New Triumph-Capable Shop In My AO

[DoorPosition]

FINALLY. Open source craft shop just opened their doors in the next town over. Open source, as in they'll do any make or model. They specialize in vintage restorations but they can handle upkeep, mods, etc. I can't tell you how much of a relief this is as every single local Triumph dealership in my region has proven to be incompetent clowns, liars, scammers, or all three. It's a shame to admit but some prominent, well known shops in this entire portion of the country agree. It's been a bit of a struggle for over 2 years.

Anyhoo- Took some shots of the floor for everyone's amusement. They're having an open house tomorrow and there going to try to fire up an AMF that hasn't turned over in 25+ years. It'll be a timed event, from scratch. The bike hasn't been wrenched on in 25 years. They're hoping to knock it out in less than 15 min.

There's some really amazing stories behind A LOT of these bikes, and the main man is extraordinarily passionate about bikes, so it was a 1 hour info dump that I could even keep up with. I'll take better notes tomorrow for anyone who's interested. A few of these bikes are legendary and/or ridden by some local legends.

First one is the AMF HD that hasn't turned over in donkey's years.

 

[DoorPosition]

Continued.

 

[DoorPosition]

I'll grab more close up shots tomorrow. These first two are some super rare bike, 150 frames made, 80 engines. Ridden by some famous flat-tracker. Like I said, dude's rate of fire giving the history lesson of these machines was overwhelming. I'll get the skinny on some of them tomorrow. It's impressive, a lot of which is just how the bikes were custom built/modified for the track decades ago.

Apologies for the lack of background but I'll absorb more tomorrow. It was closing time and I was holding everyone up for Friday Beer:30.

 

[DoorPosition]

This last one is super cool. A CZ. CZ… as in the Czech company that makes firearms. VERY rare. It's being sent out to Cali where about the only CZ Moto guy known in the US has set up shop. Never knew CZ made bikes and I've a lot of time on CZ'z. The Mrs competes 2-gun with a CZ P-09.

They're going to spread the bikes out across the shop tomorrow so I can get better profile pics.




And a bonus shot- My Brit gals. Dropped the Speed Twin off today for a tire install. The Speedmaster is being assessed for a valve job and some various mods, upholstery(which they do on site), and other "sexification."



So far these guys look like a Godsend.

 

[DoorPosition]

Almost forgot…. Link:

Home Vintage Moto USA - Vintage Motorcycle Repair

vintagemotousa.com

In Johnson County, NC, USA. I know we got a couple E'ern Cackalackies in here.

 

[Greyfell]

Nice little "museum" you found! A CZ motorcycle? I'd put money on it being a decent bike.

 

[Qship]

An independant shop that knows how to wrench on bikes AND cares about their workmanship is very rare indeed these days. Good you have them nearby.

 

[DaveM]

Seems they have some really nice bikes on their floor, nice find all round.

 

[Vector]

Awesome shop!

 

[DoorPosition]

Unfortunately, didn't make the open house. Ran errands this AM on the Speedmaster and the weather broke so I crushed a 200 mile dash to the coast and back on the 1000.

Spoke w/the crew at Vintage around noon when they were winding down the event to tell the bossman I'd be a no-show. Said a lot of people brought their children and the latter half of the morning they put together a small traffic cone course then conducted a kids' riding demo/riding exercise with a couple minibikes and a little Honda they have on hand. So a bunch of young bucks and feisty fillies had a blast getting exposed to riding. Would liked to've seen that.

I'll be swinging back by this week to sort out tire payment and I'll find out the details on some of those moonrocks. I want to find out a lot more on that CZ too. Forgot to ask if they pulled that AMF firing off and how quick.

Really good to hear they had a great turn out and are genuinely taking time to pass the torch to the next generation. We need more of that. Got a really good feeling about these guys.

Stay tuned.

 

[DoorPosition]

Let this update get away from me. The recent "First Service" thread reminded me of this one. Time flies.

These guys turned out to be kind of a bust. They damaged my rims. Judging by the identical 2" scrape on each rim, it was the tire changer itself. I'm told there's a rubber sleeve on the claw that separates the tire from the rim and his machine was either missing this or it was beat to sh-t. The damage likely occurred when this claw was initially inserted.

He also wanted to charge me $90 to install a set of throttle spacers. That's just for the 5-10 mins of "labor."

Called a place on the N side of the city who repairs motorcycle rims. Gonna be about $250. I got a couple higher dollar mods slated for the Speed Twin here pretty soon so rim repair will have to wait until this fall. I can live with it, for now.

Didn't bother copping a bitch to the shop owner. He'll just deny everything. I pick my battles. He's certainly not getting the Speedmaster valve job work. I'll consider this guy an "emergency only" resource.

