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June 2016 £2.10
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OBM owner Mortons Media Group has agreed to buy the successful Kempton Park autojumbles and bike shows from Eric Patterson, with the former owner staying on board as a consultant. Eric is pictured (left) at the recent Southern Classic Bike Show & Autojumble with Mortons’ Andy Kitchen, who will now head up the seven annual one-day events. For more details, see page 3.
June 2016
7
8 DIARY DATES
June 2016
Diary Dates JUNE 2016 4
YOUR OLD BIKE MART WITH YOU TODAY 4 Rufforth Autojumble. www.rufforthautojumble.com 4 West Country Autojumble, New Cattle Market, Driffield Road, Cirencester GL7 5QA. Tel: 07831 421455. 4 Brymbo Heritage Group Open Days. Tel: 01978 752890 www.brymboheritage.co.uk 5 ’Normous Newark, Newark Showground, Notts, NG24 2NY. www.newarkautojumble.co.uk 5 Wells Classic MCC 6th Annual Tortoise and Hare Run www.wellsclassicmotorcycleclub.co.uk 5 The British Two-Stroke Club Limited. The John Lee Memorial Run. The Lady Jane PH, Coalville, Leics. Tel: 0116 275 0532. 5 Craven Collection Motorcycle Museum, Brockfield Villa, Stockton on the Forest, York, YO32 9UE Tel: 01904 400493. 5 Ace Cafe London. Mad Sunday in aid of SERV. www.ace-cafe-london.com 5 VMCC (Northampton) Earls Barton Transport Run, 4 Seasons Café, Billing Garden Centre. Tel: 01604 811747. 6 JUNE ISSUE OF REALCLASSIC 8 VMCC (Essex) Ride a Bike Night and Run. Ship & Anchor. Tel: 01268 767293. 8 Bike Night at Plough Inn, Town Street, South Leverton, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 0BT. Tel: 01427 880323. 10-12 The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire, SY14 8ET www.cpop.co.uk. Email: julie.sawyer@cpop.co.uk 10-12 Lion Rally, Gravelly Bridge Farm, Grazeley Green Road, Grazeley, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 1LG www.lionrally.com. Email: info@lionrally.com 11 Japanese Bikers Day, Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5SZ. Tel: 01425 62077 (museum) seven days a week or 01425 616644 (workshop/ office) Monday to Friday. Email. museum@sammymiller.co.uk www.sammymiller.co.uk. 11 Daventry Motorcycle Festival, Daventry Town Centre, Market Square & High Street, Daventry, Northamptonshire, NN11 4HT, www.daventrybikefest.co.uk. Tel: 07817 312718. Email: info@daventrybikefest.co.uk 12 Kenley Autojumble The Portcullis Club, Kenley Airfield, Victor Beamish Avenue, Caterham, CR3 5FX (just off Jnc 6, M25). Tel: 07772 169524 or kenley@ indianriders.co.uk See more at www. facebook.com/KenleyAutojumble 12 Lincoln Bike Fest, Brayford Waterfront, Lincoln, Lincolnshire LN1 1XW. Tel: 07899 994341. Email: richard@pennells.co.uk
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VMCC (Northampton) Sunshine Run, Super Sausage Cafe A5 Potterspury. Tel: Richard 01604 768069. 12 Ace Cafe London. Triumph Bike Day. www.ace-cafelondon.com 12 LE Velo Lancs & S Lakes, Top Lock, Wheelton. Meet here for White Coppice. Tel: 01772 782516. 12 35th Lancs Classic Car and Motorcycle Show, with FREE A/J Stalls. Hoghton Tower, near Preston, Lancs, PR5 0SH. Tel: 01484 667776. Email: info@classicshows.org www.classicshows.org 12 VMCC (Dorset) Purbeck Run, Winterbourne, Zelston. Tel: Tony Morpeth 01300 342058. 12 Garstang Autojumble, Hamilton House Farm, on A586, off A6, Garstang, Preston, PR3 0TB. Tel: 07836 331324 (day) or 01772 323654 (6pm–8pm) Email: info@garstangautojumbles.co.uk www.garstangautojumbles.co.uk 14 The Worcester Auto Club aka WAC Motorcycle Club Tuesday Bike meet The Tower, Perdiswell Park, (A38) Droitwich Road, Worcester. WR3 7SN 15 JULY ISSUE OF CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE MECHANICS 15 The Triumph Owners' Motorcycle Club, Yorkshire Rose Branch Concours, The Waverley, Brinsworth Road, Catcliffe, Rotherham, S60 5RW. Tel: 01142 620195. 15 VMCC (Dorset) Mid-Week Run, East Stour. Tel: 01963-363020. 15 Yorkshire Rose (TOMCC) open night, Waverley P/H Brinsworth Road, Catcliffe, Rotherham, S60 5RW. Tel: 0114 226 20195. 16 JULY/AUGUST ISSUE OF CLASSIC RACER 16-19 Harley-Davidson 25th Annual HOG Rally, Portoroz, Slovenia, www.harley-davidson.com/events 16-19 Simmer Dim Rally, Vidlin, Shetland Isles, Scotland. Email. Simmerdimrally@gmail.com 17-19 League of Zeal MCC – The Old Goats Grumble 2, Sycamore Farm, Heavygate Lane, Shottle, Belper, Derbyshire, DE56 2DS www.loz-mcc.co.uk. Tel: 07786 065341. Email: league.of.zeal.mcc@gmail.com 17-19 Estonians MCC – Barnstormer Rally, High Farm, Coal Lane, nr Elwick, Hartlepool, Teesside, Durham, TS27 3HD, www.estoniansmcc.com. Tel: Biff 07533 204101; John 07534 911887; Juju 01642 289153. Email: estoniansmcc@hotmail.co.uk 18 Classic Motorcycle Shows, Hall’s Green, Weston SG4 7DP. Tel: 07963 609143. 18 Scorton Giant Auto/Bike Jumble, North Yorkshire Events Centre, DL10 6EJ. Tel: 07909 904705. 18 National Motorcycle Museum Friends Classic Bike Tours. Tel: 01675 443311. www.thenmm.co.uk 18-19 Clwyd Veteran and Vintage Machinery Society Ltd, Vintage Vehicle & Steam Rally & Craft Fayre at Oswestry Showground. cvvms.co.uk
