RealClassic - August 2020 - Preview

ISSUE 196  AUGUST 2020  £3.70

 BSA FLASH OUTFIT  TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN!

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VELOCETTE MSS

WHAT LIES WITHIN

VELOCETTE MSS

 BSA FLASH OUTFIT  TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN!

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ISSUE 196  AUGUST 2020  £3.70

F A S T

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LONG-LEGGED AND LOVELY TO LIVE WITH…

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3x ITALIAN 750s

REALCLASSIC 196: PUBLISHED AUGUST 2020

NORTON COMMANDO 750 .......................6

Production of Commandos ended in 1977, correct? Wrong. Norvil have built many more since. Frank Westworth rides one of them…

BMW R100S.............................................24

superbike? A Ducati or a Laverda – or maybe even a Benelli? Steven Troupe puts a trio of 1970s 750s through their paces, pronto!

WE’VE GOT MAIL! ...................................... 14

BSA GOLDEN FLASH ...............................56

Your chance to have your say. Keep those letters coming – we always want to hear your views on (almost) anything to do with motorcycles, ancient and less ancient READERS’FREE ADS .................................. 66

TRIUMPH SPEED TWIN ...........................32

sidecar combination? Jeffrey Ellison explains

More and more bikes for sale, including one of Rowena’s very own! Not so much chocolate, however. Curses…

MAC  VELOCETTE

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NOV EMB ER 2019

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Running , Rid ing &

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why to ride it…

PUB TALK ................................................... 82

PROJECT WORLDBEATER .......................72

PUB has enjoyed a low key celebration of the centenary of the ‘Big Port’ AJS…

Odgie is building a Can-Am flat-tracker and so far it’s all been happy chassis stuff.

OLLIE’S ODDJOBS...................................... 88

But now he must confront his nemesis: the

As BMW proved with their F650 range, there’s a massive market for big single streetbikes. Honda, of course, got there first… but their early attempts weren’t exactly optimal

Rotax motor in all its fiendish complexity…

ALL ABOUT AMAL ...................................78

X REGIN A!

Rebuild ing Rea lClassic

Motorc ycles

and carbs often get clogged up. Neil Cairns

TALES FROM THE SHED ............................. 92

explains how to clean up your carb’s crucial

The starting of the engine rarely marks the ending of the rebuild. Frank reinvents procrastination…

components to help your classic idle

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why and how it happened, and how and

cleanly… cles

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F A S T

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TWIN!

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motorcycle. So why would any keen classic

Modern petrol goes gooey really rapidly

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HURRIC AN RIDES OE OWNER UT

 R 2019 £3.70 SEPTEMBE

TTE VELOCE

ARIEL

TALGIA! ORTON NOS NO

 BMW R75/5

Running,



THREE ITALIAN 750s ...............................48

Thinking of buying a classic Italian

rider choose to convert it to a three-wheeled

Given the super-sporting nature of Veloce’s Viper, Venom and Thruxton singles, you might expect life with an MSS to be equally electrifying. Not so, says Henry Gregson, who reckons it’s more of a gentle giant…

196 ISSUE

We have several and varied delights for your delectation in this issue. Oh yes.

In a single feature we’ve collected two very different twins and a six! All from the same country, too. And lots of other remarkable machines. Read on…

BSA’s Golden Flash is a perfectly fine solo

VELOCETTE MSS .....................................42



48

THE CONTENTS PAGE ................................. 3

A quarter century ago, Luke Rogers clocked up many miles on his dad’s old BMW Boxer.

With that midlife moment looming on his horizon, surely it was time to revisit his youth with another big red motorbike?

Flick through Triumph’s current modern classics catalogue and the first motorcycle they boast about is the class-leading Speed Twin. Peter Hatfield tries Hinckley’s ‘performance icon’ for size…

ISSUE 185

RC REGULARS

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WHO’S DONE WHAT REALCLASSIC is written by you (thanks! Write more!) and edited by Frank Westworth of The Cosmic Bike Co Ltd, with noises aside from Rowena Hoseason. Chris Abrams of AT Graphics has definitely outdone himself with some splendid page design this time. Mortons Media Group Ltd at Horncastle handle all the admin, trade advertising, subscriptions and back issues on 01507 529529 READ MORE about real classics at www.RealClassic.co.uk TRADE ADVERTISERS for the magazine or website should call Sarah on 01507 529418 or email SMitchellSavage@Mortons.co.uk EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES should be sent to Frank@RealClassic.net or to PO Box 66, Bude EX23 9ZX. Please include an SAE if you want something returned or a personal reply SUBSCRIPTION INFO is on pg98. Call 01507 529529 to subscribe or renew or buy back issues SUBS QUERIES, late deliveries, or changes of address should be directed to 01507 529529, or email subscriptions@realclassic.net ALL MATERIAL in RealClassic is copyright its authors, so please contact us before reproducing anything. RealClassic is printed

by William Gibbons & Sons of Wolverhampton.

