Nourish Engineering update ?

Fast Eddie

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There was some talk a little while ago about the new owners of Nourish being in some difficult.

Does anyone know the current status?
 
Fast Eddie
I have an interest in this topic, for obvious reasons, and would also be interested to hear anyone's recent experiences. I’m not owed any parts or money but I do need to be able to get parts for the 2 engines I have. I did just send them an order for big end shells and did get an email reply the next day - so that is progress. However, it does remain to be seen how quickly he can deliver the parts. I did also hear that a racer friend who had had a triumph crank on order (with big deposit) for about 2 years did finally receive it about a month or so ago. The story I got from Nourish Engineering last year was that he had lost the services of his machinist that originally partnered with him and had been unable to manufacture any parts for over 6 months. If he now has a machinist, then hopefully he can get his business back on a sound footing but it is probably going to be a while before people have confidence in his ability to deliver.
 
I know someone who is contemplating a new Triumph conversion kit.

I have advised against it, but am not sure if I'm being fair?

Does anyone know the state of play with Nourish Engineering currently?
 
Nothing heard, but if anyone is daft enough to deal with him I'd be surprised, half or more of the costs upfront and stupid enough to ask someone that knew he owed money. Not surprisingly didn't take up that offer.
 
Well, apparently NE are moving to new premises soon and are still producing.

Their quote for a top end conversion is £2450 + vat depending on spec, he says there's a choice between iron or alloy barrels.

Compare that to the cost of a new bare Commando head (as beautiful as they are) and remember this is barrels, pistons, rings and pins, head, rockers, valves, springs, rocker covers, pushrods and tubes, gaskets and seals, etc.

That's bloody good value I reckon !

Hmmm... a 1968 750 8 valve T120R... now there's a thought...
 
Is it the same person in charge, or has the original owner come back and re-resurrected and saved the good name of the past?
 
Madnorton said:
Is it the same person in charge, or has the original owner come back and re-resurrected and saved the good name of the past?

The same Bushell ...
 
A recent visitor found the 'factory' locked and a Court Order pinned to the door.
No sign of Bushell
 
Snotzo said:
A recent visitor found the 'factory' locked and a Court Order pinned to the door.
No sign of Bushell

Wow!

Well he did say he was moving premises soon... just didn't say why...!
 
Look chaps, if anyone is interested, I'd certainly be up for contributing to a buy out should this sorry show ever go under and get auctioned off. I know someone who could actually run the show if needed too...
 
Fast Eddie,

Pointless, from what I could gather at the time, the machinery was well past it's sell by date as it was disposed off by Quaiffe, it may have already gone elsewhere.

Then what are you actually buying - knowledge, I doubt it as the staff have gone, was anything written down, drawings possibly, but they may not own them.

I am pretty certain that anything of value would have gone to be handed to those he owed money.
 
The one item that Bushell did not get was Dave Nourish himself , and the expertise so obviously lacking in Bushell's operation is the knowledge, skill, integrity and honesty of the originator of the business.
 
Fast Eddie
Like you I hope someone could take it over and get it back on a businesslike footing. Not sure I could contribute anything to it moneywise though. I did think at the time Dave sold it that it was going to be very difficult for whoever took it over unless they had access to good automotive engineering/machining skills (current ownership apparently not). I am possibly going to have to stump up some money to have a batch of custom main bearings made/modified since I don’t believe Mr Bushnell ever got that situation sorted out and he wasn’t prepared to put up any money himself.
A few years ago I had been wondering if Dave had any succession plans and I asked him (subtly) if he had been marking up or making new drawings for all the detail changes he had been making over the years. Had he at least been redlining the original Weslake drawings? He replied, rather sheepishly that no, it was all in his head.
I have a feeling that if anyone takes it over – especially now, they will have to do a fair bit of reverse engineering. There are obviously outfits in UK that have the expertise to take it over, Summerfields, Minnovation, Molnar etc. make similar products, but they might not be able to make a business case.
I found him a pleasure to deal with and his stuff certainly was good value for money. (I can’t imagine anyone having lower overheads than he did.)
 
Madnorton said:
Fast Eddie,

Pointless, from what I could gather at the time, the machinery was well past it's sell by date as it was disposed off by Quaiffe, it may have already gone elsewhere.

Then what are you actually buying - knowledge, I doubt it as the staff have gone, was anything written down, drawings possibly, but they may not own them.

I am pretty certain that anything of value would have gone to be handed to those he owed money.

I agree!

I'm thinking the casting patterns for crankcases, head and barrels are the most important things, followed by any drawings and then and usable stock of parts. I don't think this would amount to large £ figures.

The product design is now circa 50 years old, so I would imagine that there are no valuable patents / copyrights to buy?

I would not be interested in much of the machinery as I think any 'rescue' is only viable if done in conjunction with someone who already has, and can operate, good CNC machinery. There'd be a piece of work to do to update the drawings and do initial CNC programming, after which it would be simpler.

Any future for NRE lies in it being a sideline to an existing business because, as has already been pointed out, Dave had the lowest overheads imaginable!

I would hope that Dave might be persuaded to act in a consulting capacity for any such venture.

It's all 'pie in the sky' though as Noursh Engineering ain't for sale. Yet.
 
Hi Eddie

Did not see Dave to speak to at Donnington & dont have enough intrest to travel over & see how mr Bushell is doing. Thinking of machinists, was it not Phil Diggadyke excuse the spelling sidecar pilot with the vintage club who used to do a fair bit of part time work for Dave. Also with the vintage club, Dave Lissaman who runs wessies with Mr Nourishes help & support. His family do his engineering work when their company time allows. I gave him some forks to copy the internals. Trouble is the workforce who worked with Dave on the old machinery, once that link was lost starting off again would have been a mare. I did a deal with your friend last year for a Nourish gearbox shell for a friend of mine who had placed a deposit with Mr Bushell 2 years ago. Dont think I would be placing a deposit for anything COD only :D
We will see where it all ends up but I think you will find they will believe the rights to be worth a fortune.

Chris
 
What man has created, man can create again. This not 1960 and you would be starting from a different point with updated technology. The main thing would be to find a bread and butter line which should probably be independent of motorcycling. That is the problem every small engineering business has. Jobbing work is probably a slow death. Supplying product to Triumph and Norton, might be an option ? You would need to be careful what mindset you approach this with.
 
Chris

Dave will be at Brands for the last Classic meeting of the season, 15/16 October, so if you get there do look him up. It's just up the road from you so no excuse will be accepted!
Look for him among the sidecars
 
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