Workshop Update - March 2026
- Andy Marks
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
Welcome to the March Workshop Update from Kingpin Components. This month includes new technical pages, restocked and new parts including bearings, oil pipe and magneto components, along with customer projects and progress in the workshop.
Technical Section Expansion and Blog
I mentioned last month that I was working on the Technical section, but at the time it was mostly behind the scenes. Well, it’s up and running now so please take a look – I hope you find it useful. As well as revamping what was there to make it more user friendly, I have added two new technical guides this month and written a blog post:
What's New?
While my main focus continues to be supplying parts you will struggle to find elsewhere, I am also increasing my range of the more commonly needed parts in an effort to make your restoration easier. The less time you spend hunting around the more time you can spend in the workshop! With that in mind I have a couple of new parts to show you this month.
New Arrivals: Bearings
I’ve been steadily increasing my stock of bearings for a while. I now stock all of the bearings required to overhaul a Norton gearbox, as well as wheel bearings and taper rollers steering bearings for the Featherbed frames.
New Arrival: Oil Pipe
Our Oil Taps continue to be very popular, as do the Norton tank fittings and a variety of hosetails. In order to make fitting these even easier, I have added rubber oil pipe to the list. You can now buy everything you need to fit the oil taps to most bikes, all in one place.
Points Caps
On the subject of parts that help you to fit our oil taps… When fitting them to a bike with a magneto, which was never originally equipped with a cutout switch, you’ll need to fit a different cap. We have sold a selection of modified caps that allow you to add a cutout switch to your magneto for some time now, this month I finished another batch off so they are all in stock and ready to send out if/when you require one.
Customers Projects
This is where we take a look at some of the bikes Kingpin Components' parts end up on. If you would like to see your bike featured here please send me a picture and a few words on it. I'd love to see it!
NB: I only include pictures here after I have been given permission from the owner. Any pictures I am sent whilst working on, or supplying parts for, bikes will not get shared without your consent.
David's Panther
I showed you the spindles I made for David’s Panther in the January update. He sent me a couple of pictures of his project in its current state, hours of fun to come there! I look forward to seeing the end result.
1912 Triumph
This picture was taken in our workshop. Although we don’t usually work on complete bikes, this one belongs to a friend of ours so we got talked into it.
We refitted and timed the magneto on it following an overhaul ready for the Sunbeam Club’s Pioneer Run. I spoke to Nick a few days after the run - they made it to Brighton with no problems and he sent me this picture, taken with another 1912 Triumph on the same run!
Personal Projects & Time Away
The improving weather this month did prompt me to, at least start, looking at my own bikes. My 2023 Honda hasn’t run since October so I took the battery off and gave it a charge. No joy though, I’ve had to accept it’s had it and I’ve ordered a new one. Once that has arrived I’ll fit it and take the bike in for an MOT.
I’ve booked a Eurotunnel crossing with the Honda for June. I don’t have any other plans yet, and I’m unlikely to until I set off. I'll spend a week or so riding until I have had enough and then finding a campsite. I’ve done it before and I’m not sure there’s a better way of exploring a country (or five)
Back in the workshop I had a rare hour on my Velocette. I was tidying up and rather than moving the alloy engine plates and studs yet again, I decided to bolt them onto the bike and see how they looked. Interestingly the front ones took some adjusting with a file, which I was disappointed about as I’ve had these made and list them on this website!
Once I looked into it though I realised that on one side the holes were too far apart, and on the other they were too close together. Huh?! When I looked a bit more closely, I discovered the lug on the frame has a slight twist in it, probably from the factory. Now that I've started I'll get a bit more done on this bike next month.
That's all for March. I’m writing this from a hotel in Austria where I have come for a weeks skiing, last one before the end of the season so I’ll be back in the workshop next week.
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