wayne_weedon

Did it do well? At risk of breaking my own thread title, I saw these pictures of a nice Motobecane last night. Came from this site.

Thanks for the clarification. Learn something new everyday! This subject interests me greatly. Who says a pre65 bike has to be British? There's some really interesting hardware to work with over the channel. Morini's I do have a fondness for, I've owned a 500 Sport V-Twin for many years now. Totally stock though! My Morini single is still going to be a challenge I admit.

Tobec sounds French. There's a couple lovely looking Motobecane trials bikes around. It appears that maybe Tobec is the builder? Engine looks Motobecane like.

Nice to be appreciated Greeves! I was quite taken aback by Vestys recent endorsement of the idea on principle.

Here's another! Oooh! High Cam Parilla's are lovely. There's a lot more at this link, of all types.

Different era Ross. Who knows if anyone even trialed them, they probably were somewhere! I just wanted to try something a little out of the ordinary, and it yet may be a total failure. I'll surely get some fun out of it though. I had temporarily shelved this project a while ago, but after seeing a friends Gilera 150 4 stroke trials bike I was prompted to dig into it again.

Chewy. The reason these interest me is I already aquired a 50's Moto Morini 175 Turismo cheap. I mean dirt cheap, I was not about to allow a friend to sell it so someone on ebay for 200 quid so I bought it for a few quid more by bidding for it. Then pushed it the 200s yard home! True parts are not easy. Thats one reason it promptly became a trials project. All the tinware was missing or incorrect, and there was a severe lack of compression! Hubs are nice 135mm Alloy half width so they are being reused. On stripdown it was discovered the motors bore was badly scored from a pin circlip coming out and all the rings were broken. There was no chance of finding an oversize piston so I've bored it 1mm oversize and fitted a honda piston. 9.5mm had to be machined from the cylinder length to compensate for differing crown height. It's now 181cc. It's a 4 speed wet sump design, and like so many of those 50's Italian 4 stroke singles they all look somewhat alike. I've not done too much to the frame yet apart from a lot of delugging. It's sureley going to require some reinforcing for intended use though. Forks are not decided on yet either, but leaning towards something smaller than 35mm if I can. I do especially like that Bianci in the first picture! My engine is similar to the Morini Corsaro in the 2nd & 3rd pictures, but has Iron Barrel. Mine should have looked and sounded like this if it was complete! Wayne...

Those who know me fairly well know I have a thing about older Italian bikes especially the lightweights in addition to my thing about Spanish strokers. Looking for inspiration to get back into my 55 Morini 175 project I discovered these beauties. Most of course fairly "developed" This one I may have seen before Is it just me that likes this stuff here?

Another?

Looks like a soldering iron with a razorblade attached. I was half expecting something like the commercial ones that I used for HGV tyres about 30 years ago.

It should be "simple" alas it's a minefield a controversial one at that

You're right there. Bikes in Spain (Bar the odd few) are cheaper too at the moment.

Yes Woody. Anodising is done in Sulphuric Acid. Anything ferrous will be disolved.

Good for you. Always nice to keep one together if possible.

Did it sell already?

Sorry no. What thread do you think you have? They were normally fairly undersize no doubt to allow the bearing to pass over the stem easily. Wayne...

You should do whatever you feel is best. But my own opinion is original bikes are better kept together. Wayne....

Well there were rumours that the odd frame was made from decent tubing but only for some works riders. Never seen one though.

Are you sure it's an M80 frame! I'm certain they were made from gas pipe they were so damn heavy!

They might have changed. Arched Yoke stem normally has a M25x1.25 thread. Wayne....

Martin Yes, I took some time last night to read relevent pages in the book "A Passion for the Sport" A history of Bultaco. It was going on long before the often quoted 12 day development. Reading between the lines both the SherpaT and the Early Matadors evolved out of the Sherpa N. Maybe this is why a Mk2 Matador seemed to be the 1st production model. The MK1 possibly being the 1962 factory 175cc prototypes that Oriol Bulto and Jose Sanchez rode in the 37th ISDT. It is also suggested that SHM made a Proposal to Paco Bulto at the 63 ISDT. Still doesnt change the fact that the M10 as we know it was a 1965 bike. Wayne...

Not sure any Matadors existed until a few models later. M16 is claimed to be a mk2 but never seen mention of a mk1! More likely Sherpa N or Campera based. Wayne....

I see Woody has been over to set the record straight though what will be thought of that is anyones guess. Of course none of our business what they do, and no doubt without the question here we would probably of never known about the issue, but it's still interesting (to me) and gets us talking about the history of our old mounts. Wayne....

Spot the one about "maybe the uk didn't have M10's in 64 was because they'd sold them all elsewhere"! Not quoted verbatim of course, but that seemed to be the jist of it. Seems the sensible and more factual comments are glossed over. Black is White it seems. What seems most ridiculous is the damage was done in the first place. Oh well back to my pre65 project! Wayne....

I just read the thread over on the forum mentioned above. All I can say is amazing! Clutching at straws are not the right words. Even Woody's quote of Sam's comments get slated. Wayne....