18-19 Bob McIntyre Memorial Classic Races East Fortune Raceway. Email:agnescadger@tiscali.co.uk 18-19 The Footman James 37th Bristol Classic Car Show. Bath & West Showground, BA4 6QN www.carsandevents.com 18-19 Oliver’s Mount Road Races: Cock O’The North. Tel: 01723 373000. www.oliversmountracing.com 18-25 Sunbeam MCC 33rd Welsh Week, Llanbister. Tel: 01761 241516. colinandpip@waitrose.com 19 Ace Cafe London. Polish Bike Day. www.ace-cafelondon.com 19 VMCC (Essex) Dave’s Breakfast Run, Tesco car park. Tel: 01621 893450. 19 14th Father’s Day Cars and Bikes in the Park, including Sportscars, Classic & Kit Cars, plus Classic Bikes and featuring The Knebworth American Car Show, Knebworth Park, Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2AX. Tel: 01484 667776. Email: info@classicshows.org www.classicshows.org 19 Father’s Day Wirral Classic Vehicle Show, Thornton Manor, Thornton Hough, Wirral, Merseyside, CH63 1JB www.classicshows.org, email info@ classicshows.org. Tel: 01484 667776. 19 55th Jimmie Guthrie Memorial Run. Tel: 01450 870505. 19 Salisbury Motorcyle & Light Car Club, Horses & Henges Solstice Run. Tel: 07855 420684 www.salisburymotorcycleandlightcarclub. co.uk 19 Charterhouse Classic Car Auction, Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, BA4 6QN 19 VMCC Banbury Run, Heritage Motor Centre, Banbury Road, Gaydon, Warwickshire, CV35 0BJ, www.banbury-run.co.uk. Tel: 01283 540557. Email: sambrown@ vmcc.net/members@vmcc.net 21 VMCC (Northampton) Longest Evening Run, Car Wash Car Park, Sixfields Stadium, Northampton. Tel: 01604 586144. 22 Bike Night at Plough Inn, Town Street, South Leverton, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 0BT. Tel: 01427 880323. 22 VMCC (Essex) Evening Run, Writtle Green. Tel: 01245 281184. 22 Bucks British & Classic MCC present Shiny Bike night. The Plough at Cadsden, Princes Risborough, Bucks, HP27 0NB www.bbcmcc.freeuk.com Tel: 07940 492348. 22-23 Lincolnshire Show, Lincolnshire Showground (A15 north of Lincoln), www.lincolnshireshow.co.uk 23 LE Velo Lancs & S Lakes, Hawes, meet at Wensleydale Creamery. Tel: 01772 782516. 23-26 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Estate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0PX www.goodwood.com
24-26 Wildfire Festival, Wiston Lodge, Wiston, Biggar, South Lanarkshire, ML12 6HT www.wildfirefestival.co.uk. Tel: 07904 644531. Email: daveritchie@sky.com 24-26 VMCC (Northern Ireland) Antrim Coast Weekend. 25-26 Sheffield Steam & Vintage Rally Rackford Road, North Anston, near Sheffield, S25 4DF. Tel: 01709 545047 or 07748 752663. Email. shefsteamvcl@gmail.com 25 Classic Motorcycle Shows, Coach & Horses, Stevenage SG1 3HT. Tel: 07963 609143. 26 Big Bike Sunday, Skipton Auction Mart, 12 noon. 26 Kidney Fundraising Convoy, Queen Elizabeth School, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 4DT www.kidneyfundraisingconvoy.co.uk 26 Romney Marsh Show & Bike Jumble Marsh Road, Hamstreet, Near Ashford, Kent, TN26 2JD (A2070 six miles M20 J10) Tel: 01797 344277 www.elkpromotions.co.uk 26 Bike Jumble Whitewebbs Museum of Transport, EN2 9HW. Tel: 0208 367 1898. 26 Stickney Autojumble, Stickney Car Boot Field, Stickney, Boston, Lincs, PE22 8AG. Tel: 01790 754669 / 07760 557569. 26 Sun Donington Summer Running Festival, Donington Park, Castle Donington, Derby, DE74 2RP. www.greatrun.org/donington 26 Westland Classic Motor Cycle The Coast to Coast run. www.wcmcc.org.uk or Tel: 01935 851512. Email. c2cwcmc@hotmail.co.uk. 26 Bike Life Classics Day, Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5SZ. Tel: 01425 62077 Museum seven days a week or 01425 616644 workshop/ office Monday to Friday. Email: museum@sammymiller.co.uk www.sammymiller.co.uk. 26 Ace Cafe London. Triton & Cafe Racer Day. www.ace-cafe-london.com 26 VMCC (Northampton) Breakfast Run, Hunsbury Country Park, Northampton. Tel: 01604 859215. 26 St Ives Festival of Motorcycles, Market Hill, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 5AP. Tel: 07076 419362. Email: cb.iteng@gmail.com 28 British Two-Stroke Club (Lincs Section) Club Night Fish & Chips Mermaid, Horncastle. Tel: 01526 345720. 29 VMCC (Essex) Wrinkly Run, Tesco car park, Maldon. Tel: 01621 892206. 29 JULY ISSUE OF CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE JULY 2016 1 AUGUST ISSUE OF THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE 1 Triumph Cruisers Dent Meet ‘n’ Greet - 10th Year Celebration, Dent, Yorkshire Dales National Park, LA10 5QJ. Tel: 01253 810468. Email: birchr.lancs@yahoo.co.uk 1-3 London Douglas Motorcycle Club Annual Rally. Email. publicity@douglasmcc.co.uk 1-3 BTSC Annual Rally and AGM at Henlow, Beds, SG16 6LN. Tel: Keith 01604 701925 or Robert 0239 246 0014 1-3 World Ducati Week 2016, Marco Simonelli World Circuit wdw.ducati.it 2 YOUR OLD BIKE MART WITH YOU TODAY 2 Norton Festival, Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5SZ. Tel: 01425 62077 (museum) seven days a week or 01425 616644 (workshop/office) Monday to Friday. Email: museum@sammymiller.co.uk www.sammymiller.co.uk. 2 Rufforth Autojumble. www.rufforthautojumble.com 2 Allied Memorial Remembrance Ride (AMRR), Meet Cambridge Services (Jct 28 0f A14), Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, CB23 4WU, www.alliedride.org. Tel: 07847 485937 2 B5000 Barbers Vehicle show at Polesworth Carnival held at Station Road, Polesworth, B78 1EL. 2 Ace Cafe London. Diamond Day – NCC London Custom Bike Show. www.ace-cafe-london.com 2 Bikers Film Night at Harrowbarrow Village Hall, Newcallington, PL17 8BQ Tel: 07798 872293.
