Hi to all on the forum. I'm definitely a newbie here, having just obtained a 1959 Golden Flash. Whilst looking for information, I chanced on this forum and have been spending a lot of time lurking - you seem to be a very knowledgeable crowd - and I hope to be able to access all the resources here and over time, maybe add my ten penn'orth!
It's been quite some time since I had a bike that I could ride. I started on a Francis Barnett Plover when I was 15 (I'm now 65) then got a 350 Jampot AJS (16MS), followed by a BSA B31 350, then a 250 Greeves, and then a 650 Triumph Trophy. After throwing my wife-to-be into a bed of nettles when I over cooked it on a corner, my next steeds were all basket cases: BSA C15, AJS 250, Triumph Tina scooter (awful!) and more recently, a 1930 Francis Barnett twin port 200cc (that I ended up selling - still not sure why).
I got the A10 about a month ago and it's already clear that the head (cast iron) is going to have to come off - there's an oil leak that looks as though it's from the head gasket on the drive side - I suspect that a non-annealed gasket was used. The rocker box seal also seems to be leaking - so I shall be really interested to see any information that John (Chaterlea 25) is able to post on his modification to the head steady system. The engine starts and runs OK but has a rough tickover, spitting back a lot. I was hoping to leave things be for the summer - just getting it MoT'd and taxed so that I can ride it in any halfway reasonable weather we might get and then work on it over the winter - but it looks as if I'm going to have to get the spanners out sooner than that!
I'm really looking forward to being an active member of this forum.
John