The Bonneville Project

Eagle-eyed differences

The replacement stanchions have arrived from Len Craig & Sons.

In fact, they arrived two weeks ago, but I was on holiday.

Together with two dust excluder sleeves, some 40 or so ball-bearings and a couple of cork washers, I now have everything I need to rebuild the forks.

The replacement dust excluders are slightly different to the originals, seemingly with a more rounded taper.

I've probably described this badly, so I will post a photo this evening.

By the time I have done rebuilt the forks, I am hoping the wheels I ordered will have been built and returned from the Devon Rim Company.

Then I will take the frame, forks, engine and wheels to Abba Stands to be checked for alignment.

Once correct, I will dismantle everything and arrange for the frame to be painted.

The 6000rpm Bonnie

A family holiday means I'm unable to work on the bike for a few days.

Rather than not update The Bonneville Project weblog, I've decided to post a link to a short video.

It's a 24-second film of a 1968 T120 Bonneville accelerating to 6000rpm.

To play the video, click the photo (above left).

It's a 4MB file, so may take a while to download on slower connections, but is well worth the wait.

I suggest setting the volume on your computer to ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM while it loads.

The sound this machine makes is awesome.

I watch - and more especially listen - to this film whenever I need inspiration to work on my bike.

The video is from The Bike Shed website. It belongs to Hugh Brown, one of Britain's best Bonneville restorers.

I'll be well impressed if I can turn my "Just To Show It Goes" bike into something that sounds like Hugh's.