Old Bike Mart - Special Edition - Free by Mortons Media Group Ltd

20 READERS' LETTERS

January 2020

Customer courtesy

Memories and motivation

I just read ‘Shamed, not named’ in OBM. When I worked at Fred Carr’s ironmongers in the ’70s, this notice (replicated below) was pinned up behind the counter as a reminder to staff. All customers were treated with respect. The Stanley tools rep told us: ALWAYS replace any Stanley items of complaint, whether they have been abused or not. It is well worth it for the goodwill it creates. Very true. Mr T Bentley

Not a month goes by without something in your excellent publication jogging yet another memory. I wrote to your predecessor quite often. This time it was Rod Coleman’s obituary. A really nice man who was not only a brilliant rider but a real gentleman. I have just unearthed my 1950s autograph books and, yes, his signature is there with all the stars and ‘gooduns’, including Geoff Duke, Ray Amm, Stanley Woods, Rex McCandless and everyone else of note, including a real hero, Joe Craig. We all have these things hidden away, but what will happen to them when we go? With no one to take over being custodian. After a much too close call with illness four years ago, I sold off my big bikes, kept only a 250 Honda Clubman ‘boy racer’ and bought a new AJS Tempest 125 so I could continue the joy of two-wheeled transport. I catalogued all my 1950/’60 TT special and show numbers, plus my instruction manuals for pre and postwar cars and bikes. I sold a few at local autojumbles and advertised nationally, including OBM, sold a few but nothing to speak of. Even offered them for free with no response. Likewise the contents of garage and sheds, given away or dumped in the skip. All those things that we have had so much pleasure in owning and the knowledge gained over the last 80-odd years, firstly from a dad born in 1900 and a true trailblazer, the uncles who all had bikes (including Jack Welsby); all of this has been accumulated with time and effort and given great joy to us all but with no one to pass it on to it will end up in the skip. I only have one motorcyclist in the family, a 50-odd-year-old nephew who’s

IF If I possessed a shop or store I’d drive the grouches off my ﬂoor I’d never let some gloomy guy Offend the folks who’d come to buy! I’d never keep a boy or clerk With mental toothache at his work Nor let a man who draws my pay Drive customers of mine away. I’d treat a man who takes my time And spends only a dime With courtesy, and make him feel That I was glad to close the deal; Because tomorrow, who can tell? He may want the stuff I have to sell And in that case, then glad he’ll be To spend his money all with me. The reason people pass your door To patronise another store, Is not because the other shop Has better screws or tools or mop, Or special prices, but it lies In pleasant words and smiling eyes. The only difference, I believe Is in the treatment folks receive.

Whatt no brake? Wh b k ? I really enjoyed the feature on Honda’s assault on the Isle of Man TT back in the ’60s. However, something is puzzling me. The picture at the foot of page 26 of the October edition shows the start of the 50cc race in 1966. The two Hondas, numbers 1 and 2 ridden by Ralph Bryans and Luigi Taveri don’t appear to have front brakes, but have large rear drums? That must have been an interesting challenge on two fronts; getting it past the scrutineer, but more importantly stopping it! Can anybody explain please? Jim Gould Berkshire An interesting point Jim, although if you look at the rim of the front wheels on both bikes, just behind the fork legs, you can see that the RC115 was running a rim brake, as was spec’d on the previous year’s bike. Even so, I’m sure it was something of a challenge to scrub some speed off on some of the tighter sections of the Clypse Course! And then we got a further email from Jim:Having written to OBM a friend also gave me the same information about the rim brake! He also told me that the large rear drum housed a two-speed gear box, a sort of overdrive, which when combined with the conventional nine-speed gearbox gave 18 ratios! Apparently this was necessary to use the 750rpm power band to its best effect. Must have been a real challenge to get the best out of it…

Tanks k ffor the th memories i att Museum 'live' li open day d I was at this year’s National Motorcycle Museum ‘live’ open day, did you go? Mick Styche (the museum’s paintwork guy) had on display an AJS model 33CSR tank (my tank, as it happens) and a gentleman came up to look at it, and in

the ensuing conversation he mentioned to Mick that he used to own a dealership up north and got a 33CSR through this and still has the bike in original condition. If that gentleman is reading this could he get in touch please as

I’ve a few questions I’d like to ask regards the rebuild of my 33CSR. Andy, Shefﬁeld If anyone has any information, please send it to OBMeditor@ mortons.co.uk and we’ll forward it on to Andy.

lived in the US for more than 30 years. Many photo albums – both mine and my parents’ – have gone to daughters and I have committed everything I can remember to writing. We keep discussing in various journals the lack of followers in our chosen hobby (nay, lifestyle). It isn’t just the bikes, but all the paraphernalia that goes with it. I still enjoy a weekly ride in the mountains of North Wales where I live, a group of us meet and talk over olden days over a cup of tea – it is a continuation of how things were in the past. When I look back through the autograph albums I can remember the actual time each person signed it, and where – at 15 in the Villa Marina after the prize presentation (I think in 1953 when Sandford gained fourth in the Junior on a three-cylinder Deek (Cecil Sandford was third in the 125 race on an Agusta in ’53, and fourth on a DKW in ’56 – Ed). I was sitting between Ewald Kluge and Walfried Winkler, the pre-war DKW men of much renown, but it was only when they asked me which bike I would like, and I said DKW, that they said who they were! Also, I can remember rushing from Keigs in the Strand to the Villa with a still-wet enlargement of Ray Amm on the proboscis Norton in the 1954 Senior. The ink may have faded but the indent of the biro on the nose cone is still there to see! All those wonderful and skilful riders all had time and interest to talk to a know-all 15/16-year-old and the mix of people both at the Villa and at the weigh-in was something that will never be repeated. Sorry if I have gone on a bit, I hope you can read it all – may you continue to stir memories in us old ones and motivate the young ones! Gordon Watkinson, Wrexham

24 FROM THE ARCHIVE

January 2020

The 1961 Triumph Bonneville – handsome good looks, and a winner both in crowded city streets and on the open road. Photo: Gary ry y Chapman.

Triumph Bonneville T120R v It was THE battle of the six-ﬁfty parallel twins - Triumph Bonneville T120R versus Norton Dominator 650 SS - and the argument as to which was the better raged throughout the 1960s, writes Pete Kelly.

purred on perhaps by the constant praise for the Norton ‘Featherbed’ frame, the common perception among young motorcyclists in the early 1960s – and I was one of them – went something like: “Oh yeah, Triumphs have great engines, but they just don’t ’andle.” Thinking that the proof of the pudding might be found in the road tests of the time, I turned to Mortons’ Archive and picked up the first ‘Bonnie’ road test in the June 1, 1961 issue of Motor Cycling, and The Motor Cycle’s 650 Domi SS test of February 15, 1962. The honour of putting the 1961 649cc Triumph T120R Bonneville 120 through its paces fell to ‘The Green ‘Un’s’ legendary Bruce MainSmith, who was pictured leaping the big twin over a hump-backed bridge on a deserted Exmoor road. The caption stated: “The T120R, widely used in American enduro

work, was rock-steady when doing a leap. Power was readily controllable, so there was no difficulty in using the throttle to ensure a two-point landing.” The report began: “Abundant vitality under all conditions is the keynote of the Triumph Bonneville 120. With exceptional top-end performance goes extraordinary vigour and tractability and low and medium engine speeds – a combination which makes it perhaps the fastest point-to-point roadster produced in Britain today.” While most young admirers of the ‘Bonnie’, myself included, were interested only in the Triumph’s acceleration and genuine top speed of around 115mph, the reporter rightly also pointed out the big brute’s docility in town. “In London traffic,” he wrote, “it was one of the most pleasant machines we have ever used, thanks to its complete docility, reliable

Removing the two-screw cover to adjust the Triumph’s clutch push rod.

tickover and smart get-away.” On the open road, though, it was a different matter entirely, the report stating: “It had what has been aptlytermed ‘explosive acceleration’ and an ability to swallow mile after mile at the very highest cruising speeds. “Some of the startling acceleration results from a lowish overall gear ratio – too low, actually, to give the optimum in sheer speed. When, under still-air conditions, this 650 flashed through MIRA’s electronic trap at 108.2mph, the rev-counter showed that the motor had run on past its peak power.” Yes, the speed-merchant could get even more knots by cogging up a shade, but not at the cost of that docile manoeuvring through those crowded city streets (how well I remember that ‘burning clutch’ smell as I tried to coax my high firstgeared Velocette Venom staff bike along Oxford Street at an absolute crawl one Christmas!) – and the

Checking the primary chain tension was a simple matter on the 1961 Bonnie.

The alloy head with splayed twin carburettors was standard equipment on the ’61 Triumph Bonneville 120.

staffman concurred by adding: “If

road work were his aim he would be ill advised, for the top gear in use greatly assisted maintenance of speed under adverse conditions as well as acceleration and was a good all-round ratio.” Proof of this was the fact that the Bonneville lapped the three-mile banked MIRA circuit at exactly 108mph, and was not even ¼ mph faster through the spot-check of the timed trap at either the start or the finish of a flying lap. This showed “remarkable and praiseworthy consistency,” the tester wrote. “On a day when the wind was so strong that testing had to be abandoned, this Triumph actually reached a rider-prone 115mph downwind after only 1300 yards of full acceleration from rest!” As the conditions were unrepresentative, however, this figure was not quoted in the test data.

On the same day, the tester also reached an indicated 100mph at the end of the standing quarter while normally seated – again exceptional, but dazzlingly fast all the same. “Any comment on the ‘120’ is bound to concentrate on acceleration, for this is the machine’s strongest attribute. It was not necessary to row it along on the gear pedal. Results (and what results!) were forthcoming all the way up the scale. “The engine could be stirred up, top-gear home, at just under 30mph with the easily-read and ideallyplaced rev-counter showing a mere 1800. No coaxing was necessary. A good handful of grip, increased as the revs went up, would take the machine cleanly and unhesitatingly to the top side of 100mph true, without the rider even crouching. There was no sharply-defined power band – merely a small bonus in urge from 4500rpm upwards.”

January 2020

FROM THE ARCHIVE 25

v Norton Dominator 650 SS Back in the day, this was such stirring stuff that it’s hard to realise that the maker’s claimed output was a mere (by today’s standards) 46bhp at 6500rpm. In the parallel twins of almost 60 years ago, the larger the capacity became, the more vibration was likely to set in, and the Bonnie road test report put it thus: “Vibration was not absent, but was never excessive. There were no ‘periods’, and the background tremors were always within the rider’s tolerance. Curiously, although the left footrest became quite ‘tingly’ above a speedometer reading of 90mph in top, and pro rata in the gears, the right footrest was hardly affected at all.” The Bonnie 120 had twin Amal Monobloc carbs, each with its own float chamber, and automatic ignition control, yet remained “almost incredibly docile” for a machine of its type.

“Asked for sheer performance, thee 120 gives a quick answer,” wrote the scribe. “Stir it up in the gears without a secure grip on the bars, and one has to shut down hastily and get back onto the front of the dual seat. “The motor, we were told, was ‘safe’ up to 7500rpm, but one took it up to these revs only when hustlingg towards a downhill maximum in top. In the gears, change-up revs were entirely the choice of the rider; we usually shifted at just over 6000rpm when merely hurrying, and nearer 7000 when plotting the acceleration graph – and the Bonneville would always surge away again on engaging each higher cog.” In some circumstances, it was noted, silencing placed a limitation on grip-winding, with the reapplication of power at, say, 35mph in third bringing a pretty sharp burst of sound from the twin small-bore exhausts. Ah, that once-heard, never forgotten Triumph crackle! The tester found it a machine completely without

The ﬂat handlebars and general riding position of the 1962 Norton Dominator SS brought a certain amount of rider fatigue after a few consecutive hours of riding on wet roads.

temperament. “Starting was of the ‘prod-it-and-go’ order, and was not the slightest bit harder when cold, but as chokes were not fitted, a good flood was necessary. “Although the clutch plates parted at the first jab, and bottom gear went in quietly from cold, its engagement became noisy and ‘clashy’ when the unit was hot. Tickover was always 100% reliable, slow and consistently ‘on two’ – a condition not always forrthcoming from twin-carb layouts

The 1962 Norton Dominator 650 SS – a serious rival to the Bonnie with deceptively civilised manners to boot.

To improve idling, a balance pipe joined the parallel inlet tracts of the 650 SS.

– and while the adjusters to the throttle cables were conveniently accessible, they were never needed. “Despite so much hard acceleration and fast cruising,” continued the lucky tester, “the Bonneville returned a remarkable 64mpg overall. The 122mpg/30mph figure is fantastically good, yet there was never any sign of weakness or hesitancy in the carburation, and the plugs came out a good colour. They were removed only for inspection and were put back without either cleaning or re-gapping. “The clutch was light in action, beautifully sweet and obeyed orders exactly. To this component must go a due proportion of the praise for searing sprint starts. “Both brakes – of the new-style dubbed ‘floaters’ at Meriden – were good, but the front unit, although proof against fade, called for high lever pressure and did not provide all the stopping power that a really competent rider would have been able to use. Both were waterproof, and safe to use on a wet road.” The tester did pick up on the handling, though. “Normally,” he wrote, “navigation was good, but high-speed handling was of the

There was plenty of ﬁnning and air space between the exhaust ports of the Dommie 650 SS.

kind that some car people call ‘interesting’. On really fast corners, the machine was not completely steady; there was a certain amount of unauthorised rear-wheel movement, and the suspension appeared to need more damping on both strokes at both ends.”

26 FROM THE ARCHIVE It was also noted that, at around the 100mph mark on straight but bumpy roads, the steering called for concentration by the rider, although on the billiard-table smooth bowl of MIRA, the Triumph was completely sure-footed at ceiling speed, and the springing was tremendously comfortable for a sportster. Considerable angles of lean were also possible without anything grounding, and thanks to the adjustable rear units, pillion passengers were no handicap either. The opinions expressed on the lights and horn were entirely predictable: “Lights on the test mount were below par for this widely-used Lucas equipment. We suspect that 717 BWD had a poor block-lens light unit. The horn, located under the saddle, was nearly inaudible to the rider, but it did seem to have some effect on pedestrians.” Summing up, the Motor Cycling road test reporter wrote: “Truly difficult to fault, the Bonneville is an object lesson in how a motorcycle should be engineered. It not only passed the test routine with flying colours, but also enabled staffmen to set some extremely high pointto-point averages on urgent press assignments without fatigue or saddle soreness.” By contrast, The Motor Cycle praised the ‘race-bred’ handling of the rival Norton Dominator 650 SS in its road test of February 15, 1962, summing up the machine in a strap headline that read: ‘Latest and largest in famous range approaches two miles a minute yet eats out of your hand’.

January 2020 The report began: “Worshippers of high performance must be blessing the growth in popularity of production machine racing. Since the marathon series – led by the Southampton Club’s 500-miler – gained a foothold in the sporting calendar, compression ratios and carburettor choke sizes have climbed; cam contours have become more purposeful and, on many a twin, carburettors have doubled up. “In short, super-sports roadsters have acquired speed and acceleration comparable with those of the production racers of not so long ago; and, where necessary, transmission, braking and suspension have been improved to suit. “As fine an example of the trend as any, and better than most, is Norton’s ace sportster and marathon racer, the Dominator 650 Sports Special. Though Nortons were the last to push the capacity of their vertical twins beyond the 600cc mark, they have obviously used the time to good advantage. A mean top speed of 111mph and a fastest timed run of 118mph speak for themselves.” Whether a test bike came up in the middle of summer or the depths of winter, the rider to whom it was allotted just had to make the most of it, and the fact that the Dommie was put through its paces on a wet and windy day during the early part of February 1962 meant he was wearing a one-piece waterproof riding suit on top of winter muffling when the figures were obtained.

A test rider for The Motor Cycle samples the ‘race-bred’ handling of the Norton Dominator 650 SS during a cold, wet February in 1962.

Two original Bonnies with consecutive registrations receive admiring glances.

“There is little doubt,” continued the report, “that close-fitting leathers and the rear-set footrests allowed for marathon racing would boost the top speed by a further 3 or 4mph.” Although some features of the engine reflected the influence of the racing five-hundred twin that Tom Phillis (who tragically lost his life on a Honda at the TT later that year) had ridden into third place during the 1961 Senior, the reporter concluded that there was “nothing

freakish” about the 650 SS. “Its high performance stems from sound, straight-forward development, and as a result the machine was pleasantly tractable even for town work, thanks in part to the use of auto-advance for the magneto and a balance pipe connecting the two induction tracts.” Neither could it be faulted for exhaust noise, and provided superpremium petrol was used, the engine was free from pinking, and

Norton left it quite a while before upping the capacity of their 600cc parallel twins, and in this Mortons Archive photo, Fred Neville is seen in full ﬂight on a 600cc Norton Dominator 99 in 1961.

no great effort was needed to swing it over compression for starting. “By parallel-twin standards, the engine is smoother than average, and up to the stipulated limit of 6800rpm, vibration never bothered the rider, although at peak revs it caused the petrol tap to shut off until the cork-sleeved plunger was renewed,” continued the report. “Responsible for this comparative smoothness is the extra-stiff crankshaft. Though it is basically similar to the smaller Dominator crankshafts, the crank throw is 3½mm longer to give the greater stroke of 89mm (at 68mm, the cylinder bore is the same as on the six-hundred). The flywheel is wider and so more effective, and most importantly, the crankpin diameter is increased to 1¾ in, making the assembly more rigid.” A chronometric rev-meter (an optional extra) was fitted to the test machine, and the tester observed: “With the needle around the 2000 to 3000rpm sector, the Norton might have been any first-class six-fifty. At 4000rpm there was an indication that the engine was something out of the ordinary, and by the time the pointer had swung round to the 5000rpm mark the engine was well and truly in the groove, and from then on there was a plain challenge to all comers.” Cruising at a speedometer reading of 90 to 95mph (true speed around 5% less) was something the Norton was ready to do at the slightest opportunity and happy to sustain indefinitely, and at that there was a comfortable 5000-odd rpm on the revmeter and plenty of throttle to hand.

January 2020

FROM THE ARCHIVE 27

Although the 1961 Triumph Bonneville could become a little squirmy at times, that didn’t stop Motor Cycling ace tester Bruce Main-Smith from thoroughly enjoying himself on a hump-backed bridge on Exmoor.

This 1964 photo shows John Ebbrell of The Motor Cycle giving a Dominator 650 SS a bit of spit and polish for one of his regular maintenance features.

sponginess and stopped the SS powerfully and smoothly from any speed. Controllability was such that there was no risk of locking a wheel inadvertently, even on wet roads, and there was no loss of efficiency following prolonged riding in heavy rain. As for starting, the test rider wrote: “At 20 degrees, the steep downdraught angle of the inlet tracts called for sparing use of the float tickler before starting, and for a small but quick tweak of the twistgrip at the end of the kickstarter swing to ‘catch’ the engine. Failure to observe these precautions resulted in an over-rich mixture in the cylinders so that a wide throttle opening was then needed before the engine would start.” He found idling slow but slightly uneven, and suggested that riders whose everyday mileage included a lot of town traffic would find it worthwhile to synchronise the settings of both throttle cables, throttle stops and pilot air screws precisely to achieve the cleanest-possible tickover and small-throttle getaways. To cope with the tremendous punch of the Dommie 650 SS, its clutch had extra-strong springs and five friction plates rather than the usual four, resulting in a heavierthan-usual feel to its operation, but nevertheless all gear changes, upward or downward, were clean and positive. With the engine idling slowly, bottom-gear engagement from rest was almost noiseless, and neutral could be found easily from bottom or second. Lighting was described as ‘average’, and as for the horn, it didn’t even get a mention – but then, could you imagine anyone buying a brand new Dominator 650 SS asking the salesman: “Can I hear the horn before I decide?” Finish was described as “a workmanlike black and silver, with chromium plating available for the mudguards at extra cost”. The road tester summed up: “That, then, is the Dominator 650 Sports Special – Norton’s answer to the sportsman’s prayer. It’s a 49bhp roadster whose quietness, smoothness and lack of fuss makes it speed deceptive; a machine with such superb handling and braking as to make nearly two miles a minute as safe as a stroll in the garden.” Triumph Bonneville or Norton Dominator? You paid your money – £285.5s for the Bonnie in 1961 and Both the Triumph Bonneville 120 and Norton Dominator 650 SS proved themselves in long-distance production racing events. Here Thruxton 500-mile winners John £311.2s for the Dommie in 1962 – and made your choice! Holden (seated) and Tony Godfrey pose for the cameras after the event.

Indeed, with the rider normally seated, the timed mean maximum speed proved to be 99mph (a ton in normal weather for sure) with a best run of 108mph – how strikingly similar to the ‘Bonnie’. “To reach those speeds, even from rest, required a distance of little more than a quarter of a mile,” the writer recalled. The drill was to notch second at about 45mph, third at 70 and top as soon as the speedometer showed a ton. Those speeds correspond approximately to the peak-power engine speed of 6800rpm, and the reason the makers stipulate that as the limit in the lower gears is that the engine can otherwise over-rev more quickly than a chronometric rev-meter can keep pace.

