AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Hi to all, i am a newbie to this site, have just bought myself a Ajs m14 in a million pieces, engine i know is 1960 from prefix on crankcase, however, frame which is no 8562, i do not know what year this relates to, also are there any local sections for the owners club in or around Cleveland area, Northeast. obviously my intention is to join the club and hopefully meet like minded members, regards.

Hello and welcome to the club forum. There isn't a section close to you but there are several active members in the vicinity of Cleveland, depending, of course on how far everyone is prepared to travel to meet up. I venture that way occasionally.

I always recommend people joining the club, especially in their first year of ownership, because members can pay an extra £10p.a. with their membership fee, which gives a 10% discount off the cost of most parts from the spares scheme. Having said that, spares for bikes termed lightweights, such as yours, are limited compared with the more common, larger, heavyweight models.The first year is usually when they buy most bits. Also, if your bike needs a new or reclaimed registration, the club dating service is much cheaper for members than non-members.

Several variations on the 250cc lightweights were made over a few years which means that it's not always sensible to assume the all parts are interchangeable, although many are.

I hope you're good at jigsaw puzzles.

Hi Geoff - and welcome!

Congratulations on your project. Expect a bit of head-scratching along the way, but if you stick with it you'll be rewarded with a charming little bike.

The official factory documentation for these bikes is a little on the thin side, so you'll need to get acquainted with Christian's archives here:
http://archives.jampot.dk

Pretty much every bit of available information is on that site.

Join the club (if you haven't already). That way you can get discounted spares, as well as full access to the forum. If you do get stuck, someone on the forum can usually help...

Back to your question about the frame number: 8562 is from 1960-61. The club dating service should be able to provide a bit more detail.

Good luck!

Welcome to the club.
The M14 and all of the lightweights are a bit sparse on the information you need. As 'clanger9' has already pointed out, Christians archives is an excellent place to look for information.Somewhere in their, there is an exploded diagram of the engine unit with part numbers and you can blow that up to a very large size, very useful. Also the club site has lots of previous questions and answers on the lightweights ready to be read. Join the club and then feel free to ask questions. The lightweights are nice bikes once done and worth the effort in finishing.Definitely a jigsaw puzzle with most of the picture missing, but doable.(but i didnt)!

Hi again, thanks for the posts most helpful, thanks for the heads up regarding the 10% on spares etc, without doubt will be taking advantage of that, i`m not too bad at jigsaws having restored a couple of bikes previously, my main problem is identification of parts, as it stands i have 3 off baskets full of components, some are duplicated, as to them being off the same model i don`t know at this stage, at least i have a starting point for the year of manufacture now, so all i have to do now is firstly join the club, then try and get as much information as possible, manuals/parts list and drawings, i have no doubt i will get there in the end, regards again.

Exploded engine view just for starters

Hi
One thing i missed is that the frame is not dated.
Before you get too involved with the bikes restoration, get the frame properly dated. We have someone who does it in the club who will do a proper dating certificate that will be needed for the bikes registration. It will tell you if it left the factory as a AJS or Matchless and 250 or 350 and if the engine and frame match the records.As a club member it is cheap and normally quick. Their is an online service thats not so thorough and not DVLA approved, but will tell what version you have.

Best of luck
alan