My "new" bike

[gautrek]

I just thought i would post a shot of my "new" bike.which i am hoping to get on the road by June.

Its a 1937 350cc Red Panther.I am rebuilding this as a trial bike to compete in my local VMCC(vintage motorcycle club) sections pre 1957 trials.I have owned this bike since around 1976 and am ashamed to admit its been in a million bits since then. I finaly decided to get my finger out my arse last summer and rebuild it.Its should have a 3 speed hand change gearbox but i swapped this 4 speed footchange one with my dad who also has a red panther.As he will rebuild his bike to use on the road.

I am going to name this bike Ground Gripper ( after reading what pilots used to call tridents when operating them in hot climates).As this bike is so low to the ground i will have trouble getting round the sections .but then i don't know if having a decent bike will make a lot of difference anyway.My plan is to get this on the road with a smaller rear sprocket and run it in through the summer and then fit the sprocket you see here for the off road stuff.It will have to be a summer only road bike as i will have no lights.(i may carry a cycle light set if needed as a bobby dodger so i can at least get home if i get caught out in the dark)

[Stalins Organ]

So nice and simple compared to today's electronics!!

[gautrek]

So nice and simple compared to today's electronics!!

I know what you mean.I have had the magneto rebuilt for £130.So thats the ignition system sorted.I love magnetos.no wiring they just work.

[Other Means]

Sweet !

[REVS]

Was your old Panther originally fitted with a sidecar? That was how most of the Panthers here in Oz were sold. That grunty old single should be nice for trials, with the right gearing.

While I'm hopeless at trials riding myself, I love it. I remember going to a round of the World Trials Championship at Pateley Bridge in Yorkshire back in the 80s, and I was more awe-struck by the top trials riders I saw going at 1 mph than I was by the lads screaming along at 140 mph at the Isle of Man.

Good luck with the project!

[gautrek]

Was your old Panther originally fitted with a sidecar? That was how most of the Panthers here in Oz were sold. That grunty old single should be nice for trials, with the right gearing.

No mate these bikes were sold as a solo.They were made from around 1934 till about 1946.They were made as a recession busting means of transport.

It should be good for about 70mph on the right gearing and about 100 mpg.They were assembled by young lads and ex cow girls(i think they meant milkmaids) and they made next to no profit on them but at least the factory kept going.They did end up makng a very light weight sidecar as people started fitting chairs to them.But with all of 11 BHP on tap then i bet they were slow.

Look here for some more images of my local sections trail

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/gautrek/TavernersTrial#

[REVS]

Those photos bring back a lot of memories. I also like those grunty Spanish two-strokes, the Montesas, Ossas and Bultacos etc. A friend had a Montesa Cota and I used to have so much fun on it, even if I was a pretty lousy trials rider. When you finally get your Panther prowling, I'd love to see the update pix.

[gautrek]

Just a quick update.

i have spent the last few days putting it back together so I thought lets see if it will start.So after about 6 kicks it burst into life.

Chuffed to f*** or what.I just need to have a damn good ferkle over the next few days and finish off all the odds and sods that seem to take forever to do and hopefully i will be on the road next week.I had an issue with no oil going to the top end but after adjusting the bypass valve i now have oil appearing out of ever orifice.HHHMMM maybe i need to wind it back slightly.

I also know its supposed to be a competition bike but i love fish tail exhausts.

[gunnergoz]

Nice. Enjoy it and be sure to keep the shiny side up!

[REVS]

Nice fishtail pipe. Ever since I saw my first Velo, I have loved fishtail pipes, too.

[gautrek]

Had a quick blast up and down the road on it today.Just to see any teething problems.Like i think i may have 2nd and 3rd gear arse about tit in the gear box.So it could be interesting going down for the MOT.

[REVS]

Sounds pretty good to me. Good luck with the bureaucrats.

[costard]

Had a quick blast up and down the road on it today.Just to see any teething problems.Like i think i may have 2nd and 3rd gear arse about tit in the gear box.So it could be interesting going down for the MOT.

Yeah that drop in revs from first to second sounds a bit big. Gearboxes are fun to rebuild - once. After that it's a little bit of a chore. Good luck.

[Michael Emrys]

Trying to downshift from fourth to third only to have a con rod come through the seat when you get second instead can also be...disheartening. De-testiculating too.

