LH Colt restoration

[Knud.Degnbol]

That's all normal !!
We going to see it in person ?[/quote]

He might turn up at the Annual on it ?

[Paul_Linden]

Damn right I'll be there!
I didn't do this restoration just to keep it in the garage!

[brenton.roy]

Paul, I don't know whether you've noticed, but you have over 3000 views in this topic.
I think quite a few people at the rally will already know the bike!

[Paul_Linden]

Trip to the local DVLA office today (Govt Dept which registers and taxes motor vehicles for non-UK readers).
Registration document - check
Insurance certificate - check
MOT exemption form - check
Road tax application form - check
Bonus = I didn't need to pay the registration fee as the registration document had been issued in part from sight of the original buff log book.
Five minutes later it became legal for me to do it in the road - ride the bike that is!
Here is a pic taken last weekend (unfortunately I used oversize letters on the number plate at the front).
Just need some sunny weather now.

[Paul_Linden]

So I think a major update on the Colt story is due, given that when I last posted it was spring and the bike was back on the road for the first time in thirty odd years. The big news is that today I reached 500 miles on the clock, and it's still running well. Hurrah! The running in part was easy, with an oil change, not loading the engine, torquing the head down, and tightening the nuts which came loose.

However, there were trials and tribulations on the way with the gearbox and the rectifier. Without going in to too much detail it involved a broken earth wire on the rectifier, leading to a dead battery. Even after finding and fixing this the rectifier didn't put out enough charge to run with lights. I knew the alternator was good (it was new) and it was easy to test with an analogue multimeter. I eventually replaced the rectifier with one of Goffy's 6v ones, and it's been perfect ever since. Moral of the story: stay away from those £3 ebay rectifiers!

A quality rectifier.

The gearbox was a bit more of a teeth gnashing and crying in my beer type of saga. It started with the kickstart shaft that I refurbished to take a different kick start. It lasted about two weeks before the splines stripped. Welding the kickstart to the shaft (desperate times) didn't hold either. [all the electrics were disconnected when I welded, so this wasn't the cause of the rectifier problem. ] With a bit of luck I got a second hand gearbox that had a passable kick start shaft, and found a kickstart that fitted (from a Villiers). That lasted a month before giving way, but as luck would have it I then got hold of a NOS kickstart shaft (thanks Kev!) which meant a second out/in with the gearbox. This worked well but the Villiers kickstart fouled the silencer and the clamp on it knocked the gear lever off. At some point the gearbox got stuck in fourth, so another out/in with the gearbox but this time I thought I'd nail the kickstart issue. I bought a kickstart and shaft from a Honda XL200, which I modified to fit by welding the Burman business end of the kickstart shaft to the Honda part with the splines. I also had to ream out the bushes for the kickstart shaft in the casing as it was about 1mm bigger in diameter than the burman shaft. Put the gearbox back in and fitted the XL200 kick start lever on to the splined end of the shaft. It fitted to well, see pic, and its been fine for the last 4 month and 300 miles.

kickstart nicely follows the line of the oil tank, had to stick a piece of rubber on the kickstart where it was rubbing the on the oil tank

Overall, the Colt is a fun little bike which is fine around town, but a bit underpowered for dual carriageway A roads, and struggles on steep hills. So I just clock up the miles commuting around town, but only when it's dry.

[i.skelton]

I'm in the process of restoring a 1954 Colt so am very pleased to have found this. Thanks for posting, I now have a reference.

[HazelBrooks]

That`s a very interesting and enlightening post. I have this mad idea ( totally in-keeping with my persona ) of acquiring a Colt to make an unusual trials bike from. Your excellent pics show me a lot of parts I have not seen before. Good luck with your project.

[Paul_Linden]

Nice idea! The Colt is a light nimble bike, which would be great off-road. Good luck with your project Hazel.

[HazelBrooks]

Thank you Paul. I have just read your every word and you inspire me. Now.....where can I find a bike?............

[Paul_Linden]

That partly depends where you are. I saw your other post asking if someone on the forum here has one they are willing to part with, which is a good place to start. Assuming you are in the UK then they pop up on eBay a few times per year. Other than that, there are dealers like Andy Tiernan who you could talk to. http://www.andybuysbikes.com/

Have you read this? http://www.bsaotter.com/the_works_ariel ... _bike.html