[Twinn]

One fine day, I was browsing through net when my Fiance was also sitting along with me, We were looking at some pics of a friend in UK, when we came across a group riding monkey bikes. As my better half was very interested in knowing about these bikes, I Googled and pulled out the pics of GTS and explained to her why people call it a pocket rocket and my dreams of owning one (I almost had bought one in the late 09) but missed that chance.

Left alone, one fine day she walks up-to to me and tells me that she has decided a gift for my b'day (i.e Today). keen to know what was it, she say it'll be a BOBBY!!!!.

Yeah guys call me LUCKY, you bet'cha I am.

So I ask her what made her go for it? She gives me a super sweet smile and said, its your dream and I share it. Let my heart out and hugged her tight and then got on to the net for scouting one Finally after few hundreds of calls and all we figured out what is the present cost to get a decent running GTS and came up with a budget, that we could afford.

Finally we managed to get a bike from Gujarat with all papers clear, but the condition of the vehicle was no where close to original. here is the pic of the vehicle what we bought. we paid 14,000 + 3000 for the transport of Mysore in Karnataka. My fiance was in for a shock when she saw the vehicle at first, she was like are you sure this is the bike, and she was in splits seeing me ride a chotu sa bike




The only condition put forth by my better half was that it should be hidden from both my brothers and ONLY show it to them either when it is completed with the restoration or on my b'day (with some complete factors) . Now you know why I'm putting this thread up today. (Sorry Bro's)

To say about the vehicle:

• Mechanically the bike was in a ride-able condition, its started and I took it out a ride.
• None of the body panels were originals, except the headlights!!!
• The only thing that was good in the bike was the tires, it was brand new and was worth few bucks!!!

So finally I told he that I am going to restore is dream of mine all by myself, except the fabrications parts.... So the scout for parts start...

Few pics

[Twinn]

Now the shocks start coming in, I'd better show you all the quotes that I start receiving for the list of parts that I was looking for

Rohan Puri
Jun 10

to me
Hello,

Thank you for your mail and interest.


Tank - Rs. 7500
Side shields - Rs. 4500 per pair
Silencer - Rs. 7000
Silencer guard - Rs. 3800
Foot rests - not available
Air filter - Rs. 850
Front Brake Drum - Rs. not available
Tail Lamp - not available
Mudgaurds - Rs. 7500 per set
Rear Shock absorbers - Rs. 6500 per set

Please feel free to contact us anytime if you have any questions. We'll be glad to answer your queries.

Thanks and Regards
Rohan
Vintage Auto World

Picture Gallery
www.flickr.com/vintageautoworld/collections

Next one is the best !!! This person is not intersted in giving me what I want, He wants me to buy all that he has got..

Ravi V. Chhabra

Dear Amrth,
Here's the best I could get. The supplier will not cut down on the items or prices as mentioned in the attached list. Feel free to call me if this is agreeable.

Best always,

Rajdoot Bobby-GTS parts
1. Petrol tank with side plates – Rs 5,500
2. Silencer – Rs 3000
3. Foot-rests – rubbers(4) – Rs 600
4. Air filter – metal/round – Rs 550
5. Front brake drums without plate – Rs 3,200
6. Tail lamp – replica – Rs 500
7. Mudguards(2)/new – but non-chromed – Rs 4000
8. Rear shock absorbers – Rs.3000
Authentication + supervisory charges = Rs 1,500.
Total = Rs 21,850-/-
Note: Cartage/transportation/courier charges extra. Advance payment in full.No peicemeal all parts to be bought in one single go.

So after a lot of mails exchanges, and few PM's dropped to bhpians (very few responded), I was still in lurch!!

In this quest to search for the parts, I got in touch with an elderly gentleman from Hyderabad, who gave me the knee pads and monograms for the yet to bought tank . he introduced me to another gentleman staying with my proximity, who gave me all the support that I needed for the fabrication that is coming in next...

Mail conversation btw me and Mr Mirza from Hyd

Najaf Ali Mirza
Jun 6

to me
I have two sets of brand new GTS Rajdoot Monograms = 4 Each
+ 1 set of knee pads = 2 Each.

