Cheshire bloke said:
Maybe I will wait another few years until it becomes a 'classic' then restore it! Come to think of it, when my Norton was 20 years old it was labelled as a classic! So what is the difference between them? :?
It takes longer for some bikes to become classics now because technology is not changing at the rate it was in the mid-20th century, and production is much, much higher too.
In the early 1980s bikes that were only 10-20 years old were radically different than what was on the showroom floor, and those early 60s-early 70s Brit and Euro bikes were made in tiny numbers in comparison to the Japanese machinery.
Today bikes that are twenty and even thirty years old look very much the same as those you can buy new, and they were made in numbers ten or more times those of 50s-70s Brit and Euro production.
The history and artifacts from before the Japanese revolutionized all aspects of motorcycling, and from before digital technology ruled the world, are scarce and much more urgently in need of preservation. There is a lot of motorcycle history of the 50s and 60s that has already been lost forever, and with each old timer dying off and their estate being liquidated or thrown in the dump that much more is being lost.
I agree that a "restoration" should be representative of some point in history, either when the bike was new or as it was used when it was contemporary. Otherwise all it has to show is the "restorers" wet dreams.
Much more important at this stage is not making things look shiny, but simply preserving them and history and keeping them from being lost. I have bought bikes in the past with no more intent than to prevent them from being parted out and scattered to the four winds. I am not worried about winning shows, but I like to have fun riding and I also realize that if a bike is together and running it is much less likely to end up on Ebay in pieces.
I am not going to live long enough to put every motorcycle my family has laying around back into showroom condition, but I can save them, have fun with them and get them and some of their history to good homes where they will be preserved for future generations to know.
I just picked up a 1961 Norton featherbed project that is interesting. It has non-matching engine and frame numbers, an Es2 with a 99ss engine. At first glance I and some others looked at it as a parts bike, but then I found out that it was originally built up in England in the 60s and brought over to the usa in the late 60s and enjoyed as it is. I call it the 99ESS2. It is in good shape, complete, and I will try to put it together in a way that preserves it's past. I have it's history traced back to the late 60s and it is fun trying to dig further back. As little as possible will be done to it to get it in useable condition, which will just be some paint work, fresh big-end shells and maybe some top-end work.
No expensive machine work or chroming will be done or necessary because again, I don't need trophies to enjoy life. I am sure the total cost of having it back on the road including purchase price will be about $3000 US!