Our ISSN is 1742-2345.

THIS MONTH we’ve been reading DEAD POINT by Peter Temple (razor-sharp Aussie noir); THE LATE SHOW by Michael Connelly (a fresh new LAPD detective who’s every bit as interesting as Bosch); THE ENGLISHMAN

by David Gilman (half-hearted attempt at a ‘high octane’ thriller with less zip than an A-Z); SPACE CARRIER AVALON and STELLAR FOX, both by Glynn Stewart (the first books in a whiz-bang SciFi series which has One Of Us hooked), and QUILL THE CARTOGRAPHER, by AC Cobble, which was so dull that we got less than 5% into it. Shame…

SEEN ON SCREEN… we’ve reached the final season of STAR TREK VOYAGER which does indeed get quite bleak and meaningful. Bravo!

Fans of weird Asian films should seek out SAVAGE and BLADES OF BLOOD (brilliant!) but not THE SHANGHAI JOB (Orlando Bloom!

Baffling!). And for a real old-fashioned Twilight Zone moment, seek out THE VAST OF NIGHT for a charming alien invasion…

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FROM THE FRONT How many chances would you give a particular model of motorcycle? What I mean to ask is whether, having suffered a couple of dull experiences with a well-known – not rare – model of bike, you would consider trying another one? And, if the second attempt proved to be less than entirely inspirational, so uninspiring that you sold the bike quite quickly, how many more times would you try again?

The reason I’m asking is probably obvious. I’ve been pondering a Triumph 750 Bonnie … again.

This seems to happen every few years, and the results are dully predictable. I buy the bike. I ride the bike. I enjoy it, usually apart from the riding position, but after only a few excursions I find myself taking another machine every time I head out. But here comes the rub: every time I borrow a Bonnie from someone else, I enjoy the ride. How can this be?

Only the other day I sheared a glorious repast with Ollie Hulme of this parish – at a roadside restaurant which rejoices under the name of Ollie’s, which made for a predictable smile, although there is apparently no connection. Ollie of course put me to shame by rattling up on his own T140 Bonneville, and managing not to appear at all smug as I made excuses for my own appearance aboard a modern machine – and an American machine at that! Of course I atoned by paying for lunch, but honour and righteousness were dented a little.

Things did not improve, as Ollie sat and occasionally interrupted his mastications with a stream of positive vibes about T140 Bonnies in general and his own in particular. I chewed and kept mostly quiet. There were no points to be scored in that conversation.

Things improved less the following day. I was booked to borrow a bike you’ll be able to read about soon – possibly next month – and while putting on the airs and graces of a serious high mileage motorcycle tester of many decades standing, my eye was constantly pulled away from the ****** (I’m not saying) by, you guessed, by a T140 Bonnie.

I passed up the offer of a spin on it mainly because I was dedicated to understanding why I’d never actually owned an example of the ****** aboard which I’d been howling around like a sort-of geriatric adolescent. Because it was very good. It was a contemporary of the Bonnie’s, too, and boasted many fine features which appealed, such as… caught myself just in time there.

But I do genuinely fancy giving Triumph’s ubiquitous twin another go. Prices are

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currently not what we might describe as stratospheric, and indeed there are what appear to be bargains around, which would allow me to expend a few shillings making the Triumph my own. It’s a puzzle, isn’t it?

I have of course been down this road more than twice, as the song goes, and there is indeed no fool like an old fool. So, is it foolish to try again? Every time I end up disillusioned by a Bonnie – by any 750 Triumph twin, really – I vow that never again will I waste my declining years on one. Until I ride another and love it for a dozen miles, or until I talk to a delighted owner who maintains that I’ve just been unlucky.

So. I ask again. How many times would you give Bonnie (or Tiger, or TSS, or TR65, etc) the benefit of the doubt? Or… which is your own bad penny bike? Which bikes from your own riding years have you discounted only to be enthused once more with the passage of time?