Price 1500/-

Am looking for a genuine enthusiast to give these pads. I have restored my GTS long time back and i faced problem of searching for the parts. So that time only someone offered me 4 sets of Monograms, that i had immediately bought it. Fixed one to my GTS, Gave one to my younger brother who still has my dad's GTS and these two are lying idle with me. If you can go through this link you may find my GTS snaps. ... i dont remember, but nevertheless do check.

http://www.bikepics.com/members/BIKEINBLACK/

A SMALL WRITE UP ON MY COLLECTION OF BIKES.....PLEASE VIEW THE FOLLOWING LINK......

http://www.wheelsunplugged.com/featu...collector/1734

I am going out for some work now, but God willing will return home after one hour. By the way, i have one Yezdi classic Petrol tank - i have seen some people use that on GTS... frankly it looks nice..I will give it to you free of cost (i will be glad it will be useful to enthusiast) as i dont have my classic and 6 Roadkings now.God forbid if you could not find one original you can take this from me. It needs simple tinkering....and paint. Have a nice day.

Thank you.
Najaf Ali Mirza.

PS. i remember the name of my friend in mysore Mr.Gavin Wilson. He may be having parts for Roadking.

PS: I have another restoration of a Yezdi happening in parallel

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Twinn]

Few parts I bought from Delhi

[aruncheloor]

Hi,

Congrats buddy.

GTS is one heck of a machine if tuned up properly. I restored mine just a year ago. It was quite a tough job i should admit. Tougher than restoring Jawa/yezdi ones because of the shortage of spare parts. You spent 17k for a GTS without almost zero body parts on it. But you should've picked one paying some 30-35k, having all body parts. That would've made life a lot easier bro. GTS body parts are the hardest things to procure. Atleast on this part of the country. Wish you all luck.

Now, try to get these items first. Tank, silencer, heat guards, mud guards, side box cover, chain cover etc. Try junk yards. They are the best bet.

For chain cover, contact deep sharma @ FB. He fabricated one for me. You do get sprockets in Bangalore. New fabricated mudguards were in olx.com [chandigarh i believe] some time ago. Looked good.

Fix the engine first. I made a mistake by not opening her up in the very beginning. Had to open her up after the Body restoration. A re-bore [if needed with genuine Goetze piston& rings], fresh set of oil seals, skf bearings & gasket kit would do just fine. All are still available. You can re-condition the shock-ups etc. Handle cone-set etc are not that difficult to get. Mine is using a later yamaha model one [FZ i believe]. It was a direct fit. An upgrade to 12v electricals would make her just fine.

[Twinn]

Originally Posted by aruncheloor

You spent 17k for a GTS without almost zero body parts on it. But you should've picked one paying some 30-35k, having all body parts. That would've made life a lot easier bro. GTS body parts are the hardest things to procure. Atleast on this part of the country. Wish you all luck.

Thanks Mate, yeah I figured it out later after the purchase. I never thought that body panels were that expensive to procure. The reason I went in for this deal was, this was a single owner vehicle. All others that I scouted had changed ownership at least two times.

Originally Posted by aruncheloor

Now, try to get these items first. Tank, silencer, heat guards, mud guards, side box cover, chain cover etc. Try junk yards. They are the best bet.

I have got all these hand fabricated. Got one of the best support from MR Gavin as he had his GTS, we went ahead and took all the the templates and fabricated the whole body panels. Will post the pis shortly. the cost for all these was quite reasonable.

Originally Posted by aruncheloor

Fix the engine first. I made a mistake by not opening her up in the very beginning. Had to open her up after the Body restoration. A re-bore [if needed with genuine Goetze piston& rings], fresh set of oil seals, skf bearings & gasket kit would do just fine. All are still available. You can re-condition the shock-ups etc. Handle cone-set etc are not that difficult to get. Mine is using a later yamaha model one [FZ i believe]. It was a direct fit. An upgrade to 12v electricals would make her just fine.

I am planning to start of with the engine after I am complete with the body parts, Thanks a lot for the updates. As mentioned earlier the engine was in a running conditions, So at max I would have to re-bore the engine apart from that all was working fine.

[Twinn]

So after a long haul of searching for the parts, I came across a very good fabricator in my city. He is an enthu fellow like me, I remembered him all of a sudden as he had worked upon my Yamaha RXZ in converting the rear dual shock setup to mono shocks during 2008.

So I approached him with the bike and showed him the bike and the pics of other originals. He gave me an heads up telling he will fabricate every part of this beauty, and would be great if we get hold of an existing one for capturing the templates.

So I had a word with Mr Gavin and took up an appointment, walked over to his garage and took up all the templates. Man I have to say Kudos for this person, he is as crazy as one can get about Yezdi's and Jawas. I think he should deserve a separate thread on the bikes he has got.