“There is no performance gain in over-revving, only needless wear, tear and vibration, although two-rate valve springs and hollow, barrel-shaped light-alloy push rods help to keep valve float at bay until well beyond peak revs (for production-machine racing the more serious contender would probably change to a magnetic revmeter and change up at 7000rpm). “In the context of standing starts, the figures shown in our data panel could have been bettered fractionally had it not been necessary to feed in the clutch at comparatively low rpm to avoid time-wasting wheelspin on the damp surface.” Incidentally, the Avon highhysteresis Grand Prix rear tyre

provided above-average adhesion during hard acceleration or fast cornering on wet roads. Adopted primarily for safety at sustained three-figure speeds, the tyre brought another benefit: the curved cross-section of its racingpattern tread added a refinement to the superlative handling for which Dominators were renowned. At low and medium speeds, the machine responded sensitively to the slightest banking effort, and the balanced front wheel swung into the turn to exactly the right degree, and the rider noted: “However high the speed, on straight or curve, the steering never showed the least inclination to waver,” continuing: “As befits a super-sports mount, springing both front and rear was

firm and very effectively damped, and for the cost of a fairly hard ride on low-speed bumps, it ensured great stability at high speeds with no tendency to pitching on undulations.” Not everything was perfect, though, and unlike the comfort of the Triumph Bonneville, “the flat handlebar resulted in a riding posture that, after several consecutive hours in the saddle, felt slightly cramped, but not stupidly so. A rubber band crisscrossed round the twistgrip by a factory tester was a tacit admission of the slipperiness of the plastic sleeve – and was most effective in improving grip! Once the brakes had bedded down, they lost their initial slight

18 READERS' LETTERS

February 2020

readers’ letters

Please send all letters to Old Bike Mart, Mortons Media, Morton Way, Horncastle, LN9 6JR or email OBMeditor@mortons.co.uk and please include your locality

✪ Muc-Off Star Letter

First bikes, take one Your request for pictures of us readers on our first bike made me think of those careless days before National Service, marriage, family and so on, when there were just girlfriends, our mates, their bikes and the occasional glass of something in the pub on a Friday night. This is a very happy me and my 1956 Tiger Cub on the beach at Goring-by-Sea in July 1958. The bike had, by this time, acquired a

megaphone silencer from a friend’s G9 Matchless. It didn’t make the bike go any faster but it sure sounded good! Deep, just like a 500, instead of that ’orrible hard, flat, ‘crack’ of the Cub that could be heard three streets away. Note the tie, the goggles perched on the flat cap and the submarine socks tucked into the wellies. I felt great! Ah well, tempus fugit! Mike Estall

An affordable future?

From New Imp to VanVan My first bike article in OBM has tempted me to send in the following, you may find the pictures suitable for publication. As a first-year apprentice in 1953, I was offered this New Imperial for the sum of 15 shillings. The engine was in two potato sacks and the rolling chassis was humped into the guard’s van (this was permitted in those days), for the 10-mile ride home from Fareham to Portsmouth. After assembly, I rode it for just under one year, and on a ride one day the carburettor top detached from the carb whilst riding down Portsdown Hill. I considered that 16 years of age was too

young to risk a second heart attack, so it was passed on to be replaced with number two, a Fanny B, purchased new. The picture was taken riding past the family home here in Portsmouth. Before the completion of my apprenticeship in 1958, I was the proud owner of MEL 367 c/w Blackmore Bullitt chair. It was a Rapide, utterly reliable and together we achieved gold in no less than three national rallies. MEL 367 is now in New Zealand and the owner called in on the bike on his way to Germany for the VOC rally this summer! I also enclose a picture of a cycle with reverse steering, which I built and

raised loads of money for charity with as it’s impossible to ride it for more than five metres! Next birthday I will be 84 years of age and am still riding on a regular basis, all be it on smaller, lighter bikes, namely a 25DD Mark II Greeves, and a modern VanVan of 200cc. Although, at my age, the insurance companies would perhaps like to see me on a 10cc pogo stick. I have been a subscriber to OBM since its inception and there is no finer read, long may it continue even after I am gone. Paul Muscat, Portsmouth

Keep your motorcycle in concours condition with the help of Muc-Off. This fantastic range of bike-cleaning products will make short work of shifting all sorts of road dirt. Get that muck off with Muc-Off! Even better, each month the star letter on OBM’s ‘Your View’ page will get a litre of Muc-Off Bike Cleaner for your clean start. Visit www.muc-off.com to see the full range, or ﬁnd Muc-Off on Facebook.

First bikes, take two

My first bike, in about 1957, an Ariel 350 (left). At 17, any bike that was affordable was ardently wished for. I was told that it had been Hartley-tuned; and living on the doorstep of, and a constant hanger-around at Brands Hatch, that name meant something to me, although I wasn’t sure in what context. I don’t know whether it was geared for trials or scrambles, but it had a solid rear end. I was at sea in those days, but in my leaves, while all my mates were at work, I loved trials-style riding it around the many local places available for such pastimes. A real ‘goer’. The picture shows my younger brother doing the Marlon Brando bit. Les Carman, Formby, Liverpool

Thruxton time line

I read the letter from Rodney Wildsmith in the latest issue, where he implies that Velocette were the first to use the Thruxton name on a bike. This isn’t quite correct, as both Triumph and Velocette introduced their Thruxtons at the 1964 Earls Court show. Which one was actually first is debatable. The Triumph Thruxton Bonneville was not a 750 as stated, but a specially tuned, production raceequipped, 650cc machine. These were only listed for six months before being discontinued, with only 52 being built. (Source of information, Roy Bacon’s Triumph Twins and Triples.) Chris Maughan, Tyne and Wear

In many ways I agree with your editorial in the December issue. In 1969 I paid £25 for a six-year-old D7 Bantam; that would be five weeks' wages as a trainee, maybe a week as a trained mechanic. So today’s prices might be a bit over the top. It was always the case you have to wheel and deal for what you really want. True the selection of autojumble parts diminishes as years go by. The days when it was possible to rebuild your vintage racer from the Cadwell jumble between races are now long gone. Where I have a problem is

with auctioneers. When the antique market was getting a bit thin, with not so many Renoirs etc, they cast their gaze about, firstly at vintage cars and then vintage bikes, mostly as owners of treasured machines died. Then the “get rich quick” element crept in, and the rest just followed. The paper is great, always enjoyed it since it began. Apart from “the world’s finest motorcycle” and a couple of practical Japanese bikes, I have a “stinkwheel”, a Villiers 197 trialer, and all were affordable. Auctioneers and my bikes, no chance! Tony Regan

Smithy’s bike shop Whilst recently corresponding with another Velo Fellow, the topic eventually came round to Smithy’s in Bakewell, Derbyshire. This was a motorcycle shop like no other. Owned and run by Reg Smith, it was, for years, the place for locals to buy their new motorbikes. From what I understand most makes could be ordered and delivered by rail to the station. I must admit that I didn’t visit the shop until the early 1970s and without doubt in earlier times it must have been a busy place, but by the time that I found it, it had sadly gone downhill. I was on the look-out for a second-hand Velocette and had been told that as Smithy knew of every motor bike for miles around, he might even know if there was a Velo for sale in the area. However on my first visit, after trying to peer through the roadside window which was completely covered in muck and grime, I opened the door in to a passage that led to a small yard. On the

left was a pile of junk tinware, scrap exhausts, rusty wheels and God knows what else. This pile was about eight feet tall and covered the length of the wall. Turning to the right I came in to an equally shabby room which I suppose was the shop. On a stage in what was the window there stood a brand new Royal Enfield complete with Airflow fairing, that appeared to have been there since 1958 when they first came out as the paint looked as though it was dropping off and the bike was absolutely filthy. “Not for sale!” was the reply to my inquiry, so I left it at that. I eventually teased out of him that there might be a Cammy Velo near to Buxton, but when I found the place the bike had gone. My question now is, does anybody remember the shop when it was a busy concern and the Royal Enfield or, even better, buy it when it eventually sold? I look forward to reading any comments. Graham Baldwin, S/W France

February 2020

READERS' LETTERS 19

A view from the industry

Garage view As requested, I enclose a picture of my “shed” which currently houses a B40, CB250K, M21 and 18S. My wife seems to think that it is full, bless! Thanks for a great read every month. John Collins

I was interested to see ‘The Original Thruxton’ as written by Rodney Wildsmith. The Velo Thruxton was indeed a fine motorcycle and it was often that Velocette were among the leaders at any race meeting, both at home and abroad, during their 70year history. Indeed the marque still survives amongst the leading makes as produced by our one great industry. I worked with quite a few Velocette employees that we, at Triumph, inherited after Velocette went bust in 1971. We at Meriden were also in demise after the saga, as a result of belonging to the BSA Group. Triumph Engineering Ltd had gained Velocette personnel in their Experimental Department and Len Udall was one. The brother of Velo’s designer, Charles, Len and I became firm friends and he was a past master at making cams for the 1926 Big Port AJS that I was restoring in the 1960s. I was rather surprised to find you failed to mention the demise of Percy Tait, who, as Triumph chief experimental tester, was more than rather quick on two wheels. He “buzzed” me on more than one occasion during my Triumph testing days, prior to 1973. During 1971 he contributed to British

triples blitzing the rising 750cc racing class. When with Triumph, under the leadership of Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele, he was ably assisted by Fred Swift and Les Williams, and most of Triumph’s experimental staff were making the three cylinder Trident win every round of the British 750cc championship. Percy was co-winner of numerous production marathons, jointly assisted by the likes of Dave Croxford, etc. At speed he was a past master at outpacing any police motorcyclist, and frequently did! But we had the likes of Steve Spencer on test who had his racing cut short by crashes in the Isle of Man. Percy was only 90 when he passed away and, after 1973, went on to help Yamaha sort out the handling of their XS650 model. Because of many crashes he had numerous metal inserted to hold him together, and we used to pull his leg with remarks like, “If you ever get near a magnet you will fly apart,” but Percy was a chap I was always proud to call a friend. Jim Lee, Ariel Marque Specialist, VMCC Ltd As our readers will have seen, we did indeed run an obituary for Percy in last month’s issue. Ed.

Not Wally, Wesley! After reading Steve Cooper’s Oriental Angles in the latest edition of OBM, l must correct him regarding the characters in the BBC TV series Last of the Summer Wine. Wally Batty (Joe Gladwin), who was married to Nora Batty (Kathy Staff), never did any tinkering in a garage, even though his main form of transport was a 1960 BSA M21 with a Canterbury sidecar attached. Wally was the down-trodden and hen-pecked husband of Nora who was constantly being rescued from his household chores by Compo (Bill Owen), Clegg (Peter Sallis) and Foggy (Brian Wilde). The character who was famous for his constant tinkering in his garage, and coming up with wild and wonderful contraptions, was Wesley Pegden (Gordon Wharmby), who was married to Edie Pegden (Dame Thora Hird). Whenever Wesley had to return to the house after tinkering in his garage, Edie would lay a trail of old newspapers for him to walk on so that his boots did not leave dirty marks on the kitchen floor. This is something that is carried out to this day in my house and, as far as I am aware, is a common practice in the north of England. Anyway, that has put the record straight so I think I will toddle off now and do a bit of tinkering in my own garage. Bob Livesey, Preston, Lancashire

Burning bright

Letter from America

On the front page of your December 2019 issue you carry a picture of Fred Whittle on the big ‘pussy cat’ Panther sidecar in the ’48 Colmore Cup Trial. Fred was a regular campaigner of the works-entered Panther sidecar both prior and following World War Two in one-day trials, SSDT and the ISDT. He won a number of sidecar class premiers in his career, but his main job for his Cleckheaton masters was to bring home the bacon in the over 500cc sidecar class. This he did regularly. He was still riding when I first started out passengering in the 350 BSA outfit driven by Bill Howard. It was our equivalent job to do the business in the 350 sidecar class. Fred always had a pleasant word for this young sidecar passenger. A really nice guy. Michael Martin

Winter is upon us here in southern California as we are seeing our first rain today since before summer. There’s still plenty of opportunity to ride though! Thank you again for the Old Bike Marts, and I read with interest about the LED headlamp bulbs. Have any readers tried them with success? I tried a tail lamp replacement circuit board made by “Bulbs That Last 4ever” about 10 years ago and it shook to bits in no time at all. The

Reading the small print! Further to readers’ comments about bike insurance, terms and conditions, small print, etc, I recently renewed my classic bike policy. There was a small increase in premium which I thought acceptable. I then received five documents comprising 81 pages! Fortunately I had opted for email confirmation and so no forests were depleted in this case. When I first got a motorcycle in the early 1960s, the bloke from the Co-op who used to do his rounds on a push-bike collecting weekly insurance payments looked in his little book and told me the price to insure it (can’t remember how much, around three

quid possibly). I paid him in cash and he wrote out a cover note in a duplicate book and gave me the top copy. About a week later I received the policy document which comprised one folded sheet printed on both sides – job done! Fortunately I have never had cause to claim on my bike insurance but I wonder how many get-out clauses lie within those 81 pages?... Have I studied each page in fine detail? Well no, I did give it a skim through but I’d much sooner be reading OBM – it’s far more interesting! Chas Moody

Enﬁeld duo revealed I refer to OBM 414 and the letter from David Sparrow – the photograph of the two lads on their new Royal Enfields. The lads are the Smith brothers, twins if memory serves me correctly, of Dovercourt, Harwich, Essex. If my memory rings true, David Sparrow used to ride a Triumph Tiger Cub and his friend, George Abblitt, a 98cc James. They were regulars at my club’s rallies back in the ’70s. Peter Goodwin, Harwich MCC

technology has gotten better I assume, so I might give them another go. I still refuse to convert to 12 volts and even hold on to my ET ignition in my Tiger Cubs! I guess if I have poor lighting, I deserve it! A couple of weeks ago I brought out my two T100 racers to a gathering at the beach. It is the first time out together for these two! Cheers! Geoff Patrick

Guzzi glory I always look forward to my monthly OBM, of course, but this month’s (December 2019) issue was of particular interest and kept me glued, and away from my chores for that bit longer. How nice to see, not one but two double page articles on Guzzis! As a classic Guzzi owner myself, I read with great interest the articles, firstly the singles, nice to relive those old road tests of that single “bacon slicer” engine and then the Guzzi glory days in the TT of the 1930s under Stanley Woods. Then, lo and behold, a few pages into the paper, the Moto Guzzi Open House feature – what a great turnout,

a sight to see, all those machines of the same marque in one place. The museum is a must and is definitely on the “to do” list. Let’s hope that we’ll see some things Guzzi related in the run up to the 100th anniversary in 2021... wouldn’t it be amazing to have an event in the UK, somewhere we can ride our classic Guzzis to? Hopefully OBM will keep us informed. Nigel Bodell, Derby. And, on that note, we can but hope that the Moto Guzzi Club GB will be putting on some kind of celebration, although the option of riding to Mandello for their centennial gathering is always on the cards! Ed.

Ogri’s true age It was nice to read about ‘Ogri’ on page 10 of the latest OBM. However, he’s older than you suggest:

Ogri first appeared in Bike magazine in 1972, which was 47 years ago, not 41. Perhaps someone mistook a ‘7’ for a ‘1’ when compiling your article?... As a skinny 18-year-old in 1974, I couldn’t have looked less like our folk hero, but I did try, in particular with a truly hideously modified BSA C15, with clip-ons (but no rear sets, resulting in a particularly ungainly riding posture) and Ogri’s star painted on the sides of the glass-fibre seat hump (see attached photo, which might give you nightmares). I must have looked more like Malcolm, Ogri’s hapless chum! Happy days... Andy Clews Uckﬁeld, East Sussex

20 FROM THE ARCHIVE

August 2020

It’s what’s on the inside that counts! Pete Kelly brings a selection of sectioned and exploded technical drawings of motorcycle engines and other engineering features from the early 1960s from Mortons’ incomparable motorcycling archive.

s the postwar heyday of the 1950s passed into the exciting new world of the 1960s, the art of the skilled technical illustrator was still going strong in the two oldest-established national motorcycling magazines Motor Cycling (1902) and The Motor Cycle (1903), and all but one of the drawings accompanying this article were published between 1960 and 1962. If editors wanted to show their

readers the inner workings of a new four-stroke single or twin, such as the 343cc BSA B40 or unitconstruction BSA 500cc A50 and 650cc A65 twins, the illustrators were on hand to do their bidding, and the same applied if the required drawings were somewhat simpler, perhaps illustrating a new frame or clutch mechanism, or the new leading-link front fork and fivespeed Albion gear cluster of Royal Enfield’s 250cc Super 5.

In this second exploded drawing, it can be seen that the Bianchi’s s crankshaft is formed by four ﬂywheel discs with integral shafts, two crankpins and a reinforced coupling sleeve incorporating the 24-tooth driving pinion. The middle bearings for the crankshaft are housed in a robust casting secured to the crankcase by nine ﬂange bolts, four crankcasemouth studs and six radial and chordal screws.

F Munger’s cutaway drawing of the 1960 343cc BSA Star, a beefed-up version of the popular 250cc C15, shows the pushrods passing through a cored tunnel in the cast-iron cylinder barrel rather than the separate pushrod tube of its smalller countterpart rt. t

For comparison with the B40, we’ve reproduced this cutaway drawing of a BSA Gold Star engine. The light and nimble newcomer might have bettered the trusty old B31 by producing 21bhp rather than 17 – but it was certainly no 30hp 350cc ‘Goldie’, which sadly was already living on borrowed time.

This exploded drawing by John A Marsden shows valve seats cut directly into the upturned cylinder head casting of the Leo Tonti-designed 350cc Bianchi, along with the distinctive hairpin valve springs, Stellitetipped valve stems and full-length guides.

August 2020 Whether it was a complex racing machine such as the Leo Tontidesigned 350cc Bianchi twin, or Montesa’s simple yet amazingly effective 125cc single-cylinder twostroke; a new 250cc British scooter like the DMW Deemster or Velocette Viceroy; or a sectioned drawing of an entire machine such as the 692cc Royal Enfield Constellation, the skills remained in place to capture every detail. In The Motor Cycle of March 15, 1962, under the heading This Twin Rivals the Fours, the engine of Tonti’s works Bianchi brainchild was put under the microscope by technical editor Vic Willoughby, whom I was privileged to know as an unforgettable journalistic colleague during the mid-1970s. After being a successful international motorcycle racer, Vic, who was born in 1914 and passed away in 2000, became The Motor Cycle’s leading technical light as well as being a superb road-tester and all-round reporter from the 1950s until his retirement at the end of the ‘70s, and no Isle of Man TT reportingg team was complete without him. Back in 1962, the two exploded drawings with which we begin this article took up virtually the whole opening spread of Vic’s five-page analysis, which began: “Supposing you were set the exciting task of designing a three-fifty for classic racing. Would you give priority to ultra-light weight, the lowest possible centre of gravity and the smallest bulk – and so sacrifice power by restricting your choice of engine layout? Or would you go all out for power at the expense of the other virtues? “For make no mistake, you can’t have it both ways. And, with circuitss as varied as they are, you would be sticking your neck out to insist that the odds were wholly in favour of either approach. “Ultra-light weight aids acceleration, braking and climb; a rock-bottom centre of gravity makes for easier cornering; and for a given power, smaller bulk means more speed. Followed to its logical conclusion, the first approach leads inevitably to the low, slender, flat single, weighing just under 2 cwt. Such was the Moto Guzzi layout that monopolised the world’s 350cc championship from 1953 to 1957, the last year the factory ry supported racing. “But, for a given calibre of design, engine power goes up with the number of cylinders. Hence the second approach produces, for example, the transverse four exploited so successfully first by Gilera, then by MV Agusta. The reasons you can’t have it both ways are that a four is necessarily bulkier and heavier than a single; and because of its width the engine cannot be slung nearly so low without grounding on corners. “The choice isn’t easy. So maybe you would try a compromise not yet attempted? That is, design a parallel twin slim enough for low, horizontal installation and as little as possible heavier than a single. Thus you might hope to wring the ultimate potential out of the first approach. Certainly the attempt would be bold. Of course, several factories have plumped for the compromise of a twin; but in all cases the designers considered an upright installation indispensable because of the width across the cylinder heads. Consequently, in weight, bulk, centre of gravity, height and power, the three-fifty twins usually come somewhere between the flat single and the transverse four. “The latest twin, however, rivals the fours for sheer power. Last year, in its first full season’s racing, it proved to be the fastest three-fifty

FROM THE ARCHIVE 21

yal Enﬁeld Sup per-5 embraced majjor new features,, the illustrators would If a new model such as the Roy concentrate on those alone. Here we see the newcomer’s brand new leading-link front fork and ﬁve-speed Albion gear cluster..

at many a grand prix, including the TT and the Dutch, Italian and East and West German events. It is the Bianchi – Leo Tonti’s brainchild. But for some minor teething troubles and imperfect handling on bumpy bends, it would have harvested a much richer crop of successes.” The Bianchi was full of ingenuity and practicality for the GP racing of the day. The valve operation could be changed readily to desmodromic if desired, and ringing the transmission changes between five and six speeds took just a few minutes, with no need to part the crankcase halves. Although the primary drive was by enclosed gears, the reduction could be varied as readily as that of the secondary drive (i.e. chain and sprockets). Our first drawing shows, among other technical details, an upturned cylinder head with valve seats cut directly into the casting (no inserts used) and the hairpin valve springs, each with 3½ coils on each side, which worked in light-alloy collars. The valve stems were Stellitetipped for wear resistance and their guides were full length rather than cut off flush with the port wall. Seen to the left of the crankcase half in the first drawing were the rev-meter drive gear box, foot-change selector mechanism and final-drive sprocket. In the second drawing, four flywheel discs with integral shafts,

Producing a claimed 52bhp and a top speed of 112mph, the 692cc Royal Enﬁeld Constellation parallel twin was the biggest British motorcycle of its day, and the road test by Bruce Main-Smith in the May 18, 1961 issue of Motor Cycling was accompanied by this brilliant sectioned drawing by Collins that occupied the centre spread of the magazine. The crank assembly was machined from a single forging, and the reserv rvoir v of the dry-s sum mp lub brication sys stem wa as incorporated in the crankcase.

two crankpins and a reinforced coupling sleeve incorporating the 24-tooth driving pinion were pressed together to form the crankshaft, the loose disc between the inner shafts forming an abutment for the dismantling tool. The middle bearings for the crankshaft were housed in a robust casting secured to the crankcase by nine flange bolts, four crankcasemouth studs and six radial and chordal screws. Such details were the mere tip of the iceberg in Vic’s utterly comprehensive description of the 48bhp machine on which, in the previous year, Bob McIntyre had finished second at Assen and third at the Sachsenring, and Alan Shepherd had taken fourth place at Monza. Moving on to classic British single-cylinder motorcycles, a beautiful sectioned drawing of the 343cc BSA B40 Star engine, a unit derived from that of the popular 250cc C15, illustrated a full description of the newcomer in the September 8, 1960 issue of The Motor Cycle – and the enthusiastic road test that followed on January 19, 1961 began: “Study almost any three-fifty of a few years ago and what do you see? In nearly every case you find a model sharing a common frame, wheels, cycle parts and other components with a sister five-hundred.

