1970s Motorcycle Restoration 2021-2023
During the winter lockdown, I bought a motorcycle from the 1970s, a motorcycle which for twenty years of its life had been rotting away under a wet tarpaulin at the bottom of a garden. Having no mechanical knowledge whatsoever, it took over a year for me and my brother to strip it down and complete a nut and bolt restoration. These are some photographs which document that process. After finishing this restoration, I packed up the bike and rode it thousands of miles through mainland Europe, sleeping rough for weeks upon weeks with only the most basic of gear, until I blew a hole in the piston, crashed at 90kph and was stranded on a pig farm in rural Spain for a week, awaiting rescue from an unexpected saviour. All the following photos featuring mainland Europe in this portfolio were taken during this time period of travel, but this section is more dedicated to the beautiful 1970s motorcycle which became part of the family. As a side note to these photos, in case you were wondering, we dismantled the motorcycle in Spain, packed it into the boot of a VW polo and smuggled it back into England. Once home, I stripped down the engine, sourced a new top end and have returned the bike to a running state, in fact, it is still maintained and used on the road today.
