Bikes that are actually an awful lot better than their reputations would lead you to believe and are pretty cheap include yam xv535, honda cx500, the new enfield india 500’s, honda cg125 twin, suzi dr500, yam sr500, old guzzi 750, always had a soft spot for pre-unit triumph 500’s and the norton jampots too, but again we are talking silly money now.

Newer, I’d look very seriously at the suzy savage / s40 series

Yes, if you can get your hands on a pre unit BSA A10, they were a fucking good bike, get the iron head single carb ones if you can… prolly expensive rocking horse shit now though…. old WLA harley wasn’t bad either….

I know I am biased, but if you can get one of the early 80’s yam xv twins that is mechanically sound, they got a lot going for them, very undertuned under stressed motor, low centre of gravity, narrow, 55 mpg, pretty light, monoshock rear, homage to the old vincents really…. lots of people put single SU on em, I’m sticking with the twin hitachi’s…

have to say, I thought this would be more your style though

And nikasil was invented after the rover 2.25. Besides that, the filler mesh tube and tank pipes were all galvanized. Some fuel tanks even came galvanized from the factory (military lightweight). That goes for both diesel and petrol landies. So i kind of was going by the rover ‘standard’ of ancient ‘technology’.

Speaking of bikes, happen to know one that has old cast iron liners, an engine without a turbo, and preferably leaks less oil than an old military triumph bike? I might go build a bike some time soon.

no longer have oxy-acet bottles, but I used to braze up tanks, and done the whole shit about shaking them around for an hour of two full of nuts and washers, nowadays, fuck it, buy another tank..lol

the indians are doing lots of old retro motorsickle spares nowadays, so you can buy replica DBD clubman tanks all chromed and shit, and even polished brass tanks, all for a couple of hundred notes.

no, first things is sort this sparking out and get some smoke and flame out the bitch, then get on with the rest…

in 2005 just before it got tarped and stashed

Anyways, i just rebuilt a landy last year in about 6 months, so here’s a few easy ways to save a few bucks that actually improve the state of the damn thing.
If the tank’s rusty, get the paint burned off, along with anything else metal that’s rusty (bulk is cheaper), in one of those ovens, you can usually get that done for a few tenners. Run a wire brush across the things, see if there’s any holes, weld the holes if neccesary. Then just get everything galvanized, it’s cheaper than painting.
Also those tiny unweldable holes in tanks you can just solder using an old open flame soldering torch, its a much more proper way than the coating shit they pour in them nowadays. But most of those tiny holes close when galvanizing anyways.

That way your bike will at least last a good while. Of course it’ll be heavier, but eh, bikies and their light vehicles. There’s no need to go that fast you know.