Lawrie Watts’ cutaway drawing of BSA’s new unit-construction engine for its A50 and A65 Star parallel twins appeared in the January 4, 1962 issue of The Motor Cycle. The stroke for both engines was 74mm with bores of 65.5mm for the 499cc and 75mm for the 654cc versions respectively. The rocker box was cast integrally with the cylinder head, and the four-speed gearbox was of the ‘up-for-up’ variety.

22 FROM THE ARCHIVE

August 2020

later by publishing a sectioned “In order to withstand the stresses Once again the tech illustrators drawing of a Gold Star (which we imposed by the bigger engine these were called upon to help – not by also reproduce for comparison) components have to be robust – far drawing a complete engine (that along with a summary of the more so than demanded by the had obviously been done before) ‘Goldie’s’ distinguished history. three-fifty. And since favourable but instead drawings showing the Part of the elongated caption went: power-to-weight ratio is one of the Super-5’s front fork and that new most important factors in the quest “The square-fin look appeared cluster of gears. in 1954 and, almost completely for good all-round performance, Remaining with Royal Enfield, redesigned, the new motors gave the three-fifty invariably began after the unfortunate demise 30 and 37bhp. Both sizes had a new life under an illogical handicap. It of Vincent in 1955, the 692cc head and barrel, shorter con-rods was robust, yes, but acceleration, Constellation became Britain’s and mechanical breathers. One economy, braking and handling biggest twin, and to accompany a notable feature was the switch to (and even manhandling) were road test report in the May 18, 1961 inevitably less good than they might eccentric rockers for valve-clearance issue of Motor Cycling, a full centre adjustment. have been. spread was given to a fully sectioned “The new short-rod 85 x 88mm “Today, however, the picture drawing of it. five-hundred needed oval flywheels has changed, and the one-time Seen in full racing crouch on Cinderella moves in the royal circle. to gain piston-skirt clearance at the lusty parallel twin on the Three-fifty engines occupy modified bottom-dead-centre, but later a embankment at MIRA, and easily shorter piston skirt proved just as versions of 250cc frames, and such identifiable by the triangle on his good – and cheaper. Needle-roller a model is the BSA 323cc B40 Star – helmet, was staffman Bruce Mainbearings were adopted in the one of the latest arrivals on the new Smith, with whom I worked as a 20 gearbox for 1954.” ‘potent-lightweight’ scene.” and 21-year-old junior reporter on By the end of 1957, though, some Unlike that of its smaller C15 sister, the title in 1965 and 1966. the new engine was distinguished by production of Bert Hopwood’s One abiding memory of Bruce handiwork was being axed under the absence of an external pushrod was returning with him on the train pressure from BSA’s sister company, tube, for the rods were enclosed to London after one of our regular Triumph, and for some time instead in an integrally cast tunnel Monday proof-reading sessions afterwards the Gold Star languished in the cylinder barrel, and the B40 at QB printers at Colchester, when almost invisible in the catalogue. had a heavier front fork and 18-inch the question of expenses arose. Much to the grief of enthusiasts and “What are those?” I asked naively, diameter wheels rather than the BSA staff alike, the models finally 17-inch diameter items fitted to the having started off on a small local became the subject of an edict two-fifty. newspaper where, if you even had from on high, and emphasis was Top speed in fourth gear was the audacity to take a taxi to the local transferred to the Triumph Tiger 75mph, and it took the 21bhp magistrates’ court rather than a bus, 100 twins. newcomer a mean time of 19.6 the office manager would knock it Among the best-looking and most seconds to cover a standing-start down to the bus fare straight away. popular single-cylinder lightweights “My dear boy,” he replied, “don’t you quarter-mile, with a terminal speed of the time were Royal Enfield’s of just 66mph. know you could be sitting on a 248cc Crusader and Crusader Sports, gold mine?” Notably absent from the report, but in the September 21, 1961 issue though, was any lament for the In the road test report he of The Motor Cycle an unexpected beloved 30bhp 350cc ‘Goldie’ , wrote: “The 692cc Royal Enfield is newcomer was announced – the which like its 500cc counterpart was the largest-capacity motorcycle five-speed Crusader Super-5 that now living on borrowed time and currently made in Britain, and with featured a new leading link front would be gone forever within the a sports specification including twin fork, five-speed Albion gearbox and, following three years. carburettors and high-compression like the rest of the Crusaders, a new It was left to a later newspaperpistons, is also one of the fastest and wider air-smoothed glass-fi fib fi bre style issue of The Motor Cyycle to mach hines on th he market. Maximum rear mudguard. correct this oversight some years speed obtained at the MIRA RA A test

This cross-secttion through h the cyllind der head d off the new BSA twiins sh hows the valve angles and the position of the sparking plug. Note also the valve-spring details that are obscured by the rocker posts in the larger drawing.

track was a scorching 112mph, the machine rock-steady and the motor running at exactly its rated peak of 6250rpm – claimed output at which is 51bhp.” As the drawing shows, the ‘Connie’ followed normal Royal Enfield parallel-twin practice in having a crank assembly machined from a single forging, a dry-sump lubrication reservoir incorporated in the crankcase and dual front brakes. Styling-wise, the model featured Enfield’s twin-pilot-light headlamp ‘casquette’ and the new moulded glass-fibre rear mudguard. In the January 4, 1962 issue of

The Motor Cycle of November 3, 1960 really went to town with its description of Velocette’s new Viceroy scooter. Comprising the chain-reduction unit, clutch, gearbox and bevel box, the entire transmission assembly was pivoted from its forw rward w end. This Lawrie Watts drawing also shows the reduction-gear sprockets of 19 and 43 teeth respectively, which meant the clutch ran at just under half engine speed. The rear-wheel driving pinion was carried on an extension of the gearbox output shaft.

Backbone of the Velocette scooter was this sturdy 2½-in diameter tube.

The Viceroy’s light-alloy cylinders had shrunk-in iron liners, and in this illustration the transfer-port angles are indicated by dotted lines.

The reed valves of the Viceroy’s horizontally opposed 54 x 54m mm 248cc two-stroke twin were fed through a bifu urcated manifold from a single Amal Monobloc carburettor.

The Motor Cycle, Midland editor Bob Currie heralded BSA’s unitconstruction 499cc A50 Star and 654cc A65 Star unit-construction parallel twins by starting his report: “They’re ringing in the New Year at the BSA factory with a pair of brand-new big twins. Low-built and light (some 40lb lighter than the current counterparts), the latest in the Small Heath line-up are packed with power and as compact in appearance as only unit-construction of engine and gearbox can achieve…”

August 2020

FROM THE ARCHIVE 23

In nstead of utilising a brand new type off engine like that in the Velocette Viiceroy, the DMW Deemster sc cooter relied on a tried and tested 24 49cc Villiers two-stroke twin. This drrawing by J E Fisher showed the built-in legshields, windscreen and re ear carrier.

The Deemster’s robust all-welded frame featured 2in-diameter tank and seat tubes and a 1¼-in square-section front downtube..

The four-page feature in ncorporated a sectioned drawing byy Lawrie Watts of one of the en ngines along with several other teechnical illustrations, one of them a cross-section through the cylinder head illustrating the valve angles and spark plug positioning. Both engines had the same 74mm stroke, with bores for the 499cc and 654cc versions measuring 65.5mm and 75mm respectively. The rocker box was cast integrally with the cylinder head, and the gearbox provided an ‘up-for-up’ movement for the gear pedal. Two outstanding 250cc scooters of the time provided yet more fodder for the technical drawing teams, the first being the lavish 248cc Velocette Viceroy, described in The Motor Cycle of November 3, 1960 as “a luxurious scooter with flat-twin two-stroke power unit and shaft drive”, but as I alluded to it in my flat-twins feature of only two issues ago, we’ll just concentrate on the drawings this time. Just a little simpler in concept was the 249cc DMW Deemster that was covered in a three-page feature, including three fine technical drawings, in The Motor Cycle of January 19, 1961. “A complete departure from the conventional, a machine crammed from nose to tail with novel yet thoroughly practical features,” began the report. “Such is the Deemster, the latest model to come from the drawing board of DMW designer Mike Riley. Powered by the 249cc twin engine-gear unit, it appears to be an amalgam of scooter and motorcycle, yet it is no hastily conceived hotch-potch…”

In fact the machine had been under development for almost two years, its existence kept secret until Mike was completely satisfied that all the buggs had been shaken out. Of particular interest was the all-welded and extremely robust frame featuring 2in-diameter tank and seat tubes and a 1½in-squaresection front downtube. Full legshields, windscreen and carrier were also part of the specification, and there was a choice of electric or kick-starting. Sadly, despite the promise both held, neither the Viceroy nor the Deemster achieved the sales that might have been anticipated. Finally, let’s turn to another racing model – this time Montesa’s carefully developed 125cc twostroke Sportsman production racer which, in 1961, developed an impressive 18bhp at 8000rpm. Back in 1956, riding a forerunner of this small and light machine, Marcello Cama had swept quietly to second place in the Lightweight 125cc TT. Optimising the power characteristics of two-strokes can be incredibly difficult to work out, and ‘the Blue ‘Un’ of April 6, 1961 could have chosen no one better than Hermann Meier to do the maths and write the story. The exploded drawing on the opening spread shows features such as the crankcase-mouth pillars, piston-skirt cutaways to match the transfer ports and shortening adjacent to the inlet port, steep induction downdraught, I-section connecting rod and open crankshaft balance holes, with a completely orthodox gearbox and clutch.

The Montesa Sport rtsman’s t cylinderr head featured a half-moon squish band to give a compression ratio of 12 to 1..

The Motor Cycle of April 6, 1961 went to a lot of trouble to describe a little 125cc Montesa two-stroke single racing engine in this wonderf rful f exploded drawing by J A Marsden. It illustrated many of the features described by Hermann Meier in the feature that accompanied it – including the crankcase-mouth pillars, piston-skirt cutaways, steep induction downdraught, I-section connecting rod and open crankshaft balance holes.

14 READERS' LETTERS

October 2020

readers’ letters

Please send all letters to Old Bike Mart, Mortons Media, Morton Way, Horncastle, LN9 6JR or email OBMeditor@mortons.co.uk and please include your locality

✪ Muc-off Star Letter

Chasing the leak I am probably the last person in the world to find out about this but, just in case there is one other person that is struggling, here is something I have recently found out regarding the chasing of the source of oil leaks and using UV lights and UV dye to find it. I have been chasing oil leaks on a Sunbeam S7 bike for many years. The problem is identifying the source of the leak, as after a few miles of riding, the oil is spread across the engine. Running the bike ‘static’ doesn’t help, as it’s so hard to see where the oil trail begins. But no more… The answer is to use a UV (ultra violet) torch, and possibly a UV oil dye. I didn’t realise that oil will naturally ‘fluoresce’ (i.e. be luminous) under UV light. So, if you clean up an engine as much as possible (then run it), and then shine a UV torch onto the engine, it will show up the trail of the oil. Of course, if the oil leak is very slow, or is a very small leak, you may want to improve the chance of finding it, to this end, you can add a UV dye to the oil, and try again. This UV dye is really ‘bright’ under UV light, and very easy to spot. Clearly, you need to be in a dark place when you do the test, as the fluorescence effect is easier to spot. Also be aware that (I think) any oil product will fluoresce, including petrol, so whatever leak you are chasing will show up as a glow. Apparently different oil products fluoresce as slightly different colours; personally, as long as they glow in the dark, I don’t care. Note: After cleaning up the engine, and before you do the first test (and before you add any dye) try shining the torch on the engine, it will give you the ‘before’ image so you can see where there is old oil present, and then it’s easier to see what changes when you run it. If you use the dye, it suggests running the engine for 20 minutes to mix in the dye (as in driving, I believe). Trouble is, oil can get a long way in 20 minutes… So, I think it’s better to mix the dye with some oil (to aid mixing), and then do a static test (stationary, in the garage, or a darkish place) for a few minutes to start with, then do the torch test, then repeat,

A pillion seat of desire?

doubling the time each time, until you can see where it’s coming from. The products I used are: UV Torch: LemonBest Bright 395 nm 51 UV LED Flashlight Black Light (Amazon) Dye: Ring RLD4 (again Amazon) at present, only available as a ‘kit’ with a small UV torch included, for a couple of extra quid. The torch works, but is very low-powered – you are way better off using something that is more powerful. Note: I am not paid by anyone for recommending these products, and there may be many fine alternatives available, I’m just telling you what I have used, and where I got them from. Happy oil leak hunting! Peter Grieves

Keep your motorcycle in concours condition with the help of Muc-Off. Its fantastic range of bikecleaning products will make short work of shifting all sorts of road dirt. Get that muck off with MucOff! Even better, each month the star letter on OBM’s ‘Your View’ page will get a litre of Muc-Off Bike Cleaner for your clean start. Visit www.muc-off.com to see the full range, or ﬁnd Muc-Off on Facebook.

Three wheels on my Popemobile I am a subscriber to Real Classic magazine and do not usually get to see Old Bike Mart. However, recently a friend showed me an article from your August edition by Mick Payne about sidecars, as he saw that I was mentioned in the article and it concerned my sidecar outfit, which has always been nicknamed the ‘Popemobile’.

I would like to assure Mick that the sidecar is still very much in circulation, although for a variety of reasons it does not get used anywhere near as much now as when he knew it. As Mick says, it was Keith Wash of Unit Sidecars who gave it that nickname, as its first owner was named Pope and it was built

around the same time as the real Popemobile. The Harley Sportster that was fitted to it when Mick tried it out for a write-up in Motorcycle Sport magazine in 1994, and which was not the bike attached to it when I got it, was a rather disastrous and costly mistake by me. I then compounded that with another even more costly disaster with the next bike I chose for it, a Moto Shifty. After that experience I sort of gave up and left the sidecar on its own, stored in the garage for five years before deciding I wanted a sidecar again and getting Unit Sidecars to fit the current bike in 2004, a BMW R1100GS which had been owned by one of the Unit Sidecars team. It is never going to be an agile or sporting outfit to drive and the sidecar woodwork, which is mainly plywood, is now starting to show its age, but it is still okay for what we want it for and, after all, even though the bike is only 26 years old the sidecar itself is now 37 years old, which is not bad going. Colin Atkinson

Neil Cairns’ article in the September edition, The Autumn of a 1946 BSA C11, brought back some happy memories because my first bike was also a C11 and had an interesting tale attached to its purchase. It was back in 1956 and the bike was a 1950 model with tele forks and solid rear end. It cost all of £30, which was a lot for a 16-year-old apprentice on £2-12s-6d a week. It makes Neil’s purchase at £6 sound like a real bargain. The guy who was selling the bike had recently acquired a very smart, if rather dated, Norton and hence the sale of the C11. He worked for a film company which had used the bike in the making of the film Bhowani Junction which was based on the book by John Masters about the separation of India in 1946 and the resulting plight of the AngloIndian community. The film came out in 1956 and starred Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger and Bill Travers and the Norton was the transport used by Bill Travers with Ava Gardner perched very prettily, side saddle on the pillion. I can recommend the film to anyone unfamiliar with it and you can imagine how my buddy and I spent long moments gazing at, and even daring to touch, that pillion seat.

When filming was over, the bike was of little value and had been sold off cheap along with the other props to anyone interested. I have mentioned that it looked rather dated and this was because it had been especially made for the film by Norton to its 1946 specification, which differed in many ways from the up-to-date models especially as it was the last year that Norton used girder forks. The film company obviously took great pains with authenticity back in those days – what a contrast with Steve McQueen’s Triumph/BMW in The Great Escape. I had good service out of my C11 and sold it on a couple of years later in part exchange for a Speed Twin. I have often wondered if the Norton is still around – it could be quite valuable today, especially if it still has that original pillion seat. I've sent a couple of pictures of me and the C11 back in 1956, I believe the Mortons Archive may have some of the Norton with Ava on the back. Peter Jackson, West Sussex. Unfortunately I can’t seem to locate any pics of the delectable Ms Gardner and the Norton in question within the archives. Ed.

Bargain Beezas striking stories In the September edition of OBM I was fascinated by Neil Cairns’ article The Autumn of a 1946 BSA C11. When Neil joined his school in Bletchley I was living in a parallel universe in Fulham, London and I too was starting my fifth year at school and mad on motorbikes. Like Neil I had very little income apart from a pittance from my paper round and 10 bob occasionally from the family at birthdays and Christmas. At school my mates and I would pore over old copies of The Motor Cycle and dream of things to come. Imagine the joy one morning when cycling off to deliver papers I found that somebody had ‘dumped’ a tatty motorbike at the kerb outside our house. I drooled over it for a week, spending more and more time looking at it from my bedroom

window. My tolerant mum was not too keen but under pressure she allowed me to seek out the owner who lived locally. He was an ‘elderly’ man, about 30, and was only too pleased to get it off his hands. I did not strike as good a bargain as Neil, but parted with £12 and became the owner of a 1948 BSA C11 needing plenty of TLC. Having spent all of my savings, my mum offered to buy me a book to help me learn properly about motorcycling. Like Neil, I chose an Iliffe book, mine was called Speed and how to obtain it, costing 8s-6d, and like Neil, I still own it. I await with interest the next instalment of Neil’s story. Can there be more adventures with his C11 to parallel my own? Who would believe that after half a century elderly C11s can still provide magical stories. Cliff Shorter Stubbington, Hampshire

Cellar Cafe memories The late 1960s Summers (part 2) article by Barry Gwynnett in the Sept 2020 edition of OBM brought back many good memories of the Cellar Cafe in Windsor and time spent there, along with my cousins of a similar age to myself. It also being the place I met my first wife. The two people in the middle of the Castrol advert that Barry appeared in, that he could not remember the names

of, were my cousin Kenny Kinsell, with the sunglasses on, along with his mate Martin Reddington behind him with the hat on. Unfortunately Kenny passed away when he was only about 30 years old, and I have lost touch with Martin, but I still ride on sunny days on either my Velocette Viper or Triumph T90 and often think about those times. Geoff Cook , West Sussex.

20 FROM THE ARCHIVE

October 2020

Earls Court Shows recaptured with glass plate clarity! Hidden away in Mortons’ Motorcycle Archive are almost two tons of glass plate images recalling our motorcycling heritage from as far back as the beginning of the 20th century, and as the accompanying images taken between 1949 and 1954 (next month we’ll show up to 1960) clearly illustrate, they remained the way to recapture top events such as the Earls Court Motorcycle Shows for many years, writes Pete Kelly.

lthough most of us probably associate glass plate photography with the family portrait studios of Victorian and Edwardian times, the time-proven method remained superior to film for research-quality images, including superbly-detailed wide-field photography, well into the 20th century, and a jewel in the crown among the millions of historical images in Mortons’ vast photographic archive is its priceless collection of glass plates. Many of these recorded the Earls Court Motorcycle Shows from 1948 until 1960, a period of vast social change that reflected both

the postwar peak of the British motorcycle industry and the first hints of its gradual decline. Almost 20 years ago, the glass plate collection was called upon to illustrate a popular series of square-format, softback books published by Mortons, and in one about bike shows they were researched and captioned by Ken Hallworth, founding editor of Old Bike Mart and the first national secretary of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club. Ken, who passed away at the age of 74 in December 2016, was a dyedin-the-wool vintage motorcycle enthusiast, and one of the warmest

people you could wish to meet, and I hope his spirit will live on in his descriptions of many of the images accompanying this feature. The crowds who flocked to the 1949 show, many in anticipation of better times to come during a period of sustained austerity, were greeted by a glittering showcase of home-built motorcycles, even though some of the best were reserved strictly for export in the desperate drive for foreign currency – but one thing that struck me most, notwithstanding cosmetic tweaks, was how similar many of them were to some machines still being built 10 years later.

Two BSA show-s stealers – the 650cc twin and 125cc Bantam, were featured on the cover of The Motor Cycle’s London Show issue in October 1949.

Stand preparations for the 1949 Earls Court Show were clearly incomplete when this glass plate image of Charlie Rogers’ International Six Days’ Trial gold medal-winning 350cc ohv Royal Enﬁeld Bullet was taken. The Redditch ﬁrm pioneered swinging-arm rear suspension with this model, and many other manufacturers would follow suit during the following decade.

