History of Our 1925 Invincible JAP

The 1925 Invincible Jap we have entered into the 2012 Cannonball endurance race was purchased some 20 years ago in parts and needing little work ( what a sales pitch).

I bought it while I was a student doing a Metallurgy Degree and that is a life-time ago.

The bike became available as part of a deceased estate and was sold by a long time member of the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Victoria.
I guess I was a little green and my enthusiasm and excitement blinded me to it's actual condition and  I greatly under-estimated the amount of work needed to bring it back to life but a deal was struck and both sides of the deal parted happy.

It was said that this was a complete machine that needed minor restoration, however this was not the case and it quickly became apparent the several of the key components were either worn out or not present.

Like most basket case projects research was undertaken and information and parts gathered.

The motor was sent to notable Jap engine re conditioner Terry Doyle (Morgan 3 wheeler's) as he had the reputation of building nice strong Jap motors at an affordable price.
This is the motor we intend to run in the bike, so we will see !

A replacement gearbox was obtained as the original gearbox was running with absolutely no teeth on second gear, and the metal had formed a lapping paste inside the transmission which had gone through the bearings.

The wheels were pretty much worn out as were the headstock bearings and tanks were in pattern only.

I actually had a pair of reproduction tanks made for this bike, and although these were solid and well made I had located every single component to make this Invincible Jap nut and bolt correct and these tanks annoyed me.

As there are different tanks on the 1924 and 1925 Invincible Japs (due to the lubrication system and pump) another pal had a 1924 with 1925 tanks fitted.
A pair of tanks presented them self on Ebay, and we both bid, however I lost by a token amount.

The phone rang within 30 min's of the auctions close and my pal offered  his 1925 tanks at a sensible price so we both came out smiling.

A good pal requested a loan of my Invincible Jap so he could sort out his, and this bike was been in storage for the last 5 / 6  years, awaiting my pals completion of his Invincible.

Like most intentions the time can stretch, and this became a mutual joke between us both.

The 1925 Invincible Jap is quite rare, with most of the Invincible Japs being 1923 /24.

This is basically due to the fact that these had become outdated, and the production was being run down from existing stock.

Ours carries a 1925 frame no, and is late in 1925, and has a 1925 KT Jap 8 Hp Jap motor fitted.

Although Invincible are not considered rare,  several Invincible owners spoke over a BBq last week about the few that we actually knew existed, and considering these were made locally in Melbourne, which is the home land there were a few that we could name and mostly these are within collections.
Some restored, others as a kit of parts awaiting restoration.

Like every thing,  there will be others that we don't know so we could safely guessed  we had accounted for half of the surving marque.

It is interesting as we could not get a tally over 20 between the group with this being a combined effort.

Are there less than 50 Invincible remaining? If so this is quite a high survival rate.

There are several collections of parts bikes out and about and I hope that one day some of these will be restored and get back onto the road.
We actually included the parts bike kits in our tally so these are not forgotten.