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ISSUE
374
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Rust hadn’t yet got hold of the Austin – it would! – as this interested group gathered around a 500cc ‘flat-top’ Scott being road tested by Motor Cycling’s Midlands editor Bernal Osborne in 1958. Under the heading ‘Swift is the new Scott’, his report appeared in the April 29 issue. Photo: Mortons Archive www.mortonsarchive.com
2 NEWS
August 2016
Pete’s Prattle www.oldbikemart.co.uk email: info@oldbikemart.co.uk
Editor Pete Kelly OBMEditor@mortons.co.uk Designers Charlotte Fairman, Tracey Barton Production editors Sarah Palmer, Sarah Wilkinson Picture Desk Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Advertising Ricky Nichols rnichols@mortons.co.uk Alan Green agreen@mortons.co.uk
01507 524004 Marketing manager Charlotte Park Circulation manager Steve O’Hara Publisher Tim Hartley Publishing director Dan Savage Commercial director Nigel Hole Associate director Malcolm Wheeler General Queries Customer Service Number: 01507 529529 Telephone lines are open: Monday-Friday 8.30am-7pm, Saturday 8.30am-12.30pm and 24hr ansaphone Archive Enquiries Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk 01507 529423 Founder Ken Hallworth OLD BIKE MART (ISSN:1756-9494) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $48 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 City Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to OLD BIKE MART, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 City Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com PUBLISHED BY
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How I remember the Villiersengined Dot ice cream trike whose regular appearances in our cobbled ‘backs’ in the early 1950s, announced by the energetic ringing of a handbell, meant a tuppenny cornet with lashings of ‘raspberry’ sprinkled from a vinegar bottle! For many years, the old Dot factory in Manchester has stood defiantly while the world around it has changed beyond recognition, but an association with the city spanning over a century will end in September when Dot Motorcycles Ltd ceases trading from the 1912 premises in Ellesmere Street. To mark the occasion, the Dot Motorcycle Club has organised a meeting and display of Dot machinery at the premises on Saturday, September 4, and more details can be found in our archive feature on pages 42-3. Old Bike Mart is blessed with such a surfeit of editorial riches that sometimes it can be difficult fitting
everything in between the blocks of advertising material. In the past few months I’ve received such a large influx of interesting letters and features from our readers that inevitably there have been some delays in getting them to print – if only I could fit a quart into a pint pot! If you are one of them please be patient, for I’ll be easing the backlog over the next few issues. In recent weeks we’ve been looking closely at OBM’s run of pages trying to work out what might best go where, and I’ve been compiling some guidelines for editorial contributions. It would help immensely if you could keep the length of letters to a minimum, and to keep articles to no more than 1200 words so that we can use them in one go rather than having to extend them over several issues. I thoroughly enjoyed taking two of my bikes to the Girder Fork & Classic Motorcycle Club’s Big Bike Sunday at Skipton on June 26 and meeting
TTRA will benefit from Peter Williams evening In support of the TT Riders’ Association, the Northampton section of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club is organising an evening with 1960s and 70s road racing ace and development engineer Peter Williams, at the Obelisk Centre, Northampton NN2 8UB, on September 29. Tickets costing £8 each are available from Peter Tomkins (peter_james_tomkins@yahoo.co.uk).
Come and trade at the Netley Eurojumble
so many of the record numbers of exhibitors and visitors, but sadly I was unable to attend the VMCC Taverners Section’s Founder’s Day at Stanford Hall, near Lutterworth, which this year boasted a brilliant themed Panther display among the many excellent club stands and activities. With the help of the organising section, I aim to put together a worthy report and pictures in the next issue.
