Topic: 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor 750 - do I peer down that rabbit hole or run?

[Alan F.]

I found a 1970 Royal Enfield Interceptor 750 for sale cheap, bill of sale only, its been a chopper but doesn’t look like the frame has been altered.
I can't see if it has the engine mounted oil cooler or not.

Should i run or take a closer look?

Bike with black frame is for reference only, not included, i flipped the photo horizontally, this is a right hand shift bike.

[jgger]

It looks like the frame has been pretty heavily scalloped, so if you are thinking restoring that will all have to be dug out. Depending on what was used to fill it might not be a salvageable frame..if you are going resto-mod then that is not an issue. My $.02, YMMV.

[Alan F.]

Yes resto-mod has my vote.

[scottly]

I would at least take a closer look, especially if the price was cheap enough. That's the last of the British made RE bikes.
Regarding the sculpting of the frame, it made me remember an incident with my 1953 BSA, around 1974. It came as a basket case, and the PO had smoothed out the frame with Bondo. When I got it I just rattle-canned the frame black, put it back together and hit the road. One time I got pulled over, and the CHP pointed out that there wasn't a serial number stamped into the steering head. I'd never thought to look for one... When the cop went back to his car to get his ticket book, I took my pocket knife and scraped away the paint and bondo to reveal the numbers, so he let me go. You might have to do some pretty deep digging on that one!    

[Alan F.]

Thanks Scottly, $500 with a bill of sale is the asking price. I did a little reading and watched a few videos on Friday and it looks like these bikes had a 4-digit serial number and not the 17-digit vin that we are familiar with. Supposedly it also has 5,000 miles on it...

[scottly]

It might be worth checking out. Any claims of running, or running when parked?

[Alan F.]

No the ad just says these few words, my reaction in parentheses:

Isle of Mann replica (I haven't found anything online to help me understand this)

Tank not attached. (Ok, its a Sportster tank anyway)

No magneto. (Points and coils, which is one difference between a 69 and a 70?)

Project vehicle. (Yes plainly)

Bill of sale, no title.

[scottly]

Like most sellers, you can't believe a word they say. You'll just have to take a look and judge for yourself. If the asking price is only $500, you can expect the selling price to be less.
BTW, the day after the BSA pic was taken, I sold it for $500.

[Alan F.]

Nice!
I think I'm just going to pretend I never saw it. I already have far too many projects in paid storage and no shop space. Besides that, wouldn't I need Whitworth tools for this?

[simon#42]

Nice!
I think I'm just going to pretend I never saw it. I already have far too many projects in paid storage and no shop space. Besides that, wouldn't I need Whitworth tools for this?

Wise move !

[Alan F.]

I've continued my research on this bike, between 1969 and June 1970 only 1127 series 2 bikes were built, the majority were shipped to the States and many have found tgeir way back to the UK in recent years. There may be a combination of Whitworth, Metric and even SAE depending on the mixture this bike is currently assembled from.

[BenelliSEI]

Nice!
I think I'm just going to pretend I never saw it. I already have far too many projects in paid storage and no shop space. Besides that, wouldn't I need Whitworth tools for this?

Smart move. My last Brit bike was a 1970 Triumph T100S Tiger. Lovely 500cc Twin that I really enjoyed riding. At the time, my wife was riding a 1982 Honda 250 Custom. I spent hours and hours working on the Tiger, and just put air and gas (very little) in her Honda. On one ride my right foot got very hot. Looked down and my new riding boot was totally covered in oil. The oil pressure sending unit blew the end out of the (Lucas) fitting. Bought my first Honda cb550 and have never gone back!

[Alan F.]

There's a very good build thread at:
https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/1968-royal-enfield-interceptor-barn-find.1171717/

He put in an estimated $2000 USD including a seat and tires. I can finish my two CB750s for less than that considering the amount of parts i already have stockpiled. I still have quite a bit to learn though.

[Kelly E]

Back in 2019 we resurrected our buddy's 64' Norton Atlas 750. It was already set up with the endurance tank and seat. He called it the London Death Machine. It was definitely a learning experience as we had never worked on an older British bike before. Overall it was a really fun and challenging project. It's one of the coolest bikes we've done along with the 90' Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans.

The poor thing had been through 2 shops costing around $3600 and neither shop really did anything. The second shop stole it and sold it but he found it and got it back from the buyer. He paid $500 and promised not to prosecute the 19yo kid that had bought it.
We had to fix the top motor mount, install a new wiring harness, make gas tank mounts that didn't exist, rebuild the brakes, rebuild the Amal carbs, make a battery hold down, make exhaust hangers that didn't come loose in 50 miles and install gauge lighting. I'm sure there's more we did but can't remember. It came out great.

Sadly he only got the summer to enjoy it. He died from COVID before the end of the year. Cooper is still missed.

[Alan F.]

Sorry to hear of his passing but its nice that he was able to get some saddle time after that long road of a restoration.

[Mark1976]

Nice!
I think I'm just going to pretend I never saw it. I already have far too many projects in paid storage and no shop space. Besides that, wouldn't I need Whitworth tools for this?

Smart move. My last Brit bike was a 1970 Triumph T100S Tiger. Lovely 500cc Twin that I really enjoyed riding. At the time, my wife was riding a 1982 Honda 250 Custom. I spent hours and hours working on the Tiger, and just put air and gas (very little) in her Honda. On one ride my right foot got very hot. Looked down and my new riding boot was totally covered in oil. The oil pressure sending unit blew the end out of the (Lucas) fitting. Bought my first Honda cb550 and have never gone back!

I thought that was just beauty of the brit bike riding experience.... my leaked on the garage floor,  yours on your foot while you were riding... sounds about right...

[Alan F.]

I think i will contact the seller in October, if the bike is still available I'll have a look and a low offer then.
It seems to be holding my interest as i learn more.

[toglhot]

Something to think on:  Where are you going to get parts for it?

[Alan F.]

There are actually quite a few outlets in the UK that are well stocked and ship quickly. Most electrical items are common among the other British bikes of the period, and modern reliable versions of those are available.

But it turns out this is a Series 1 engine with a few missing pieces, so I'm skipping it.