Parallel twins were growing in size, and two brand new 650s, the Triumph Thunderbird and BSA Golden Flash, were displayed for the ﬁrst time at the 1949 show. In his caption to this glass plate image of the Beesa 20 years ago, Ken Hallworth wrote: “The Model A10 Golden Flash would be the basis for, arguably, BSA’s most popular model-line of all time. Enamelled in a striking polychromatic beige and with plunger rear suspension, the big twin went well, stopped well – thanks to an 8in front brake – and gained an enviable reputation for reliability.”

At the 1949 show, Douglas displayed several models based around its transverse ohv 350cc ﬂat twin whose engine was developed from a wartime generator set.

The Bond Minicar, powered by a tiny 122cc Villiers two-stroke engine and three-speed gearbox, aroused much curiosity at the 1949 Earls Court Show.

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Opening the 1952 Earls Court Motorcycle Show, Prince Philip praised the reputation of British motorcycle industry throughout the world, but warned against complacency or relaxation of effort. In his caption Ken Hallworth added: “Trade dignitaries, here assembled behind him, would have done well to hang upon his every word.”

The 1949 exhibits included five 350cc Douglas models powered by transverse flat twins whose origins lay in wartime generator sets; the export-only 500cc Matchless G9 Super Clubman parallel twin; the brand new 650cc Triumph Thunderbird parallel twin (two examples of which had just completed 500 consecutive miles at over 90mph); the 650cc BSA A10 Golden Flash parallel twin; the shaftdrive Sunbeam S7 in-line twin and its sportier S8 variant, a newcomer at the show; and a handsome 500cc parallel twin from Royal Enfield.

Velocette was plugging its whisperquiet 149cc LE at the expense of the more traditional 350cc and 500cc roadsters by showing no fewer than 10 examples, but a 350cc KTT racing single was also displayed to remind showgoers that a full works version had just taken the 350cc world championship in the hands of Freddie Frith. Many neat-looking lightweights appeared in the smaller-capacity classes, including a brace of 125cc Douglas Vespa scooters; a 125cc BSA Bantam attached to a Garrard Gazelle sidecar; a Villers-engined

In anticipation of the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Ariel reworked its 997cc Square Four by giving it a four-pipe cylinder head, deep-section ﬁvegallon petrol tank and an attractive alternative ﬁnish of Wedgwood blue, the latter extended to a Swallow Jet 80 sidecar at the 1952 show.

Quirky or what? This miniature box sidecar for, of all things, a 98cc Corgi scooter, was demonstrated at the 1952 Earls Court Show. Ken Hallworth couldn’t resist: “Capable of being parachuted behind enemy lines (it must have put the fear of god into them – Ed) it had reached Mk IV form by 1952, which meant front wheel springing, a steel weathershield and an electric horn, none of which improved its potential for hauling commercial supplies around town…”

197cc 200DS Dot lightweight; Excelsior’s Talisman twin powered by the Tyseley firm’s own 250cc two-stroke engine; and 125cc twostrokes from James, Royal Enfield and Norman. A mighty 998cc Vincent Black Lightning was surrounded by drooling crowds throughout the show, but the response to the dodgem-like Bond Minicar, with a tiny 122cc Villiers engine beneath the bonnet, was perhaps a little more muted! By the time Prince Philip opened the 1952 Earls Court Motorcycle Show on November 15, Britain was finally on the up-and-up, with the forthcoming coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on June 2 of the following year only adding to the spirit of optimism. Opening the show, Philip tempered his observation that the British motorcycle industry enjoyed an unsurpassed world-wide reputation for excellence by warning against any kind of complacency. For the coronation year, Ariel re-styled its 997cc Square Four with a four-pipe cylinder head, a new five-gallon petrol tank and an alternative Wedgwood Blue finish that was repeated on the Swallow Jet 80 sidecar it was hitched to. DMW of Sedgley also revealed its 1953 Coronation model, powered by a 122cc Villiers engine and featuring a bottom-link Metal Profiles front fork.

For The Motor Cycle’s London Show Guide issue of November 13, 1952, the 498cc Matchless G9 Super Clubman took centre stage.

Another oddity at the 1952 show was this Pashley delivery tri-car, powered by a 197cc Villiers engine.

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October 2020

Brightening the anti-climax after the 1953 Coronation, that year’s Earls Court Cycle and Motorcycle Show was as bright, breezy and hopeful for British manufacturers as anyone could have wished.

As evidenced by two sturdy British singles, the 498cc Model 18S from Matchless and Velocette’s 349cc MAC, dual seats were starting to take over from the traditional sprung saddles. Two small motorcycles from big firms that attracted admiring glances from younger show visitors were Royal Enfield’s brand new twostroke 148cc Ensign and Triumph’s peppy 149cc overhead-valve Terrier, and adding to the variety was a stylish 197cc Villiers-engined Dot roadster with a full swinging-arm.

The show was remembered for its curiosities too, including a 98cc Corgi with a tiny box sidecar (honestly!); a 197cc Villiers-powered Ambassador boasting a huge diagonal tin cover concealing a primitive attempt at electric starting; and – wait for it! – not only a nicely-restyled Bond Minicar whose 197cc Villiers engine must have given it a huge power boost, but also a Bond Minitruck! If anyone remembers ever seeing a butcher boy’s bike with a large carrier frame above the small front wheel, there’s a good chance it

would have been a Pashley. The Aston, Birmingham, firm’s offering for the 1952 Show was a light tri-car design with a forward load-carrying platform, a 197cc Villiers 6E tucked away beneath a comfy-looking driving seat and a very neat rear end enclosure incorporating the petrol tank. Sadly, the roads were destined never to teem with them. The 1953 Cycle and Motorcycle Show, boasting a fair degree of innovation and ever-more-stylish displays, was again dominated by British firms. Norton sprung a sporting surprise with the appearance of its famous ‘kneeler’ on which, shortly before the show, Rhodesian Ray Amm had captured an amazing 61 speed records at Montlhery, France, including the hour record at 133.71 miles in an hour. Tragically, just 18 months later, Amm lost his life at Imola during his very first appearance for Gilera. He was just 27.

After taking a sackful of records at Montlhery in France in the hands of Rhodesian road racing star Ray Amm, the Norton ‘ﬂying ﬁsh’ kneeler was proudly displayed at the 1953 show.

Fleetwing appearance

It was a thumbs-up thumbs up for the 500cc BSA Golden Flash on the cover of this 1953 Show Guide issue of The Motor Cycle.

Another show highlight was Greeves’ first appearance with its 25D Fleetwing, powered by a 242cc British Anzani rotary inlet valve two-stroke twin and featuring what would become the Essex firm’s trademark cast-alloy front frame member. The model also boasted rubber-in-torsion suspension front and rear. Once again DMW caused a stir by showing a ‘Hornet’ racer powered by a 125cc overhead-camshaft engine from the French company AMC and featuring DMW’s composite P-type frame, an Earles-type leading-link front fork, light alloy hubs and fullwidth brakes. A lovely-looking single-overheadcamshaft 250cc twin that would have been perfect for a whole range of new British lightweights was exhibited by J A Prestwich (JAP), but unfortunately it was never seen again. Among the racing bikes and trophies displayed by Norton was a limitedproduction OHC ‘International’ roadster in a Featherbed frame with

Powered by a 125cc French AMC camshaft engine, and with an Earles-type leading-link front fork, DMW’s ‘Hornet’ racer was a big surprise at the 1953 show.

short Roadholder forks and a big 8in front brake. Ariel revealed its lusty BSA A10-based but subtly restyled 650cc Huntmaster vertical twin which, attached to a Watsonian ‘Avon’ sidecar, had completed an ACU-observed 1700 mile journey covering seven countries in seven days at a cruising speed of 60mph and a petrol consumption of 45mpg. The 1954 Earls Court Show was a whopper, with no fewer than 187 exhibitors filling the show hall. In world motorcycle sport, British

machines remained a force to be reckoned with, and four winners from the very same year were on display to prove it – Ray Amm’s oddlooking Norton ‘Proboscis’ that had brought him a Senior TT victory; Eric Oliver’s Norton Watsonian outfit that had done likewise in the sidecar TT; the AJS 7R/3 ‘tripleknocker’, featuring two exhaust valves and a single inlet valve, on which Rod Coleman had taken the Junior TT and Hugh Viney’s ISDT Gold Medal-winning AJS Model 20 parallel twin.

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Exhibited by J A Prestwich (JAP), this sparkling 250cc twin engine, with a chain-driven overhead camshaft, was just what British motorcycle makers needed... but after the 1953 show it was never seen again! For the 1954 show, James marked 40 years of lightweight progress by showing a 1915 2¼ hp (225cc) roadster against a 224cc Colonel, brand new for the 1955 season.

Out with the sprung hub, in with the swinging arm! Triumph showed this updated 5T ‘Speed Twin’ at the 1954 event.

Vincent displayed a sectioned version of what would prove to be its final V-twin model, the all-enclosed 998cc Series D Black Prince, accompanied by a 500cc single-cylinder successor to the Series C Comet, but sadly the famous company was doomed; the very last Vincent would roll off the Stevenage production line on December 18 of the following year. The event saw the debuts of two British scooters – the 224cc Dayton Albatross and the 197cc Scootamobile produced by Exeter’s Harper Aircraft Co, both machines powered by Villiers engines.

The most innovative of the sidecars was perhaps Watsonian’s monocoque-constructed Monaco featuring trailing-arm suspension, stylish mudguard with built-in lighting, lift-up access and a useful rear boot. Most lightweights at the time still looked a little ‘bitty’, but the sleek styling applied to the full-sized, dual-seat 197cc Francis-Barnett Falcon 70, powered by a Villiers 8E two-stroke single, set the scene for several years to come. James represented 40 years of progress by displaying a 1915 2¼ horsepower machine alongside a

1955 224cc Villiers-powered Colonel two-stroke single, and into the same category came Ambassador’s tidy-looking 224cc Supreme, boasting wellvalanced mudguards and a comfy dual seat. The show also marked the coming transition from sprung-hub to full swinging-arm rear suspension for Triumph’s legendary 498cc Speed Twin, which made the 1955 display model look more handsome than ever, and those who could afford it both at home and abroad just couldn’t wait to get their hands on one!

What a sight for sore eyes the Earls Court exhibition ﬂoor looked in 1954, with Ariel’s ‘dark horse’ absolutely unmissable. Pointing inwards at the bottom left, NSU’s 49cc, two-speed Quickly was to make a huge impact in the years to come.

14 READERS' LETTERS

November 2020

readers’ letters

Please send all letters to Old Bike Mart, Mortons Media, Morton Way, Horncastle, LN9 6JR or email OBMeditor@mortons.co.uk and please include your locality

Galletto chariot and a restored Cardellino

✪ Muc-off Star Letter

Take your chances... the future is still to be found Is it serendipity? Maybe, or perhaps a sequence of events like that tangled handful of bungeecords that you laid down in the garage so carefully yesterday? Either way, when I started reading the October OBM a string of themes appeared to intertwine. I’ll explain…. In my stable of bikes sits a 1970 Bantam, very different from those which emanated from Small Heath, though still retaining the spirit of the prototype developed in 1966 by the Martin brothers and those ridden by Brian Martin and Jeff Smith in the St David’s Trial, or even the one ridden by Dave Rowlands to second place in the 1967 SSDT and victory at the Allan Jeffries Trial that year. I built the bike entirely from spares in 2001 to compete in MCC long distance trials and competed on it in many subsequent events, as well as riding it to work, green-laning* and on the road, as I still do. (*so much fun.) It featured in a classic bike magazine in 2008 and Letter of the Month in October 2016 OBM. It also gave me the most valued award from a competitive trial in my life when I finished the 2007 Land’s End Trial after illness. (See below.)

Inspiration

October 2020 OBM carried your editorial in which you lamented the lack of a Bantam in your stable and, on page 26, the inspirational article by ‘Wilber’ about his Bantam and the accompanying photograph of Bob Currie astride a Bushman model. You recently printed a letter from me that mentioned my past activities with Bedfordshire Police MCC and the attendance of Bob Currie at meetings. There has been a series of articles by Neil Cairns and this appears very much like a man of the same name with whom I served in Bedfordshire Police. Just where is the rambling going? Simple, the intertwining of our lives. The essence of your October editorial is one of a positive attitude in the current trying conditions, something I laud greatly and also find amongst my many motorcycling friends, an acceptance that Covid-19 will be with us for the remainder of our lives and we need to live with it, something that is a lot easier for our chosen lifestyle than it is for others for whom high concentrations of people is at the core of their activities. Amongst my group of friends is a group of Bantam enthusiasts here in East Sussex who regularly meet up and ride, sometimes on

Bantams, sometimes on modern machinery, sometimes on roads, sometimes on green lanes. Although as individuals we belong to various clubs, as an entity we are simply a part of the East Sussex WhatsApp Group, no committee, no membership fees, no rules, no bureaucracy and, best of all, we have become good mates! We communicate via this app and it enables instant decisions as to where and when to meet, where to go, in addition to helping each other with Bantamrelated issues. It avoids the problems that some clubs are experiencing of “nothing happening this year”. (If any Bantam aficionados in the south east would like to join us then please contact me on roy.omb@gmail.com) There have been many letters and articles in OBM of late in which people reminisce. However I try not to dwell on the past too much as the important time is the here and now and what we do with it. I am now in my 70s and have had two types of cancer in my life, one in 2006 for which I am cured and another in 2018 for which all looks well but I am still in remission. (In some respects I am on my third life!) One of the worst aspects of cancer diagnosis is one’s planning for the future, even that not too far ahead, suddenly grinds to a halt. It may be that this experience has helped me and others with similar experiences to better deal with the uncertainties of Covid-19. I am not for one moment suggesting we should abandon all caution, quite the contrary. My philosophy now is best reflected by the advert: ‘One life. Live it’. Thus while it is great to see fantastic articles such as the one in October OBM looking back at Earls Court Shows (JAP ohc twin engine in 1953, tell us more, please!), I hope we are all looking to the future with our families, friends and motorcycles, planning what we will be doing tomorrow, next week, next month, next year and so forth, all the time looking AHEAD. This amazing world of the motorcycling brotherhood / sisterhood has given us an advantage over so many other people in our society. Let’s look adversity full in the eye, hold our heads up, smile and continue to reach out to each other, enjoying the company of like-minded enthusiasts, planning joint activities within the Covid-19 rules (most cafes have adapted and made use of their facilities feasible and some autojumbles / shows are still going ahead), but, most importantly of all, living life – we only get one chance! Roy Warren

Keep your motorcycle in concours condition with the help of Muc-Off. Its fantastic range of bikecleaning products will make short work of shifting all sorts of road dirt. Get that muck off with Muc-Off! Even better, each month the star letter on OBM’s ‘Your View’ page will get a litre of Muc-Off Bike Cleaner for your clean start. Visit www.muc-off.com to see the full range, or find Muc-Off on Facebook.

Classic race transport This may be of interest to you, the Morris Oxford van in the background of the picture of the Adler on page 16 of the September issue was owned by me from the early 1980s and used as race transport when I raced in VMCC events. It was previously owned by Colin Hopkinson of Tydd who had it from new and was a regular visitor to the Isle of Man and other mainland circuits with his pal, Brian Denehy, who I believe raced a Manx Norton. I think it now resides in Oxford. Oliver Williams, Tydd.

I thought this might be of interest to you following the picture last month on the front of OBM. It was taken some years ago at a Moto Guzzi event in Mandello. I don’t know anything about it but I suspect it was made for a film. As you can see it is two Galletto motorcycle-scooters. How many people saw the TV programme of The Restoration Shop where the presenter ‘restored’ what looked like a Cardellino with a handful of wire wool and a couple of spray cans, what could this boy achieve with a

big hammer and a toothbrush? And he wanted around £1000 profit! When we get people like this claiming to have restored old

motorcycles, he needs to take a look at what can be achieved by someone who knows what he’s doing. Roy Dagger

Amm rode de Agusta, not Gilera, Gil on fateful ul day d Reading the Earls Court Show recaptured feature. I read that Ray Amm lost his life riding a Gilera. I don’t think he ever rode a Gilera, I seem to recall that he was killed while testing, for the first time an MV Agusta. John Swannack (Road Racer in the 1960s) Nottinghamshire

Indeed, as the fateful day was April 11, 1955, at Imola, when Amm’s 350cc four-cylinder MV Augusta, in second place, skidded and crashed into a steel standard on the 22nd lap of the Italian Gold Cup. Ray Amm was aged just 27, and it was his very first race on the MV.

Normans Bay bikers set for reunion I have just read the latest copy of OBM, and enjoyed very much Readers' Tales, particularly the stories by Mark Bruce. Our family had a caravan (and later a bungalow) in Normans Bay, and I knew Robert Lake, and his sister Carol. 'Bob' was quite a character, and he was always up to mischief! My first road bike was a Yamaha 250

RD2, which caused much laughter in the biking community, until it left many of them gasping at its performance. I would love to hear from Mark if possible. John McDonnell. We’ve passed John’s details on to Mark, and no doubt there’ll be plenty of exchanged tales between the two!

The Crocodile Dundee of motorcycling Not to demean Chic Parr, but the real, and Australian, Motorcycle Crocodile Dundee must be Andy Sutcliffe. Some time in the late Eighties he, and a friend, rocked up in Sheffield. They had one of those big square VW vans. In it were two trials bikes, sleeping bags, stove etc. They had come to ride trials in Yorkshire. Merle and Alan Morewood took them under their wing and pointed them in the right direction; also, I believe, supplementing their diet of jacket potatoes when cash got tight. They were nice guys and brought a breath of fresh air to the trials scene. After a while they returned to the homeland with good wishes from all. Fast forward to the Scottish in the mono Yamaha era (dates are not my strong point), and who should land at the Yamaha camp but Andy. After shaking hands (strong hands, he was the first person I saw changing tyres with just his bare hands…) I asked how come he was here, obviously to ride. Pointing to a careworn TY that he bought on the phone in the south on his way to Scotland, he asked could we help with a bit of fettling, and we were very pleased so to do.

Of course we needed to find out all about this new adventure. No, he had not come from Oz, but Africa, where he guided several safaris, being responsible for punters and ensuring their wellbeing, and effecting emergency repairs to the big trucks they used. Whilst sat around the camp fires he decided to do the Scottish. Andy’s preparations consisted of repairing his boots with old tyres, fashioning tools by cutting and welding so that they could be carried stuck down his boots and sending off his entry. That last bit might be wrong, as Andy could sweet talk himself into most things. Next stop was the UK, stopping en route to buy the bike. Riding kit, aforementioned boots and tools, Levis, t-shirt, helmet and waterproof jacket. That year the weather was usual ‘Scottish’. Four seasons in a day. When I saw Andy in the sections the jacket was dropped at the end card and, in jeans and t-shirt, he rode the section. No matter what the weather. Crocodile Dundee, what a pussycat! Peter Stewart, Sheffield.

Cover coverage showing artistic licence from seven decades ago... I really enjoyed your Earls Court Show feature in the October edition and, in particular, the front covers you printed in colour from the October 1949 London Show Report of The Motor Cycle and the 1953 Show Guide. Together, they seem to show you can’t take everything you see in print at face value because, despite your reference in the caption, the green bike in the 1953

issue is indeed the BSA Shooting Star, as stated in the small print that appears on the cover just in front of the headlight. The reference to the Golden Flash may have misled the unwary but it did not relate to the bike pictured. The cover of the 1949 Show Guide does, however, appear to have been designed to mislead, as the bike the gentleman in that rather natty red jacket

is riding is more likely to be the pre-1951 Perkins-designed long-stroke 500cc A7, and writing BSA 650 on the front number plate doesn’t make it a Golden Flash. The small front brake, the tank and the colour are all different, and the picture on the same page of the new 650 from the same show demonstrates that clearly. The early A7 was a tall engine and the brief

for those who came to design the 650 was doubtless to limit the height of the bigger engine to fit the existing A7 frame. That frame worked well with the separate rocker boxes the A7 had for front and back valves but less so with the 650 and its one piece item. It was still a lovely bike though. A classic case of artistic licence perhaps. Will Fletcher

16 READERS' LETTERS

November 2020

More hedge-dweller information With reference to the letter from Rodney Wildsmith in June 2020’s OBM ‘Hedgedwelling Scott... where are UU?’ Rodney also contacted the Scott Owners’ Club with the same inquiry and we were able to put together some historical information on this remarkable machine. I attach a brief summary in the hope it will be of interest to readers. Unfortunately, its current whereabouts are not known to the club. As a result of this inquiry, Rodney and I had a long chat, and although he is now in North Yorkshire and I am just north of London, it turned out we went to the same Harrow junior school in the 1950s (no, not THAT school!) at about the same time. Amazing... a small world. Thanks for a great magazine, keep up the good work: “Thanks to guidance from helpful fellow Scott Owners’ Club officials we are pleased to be able to respond and add a few details to this interesting inquiry. In the early 1960s and in the Scott world this was a famous bike! It belonged to arch Scott enthusiast, the late Arthur Fogg, and has featured in magazine articles and books. The registration number is UU 906, and Arthur purchased it in 1947 from none other than the great motoring enthusiast Denis S ‘Jenks’ Jenkinson. Jenks was the continental correspondent for Motor S port who had famously partnered Eric Oliver to become three time world sidecar champion and Stirling Moss in the 1955 Mille Miglia. The bike was originally a 1929 TT Replica which Arthur much desired as he knew from experience it had an exceptional turn of speed. Unfortunately Jenks wrecked the engine at the Brighton Speed Trials, and in this condition it was passed on to Arthur. The Scott was reborn several times during the late 1940s and early 50s with what spares were available, and by Arthur’s enthusiasm and his capable hands. With no respect to originality, the engine was switched several times between short-/long-stroke and blind/ detachable head. The Scott was re-enamelled, Brampton girders and a later Shipley twin front brake with a Vincent type balancer. At one stage a sidecar was constructed from a chopped about Milford chassis fitted with an

Story of the hedge-dweller... and its twin!

all-Dural semi-stressed skin body, and fitted to the Scott to allow Arthur to attend the Manx with his new wife. Development continued into the late 1950s around family life and a demanding job, and included a swinging arm conversion by Ted Wichman of Sale, but this was never used. A better idea had occurred to Arthur, which was to send the frame to his friends at Phelon and Moore for the fitting of Panther wheels and front and rear forks. Other modifications were undertaken, many small components replaced with light alloy. Footrest modification precluded the fitting of a kick start, and the machine was never fitted with lights, though it did have a rev counter driven from the magneto sprocket. It was at this stage of development when Rodney came across it in the Isle of Man. Arthur Fogg was first to acknowledge his ‘cannibalism’ of the machine would offend the purist, but at the same time it was generally agreed it was one of the best looking Scotts of the era. Writing in the Scott Owners’ Club magazine in 1963 Arthur claimed he would never part with it, even when he became unable to manage the bump start. Unfortunately the club has lost track of this machine, and the current owner is not known. It was last taxed in 2007-8, and a new V5C was issued in 2011, presumably because of a change of address. However, the owners’ club has extensive records of about 2700 Scott machines, so if readers have one tucked away let our registrar, Ian Parsons, know about it. Incidentally, Ian is registered with the DVLA and is able to help club members and non-members with their application for Scott registration. Richard Tann, membership, The Scott Owners’ Club

Sleds on film? ? Jeff Barnard’s letter in the latest OBM issue brought the past back to life. I was a student apprentice in the Class of 1953 at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, Hampshire. The majority of us were bikers with a very eclectic range of steeds; some fire-breathing and some rather modest, and many evenings and weekends were spent doing ‘standing quarters’ and flying quarters on roads surrounding the airfield. Just off the road, on tank testing ground, was a kidney shaped metalled circuit which the VMCC used for standing quarter mile events. I helped George Brown back from the surrounding sand onto the circuit when he went off on one occasion. However, the point of the letter is that we sawed redundant wings and used them as aerofoil shaped sleds which we towed at high speed along a spectator line for a fair held behind the college. I did quite a few runs, both as a rider of the towing motorcycle and as a passenger. Several of us perfected a roll off the sled as we ran along the spectator line. We know that photos and cinefilms existed but we have so far failed to find any. Can anyone help us? I am still a biker (you do the maths) currently with an 82 3½ Morini and a 75 BMW R60/6 and active (before Covid) in VMCC wrinkly runs. Michael Scott If any of our readers know of any photographs or film footage of the ‘ wing sleds’ in action, please get in touch and we’ll pass your info on to Michael. E d.