Space is still available for sellers at the Carole Nash Eurojumble this September 2-3, the event taking place in its traditional location of Netley Marsh near Southampton. Two-day plots are open for businesses to come and display their wares to thousands of enthusiastic bargain hunters, while there is also the opportunity for one-day traders to sell off the contents of their garage or shed with the Saturday clear out. Small pitches start from as little as £20, and anyone interested is encouraged to contact head of the event Richard Graham as soon as possible. Email: rgraham@mortons.co.uk. Tel: 01507 529470
Eccentric specials to tackle Shelsley Walsh hill The world’s fastest shopping trolley, the world’s fastest monowheel and a land speed ‘Scootsuit’ contraption will add to the diversity at the Shelsley Walsh Bike Festival at Worcestershire’s Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb, WR6 6RP, on Sunday, September 4. Allen Millyard will take to the hill on his V10 Millyard Viper, an eight-litre, 500bhp bike using the V10 engine from a Dodge Viper sports car. The hand-built machine weighs 600kg and has a
top speed of 207mph. It has won several awards, including ‘Most over the Top’ at the Salon Privé Concours d’Elégance. The event is the biggest annual fundraiser for the regional Blood Bike group, Severn Freewheelers, and will include large displays of historic, modern and race bikes, a paddock specials ‘show ’n’ tell’ arena and the opportunity for members of the public to take part in the spectacle by ‘running the hill’ or participating in a thrilling passenger ride experience.
Trade stands, live music from UK hot rock band Josie and the Outlaws and guest appearances will add to the experience. All proceeds will go to the Freewheelers, and advance general admission tickets costing £12 (£15 at the gate) are available from shelsleybikefestival.co.uk For £35 you can go up the hill on your own bike. The gates will open at 8.30am, with track action at 10am, and the festival will close at 5pm.
6 NEWS
August 2016
Hudspith steamer at Bike Life Classic Day Almost 600 bikes visited the Sammy Miller Museum on Sunday, July 26 when Bike Life Classic, a non-profit group for the preservation of classic bikes organised by Anthony and Heidi Andrews, held its second annual meet there. The Stars Appeal for Salisbury District Hospital will benefit from the £2000 raised on the day. Allen Millyard took along his aircraft radialcylindered five-litre V-twin and a selection of his multi-cylinder Kawasaki specials, and Geoff Hudspith, inventor and exhibitor of the Hudspith steam bicycle and steam gramophone, entertained everyone with his off-the-wall creations. Awards were presented at 1pm, with former Norton Villiers and John Player Norton development engineer and Honda Britain chief mechanic Norman White being presented with the Bob Andrews Trophy.
An interesting conversation takes place beside the Hudspith steam bicycle.
There are five litres of radial aircraft cylinders between the rider’s legs on the Flying Millyard.
Vintage speedway machines added to the interest at the Bike Life Classic Day.
Norton Festival salutes Lancashire biker Phil – still burning up the roads at 85 years young This year’s Norton Owners’ Club Festival included a 30-mile ride around the New Forest area before converging on the Sammy Miller Museum, where more than 200 bikes had gathered by noon on Saturday, July 2.
Making a fabulous display, members’ machines were joined by Norton Rotary legend Brian Crighton with his CR 700P race bikes, and Mike Braid and Richard Peckett showed off their John Player Nortons before going on to an event at Castle Coombe.
A sea of Nortons to delight the eye converge on the Sammy Miller Museum.
Many bikes, including Manx Nortons and Inters on open megaphones and some machines from Sammy’s own collection, took part in a large start-up ceremony, and the NOC records officers and their archives, along with the club’s
Mike Braid and Richard Peckett’s John Player Nortons stopped off at the Festival before moving on to Castle Coombe. Three of these potent machines were built for the 1972 World F750 and Superbike series, and were ridden by Phil Read, Peter Williams and Mick Grant.
spares and memorabilia vans, were there to answer any questions and sort out any problems. During the day, Sammy conducted workshop tours, and Bashley Manor Tea Rooms provided food and drink from their new outside catering cabin, with a barbecue, in the courtyard. Afterwards the group rode back to the Merley Court Holiday Park, near Poole, for a festival barbecue and buffet. To everyone’s delight, 85-yearold Phil Penket from Cleveleys, Lancashire, won the award for the eldest biker. He’s been motorcycling for over 68 years, bought his first Combat Commando as a brand new machine and rode a staggering 148,000 miles on it all over Europe, visiting Portugal and Gibraltar. He rode the 290 miles down from Lancashire to the Norton Festival, and was due to ride the same distance back home on the Sunday – now there’s commitment for you! He also has a Honda CBR600 on which he’s ridden 38,000 miles,
Age shall not weary them… Phil Penket receives his award from Sammy Miller during the Norton Festival on July 2.
and now uses that bike for his continental trips. Two weeks after the event, he was due to ride to the Somme with three pals, and on September 14 he plans to ride across France into Spain, stopping off at the Bay of Biscay before heading back to the UK via Plymouth and into Cornwall before the long haul back to Lancashire.