Should've stuck with my guy in Richmond. Live and learn.

 

[DoorPosition]

Had to stop in to see these guys real last minute like. The Speedmaster’s been sitting for some time since she started running like shyte a few months ago and I had to get her roadworthy most ricky-tick. We got a guest flying in from a sister club chapter for a family event and he’d like to see the area on a bike. We had like 48 hrs lead time. Pretty sure most shops wouldn’t be be able to get her on the lift for a good week or two.

Told them I just needed it running solid by the weekend and then we could discuss any more comprehensive surgery in a week or two. They came through in less than 24 hrs. They did pretty much exactly what I needed to get her running strong, and they bumped me to the front of the line. It wasn’t cheap, but they didn’t charge any extra for the rush job. Perhaps I went a little too hard on these guys previously. At the end of the day this arena is a big money pit no matter how you deal with it.

Perhaps I could’ve been a bit less of a whiner too.

So eventually Vintage Moto became exactly what I envisioned them as… a great outfit for emergencies. The Speedmaster’s going to easily need about another grand of powerplant and suspension work coming up pretty soon. I’m definitely going to rethink things and have a sit-down with these guys for the task.

Took some more photos. Their shop is evolving nicely. They got 4 full work stations and a fair bit of projects going.



These are largely client bikes, that and what’s in the work stations. So you can see they did me a solid on the turnaround…





They got that CZ back from the expert out in Cali. I’m not a fan of thumpers but I’d make an exception for a bike made by CZ.



It’s the bike in the foreground.

At least I can ultimately punch through my lack of tolerance and occasional childish outlook. In the end it’s definitely great to have these guys around, especially in a pinch. Nothing like eating your words for a dose of humility.

All that being said, I will NOT be using them for wheel work.

 

[Qship]

Glad they came thru for you. Hopefully the other work you get done is just as good.
Getting hard to find a decent M/C shop these days.

 

[DoorPosition]

BTW if anyone’s interested or knows anyone who might be interested, that CZ is going for like 8 grand USD. It’s 100% rebuilt/restored. Dude’s probably willing to ship worldwide. Obviously shipping and any customs is on the buyer as well.

I can find out the specs if need be.

 

[PINTE]

Hope your 'emergency only' shop turns out better than expected. They have some nice toys there. And 8 thousand should be expected for the CZ.
My bike shop options here are non existant, but that is my own thinking. I don't trust the shops around here, I can't find any useable info on how good or bad the shops are. The only Triumph dealer that was here, Edmonton, has switched to doing only ATVs, quads and so on. I can do the work on my own. Been doing mechanical and electrical stuff all my life. Did 15 years at a couple of marinas working on stern drives, outboards and snowmobiles. The pay was shyte though. I think I got this.

 

[DoorPosition]

I never knew CZ even made bikes. To me a CZ was a CZ75, CZ2075, or a P-09. All chambered in 9mm.

 

[rodsridin]

Had to stop in to see these guys real last minute like. The Speedmaster’s been sitting for some time since she started running like shyte a few months ago and I had to get her roadworthy most ricky-tick. We got a guest flying in from a sister club chapter for a family event and he’d like to see the area on a bike. We had like 48 hrs lead time. Pretty sure most shops wouldn’t be be able to get her on the lift for a good week or two.

Told them I just needed it running solid by the weekend and then we could discuss any more comprehensive surgery in a week or two. They came through in less than 24 hrs. They did pretty much exactly what I needed to get her running strong, and they bumped me to the front of the line. It wasn’t cheap, but they didn’t charge any extra for the rush job. Perhaps I went a little too hard on these guys previously. At the end of the day this arena is a big money pit no matter how you deal with it.

Perhaps I could’ve been a bit less of a whiner too.

So eventually Vintage Moto became exactly what I envisioned them as… a great outfit for emergencies. The Speedmaster’s going to easily need about another grand of powerplant and suspension work coming up pretty soon. I’m definitely going to rethink things and have a sit-down with these guys for the task.

Took some more photos. Their shop is evolving nicely. They got 4 full work stations and a fair bit of projects going.

View attachment 56381

These are largely client bikes, that and what’s in the work stations. So you can see they did me a solid on the turnaround…

View attachment 56382

View attachment 56384

They got that CZ back from the expert out in Cali. I’m not a fan of thumpers but I’d make an exception for a bike made by CZ.

View attachment 56385

It’s the bike in the foreground.

At least I can ultimately punch through my lack of tolerance and occasional childish outlook. In the end it’s definitely great to have these guys around, especially in a pinch. Nothing like eating your words for a dose of humility.

All that being said, I will NOT be using them for wheel work.

Thanks for the pics. I owned 2 HD Sprints like those pictured. One 250 Scrambler and one CR250 used mainly for flat track. Regret not keeping both.