welbike

Then he went on with the wiring, I supplied the rubber wire, and for the colour coding, modern shrink tubing, and all looks neat and like original. we'll see if the original 1940 dated regulator will work or not, when the engine is running. Cheers, Lex

OK, coating is ordered, after much deliberation we decided on the Caswell stuff (on their webpage they sell a coating remover for amongs others, "failed POR 15 coatings"!!), time will tell. Ron has got the fiddly twist grip stuff under control, but was a bit of a mixup of used and repro parts, so not easy. Cheers, Lex

Thanks for all the answers on the coating! that restores some of my apprehension against them! Cheers, Lex

Bikes were painted according to the War office guidelines, and not sand coloured, this was sometimes done when they arrived there, but not from the factory. The vertical seam was introduced around 1943, (from the top of my head) Cheers, Lex

Ron, OK, we'll work on the twist grip stuff and the brake rod, but the very meaning of sourcing this out to you, and very gratefull you took it on, is that I would have never had the means to quickly see what was wrong! and there was far more wrong than we thought at first! but it will still come out right in the end!! it's almost there!! hang in there! Cheers, Lex

Ok, may I ask, how long ago did you use the POR 15? and have the tanks been used with all sorts of petrol? I really hope this will work, but have had so many negative feedback over the years. Hope you understand, Cheers, Lex

The tank was full of holes after (and before) blasting, so extensive repairs needed, or if anyone has another tank? after the first try it was still leaking, so maybe better after the second try? Cheers, Lex

Magneto fitted and timed, cylinder head fins repaired, and fitted, rear number plate painted and fitted, original exhaust cleaned, painted and fitted, speedo fitted with the cable, not bad for an afternoons work Ron! Thanks, Lex

No probs, I'm having a WD-C restored right now! this was in civillian trim also, but I like the military look better. Cheers, Lex

Hello Jonas, welcome here, I'm sure Jan here will chime in, with more information you would ever think was imaginable, but a small note about the arrow and the numbers, (M26) this is an inspectors stamping. Cheers, Lex Schmidt

By the way, original rear brake plate swopped with a later one, with a Belgium friend, very nice! Magneto ready too, we're getting somewhere! Cheers, Lex

Very nice Ron!!! will bring the following. Zero miles….. Cheers, Lex

You got the balls Ron!!!

Just some pictures from the the previous French owner , how he purchased the bike, it was used after the war by a priest, so it could have been baptised…. The prev. owner(s) thought, or hoped the bike was from 1937, and the French papers confirm that, don't know how that came to be, probably because it was taken from some British depot, where it was stored, and just after the fighting in 1940, it must have been "liberated", and hid for 5 years of occupation, and to avoid any questions, the date of 1937 was "invented" just after the war, and the bike put to good use! Cheers, Lex

Good work guys!! I purchased the gearbox, that my local motorcycle scrapyard first didn't want to sell, but he agreed now, and I took it off his hands, along with some more Matchless parts. Cheers, Lex

Nice work Jan, I have all seen it already ofcourse, but nice it is! Cheers, Lex

Here's some pictures of the right one. Cheers, Lex

That is early BSA! the third hole being there for the D shaped speedo. Will try to get a picture later today. Cheers, Lex

Well Ron, have never seen one like that before!! Cheers, Lex

Nice work Ron, as always ! maybe Jan can tell a bit about its presumed history? One thing I can tell, that it had Thriumph wheels in it, and a 16H rear mudguard and carrier, abd a BSA KM20 petrol tank fitted, we managed to find all the missing parts in a short time, 10 months or so! Cheers, Lex

Here's a picture I have in my archive, not sure about the model?

Ok Phil, sorry have no spare stuff at the moment, am away from the PC, but will post some black and white pictures later. Cheers, Lex

Here's the page with the engine numbers, the 1937 date on your engine is correct, as it shows up as such. The good thing about these bikes is that they were never made postwar, and and were replaced in 1940 with the RT125, I have many, many original black and white pictures in my files with German army use. Cheers, Lex

Ok, had a look, and it's from 1936, see scan of page, those are the frame numbers, that is the second number down from your headstock plate, the top number is the original engine number, so engine has been replaced at some point, but this happened a lot after the war. Have no idea about the DVLA, as I'm in Holland, but can imagine if you add these scans to your application they can see that it is from 1936. Cheers, Lex

Can you post a picture of the headstock and plate please? and the engine number, I have the book with all the DKW numbers. Cheers, Lex