14 READERS' LETTERS
August 2016
✪ Muc-Off Star Letter
Fun – if you like that sort of thing!
A Norman Nippy at their feet! With reference to Joey Dunlop’s memorial in Ballymoney (OBM July) my son and I were up at the Bungalow on the Isle of Man TT course in 2012 when we went off to answer a call of nature in the bushes and stumbled across a Norman Nippy moped! The attached photo shows my son Steve pretending to race Joey on it after we dragged it down. Colyn Thomas, email Right: Steve Thomas gets down to it on the Norman Nippy they found in the undergrowth. 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! 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.
You beat us to it! Your mention of setting up Trials & Motocross News with Bill Lawless at Morecambe (‘Pete’s Prattle’, June) took me back to before the birth of that publication in 1977. Brassed off with a leading weekly publication’s front page bias towards a popular road racing star, I had the idea of starting an off-road paper, so I rang Ralph Venables and asked if he’d be prepared to join me if I could get the job cracking. The trouble was, I had a full-time job running my Big John boot business (sponsoring the British ISDT team and others for 14 years) and the paper just didn’t seem to get going.
Had I known at the time that Bill then lived near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, only about 15 miles away from myself, things might have turned out differently, but I didn’t know this until years later, when he and I sat on a grassy bank at a schoolboy national trial in which my son Martin and his son Sean were competing, and I told him what my intentions had been. I’d known Ralph since about 1952, when I was in the Army at Bordon, Hampshire, with John Giles, Eddie Austen, Mick Waller, Sid Joy and Brian Martin. After reading about your Ducati Sebring in the same ‘Prattle’, I’d
love to find the 350 BSA (LPB 151) on which I started scrambling in 1955. It was a lovely bike and I had lots of fun riding it. I sold it to David Tye, who ran his motorcycle business at Cromford, near Matlock. He was a lovely man who gave me lots of help and good advice and then asked me to go and work for him. Why I never took up his kind offer I’ll never understand. There was so much fun in the motorcycling world, and I had plenty of it and met some wonderful people. Maurice Arden, Email
The piece by Tony Proctor (OBM May) mentions the Wazzy Goose Trial at Brands Hatch. During the late 1980s I competed in it a few times, even winning ‘best non-trials bike’ and getting my name in MCN and all! I remember seeing the great Sammy Miller turning up in a Volvo estate chopped into a pick-up and riding his bike off the back. Various motorcycle racers on big trail bikes, and a magazine crew in a Russian outfit fitted with an 800cc BMW engine, added to the fun, along with one guy dressed as a Mod on a little Vespa, and Purple Helmets riders two-up, with a set of handlebars mounted on the rear sub-frame so that the backwardfacing passenger could hold on! I had an interesting ride in the chair of the outfit, going backwards, and it was my first and last try-out in a chair. Some took it seriously, and my first attempt was with a work colleague, Chris, who had a 250 MZ with an upswept exhaust because he’d done a few longdistance trials. My bike was a Kawasaki Z500 which I’d bought for £100 as a non-runner, but the trouble just turned out to be the coils. Chris assured me that the course was suitable for the road bike as he’d done it previously on his MZ. With a little help from other competitors (the four-into-one collector was limiting ground clearance) and some ‘nonobserving’ by female observers dressed as schoolgirls and carrying refreshing whisky for those in need, I managed to win my class.
Top: Full of confidence, the bewigged Pete (far left) watches a luckless press colleague get the slithers in the 1975 Press Trial at Brands Hatch, but when his own turn came (above), the long locks blew across his eyes (feeble excuse!) and he was forced to kiss the mud and be thankful that the exhaust had a good heat shield!