Back to the GTS, we took all the templates that we needed and wok on the fabrication started. Part to be fabricated were

Mudguards
Side Shield
Silencer
Silencer Shields

Some Pics of the Fabrication,

[aruncheloor]

Your tinker is doing a good job for sure. But some mis-matching is there. I liked the mud guards etc. Even though the shape of the silencer & heat shield part is good, the alignment has gone bad.

The silencer has been fixed a bit higher with the heat shield. That's why the heat shields no 1 &2 are not matching perfectly in the middle. To match it. You need to just re-do the bigger one. It should come lower ie needs to be bigger. It should cover that entire side body panel area under it. I'll post some pics for your reference.

[Twinn]

Originally Posted by aruncheloor

Your tinker is doing a good job for sure. But some mis-matching is there. I liked the mud guards etc. Even though the shape of the silencer & heat shield part is good, the alignment has gone bad.

The silencer has been fixed a bit higher with the heat shield. That's why the heat shields no 1 &2 are not matching perfectly in the middle. To match it. You need to just re-do the bigger one. It should come lower ie needs to be bigger. It should cover that entire side body panel area under it. I'll post some pics for your reference.

Yes we figured it out the next time when we visited Gavin for the templates of the the tank. We fixed the issue . Check this pic


Hey you really liked the mud guards I was and yet quite apprehensive about it ..

[Viju]

Fantastic effort Twinn!

It is really amazing to see the pains you are taking to fabricate all these parts!

I know how hard (and expensive!!) it is to find original parts for these old machines now. I am having to get parts from all over India (and outside) for my on-going RD restoration.

I have a few NOS Rajdoot 175 parts lying at home in Kochi (headlight beam, switches etc). I had bought them 9 or 10 years ago since I wanted to get a Rajdoot 175 (the simple, black one) someday and restore it. If you can find out what parts are common between the GTS and the standard 175, I can check out the parts and help you out wherever possible!

Cheers!

[Shreeram]

And here i am for the past 2 months with an entire bobby for scavenging parts and looking out for Friends who need Parts off it.. .

Your Tinker is doing a good Job. Do get in touch if at all some part is needed, ofcourse WITHOUT an exorbitant price tag.

Cheers.

[Twinn]

Originally Posted by Viju

Fantastic effort Twinn!

It is really amazing to see the pains you are taking to fabricate all these parts!

I know how hard (and expensive!!) it is to find original parts for these old machines now. I am having to get parts from all over India (and outside) for my on-going RD restoration.

Your words are encouraging Viju. I suppose the engine parts are the same. So once I open up the engine I will get in touch with you. Did you say switch ?

Originally Posted by Shreeram

Do get in touch if at all some part is needed, ofcourse WITHOUT an exorbitant price tag.

I am having the same expression after looking at your post.. MAN!!!! You will not believe, I have reached out to the remote corners of India to source few body panels. Anyways dropping you a PM, please check and Thanks a million..

[Viju]

Originally Posted by Twinn

Your words are encouraging Viju. I suppose the engine parts are the same. So once I open up the engine I will get in touch with you. Did you say switch ?

I actually picked up a pretty big parts lot for my RD350 from an old dealer in Kerala many years ago. Among those parts, there were many Rajdoot 175 parts also. The only problem is, I cannot recognize many of those parts which come inside the engine (some particular gear wheel or something else). And of course the parts lot is in Kochi and I'm usually in Bangalore. So if you can post a picture of something you really need, I can definitely check out my parts rack and pick it out for you when I go to Kochi next.

And regarding the switch assy, do you have a picture of how the original switch looked? I have a couple of Rajdoot switches and a handle-bar with the switches and levers lying with me. May be it is the same for the Bobby?

Let me know. Cheers!

Edit: Just saw this on OLX. Check with him if he has something for the Bobby? http://vapi.olx.in/anynody-required-...-iid-524935247

[hillram]

Hi Twinn,
Great job on the restoration journey of Bobby.
If you can visit Metro Spare Parts shop in Ramkote , Hyderabad..Most of Bobby parts are available there.
I source most of parts for my Bobby from there. All spares are available at very reasonable cost.
Bobby was the very first bike I restored in 2006 and it was in same stage as you began and I spent totally 9k including Paint Job and new tyres !!! Below is my Blue Thunder a.k.a 1982 Bobby.
Im horrified to see the spares cost so high !!
Good Luck with your restoration.

BTW..Najaf Ali stays quarter mile from my house. He is a reasonable person to deal with.

[manishalive]

Wow great. I see the nice effort that your are doing replicating the missing parts. Way to go. Eagerly awaiting for the end result.