I was intrigued by the photo of the Scott in the last issue, as I have the ‘twin’ to it, inherited from my father. Let me explain. Dad, Ken Swallow, lived near Holmfirth, and before the war had a Scott Flying Squirrel, in ‘sporty’ trim but with girders and rigid rear end at that time. One of his best motorcycling friends was Arthur Fogg. Dad tried to join the RAF while still at Honley Grammar, but they sent him back. He initially worked at David Brown’s (military gearboxes, Aston Martins, tractors) in Huddersfield with Arthur, but then managed to get into the RAF and went to war. Arthur stayed at Browns and, amongst other things, looked after the Scotts and prepared a 350 Manx Norton for racing for when it was all over. Dad raced the Scott and the Norton from 1946, with the help of Arthur as tuner and spanner man. An ongoing development saw the Norton acquire a swinging arm rear end courtesy of Manchester engineer and sidecar racer Ted Wichman, and both dad’s and Arthur’s Scotts had the same mod done, which can be clearly seen on the ‘hedge’ bike. In the early 1950s dad was working for suspension unit manufacturer Woodhead Monroe as racing development engineer and, through his trade contacts, the next development was leading link forks on the Norton and the G45 Matchless he was also racing for test purposes, and also a modernisation of both his and Arthur’s Scotts

with the fitting of Panther forks and wheels. These and the Woodhead units can again be clearly seen. Arthur (always ‘uncle Arthur’ to me, and my godfather) became a top executive at Leyland in Lancashire, and right up to the end of his life a few years ago, regularly rode his Scott Two Speeder. He was a senior member of the Scott Owners’ Club and for many years their archivist. Dad went on to run his own motorcycle business in Huddersfield as main agent for Velocette and Scott, and I built up and serviced a few Birmingham Scotts for him. These had been designed and put on the market in the 1950s and early 60s by Matt Holder of Aerco in Birmingham after he had bought the old Scott name, and there is a final connection with our twin to Arthur’s Scott. I had gone on a visit with dad to see Mr Holder in about 1970 when I was making my first racing Velocette special, and he gave me a front wheel with a conical hub and twin leading shoe brake plate that was kicking about on the workshop floor – probably from a BSA of the era – but for some reason this finished up in the Scott; maybe dad had sold the Panther wheel at some stage? So I am pretty sure that the ‘hedge’ Scott was Arthur Fogg’s . However, I do not know if it still exists or where it is. Its twin still gets the odd run out over the local moorland roads! Bill Swallow

The hedge-dweller lives on Rodney Wildsmith was asking if his old Scott (registration UU90?) was still around. Well it looks like it may be, as I have traced the registration to UU906 as being a 1929 498cc. It’s not been taxed since April 2008 but a

new V5c was issued on March 9, 2011, so looks like it’s in someone’s shed. Hopefully the current owner will have seen it in OBM and come forward. John Wakefield

Woolley information? I am the new owner of the Woolley Yamaha 50cc eight-speed. Apart from the information available on the Classic 50cc racing web page I have no other information. Would any of your readers have any information or photographs of the bike racing. I would like to contact the families of Brian Woolley and Trevor Burgess regarding any history they may have, if anyone can put me in touch with either family that would be great. Robert Dix on

If anyone would like to contact Robert, we’ll pass on the information. E d.

Industry people – where the real stories are!

Uncle John’ John’s Vinni Vinnie – where is it now?

I found this picture of my late uncle John Mcness whilst clearing his house. He sadly passed away on Good Friday of Covid-19 at the age of 93. I would be very grateful to you if could help identify the bike and its history, and would gladly pass this picture on to the current owner if it still exists. curr Graham H awes Most OBM readers will have seen that the bike is a Vincent vee twin, but any further information regarding the history of the specific bike in q uestion, or its current whereabouts would be gratefully curr received! re

Response to Plowright request Re With regard to a letter from Chris Hawkings of Bath in OBM Readers Letters, July 2020. I am responding to the request for any pictures of Jack Plowright Motorcycles. Motor This advertisement (pictured

left) was featured in the booklet Grass-Track Racing through the years by Cyril May of Devizes published in the 1960s. I hope that Chris finds this of interest. Mike Newbury, Wiltshire

How right Jim Lee is to bemoan the fact that so much has been written about the bikes and so little about the people and the factories that built them. Jim really should write his book for the benefit of others while his knowledge is still fresh, and it was that thought that inspired me to write my first one – Motorcycle Apprentice – in 2008 about the start of my life and career at AMC, which has been reviewed in these pages. When I wrote it, I was unable to discover much about the Collier family, which had founded the company, even though the three sons of the founder had all been well known motorcycle racers (the middle son, Charlie, won the first ever TT on a Matchless by the way. Rem Fowler only won the twin cylinder class on the Norton, at a slower speed). The surprise that followed the book’s publication was that the previously lost descendants of the original Collier family purchased copies and contacted me through the publisher to say how pleased they were to see that someone had written something about the factory and the people rather than just the bikes! This led to amazing face-toface meetings with them, and me being given access to their precious family archive in order to write their own fascinating story for them – The Matchless Colliers. The next step was another surprise, but a disappointment this time as I could find no publisher willing to publish it. Amazingly, they liked anecdotal stories but had little interest in factual history. This is the way that our heritage is lost. Eventually I had to self-publish the information but, out of financial necessity, it had to be smaller and less lavish than the first hardback book published by Veloce.

I share Jim’s memories about the atmosphere of working in a motorcycle factory. The money wasn’t good but the feeling of working with a group of people who were so enthusiastic about the end product was unique and was never replaced. However, it isn’t the done thing to admit to being happy at work and one day, after recently joining the drawing office staff near the end of my apprenticeship, I was talking to the drawing office records clerk and former race shop engineer, Charlie Matthews. I mistakenly mentioned how I actually looked forward to coming to work each day. I know that he was similarly enthusiastic of course but his cynical response was “You must have a bloody awful home life then!” something that was patently untrue. Jim Lee was privileged to work with people like Edward Turner, Val Page and Jack Sangster. I had similar experiences working with Jack Williams, Charles Udall (ex-Velocette), Horace Watson (ex-Triumph), Phil Walker (AJS designer) and Tony Denniss (Commando). I worked closely with the two very different characters Udall and Watson on the Norton DOHC P10, me drawing the engine and Watson designing the frame and cycle parts, both of us under Udall’s more senior direction. Udall was dour and remote, but former drawing office manager Watson was the opposite; sociable, modest and popular with all but, like many others, he seems to be relatively unknown. I have never seen him mentioned in print but think that I once caught a glimpse of him standing next to Edward Turner in a TV documentary about Triumph and wonder if Jim Lee ever knew him? Happy memories Jim, keep on writing. Bill Cakebread

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December 2020

Note how close the Ariel Arrow Super Sports is to grounding as, with his jaw set like granite, Motor Cycle’s Bob Currie hustles it into a right-hander. Mortons’ Motorcycle Archive photos.

Six of the best!

Massive trailing link front suspension, well-valanced front mudguard, flyscreen and dummy tank (the real one was beneath the lifting dual seat) gave the 247cc Ariel Arrow Super Sports a distinctive head-on appearance.

Pete Kelly looks back on a diverse range of performance motorcycles, mostly at the lightweight end of the scale, that passed through his hands during one of the most exciting periods of his life.

espite their obvious differences, each of the six bikes chosen for this month’s nostalgic piece had taut handling, snappy performance and unquestionably good looks, and cover a period of dramatic developments in motorcycle design. Starting with the Ariel Arrow Super Sports of 1961, and moving on to the 1964 Royal Enfield Continental GT, 1965 Yamaha YDS3, 1966 unit-construction Triumph Bonneville, 1966 Suzuki Super Six and Honda CB400F of 1974, I hope you’ll enjoy the impressions of these machines that were first gleaned all those years ago. The only ‘Golden Arrow’ I ever owned was a dusty, well-flogged light blue and gold specimen retrieved from the second-hand storage shed of Jubilee Cycles, a small motorcycle shop opposite the mining subsidence-damaged town hall in Earlestown, Lancashire, in 1964. I was just 19 at the time, and it was the first 250 I

managed to afford. It always left a bluish-grey smoke trail in its wake – the result of ‘playing safe’ with the petroil ratio – grounded all too easily on corners, struggled to get much above 60mph with my girlfriend on the back, and the brakes weren’t much to shout about either, but I loved it to bits! One sunny morning, after getting it home, I remember polishing my new-found pride and joy by the front door of our council house with that really cheap, pinkish liquid wax polish that you could buy then as The Beatles sang their latest hit, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, on the radio. I also remember rushing home through a built-up area during a sudden heavy downpour one lunch-time when a bitch in heat, followed by half a dozen stray dogs with their minds set firmly on one thing, crossed the road in front of me in a single panting column. I braked hard and the bike went down, scything through the lot of them, followed by me on my backside. Luckily there were no injuries, animal or human, and no

obvious signs of bike damage other than a scuffed handgrip and footrest rubber. Those Arrows were tough! The one that most people remember, though, is the white and gold Arrow Super Sports, launched as a mid-season surprise in 1961 that, in addition to its tuned engine and stunning paint finish, boasted red handgrips and a fly screen. A MIRA road test report in the October 26, 1961 issue of Motor Cycling highlighted a mean top speed of just over 75mph, an overall 500 mile fuel consumption of 68mpg and a pretty average braking distance of 34½ ft from 30mph to a standstill. The road-tester enthused: “The Ariel Arrow Super Sports is an exhilarating addition to Britain’s growing range of 250cc ‘work and pleasure’ mounts. Producing a creditable 20bhp at 6500rpm, it checked out at MIRA with a performance which, a decade ago, would have been impossible from a silenced 250, and which today is virtually as good as that of many 350s. Downhill on the open road it would top 80mph, partly due to the spot-on gear ratios. “Once the high-compression (10:1)

With its racing tank and massive crankcase breather pipe to its dropped bars, fly screen and complete absence of side covers, the Royal Enfield Continental GT looked every bit a racer.

Note the July ‘62 tax disc as the Ariel Arrow Super Sports shows off its whitewall tyres, gold dummy tank, massive box frame and front suspension, fully-enclosed chaincase and distinctive silencers that could be dismantled easily for the occasional much-needed decarbonisation!

revs built up, but when it wasn’t ‘on unit was on song, it ran up the rev song’, the power produced at low scale as only a tuned two-stroke revs was distinctly disappointing does,” he continued. “Almost before – and he also noted that annoying the rider was aware that the revs had begun to soar, they had reached Arrow smoke trail. “The makers recommend the use of two stroke the change-up point for the next oil with diluent at 20:1 ratio, or oil cog. The change was slick, and without diluent at 24:1,” he wrote. re-application of the drive revealed Using non-diluent lubricants at the motor to be well into the ‘go’ ratios richer than half a pint to 1½ band for the next upward thrust gallons produced copious smoke to a power-peaking crescendo.” that definitely constituted an Referring to the acceleration curve, annoyance to other road users, and he noted: “To reach 60mph in less a couple of experiences in our 1400 than a quarter of a mile from rest is miles taught us to adhere exactly to quite a feat for a quarter-litre.” With the engine ‘on song’, the tester the handbook’s instructions.” Because of the 10:1 compression found no ‘dead period’ during which ratio, super grade petrol was always acceleration would lag while the employed. Many who rode the long, lowlooking Arrows would agree with his observations about the stands. “The prop stand would do its job reliably only if the resting surface was level and hard. The tread-on ball of the centre stand tended to pierce the thinnish soles of soft shoes (yes, many riders unable to afford posh boots rode in them back then), but more seriously, the grounding of this stand set a limit to the angle of bank The Royal Enfield’s glass-fibre tank – an annoying handicap on such an had a lovely quick-release filler cab, agile machine.” but bizarrely no reserve!

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December 2020 Otherwise, with its massive box frame, the Arrow’s steering and roadholding were excellent, the trailing link front fork in unison with the well-damped rear giving real comfort when riding hard over roughish roads, but the riding position might have been vastly improved by setting the footrests further back. For all these criticisms, the Val Page-designed Ariel Leader and Arrow derivatives were icons of their time until machines from the Far East such as Honda’s overheadcamshaft CB72 and CB77 twins, Yamaha’s YDS3 two-stroke twins and the like came onto the scene. In 1961 the Ariel Arrow Super Sports would set you back £190-15s7d (including £35-5s-7d purchase tax), and road tax of £2-5s (£2.25). After joining Norman Sharpe’s team on Motor Cycling in 1965, part of my job was acting as a ‘ferry pilot’, collecting and returning test bikes to and from the manufacturers or simply putting mileage on them for the 1000 mile road tests. As I lived in Warrington, I could put well over 500 miles on the clock by riding a bike home from London on a Thursday, followed perhaps by a Saturday ride into North Wales with my mates, and then returning to London after Sunday lunch for our weekly press night – always of course paying for my own petrol! My eyes lit up that August when a racy-looking 248cc Royal Enfield Continental GT arrived, and Norman handed it over to me just in time for another weekend run to Lancashire and back (my home town didn’t become part of Cheshire until many years afterwards).

P art of a junior staffman’s lot at Motor Cycling in 1 9 65 was ambling between the buildings behind Red L ion Court, 1 61 -1 66 F leet Street, L ondon for the often last-minute riding shots!

With its tuned engine, five-speed gearbox, bright red glass-fibre fuel tank, clip-ons, fly screen, humpbacked dual seat, huge crankcase breather and very loud swept-back exhaust (which unfortunately shrouded the contact-breaker cover) it was a young man’s dream – in fact the only things I didn’t really care for were the huge perforated alloy discs surrounding the excellent 7in front drum brake that gave the false first impression of a giant front stopper! Despite a wildly-optimistic speedometer that gave readings of 90mph at a true 76mph, the

The 1 9 65 Y amaha Y D S3 was a superb-looking machine from tip to toe.

Mike Evans looks completely at home on the Y amaha Y D S3 as he rides by during a typical photographic session.

Continental GT gave a great account of itself at MIRA with a best one-way speed of over 86mph – all the more impressive considering the machine had already been thrashed on a 22 hour 20 minute demonstration run from Land’s End to John O’Groats, taking in several fast laps of the Silverstone circuit in the hands of John Cooper along the way. Yes, the GT really was a wolf in wolf’s clothing, fast, light and with brilliant handling, a lovely five-speed gearbox and first-class brakes – but on one occasion that inexcusably loud exhaust in

See how the Enfield’s swept back and almost inexcusably loud exhaust got in the way of the contact-breaker cover. The hump-back dual seat looked good, but was no use to a solo rider.

built-up areas forced me to explain to the police officer who stopped me that it really was a standard fitment! Two-fifty Enfields always handled well, but the weight-pared from the Continental GT made it better still. The absence of side panels completely exposed the battery and coils, but even a torrential downpour left the electrics unaffected. Peaking at 7500rpm, the engine was smooth throughout the rev range, and the sweet, short-travel gear-change action and light, faultless clutch made the Continental GT a delight to ride. The distinctly sporty riding position was great around town, but on those long weekend rides to and from London, arm-ache had always set in by the time I reached the then still far from completed M6 near Stafford. A short hump-back seat might have helped a lot, but on the long dual seat, the hump was much too far back for a solo rider. Despite this niggle, the GT was just what youngsters had been demanding, allowing the Redditch manufacturer to get away with slapping an outrageous price tag of £270 on it! The Enfield’s overall fuel consumption over 500 miles of fast riding worked out at a pretty impressive 76mpg – a far cry from that of the next machine on my list, the 1965 Yamaha YDS3 two-stroke twin that differed from the preceding YDS2 in boasting the separate oil tank and Autolube pump that would quickly render the practice of mixing two-stroke oil straight into the fuel tank by hand redundant. Such devices rapidly became the norm for two-strokes, and l felt sorry for a young motorcycling journalist who, a couple of years later, collected a BSA Bantam from

Motor Cycle staffman Mike Evans pauses for a chat with technical editor V ic Willoughby during testing for Y amaha’s sensational Autolube-fitted five-speed Y D S3 two-stroke twin in 1 9 65 .

the Small Heath factory only for it to seize up the first time he filled up – completely unaware that he should have measured his own oil directly into the petrol tank! My only ride on Motor Cycling’s road-test YSD3 was to put a few hundred test miles on it one weekend – but I was hugely impressed by the quality, and how easy it was to loft the front wheel unintentionally under harsh acceleration. I also loved its looks – especially the swirly design of its roundish tank, embellished by nothing more than large rubber knee-grips and simple Yamaha tuning forks badges, which to me looked better than the box-like tank designs that would follow. In the February 4, 1965 issue of Motor Cycle, Mike Evans wrote a fine road test report on the same machine which began colourfully: “Yowl is almost a trademark of the Scott, but now a newcomer to the British market is poaching, for it is hard to think of any word to describe more accurately the mating call of Yamaha’s new YSD3. It yowls and it wails as it goes through its five gears in a fashion to delight the most phlegmatic of riders. On sporty acceleration it sounds every bit as would a four-cylinder racer speeding down the Glencrutchery Road on the TT course.” The twin-cylinder two-stroke engine, while basically similar to that of the preceding YDS2, had a big innovation up its sleeve in the fitting of that small but all-important new component, the Autolube pump. “Driven from the gearbox, the pump draws its oil from a tank on the offside of the machine,” wrote Mike, “and meters the lubricant according to the dictates of engine revs and throttle openings. Large openings and high revs mean more oil, while for about-town trickling on a wisp of throttle the oil supply is at its minimum. From the pump, the lubricant is carried through a couple of plastic tubes and injected into the induction tracts of two Mikuni carburettors.” After 1300 miles on the YDS3, even though the pump was set to deliver extra oil for the running-in period, the overall oil consumption was just a fifth of a pint for every gallon of petrol – an overall ratio of 40:1 – whereas a normal two-stroke on a 20:1 petroil mixture would have used twice as much. However, there was a price to pay in the overall amount of fuel used – and with the searing acceleration and high-speed motorway cruising the Yam was capable of, the fuel consumption over around 500 miles of normal use after runningin was a disappointing 45mpg, tempered somewhat by the fact the machine ran happily on regulargrade fuel.