In subsequent years I attended with a Yamaha DT250, but didn’t find it as much fun. David McCormick, email Once upon a time, fun was what the old Wayzgoose and Press Barons’ Trial was all about. I hope you don’t mind me taking the liberty of showing two photos of an expert at work in the 1975 event. – Ed
20 NEWS
August 2016
From unexpected funeral guests to parking ticket mayhem in Belfast Ted Bemand concludes the report on his National Autocycle and Cyclemotor Club branch’s foray into Northern Ireland.
P
atrick McAlister became a wheelchair user following an accident in his teens, but that didn’t stop him enjoying life to the full. Sadly, at 44 he traded in his wheels for wings, and now (hopefully) flies with the angels. I never knew Patrick, so why am I telling you this? Well, his funeral was, by all accounts, such a splendid affair that they slightly over-catered, and as the guests left the church hall the Wirral Wobblers appeared and parked up outside, waiting for the back markers, the two-strokes yelping like a pack of eager hunting hounds. The noise brought the church ladies out and, not wanting to bin all the surplus grub, they invited the Wirral waste-disposal team in! No lunch stop needed – and I’m sure Patrick would have approved. One of our riders, Gaynor Peers,
had been in and out of the recovery car for the past couple of days with a fuel blockage problem, but our Irish host, John McAloran, kindly took it home, fixed the problem and returned it to the hotel that very morning. What would we do without these NI guys? Riding his LE Velocette, Ron Lane had done a morning oil top-up, but the cap wasn’t tight enough and it came off, spewing hot oil all over his overtrousers, which looked like patent leather when he arrived, with an air bed stopper acting as a new plug. While we waited, Anne Hansen ruefully examined the slightly abbreviated legshield on her Sky, and the rest of us placed bets on how long it would be before the manky rear tyre on Martin’s Excelsior autocycle would split open.
This Lohmann diesel-powered bicycle caught the attention of the Wobblers at one of the motorcycle collections they visited in Northern Ireland.
Our NACC guides Don and Tim had lined up a couple of treats for us. A friendly contact opened the door to a private collection of bikes – I’m not at liberty to say who or where – because ‘Mr A’ didn’t want unwelcome visitors. He did, however, give us free rein to explore his collection, which ranged from push bikes to full-blown race machines and made a mindboggling display, from absolutely mint to awaiting restoration. Our host had laid on refreshments, and we thank him sincerely for his hospitality to complete strangers. We set off again to visit another collection belonging to ‘Mr B’, whose first name was William, and what a kind and unassuming man he was. It was no use counting the bikes and they ranged from very rusty, naked flat-tankers (bought for £1 each before they went into the skip) to amazing race bikes. Once again, refreshments were laid on, so thank you, William. You are a real gentleman. Hammering along on the long ride north, the LE Velo finally cried ‘enough’ by sending out steam signals when the head gasket let go, so onto the trailer it went. Then we came to crash number three. On the long pull Pete Nolan, riding Eric’s bike (don’t ask) came upon Pat Keeling, as usual getting some leg exercise on the singlespeed Mobylette. Pete thought a bit of a push would be in order (he’d seen Pat’s husband Dave do the same) but as he got into position the Moby’s turbo cut in and Pete found himself pushing fresh air. One or other of Newton’s laws came into effect and he over-corrected, and
Placing the odds on an Excelsior autocycle’s tired tyre – and even the replacement had a bulge in it!
his intimate contact with the road resulted in a bent footrest, scraped paintwork and dented ego. When we returned to our Belfast hotel the car park was full, but being assured by a staff member that it would be OK to park up in a nearby piazza, we did so – only to find a nice present from the National Parking Agency next morning in the shape of 17 parking tickets on our seats. It was time for the charitable pensioners to put in a quick call to BBC Ulster’s news desk...
One of the party, Jim, is aggrieved to get a parking ticket – and at his age too!
38 READERS' TALES
August 2016
A Norton Navigator’s tale – the rescuer rescued Les Orme tells how, many years after the event, he managed to return the favour to a Norton Navigator that had rescued him from a breakdown crisis in France.