16 MADE IN JAPAN
June 2016
Yamaha's XT and SR500 – a singular sort-out
All pictures: Mortons Archive
Eyebrows were raised when Yamaha entered the ‘big single’ market in the 1970s – but it had done its homework thoroughly to put some tired old bogeys to rest, writes Steve Cooper.
A Japanese single – and an excellent one at that. Yamaha took the world by storm when it launched its XTs.
It looks a fairly ordinary lump, but Yamaha's team had done their homework.
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Without exception, every motorcycle we’ve looked at in Old Bike Mart’s middleweight series has run a multi-cylinder engine because, in the period we tend to cover, single-cylinder machines were generally the preserve of tiddlers, with the occasional foray into 250cc territory. Quite simply, Japan had the good sense to keep away from big singles and focus on machinery that they knew would generate reliable sales. Even if older riders from the period might have bemoaned the lack of big feisty singles, the commercial reality was something rather different. When BSA went under, the curtains closed on what had been almost a British preserve – lusty motors delivering huge gobbets of torque, capable of pulling out tree stumps, tuned one-lungers ready to battle with all and any takers on the local bypass, massively long-stroke engines capable of hauling infeasibly large sidecars stacked with kids, and engines offering almost incredulously high mpg figures.
The SR500 engine is revered to this day.
In reality the Great British single was occasionally one of these, rarely two, and never boasting all of these fine attributes at the same time. Rose-tinted goggles have a strange way of twisting the past! If any of the major Japanese players was ever going to produce a facsimile of Blighty’s best then it was always going to be Yamaha. Consistently maverick in their approach to concepts and designs, the Iwata organisation had already cocked a snook at convention back in 1970 when it launched its XS-1 650 parallel twin. Even if it never handled like a Dommie or went like a Bonnie, it sold in huge numbers. Figures in excess of 400,000 are generally accepted as being conservatively accurate – no bad deal for a 15-year model run. In 1975 Yamaha launched arguably its most outrageous model to date, the XT500, based around an overhead cam motor running a two-valve head, whose designers had opted early on for a slightly oversquare bore and stroke. The concept of making a slogger held little attraction to Yamaha, and every effort was made to distance the bike and its motor from everything that had gone before it. Never intended to be a full-on performance device, the engine tended to offer a good, honest bhp figure in the low thirties, with a healthy slice of torque. Being an overhead cam motor, however, it was intended from the off to be revved in use. The XT delivered its maximum foot pounds and bhp at 5400 and 5800 rpm respectively – not massively high revs but certainly sustainable ones. The road-orientated SR500 that arrived in 1978 had larger valves and a different piston, along with changes to the cam and crank, upping power by around 10%, although torque was largely unaffected. If the pundits of the day had expected and hoped for BSA B50T and Velocette Venom clones, they were to be cruelly disappointed, because
June 2016 Yamaha had done its homework well and burned innumerable drums of midnight oil into the bargain. These were considered new designs – Japanese takes on the concept of the big single – and huge levels of research had been undertaken to ensure that the so-called foibles of the older designs had been negated. The arch-nemesis of many a classic pushrod single had been the almost obligatory oil leak, and Yamaha knew that there were several issues that governed this, such as pumping volumes (relatively hard to alter significantly), dimensions of mating surfaces (fairly simple to arrange during design) and, crucially, oil pressure (again, something that has to be considered at the design stage). Iwata’s engineers had learned a lot, and researched even more, before even considering prototypes. Harking back to lessons already learned with the XS650, the motor was drawn up running a one-piece con rod on a pressed-up crank with needle roller big end bearings. Such a set-up requires only a continuous supply of low-pressure oil to run well, so in a single stroke, the old bogey of oil leaks was firmly put to bed. The rest of the engine/gearbox unit details were pretty much standard Yamaha fitment, and only the frame deviated from custom and practice. From the off, the XT and SR ran different cranks, each one designed exclusively for its respective end role. Yamaha’s considered approach was that a one-sizefits-all mindset was never going to be acceptable, even if the two models shared a single point of origin. With the motor designed as a dry sump as opposed to the wet sump Yamaha fourstrokes before it, an oil tank was required. Here the designers borrowed heavily from later British practices and, quite possibly a first for a Japanese firm, Yamaha opted to use XT/SR frame as the oil tank with the filler neck located just behind the headstock. When the XT was rolled out, many struggled to comprehend why Yamaha had taken such a bold move, but within months the bike was a genuine unqualified success in America, where it mattered, on the dirt. And almost immediately the bike was offered in stripped-down format as the TT500 for semi-professional use, yet this was soon topped when Swedish former world champion Sten Lundin built what became known as the HL500. This proved to be
MADE IN JAPAN 17
Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club
In various guises the SR500 remained available as late as 1999... and even beyond that in some markets.