Watch this space, as we say…

Ride safely

Frank Westworth Frank@realclassic.net

THE NEXT ISSUE

RC197WILL BE PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 7TH, AND SHOULD REACH UK SUBSCRIBERS BY SEPTEMBER 11th

6 I AUGUST 2020

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NORTON 750 COMMANDO

Production of Commandos ended in 1977, correct? Wrong. Norvil have built many more since. Frank Westworth rides one of them… Photos: Chris Spaett, Frank Westworth

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AUGUST 2020 I 7

I

magine that it was possible to simply wander off to a showroom and order yourself a brand new classic bike.

Maybe a Trident, maybe a Bonneville, maybe … a Commando. Step back, adjust your rosy-tint spectacles and admire the bike in these photos – because someone did exactly that in 2010, and this was the result. Noted Norton specialists the Norvil Motorcycle Company, of deepest Burntwood, have built several new Commandos over the years, and although I’ve ridden a few of them before they were delivered to their proud new owners, riding someone’s P&J before they actually receive it does constrain the enthusiasm a little. With this 2010 example … not so much.

Before I start to consider the bike, let’s get the riding thing out of the way. A bit like the ride out for a jar and a jabber at a favourite pub – are we allowed to do that at the moment? – the ride comes first. Before the … ahem … walk home from the pub, of course.

It always surprises me how exactly like riding a Commando riding a Commando actually is. I’m not joking, not really. They are truly a unique experience, as unlike most British ohv twins as, say, a BMW airhead, and whenever I get the opportunity … there I go again, back onto a Commando. I’ve owned several and ridden loads, of pretty much any sort, but this one is certainly different. This is obvious the moment you sit down, flick up the sidestand and take control of the balance.

It’s lower than is familiar.

At first it just feels different, and the reasons for that difference aren’t instantly obvious. But after a moment understanding dawns that its balance is unusual. Low seat, lowered shocks

Behind the cylinders live

ul: an efficient electric sta

and lowered forks, too, I think. Of course, being naturally critical, I decide that the bike will suffer from reduced suspension travel – it must; think about this – so will ride harshly. I ran a Mk2A Roadster to which some maniac had fitted ‘race’ fork springs and rear shocks. It was seriously wearying to ride far – but delicious to ride less far and much more rapid than a stock machine. It’s possible to do many things to a Commando.

In this case, the front end is, shall we say, firm. Dive under braking it does not, much.

A great thing. Surely one of the greatest British bike engines. Looks like an 850, but isn’t. It’s actually a 750

8 I AUGUST 2020

two reasons to be cheerf

rter and a fine single car b

Smooth out road imperfections … it does.

The rear end with its trick Falcon shocks is easier on the posterior than stock shocks. I like this, being of a non-racing bent and carrying several extra pounds. Those extra pounds may of course be the reason that I found the rear end fine, while Chris the current owner (at the time of writing, probably not by now) thought it was hard. He needs to eat more pies, plainly.

I’m ahead of myself again. You’ll have observed that this is close to a Mk3

The drive side confirms that this is a Mk3, complete with the revised primary chaincase and … a left-foot brake? Surely some mistake?

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NORTON 750 COMMANDO

A better view of that left-foot brake mechanism.

FW doesn’t think he’d have traded a disc for a cable operated drum, but other views are available

Commando, the model noted for its allegedly occasional electric starting and US-style left-foot gearchange. I’ll get to the latter in a moment, but regarding the former – and far more important – I can reveal that this truly is an excellent self-starter. Turn on fuel, operate the mixture enrichment device (a small lever on the single Mikuni carb) and push the button.

Great noise from the paired peashooters – just right; not too loud and not too silent. If only all my old Commandos had been as simple as that, rather than relying on incantations and rituals if they were going to fire up reliably.

And then, pull in the clutch – a proper ‘pop’ lever movement, the pop over-centre revealing that the diaphragm spring is doing what it’s supposed to, and then try to engage first gear using the brake pedal.

Which is on the left. Chris smiles, quietly. I feel foolish. Engage first gear using the gear lever, which is on the right, just as on all preMk3 Commandos. Feel faintly foolish for a moment, then shrug it off in an heroic fashion and remind myself that I’d failed to find the clutch bite point with the kickstart lever before starting the engine, and that stalling yet another machine in front of its owner is simply silly. Ease the throttle, ease the clutch

and take some small pleasure in pulling gently away with no fuss at all, and no stall at all. I like this bike more once it’s rolling.