M
y motorcycling days started in 1959, at the age of 15, when friends Keith Pitcher, Pete Evans and I bought an old nonrunning rigid rear-end BSA for £5. I can’t remember the capacity, but it must have been a 250cc or 350cc single. Our intention had been to take it apart for some maintenance experience, but Bill Pitcher, who had an important position at Norton in Bracebridge Street, just happened to be Keith’s father, and soon had it up and running. The three of us learned to ride it in the vehicle access right-of-way at the back of Bill’s house, but the neighbours soon complained about the noise. I bought my first road bike – a 175cc James Cavalier – when I was 16, and my friends bought a James Captain and a Lambretta scooter, but after about 18 months we wanted bigger machines, so I bought a 250cc AJS Model 14, Keith a 250cc BSA C15 and Pete a 350cc Norton Navigator. In 1963 the three of us went on a three-week touring holiday of France and Belgium and bought a threeman tent complete with flysheet, and a small pup tent in which to store our equipment, which included basic cooking utensils, and inflatable Lilos for our beds. I still have the simple meths cooking ring and aluminium fold-together pan set that we used. We fitted our bikes with rear carriers
and panniers, and tested the tent and equipment by riding to Llangollen for a weekend, riding home to Birmingham in torrential rain. After taking the ferry from Dover to Calais, we made our way to Ostend and Blankenburgh, and after three days in Belgium we set off on the long trip to Paris. During the journey my AJS developed an engine rumble, and by the time we found a campsite in the Paris suburbs the developing engine noise was causing some concern. After a week in Paris, during which we gave the bikes a rest by using the Metro to see the sights, we planned to head along the Brittany coast, staying at Trouville and Deauville for a few days before making our way to Calais for the return ferry crossing. Not far into the journey, though, the AJS engine developed a significant knocking noise that gradually worsened until there was literally a bang/knock each time the piston went up and down. It remained all the way from Paris to the coast as I tried to nurse the engine to Trouville, where we set up camp. During the four days we stayed there I didn’t use the AJS, and rode pillion on the Norton Navigator instead. After packing up and leaving, I was the last in line with my engine banging away, and after about 10 miles it finally cried enough and seized. I pulled in the clutch and rolled to a stop as the BSA and Norton
The C15 provides a makeshift shaving mirror at the campsite outside Paris where the likely lads parked up their bikes for a while and explored the sights.
The three well-laden bikes are pictured before the big-end crisis intervened – is that a plastic leopard skin seat cover on Keith’s Beeza?
Taking a break from towing Les Orme’s stricken 250-cc AJS Model 14 180 miles across France in 1963, the 350cc Norton Navigator is pictured with its original owner, Pete Evans. At the back is Keith Pitcher’s 250cc BSA C15.
disappeared into the distance, but my friends returned as soon as they realised I wasn’t following. By this time my engine had cooled, but kicking it over was to no avail as it was seized solid. We’d all joined the RAC in case of a breakdown abroad, but after we managed to contact them from a local cafe (not easy as we spoke no French) the advice was to take the bike to the nearest garage and leave it there for repair. However, I didn’t think that leaving my bike in France was a good idea, so we dreamed up a better one – towing it to Calais and, after the crossing, leaving it in Dover for repair. Keith and Pete set off to buy some rope, and when they returned we decided the Navigator would make the best workhorse for towing my Ajay the 180 miles to Calais. We tied the rope around my headstock and then the Norton’s rear crash bars and set off at a very steady speed. At a road junction in a small town, the rope went slack and embarrassingly became wrapped around my front wheel. A few miles further on, as we went downhill at 40mph, the rope went slack again, but as it straightened out with Pete pulling forward, it came up underneath my front mudguard, resulting in my handlebars rocking strongly from side to side. Although I was shouting as loudly as possible, Pete couldn’t hear me because of the type of helmet he was wearing. I was losing control
If you suffer from vertigo, look away now! This was the view from the Eiffel Tower.
when suddenly the rope slackened again, and this time when it went taut it missed the mudguard and we were back to normal. Pete remained blissfully unaware of what had happened throughout. A bit further into the journey the same thing happened, but this time I couldn’t hold the handlebars and we came to grief in front of a group of French workmen who rushed over to help us. Fortunately we weren’t hurt and the bikes suffered only minor damage. I tried holding the rope rather than attaching it to my headstock, but I soon had to let go as my arm was being pulled out of its socket. Finally
Once their clothing and equipment had been stored in the small pup tent, there was plenty of room for Keith, Les and Pete in the larger one.
