ES2 photos up

Previously wrote:

Very very nice looking restoration

How does it ride?

Mike

Mike- Thanks for looking- It rides very nice indeed but one must remember that it is a plunger chassis with it's quirks - nice for plodding along but not so happy diving into turns -wants to fall a bit initially a needs to be picked up with the throttle. Brakes are typical for the era so you don't want to get into any late braking situations-

Regards' Richard

Previously wrote:

Richard,

Compliments on a very nice bike.

Excuse my ignorance but the throttle stop screw on the carb is nicely done - is that something you made or is there a supplier for those.

thanks

Iain

Hi Iain- Thanks for looking - the throttle stop screw is original as far as I know. I believe Norton called it their Easy Start or something to that effect. I replated it at home with a Caswell kit. I checked my Burlen fuel/ Amal catalogue and they only offer a standard stop. Perhaps you could find one at an autojumble (fleamarket/swap meet here in the USA). I would be happy to make dimensioned drawings of it for you if you like- easily made on small lathe/mill.

Let me know-

Regards, Richard

Previously wrote:

Lovely bike, well done! Looking at the tax disc, any idea what happened to the sidecar?

Colin-Thanks for looking !

The tax disk is a reproduction from Earlswood classics or something to that effect. I am in the USA and I filled out the forms on their website only to have it reject every time unless I chose tricyle. To be honest I didn't know that was a sidecar category but now I do ! I never had side car with this bike although I would like to. I suppose we can blame this on the web site or my ignorance of road tax protocol- I've learned something today ! Regards, Richard

Previously wrote:

Thanks Richard,

i have a friend who is handy with a lathe so if you do have time to do a measure up at some stage that would be much appreciated.

Have been on the look out for a while but haven't seen one other than once attached to one other bike.

cheers

Iain

PS Swap Meet down here in NZ as well.

Iain- I have to explore some minor carb issues in the next week or two so I'll prepare some drawings of the easy start screw then. If you like, send me your e-mail address directly and I will forward info directly when I get it together. You can reach me at : toolboxlbi53@comcast.net - also - Since you are on the other side of the equator. do you have to mount your carbueretter upside down ? Ha- ha - Cheers

Richard

Previously wrote:

Hi Iain- Thanks for looking - the throttle stop screw is original as far as I know. I believe Norton called it their Easy Start or something to that effect. I replated it at home with a Caswell kit. I checked my Burlen fuel/ Amal catalogue and they only offer a standard stop. Perhaps you could find one at an autojumble (fleamarket/swap meet here in the USA). I would be happy to make dimensioned drawings of it for you if you like- easily made on small lathe/mill. Let me know-Regards, Richard

Previously wrote:

Thanks Richard,

i have a friend who is handy with a lathe so if you do have time to do a measure up at some stage that would be much appreciated.

Have been on the look out for a while but haven't seen one other than once attached to one other bike.

cheers

Iain

PS Swap Meet down here in NZ as well.

Iain- I have to explore some minor carb issues in the next week or two so I'll prepare some drawings of the easy start screw then. If you like, send me your e-mail address directly and I will forward info directly when I get it together. You can reach me at : toolboxlbi53@comcast.net - also - Since you are on the other side of the equator. do you have to mount your carbueretter upside down ? Ha- ha - Cheers

Richard

Previously wrote:

Hi Iain- Thanks for looking - the throttle stop screw is original as far as I know. I believe Norton called it their Easy Start or something to that effect. I replated it at home with a Caswell kit. I checked my Burlen fuel/ Amal catalogue and they only offer a standard stop. Perhaps you could find one at an autojumble (fleamarket/swap meet here in the USA). I would be happy to make dimensioned drawings of it for you if you like- easily made on small lathe/mill. Let me know-Regards, Richard

Previously wrote:

Beautiful !! When I think of all the effort and time I've put into getting my ES2 just on the road let alone restored to this standard I commend you. Can I ask, how did you find the home plating system in terms of getting a good finish and ease of use ? What were the largest items you plated ?

Glenn

Glenn -Thanks for looking - My apologies for any lateness in my reply but I was away at a motorcycle meet for the weekend. The home plating system works great-There is a learning curve with it as there is with any new skill but I believe anyone with even modest mechanical ability can achieve great results. The most difficult part of the process is removing the old plating, especially chrome. This can be done mechanically as in abrasive blasting, buffing, sanding, etc. Caswell also sells stripping solutions that worked well for me on nickel. Although I have not tried it myself, it would seem that reverse plating would be the least labor intensive-this is basically reversing the polarity on your electrical connections so the old plating is now the anode and it flows to the metal plate which is now the cathode.You can also have a plating shop do the stripping for you. Don't let any of these terms confuse you or put you off-I knew nothing about this stuff until I started with the kit. Caswell includes a very complete and easy to follow manual and they also have tech support. I purchased their flash copper/ nickel kit as I believe they are relatively benign - chrome, on the other hand, apparently produces some pretty unhealthy stuff during the process so I stayed away from it. The size of the parts you can do is limited by the size of your tanks and the size of your power supply. I purchased the 2 gal. kit which simply uses 2 gallon plastic pails as tanks. You will lose some space , however, as your workpiece will share space with an aquarium type pump for agitation, a tube type heater and the copper or nickel anodes.I believe the largest pieces I did were the pushrod tubes and these had to be done half at a time and the demarcation or "tide line" buffed out. ( You will need a mechanical buffing system as well- I made mine of an old bench grinder and a kit from Eastwood automotive here in the USA.) I had a plating shop do the brake pedal, kickstart, fuel tank, and others that were too large for my tanks. Your power supply will need to produce 1 amp for each 16 square inches of the object to be plated-The manual shows ways of doing this with a system of batteries/lamps/etc. to regulate current but I can't imagine doing it this way- if you can at all afford it I recommend purchasing a power supply from them-they can advise on the size. Just as in painting, the quality of the finish is mostly in the preparation of the part and then simply following the instructions- it really is that simple. It started out as a way to do parts that I was afraid would be too costly or the plater might lose or damage and became another rewarding aspect of this hobby-give it a go!-

Richard

Previously wrote:

Hi Richard

Your bike looks awesome what a great job you did when i look at these photos

then truly i know im a complete novice at this restoration game .

Anyway if my finished 16 H looks half as good as yours i will be a happy man

Cheers

Billy

Billy- Thanks for looking and for the compliments- Good luck on your project and I hope you will post progress info- it will be nice to follow your work on your machine & I'm sure you will do just fine-take your time and enjoy the process as this hobby is as much about the journey as it is about the destination- Good luck and go to it! Cheers- Richard