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December 2020

“Yet every penny spent on fuel returns a dividend in performance far beyond all expectations,” continued Mike. “Under 17 seconds for the standing quarter-mile and a set of intermediate acceleration figures to match brand this Japanese sportster a piece of very hot ginger in the world of two-strokes, and in second gear especially the engine (producing 27bhp at 7500rpm) will shoot past 10,000rpm into the red danger area if an eye isn’t kept on the dial.” Every bit as sporty as it looked, the YDS3 was also extremely comfortable and, whether one or two-up, could be ridden to the limit with every confidence in the welldamped front and rear suspension, with no trace of the bounciness sometimes associated with Japanese bikes. Under all conditions, too, the 8in-diameter brakes, twin-leadingshoe at the front, performed well, particularly from high speeds. The test was conducted largely in wintry conditions of rain, snow and ice, and Mike recounted what happened after it had been left out in the open all night. “ It was covered by a good half-inch of hoar frost and the The 1 9 66 unit-construction Triumph Bonneville was a superb all-round machine that inspired confidence with its handling, acceleration and braking. ignition key had to be heated over a match before the frozen lock would At times it felt like a serene accept it, but despite this the engine tourer, but when the throttle was started at the second kick as always. cracked open it became a rapidlyPerformance figures indicated a accelerating missile in which I felt I highest one-way speed of 88mph, could always place my absolute trust. and maximum speeds in the five Much of this was down to the gears were 27, 41, 56, 80 and 84mph 647cc Triumph’s new frame which, at the claimed maximum power of with its modified steering-head 7500 rpm. The Yamaha YDS2 was angle, eliminated that characteristic certainly the shape of things to come, Triumph ‘waggle’ for good, and the and in 1965 it cost just over £279, entire machine felt so well-balanced including purchase tax. that bend-swinging at any speed was The only big bike I wanted to a pleasure rather than a challenge include in this selection was the – and finding my road test riding 1966 unit-construction Triumph pictures aboard GAC 243C from 54 Bonneville, which with its taut years ago in Mortons’ Archive was handling, lively performance, sharp like being 20 years old all over again brakes, foolproof starting and – but I’m still surprised that the stunningly looks, accentuated by its official name for that lovely orange orange and white colour scheme, had colour was grenadier red! just about everything going for it. The parallel twin started first prod Removing the back wheel of the 1 9 66 Bonnie entailed It was the first Bonneville I rode, every time, stuck predictably to its The Triumph’s neat unit-construction engine remained oil-tight unscrewing the spindle and releasing, and took just and when I was handed the ignition line on any bend I could throw it at, throughout the 1 0 0 0 mile road test. five minutes. key and asked to put 500 miles on it, and the smooth-operating 8in front high averages simply because it any enthusiast run for his boots and far from being the massive hulk I’d and 7in rear drum brakes always official set of performance figures, never tires and can be ridden to the hop aboard. In appearance and expected it to be, at once it felt light, pinned it down with aplomb, but dressed in bulky winter riding gear limit without worry.” specification the Suzuki is a winner, nimble and forgiving despite its when one of my colleagues took it that even made it difficult to get into He also noted: “In top gear the and after 1200 test miles it has proved 47bhp, 113mph performance. to the MIRA testing ground for the a crouch, he encountered bitterly Suzuki will zoom along at 70mph itself no less impressive on the road, cold 30mph winds and icy patches with a steady 6000rpm on the neat with its 94mph best one-way speed underfoot that reduced what should tacho, and it will hold this speed, making it the fastest 250 roadster twin have been a maximum one-way seemingly for ever. It did the entire ever tested by Motor Cycle.” speed of around 118mph to just length of the M1 at 70 on four While five gears might have been 111mph, and a two-way average of occasions without protest.” Any perfectly adequate, the tester wrote: just over the ‘ton’. rider could expect about 85mph in “The longer you ride the Suzuki, the Like me, he found the new top even under adverse conditions, more you come to enjoy having six, Triumph clutch exceptional, taking and fifth was good for almost and with this full keyboard, tuneall the abuse he could give it after 80mph anyway. playing is a delight, and the Suzuki faulty timing gear necessitated a At high speeds fuel consumption produces some impressive wails, succession of standing-start runs. could drop to just under 40mpg although they are remarkably well While one can easily look back – but again that was the price of twomuted. There’s never any need to over one’s life through grenadier stroke performance back then. hold on in a high gear, for there’s red-tinted spectacles, my So smooth and well-silenced always one a wee bit lower that will experiences of riding that particular was the engine that it was often send the revs soaring into the hot‘Bonnie’ remain so fresh in my mind difficult to appreciate that it was pepper range of 5000 to 7500rpm.” that I would still have no hesitation actually running, and the excellent He also remarked that the T20’s in naming it the perfect all-round brakes (8in diameter front and gear-change action was one of motorcycle of its day. rear, twin-leading-shoe front) and the sweetest imaginable, and that Another superb machine that utterly reliable 12 volt electrical “mainly because of the closeness of I briefly rode in 1966 was the system epitomised the quality and the ratios, upward changes can be sensational 247cc Suzuki Super attention to detail inherent in this made just as positively and silently Six two-stroke twin which, despite machine. “Who else would give you without the clutch or with it”. The its 90mph-plus performance and a transparent petrol gauge to show light and smooth clutch, together incredibly racy looks, also turned at a glance, even while riding, how with the gear box, made it one of the out to be a comfortable and civilised much petrol is in the tank?” the test best combinations ever met on a machine on the mostly motorway rider asked. bike, and another welcome feature journey from Greet, Birmingham, In 1966 the Suzuki T20 Super Six was having a full stop for neutral back to London. cost £276-17s-1d including purchase when changing down. In the June 23, 1966 issue of tax, and road tax was £4 per year. Although starting could be really Motor Cycle, the road tester, who My final choice in this sixerratic, sometimes needing up to once again appeared to be Mike machine round-up takes me back to 10 kicks, handling was excellent. Evans, had nothing but praise for 1974, by which time Motor Cycling Even though the open-spring this stunning newcomer, writing: and Motor Cycle had become telescopic front fork felt a little soft “Hold on to your hats – Posi-Force is combined into a single weekly in action, both suspensions were here! The new Suzuki Super Six, an newspaper with staff members adequately damped. In the tester’s over 90mph roadster, is one of the from both former titles. It was my view: “The combination of topbrightest stars to come flying over privilege to take up the editorship, drawer handling and the immensely from Japan. at the age of 29, that February, willing, powerful engine makes the “Just look at the advanced features: although competing with Motor new Suzuki Super Six a real rider’s pumped oil to the crankshaft and a The Bonnie was just as happy pottering around town as delivering searing Cycle News was a truly daunting machine on which you will achieve six-speed gear box – enough to make performance on the open road.

FROM THE ARCHIVE 23

December 2020 task for all of us despite a top-quality team that included the likes of Mick Woollett, Bob Currie, John Nutting, Vic Willoughby and other similarlyskilled staff members. In 1975, a large Honda advertising supplement brought us the chance to feature a first road test of Honda’s CB400F by chief tester John Nutting, whose bold and fearless writing style was every bit as good as his brilliance as a rider – and he became one of my most trusted colleagues. His report began: “It cruises at 45mph with all the serene grace of a royal garden party. It purrs and coos with all the soft innocence as a pair of doves. But drop down two or three gears and gun it, and Honda’s new CB400 four transforms into a tyre-spinning, screaming 10,000rpm reincarnation of a Grand Prix bike. “Either way, whether a boulevard bird-puller or boy racer, the CB400F marks an important turning point in the Japanese company’s policy, for they’ve actually gone and done it! Honda have made a super sports bike worthy of the title – in every aspect of its performance as well as its exciting appearance. “Now I’ll agree that in the past I’ve not been a great Honda lover. But ever since they imported what many people regarded as their pacesetters, the ultra-sporty CB72 twins, Honda had diluted the performance and handling features of their bikes to the point of the latest CB250 twins. “The CB400F challenges all that at a stroke. With looks that scream ‘racer’ from every sparkling highlight on those distinctive four-into-one exhaust pipes to the scarlet worksstyle tank, mini side-covers and folding set-back footrests, it feels so unarguably right that it’s almost unbelievable.” That was quite a stage entry, John, but there was more. “Smooth as a turbine and quiet as any car, the CB400F offers nimble secure handling whether in dense traffic or wafting down country lanes. It is also very compact and light for a four-cylinder machine. Anyone used to the usual 250s should have no trouble with this one. “ The CB400F’s top speed (arrived at by two opposite-direction runs at MIRA’s test track) was 104mph, only one mph down on that of the 500

The 247cc 1966 T20 Suzuki Super Six was a sparkler in every sense of the word, delivering a top speed in excess of 90mph.

At the heart of the T20 was this beautiful air-cooled twostroke twin, featuring Posi-Force lubrication. RIGHT: Despite its mean looks and sensational performance, the Super Six was utterly civilised, with a turbine-smooth engine and well-silenced exhausts.

fours, and the standing quarter-mile acceleration of 14.9 sec was also only fractionally down on that of the larger model. These figures were allied to remarkable fuel economy, ranging from 101mpg at 30mph to 55mpg at 70mpg. “Even driven fast,” wrote John, “it can sing along at 80-85mph with no more sound than the hiss from the

valve gear, and even then fuel consumption didn’t drop below 51mpg.” The heart of the six-speed machine was a 408cc overhead-camshaft four less than two inches wider than the twins, and John observed: “To sit astride the bike, you wouldn’t think you were on a four at all.” Both stands were easy to find and use because the whole of the bike’s

Light, fast and nimble, with a rev-happy four-cylinder engine that was less than two inches wider than the twins, the CB400F quickly found a well-deserved place in motorcycle lore.

nearside, without the plethora of pipes, was so accessible, and the test rider was impressed by many other small features too – such as the electrical logic that prevented starting while in gear with the clutch out, and the superb, easy-to-follow, electric components beneath the nearside plastic cover. Maximum power of the CB400F was a claimed 37bhp at 8500rpm, but the unit was quite capable of buzzing beyond the 10,000rpm red line to 11,000rpm through the gears. The hydraulically-operated

10½in front brake and 6½in drum at the rear gave a good stopping distance from 30mph of 29ft, but the front brake needed watching in the wet, and the clutch was virtually indestructible, which were all good reasons for us to successfully beg a trio of these machines, painted in the new orange and black colours of Motor Cycle, for an assault on that year’s TT production race – but that’s another story! In 1975 the Honda CB400F cost £669 including VAT, and road tax cost £10 per annum.

At a time when Honda lightweights had become rather staid, the CB400F was a breath of fresh air – and its four-into-one exhaust system was something to savour.

14 READERS' LETTERS

December 2020

readers’ letters

Please send all letters to Old Bike Mart, Mortons Media, Morton Way, Horncastle, LN9 6JR or email OBMeditor@mortons.co.uk and please include your locality

Great read, and memories of meeting Allsorts

✪ Muc-off Star Letter

In it for the long stretch

As the ravages of time take their toll upon us riders who have passed a certain age, we start to experience the stiff muscles, sore bones and aching limbs that seems to accompany our maturing in years. A couple of years ago I was forced to take remedial action after chronic back and hip pain began to impinge upon my daily life and limit my ability to both kickstart and ride my Vincent Comet and Velocette Viper. After a short series of visits to an osteopath it dawned upon me that I had to take responsibility for my own lifestyle if movement without pain could become an outcome rather than an ambition. I began to explore a number of gentle exercise regimes aimed at improving mobility, stretching long underused muscles and relaxing tension in the body. Slowly I noticed improvements which encouraged me to continue and realise the benefits of my new routine. One of the surprising benefits has been the huge improvement in enjoyment I am now experiencing from my riding. Being far more aware of tension

in the body has allowed me to stay relaxed in my riding position and style. This has drastically improved my cornering and also meant when I get off the bike after a long ride, I no longer feel stiff and suffer the aches in elbows, legs and back. More importantly I feel I am riding more safely as the look back over the shoulder, the life saver, has now become a meaningful movement rather than a partial turn of the head denying a genuine view behind. I am now benefitting from a genuine life saver action through improved movement in my neck allowing an increased turn of the head. As the dark nights are upon us, and we retire to our sheds and garages to carry out essential maintenance and repairs to our bikes ready for the next riding opportunity, maybe we need to think about our own maintenance a little more. The longer we can carry on enjoying our bikes the better, and if a few gentle stretches each morning can aid that, all the better. Keep riding, keep riding safely. Paul Thomas, Bristol

Keep your motorcycle in concours condition with the help of Muc-Off. Its fantastic range of bikecleaning products will make short work of shifting all sorts of road dirt. Get that muck off with Muc-Off! Even better, each month the star letter on OBM’s ‘Your View’ page will get a litre of Muc-Off Bike Cleaner for your clean start. Visit www.muc-off.com to see the full range, or find Muc-Off on Facebook.

I have just read the book Motorcycle Apprentice by Bill Cakebread, who was an apprentice at AJS and Matchless motorcycles in their heyday. It is a wonderful read. I remember having met Hugh Viney at Hawkstone Park in 1964 when we got chatting and he said if you want a Matchless engine, then come to the works next Friday and there will be one waiting for you. And so it was I duly turned up and there, on the end of the spares counter, was the most beautiful engine complete with wader mag and 10 TT carb and the cost – £120. I loaded it into the boot of my car and went home as happy as anyone could be with such a gem, which I built into the Rickman Metisse that I was building – what a lovely bike that

was. I won on it the first time out at one of the Retford club scrambles in the early days of Beavercoates. Much later I was at a scramble on a racecourse or something similar near Newcastle upon Tyne and was kneeling down attending to the bike between races and I heard someone behind me say: “This is a nice bike dad, I wonder if it is for sale?” and, without turning, I said: “You haven’t got enough money!” He then asked how much, I told him £450, and he said they'd fetch it Tuesday night... and so it was! I sold it to the gentleman who was the MD of Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts for his son who was a prominent up and coming young lad. Nice bike, loved it. Maurice A rden

Does your TR6 have leaky tubes? After suffering what I thought were pushrod tube oil leaks for many years, and having a professional rebuild done which didn’t cure the problem, I was fortunate enough to have a look at a parts manual for a 1969-ish Triumph TR6 and discovered that, if

you remove the tappet guide block, there’s an O ring on it which must locate in the barrel flange. Fit new O ring, rebuild the top end and bingo, no more leaks! I hope this helps someone out. Stuart Wood, Dorset

Ferry stories and tales of TT travels from a golden era I thought your readers may be interested in these photos I recently found of our family’s first visit to the TT races in 1964. I was 15 at the time and we went in the family Austin Mini Traveller (mum and dad, my two sisters and myself plus luggage, a bit of a squeeze!) The first photo (1) shows the queue behind the goods sheds of bikes waiting to load. In those days it was first come, first served so you may queue for hours waiting for a space on the ferry. Hard luck if it was raining! I have waited 4 or 5 hours at times. The second (above) is taken from the deck of the Manx Maid. It shows three riders pushing A65 BSAs along the floating jetty to load. The riders were three Americans who had flown over to Birmingham and picked up their bikes directly from the BSA factory in Small

Heath. You can clearly see the American market high and wide handlebars. A picture of them was shown in the Motor Cycle collecting their bikes that week. The third picture (above right) shows a view of the bikes crowded on to the helterskelter-type loading deck at the rear of the ship. There is quite a mixture of ages and types of bike and shows the haphazard way they were loaded in those days. The fourth photo, left, was taken in the early Seventies and shows how the bikes used to be craned onto the older ferries. As the crane boom swung round the outer two bikes would swing outwards if the operator was a bit too quick. At the end of the swing they would swing back in, which could result in them smashing into the middle bike! I wonder how many bikes were damaged over the years? Another feature of those days was

having the petrol tanks pumped out before loading. If you were lucky, you would be left with just enough to get to the nearest garage before you ran out. This wasn’t a problem at Douglas as there was a garage right by the quay. In Liverpool it was further away – I bet many a bike was pushed a few miles with a dry tank! When I went over in 1968, I had a Tiger 100. The ignition coils were mounted under the tank and there were cut-outs in the tank to clear them, this prevented the suction pipe going to the bottom of the tank, leaving plenty of fuel in. Another thing that worked a few times was to have a tank top bag, very often the pump operator couldn’t wait for you to unstrap it and would wave you straight past! I hope these bring back happy memories of visits to the Island. Peter Cranmer

Autocycle experiences I have just had the May issue of Old Bike Mart passed on to me by my motorcycling brother (1958 ES2, 1934 AJW, Royal Enfield, Bantam etc etc) and the article on autocycles brought back some happy memories. In the early 1950s our dad bought a Cyclemaster to make it easier for our dear mum to get to church – four miles away – and in this it was fairly successful. On my 16th birthday I was presented with a provisional licence, so I too could ride it occasionally to school, 15 miles away. The original engine was all of 26cc, and pretty gutless, so when a 32cc version became available we quickly bought a new piston and barrel to give us more oomph. The difference was hardly noticeable, so in another effort to go faster we did away with the silencer – which was always sooting up – and I made a megaphone for the beast! Again, no faster... but it sounded great! That was until mum burned her leg badly on it which resulted in a rollicking for me, and the fitting of the original silencer.

Between our house and mum’s church in Burnham-onCrouch were four miles and 11 bends – still enjoyed today by the motorcycling fraternity – and the little Cyclemaster coped with them well. At some point, dad decided that we needed something with more power and a very second-hand New Hudson autocycle arrived. A quick lesson for mum to master the new controls – decompressor etc – then off to church they went! It appears that no one had mentioned to her that the throttle lever on the New Hudson operated in the opposite direction to that on the Cyclemaster… and as she approached the second of the glorious 11 bends, somewhat faster than she was used to, she sensibly ‘shut’ the throttle, though it didn’t of course, and she found herself being propelled through the roadside hedge and into Farmer Grimes' field! Luckily, someone spotted the incident and helped her out, with a few scratches and bruises, but it was a day or three

before she was brave enough to take to the saddle again. The Cyclemaster found a new home a few years ago, where are you now STW372? And the New Hudson went on to provide many happy hours being ridden to bits, along with some quite decent other machines, around any available fields – see the photo of brother two in full flight! Michael Wheeler, Essex

16 READERS' LETTERS

Oh, for a time machine!

I’ve enclosed an advert for Vincents back in 1963. See the prices, just thought it might be interesting for readers. Alistair Harley

Don’t diss the efficient DVLA As a longstanding subscriber to OBM I find that the DVLA seems to get a disproportionate amount of criticism and rarely get thanks. Today I received a letter from them informing me I had incorrectly paid road tax on my recently acquired 1975 CZ175 (it was rated as 'bicycle' on the V5). The V5 should read 'historic' not 'bicycle', and I had not changed this on applying for the new V5 on purchase. They will send me a new V5 with a revised historic category and refund my road tax accordingly – all this without any request from me! I think that deserves some praise, don’t you? And, less than week later, I have received both the new V5 and refund – happy days! Paul Richards, Neath

Dent, done and dusted Due to my own clumsiness, my G3 petrol tank suffered a substantial dent, whilst off the bike. I tried to pull it out with one of those glue gun-based kits, not a chance! Judging by the videos on YouTube, they do work on less substantially built motorcycles though. A very unusual (for me) spark of common sense saw me take the tank to Dent Doctors in Walsall, which regularly advertises in OBM. I made an appointment and on presenting the tank/dent to John, he said: “That’s nothing much, do you want to wait?”… 35 minutes later, I had an undented tank in my hands, perfectly repaired. Terrific service and quality. I can’t recommend him enough. No connection, other than as a satisfied customer. Andy Smith

The car’s Bond, Mark C Bond On seeing the picture of the Mark A Bond in Old Bike Mart, it brought back some very fond memories of a Mk C Bond we once owned. It was powered by a 197cc Villiers engine. After getting married we went to Westward Ho! from Oxford in it, and even went down to the seafront at Lynton. On the way back up the hill I thought my wife would have to get out and walk, but the old girl just made it! Some time after, we bought a bungalow 26 miles from work, so for over three years I was doing 52 miles a day in it. Once, the engine nipped up on the way home and a chap gave me a tow in a Morris 1100, it was the fastest the old girl had ever been! Once home, I popped the barrel off and found that the circlip had dislodged from its groove. With the aid of an electric drill and a riffler file I managed to recut the groove and we were back on the road the next day! I then went on nights to cut down the journeys but had to have a nap before I could drive home. I then scraped together £7, and dad loaned me a fiver and I bought a Triumph 21 in bits, which I promptly put together, and then used that. I am a big fan of marginal motoring and I still drive around in old bangers and do all my own repairs. With money saved I have frittered it away on old motorcycles which I still get a lot of fun with. My latest limo is a Morris van which is very cheap motoring, but also very noisy and draughty. George Bown, Oxford. Ah, a man after my own heart! I am also a fan of ‘marginal motoring’ (and what a great phrase that is!), and have a beatenaround Citroen van for my meanderings and collection of bike parts. The phrase that springs to mind is: “I spend most of my money on motorcycles and beer, the rest I just waste!”… Ed.