we decided to re-attach the rope to the headstock, but from then on Pete would give a slowing-down hand signal whenever he wanted to reduce speed or stop, giving me the chance to apply my brakes and keep the rope taut, and this got us back to Calais without further incident. We located the repair garage in Dover and made the necessary arrangements to leave my bike. We lightened the load on the Navigator to make room for me to ride pillion, leaving what we could on my bike and adding a bit more to the C15. Two weeks after returning home, one of the Norton’s pistons collapsed – what a good thing it hadn’t happened in France! When my AJS was duly repaired, I travelled down to Dover by train with my girlfriend, and we rode back at 25mph to run in the new big end. It took us hours and hours, and didn’t help when the incorrectly fitted battery lead came loose and blew all the bulbs just as it was getting dark a few miles out of Dover. It probably wouldn’t happen today, but finding ourselves stranded at a petrol station that didn’t stock the right kind of bulbs, a complete stranger offered to take us in his car to another service station to see if that one stocked them. It didn’t, and he took us to five petrol stations before we found the correct bulbs, returning us to the one where we’d left the bike, and wouldn’t accept any payment at all. We finally arrived home in the early hours. Continued next month.
42 FROM OUR ARCHIVE
August 2016
Motorcycles – the end of an era at Ellesmere Street An association with Manchester spanning over 100 years will come to an end this September when Dot Motorcycles Ltd ceases trading from its 1912 premises in Ellesmere Street. We delve into Mortons’ Archive to give some idea of the surprising variety of road and sporting machinery – all quite Devoid of Trouble – that the firm produced.
D
Published on November 23, 1922, this photo of the 1923 Dot 8H combination shows a powerful hand-change V-twin outfit in all its splendour.
Swept-back bars and a truly rakish attitude mark this JAP V-twin-engined Dot 8H Sports as a fast and desirable mount in 1923.
ot Motorcycles Ltd can trace its roots to 1903, when Harry Reed started in business as a cycle builder in Salford, but his ambition soon led to the construction of a motorcycle on which he claimed to have set the world record for the flying kilometre at Blackpool in 1906 – and as if that wasn’t enough, in 1908 he won the multi-cylinder class on a Dot at only the second Isle of Man TT. The Dot story is split into two distinct periods, and those of us who remember the firm as merely a producer of cheap and cheerful Villiers-powered roadsters, together with some pretty good trials and scrambling mounts, might be surprised to learn that, until the effects of the Great Depression (the 1929 one, that is!) forced Dot to cease trading for the first time in 1932, it made some superb, powerful and sophisticated machines as well.
Dot’s fortunes were revived when Burnard Scott Wade took over in 1935, designing and selling a successful range of three-wheel cycle and motorcycle ‘delivery trucks’ which found favour with all kinds of small businesses, from ice cream sellers to chimney sweeps. They consisted of fairly conventional solo rear ends, with a long bar mounted to the back of the swivelling front-mounted truck or box serving as the handlebars. Motorcycle production resumed in 1949 with a small range of machines powered mostly by Villiers two-stroke engines, but sporting aspirations remained, and many readers might not realise that Dot took the manufacturer’s team prize in the 1951 Ultra-Lightweight TT. It was in off-road sport, however, that the Manchester firm really made its name, and its lightweight trials and scrambles machines are still fondly remembered and indeed used in classic events. Those who, like this writer, visited many local scrambles events in the early 1960s will never forget the eardrumshattering exhaust of a Dot Demon!
A shilling change from twenty quid! Dot’s association with everyday lightweight machines went back a long way, as evidenced by this 1932 147cc Minor – but the aftermath of the Wall Street crash forced the Manchester firm to cease production soon afterwards.
This beefy-looking 1930 Dot/JAP sloper was never put into production.
Photos: Mortons Archive www.mortonsarchive.com
Few people will have seen the 1953 Dot brochure describing the Model 250, with an integral 248cc Brockhouse four-stroke engine/gearbox unit. It had coil ignition from a six-volt battery and Dot exhaust system with minimum back-pressure.
