Matt's Combat Commando overhaul by GrandPaul

cmessenk said:

Carbonfibre said:

One wonders how many users of this forum have had restoration work carried out by GP though, as notwithstanding his apparent lack of technical knowledge, it may well be that his workmanship is top notch, and he certainly shouldnt be condemned for making a few silly errors?

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Sorry, but you couln't be more mistaken, Carbonfire.

OK, I've been silent about this for years, but I feel the time is right to clear the air and tell it like it is. My main reason for this post is to have others like me avoid the heartache, expense and frustration that I experienced. I know of two other cycle owners (one is on this Forum) like me who have had similar experiences with a GP restoration and if what happened to us can be avoided in the future then I have no problem sharing my experience. This might turn out to be quite lengthy, so my apologies in advance.

I had my Combat restored by GP back in 2008 after finding his Born Again Bikes website after months of searching for a restoration expert. I contacted GP and told him I wanted a full restoration as the bike had sat since 1986 following an accident with an 80-year old lady turning left in front of me into a hearing aid store. After settling on an estimated cost of approximately $12,000 for the full teardown, powdercoating, etc., etc. I sent the bike out to GP's shop in Laredo, TX. The full story of the restoration was featured on this Forum...I think the thread title is Chip's Combat Restoration...or something like that.

Month's went by and I followed the restoration project on GP's Delphi forum and here on this site. The first hint of trouble came in the form of a PM sent to me by one of GP's clients from the Delphi forum. He warned me about GP's technical abilities and said, ..."although GP is a great guy, he tends to cobble things together in order to make things work". He also warned me to keep a good chunk of my 12K as a warranty reserve and not pay it out until I was completely satisfied. He then told me of his own horror story...can't remember if it was a vintage AJS or BSA...but the bike basically blew up within 300 miles of getting it back from GP. He was so pissed by GP's work that he started his own website called "Broke Again Bikes" dot com where he fully detailed his experience with GP. This all happened when my bike was about 1/2 completed. Needless to say, I began to worry. I also began some very strict dialogue with GP regarding my bike...telling him to take his time...do everything carefully. I remember telling him to pretend my bike was a fine Swiss watch and to please keep that in mind when doing work on my bike. I also told him there wasn't anyone close by to help me if things weren't right and in fact the closest British cycle shop was 60 miles north of the Tampa Bay area....so I implored him to get it right. Anyway, the months passed by and I sent GP a portion of the 12K at every milestone...usually a couple of grand or so...which, coincidently enough seemed to conincide with GP's trips on the AHRMA race circuit. At that point work on my bike would stop for weeks on end while GP posted his race reports from around the country. Pretty frustrating.

Anyway, the time finally arrived when the restoration was completed and the bike was shipped back to me in Florida. The semi-tractor trailer arrived at my house on a Friday night around midnight (not GP's fault), but as I wheeled the bike up the driveway into the shed I noticed this loud rubbing noise...the tire was rubbing....no, grinding on the fender stays....Huh?? The next day I was so stoked...after 22 years I wheeled her out in the sunshine and took a look. WTF...my freshly painted original Dunstall tank was all orange-peeled from ethanol getting past a botched Caswell job. Still I fired her up and took off down the street, tire grinding, to the sound of coughing, popping and god-awful running at low speeds. Sure, it would accelerate up to 80 MPH beautifully, but normal cruising speed was out of the question. More frustration.

After several phone calls to GP, we agreed to have me take it up to the Brit shop 60 miles north of me (Iron Horse), where Scotty Cameron and his Dad had been working on Brit bikes for the past 35 years. I was able to nurse her up I-75 and finally got to the shop. Well, Scotty may know his Brit bikes, but he works at a glacial pace and my bike was there for almost 2 months. Continued frustration. I would visit on weekends hoping to keep things moving along. Finally Scotty called and I got a ride from a friend up to his shop. I told him GP was going to pay for a valve adjustment, which went pretty smoothly. I went out of the shop for a smoke and could see Scotty thru the garage bay door....he was grabbing my rear tire and doing something. Scotty called to me and said..."hey, take a look at this...this ain't good." Sure enough when my rear tire was flexed, the swingarm had approximately 3/4 inch play in both directions. Major frustration.

Soon thereafter, a discussion ensued on Chip's Combat thread about potential fixes. It was then that my life and the future of my bike changed. Thank god Windy ("bill" on this Forum) had been reading the discussion and decided to take matters into his own hands. I didn't know Windy for squat, but he travelled to Scotty's to take a look at my bike and immediately knew there was trouble in Denmark. I know he contacted GP immediately and arranged to take my bike back to his house to fix everything. First he did the Heinz Kegler fix to my swing arm...and then the sh*t hit the fan. Windy called me and said things like...this is on wrong, this washer is missing, this or that is finger loose. Unbelievable frustration.

Anyway, Windy ended up taking my bike COMPLETELY apart...all the way down to having to split the cases again. He sent me a two page document that listed all the things f*cked up with my bike...in addition to the things Scotty had found and fixed. Clearly some of the things Windy found to be wrong could have killed me. It took Windy a while to get things sorted out, but ever since he laid hands on my bike it's been a first-kick, dependable machine. Wish I would've discovered Windy when I was looking for restoration "experts".

