Friday 20 September 2013

Cog on - MV 175 project bike





If you're ad the mag regularly, you might remember that we had ambitiously set out on a couple of project bikes, one of which being a 1957 MV Agusta 175 AB model, in unrestored (read bad, no terrible) condition. If you're wondering what happened to it - well, it is still in the boxes we stripped it down into in the last issue, and that's because it has taken almost a year of searching to find these fine original and correct but weird plasticky NOS cogs to replace the knackered ones that came out of the motor (see bottom pic).

Someone in the MV design department in 1957 thought it'd be fun to experiment with a type of fibrous new-fangled (at the time) plastic for these gears, instead of the metal most other manufacturers employed. Didn't they realise that 50 years later, some poor bastard (i.e. me) would be trying to make this bike relive its glory days?

Anyway, I've managed to source a new oil pump with gear attached, and the other gear which goes, er, somewhere... Hopefully it'll all make sense once I've replaced the bearings, got the crank fixed, etc. etc. Please don't hold your breath.

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