Purposeful styling and a serious off-road character typified the XT500s.
remarkably successful, and was to be the last four-stroke single to win a motocross grand prix for many years. The XT also went on to win innumerable desert races both as a factory machine and in the hands of privateers. Over time the bike’s capacity was to grow to 600cc and would remain in a recognisable format on Yamaha’s sales sheet well into the 1990s. The SR500 found a ready market in mainland Europe, Australia and America, yet perversely never made significant impact upon the one market that had spawned its very existence. British riders never really grasped quite why a second generation 500cc road-going single was even necessary, and sales were always
minor league, but elsewhere the bike remained a firm, if niche, favourite. In various guises and with a variety of front brakes, the SR500 was still available as late as 1999 and beyond in some markets before it was pensioned off. That should have been the end of a design that started out around 1972, but Yamaha had other ideas and, using the Japanese market 400cc homologue as a basis, the bike was equipped with fuel injection to make it Euro compliant and – hey presto! – the big banger for a new generation. Large four-stroke singles are far from being the dinosaurs some might have us believe.
There’s a worrying negative certainty about this perverse hobby of ours – none of us is getting any younger. On the positive side we seem to be more active than our grandparents’ generation with hugely higher expectations. This inevitably means most of us are going to be riding well into our dotages. On the rash assumptions that (a) politicians don’t consign every classic motorcycle to the status of static museum piece and (b) insurance companies will still be happy to insure us, the next inevitable question has to be: “What will I be able to handle in terms of size and mass as I age?” You might scoff at the idea just now, but give it a few years and your viewpoint might change. As your bones age and your muscles weaken, will a Kawasaki Z1 or a Suzuki GT750 be a viable classic? How many septuagenarians can safely manhandle a Honda CBX1000 out of the garage? Picking a Yamaha XS1100 off the Tarmac is a feat of Herculean proportions for a 30-year-old, so be under no illusions it’ll take more than two 60-yearolds to achieve the same result! So far, not good. It could be a bleak future for those of a certain age still wanting their fix of classic adrenaline… unless you think laterally. A substantial number of older VJMC members have rationalised their riding stables over the last few years and it makes interesting reading what’s been moved on and what’s been retained or subsequently acquired. Big two-stroke triples, cumbersome air-cooled fours, chunky continental tourers and their ilk have all been moved on for good money to make way for more accessible classic Japanese motorcycles. Honda’s CB72/77s may not be the lightest, but they are unquestionably manageable and reliable. They also come with electric starts which can be handy when hips and knees start to complain.
Twin attraction
If a Honda ‘Black Bomber’ feels a bit on the lardy side, why not keep it in the family and go for a later CB500S twin? Supremely competent, stupidly cheap and hugely underrated it’s effectively half a Fireblade, so need we say more? Any of Suzuki’s 400-500cc twins are also worth considering, and are more than capable of keeping up with modern traffic. Early examples can be a little cranky with electrics, but the fixes are cheap and well documented. Once again, they all come with a hugely useful electric foot. If two-strokes are your thing and you want what’s probably the best twin out there, take a look at Yamaha’s RD350 YPVS, aka the Power Valve 350. As long as you can manage the kick-starting, it’s easy to handle, fast but predictable, sharp but not dangerous, and fun to ride all day long. Best of all, the prices are still much lower than either of the RD 400 or LC350 predecessors. And if you want something classic but even more accessible, look carefully at the 175-200cc capacity bracket as there are some amazing treasures tucked away here. Suzuki’s sublime X5 is a rocketship in miniature, and of course comes with an electric start. If you don’t fancy stinkwheels’ tantrums as you get older, then why not look at the supremely competent Honda CB175 or CB200? These stunning machines are arguably the pinnacle of early Honda twin designs and, short of stupidity, are hard to break. My own retirement plan? Yamaha 180-200 twins. Still cheap if you know where to look, a great number of key parts still readily available from specialists and cracking good fun to ride. And if anyone has a 1973 round-tanked RD200 going spare, I can still fit one in my shed…just!
www.vjmc.com
38 NEWS
June 2016
To dream the impossible dream One day in the early 1970s, while riding to Brands Hatch on his five-speed Royal Enfield Continental, Tony Page spotted an unfamiliar BSA motorcycle parked in a driveway – and it sparked an obsession that lasted decades and took him to the far corners of the world.