December 2020

Failure to heed duke's words – the sad demise of our industry The picture of Prince Phillip opening the 1952 bike show in front of all the industry worthies (OBM, October) struck a chord with me. At that time the factories were turning out thousands of bikes in order to service the public need for affordable personal transport. Their products were largely of reasonable quality and the world was beating on the factory doors asking for bikes. The requests for the British to fully commit to export sales were largely ignored. It is true that BSA and Triumph exported to the USA, but the Stateside dealers could never get their hands on sufficient bikes to fill the demand. Amidst all this clamour for their products the British bike industry struggled on through the 1950s and almost all went to the wall by the mid 60s. Even Royal Enfield, which was handed potentially the whole of Asia on a plate by the approach of an Indian entrepreneur, failed to get involved fully and, like the rest of the industry, closed its mind to expansion and inevitably closed the factory doors. During this period I worked at North Anglian Autos in King‘s Lynn. We were an agent for AMC and Royal Enfield. However, we would occasionally be asked by customers to supply other makes. One such order was for a Velocette Venom. The bike duly arrived, delivered by the factory’s own van. The driver asked us for assistance in unloading the bike and we found that it had no front wheel. When asked why, the driver explained that they couldn’t produce them because of problems with a production machine. The new owner witnessed all this as he worked close by and turned up during the unloading. He was assured that his wheel would be sent by rail as soon as they could

produce it. Understandably he was less than happy. A similar situation was revealed during a visit to the AMC factory at Plumstead. On being shown around the machine shop we noticed that the crankshaft grinding machine was not working. “Ah, yes,” said our guide, “the machine was bought second-hand from Germany and it’s very old. During the day, when all the other machines are working, it’s impossible to grind to within tolerances because of vibration. So the operator works nights all on his own.” This picture of muddle and make-do I’m afraid was common in our industry, there was little investment in equipment and the factories were management top-heavy. The inefficiency and lack of investment was exacerbated by the activities of the various trade unions all vying with each other to control the show. Restrictive practices often made running any business one long session of meetings to try to settle petty arguments often leading to crippling strikes. In the early 1960s, parts of the industry entered a period of design madness. Several small capacity machines were produced which should never have seen the light of day. I will not name them but they were dreadful. They looked – and were – cheap, nasty, unreliable rubbish. Inevitably these little monsters cost a lot of money to develop, but did not result in sales. Another nail in the coffin of the Great British motorcycle industry. The final body blow was delivered by the arrival of the Japanese. With apologies to enthusiastic present day owners I give a comparison between two lightweight machines of the era. Let us first look at the Norton Jubilee. This bike had spindly, poorly damped forks, brakes which struggled to pass an MoT,

leaked oil in large quantities, suffered from frame cracks and generated an unbelievable amount of engine noise. Then along came bikes such as the Honda CB72. In comparison it was fast, reliable, oil tight, had excellent brakes and looked the business. Furthermore, compared to the mechanical cacophony from the Norton, it was almost silent. If only the assembled captains of industry had heeded the words of Prince Phillip. Who, I wonder, penned those words for him to deliver? Someone perhaps who knew that a world of opportunity was out there for the taking but was being brushed away like an annoying fly. Present day enthusiasts of classic British bikes will no doubt find my words harsh. But I lived through the decline of an industry that I respected and its unhappy demise robbed me of a job that I loved. I ask you, how could a company with a glorious history of racing success such as Norton descend from building successful machines such as the International and Dominator to the Jubilee? How come the all-powerful BSA group of companies couldn’t seem to build a light runabout any better than the Ariel Three?– a lemon if ever I had to work on one. The Triumph Tina scooter had promise but it was difficult to believe that it came from the same stable as, say, the Bonneville. It was never fully developed and failed to sell in great numbers I could go on rubbishing an industry that once gave me a living, but I take no pleasure in doing so. Those assembled behind the Duke of Edinburgh in the photograph have a lot to answer for. Bill Woolnough. Swanton Morley, Norfolk.

‘Surfing’ at gymkhanas I was rather tickled by Jeff Barnard’s letter in the October edition. Surfboard racing, sledge racing (or more accurately, wooden plank racing) was an essential part of Witley Motor Cycle Club gymkhanas well into the 1970s. I still vividly remember the severe discomfort caused by collision with a well-rooted wooden stake while sliding along on one at the end of a rope. However, as far as I am aware, this activity was not included in any of our grasstrack meetings, and regrettably I’ve been unable to find any photographic evidence – so far. There is at least a photo from the bread-spearing races, another compulsory round in the gymkhana championships – race to the pile of stale loaves, pillion collects loaf on stake, race back to the start. Then there was the sidecar obstacle course, longest ramp jump etc, etc. Most participants at this time used standard road

machines on standard road tyres, which inevitably created a few heart-stopping moments on the grass surface of Stoke Park. Any hope of running these very enjoyable gymkhana events was finally scuppered not only by the ever-increasing insurance issues they raised, but also by Guildford Borough Council’s decision to build the Spectrum Leisure Centre on ‘our’ field, taking away the last remaining public space in the area where any off-road motorcycling might happen. Readers with long memories might recall that the March 2014 edition of OBM had a small feature on club gymkhanas (to which several Witley members contributed) following some similar correspondence. Happy days in a different pre-health-and-safety world. Mind you, how any of us survived is a miracle. Yours in sport Laurie Richards, Witley MCC, Surrey

So many similarities in the beginnings of our motorcycling lives I’m really enjoying Neil Cairn’s account of the start to his motorcycling life. In many ways it mirrors my own. I left secondary school at 15 at Christmas 1960 to become an electrical fitter apprentice within the HM Dockyard at Chatham. The wages were similar to Neil’s at £2-16s-8d per week. For the first two years of the apprenticeship we were trained in a group training centre with upwards of 100 lads to become either electrical or engine fitters. Nearly all the lads were bike mad. Where our life seems to have differed from Neil’s was that we don’t seem to have suffered quite the same

poverty. My first bike was a Norman Lido moped bought for £28 in July 1961 when I was just 16. This I only had for six months before buying a brand new 250cc Ambassador bought on hire purchase, the Lido traded in as the deposit. I really, like many of my fellow apprentices, lusted after a Norman B4 Sports but these weren’t available at that time. Many of the older apprentices had Gold Stars, Bonnevilles etc bought at the local dealers, Gray’s of Chatham or Frank Bannister's. Most of the lads wore new crash helmets and proper motorcycling gear.

Looking back I think that although my parents were not rich (my dad was a plumber also in the dockyard) they must have given me a lot of financial support. I think my payment worked out at £110s a week, insurance fully comp was £15. I too had a Saturday morning job as a butcher’s boy delivering meat from a 'Granville bike' which brought in a further 15 shillings per week. Top grade petrol was about 5s per gallon. There wouldn’t have been much left over from the £2-16s-8d to pay anything else that life in the early 1960s had to offer! Tony Gutteridge

24 CLUB CALL

December 2020

CLUB CALL

To contact the editor, email: OBMEditor@mortons.co.uk

If your club is not included on this page, please write or send us an email with its title and membership application details, as shown here. ■

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A corns Motorcycle Club Off-road club in Stafford. Membership enquiries: Roger Simkin 07971 950921, 01785 213277 or rog.ers@btinternet.com A dler to Z undapp German Motorrad Branch of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club for classic German motorcycles. Membership enquiries: adtrizun@tiscali.co.uk A ircooled RD Club Membership enquiries: Ian Neil, 2 Francis Road, Lichfield, WS13 7JX. A JS & Matchless Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: AJS & Matchless Owners’ Club, 3 Robinson Way, Telford Way Industrial Estate, Kettering, NN16 8PT (01536 511532 or www.jampot.com) A riel Owners’ Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Roger Gwynn, 99 Gloucester Street, Norwich, NR2 2DY, 01603 447 213, membership@arielownersmcc.co.uk www.arielownersmcc.co.uk A MC H ybrids A ssociation Membership enquiries: Peter James Owen (0116 348 2355 or petejowen@hotmail.co.uk) Bath Classic Motor Cycle Club Membership enquiries: Membership secretary, Bath Classic Motor Cycle Club, 22 Delamere Road, Trowbridge, BA14 8ST (01225 769223 secretary.bcmcc@blueyonder.co.uk) Benelli Motobi Club GB Membership enquiries: Val Peace, 85 Ballamaddrell, Port Erin, Isle of Man, IM9 6AU (07624 433629 or membership@benelliclubgb. net) BMW Club U K & Ireland Membership enquiries: www.thebmwclub.org.uk Brimbo — British Motor Bike Owners Membership enquiries: 01379 897096 or www.brimbo.co.uk British Motorcycle Preservation Society North Wales Membership enquiries: www.bmpsnwales.org.uk Barnsley, Fred Austin 01226 245611, meeting place at present n/a. Sheffield, Alan 07920 751168, second and fourth Monday of the month from 20.45 at the Civil Service Club, Green Lane, Ecclesfield, S35 9WY. Manchester, Bob 01613 304358, Alan 01457 834492, first and third Monday of the month from 20.30 at The Sycamore Inn, 4 Stamford Square, Ashton Under Lyne, OL6 6QX. All are also on Facebook. British Motorcycle Riders’ Club Ox ford Membership enquiries: John Wilcox, 11 Walkers Close, Freeland, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX29 8AY, johnwilcox47@gmail.com British Two-Stroke Club L td Membership enquiries: Victor Hurst, 6 Hocken Mead, Pound Hill, Crawley, RH10 3UL, email vrh62005@yahoo.co.uk BSA Bantam Club Membership enquiries: Bryan Price, Old Orchard House, Shepton Lane, Pickworth, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, NG34 0TQ (01529 497304 before 9pm or membership@bsabantamclub.org.uk) BSA Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Rob Jones, PO Box 235, Havant, PO9 9DJ (membership@bsaownersclub.co.uk) Bucks British & Classic MCC Meet at The Plough at Cadsden, Princes Risborough, HP27 0NB, Wednesday eves. www.bbcmcc.freeuk.com or norbsa02@aol.com CBX Riders’ Club Membership enquiries: www.ukcbxclub.com Classic 5 0 Racing Club Membership: Lynne Tolhurst, Gwerncynydd Fach, Nantmel, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 6EW (secretary@classic50ccracingclub.co.uk) Classic Racing Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Carol Thorpe carol.thorpe@crmc.co.uk Clifford A rms Classic Car & Bike Club Membership enquiries: Barry Owen, Clifford Arms, Great Haywood, Stafford, ST18 0SR. Cornwall Black & White MC& L CC Membership enquiries: Lloyd (01209 213386) Cossack Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Gina Inman (01780 720420 or membership@ cossackownersclub.co.uk) Cotton Owners’ & Enthusiasts’ Club Membership enquiries: John and Evelyn Hedges – 01179 322832 or john.hedges2@talktalk.net Cumbria Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Mike Shovlin (01228 530329, mikeshovlin44@btinternet.com) CX -GL Motorcycle Club (U K) Membership enquiries: Membership Secretary, CX-GL MCC UK, 1 Larch Road, Denton, M34 6DY. DOT Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Mark Gooding, www.dot-motorcycle-club.co.uk Ducati Owners’ Club GB Membership enquiries: Kevin Baker, Kiln House, Brick Kiln Lane, Gornalwood, Dudley, DY3 2XA (07538 116 239 or email memsec@docgb.net)

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EA CC A utocycle, Cyclemotor & Moped Club Membership enquiries to www.autocycle.org.uk Ex celsior Talisman Enthusiasts Membership enquiries: Colin Powell (01494 762166 or colinpowell328@gmail.com) Ex eter British Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: membership@ exeterbritishmotorcycleclub.co.uk Ex eter Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: www.exeterclassic motorcycleclub.btck.co.uk/MembershipForm Federation of Sidecar Clubs Membership enquiries: Ted Cheer, www.fedsidecarweb.com Francis-Barnett Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Ken Booth, 24 Old Fendike Road, Weston Hills, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 6DD (01406 380810). Furness British Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Paul Taylor 01229 464263. Girder Forks & Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Alan Watkinson, 4 The Lindens, Skipton Road, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD20 6HJ, 07931 312599. Gold Star Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Rachel Luke (01460 74714 or rachelluke54@hotmail.co.uk) Grampian Classic Motorcycle Club First Tuesday of the month, The Royal British Legion, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire, contact membership secretary mauriceiclarke@btinternet.com Gravesend Eagles Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: John Pattinson (01474 813239, john.pattinson80@gmail.com or gravesendeaglesmc.co.uk) Greenwich M& MCC Membership enquiries: Mrs G Claridge, 32b Elm Grove, Peckham, SE15 5DE, 020 7732 1129. Greeves Riders’ A ssociation Membership enquiries: Andrew Barnett, 2 Manor Farm Cottages, Ashton-under-Hill, Worcestershire, WR11 7SL, www.greeves-riders.org.uk H ednesford Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Eileen or Mick Gallear on 01543 572076 or eileen.gallear@sky.com H esketh Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Dave Hartnell, 13 Fernbank Close, Halesowen, B63 1BL (0121 550 3682, secretary@heskethownersclub.org.uk www.heskethownersclub.org.uk) H ighland Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: www.highlandclassicmotorcycle.club, hcmcmemberships@gmail.com H untsman Motor Cycle Club, Kent Membership enquiries: www.huntsmanmcc.co.uk Indian Motorcycle Club of Great Britain Membership enquiries: John Wright 0191 252 2840, membership@indianmotorcycle.co.uk Indian Riders’ Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: 07751 575107 or clubsecretary@indianriders.co.uk Irish Classic Racing A ssociation (ICRA ) Membership enquiries: Lynn Conroy, 38a Ballynichol Road, Comber, Co Down, BT23 5NW, 02891 878217 or Pat Kearney, 25 The Crescent, Millmount Abbey, Drogheda, Co Louth, 0035341 9837651. Italian Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Phil Cody, IMOCUK.2015@yahoo.co.uk Jawa CZ Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Pete Edwards, 29/31, Cromford Road, Langley Mill, NG16 4EF (Jawaczownersclub@gmail.com) Kettle Club (Suz uki GT7 5 0 owners) Membership enquiries: kettleclubtreasurer@gmail.com, 07837 162827 or kettlemembership@hotmail.co.uk L C Club Membership enquiries: www.lcclub.co.uk L edbury Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Sally Palmer, 07968 649327, sallyannpalmer226@gmail.com L eominster Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Steve Powell 07777 607379, membership@lcmcc.uk or www.lcmcc.uk) L E Velo Club Membership secretary: J Skillen, ‘Shalimar’, 3 Copeland Drive, Comber, Newtownards, BT23 5JJ (newmembsec@mypostoffice.co.uk) L ondon Douglas Motorcycle Club International club for Douglas enthusiasts. Membership enquiries: Reg Holmes, 48 Standish Avenue, Stoke Lodge, Patchway, Bristol, BS34 6AG or www.douglasmcc.co.uk L othian & Borders Classic & Vintage Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Elma Belleville (01896 830577, embelleville@hotmail.com) L ymington Motorcycle & L ight Car Club L td Membership enquiries: Geoff Price, 01425 270418 or www.lymingtonmotorcycle.co.uk Maldon British Motorcycle Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Roger Beadle (01245

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355402), Pauline Hodkinson (01245 321573) or rogerbeadle@btinternet.com Marston Sunbeam Club & Register Membership enquiries: Ken Jeddere-Fisher (01993 881807 or register.mscr@gmail.com) Martello Sidecar Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Steven Lancaster (07583 860591 or steven_lancaster@yahoo.com) Morgan Three-Wheeler Club Membership enquiries: Maria Parkinson on 01823 277852, email membership@mtwc.co.uk or visit www.mtwc.co.uk Morini Riders’ Club Membership enquiries: Les Madge 01647 24523 or membership@morini-riders-club.com Moto Guz z i Club GB Membership enquiries: Jennet Chisholm (01425 277344) or membership@motoguzziclub. co.uk, www.motoguzziclub.co.uk Moto Rumi Club Membership enquiries: motorumiclub@gmail.com www.motorumiclub.co.uk MZ Riders’ Club Membership enquiries: MZ Riders’ Club, 181 Devizes Road, Hilperton, Trowbridge, BA14 7QS. National A utocycle & Cyclemotor Club Membership enquiries: www.thebuzzingclub.net New Imperial Owners’ A ssociation Membership enquiries: Jane E Jarvis, Smithy Cottage, Arddlin, Llanymynech, SY22 6RX (01938 590744 or info@new-imperial.co.uk) Norman Motorcycle & Cycles Club Membership enquiries: Tony Gutteridge (01634 389771 or tonygutteridge@blueyonder.co.uk) North Cotswold VMCC Membership enquiries: ncvmcc@gmail.com or www.northcotswoldvmcc.com North Devon British Motorcycle Owners’ Club Membership and rideout enquiries: Yvonne Coleman, Bassett Lodge, Pollards Hill, Torrington, EX38 8JA (01805 622049) North East Motorcycle Racing Club Membership enquiries: Donna Davison, 7 Goschen Street, Blyth, NE24 1NJ (01670 362267, rsnemcrc@gmail.co.uk) Norton Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Jill Woodward, PO Box 6748, Leamington Spa, CV31 9PU, membership@nortonownersclub.org www.nortonownersclub.org/membership NSU Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Rosie Canning, nsuoc@btinternet.com Panther Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Ian Milliner, membership@pantherownersclub.com, www.pantherownersclub.com Pembrokeshire Vintage & Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Glyn Garland 01437 890976 www. pembrokeshiremotorcycleclub.co.uk Plymouth British & Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Nick Medlin 07967 777637 or nickvhsg@aol.com Poynton Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Ian Robins, ianrobins@live.co.uk www.poyntonmotorcycleclub.co.uk Raleigh Motorcycle & Early Reliant Owners’ Club Covers Raleigh motorcycles, mopeds, three-wheelers and Reliants from 1935 to 1973. Membership enquiries: Tony Eyre, Lorne Farm, Abbeytown, Wigton, CA7 4ND, 01697 361851, membership@rmerc.co.uk Royal Enfield Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Teresa Langley, Strathaan, Ardgay, IV24 3BG, membershipsecretary@royalenfield.org.uk Rudge A ssociation Membership enquiries: m.griffiths12@btinternet.com 07721 381356. Rudge Enthusiasts’ Club L td Membership enquiries: www.rudge.co.uk Salisbury Motorcycle & L ight Car Club Membership enquiries: www.salisburymotorcycleandlightcarclub.co.uk Scarisbrick & District A rmada Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: John Makinson, 46 Martin Lane, Burscough, L40 ORT, 07710 607835, john@sdarmada.co.uk Scott Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: membership@ scottownersclub.org, Allium House, 36 Water Street, Birmingham, B3 1HP, 020 8953 5732. Scottish Classic Racing Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Agnes Cadger 01294 833320 or agnescadger@tiscali.co.uk Somerton Classic Motorcycle Club AMCA-affiliated for classic trials in Somerset. Membership forms at www.somertonclassicmotorcycleclub.co.uk South Wales Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: admin@southwalesclassicmotorcycleclub.com www.southwalesclassicmotorcycleclub.com South Wales Sunbeam Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Dave Harrison, 8 Wern

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Street, Clydach Vale, Rhondda, CF40 2BQ (01443 435125, dave.harrison47@yahoo.com) South Yorkshire Sidecar Club Membership enquiries: Liz Hague 01226 351699, lizhague@talk21.com Stevenage & District Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Mick Taylor 07773 432738. Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club (all makes up to 1939) Membership enquiries: Brian Empsall, 19 Swinfen Broun Road, Lichfield, WS13 7AP, 07508 159812, smccmembershipsecretary@btinternet.com Sunbeam Owners’ Fellowship, S7 , S8 & S7 Delux e www.onthebeam.co.uk contact rotor@onthebeam.co.uk Sussex British Motorcycle Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: George Short 07900 465517, dgshort@hotmail.co.uk Mondays, Clymping Village Hall, A259, Littlehampton, West Sussex BN17 5RU, 7.30pm. Tamworth & District Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: Bob Salmon 01827 61608, or www.tanddcmcc.co.uk Taunton Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: www.tauntonclassicmc.weebly.com Teesside Yesteryear Motor Club Membership enquiries: membership@tymc.org. uk, general information, www.tymc.org.uk The Motor Cycling Club Membership enquiries: John Childs, 57 Ash Grove, Wheathamstead, St Albans, AL4 8DF, www.themotorcyclingclub.org.uk The Thirty Motorcycle Club of U lster Membership enquiries: gshilliday@btinternet.com Three Percenters Clean & Sober Bike Club Membership enquiries: Cathryn via membership@threepercentersmcc.org or visit www.threepercentersmcc.org Trident & Rocket 3 Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: membership@tr3oc. co.uk or visit www.tr3oc.co.uk Triking Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: R Shepherd 07973 295273, trikingowners@gmail.com Facebook: Triking Owners Club: www.forum2.trikingsportscars.co.uk Triton Club France Membership enquiries: Shelagh Moore rockhenry@hotmail.co.uk Triton Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: annefairview@btinternet. com or www.triton-owners-club.co.uk Triumph Owners’ Motor Cycle Club Membership enquiries: Laurence Mee, 6 Bramley Walk, Horley, RH6 9GB, membership@tomcc.org Triumph Terrier & Tiger Cub A ssociation All marque enthusiasts welcome. Membership enquiries: Mike Powell, Old Post Office Farm, Hemford, Gravels, Shropshire SY5 0JD, 07887 917466. Velocette Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Jeff Whitworth, 20 Woodside Way, Aldridge, WS9 0HY, 01922 453659 or jbdoublu@yahoo.co.uk Vincent H RD Owners’ Club Join online at www.voc.uk.com or call 01322 666455 for info. Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: go to www.vjmc.com Vintage Motor Cycle Club International club for enthusiasts of motorcycles more than 25 years old. Membership enquiries: 01283 540557, general@vmcc.net or www.vmcc.net Vintage Motor Scooter Club For all makes of vintage scooters. Membership enquiries: Marge Harrop, 11 Ivanhoe Avenue, Lowton St Lukes, WA3 2HX, membership@vmsc.co.uk Waterlooville Motorcycle Club Membership forms at www.waterlooville-mcc. co.uk All bikes welcome. Wessex Vehicle Preservation Club, Classic Bike Section Membership enquiries: Val Baker 01202 631094, or download application form from wvpc.org.uk West of Scotland Vintage Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: enquiries@vsmcc.co.uk Westland Classic Motor Cycle Club Membership enquiries: Henry Pinney 01935 892443 or visit www.wcmcc.org.uk Wolverhampton Classic Motorcycle Club Membership enquiries: tonyclements356@gmail. com or 07989 700679. Yamaha Virago Star Owners’ Club (VSOC) Membership enquiries: Malcolm Bland, PO Box 188, Cleckheaton, BD19 9AA, secretary@vsoc.org.uk. Please quote OBM. Z 1 Owners’ Club Membership enquiries: Jerry Humpage, 18 Pear Tree Road, Great Barr, B43 6HY, 0121 357 8849, 07818 450432 or jhumpage@fta.co.uk 5 9 Club Motorcycle Club Open Wed & Sat evening, Plaistow HQ, last Thursday of month, All Saints Hanworth 6.30pm, www.the59club.co.uk, 07423 591001.

