details on this bike large

"All excellent things are as difficult as they are rare" Spinoza (1632-1677)

Motorcycle restoration, the reconstruction to original manufacture's specifications, is a balance between archival research and experience. The former usually overwhelms the latter in that the documentation has mostly outlived the product. There are precious few one or two owner, unmolested motorcycles. Experience with these machines show changes within a model year that have never been recorded. Or conversely, changes that only stayed on paper. My point, is that restoration is a dynamic, flexible process best not approached with a " snapshot" mentality. By comparison rebuilding a motorcycle is relatively easy. Deliberate period modifications, performance enhancements, and stylistic mixes to suit personal asthetics are permissible. Many bikes presented as restorations are in fact, rebuilds. Rebuilds usually have the advantage of increased ridability and less expense; the down side is the bike is devalued to a collector of original equipment.

An unmolested, running-original motorcycle has the grace of genuine history. If you are the current caretaker of one or more of these increasingly rare machines, just maintain and ride them. You'll be rewarded many times over by what it can do. What it can't do was a solution for the future, a what-if lost to production costs.

Some older motorcycles are capable of surprising acceleration, speed and handling. Most are sturdy and quite industrial. Therefore a respectful, accurate restoration has, at the very least, that same responsibility - making the exactness with which the engine must be reassembled central to the project. Painting, frame straightening and wheel work are sent out to trusted specialists. One to three motorcycles are restored per year depending upon the completeness of the original. Photographs and progress reports are sent on a regular basis and work-in-progress visits are welcome.

Post-War Vincent; Early CH Sportster; '71-'74 Ducati Desmo Single, 750 GT & Sport; '55-'69 BMW; '61-'67 Honda CB77 305 SuperHawk are motorcycles that have consistently piqued my interest and generous study.

Richard Barsotti, Restorer