I
have been accused of being an obsessive. This could well be true, but surely most of us could wear that badge? Back when I had dreams – and hair – my mates and I would ride to Brands Hatch on our 250cc machines – mine a Royal Enfield Continental five-speed – to watch our heroes show us how it should be done with both flair and aplomb. Back then, in the early 1970s, there was no motorway route, so we used the old A20 trunk road. Along the way, we passed a house whose driveway always boasted a different new motorcycle, so I guessed it must have been the home of a motorcycle journalist. One day I saw an unusual BSA parked there, and when I crept up the drive I saw the word ‘Fury’ on the purple side panel. Being an avid bike magazine reader, I quickly learned that the Fury, like the Triumph Bandit version, was a new doubleoverhead-camshaft 350cc machine that had been created in the hope of attracting huge North American sales to rival the best-selling, superreliable, 36bhp, 95mph Honda CB350 and its high-pipe streetscrambler CL version (626,000 sold between 1968 and 1973.) To encourage this, the E35 Fury and T35 Bandit came with an optional electric start (in 1971) and a five-speed gearbox, with the gear lever on the ‘wrong’ (i.e. left) side, anticipating rumoured possible US legislation, and there was a highpipe street-scrambler SS version of each bike too. 1971 came and went in a blur, as did most of the seventies, with most of my money being squandered on motorcycle gluttony. However, despite managing to acquire an impressive collection of Britain’s finest, all ridden hard, I reluctantly came to a sad conclusion: whatever I could buy, it never actually lived up to the promises made by the marketing men. So what was left to pursue? A dream, a legend? You simply cannot buy a dream, so I decided to re-enlist one from 1971 – the Bandit/Fury…
Most people reading this will have dismantled and then rebuilt a motorcycle, or motorcycles. Some will have enthusiastically bought an ‘unfinished project’ at an autojumble or simply some boxes of parts that the vendor claimed utterly convincingly was once a running bike and ‘all there’. A few will have optimistically rescued rusting relics from the depths of collapsed sheds, misleadingly known as ‘barn finds’. Fewer still will claim that they actually succeeded in finishing the project… To succeed, most would agree that a workshop manual and parts list is generally a good starting point. And with the profusion of motorcycle magazines available, somebody somewhere has most probably already restored whatever bike lurked in those tea chests, so there are photos and reports in abundance, especially for 1960s and 1970s machines. Apart from a BSA Fury! I knew full well it was madness, and that I had bitten off probably more than I could chew, especially as 'The Learned Ones’ all categorically stated: “It cannot be done; they didn’t make any." Despite several of these being longestablished dealers, I knew this was not the case. Well, the bit about none being made anyway, because I’d seen one, and this sustained me. And after all, if they’d made one, there must surely be others? So began 'The Quest'. I voraciously read anything and everything written about the P30 (its designated code – all new prototypes had ‘P’ numbers) and this resulted in a sizeable collection of UK and US motorcycle magazines. I took out paid ‘wanted’ advertisements in all the mainstream UK magazines along with various US publications (Walnecks for example) as the Bandit / Fury was aimed at the North American market. My adverts asked for information, parts and/ or complete machines, and stated “will go anywhere to look or collect”
Part One
Purple dream…Tony Page’s BSA E35 Fury is the culmination of many years engrossed in research, and many pounds spent on ‘wanted’ advertisements for parts or literature about the BSA dream that was overtaken by events.
– and I meant it, because I was completely fixated on The Quest and it took over my life completely for about three years. The early 1980s were ‘Fury Years’ for me, as there can hardly be another motorcycle about which so many people know so little. Edward Turner’s last design, completed freelance after he had retired as MD of the BSA Group’s motorcycle division, was a doubleoverhead-camshaft 350cc parallel twin, but many previously senior personnel maintain that Mr Turner actually persuaded BSA to let him design it because, although he’d left his post some four years previously, he remained on the company’s board. This initial design was made into a prototype which still exists, but does not actually resemble the production version. I went to an early 1980s Christie's auction in London where the machine was up for grabs, but it sold for well over my budget and was bought by Reg Hall of Charlies Motorcycles in Bristol. I still have the catalogue… Edward Turner began work on the twin-cylinder 350cc P30 in May 1967. He was ‘loaned’ some personnel of his choice, including senior designer Jack Wickes, draughtsman David Green and junior development engineer John
In the end, Tony Page managed to find a Triumph Bandit as well. This is the high-pipe T35 SS (Street Scrambler) version.
Could this double-overhead-camshaft 350cc twin really have been ‘Britain’s last hope’? The author, who after all is writing from experience, certainly doesn’t think so!
Barton, along with part of the Redditch BSA factory, to develop this machine. The BSA brief specified a 100mphplus, minimum production-cost machine, and Turner’s design, which reached prototype stage in a matter of weeks during 1968, broke with tradition in that it was the first fourstroke British parallel twin for 60 years to have the pistons moving in opposite directions – one up, one down. With its 180 degree crankshaft, twin overhead camshafts driven by a combination of gears and chain, and oversquare (63 x 56 mm) design, Turner had his prototype engine housed in a spindly Tiger Cub-like frame ready for testing at MIRA by April 1968. With Percy Tait riding, it was clocked at an impressive 112mph. After senior US staff were shown the prototype and were enthusiastic, it was displayed to US dealers and in October 1968 Bert Hopwood at Triumph, who’d been tasked with getting the 350 into production, ordered a more thorough test programme. This rapidly resulted in two crankshaft breakages and the valvedrive gears failing within 1500 miles, and a horrendous thirst for oil – four pints in 100 miles! – and this in a frame and forks (with cableoperated front disc brake… in 1968) that Hopwood stated was ‘positively dangerous’. Turner trousered his substantial fee, retired completely and went to live in the Bahamas. The cycle
side was sent to Umberslade Hall while the engine was turned over to Bert Hopwood, Doug Hele and his team at Meriden, which resulted in an engine that bore little resemblance to Turner’s original. Hele was not impressed at all with the motor and is quoted as making many disparaging comments about Turner’s design. The original crankshaft had its flywheel in the middle which, despite being perfectly balanced while static, when spinning it put undue tensile stress on the outer crank webs which under high revs was sufficient to cause fatigue fractures – hence the snapped cranks. Hele also saw that the original crank with its stepped big ends was punishing the main bearings, so he rearranged the bobweights to balance out the forces. Jack Williams (racer Peter Williams’ father) spent much time and effort on the cylinder head, assisted for six months in the summer and autumn of 1969 by a young American TriCor employee, Tom Gunn, who had been transferred from America as part of his engineering training. Hele instigated a new one-piece steel crankshaft with crankpin diameters the same as the 650cc twins and 750 triples (in view of the much-reduced stresses, he planned to try a cast-iron version to lower construction costs, but this never saw the light of day due to the financial troubles that halted production of the Bandit/Fury).
