Fast forward about 18 months to the beginning of Lockdown, and I saw the same bike on eBay, from the same dealer. I put my original offer in, and got it at that price. I think it was the reserve, and no one else put in a bid I didn’t test ride it again. The dealer had serviced it in the meantime, repaired the faulty brakes by replacing the front brake master cylinder, and replaced the cam belts, so now it was running much better. Even had a new MOT. Result.

It pretty much sat in my garage for a couple of years, whilst I tried to source some of the parts.

I found a correct fairing, in white and with a cracked screen, on eBay; a new screen for it from Skidmarx, Luggage rack from Classic Bike Racks, an analogue clock which looks right but I haven’t fitted it yet, and lots of other parts from David Silver, CMSNL, and eBay. An outfit from Thailand made the seat for me in brown vinyl. (It is rock hard.) I stripped lots of bits off last year and got them painted in the original Executive pattern. This took some research to get it right, especially given that travel was very limited. I’m very pleased with the result. Many thanks to Tony of Bedlam Custom paint and Graphics in Bolton for his skill and patience.

I had the original crash bars re-chromed, and got a used foot brake lever which had decent  chrome on it. I also found an old kick start lever on eBay – which I fitted in its cubby hole on the right hand side of the dummy tank, but I haven’t tried to start the bike with it yet. Whilst the painting etc was being done, I set about with the rest of the machine. I had found that the brakes were still awful, the bike overheated terribly and the fan wouldn’t cut in;  the neutral indicator light didn’t work, neither did the horn. The electrics were pretty untidy, but it did have electronic ignition.

All I really needed to do, apart from the obvious cosmetic work, was a very thorough service. This included stripping all  three brake callipers, and rebuilding them with new pistons and seals, likewise the rear master cylinder, and I replaced all of the brake hoses. I stripped the rear swingarm and painted it, cleaned and greased the swingarm bearings and replaced their seals, and I cleaned and greased the prop shaft and UJ before reassembling.

Fork seals were ok – just changed the fork oil. Spring lengths were within spec. I cleaned and flushed the cooling system, and replaced the water thermostat – also the temperature senders while I was in there. The neutral indicator fault turns out to be the actual sender, which is a bitch to replace. I have the replacement sender,  but I’ll tackle it next service. Lots of other miscellaneous parts replaced – wheel bearing seals, a valve tappet screw, indicator mounting rubbers, 7v regulator, all of the fuel and breather tubing blah blah blah. And Tyres – it desperately needed new tyres.

The original K1 spoked rear wheel was 17”, but the Lesters only came in 16” or 18”, and the smaller size wheel was chosen. This makes the bike sit a bit lower, and makes it a real struggle to get onto the centre stand. I managed to find an 18” version on US eBay, which I will put on in the next few weeks. The engine is running a bit hot on the left, but isn’t overheating any more. I will take the carbs off and give them a treatment before riding it this year.