Wow, great forum! Some seriously impressive restorations and customisations... excellent work

Here's my old Grifter Mk2 which I've owned from new since 1980:



Recently dug it out after years in the back of the shed and given it a good clean and some routine maintenance. I almost wish I hadn't thrashed it so much as a kid, but I guess if I went back I'd do it all over again (thanks to "Kick Start" on TV - anyone remember that?)

Having an "interesting" time sorting out the brakes - I'll post in the Technical Q&A section...

You didnt give it that much of a thrashing mate, apart from the chainguard it looks great  

welcome by the way  

Welcome to the forum mate,great looking bike.  

Hello and welcome to the best grifter forum there is!!    great looking mk2 prizzie you have there!! must be great to own your original bike!! change that chainguard for a new metal replacement replica (available from the forum!) and thats it, enjoy the bike all over again!!  

Thanks for the welcome guys. The chainguard's definitely the most visible thing that needs sorting. I guess most of the other stuff's just rough-round-the-edges bits which don't really show up in the photo. Maybe I'll post some more unflattering closeups!

My main concern's the front forks which have bent back and the brake pads barely reach the wheel rims. I've seen other posts on the forum about bent forks but I'm not sure how much luck I'll have trying to straighten them. They must've taken a pounding hitting ramps and obstacles over a good few years. I'll let you know how I get on trying to sort them...

Great to see so many other Grifters still going strong

Bending the forks back is a pain mate, you'll end up with a crease, dent, damaged paint or both sides wont be dead level (in my experience). There are the correct NOS blue forks for your bike on Ebay for around £25, as this was your bike as a kid and your going to keep it I would say these are they way to go  

Cheers mate, I do get the feeling that grief is a more likely outcome than success so I may well go down the replacement route with those forks.
You're right, I definitely want to keep it 'cos it's the bike I grew up on... and I'll certainly put some new mileage on it, no way is it going back in the shed for the spiders to coccoon it again!

Quote :

I think you can buy NOS forks in the same blue(Horizon blue) on ebay. £25 a set i think.

Ive already posted that   its blaze blue mate, the chupper is horizon blue  

--Last edited by 1977grifter on 2009-06-15 14:52:33 --

Thanks for the     and your knowledge.

Thats an early brochure scan as the forks and seats are MK1, at that point perhaps they weren't selling them as Flame Red and Blaze Blue as they were new models, but in any brochure ive ever seen thats what they have been, not horizon blue or infra red which are chupper colours.

I would doubt the quality of knowledge your getting from this brochure as a close up of the tyres reveals them to be Sure Grip


aha aha aha (whatever that means?)

 

Never seen that scan before john and as the pic shows the "horizon blue" mk2 is clearly wearing a mk1 seat..... the truth revealed eh?  

xl and priz my 2 faves