The bike was a faded 24000 miler, pretty much stock and just 350 notes. High bars, slightly stepped seat and forward pegs didn't exactly inspire highway lust but for that kind of money you had to put up with a little indignity. So the deal was done, my thirty year old body settled into the armchair-like comfort and the ride home completed without much hassle. Just a reluctance to go much over 70mph and a bit of a handlebar shimmy coming out of bumpy corners. Despite being a 400cc thumper without a balancer in sight I didn't notice much buzzing - it was certainly working away but not in a nasty manner.
A month went by like it was a mere couple of days. Frightening. The GN's part, the daily twelve mile commute and odd weekend shopping run. Everything about the bike was easy and laid back, even using the kickstart didn't need a degree in British biking - just line the mark up in the sight-glass and kick! It was certainly a lot faster than the car and even turned in some miraculous fuel figures - 85mpg! I wasn't thrashing it but I was way ahead of the velocities that the cages could attain in the chaotic London traffic.
The only area of concern, the way the road debris clung to the GN, rust and mud soon giving the bike a brand new colour scheme. This rapidly became so deeply ingrained that even a jet-wash failed to shift it. Several cans of Gunk, three jet-washes and a bit of elbow grease finally had the bike 'clean.' Great scabs of frame paint were missing and a large oil leak from the cylinder gasket had developed. The bike still puffed away like there was nothing wrong with it but I decided to repaint the chassis by hand, tighten down the cylinder head bolts and silver paint the missing chrome. Something to do on Sunday, thought I. Only one of the head studs sheared off!
This meant taking the bike right down to the crankcases, replacing all the top end's gaskets, studs, repairing a couple of threads and replacing the piston's oil ring as that was dangerously worn. The camchain and tensioner looked newish, the bore was okay and even the valve rockers were in nice shape - at some time the bike had been given a good going over. Having gone to all that trouble it seemed like a good idea to have the engine cases bead-blasted and whilst that was being done, spray the chassis - after all, the engine was already out. Dark looks from the wife stopped me sending off all the silver painted chrome to be redone - dead easy to get carried away with this renovation lark. Instead, the breakers were scoured for some likely looking chassis parts and the whole lot put back together in a weekend. And jolly nice it looked, too. Never mind that I could've bought a much better bike for the money spent, there was the personal satisfaction of a job well done.
The bike shone very nicely - for less than a month, then the rust broke through the frame paint! Couldn't believe it, seemed to breathe corrosion. Anyway, not one to give up easily, I rubbed it down and patched it up. Something seriously wrong here, the rust soon spread to the replacement guards and was bursting out of the tank with the same kind of vigour as my garden plants come May! I kept patching it up, by hand on the frame and swinging arm, spraying the tank, and the good old silver paint on the ruined chrome. The GN had a strong urge to become rat of the year!
The bike still ran beautifully, accelerated well up to about 70mph then went all quiet, though it would occasionally whirl up to 85mph, when it was totally out of puff! There wasn't any point whatsoever in trying to thrash it, just get laid back and waltz along mildly, enjoying the low speed comfort and revelling in the minimal running costs.
A couple of near misses intruded on my feeling of well-being. It has to be said that the brakes weren't up to much, not even the moderate speeds the bike was capable of. When a car meandered out of a side road without any warning, let alone coherence, I had to rely as much on a wrench of the wide bars as I did in exerting maximum muscle on the brake levers. Another time, the lights seemed to change from green to red without pausing on amber, hurriedly I slewed to a halt from 40mph, ending up with half the bike over the white-line. Some lovely guy in a Ford had to brake and swerve, screaming obscenities at me whilst I pedalled the bike backwards.
Some Ferrodo pads and new fluid were hastily added and did the trick, at least up to 70mph. Thereafter, the brakes went spongy then harsh then soft. Most confusing but I consoled myself with the thought that if anyone nicked the bike they would probably kill themselves in short order. Age isn't kind to disc brakes, they were probably fine from new.
Other idiosyncrasies? The engine would occasionally conk out from low revs, not really want to start again for five minutes - happened about once a month, I soon learnt to give the GN a rest for a couple of minutes. Even more annoying, going on to reserve the motor would conk out without any warning; again didn't want to start. Also reserve didn't work properly, the engine, at times, stuttering and shuddering - most probably some rust from inside the tank clogging up the reserve pipe.
It was an easy bike to ride, quick to worm its way into my heart and very cheap on the pocket. As such, I've kept it for the last three years and done over 20,000 miles on the engine, which has reacted to my moderate throttle hand with total reliability! Chains, chassis bearings, engine oil and tyres have added up to the major, though still minimal, expenses. I still haven't worked out why it rusts like it does, but it now sports stainless steel guards, alloy tank, powdered coated frame, seat with a plastic base, etc. As mentioned, I don't give in easily.
Martin Reily