I’ve not been without a bike since the age of fifteen, but forty years later, I decided it was time to pursue a life-long desire to restore a vintage British motorcycle. Inevitably, I blundered into all the traps like so many before me and having paid a fortune for a heap of rust, via a “good mate” I set about spending another fortune buying replacement parts for my 1973 Tiger TR7V which, anyone with a more trained eye, would have probably deemed way beyond economic restoration in the first place!
They say that some of your best lessons come from your most expensive mistakes and, despite having made a reasonable, but costly, job of the rest of the bike, my bottle finally went at the thought of stripping and rebuilding the engine…and getting it right first time! I’d phoned a couple of companies before I chanced upon Meriden Triumph, within minutes of chatting to him, I knew exactly where my business was going…
Meriden Triumph has that friendly ‘old school’ enthusiasm that quickly reassured me, that if I brought the engine to him, we could discuss options over a cup of coffee…and this, we did! From the outset, Meriden Triumph established what I wanted, gave me a fair initial estimate for the work involved and advised me that, should replacement parts be needed once the engine had been stripped, he would keep me informed and explain any cost options that may be available.
Needless to say, the engine proved to be no less of a challenge than the rest of the bike and, almost nightly, seemed to yield more and more grisly examples of broken, bodged and abused components from within. All of which, were photographed and emailed to me by Meriden Triumph who would suggest what needed to be done together with any additional cost implications. (so thorough, were Meriden Triumph’s updates, that, at one point, I toyed with the idea of asking him to stop sending pictures of broken cogs and seized bearings quite so often, as each piece seemed to be screaming ‘you mug’ at me!) In no time however, the work was done and instead of the grubby lump of rust that looked like it had been at the bottom of a lake for 10 years (I, actually, think it might have been!) I was staring at something that looked like it could have just rolled off the production line at Meriden where they used to work!
It’s back in the frame now, and I reckon I’ll be firing it up for the first time in probably 30 years in a week or so…and couldn’t be happier! In summary, I would just say that it has a been a real pleasure to do business with Meriden Triumph, who’s amiable and consistently honest approach has been something which allows me to both, wholeheartedly recommend their services to others and ensure that I would happily return as a repeat customer. (Although, I think I might have a look at some of the nicely restored classics they’ve got for sale themselves and save myself a whole load of grief and cash next time round!)