Dot famously took the manufacturer’s team prize in the 1951 Ultra-Lightweight TT – and no wonder, with designers capable of ideas like this. The bike’s weight is kept as low down as possible thanks to an underframe petrol tank and the contorted angle of the Villiers engine.
Dot never stopped experimenting with off-road machines – and imagine the racket from the 350cc RCA two-stroke twin.
48 AT YOUR SERVICE
August 2016
Inconspicuous, reliable and beautifully engineered – Steve’s electric-start solution for classic BSA twins Electric starter? What electric starter? Pete Kelly visits Steve McFarlane, of SRM Engineering fame, in Cardiff to fully appreciate the huge amount of skill and dedication that went into his patented design for an electric starter for swinging-arm A7 and A10 BSA twins.
O
Every component making up the BSA electric starter mechanism is laid bare.
The modified starter shaft (left) shows the ground-off teeth to accept the sprocket.
This picture of the inner starter plate attached to the crankcase shows the transfer shaft, which drives from the outside of the cover to the inside.
The drive from the starter moto to the transfer shaft is by chain. One of the covers for the chain sits on the bench to the right of the spanner.
The special after-market clutch boasted by this particular bike is refitted.
Steve examines the sprag clutch gear assembly.
nce Steve McFarlane had set his heart on manufacturing an electric-start mechanism for classic BSA parallel twins in the spring of 2009, using his own A10 Super Rocket (with its 9:1 compression pistons) as the project bike, he tenaciously got on with the job, working out every fine detail and then engineering all the parts himself to an impeccable standard. It was a long, hard road, progressing from paper templates to medium-density fibreboard (which can be drilled and shaped in almost the same way as metal) and finally the strong and beautifully crafted duralumin components which, largely hidden from view, allow everything to work like clockwork. The spark of the idea started in 2008, at the BSA International Rally on the Isle of Man, when the BSA Owners’ Club chairman and several others were talking about the need for an electric start for the parallel-twin Beezas, some members finding that bad knees, hips and other joints were starting to suffer in the strain of kick-starting their treasured machines. “One of my engineering friends had also been on to me about it for years,” said Steve when I visited him in Cardiff on Tuesday, July 19, “but I’d always said that the chaincase would need to be re-cast to give the necessary strength, making it too expensive to be viable, and that it would be a hugely time-consuming and difficult task in any case.” After seeing an electric starter on a Vincent, however, he started thinking about alternative ways of doing it. “Being a BSA enthusiast, I wanted to design a starter that didn’t spoil the look of these machines, so my first design objective was to make it as discreet and inconspicuous as possible, while still leaving the kickstart in place,” said Steve. He also wanted a battery that would never falter under the strain of repetitive start-ups, yet would comfortably fit into the existing battery compartment, and he would insist that the kit be ‘bolt-on’, requiring minimum alterations to any existing components. “During the spring of 2009, I started in earnest, working out the feasibility of driving the starter through the kick-start mechanism,” said Steve, “but after many hours in my garage looking at cogs, gears and sprockets that I thought might be suitable, I still couldn’t work out how to drive the engine this way without losing the use of the kick-start.” He then looked at the option of driving the starter through the
A close-up view of the starter mechanism in the clutch cover.
