About fourteen years ago, I'd replaced the piston rings on my Triumph TR5T motorcycle but sadly forgot to top up the oil. All would have been well except I overtook a car on a dual carriageway, on overtaking, the guy in the car sped up and I got trapped in front of a lorry. My only option was to speed up. I knew it wasn't going to end well. I ended up overtaking the car and just about managed to pull in the clutch as the engine started tightening up and seizing. "Well that was unfortunate" I said to myself. Now stuck miles away from home, I could only wait for the engine to cool down and see what happened. Under different circumstances I'd have tried to get a truck to pick up the bike but was pretty much stuck, no phone. British engineering of the 1970's being what it was, allowed me to start the bike back up and crawl home. The engine had seized on the crank but after cooling down it still started....but yes it was very clunky. b*****. It would have to be stripped down and repaired. The only problem was that I didn't have the time to do it as we were about to head back East. I took the engine to some specialists in Aberwristslit and asked them to let me know how much it would cost for a complete rebuild. A couple of weeks later I received a fax off them - telling me it would cost Two Thousand Pounds. That seemed excessive and I asked them to state what needed replacing. Long and short of it was they wanted to replace parts that I knew were brand new and so I asked them to desist. I paid Fifty Pound for their stripping work and had the engine collected. Then...as it does ...time passes by. The stripped engine was left in the garage and got buried as general debris was put in the garage "for storage". About four years back, Grant & myself were out walking and we came upon the idea of turning the garage into a bar....and was something we eventually put into affect. The motorbike was moved, engine parts put into boxes and then put in the shed "for storage".

After we converted the garage into a bar, thoughts finally turned around to fixing the Triumph, that was three years ago, so a new crank was purchased along with con-rods sourced from the USA. The frame was powder coated, new mudguards were purchased and things started to take shape. I had the crank balanced and the bearings polished. All was going well until I had a problem with the con rods......and I simply couldn't work out the problem. Then...as it does....time passes by. Fast forward to the present and I thought it was time to get the crank sorted, so further work could commence. I contacted our old friend Dave Bolland and arranged our first Road Trip of 2015 for the old surprise visit to Shropshire. Dave is probably the only person I know who could find out the crank problem and so Grant & myself loaded the car and headed off to Shrewsbury on a cold grey February morning. Only Britain can be this miserable at this time of year and I hope the pictures do it some justice. It was a three hour drive and if it had been sunny it would probably have been a nice drive. The one thing of interest on the way up was a Cast Iron Railway Bridge just outside Ludlow. Dave had told me about this. It has been removed in order to put a new boring railway bridge in it's place. This area is famous for Cast Iron Bridges, it had taken a One Thousand, Two Hundred Tonne Crane to move the bridge from over the River Teme. We were lucky to see it on the side of the road. I hope it's heading to a museum but I cant find anything to suggest it is.

We got to Dave's place and were given the grand tour of the estate. Dave is rebuilding the house and outbuildings along with planting up trees and vegetable patches. He's even got an old Victorian Bathing Booth in the garden. One of the previous owners' relatives used to live in it after contracting "The Consumption"...that's Tuberculosis to you and me. We then got the kettle on for a cuppa and got stuck into the business of sorting the crank. Dave told us a lot about crank bolts and why there's different thicknesses and also about stress levels. Very entertaining for those of us into those things. The business of sorting the crank took about eight hours and eventually the problem was found and mostly rectified. The crank problem we put squarely on the Brummie factory worker in Meriden who in June 1973, we assume had just come back drunk from a Communist Party meeting down the pub and then proceeded to hamfistedly machine the crank bearings. The best part though was that Professor Bolland gave me the all clear to put the crank back into the engine casting and to proceed with the build. After all that a walk was required to clear the swede...and so in the dark we walked the Ellesmere canal for twenty minutes and paid the old surprise visit to see Dave's Mum who had made us a cake...and very nice it was too. We then headed to the local boozer...which was more of a trendy eatery really & so we looked the part with oily hands and muddy boots amongst the pink Pringle sweater brigade. That said, they had real ale and we enjoyed that. After another dark walk back through the lanes we managed to pass out. Sunday AM and Dave gave us a good Breakfast and we headed back once again in grey drizzle. Many Thanks Dave for your hospitality and we'll catch up soon. So the bike project is back on and I'll let you know how it goes, these things take time...About 14 years so far.

More to come......