices, goes on a real treat & does come up well. I wet sanded with 2000 grit then a coat of fine compound then 3M finishing glaze, looks ok.
The fork stancions........oh lord, they were bad! I tried the old cheapo trick of epoxy resin over the pitts, rubbed down with paper, this worked well......to a degree, and probably would be fine for the odd ‘pitt’ here & there, but as you can clearly see, they were goosed! Chose Philpotts from Luton, not the cheapest, but, their service was unquestionable from organising collection to delivery. Lead time was 8 weeks, but think mine were done inside 6 weeks. They look really good compared to what I sent them, £195 all in, which ain’t bad, is it!
When I did mine, I used a rattle can for the primer/filler build up, then rattle can brilliant white. Flatted it back to matt (500 and 1200 grit), applied decals (last original set from Vallmoto), then had an aquaintance with a body shop apply 2k clear coat in his painting booth.
What did you use to stop petrol attacking the finished result ?
I used rattle can lacquer from Halfords and it did not resist a minor spillage, very disappointing. You would think that paint from a car accessory business would be paint resistant.
Mmmm haven’t got that far just yet! Mine is purely a ‘tank cover’ I have an alloy tank that sits beneath the tank cover. I would hope that any spillage would not affect the paint......you’ve got me worried now!😳
Thanks for the info on painting, if I get a finish like yours I'll be very happy!
And keep the pictures on the restoration coming...
I thought I’d been a clever clogs & used the greenhouse as a make shift spray booth, all glass, nice & warm, no dust. Paint job still ended up with dust particles on it & a couple of orange peel areas. If you get the same, don’t worry, 2000 grit then 3000 grit with plenty of soapy water & all the dust marks disappeared. Don’t forget, that even with 4 or 5 coats of paint, paint from a rattle can is very very thin so too much wet sanding can go through the paint. 😳
The forks were chrome, badly pitted, but definite signs of chrome. The frame pre-powder coat had signs of chrome, possibly someone years ago decided to chrome the frame? I had already painted the forks silver (to match what was there) having looked through dozens of 349 WW photos, think I need to paint these red now.
Thanks for your input.
349 rebuild....take 4
in Montesa
Posted
That’s a real shame, but at least they replied to you & you know where you stand.
I’ve read that it’s a right ball ache to get it registered without any paperwork or acknowledgment from DVLA so good luck anyway.