[root]

When I was a youth in the early 70s you could strip & rebuild a bike down with a lump hammer a pair of pliers & a tin opener , sometimes if lucky had enough bits left over to make a spare engine , if we needed a vice we used to get this big fat lass ( yes there was only one to a village in them days not 80% like now)tie her hands behind her back stand her in a bucket & rivet a mars bar to her knees she'd bend over for hours with a con rod up her ass till job done , but the mars bars tasted bit sweaty! Also a thing that is not practiced today is retreading worn tyres with melted wellies with various designs of spud bashers for the tread
we used lard or margarine for grease ( the posh scooter boys used butter )& boiled the chain in dripping . If we needed any head gaskets we'd use well worn knicker gussets off the local slappers
( good for about 50 thou miles ) but had to use burning tackle to cut to shape . But we were poor & the smokers around our area were 1 stroke . They dont know the old arts these days , DO YOU ?

[barkwindjammer]

Have used mole grips as a gear selector and garden string as throttle cable (only on the school playing fields as much room was needed-LH turns to go fast-RH turns to slow down)

[oldgitonabike]

Probably not changed much with the 'field bike' fraternity, except they now have no fields left so ride on the road

[blackhat250]

root, on 08 February 2010 - 07:37 PM, said:

When I was a youth in the early 70s this big fat lass ( yes there was only one to a village in them days not 80% like now) , DO YOU ?

Aye root" it was same this end. all skinny galls and guys. Did u notice the fatty [ rarity in the 60s&70s] whether it guys or girls, when u went to thier house the cuboards were stashed with crisps & biscuits, usualy thier parents were well off,-[ or they didn"t drink alcohol like ours] - and they looked at us as if we were Oliver Twists,,
Oh & yeh used the boot laces as throttle cable before . > Some say "the good old days" others tell the truth

[root]

AYE Blackhat when I was last up in Bonny Scotland 10ish years ago ,working near & stopping in Campbeltown it was still like it then no locals had any jobs only them on the side with us blasting on a hidro pipe & I think all the lasses worked at a fish factory not many fatties but a few scaley ones ,pissed up every night big style with them boys & I Could drink then but fkinnell they were experts & riding around the harbour 3 up on a placky 50 held together with vomit & the only tools they had for breakdowns were bowie knives but they were good to us very friendly especially Birdseye Betty the finger tester & a lad called Jock I think that might have been his name but have been pissed a lot since then .I'll be fkin glad when the weathers better as will all you I bet reading this shit cabinned up I managed about 40 miles in total last week my heads a fkin shed

[Vez]

Used the odd weetabix box for gaskets on my old DT50 and silicone sealant for the instant gasket.

The wire clamps from the inside of electrical plugs make great replacement cable nipples for the throttle, brake and clutch cables.

Tin cans for silencers, stuffed with brillo pads.

Remember a mate using dried grass instead of an inner-tube(didn't work well once it got wet).

Old tights for air filters. Washing up liquid bottles for a fuel tank.    

This was the early 90's though, on fields(what there was left to ride on). 

You could repair most things with a roll of duct tape a tube of super glue and some chicken wire.

Lack of funds and a desire to ride can bring some questionable ideas out of anyone IMHO.(well thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it   ) 

[oldgitonabike]

I sawed off curved section from a steel handlebar off a pushbike and made an exhaust header for my first bike, my mobylette...the brillo was also pressed into service here

Happy days and a can of dulux

[Mark K]

Mole grips as gear lever, done that too

Also, accelerator cable on car snapped on the weekend after garages were closed. Popped to local Spar, bought some string, tied it to the throttle under the bonnet, and guided it into the passenger window, did the trick perfectly and lasted all weekend. Passenger accelerated, I steered.

Embarrasing at traffic lights when the b** kept revving the engine at people, and when you're instructed to overtake... not a lot of choice in the matter!