Honda RTL
We all stop and look at a motorcycle which has been well fettled; it could be in the paddock, at the start of a trial or at a show like the Classic Dirt Bike one at Telford. We can appreciate the work which has gone into this fettling process and to a point we all try to do what we can to make our bikes just a little bit better than standard. Unlike other words in the English language ‘fettle’ has stayed pretty much to its original meaning – it emerged in old English a few hundred years ago and meant to prepare something for a task, usually a battle – in our world it means either the cleaning up of castings or ensuring the mating surfaces of parts are as they should be. Blueprinting is an exacting form of fettling.
The reason such work isn’t done at source is that it’s cost prohibitive for production purposes. Works teams don’t have as many constraints in this area, though thanks to casting and machining process improvements the need for a lot of hand-fettling is less than it was years ago. There is still a lot which can be done to improve either the looks or performance of various bits of the bikes we know and love by the dedicated owner especially if they know