June 2016
The con rods were now alloy, replacing the oval-section rods specified by Turner, the 9.8:1 flat crown pistons sandcast, and the barrels alloy. Cast in the same material as the barrel, the head incorporated the cam boxes. Turner’s camshaft drive used a short chain running up to distribution gears similar to the timing gears in his pushrod engines, but this was changed to a quieter, easier to maintain, long chain running in an inverted L-shape up to integral 16-tooth sprockets on the camshafts from a half-time shaft gear-driven off the crankshaft on the left hand side of the engine utilising a Weller tensioner. Both camshafts were hollow and ran directly in the head without bushes, opening the valves (32mm inlet; 27mm exhaust) via inverted bucket-shaped and crowned followers – new to BSA / Triumph but seen in GP bikes. On the right-hand end of the exhaust cam were the contact breaker points which were spaced at 90 and 270°. For accuracy, the auto advance unit was clamped to a parallel extension of the shaft and driven by a peg rather than taper driven in the usual way. Turner’s mirror-image of traditional Brit practice – placing the primary drive chain, clutch and final drive on the right – was retained. Yes, so the kick start and gear lever are on the left, and drive
NEWS 39
chain is on the right. A five-speed gearbox was used. The spindly frame was replaced with a proper twin-downtube design instigated by Bert Hopwood who called Ken Sprayson (for many years Reynold Tube’s motorcycle frame guru) over to Meriden as he was frustrated with Umberslade’s delay. Hopwood wanted to use the design Sprayson had done for Percy Tait’s successful Triumph 500 GP racer and wanted him to assist. Although the Bandit frame looks like, and is sometimes stated that it is directly derived from, a Rob North frame, it is not. The confusion is derived from references made in the publicity material about the new frame referring to ‘success at Daytona’. In Ken Sprayson’s own words (to me in a letter): “Reynold’s involvement proper in the P30 project began when they were asked to make prototype frames to drawings supplied by Umberslade Hall. Although these orders came through the Production Dept, I was involved in the actual construction, and recall that at the time only a wooden mock-up of the engine was available for trying in the finished frame. It was obvious that the frame design left something to be desired, for no sooner had we finished one frame, than a new drawing appeared for something different. I can’t remember how long this went on, but there were at least three attempts. “One day I had a phone call from
An exploded diagram of the ambitious British 350cc double overhead camshaft engine.
Bert Hopwood asking if I would go over to see him. When I was shown into his office, he greeted me with the words: ‘I’m fed up with Umberslade p*****g about with this P30 frame. I’ve designed one myself, come and have a look.’ In a connecting room with his office he had his drawing board on which was laid out a rather familiar-looking frame drawing. ‘Of course you can see what it is,’ said Hoppy. ‘It’s the frame you made for Percy Tait’s Triumph racer, only I can’t get the cam box under the head support tube. I wondered what you thought?'
In an advertisement on the front page of Motor Cycle, the T35SS Triumph Bandit held the promise of a young couple’s dream – but unfortunately it was not to be.
After some discussion we decided on the necessary mods and I left. “I next had a call from Brian Jones at Umberslade who by this time had Hopwood’s drawing. Brian said: ‘Dr Bauer (who designed the Commando), wants to alter this, but Mr Hopwood said we have to see you'." Records indicate there was a pilot production run in January 1971 consisting of 10 BSA Furies and 10 Triumph Bandits, normal procedure in those days in the case of a new model, but all made at Small Heath. Never before had so many new components been used on a new BSA or Triumph. It was normal practice then to hand the pilot production build over to the factory service department for field service evaluation prior to giving the go-ahead for production. It was quickly established the pilot build did not measure up to the design performance requirements. The production line was therefore suspended pending certain modifications. These ‘certain modifications’ included the electric starter gears (which broke) and contact breaker points (which wore rapidly) and might have been at the root of other problems experienced. The frame was also strengthened with a steering head gusset and had threaded tubes for steering lock adjusters to be added. Production therefore stalled and, coming as it did at a very bad time financially for the company, the panicked accountants looked for projects to axe. The whole P30 project had been pushed ahead unrealistically rapidly, but it seems strange that it was axed when it was so very close to full production. It was intended that the machines would be assembled at Small Heath, and a lot of capital investment went into the purchase of new equipment
to manufacture parts – but of course such equipment could also have been be used for making parts for other models. Two million pounds’ worth of components were made, and that was a lot of money in 1971. However Doug Hele said that the pre-production bikes had been built “off the tools…(that) does mean you are in business – you can be tooled up with jigs and things – but when you’ve got to get into dies for cylinder heads and things, you’re into real money. And the company was in financial troubles.” Financial troubles to the tune of £11 million, it later transpired, and that was seriously big money in 1971. The Bandit/Fury tooling was smashed up, according to Doug Hele on direct orders from the company’s MD Lionel Jofeh. By August 1971 the SS models had been dropped as part of a streamlining operation to try and keep the company afloat, and at the same time the price was raised for the model with the electric starter. Sadly, this was to no avail, and by the end of the year the final twin was no longer listed. According to works manager Al Cave, components for 2000 of the dohc 350s were scrapped. Doug told me that the money could have been saved in other directions and that “had they gone ahead with the machine it could have been their salvation". Well, as highly as I undoubtedly think of Doug Hele, I have to say that this is one area in which I fundamentally disagree with him. The Bandit/Fury is sometimes referred to as ‘Britain’s Last Hope’, but take it from me, it wasn’t. I can say this as I actually own one of each, a BSA Fury and a Triumph Bandit, and with my conclusion next month the story gets really interesting!
