Full resto men are hard to find
What do you do if your classic needs a complete restoration and you can’t do it yourself? Rick advises...
SORRY TALE THIS month from a reader who, after leaving his Triumph with a restorer for five years, has just got it back in boxes, finding very little has been done and asking if I could recommend somebody more reliable.
I can’t. Complete restoration is a huge job – it takes hundreds of man hours and it’s hard to make it profitable. Most specialists far prefer smaller jobs (engine rebuilds, wheel-building, etc) because there’s so much dead time waiting for parts or services in a full resto – and the bike takes up valuable space for the duration.
No two jobs are the same, there’s a lot of research to do, parts need to be delivered to specialists (and collected again), hours can be wasted chasing elusive parts... and who pays for that time? Restorers who book every minute are treated like con-men – but why should they do it for free?
Professional restoration is inevitably very expensive, making the hobby restorer – an enthusiast who’s restored a few bikes for himself and others – attractive. He’ll be cheaper, but likely to take longer and may possibly bite off more than he can chew. You have little comeback if the finished bike goes wrong and disaster can occur when such folk die suddenly and your bike gets sold as part of his collection. My advice is to project-manage the job yourself; send off the various components to the necessary specialists and when it all comes back, if necessary, find someone to help put it all together. You may not be a mechanic, but you can pick up a phone or deliver a frame for painting. Doing it this way is cheaper, means you can time the outlay to suit your budget and adds a sense of achievement to the end result.
‘THERE’S SO MUCH DEAD TIME WAITING FOR PARTS OR SERVICES IN A FULL RESTO’