the old stock british motorcycles had variable advances on their magnetos, hooked to the lever on the bars like the indians and all those interesting old heaps.
what i have is an ARD, which is an aftermarket magneto from the 1960s that was marketed after the british went to coil/points in 1963, and the old farts wouldnt have it. it uses a fairbanks-morse magneto hooked to a rubber belt drive driven off the exhaust camshaft.
the belt is under the oval cover. these things were mostly for racers and chopper people, but can be retro-fitted with a rudimentary retard for starting.
this kit replaces the magneto cover with one that has a lever that can retard the points plate 10 degrees for starting.
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as is, its designed as an on/off to prevent the thing from kicking back, but as its cable operated it could probably be fudged to work at intermediate settings. but just the kit to do it costs more than a state-of-the-art electronic ignition with an automatic variable advance and no points or condensors.
i like the ARDs very much for racing, as the entire wiring harness consists of one 18-inch wire from the magneto to the kill switch, but for a practical machine for transportation, electronic ignition is hard to beat. and im interested in getting this motorcycle out of the way soon, so i can put the sidecar on it and go out on the road. so it will more than likely be the EI.
well, the wheels turn slowly, but they turn. i have been in touch with watsonian in the cotswolds regarding a new windscreen for this 1968 monaco. it does indeed exist, and is for sale for £412.99, and the shipping is £195. so its over . . .$800 for the thing.
but the only other option is gustaffson plastics in america, which with shipping, works out to around $800, without the metal and rubber mounting trim . . .
so im going to do it, while i continue the slow process of assembling the 1966 triumph TR6 bitsa to use for the tug. ive decided to install one of the race bike igntions from new zealand on this. it didnt work out on the race bike, and wouldnt go any faster than 100mph, but this outfit will never be going that fast. so it should be fine.
i asked watsonian if any of the patterns or pieces might be found for the vinyl canopy that you could get for these monacos at one time. his answer was, "not easily . . ."
so the watsonian people are on holiday right now, and then when they get back we ll get this thing in the post.
Definitely a bit on the spendy side. But it remains original which is pretty cool.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Just read this thread again from the start.
Awesome build here.
Will be a classy rig.
the cost is indeed horrifying, but at least i have a lousy memory, so the pain will be temporary. when i asked the watsonian guy about shipping, he paused and said, you know, youll be paying a lot of money just to post a box full of air . . .
here in the states i once bought a full-race fibreglas fairing for a 1965 triumph 650, that had to come across the country. if i recall correctly, the fairing was around US$300, and the postage was $150 . . . stuff like this doesnt weigh anything, but youre paying for the space it takes up in the aircraft hold.
and you know, the originality is a bit problematic. if this thing had been updated/bastardized/otherwise abused sometime in the last fifty years or so, it would be lots easier to deal with-- just bodge it and go. but its a survivor-- wonderful shape, all the original nickel and chrome bits, retains stock parts like the old-style hubcap that is no longer available, original mounts for a period tug. . . you can look at it in two ways: either i am either blessed with a rolling museum piece or cursed with an artifact that obligates me philosophically to keep it original.
i opt for the second interpretation, so original it is. and i got this thing for a song, from a man who was more interested in who he sold it to than how much he was paid for it. in the weird world of old british motorcycles, i completely understand this. im told that its the same among collectors of old 1940s and 1950s dodge weapons carriers and power wagons-- if you appear like someone who intends to bastardize the original machine, they wont sell it to you no matter how much money you offer.
@brstr, the canopy on yours is what i occasionally see. watsonian apparently farmed them out to a local, and whether they could be reproduced would depend on whether they had retained any patterns. i dont know when the monaco was discontinued, but id be very surprised if any was still around. but maybe? we ll see
The screen and canopy as pair without spending silly money.
The screen frame is just aluminium extrusions wrapped around the fiberglass at the bottom and shaped around the screen at the top.
Perhaps ask Watsonian for a flat pack withe the component pieces on a sheet of ply?
The screen comes out at about 6ft long.
If the ali is annealed with a propane torch it is easily bent around the fibreglass body.
Perhap I need to load some pictures?