28 READERS' TALES

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December 2020

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Having read the stories in the most recent copy of Old Bike Mart, Henry Raison felt inspired to share with other readers, no doubt of a similar age (early 70s), his fairly joyous experience of owning his first motorcycle – a 1959 example of the Triumph Tiger Cub T20 – and subsequent machines over the years.

y father had owned motorcycles when he was young and he eventually succumbed to my 15-year-old entreating for a motorcycle of my own (a decision perhaps which he later partly regretted… read on!) Father bought for me a black and silver Triumph Cub from a small motorcycle dealer at Denmead, Hampshire by name of Bob Golner. Yes, THE Bob Golner, whom I believe was an outstanding trials rider and thus had his own independent motorcycle shop. (Sadly Bob died last year). I had tried to talk father into a

Topbox-equipped Beeza SS80.

more powerful (15bhp) BSA C15, that I had had my eye on in the showroom (was it Glanfield and Lawrence?) at the bottom of my road leading to my current school at the time in Mayfield Road, Portsmouth, but father wisely declined this purchase. I remember visiting Bob Golner’s motorcycle showroom with my friend to drool over the variety of machines on display and I think I remember that Bob had taken the franchise for the Gilera range of motorcycles and encouraged me to talk father into getting me a brandnew 125 (or was it 175?) that he said

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could do 70mph and was faster than the Cub, and which he said was in every way the better machine. However, it was far too expensive at the time and so dad (who was MD of Weston Heart, a local TV and radio series of shops) paid £75 for the Cub with just 7000 miles on the clock (and perhaps a few more off it!). As a 15-year-old, of course I couldn’t ride on the road (but did sneak out on the nearby Portsdown Hill for a test ride(s), so until I could be road legal I carefully went about dismantling (servicing) it and learning the intricacies of basic motorcycle engineering. Sadly I only had a few spanners at the time my favourite being a 9/16th King Dick ,with which I did considerable damage; with no socket set and not much common sense I managed to butcher most of the screws and nuts that held the machine together; however as soon as I was 16 I passed my motorcycle driving test which was very basic in nature and form and the highlight being the emergency stop whereby the test examiner would “hide” behind a parked car and jump out into the middle of the road so the learner driver could demonstrate his/her ability to perform an emergency stop – I wonder how many

examiners were injured as a result of basic motorcycle incompetence in this area! Several no doubt retired early with nervous exhaustion. Health and safety be damned. Being able to ride my motorcycle on the road was a wonderful experience, and I regularly rode it to school and back so that I could get home for lunch and avoid the dreaded school dinners. I remember being envious of the 15 brake horsepower of the Triumph Sports Cub and was soon searching for ways to increase the power of the 10 brake horsepower engine. Fortunately, at the time Triumph produced a tuning guide for the motorcycle which I obtained and then I set about ordering a list of parts to enhance the machine’s performance, wanting to increase the top speed of about 65 miles an hour. The tuning kit parts consisted of purchasing a high lift camshaft, a high compression 9-to-1 piston, a larger Amal Monobloc carburettor (replacing the miniscule asthmatic Zenith arrangement) a larger inlet manifold, stronger valve springs and a new primary chain set/rear sprocket to increase the overall gearing. I had in mind a top speed of 75 miles an hour as a target and, towards this end, I bought a set of

“Thruxton” style drop handlebars, which unfortunately had the effect of limiting the steering lock by hitting the tank sides on the now diminished full lock, but boy did they look good, and gave the impression of a cafe racer style motorcycle. The Cub engine exhaust note always sounded great – as Bob Currie mentioned in his early road test – and performance was now very much improved. I recall mercilessly thrashing this little Tiger Cub everywhere and, to be fair, it withstood the abuse fairly well. The breakdowns I remember were firstly some clutch nuts coming undone and grating on the outer chaincase – my fault for not replacing the clutch nuts' screws which had a dimple on them to prevent this, however, if they were used more than a couple of times the dimple will just disappear. Secondly the distributor drive pinion sheared off and I was left, on one occasion, many miles from home on the A32 road to Alton near Exton, with no money for a phone call and of course in those days we had no mobile phones, and breakdown cover was only for wimps and the rich. Such was my attachment to the motorcycle (fearing it would be stolen if I abandoned it) I decided

Henry's restored Honda S90.

The early years with a C11 in Wales It seems that the little 250cc Beeza that Neil Cairns wrote about has spurned many a riding career, and here Dan Griffiths reminisces about the start of his.

am took my coat and gloves from the fireguard. Dad, sporting his cap, had already tightened the belt of his raincoat. Seconds later, dad and I were out of the back door. I clutched a flickering torch more for company than illumination. It was a short walk, up Park Lane to Wally Lodwick’s house.

Wally was not a Londoner, and neither was there a park anywhere near. There was a lane though, a narrow one of tired tarmac and pot holes in which on a wet night one could drown a cat. I trod cautiously, tripping as I went. Shortly, we were there. The front room curtains betrayed

READERS' TALES 29

December 2020 to push it home in the blazing summer heat, over hill and down dale for about 20 miles from the point of breakdown back to my home in Cosham. I remember well, as I pushed my broken machine along the roads, many a scooter rider laughing as they drove by, giving me the V sign such was the animosity between mods and rockers in those days. After a period of mechanical abuse – such as only changing up through the gears at valve float rpm – the plain bearing big end gave out after about 10,000 miles, but I learned a great deal as I stripped it down and took it to my local agent for replacement. Unfortunately, one day as I was preparing to ride home for lunch I remember looking at my crash helmet and since they were not compulsory at the time and thought “it’s too hot to bother.” Of course, this was the day when I had quite a serious motorcycle accident on the way home and ended up being hospitalised and being rendered unconscious for a good while; causing my parents much anguish wondering if I would ever regain my mental facilities – the school also announced my accident during assembly with a warning about motorcycles and crash helmets etc. They did not expect me to recover and darken their door again. (I was far from a model pupil!) Fortunately, after a period of time, I recovered consciousness with little or no after-effects (however I no longer had the mental abilities to go on to Cambridge and rule the world) and found father had, in his wisdom, disposed of the motorcycle and said he would buy me a car which he did later on (a green Standard 10), but I was so attached to motorcycles I did return to them and over the years purchased an ex-gas board BSA B40 as they were auctioning them off. Also for a short time I owned 1955 NSU Max (a wonderfully sophisticated machine with curious styling. I wish I had it still); and also a fabulously reliable XT 500 and also a Honda CX650 Eurosport, bought with shot big ends but now rebuilt. In the 1970s, while studying for my degree, I succumbed to the purchase of a Triumph Tiger 90... It looked great and could be confused by the uninitiated with a much larger and more powerful machine. However I did not take this one apart and so it served me very well as I went up to Aberdeen to continue my studies. I took this machine with me and it never failed to start second kick, broke down or missed a beat

Mrs Lodwick, and Wally, a local entrepreneur, was out in a flash. We politely stood at the roadside until the garage doors could be opened. They eventually did. Loud screams cut the night as corrugated iron gouged the frosty ground. My eyes were angry at the mist of my breath, as I could not clearly see the beauty that I could smell within. There they were, two of them, standing proudly, staring at me – fact verified, by the incredulous child honest facial reflection, buried deeply in the chrome of those lights. Even in the impoverished widow’s glow of that flex hung bulb, I could see that one was a beautiful cold hard shiny blue, and the other a less fiery maroon. Virginity was thus lost to a

and returned about 70mpg and would, if pushed, approach the magic 90 miles an hour. Nor did it suffer from the vibration that some have mentioned went with these parallel twin engines. I think, looking back, it was my all-time favourite motorcycle. And on one occasion I drove from Aberdeen to Carlisle and back, without incident. However, after leaving college in Aberdeen and before I went to work in Birmingham, after going out riding on a glorious summer day in the Hampshire countryside I was returning to Waterlooville when a large unattended dog ran out from behind a car which I hit (the dog, not the car) and again came off and suffered severe abrasions from the freshly gravelled road surface. Sadly the bike (98 FLY) had to go (again) and I sold it on, but the handling never seemed quite right after the accident, and perhaps the frame had been twisted slightly? In my time I have also owned a BMW 100RT which took me to the South of France and back on a camping holiday without a hiccup. Again in the 1970s, a friend and I set off on a BSA B40 loaded to the gunwales with luggage, heading for the South of France. Secretly inspired by the film Easy Rider we took no tools, other than plug spanner, and we got to Cassis in the very South of France and back without any issues, apart from a bit of an oil leak. I also had a Honda ST 70 which, in an act of gross bravado, I used to commute to my place of work 12 miles along the newly constructed M27 motorway to Swanwick and back – the engine was 70cc and thus was technically legal to be used on motorways, and I always hoped I would be stopped by the police one day who would not understand how such a small motorcycle could be on the motorway, but I could point them to the tax disc. However the motorway was newly constructed and not subject to the intense traffic overload that it is today – even more so now they are making it into a so-called “smart” (can a lump of asphalt and concrete ever be ascribed with intelligence?) motorway by restricting and converting the breakdown lane into another lane. I also bought a 70cc Honda Chaly whilst I was working in Portsmouth and unfortunately one morning on the way to work another dog ran out from behind a car and I was cast into the road and suffered a broken collarbone. Who said lightning doesn’t strike twice? I also owned a Honda XL 250

Birmingham beauty on a cold night in 1953, when these story telling fingers were just a few years old. Despite the flaking rust of time’s toll on memory and the embellishing richness of nostalgia, I am certain that the choice of machines was mine to make. Dad was not only kind but better at most things than decisions. The deed was done and crumpled miner’s notes warmed Wally’s soft insurance selling hands. We floated home over enthusiasmhealed ground beneath my feet, having purchased a second-hand 250cc BSA C11. She wore blue, and on that distant night ignited an interest that has powered my soul through many an earthly storm. As an aside, I must add that I

as well as the Yamaha XT 500, both being totally reliable (mostly because I had learned not to tinker unnecessarily with them – having read the excellent book by Robert Pirsig “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.”) After retiring from work, I found myself drawn back into the world of two-wheeled transportation and I purchased a Peugeot 103 “pedal and go” moped with a seized engine. I managed to get hold of another engine from eBay France for a paltry sum and fitted it and have been using it ever since for shopping and just generally trundling round locally. It’s incredibly cheap to run, trouble-free, will climb any hill without pedal assistance and has never even oiled up a spark plug. It always creates a conversation when parked (absolutely anywhere for free) with people coming up and saying “I had one of those!” Most turned out to have owned the Raleigh RM series runabout which used a similar Mobylette engine I believe. Inspired by fun on the Peugeot, I started work on restoring a Honda S 90 which I have to this day and lurks in the back of the garage. After a while I felt the urge to invest in some early British engineering so I also purchased a BSA SS80 with very little compression and a very great oil leak. I spent one winter (with help from Rupert Ratio) stripping it down and rebuilding the engine; replacing all bearings, brakes etc, reboring it, putting in a Triumph SS100 piston, larger valves and changing the carburettor and enlarging the inlet and exhaust ports, and building some new stainless wheels (a building skill I eventually mastered). For some reason, BSA engineers considered it warranted a close ratio gearbox which gives over 40mph in first gear! It now sits in my garage today awaiting running in … sadly not often used. Inspired by the need for reliability and bit more power (the two up trip round the Isle of Wight on the SS80 was a bit of a struggle) I finally bought myself a Honda 650 Deauville I use with my wife Sue on the pillion when we go shopping in Portsmouth, or for slightly longer journeys into the Hampshire countryside. It’s the most comfortable and reliable bike I have ever owned but I do realise the need to reduce my motorcycle portfolio somewhat. Anyone want to do a swap for the BSA and Honda S90 and/or perhaps the 650 Eurosport for another classic? If so please mail me on henryloganraison@gmail. com for more information…

once told a lady friend that her bright blue eyes reflected the light as the chrome on that old C11 did. You may find it difficult to fathom, but she seemed little moved by such a flattering simile and strangely the relationship floundered. I am tempted to digress but, another time, perhaps. It would be nice to say that dad bought that old bike, as a hobby to while away his time. Not so. Pragmatism ruled. It was bought as conveyance to the East Pit at Gwaun Cae Gurwen. It had to earn its keep and home in sheltered shed, by doing so, in all weathers and godforsaken hours. Over the next couple of years, the BSA became the first living breathing, smoking, chattering

Every garage needs an example of Honda's little laid-down single.

Was the 650 Eurosport the best of the CX range?

The immaculate Tiger Cub, mid-restoration.

The curiously-styled 1955 NSA Max.

chained, oil-smelling beautiful piece of machinery that was ‘mine’. I rode some good behaviour miles, sitting in front of dad. I covered many more, sitting alone, in that shed, stretched across the tank, banking this way and that, although wisely dad had hung the key beyond my reach. The stench of oil, and peace, gave ample room for this youngster’s mind to taste freedom’s space. Half a century has passed and the machine is long gone. Wally went decades back and dad, with other colliers, sadly swallow dust nor air no more. Somewhere, they will be telling tales of rolledup newspaper, keeping out the nightly rain, as they traversed the barren heath, to exchange fresh clean darkness for quite another

sort within the guts of Mother Earth. Today there are good friends who commonly enjoy their motorcycling exotica of Bonneville, Velocette and Vincent. They look at me with eyes of polite disdain, when I ask if anyone knows of a blue C11 that, might be for sale. Some enquire as to why a retired professional man would seek such a lowly breed for a ride in the sunshine. My answer is brief. A long time ago, a BSA C11 gave my table four meals a day, while still taking me to places beyond the horizon that I am unlikely to ever, innocently enjoy again. The girl with the blue eyes? I think she married a guy with a maroon Lambretta!

30 READERS' TALES

December 2020

The BSA C11 fraternity Like many folk, Barry King always looks forward to the arrival of Old Bike Mart, and enjoys reading the various articles, but like so many others, it was Neil Cairns’ pieces on his BSA C11, that inspired him to put pen to paper himself…

eil triggers so many memories of those times and I see that I am not on my own, as many others have written in to express their enjoyment of his story. Like them, my first motorbike was a BSA C11. Mine was a 194 9 BSA C11G, in blue/black with a 250cc side valve engine, rigid rear end, tele forks and speedo mounted in the petrol tank. In 1960, at age 15, I had become a ‘ boy’ soldier – an Army Apprentice based at Arborfield near Reading. We got paid 38 shillings and 6 pence a week (around £1.20 today). However, we were only given 10 shillings a week (50p) spending money, which mainly went on Brasso polish and Blanco webbing preparation! The remainder of our pay was put in a Post O ffice Savings Book (PO SB) until we went home on leave. Being brought ght up in a family of motorcyclists I had gained some experience starting and riding my elder brother’s 1928 Sunbeam 600cc sidevalve combination up and down the back garden in Bournemouth and,, now at 16, I was desperate to get my first bike. My mother had misgivings but my father went with me to Bob Fosters in Westbourne to find a suitable learner machine. Having raided the savings in my PO SB I eventually bought my C11G (DJT 529) for around £20. It was the best st looking bike in my price range, and nd I loved it. In order for me to be allowed to keep and ride the bike, my mother her insisted that my father gave me the eq uivalent of a CBT, which meant I had to ride up and down Q ueens Park Avenue while he looked on from the edge of the golf course. All went well, and I was soon riding around Bournemouth on the C11 during my leave. The only mishap

I can recall was when trying to sq ueez e through a gateway into our front garden, my brake lever caught on the gate post and, as I withdrew my right hand, the bike accelerated and crashed into a small garden dividing wall. The bike was fine but my father had to rebuild the wall for our neighbour. Being a learner rider, taking a pillion passenger was not allowed but anyway I don’t think my girlfriend at the time was really keen on bikes and the photo is the only time she sat on it! As all my Army mates were spread all over the place, the only other motorcyclist I rode with at this time was my cousin from Southampton who used to borrow his father’s Francis-Barnett. I think the 30 miles between our towns was the furthest

I rode the C11, because we were not allowed to have any of our own vehicles at Arborfield. O n my next leave I applied for a test and, suitably dressed in a suede jacket and cork helmet (as opposed to the usual black leather and jet helmet), I took it and passed first time. The C11 had done its job and was sold to a neighbourhood friend who within months had ridden it to destruction. I was now looking for a bigger bike that could easily reach Arborfield where it would be secreted away for “prohibited” rides. Hence my next pride and joy was to be a 1955 Triumph 500cc Speedtwin and a new girlfriend, but that’s another tale. Right: 250cc of rip-roaring BSA C11G.

Carol side-saddle on the little Beeza.

June 1961, and Barrie and Colin aboard their Francis-Barnett and BSA.

Ferrets in, Norman out! On a wind and rain-swept afternoon what else can you do but browse OBM? Tony Regan enjoyed the continuation of the C11 story, Tim Vernal’s racing exploits and the letter about a Norman, all of which inspired him to reminisce about his own Norman...

he tenuous connection here is I have owned a Norman B4 for the past 35 years, bought from the previous owner to make room for his ferrets. A friend had guided me to it believing it was a Francis-Barnett that I might wish to trial. O ut came the 2T engine, and in went an 8E motor for trials. Racing-wise I began in a practice day at Gaydon early in 1975 with the North Glos Club on a 1968 Greeves RES Silverstone. I rode many similar circuits, so it’s just possible our wheels crossed. I once rebuilt a C12 of 1956 (basically the C11 engine) when it was offered to me by my friend Malcolm at college, in early 1971 as I recall. I had been a BSA fan ever since watching Saturday Grandstand and J eff Smith was my hero. Leaving school in 1969 dreaming of a full 250, I spent my holiday working in a tyre fitting bay earning enough to fund everything. It was soon evident that being legal, properly kitted out etc would lower

my sights. At that time C11/12s were unknown to me, so a 1963 D7 Bantam advertised in the Coventry Evening Telegraph for £25 was uncovered from beneath a tarp. 706 BHP was loaded in my father’s little Ford 5cwt van, somehow, and taken home. It got me about and was okay till I started having ideas! Pattern Goldstar silencers don’t work on Bantams, you just get odd explosions followed by a ping! Father left me to my own devices, even though he’d been a long time motorcyclist. So I learned about hooked sprockets, left-hand threads, clutch repairs etc the hard way. A friend, miles away, had taught me the basic controls so I went proudly to show him my steed. Leaving him, I encountered his neighbour cutting the corner and launching me in the hedge. Headlamp, forks and mudguard all far gone so it ended up at work until my boss said enough. Part repaired, I crept home only to be caught by traffic police in

their shining Triumph 2000. No horn, mudguard, lamp – £3 fine! I did patch the Bantam up, but my benevolent sister intervened to help me find something else. I knew a man who knew a man, as the saying goes and I bought a 1964 Tiger Cub. Initially fine, my lifetime friend Paul came on holiday to Wales with me and everyone had one it seemed, then the big end went. While J ack Butler’s overhauled the motor I soaked up Cub folklore, it gave me little enthusiasm. Malcolm offered a dismantled C12 and, for £3, it was mine providing I collected it from Solihull; which we did by same Ford van and British Rail DMU . I sold the D7 to a budding schoolboy scrambler to fund things. I did run the Cub in religiously, passed my test on it, and on the way back from an O xford Scramble it religiously emptied its oiltank. Paul took my girlfriend home and came back to tow me home, with the only hairy moment being

a bearded tweed sports jacket in a Herald didn’t see my 6volt sidelamp till the last moment. Pete, another college pal, solved the Cub dilemma by buying it for £7.50, less the rear shocks which furnished the C12. Eventually, via J ack Butler’s and Vale O nslow’s ageing parts books, I got TO F 24 7 ready for MoT. I thought the handling different and when the tester said “Son you’ve got a bit of movement here!” I knew it wasn’t just me! The centrestand pin ran through the lower subframe eyes, spacers and gearbox plates also, and they were all now oval. The garage I worked at had reamers and stocks of redundant nuts and bolts. So I laid TO F on the lawn, hacksawed the pin out, threw away the stand and reamed the next siz e up; 9/16in I think, bolting it up all nice and tight with an eye out for handy walls and trees. I don’t recall braking issues, maybe I didn’t push it, I just delighted in its 63x80 motor which it seems BSA had made since their 1920s roundtank. With my scrambles bars, police seat and topbox I was very happy, even the pattern Goldstar silencer saw useful service and no pings! Another Welsh camping holiday

followed more or less successfully. Leaning TO F against J ack Butler’s handy tree to solve the sidestand issue, I met a chap who asked me if I wanted some spares. As it happened, mother approached in her car and we all formed a convoy to this chap’s garage. O ut came two bottom ends, three top ends and various other items, all for free! The only time I constantly pushed it was trying to hang onto Roy’s plunger A10 up the A5 returning from a Hatter’s Rally. It slowed, and when I stopped to investigate it locked solid. We put it behind a kindly lady’s hedge and promised to return next day. O nce again the Ford came to the rescue. An overlooked aged valve spring had snapped, gone down the pushrod tunnel and jammed between the cam and crank pinions, which was no problem now that I had spares, soon fixed! It was only a change of work down in London for a three year period that forced me to sell TO F as I had come by a 1959 unit 500 Triumph for £5, potentially twice as fast but part seiz ed. A couple of years ago I checked the DVLA site and TO F 24 7 was still about, I’d love to know its further history, a very happy-golucky machine.