A brace of British iron

Originally Posted by TamSV

Well done. Looking very tidy.

You could lock my dad up with that and a tube of autosol and he'd be very happy.

My missus would be happy with that, she would get to see me again.

Originally Posted by specialone

Nice, whats the history of them, how did you come across them?

My neighbour who is in his early 80's restores old bikes, he even done some for the national motorcycle musuem which is 5 mins away.
He makes all his own stainless imperial screws and bolts on his lathe in the shed.

Hi knows his stuff but his wife has suspected dimentia so he dont get as much time now i think.

keep up the good work

They belonged to my Dad's neighbour; he bought the AJS first and ran that for a while. The Matchless came from a friend of my Dad; his daughter was dating a bloke who had a very bad bike accident which left him brain damaged so couldn't ride anymore. So my Dad's neighbour bought the matchless (which was in bits) off this fella, and it then sat in his garage for the next ten years. The AJS joined it in 2006 when it stopped working and that's about it.
I heard that this fella was getting grief of his wife as they were about to have their kitchen redone and they needed space in the garage, so I put a cheeky offer in, he came back with a reasonable offer and the deal was done.
The AJS is a 1954 350cc, first registered in Somerset. Now has it's original engine and runs pretty well, just got to adjust the carb properly.
The Matchless is a North Essex bike, so it hasn't left the county in well over 50 years. Still on it's original logbook and I'll need to get it registered.
Main bearing had gone so the crank was stripped and is being rebuilt at a place that specialises in pre war Talbots and Rolls Royces (but the owner used to sell AJS and Matchlesses back in the early to mid 50's, and he's got a bit of a soft spot for them - hates Ariel square 4's though).
As I've already said the barrel has been bored out to +.060 (70.5mm), and a new piston bought, and the valves re-seated as I think they weren't sitting properly (and I really hate grinding valves!)

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

So what work have you been up to?

See above, I have become very adapt at stripping these bikes down to nothing, but I would have been well in the mire if I hadn't had help from EssexofEssex - Cheers dude!

My pleasure, I just love the rubber gloves.

that is ace..

well done .. labour of love

that one for sale on page one- it is in someones lounge !!

The BSA A10 was the main bike in a showroom in Braintree, absolutely beautiful! I would kill for an A10!