As the mist hovers over the Sussex fields & the sunshine dazzles like fire, we know Autumn is well & truly upon us. The change in the seasons, brings a change in the biking world too. Some riders have already begun the hibernation process. Leathers packed away, bikes covered over & trickle charges plugged in. Yet, among the biking community we still have so many things to bring us together, to keep the biking spirit alive through the onset of winter & here at the mono motorcycles workshop, we still have many tales to tell.

Over the past two weeks we have seen some major projects coming to a close & have started working through some of the winter projects. In amongst these long term goals, we continue our regular service, repair & security tasks.

Monday proved to be a ‘Triumphant’ day as we ended up with a Triumph Street Triple, Triumph Daytona R & a Triumph Rocket III, all ready for a variety of service & repair procedures.

The Triumph Street Triple has come to mono motorcycles with a charging fault. The customer has tried several ways to overcome this thus far, but has now entrusted the Triumph to Daniel Morris for further investigation.

The Triumph Daytona R has joined us for winter motorcycle preparations, being made ready for hibernation & the Triumph Rocket III has joined us for a major overhaul, including fully re-chroming most of the chrome parts & diamond cutting the wheels.

The 1968/69 Honda Monkey bike has been brought to mono motorcycles to be enlivened & made road legal.

‘Monkey bike is the name given by Honda to one of their small, low-powered motorcycles introduced in the 1960s. The first Honda Monkey was the 1961 Z100.^[1] Later Monkeys were designated Z50, such as the Z50A(US), J, M, R(US) and Z.^[2]

These vehicles all had a 4.5-horsepower (3.4 kW), 49-cubic-centimetre (3.0 cu in) single horizontal cylinder four-stroke engine, and a seat height of less than 22 inches (560 mm). The very first Monkey bikes did not have any suspension but this was soon added to the front forks. By 1974, when the Z50J was introduced (US 1972 Z50AK3), suspension had been added to the rear as well. ‘ https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Monkey_bike.html

Daniel has spent time this week repairing the front tyre as the tube was split & has now ordered the smallest battery we have ever seen, ready for a service & for a rear light cluster to be wired in.

The main project for this week has been the complete rewire of the 1971 Norton Commando. We received the motorcycle as a bare frame & fitted engine & her owner has instructed Daniel Morris to completely rewire her. Please see our other blog ‘Norton Rewire’ for a detailed insight into the process.

The Buell has returned for her oil change & engine tweaks as she was still pinking under load. To try & limit the excessive heat surrounding the exhaust, Daniel Morris took the decision to fully heat wrap it. The wiring on the Buell runs perilously close to the front section of the exhaust, causing concerns about the integrity of the wiring, particularly as this is the wiring to the regulator.

A friend & regular customer of mono motorcycles , who uses his Kawsaki ZX6 every day as his commuter bike, instructed Daniel Morris to fit Oxford heated grips. Although the Oxford range has a safety feature which is meant to ensure you cannot leave them on & risk a flat battery; Daniel Morris always offers the option of wiring them straight to the ignition & thereby avoiding this inevitability.

Another friend & regular customer brought his BMW S1000RR in for supply & fit of chain & sprockets. The tight link in the previous chain  was, according to the rider, noticeable when riding & therefore the new chain & sprockets was a necessity.  Daniel Morris also noticed while in the process of replacing the chain & sprockets, that the clutch selector was really stiff. Therefore he wound this down, which the customer noted immediately as an improvement.

The mono motorcycles workshop has had a revamp over the past few weeks. Our welcome area has become defined, as Katy has had a purpose built office installed. A huge thank you to Glen Holmes, Pip & Carole Mason & Daniel Morris for all their hard work. The office has already transformed the way Katy works, enabling her to focus on ensuring mono motorcycles customers continue to receive the very best professional service.

In amongst the day to day of our busy workshop , we had our penultimate breakfast club for 2018. It was a resounding success with Jamie Gladman of J.A.A Custom Paint joining us to show case his artwork. It was such a wonderful mix of bikers, traditional, modern & some classic machines , great food served by Buns to Banquets & the talents of Jamie Gladman on show. The weather was stunning & the sun shone for us the entire time.

Tickets for the mono motorcycles Charity Christmas Quiz are selling well & we look forward to welcoming the Mayor of Havant on the night, who will be joining in the festivities with us.

If you are considering winter motorcycle protection, a restoration project, service, repair, security, wiring or detailing, contact Daniel or Katy on 01243 576212 / 07899 654446 or through our contact page.