Michael

[gautrek]

Well the good news is that it passed it MOT today but then there was never much doubt about that(due to garage where i take it only failing old bikes if they are really bad).Its also taxed as well so i am legally on the road.

Yes i have got 2nd and 3rd wrong so i had a fun time going straight from "2nd" to top.

I also had a few issues with overheating so kept stopping on the way down and back(but i do pick one of the hottest days of the year to run a new build engine).

Then the clutch started dragging which made the gearbox issues even worse.But tonight i dropped the gears out and swapped them around as they were wrong.But now i have re assembled the box some b*****d has stolen neutral.So i guess i will have to go looking for that now.The clutch drag was caused by my home made pushrod(out of silver steel) not being hardened enough one end.So that easily sorted.

It would also seem the over heating issues where down to the primary chain being too tight as the gearbox must have moved once i adjusted it.

But i do know it took about a year of fiddling on my Ural before i got all the little issues sorted. .

[larryp7639]

Just a quick update.

i have spent the last few days putting it back together so I thought lets see if it will start.So after about 6 kicks it burst into life.

Chuffed to f*** or what.I just need to have a damn good ferkle over the next few days and finish off all the odds and sods that seem to take forever to do and hopefully i will be on the road next week.I had an issue with no oil going to the top end but after adjusting the bypass valve i now have oil appearing out of ever orifice.HHHMMM maybe i need to wind it back slightly.

I also know its supposed to be a competition bike but i love fish tail exhausts.

I LIKE IT :X

[REVS]

Speaking of fishtail exhaust pipes, I came across this at You Tube yesterday. A nice old Guzzi Falcone, just idling away the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9HPYYz7Ddc

[gautrek]

Well its taken me about 3 weeks but i am finaly happy with my bike.

It flew through its MOT but i had overheating issues on the way down and back.I then seemed to have overheating issues if i did more than about 2 miles.IE the bike would start tightening up.

In the end i decided to take a look and i drop the primary chain case of and checked the crank.I then found that i had up and down movement as well as in and out movement.

So i pulled the engine apart.To be greeted by 2 knackered main bearings and blasting medium floating round the oil.Bollocks.

So some more mains (£28) each and a thorough clean again(even though i had blown it out and flushed it through numerous times and the engine only has one oil way).I rebuilt it again and tried again.This is about 20 miles in from the first run.

I then found i had the same overheating issues and it would piss oil out of ever orifice and it seemed to be running very poorly.So a bit of detective work ensued.After a bit of searching around on various forums it would seem i was running very retarded (even though i was setting it up to a manual).So i ended up buying a static magneto timer and had a go at setting the timing more advanced.It would seem that modern unleaded fuel burns a differently and all engines need more advance when running on it.

It should be set at about 8.7mm BTD.But i have ended up setting it to about11mm BTD.It could tell as soon as i fired it up that it was better.But i spent one whole weekend getting to this figure.To set the timing on this bike means dropping the timing cover off(which means taking the exhaust off) and then pulling the gear off the end of the magneto.Bummer.So i must have set it about 10 times over the course of the weekend.

I have now done over 50 miles on it and am totaly happy with it as it seems like a different bike now.Its a lot quieter and it doesn't hold back when sitting at 30 MPH like it did before.Its also nearly stopped leaking oil.In fact it leaks more grease from the gearbox than oil from the engine.

[gautrek]

Here is my latest update.

I have now done 2 trials events.I have worked out i am a fair to crap rider at the moment and the bike needs a bit of work to make it more competitive(but then i knew it would take a while to get it sorted).I have ended up using some lifter plates on the forks to give me about 1 1/2" more clearance at the front and am working on dropping the gearing down a lot more.I thought i may be ok with the gearing i had but i'm not.

I managed about 3 laps in my first trial before i broke the bike( snapped the clutch lever off).But i managed to finish the trial on Sunday and even managed to clean some of the sections(but failed totaly at one).But i thoroughly enjoyed it even though i am knackered today.Its took me about 1 hour to clean the bike.

.

I am now having a few issues with the bloody ethanol thats been added to our petrol as its eaten my new tank liner so the tank has started leaking again and the petrol tap rubbers( on brand new taps) have swelled up again.