An on-line magazine dedicated to the love of vintage motorcycles.
Our ethanol-containing gas is raising hell with our vintage bikes. See how I solved the problem.
See how I restored a 1960's Honda 450 Black
Bomber
Also see how I restored my father's Beech
Bonanza airplane (for MS flight simulator that is).
After exploring the Restoration Page, come on over and join the
MBVMC party by clicking on the icon below!
(Be sure to check out the picture of the week)
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Restoration Features
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A 1967 Yamaha YDS3 gets a new lease on life |
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Restoring a Triumph T90 |
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See how a truckload of parts turned into a
beautiful |
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You can relace that old wheel. Go ahead! Its not that difficult. |
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A how-to article on how to fix a faulty charging rectifier with an inexpensive Radio Shack replacement |
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An old Bantam is never too far gone. See how we brought this one back from the junk pile. |
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Here is a two-for-one article in which a 1957 Triumph Thunderbird and a 1960 BMW R60/2 are restored side by side. This one includes some good before and after shots. |
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Jim Arrington and I find a 1966 350 Sebring and a 1963 250 Scrambler. Both come back to life. Part 1 of a 2 part article. Part 2 Now available! . |
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Special!! New Indians only $215 FOB Springfield.
Travel Adventures
| Business takes me to Salt Lake city where I rent a Harley Road Glide and tour the beautiful Wasatch Mountains. Some great pictures of one of the west's most beautiful spots. |  |
| A mid winter trip to Brisbane turns into a date with a Vstar 1100 and a trip to visit the Crocodile Hunter. |  |
| On a recent trip to Cape Town South Africa we rent some Harley Davidsons and have an adventure riding through this African wonderland. See some great pictures of everything from seals to baboons along with some breath taking scenery. (Now available in French as well as English) |  |
| The Greek island of Rhodes serves as a backdrop for a leisurely ride back into history on a Yamaha 650cc DragStar |  |
Shows
The 1999 Pensacola European Bike show at D&D Cycles
The 1999 Dauphin Island Spring Festival Show
The 2000 Dauphin Island Spring Festival Show
The 2001 Dauphin Island Spring festival Show
The 2002 Dauphin Island Spring festival Show
The 2003 Dauphin Island Spring festival Show
Feedback
The readers write! See what recent visitors to the Restoration page have to say.
The restoration page is maintained strictly as a hobby by James Downey. Please send your comments, good or bad, to jdowney@mobis.com.
There is a fair amount of restoration activity here in
Mobile, Alabama. Visit Jim
Arrington's motorcycle site to see more
vintage bikes. For my daily driver I ride a Honda Valkyrie Interstate. I also have a 1966 Triumph Bonneville. I
have several Sears bikes. I restored a Sears (made by Puch in
Austria) 250cc "Twingle" several years ago. Another recent Sears project was a Sears
124 which was actually made in Italy by Gilera. I have a 1959 BSA Bantam (see the feature article
"Restoring the Bantam" at the top of this page), a 1966
Ducati 350 cc Sebring (I have posted a description of my
restoration in "Ducks in a Row" above). One interesting recent project
was a Piaggio
Vespa scooter. There is always
confusion with the name. Vespa (Italian for wasp) is the model
and Piaggio the manufacturer. It needed repainting and crank
shaft seals. In 2009 I sold the Vespa and traded the Ducati for an oil-in-the-frame
BSA which cleaned up real nice and runs fine. I sold the BSA in
2010. In 2001 I acquired a
1950 Sunbeam S7 which cleaned up
beautifully. In 2004 I cleaned up several Honda GL1000s and a BMW R27 250 cc single I gave my Goldwing to
my son and sold the R27 in 2011. I restored a 350cc
JAWA in 2009. I bought a 1999 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 for the collection in 2005. In 2007 I obtained a very rough Honda
CB550 which cleaned up nicely but I traded it in 2008 for an 87
Yamaha Fazer 700. In 2011 I restored a 1966 Yamaha
YDS3 250cc twin.
In real life I am a professor in the Medical School at the University of South Alabama. If you want to know more about that, click here. Sadly my father, Richard M. Downey, passed away in 2001. He led a fine and adventurous life. Click here to read about him. Finally, here is a neat picture of me at age 16 on my Harley Hummer
We have to have links. Click here for the links page on Mobile Bay Vintage Motorcycle Club page.
Visitors since 1 September 2006
