Bob Dunn Contact ?

Joe

Forum User
VOC Member
Hi,
has anybody got Bob Dunn`s current contact details?
Mine from some Years ago are not answered.
Thanks Joe
 

Phil Davies

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Hello Joe,
Bob stopped answering the phone many years ago, because he was fed up with people asking when their job would be finished.
Bob stopped answering his email not long after he stopped answering the phone, because he got fed up with people sending him emails asking when their job would be finished.

Unless you already have parts at Bob's workshop it is a waste of time to even try to get him to do anything these days.
If you already have parts at Bob's then you need to turn up in person in the morning of a day to either collect your (probably unfinished) parts or to make sure he does something to them for which you have already paid him!!
As apparently even 35+ years of friendship no longer counts towards getting your paid for work completed.
Bitter, twisted - me?? (sadly).
I say all the above with huge regret, because Bob, apart from being a truly great person, was in his day, easily the greatest and most gifted Engineer ever to have repaired Vins since the factory.
Pity he was always as rubbish at business as he was great at engineering.
 

vibrac

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
I must admit I have heard him called "Bob never done"
But having spent an hour on one fork leg and 2 minutes on the other doing the same job I do have some sympathy. delays are inevitable but where Bob failed was in keeping customers updated and initial estimates.
 

Joe

Forum User
VOC Member
Thanks guys for giving me guidance on this topic.
I was hoping to get in contact with Bob as according to previous owner he was restoring my Rapid B around 1993.
I am new in Vincents and my question would be wether original Vinvent clutch was installed at that time - the clutch is difficult to handle and very different to anything else I have ever experienced. Thinking about replacing it for acceptable driving experience.
Regards Joe
 

Bill Thomas

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Morning Joe, Have a talk with a few owners before going Multi plate, Some have had a lot of trouble.
The Bike was built to only lift one plate !!.
The standard clutch can be made to work very well.
Make sure what you have on your Bike now, Show us some photos ?, With the clutch cover off ?.
Good Luck Bill.
 

vibrac

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Take off the clutch cover and see if it is a MultiPlate Clutch, by its name a MPC has more than one plate.
 
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Phil Davies

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Tim
"Bob never done" - he and I used to joke about Bob 'not Dunn'.
He also used to say "if you want it doing (quickly), go somewhere else, if you want it doing properly, leave it here. Very, very true words.
To contradict that, when I was racing, I once rang him on a Monday after 'the weekend before' having dropped an inlet valve head in, he carried out an exceptional repair (custom made seat) on the following Saturday and Sunday (letting me sleep on their sofa) so I could make the next entered meeting - all for a stupidly cheap price (as always) considering what he achieved.
He engineered what were considered by everyone else to be scrap twin cases, heads, flywheels (that was the only way I could get hold of the items then) into a fantastic engine destined for my road racing outfit, coming up with innovative ways of reclaiming original items (mine were the first cases he ever bored and bushed the main bearing housings and cam spindle holes (all were oval!!), that engine is a beauty, purely thanks to him.
He is doing the same again for me (hence my frustration), on a restoration from what was utterly scrap, but without compromising he is producing a 'silk purse from a sow's ear', that only he is capable of doing.
He has never been secrective about disclosing what techniques he has used to work his magic (unlike some I could mention), thus allowing others to copy his innovation (and sometimes unfairly take credit).
There are many potentially active bikes still around now and not in the skip that are solely down to his skills.

Sadly (and how sad it is), he is metally still razor sharp with engineering, but physically nothing like that, but still being drawn into coming to work in a very (very!) cold workshop of wonders, anno dommini is a cruel, heartless authority.
One of the problems with Bob doing work is that once he (eventually!) starts work, he discovers problems that most others will never know or see and being the perfectionist he is, he fixes them, often not fully informing of, or charging for, doing so.
His talent, with his knowledge, conscience and honesty are a humbling lesson to us all.

I will always hold the utmost highest respect for Bob and his abilities, but he still drives me to distraction over finishing what he agreed (again and again and again!!!) to take on many (many) years ago.

Joe,
There is nothing wrong with the original clutch - I even road raced an outfit on one for years. Install the 'racing' version of the plate (I did on my road outfit) and install and set the whole thing up religiously to the dictates of the Richardson book, it is a thing of beauty and wonderment (and the only truly unique item to a Vin!!).
 
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