AJS & Matchless Owners Club

This is a G11 my Step father and I redid ourselves about 9 years ago. It was in horrible shape, everything was gone through. We did the engine my Step Dad did the bottom end. It was ridden only about 5 miles (8 Km) by him and it pretty much sat.
I finally got my hands on it this summer and did some finishing touches on it. It ran nicely and I took it around the block quite a few times with no problems. I wanted it ready for the Hanson Dam English bike ride that they put on near my house every year. It is a 113 Km ride in Southern CA, USA.
On Halloween a week before the ride I finished up all the loose ends and was ready to give the bike a longer ride to make sure it could do the distance and become accustomed to the controls. I took the bike up a canyon near my house about 7Km or so and it briefly lost power and then the engine seized as a hole got punched in the case ( I posted a pic). It broke my heart and I pretty much just parked the bike in my garage until today. I think I'm now ready to put in the effort to get her on the road again. I was hoping someone may recommend a shop to ship this engine to to get it repaired? I live in Southern California and cant find anyone around here that knows Matchless. Any advice on whether the case can be welded? Is it even possible to find one of these cases? Any help with advice will be greatly appreciated these bikes are very rare around here. I have rode lots of bikes but the ride I took on this bike until it broke was the best ride I ever had. I want the engine redone correctly by a expert. Thanks in advance to anyone who responds.

That is a very distressing as it looks a great bike. Cannot help with any advice on a local repair shop from the Uk. The damage could be welded but I think you might be better seeking a different pair of crankcases. I assume the a conrod or piston have broken so there may be a fair bit more internal damage. The G9 and G11 have the same bottom end if it is a help finding a replacement.

I have a AJS that came from a friend of a friend in CA it had some invoices from Rabers Part Mart,
They seem to now be out of business but searching for them brings up other company's in CA that
may be worth talking to.
Such as this one.
https://www.classicbritishspares.com/bl ... parts-mart

I'd start by contacting John Diederich , the North America contact who should be able to offer you advice .
The US have a strong club of there own , that and are very friendly
well worth being in both UK and USA clubs to benefit

Ive seen much worse welded successfully , important thing is a good welder and cleaning sludge traps on the crankshaft , plus replacing conrod and other damaged parts. I could have been a BE seizure and subsequent rod failure

https://www.ajsmoc.com/
https://www.ajsmoc.com/wp-content/uploa ... US2021.pdf

Thanks for the comments and advice. I think joining the American club is a good idea for me. Spending the last few months in the British club has been a treasure trove of info, hopefully the US club is as great.

Id recommend both !
I met a few of the US guys when I worked in Chicago a few years ago for 2 months , you couldn't find a friendly a bunch