1951 Bianchi Stelvio - making unobtainable parts.

It was obvious from the start that obtaining parts for a 70 year old motorcycle that was only made in small numbers was going to be interesting. It's a real pain when doing a restoration as sometimes everything gets held up because of 1 part being elusive, such was the case with the handlebar clamps on my Stelvio. It had been fitted with trial bike handle bars that were a million miles from the right shape, somebody had made some aluminium blocks that would have put the bars right in the way of the steering damper adjuster - another part I will need to find.

I trawled all the usual places and looked for alternatives but I couldn't find anything that was either correct or near enough to adapt. I decided that going in to make mode was my best option, if a pair of originals turn up I can always retro fit them but at least this would enable me to make up all the cables to the correct length and operate the carb and ignition settings so I can get it running better when warm.

I had some ally bar that I figured I could use for the purpose, just as well I had plenty of it as I messed the first one up - no idea how but I drilled a hole about 1.5mm out so the bars would have not sat square -- oh well.