AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Greetings All - this is my first post so I hope it's not too clumsy .
I've recently rejoined after 20 odd years rest . Yes my interest in AMC started young. A lot has changed - and to state the obvious the internet the single greatest change agent .
So I have a few compy projects on the go . I have a frame that I may use one day - it's frame serial is a slash c verified 53 rigid Matchless competition .
Obviously it's been modified - it must have been the exception to the rule for a compy bike to survive unmodifed .
I'm not familiar with this year frame so I'm asking if anyone has some frame pics to allow me to assess what mods have been made to the one I have . Petrol tank mounts for example are gone but presumably are meant to be the same as any rigid frame .
I don't know about what I think is a saddle mounting post - has it been modified and how does the saddle mount to it ?
I'm not sure yet how to best restore the frame - and I'm interested in feedback should I go another route by grafting the serial number section of the frame to another frame as a practical alternative solution .
I do not have a rear frame half and I would be interested in any pics for reference .

Now maybe this will do as the ice breaker for me .....my next plea for advice will be to source a 1951 BAP mainshaft for my 1951 AJS 18CS .....so that will be the subject of my second post soon .

Cheers
Andrew

Hi Andrew, and welcome to the Forums. I don't have any specific experience, knowledge or photos of the competition frames but in lieu of a reply by someone who can positively answer your question and if you don't know about it already I'm pointing you to the website known as 'Christians Archive'. This is a store of masses of AMC info, original Owners Manuals, Workshop Manuals and Parts Lists, plus techy items, editorials, posters, history and much more, maintained voluntarily by Christian Gyde in Denmark. It's worth a browse in addition to the links in Christian Archive that I've noted below for your '53 model. I cannot tell you if the illustrations are correct for your comp frame but you may find it of some help or interest.


See page 25 (petrol tank mountings) here:

http://archives.jampot.dk/book/Owners_m ... Manual.pdf

and page 26 (basic frame sections) here:

http://archives.jampot.dk/book/Spares_l ... ingles.pdf

Really apppreciate the reply - and I thankyou for the tip re the Archives - what a tremendous resource thanks to Christian .....me after thirty years? away from the scene the Archives are one of the real " game changers" - all that time ago I relied upon Chopper at Happy Hamrax via snail mail from Australia to the U.K. and back ...with Choppers hand written ( succinct ) notes and diagrams - I've kept them and may post them one day as a reminder of a past era .
I'm still keen to nail the 53 compy rigid frame in terms of what does a factory original meant to look like - the AMC Spares lists etc are good but not quite good enough for this purpose - the Spares lists ignore largely diagrams of competition variants . I could say wryly unlike one other U.K. marque that more recently I've become acquainted - Ariel - with respect and by contrast Ariel barely needs diagrams as the rigid frame almost never changed !