Parts..Parts.. and more Parts…..
What a summer 2019 has been! After a few thousand miles, burned vacation days and visits to Wauseon and Davenport I found myself in Boonton, NJ. Thanks to Rob Nussbaum of Retrocycle, I was able gather enough parts to really make some progress on the Servi. Rob and I had been in contact for several months about a fairly complete ‘47 basket case with a finished motor that he had in his shop. Rob had brought the project to Wauseon and I was able to rummage through it while at the meet. I left Wauseon knowing that I had liked what I had seen, but Davenport was coming up and I had never been there but always heard great things about it. So I decided to wait and see what would happen there.
Well Davenport was great, and I looked at numerous Servi parts, projects and so on. I even got to look closely at an Indian Dispatch Tow which was a real treat since I’ve only seen one before in person earlier this year in Denton. It was a running and riding bike. The owner was using it to get around and do his shopping at the meet. It was coming time for me to head back to Alabama and I still had not seen anything that I liked better than Rob’s project so I called him from the road and we agreed on the terms. One of my terms required that he would hold it for me until October, which he very kindly did.
I left home early on a Sunday morning on my way to Winchester VA, where I had rented a cabin for $55.00 per night. I reserved it for 2 nights. My plan was to spend Sunday night there, get up early and drive to Boonton NJ, about 4 hours, pickup the parts and drive back for another night at the cabin. Everything went as planned! I got to Retrocycle around midday and Rob was there waiting for me. He helped me load everything up and I got a tour of the shop. This place was impressive with several projects underway, multiple workstations and completely organized. It’s unlike my shop where I can misplace anything at any given time.
It was time to leave Retrocycle and get back to the cabin. I left a different way so I could see some of Boonton. I did not spend much time in town but what I saw was charming and would have enjoyed stopping and walking around a bit. Not what I was expecting, being so close to the city.
The project was missing an exhaust system, so I decided to call Steve Lemay at Resurrection cycles. He is outside Roanoke, which just so happens to be on my way home. I left the cabin Tuesday morning and drove down to Roanoke. Steve’s shop is in Moneta about an hour off the interstate. I drove through the beautiful hills and countryside of Virginia. I could see exactly why someone would setup shop here. Steve was in the shop working and welcomed me right in. By the way, Steve doesn’t really know me at all. I immediately got another great shop tour and again I was reminded of how primitive my setup back home is. I had asked Steve about an exhaust for my project and he said he would see what he could find. He found the correct muffler, hanger bracket, and bumper in his stash of Servi parts. I asked about head pipes, which apparently is a sore subject for 45 motors, he explained about the poor fitment of all that are available and the amount of work it takes to make them fit properly. So did he have a set? No. So, he took a set that he had been working on to make fit for several hours on a different 45 project and let me have them. It was a definitely worth while to stop by and see Steve.
I got home later that night with enough time to spare to unload the truck!