Anyway, that's my story....I could go on, but I'm not sure of all the details of what had to be done to my bike to make it become a safe and dependable machine. I will say one good thing about GP...he did hold up his end of the deal and paid for all the extra work that needed to be done.

For years now I thought my experience was a one-time occurence. Maybe it was the roll of the dice and I was the unlucky one and GP's restoration on my bike was just a fluke. Unfortunately that's not the case. Recently a member of this Forum contacted me about his own GP restoration experience. Out of respect, I'm not going to share his name...he can share his experience if he wants. Here's a couple of PMs I recieved from him in July:


Yeah that blows. Man I was so glad when the bike showed up... there were a few months I really thought he was going to declare bankruptcy, close shop, and I'd be $10,000 in the hole. It's been a bittersweet experience since then.

Ironically I was following along your build and that convinced me to use Paul. Man I wish I'd contacted you! After you got it back either you, him, or Windy posted something about the swingarm being bad... At that point he had my bike and I was stuck!

I haven't blasted Paul on the forum either... didn't see the point of a flame war as those usually don't turn out well for anyone. I have posted a few of the issues I've had, but mostly kept quiet.

I did source out some of the parts myself (tank, seat, rearsets) and glad I did. I wanted a budget build, but definitely got what I paid for on the parts Paul acquired! Been slowly replacing them as time goes on.

The local shop owner has actually grown on me. He has a reputation as a good mechanic but also for being gruff and kind of a dick. Did not come across well when I first brought my cases to him. But he seems to know what he's doing (also has a sweet Fastback Long Range). And after spending time in his shop recently I think he gets the reputation due to the amount of shit he puts up with from the people wandering into his shop with ridiculous broken down crap expecting miracles in exchange for pennies. Being an independent bike mechanic in Jacksonville is a hell of a way to make a buck. After pulling off the bike's head the phone conversation was pretty funny. He was super pissed, not sure if it was at me, the bike, or what but he was pissed. "You gotta come look at this shit man. This valve guide is totally wrong. And your cylinders are shot... this is total shit!" I think he was expecting me to blame him and tell him to pack sand and not pay him. When I came over and talked to him he showed me the bike and went over everything with me. We went over the bill for the work already done, an estimate, and I told him to do what needed to be done. After that he's been much better. We'll see the quality of work when it gets back though...

Where's Windy's shop in Orlando? When I get my back bike it would be nice to swing down there and have him look it over...
Well right now my bike is layed up in the local shop and has been there for 6 weeks, getting new ignition pickup, cylinders rebored, piston rings, new valve guide, and crank seal. So I'd say we're in the same boat!

I resisted taking it to the local shop for a long time because I do not like the owner and worked on it myself for the past 18 months. Haven't been able to go 100 miles on it without something going wrong.

Paul a good rep on the forums and I like how he discussed the build as it went along. Did not reach out to previous customers for references, which obviously was a huge mistake. First sign of trouble was when I started to have to pay in postal money ordres instead of checks. Bike arrived 6 months late (twice original build time) and by that point I was just glad I had something in my driveway. Would only fire on one cylinder, carbs horribly maladjusted (which I wrote off as due to different climates and issues cropping up in transport). Quickly found clutch not actuating properly, wiring snapped, valve seal popped off, cylinder stud pulled loose (installed upside down), etc. etc. etc. Obviously almost zero shakedown completed, which upset me as I was specifically told bike was being kept to complete extra shakedown.

Finally took it to the local shop despite my misgivings about the owner after it started kicking back/misfiring heavily as well as seriously smoking out of one cylinder. He quickly found the bad Sparx ignition pickup. Also found the valve seal popped for a second time. They pulled the head and found the valve guide itself was not the correct valve guide neccessitating headwork. What they also found was the piston rings weren't properly gapped (too narrow), never seated correctly, and had scored the cylinder walls and built up carbon at the top. Hence the rebore and new rings... supposed to finally get the bike back this week.

At this point I'm about where I would have been financially if I'd just gotten a CNW build, but of course also two years in. Which is kind of depressing to think about... here's hoping I finally have a bike that can go for more than 100 miles without issues though!


Finally, I want to reiterate that I'm not out to bash GP. However it's painfully clear that my horrible experience wasn't a one-time screw up. My goal is to protect those on this Forum who may look at threads and think..."gee, this guy knows his stuff and for 10K or so I can get exactly what I've always wanted". My response to that??

CAVEAT EMPTOR, fellow Nortoneers!

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john robert bould said:

Surprised "our" Hobit as no chimed in here :?: he normally as a finger in every posts

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bwolfie said:

Thanks, I've gotten a lot of flack from certain people about the my use of powdercoat, despite not being anywhere near being done.

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ludwig said:

Skyguyz :

Building a reliable , well performing Commando engine is more than bolting new parts together .
Any monkey with a wrench can do that .
.

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1up3down said:

Carbonfire, I have a different view.


Paul himself seems like a real Norton enthusiast, and I am sure he really does have good intentions.

However, I suspect strongly that he is in way over his head technical knowledge wise, and operates more like a try to learn as I go back yard mechanic, than as the highly experienced custom restorer that his website purports.

False advertising, and sadly buyer beware.

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