50 DEALER FEATURE
June 2016
Keeping the Vincent spares chain flowing Old Bike Mart meets Ian Savage, manager of the VOC Spares Company Limited in Kettering, to learn how the imaginative joint venture sources and markets the spare parts, club regalia and even complete second-hand Vincent motorcycles.
A
Drawers and drawers of every spare a Vincent owner might need are available.
lthough the VOC Spares Co Ltd was set up by the Vincent Owners’ Club in 1975 to ensure a continuing source of highquality spare parts for the legendary machines, it is run as a joint business in partnership with the club rather than being totally owned by it. The fear of losing access to spares when the final part of the original Vincent Company was sold off resulted in a 50/50 arrangement for the new company involving club money on one hand and a share option for individual club members and other interested parties on the other.
This display of three Vincents for sale at the VOC Spares Company’s Kettering headquarters was set up for the combined annual general meeting and open day just before OBM’s visit.
Part of the ethos was that, instead of being owned by a single person, the company would carry on through successive managers, and it was Ian Savage, the fifth manager under this arrangement, who kindly told the story when OBM visited him at Kettering, Northants, on Monday, May 16. After moving from its original base in Lymm, Cheshire, the company has been in the Midlands town for about six years now, and its board of directors are all volunteers and Vincent owners. There are four members of staff, two full-time and two part-time, and all are motorcyclists. Ian has been a Vincent owner since the age of 16, when he built up a Comet from spares – and he still has it, along with two twins and a prewar Comet. “My elder brother Alan had a Series-B Shadow with Series-D enclosures, and was also technical services officer for the VOC at one time,” he said. “He bought the Comet to provide spares for the twin, but then business took him abroad and I screwed the Comet back together without him knowing, and started riding it to school. “When he returned, he felt obliged to sell me the Comet for a shilling (5p) and I still have the receipt!” After a career in air-conditioning and refrigeration engineering, Ian was just beginning to find commuting and corporate life
Ian Savage, who bought his first Vincent Comet from his brother for a shilling, and is the fifth manager of the VOC Spares Company Ltd.
a grind when his VOC Spares predecessor decided to give up the job for personal reasons. Having done two spells on the VOC Spares executive committee, Ian knew just how the club operated and, thinking it might be a good idea to put his hobby into use, became the fifth manager. “When we first moved to Kettering, we took on a warehouse assistant, Michelle Eldridge, and she’s brilliant,” said Ian. “She knows her way around the spares so well that I sometimes have to ask her for the parts numbers! She has a Honda CB1 and a Suzuki Bandit, and is now our customer services manager.” More recently VOC Spares has taken on additional staff, the new warehouse assistant being Jacqui Wright, who recently passed her test on a 125cc Sachs, and the administration assistant Jayne Beauchamp runs a Triumph
June 2016
A BIT ON THE SIDE 51
Three wheels to the three legs of Man Mick Payne outlines Team Katy’s plans for another fundraising trip on behalf of The Alzheimer’s Society in their much-travelled Jawa/Velorex outfit – this time to the Isle of Man at Festival of Motorcycling time.
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The VOC Spares Company markets a fine selection of books about Vincents along with all the club’s regalia, and is about to launch a new website for the latter.
Speed Triple! Quite a bunch of ladies – and, said Ian: “They all came to us by recommendation and word of mouth.” The basic aim of the VOC Spares Co Ltd is to have 100% of spares on the shelf for the majority of Vincent models, more specifically the postwar machines. “We do try to hold some spares for the older models,” Ian explained, “but due to their scarcity and the many differences between them, it’s difficult to hold continuous stock. “Spares are sourced through established Vincent parts manufacturers, and a number of machine shops manufacture parts to our specifications to a high degree of accuracy using drawings provided by the Vincent Owners’ Club Technical Committee.” General components such as Miller electrical equipment and Amal carburettors are bought from the usual wholesalers. One of Ian’s club roles was its information officer, and in 2007 the club and spares company got together to make a brand new Vincent Black Shadow entirely from spares as part of a quality-assured process to ensure that each and every part was compatible. “It was quite a big exercise, and it’s unlikely to be repeated because some of the more difficult things to get would need a very long lead time,” he said. Sometimes, when a parts supplier retires, VOC Spares will buy his stock and tooling to ensure continuation.
The original Vincent front fork legs were made by the Bristol Aircraft Company. A VOC member who works for Rolls-Royce at Derby analysed a set, and his report enabled the right materials to be found so that new items like these could be CNC machined by a firm in Coventry.
Happy in their work, and all three of them are enthusiastic motorcyclists! From left are Michelle Eldridge, Jacqui Wright and Jayne Beauchamp.