The riding position is somehow curious. The footrests are in their normal places, and the bars look right but at the same time are a bit of a stretch. It’s the seat, a Corbin, that makes the rider’s arms stretch a little. Isn’t it strange how a simple thing like a change of seat can make a machine as familiar as a Commando feel so different? The seat encourages the rider to slide back into it, which stretches out the arms rather comfortably, and alters the angle your knees are at. It’s actually very comfortable, a side effect of the rearward posterior shift being that it pulls the rider’s knees in rather closer to the Roadster fuel tank. My knees always flap about comically when riding bikes with slender tanks, but less so on this. Hurrah. Maybe I looked less dim than usual. I doubt that, of course.

The engine is a peach. Although the barrels are the through-bolt 850 type, the capacity is 750cc. This seems like a curious choice, but I’m sure that the original owner had a reason when he ordered the bike build from Norvil, all those years ago. Time was, I might have been able to tell which capacity the engine was from its torque – no more. I can share

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that the single carb makes for consistent running, and that the exhausts would banish any winter chills in the legs, especially in traffic. But… it pulls exactly as a Commando should, with that distinctive great heave of acceleration available as soon as you feed fuel to the engine and engage warp drive by letting the clutch slip a little, holding the revs around 3500. A Commando can fly, with only the slightest encouragement, and although I am personally a fan of making progress as quietly as possible – I am possibly the only rider who prefers the sound from Norton’s bean cans rather than the seemingly obligatory peashooters – I must confess that this set of high pipes sounds excellent. And only a little explosive.

Of course the gearshift is on the right. I rode my own Mk3 Roadster for so long that it took a surprising number of shifts before I stopped trying to brake when needing to change gears. Habits form easily, as I have proved once again. And standing on the brake pedal when intending to change down is amusing for onlookers, particularly when the rider’s intention is to use the lower gear to accelerate through a set of familiar bends.

Variety is the spice of life, of course.

I found myself wondering why someone specifying a brand new Commando Mk3 would want a right-foot shift? It’s the same

AUGUST 2020 I 9

thinking which sees Hitchcocks offering rightfoot conversion kits for contemporary Royal Enfields. I don’t entirely understand it myself, but everyone is entirely entitled to indulge their own preferences. And again, speaking only for myself, I rarely have trouble switching between bikes with their levers on opposite sides. My confusion with this remarkable machine came because it sounds, feels and performs exactly like a Commando, and my own long-term Bendy was a Mk3 with its left-foot shift. Odd how unconscious memory works, isn’t it?

It’s also too easy to forget the gloriously long-legged feel of a Commando. I’ve said it before, and many times, but these were a great advert against the introduction of 5-speed gearboxes – except where fifth was intentionally a very high dual carriageway cruising gear. I am indeed one of those luddites who prefers the 4-speed gearset on a TR6C Triumph to its 5-gear successor on a TR7, and although a 5-speed conversion may make for a faster Commando on a race track, the original

4-piece is great for the road. The Norton has a great shift, too, clicking through the ratios as all bikes with a well-adjusted clutch should.

And speaking of the Commando clutch, I’ve ridden so many down the years – including my own for several years – that I’m always faintly surprised when they work correctly. My early Commando years were plagued by clutches which both slipped and dragged and defied my youthful failure to understand how they worked. I remember stripping off the primary chaincase outer on my first, and staring in horror at the diaphragm spring – I’d expected to be confronted with a set of adjustable springs, not a strange plate whose function I couldn’t begin to imagine. So I put up with it slipping under acceleration. I recall that when pulling out onto main road roundabouts the slip made the engine sound like it had an auto gearbox. Little things, little minds…

Handling is great. These are very easy bikes to ride, and although I’d been prepared for a certain shortage of ground clearance, in fact

nothing touched down. Plainly I’m getting less adventurous. Or maybe everything is in fact neatly tucked away, and as the exhausts are decently high up, nothing dragged on the ground, either.

Although the lowered profile of the bike is obvious when you have another standing nearby with which to compare it, the only time it affected my enjoyment of the bike was when hefting it onto the centrestand.

That was too much for an aged hooligan, so I just used the sidestand. Much easier. You’ll observe that several of the photos show the bike on its centrestand. Someone else lifted it there. If I were the next lucky owner I’d measure up and get maybe a half-inch cut out of the stand’s legs.

Another results of the right-foot shift is that the rear brake is an sls drum, rather than a Mk3’s disc. I’m conflicted about this. There’s nothing wrong with the drum, but I’ve always liked the rear disc, if not the stock front one.

Happily, the front disc on this machine is

g gear, providing motivational What your right foot’s for. Changin leg r a flat battery, and keeping the encouragement should you suffe away from the exhaust

FW, trying to remember what classic British controls look like

10 I AUGUST 2020

Front brake is a considerable improvement on the original. Forks are shorter, too, somehow

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