The Middle of Nowhere run was its maiden voyage since its restoration; previously it had only been putt-putted around a bit to break it in and get its jetting somewhere in the ballpark. It ran the 60 mile MON run in fine style, with a couple of stops to fiddle with the needle position. I think the main jet can be dropped another size or two but I want to put a couple more tanks of gas through it before I do that.

I bought the bike at the Mid-Ohio Vintage Motorcycle Days swap meet in 2003. It was a lump of rust, and I originally intended to use it for parts.Then I got the idea of re-creating the AJS enduro I had built ‘way back in 1975.

My earlier effort, which I built when I was 20 yrs old, was basically the Stormer MX with a WR transmission and a hand made lighting kit, with a speedo from a Suzuki enduro. Converting MX bikes for enduros was very common back then. I ran a bunch of events with it but it seemed to do its best at hare scrambles and hare& hound. Long travel suspension bikes started hitting the tracks and it was no longer competitive. I thought about forward-mounting the shocks and longer-travel forks but the British motorcycle industry was collapsing and I didn’t want to put big money into something I couldn’t get parts for. So I bought a TT500 Yamaha and modified and raced that.

So this is the bike that I wanted to build in 1975. I didn’t have the time, tools, or patience then. I came across pictures of the later bikes that AJS produced after withdrawing from the US market (they are still in business), and it looked like something I could do.

The shocks are forward mounted with a set of custom-built Falcon shocks. The forks are 35mm Marzocchis, common on KTMs and Can-Ams of the period. Buchanan’s rebuilt the wheels with new Excel rims. Most of the rest is stock AJS, with some hand made bits. I fabricated modern style folding brake and shift levers, a skid plate, and adapted modern style wide footpegs. The AJS people in England helped out with a number of parts, including an ignition stator with a lighting coil. They also fished that expansion chamber out of a storage barn for me, but I had to make all the mountings and a new airbox to accomodate it. I used some out-of-the-catalog parts too, such as fenders, because I intend to ride it and I want as many parts to be commonly available as possible, especially crash items.

This winter I plan to refinish its original gas tank, which is a rare AJS desert tank which holds 3-1/2 gallons, a gallon more than a standard tank. It appears to need it as it doesn’t have much range. Then I want to get a DMV inspection on it and get a title and license plates.

More photos of my English mistresses at
http://s801.photobucket.com/albums/yy298/ajayMike/Project%20AJS-410%20Winter%202011/