Before Ian’s tenure, the company had access to loans, but part of his remit was to ensure that it must be both financially stable and independent. This means that the spares company can happily sell to members of the Vincent Owners’ Club and non-members alike, although it does encourage club membership. Sales are split roughly 5050 between UK and overseas customers, the latter including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, the US, Canada and most major European countries. “For a 70-year-old motorcycle that’s been out of production for 60% of those years, it seems amazing that our annual turnover should be around £500,000 per year,” said Ian. “We estimate that around 70% of all Vincents made are still around. They’ve always been coveted and expensive, so whenever they’ve become broken or gone out of favour, their owners have tended to put them safely in a shed with the intention of fixing them one day rather than scrapping them.” Around 11,000 Vincents were made after the war, and it seems that the Comet – “a terrific 500cc country-lane single” – is returning to favour. Vincent prices being what they are nowadays, it would be all too easy for an owner’s widow to be ripped off by greedy opportunists, but for a flat agent’s fee VOC Spares will act as an honest and informed sales intermediary to ensure that the bereaved obtains the best price – and hopefully, too, that the machine’s new buyer will continue to cherish it. “During more than 40 years in business, the VOC Spares Company has had several heart-searching discussions about the future, and there have always been pessimists who say ‘It’ll never last’, ‘Vincents aren’t being ridden’ or ‘the prices are too high’, but I see no reason to believe that the business won’t carry on,” said Ian. “After all, Vincents are still coming out of garages after 20 or 30 years unused, or being sold by families into new hands, and we remain as busy as ever.”
ollowing our successful 5000-mile trip in 2015, Team Katy will be giving fundraising for The Alzheimer’s Society another bash this year. So far we’ve raised almost £2500 to help with research into this awful disease, because as many of you will already know, Kate suffers from a quite advanced case herself at just 60. Compared to last year’s epic, this will be a much shorter affair, between August 23 and September 4, and the well-used ‘Li’l Donkey’ Jawa 350/Velorex will probably be our outfit bike of choice. Editor Pete has already offered us the long-term loan of his BMW R100RT/Palma combination, but as the Jawa CZ Club has donated a year’s free membership to the cause, it only seems right to give them a bit of publicity – and I’m happy to say that Pete is in complete agreement, even though it will be nice to have a back-up if anything should go wrong with the little stroker. Kate is also finding it a bit difficult to get in and out of the Velorex – some days are fine, but on others she can really struggle. Confusion is another symptom of Alzheimer’s, and the Palma might be a lot easier for her. I don’t want to abuse my position of scribe of these sidecar bits, but we really want to raise as much as possible for research into the disease, and as before we can be followed on Facebook at www.facebook. com/TeamKaty-337565223023474 and donations can be made direct to my Just Giving
Snug in her Velorex sidecar, Kate waits for Mick to add a Manx sticker to the screen.
account at www.justgiving.com/ Michael-Payne1 We’d like to get the sum the other side of the £3000 mark, and have already received enormous help in our quest by The Isle of Man Steam Packet Co with a free crossing, and The Silly Moo Campsite chipping in with free camping for our time on the Island. I’ve just given the old Jawa a good service, including a change of tyres (the old trail-pattern Vee Rubber ones were well worn after 5000 miles). It did raise a point about the legality of tyres, however, because both front and rear had squared off considerably and the pattern no longer resembled the original ‘off-road’ type. The law states 1mm over threequarters of the width with visible tread on the
Doing its bit to help the cause, the Jawa CZ Owners’ Club of Great Britain and Ireland has donated a year’s free membership.
remaining quarter. Mine had that because the knobs started so deep, but it does make me wonder about modern solo tyres that seem to have no tread in the centre even when new. In my experience on an outfit, the tyres seem at their best just before they become illegal. Jawaczownersclub.co.uk; steam-packet.com; sillymooscampsite.co.uk
Quocunque Jeceris Stabit – However I’m Thrown, I Stand – is the proud motto on the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company’s badge. May all three wheels stay firmly on the ground during your forthcoming Manx tour, Mick and Katy, and OBM hopes that all who recognise your little outfit at all those familiar watering holes (including Port Jack Chippy, Peel Harbour Cafe, ARE Motorcycle Collection at Kirk Michael) will give generously to your cause
New club formed for Martello sidecar owners A new club has been formed for the owners of the stylish glass fibre Martello sidecars that were made by Martello Plastics Ltd of Folkestone, Kent, in the 1980s. It’s been started by Steven Lancaster, who organised a Martello Day at the Rose & Crown pub, Stelling Minnis, near Canterbury, on
May 14, after the owners of more than half of the limited production run of approximately 24 sidecars had been tracked down. These were on display at the event, and there was a run-out to visit the original workshop location where the sidecars were built. The club (a new listing on our ‘Club Call’ page)
still hasn’t tracked down the rest of the Martellos, and is anxious to hear from their owners as well as previous ones. To find out more, contact Steven on 07583 860591 or go to steven_lancaster@ yahoo.com . Invicta, the prancing horse of Kent, was featured on the Martello Sidecars logo.
Big Bike Sunday could be the best yet Motorcyclists from a wide area will make a beeline for Skipton Auction Mart on Sunday, June 26 when The Girder Fork & Classic Motorcycle Club puts on its Big Bike Sunday Show from noon. Visitors will be given a warm welcome by members of this thriving West Yorkshire club, and the £3 entry per adult (children free) will support the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, Manorlands Hospice and National Association of Bikers with a Disability. Last year’s event was a roaring success, with 850 visitors and
display entrants raising £3000 for the charities. You can enter your vintage, classic, modern or custom motorcycle, three-wheeler or scooter in competitions to win a trophy, and there will be plenty of stalls and refreshment facilities as well as a raffle, tombola and much more. There will also be a special £5 club membership offer. OBM editor Pete will be taking along his Honda CB250RS that was restored in memory of his late colleague Rod Gibson, a revered TV motorcycle maintenance show
presenter and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics editor, who died in 2009 after starting the project and then succumbing to a serious illness against which he fought bravely, and remained enthusiastic about bikes right to the end. Skipton Auction Mart is just off the A629/59/65 roundabout (BD23 1UD), and competition entrants will be allowed onto the site from 11am. For more information about the show, visit https://www.facebook. com/bigbikesunday, contact Brian Sanderson at briansanderson@ talktalk.net or phone 07931 312579.