This is probably too much information, but thought I’d write and give some background on this bike. Back in the mid-1970s my brother somehow ended up with this bike. It was together but he was having trouble keeping it running – it would always stall, plus the gas tank leaked. He brought the gas tank to a gas station and that was the last I saw of it.
At some point I found the bike, all apart, sitting out behind the house. I remember being 14 years old and setting up the wheels and motor and sitting on it and thinking, “...I’m 14 and it I could get this running by the time I get my license (16.5) that would be so cool...” Well I just turned 50! I put the bike in my parent’s basement to get it out of the weather – this was probably in 1979 or so. At some point in the 1980s my brother told me I could have the bike.
The years passed and I owned that house (this is in the early 2000s) and was having the furnace serviced. I didn’t know it, but the guy cleaning the furnace liked motorcycles and he said to me “that is a pretty nice bike you have over there...” to which I said “my parents thought I was nuts to keep it and my wife thinks I’m nuts to keep it...” He put down his tool, looked me in the eyes and said, “I’d don’t think you’re nuts, not at all...” !!!!! My dad said many times that he wouldn’t live to see it restored and sadly he was correct. BUT, my wife, who would say I had a bicycle with a motor and not a motorcycle, is coming around, certainly after I showed her a couple pics of restored models.
I recently sold my parent’s house and dragged the Terrot back to my house this past July (2013). The chrome is pretty heavily rusted due to being in a damp basement. The entire thing sits under my porch in eastern Massachusetts. So now that it is nearby (or underneath the porch) I have been interested in finally working on it.
The weird/surprising/”no way” thing about this is that I do not have a motorcycle license, have ridden on one twice in my life and do not really have any mechanical knowledge. I have renovated a couple of houses, so I do like stripping things down and putting them back together, but this is way beyond my knowledge. But I’m taking this on and will get it done. I love the looks of old bikes, pre-1950 especially. Hopefully I can keep the costs reasonable. Thanks for reading.
