Imperial Fixes
Tales from the workshop
Rick enjoys a two-course feast at his mate’s in Germany – the main was a BBQ, the starter was a bike...
I find holidays soon give me workshop-withdrawal symptoms. Luckily, for our trip to Germany (see page 80) we stayed with our mate Matthias, who’s a big BSA fan but has been rebuilding his first pre-war bike – a1929 RMW 125cc two-stroke. Having unsuccessfully tried an inaugural fir-eup shortly before our stay, I decided I’d take a quick look while he was preparing an afternoon barbecue.
The learning curve involved in migrating from modern bikes to classics is readily apparent, but even if you’re already a classic owner like Matz, that curve continues to coil round when you get into vintage bikes. They are simpler, but the almost total lack of parts, manuals or other support makes guesswork unavoidable. Having now spent years driving myself around this particular bend, I hoped I could help.
First thing I noticed was that the RMW’s twin-lever throttle didn’t feel right, compared to my bikes. Removing the carb top, I found that, like the 1920s AMAC carbs I’m used to, the RMW has no needle but two concentric slides that need to be aligned so that cutaways in each fit over a projecting jet below. It’s fiddly to assemble and the throttle was stuck half open. Job done... but the throttle inner cable was cranked in an S-bend at the lever. I assumed the lever was assembled wrongly, but no – there was just no room for a cable. Strange. Then I got it – while ‘No 1’ size cable has been used since the ’50s, previously it was ‘No 0’. The throttle was made for thinner cable; I think it’s still available, but for now I slackened adjustment to make the problem less acute.
WHO IS RICK?
Rick Parkington has been riding and fixing classic bikes for decades. He lives and fettles in a fully tooled up shed in his back garden.
Timing next – with no settings, Matz had to guess, but a familiar notch on the generator backplate recalled the Villiers system. While this isn’t one of their engines, the Wolverhampton firm led the two-stroke world back then so it’s reasonable to assume their ideas were copied. Knowing what to look for, I soon found the corresponding mark on the flywheel and set it up so both marks met at TDC. While this went on, I was joined by Matz’s mate Uwe, owner of
Triumphs and a pre-war BMW, who sorted a problem with the back brake pedal. Matz was summoned from the kitchen to witness the bike start in a few kicks – he took it for a spin round the block with a big grin on his face!
The moral here is that Uwe and I did nothing Matz couldn’t have done; it just helped having the