A BSA enthusiast through and through, Steve shows some of the numerous paper templates he made while experimenting with the electric-start design before turning them into metal
chaincase without putting any load or strain on to it, finding the answer only after many more hours of head-scratching. Then all he had to do was work out a suitable gearing arrangement. Through many more painstaking hours of machining, cutting, filing, grinding, boring, drilling and the like, he finally turned his ideas into working metal pieces. Made in California to withstand the heat and vibes of Harleys, the high-tech Wesco AGM 12v, 14ah battery included in the £1500 price of the kit is only half-an-inch longer and a quarter-of-an-inch taller than the original, and fits comfortably using the original battery clamps. The ‘AGM’ stands for absorbed glass mat, the acid being completely absorbed into glass mat separators sandwiched between the lead plates. It’s a totally sealed and maintenance-free design with no discharge tubes or filler caps, thus eliminating the need to maintain water levels, and, of course, there are no acid leaks to spoil valuable parts and accessories. The first electrically powered A10 start-up happened at around 1am on the Saturday morning of May 30, 2009, with both inner and outer chaincases removed to prove the system didn’t need them! Steve was absolutely delighted, and after another week of finalising, fettling and machining, everything was finally complete. The following Saturday, surrounded by family, he pressed the starter button and the BSA burst into life. “Everyone cheered and I was ecstatic,” said Steve. He did 200 start-ups with the charging system disconnected, counted by his family, and after another 50 starts, the whole starter mechanism was stripped down and examined for wear. While all production gears are hardened, the prototypes were left untreated because Steve wanted to accelerate any ageing and assess any early signs of wear, but they showed little sign of it. After all those start-ups, the battery was down by only half a volt, which means a fully charged battery should achieve 250 to 300 starts – and even if your charging system fails, you can still be confident of starting your bike!
50 STAFFORD REUNION
August 2016
Holding on for a hero
Alan Turner tells of a very special reunion at Stafford when, thanks to Holland’s Ferry Brouwer, Des Heckle was reunited with his record-breaking 250cc Yamaha TD1C sprint bike of 46 years ago.
W
hile much was taking place at April’s Carole Nash Classic MotorCycle Show at Stafford, away from the crowds a very low-profile meeting finally brought together a motorcycle and two people for whom, and for different reasons, it represented joy and frustration. In the 1960s, sprinting and the new sport of drag racing regularly made headline news. In a sensational performance somebody would set a time, or speed, that eclipsed a
previous effort, and then someone else would come along and go quicker. Standards of engineering, and the quality of the preparation, improved beyond measure, and as well as the usual events, there were regular tilts at the shorterdistance world records. These often took place on the long runway at Elvington, near York. In the lightweight classes, Yorkshireman Des Heckle was one of the men to beat. His success in sprinting had already secured world
The top tubes sweep wide – to Des’s annoyance. The tiny fuel tank held just enough juice to keep the centrally-mounted float chamber full for a run.
Ferry Brouwer (left) and Des Heckle pose with the Yamaha that, for different reasons, brought joy and frustration to both parties more than 40 years ago.
records as well as numerous class records at many of the sprint courses around the country. His fiancee, later wife, Irene, also set world records. For some seasons Des had persisted with a Villiers Starmaker and had posted times that had made the 250cc class his own. However, the Starmaker had little more to give, the world had moved on and it was time to move with it. He started work on a Yamahapowered machine, the well known Padgett’s company in Batley, Yorkshire, offering him the loan of a TD1C engine which gave state-ofthe-art performance. Des went to see his usual frame builder, Keith Stephenson, to discuss a new frame to house the engine, and as with previous bikes it was fabricated from small-diameter
tubing, in straight runs and forming part of a triangulated structure wherever possible. Unfortunately, they were soon aware of a problem with the straight top tubes as the cylinders could not be removed with the engine in situ. The remedy was to put a large radius curve in both top tubes, a compromise that still irks Des. The front fork arrangement had largediameter tubes as stanchions with smaller tubes forming a leading link arrangement. This rolled on a small diameter front wheel built around a Honda 50 hub assembly. The small amount of suspension movement was controlled by rubber bands, as used on speedway bikes. The rear wheel had no suspension, and the hub was laced into a wider rim shod with a sidecar road-
Call Ricky or Alan to advertise 01507 524004 Trade deadline for the next issue is Friday August 19 Publication Date Saturday September 3
race tyre, offering a convenient combination of tread width and a stickier compound, and probably the best available rubber at the time. The rider’s accommodation was a loop of small diameter tube – Des didn’t intend to spend too long in the office! The handlebars were welded directly to the forks, angled downwards to minimise frontal area. The fuel was contained in a tiny tank, held between and beneath the top rails of the frame and just above the carburettor float chambers. Des remembers that the tank was mounted higher for half-mile and kilometre events, needing to drain completely. Low and light, the completed bike certainly looked right. It turned out to be fast, but tuning and carburation were critical. In
July 2016
NEWS 55
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