Hitchcocks Forum

Hi everyone. I wheeled her out to the end of the garden by the Oak tree for some snap shots in this november sun, she's looking great. I'm thinking about painting the tank and tool boxes olive drab green and putting some knee pads on but I'm not sure. Any thoughts? I'm super chuffed none the less. I've just got to fix the front forks and then I can get her muddy! Thanks for all your help and support. Total cost is just over £700 so a complete bargain I think!

Excellent Matt! Now to see if it rides as good as it looks!
REgards, Mark

Looking great, Matt!!

Not sure about the olive drab idea, though. I've never liked that design of paint on the tank in the photo's, so I wouldn't hesitate to splash some more on just not olive drab.

How about a mid to light grey, or gunmetal with some accenting stripes? I reckon it'd be a way of disguising the bulkiness of the tank without spending much. Most off-road bikes try to shed weight, so even if you don't want to shell out for an alloy tank, a lick of subtle paint would disguise the bulkiness.

It looks a nice oily-rag back road 'plugger as it is, though. Good for you.

Can't be bad for £700 but no, no, not drab green - leave the black and gold.

Nice one Matt - well done! On the subject of your centre stand that won't retract properly why don't you simply take it off? Most green laners don't have them anyway and it would also add to ground clearance and save quite a bit of weight. When you stop just lean it up against a tree! Cheers Tony.

Mid to light gray does sound good actually. I would leave it Black with gold if it was in good condition but the tank is horribly faded and stained with petrol streaks from the filler cap. I've tried polishing it out and it made a great improvement but it's still not great (I even used a rubbing compound with a cotton polishing wheel on my drill.) If I respray it black I don't know how I would replicate the gold pin stripes without visiting Chennai! Ha. As for the center stand, that is a good idea but I like how solid a bike feels on the center stand and it takes up less space in my garage and looks neater next to my two other bikes when they are all tucked together upright. Maybe I could make some kind of box to park the green lane'r on when it's in the garage? Thanks for all the positive feedback.

Matt, to stop my Works Replica Trials bike taking up too much space in the garage (it only has a prop stand of course,) I use a car axle stand to hold it upright. To do work on it I use 2, one under each footrest, simples!
REgards, Mark

Mark - how are the Works Replica skills, then..???

Wooppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee and HOOOOrrraaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy !!! Now that's looking the business alright..... Somebody asked a while ago as to those tyres ---- can you tell us the make? sizes etc ?? ------- Only 700 smak-a-rooneees ?? Shows it can still be done.

----------OK, have just seen the other thread-----------ENSIGN from our hosts-----------they look ok----------can you give some feed-back after you've run them for a while ??? Cheers !!