Britbike forum Forums Thread Like Summary - Rickman rebuild.......overdue by a long time

Hi, I'm Dave and this is my current story.

I have been a lurker here for a little while, so it is time to let you all know what is going on and why.

My Rickman (Street Metisse,A65 engine) was my daily transport for so many years. Then, on the way to view the Eclipse in Cornwall, in 1999,(remember that), it suffered a catastrophic oil loss due to a fractured oil pipe.



At that time i had a works van, and little money, so to the back of the shed it went. Through the years, money stayed a problem, so it stayed there.

Life moves on, and money is less of a problem, so.....out it came and i have started stripping it down, with a view to a rebuild. I had lots of plans, but when costed, it looked like i would spend in excess of £5,000 (!), so i will start with getting it running and looking not too shabby, and maybe do some pretty stuff when any running problems are ironed out.

First problem:- front engine mounting seized.....had to cut it out. Spacers and mild steel stock are available to remake the lost parts.




Getting the rod out of the engine cases took an exercise in drilling.....

https://i.ibb.co/16dzst6/IMG-20221028-WA0003.jpg


Second problem:- Swinging arm axle seized in isolastic bearing. Think i need to find a press.

I will keep this up to date as things happen,

Stay safe

Dave

Yep, also on their Enfield engined thing.

Give me some time Dave, I might have some old bushes that I can measure up for you. The dimensions are a bit tight for needle rollers and the limited travel of the swinging arm means that the rollers don't get to rotate properly. By that I mean needle rollers are designed for continuous rotation not oscillation.

Indeed, but swinging arm was Black as original when i got the bike, and the frame had also had been painted. When i stripped the paint last time, the nickle plate was in poor condition, so i went with a light grey/silver colour, as it would have been far to expensive to re-plate, and indeed still is out of my reach. Unless we could crowd fund a full re-plate, this is how it will remain, sorry.....