NORTON MODEL 18 ....................................06 Cobwebs and coalsheds and chickens and bricks. Expect the unexpected when Odgie
tracks down a tale of a vintage Norton single
MOTO GUZZI V50........................................24 Buying a cheap old bike with a mysterious
misfire might be a recipe for disaster, or it
could be a savvy way to snap up a cut-price classic. Stuart Urquhart meets an enthusiast of the Guzzi marque with a soft spot for the small-block V-twins ...
TRIUMPH TR5T............................................ 36 When Triumph's Trophy Trail first hit
the dirt roads, ISDT riders rapidly made modifications to improve its performance. Roy Maddox meets an owner who's continuing that grand tradition with his own 500 twin ...
MORINI 3Y2 ..................................................44 Ace Tester Miles gets to grips with Morini's ubiquitous 350, and ponders whether
the pint-size V-twin really is a pocket superbike - or the Italian equivalent of the Superdream...
HONDA BR05 .............................................. 50 Do any of you ride to work each day on a bike over 30 years old, we asked? Ooooh yes, you said. Michael Pilch, for example, commutes in all weathers on his hardy Honda ...
EMC PROTOTYPE 500 ................................. 58 Split-single strokers are rare enough on
British roads. Alan Cathcart rides a unique machine, one built in Britain for those British roads!
BSA A65 LIGHTNING ...................................68 In 1965, Ray Jones bought a brand new BSA A65. 53 years later, he's still riding that same bike after thousands of miles of club runs and international travel, the odd mishap and a complete rebuild...
FIVE into FOUR............................................88 In recent years, Royal Enfield swapped from
an old-fashioned four-speed gearbox to a newer unit with five ratios. Following their example, Stephen Herbert investigates whether five into four really will fit ...
NORTON COMMANDO Mk3 REBUILD •••••••• 94
Martin Peacock had a vision, a conversion on the road to Bude. He understood that he wanted a Commando, and this is how he made it ...
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‌and chickens and bricks. Expect the unexpected when Odgie tracks down a tale of a vintage Norton single Photos by Odgie Himself
6 I NOVEMBER 2018
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NORTON MODEL 18
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NOVEMBER 2018 I 7
NORTON MODEL 18 FACT PACK Engine
Air-cooled ohv single
Bore / stroke
79mm x 100mm
Capacity
490cc
Lubrication
Constant loss, Best & Lloyd adjustable pump, auxiliary hand-pump
Ignition
Chain-drive magneto
Carburation
Brown and Barlow ‘sports’ carb
Gearbox
3-speed Sturmey Archer, foot change
Clutch
Multiplate dry
Transmission
Chain primary and final
Frame
Diamond-type, double top tubes
Suspension
Webb TT forks
Wheels
3.25 x 19
The frame’s derivation from pedal bikes is clear, with the engine tucked n where pedals would have been mounted on a bicyce. The gearbox is hung out behind, and the magneto is hung out in front
Saddle height 29 inches Weight
280lb
Top speed
75mph
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NORTON MODEL 18 The sweeping exhaust pipe situated on the offside of the engine was a key feature of Norton’s ohv flat-tankers from this time
‘I
Simply delightful! The 3-speed gearbox carries its shift mechanism externally to the box itself, with a long lever handling the changes. S-A were keen to explain where the oil went in…
f memory serves me right, says my mate Brian, ‘it was around February or March in 1956 when I first learned of a motorcycle tucked away in a shed about half a mile from my home in Aughton. Armed with this info, me and my pal Cyril decided to try and track it down and set off under cover of darkness. When we arrived at the place we were confronted with about 12 or 14 chicken sheds in a small paddock away behind the house. ‘We crept past and entered the first one – no torch as we didn’t want to be discovered. After much stumbling around in the darkness what we found were endless heavy cobwebs, lots of dust, and angry cockerels defending their harems. We searched every shed and all to no avail apart from getting filthy. ‘The next time I saw our milkman (it was him that had told me about the supposed bike), I said “You’ve been having us on, we searched all those sheds and there was no blinking bike.” He laughed his head off. “It’s not in the hen sheds, it’s in the coal shed.” ‘The next night me and Cyril returned to
check out the coal shed, only to find it full of coke for the greenhouse boiler. We weren’t going to be put off, so over the next three to four weeks we kept going back to check on the reduction of the coke as it was used up. At last, on what must have been about our tenth visit, I could see a handlebar and throttle sticking up above the coal. With Cyril keeping ‘nicks’ in case the owner came out to refuel the boiler, I climbed in and scratted some of the coke away to reveal an ohv Norton Model 18 flat-tanker. ‘I waited a couple more weeks for more of the Norton to emerge, and then l plucked up my courage and went and knocked on the door of the house. The old man opened it. “I’ve heard you’ve got a Norton, it wouldn’t be for sale would it by any chance please?” I asked. “There’s no Norton here,” he said and slammed the door shut. ‘I went away, but now I didn’t know what to do. I knew it was there, I’d seen it, but I couldn’t say so, and it’s a funny thing to go back when you’ve been turned away once already. But you know what it’s like when you’re young and the adrenaline is flowing. I thought I’ve just got to have it, and if I don’t get it someone else will. After a few days of pondering on this I plucked up my courage again, brought about by the sheer desperation to own the bike. I put on my best bib and tucker and went back and knocked on the door again. This time I was in luck, the daughter answered it. “I hear you’ve got a Norton in your coal shed. Do you think it would be possible for me to buy it please?”
NOVEMBER 2018 I 9
“It belongs to my brother,” she said. “He’s down in London, but I’m writing to him this weekend, I’ll ask him for you.” This was music to my ears but also news to me, as the story locally was that the brother had been killed while playing silly buggers in an aeroplane in Egypt. It turned out he was alive and well and had stayed down south after the war and become a civilian airline pilot. ‘Anyway, I had to wait for her to get a reply, so it was a very nervous time, but when I went back I was told, yes, I could buy the bike. I crossed her palm with the required silver and me and Cyril dug it out from under the last of the coke and started pushing it home. The cottage we’d bought it from was on top of a steep hill, so I dropped the bike into gear and it turned over freely with good compression. Even the mag worked, the HT lead rubber had perished and you could see it sparking against the barrel. Eeh, I thought, it’s a good ’un is this. ‘Over the next couple of weeks I took the engine out and stripped it down for ready for rebuilding on my return from National Service. But my friend Frank Farrington (RADCO) had heard I had the bike, and he’d ended up with the same “must have it” feelings about it as myself. He gave me no peace of mind pestering and pestering me for it, and what with having my call-up papers and everything, in the end I gave in and sold it to him. I’ve always regretted it, although he did give it a good home. Frank rebuilt the
Webb’s TT forks were considered a huge improvement over the more basic devices they replaced, with the big central spring absorbing at least some of the sting from bumps in the road
Norton and fitted a TT Hughes sidecar and took it to the Golden Jubilee TT the following year in 1957. The last I heard of it was it was going back to the Centenary TT in 2007.’ So far it’s a cracking tale by Brian, but the bike in question isn’t the bike here, as you may have gathered. But this one does come with its own tale, so bear with us please and read on... ‘I’d known about this Model 18 for some 50 years. It belonged to Joby Grimshaw who farmed the land alongside Burscough Airfield, an old disused WW2 air base. I’d seen it out and about around there when I was teaching my wife Cheryl to drive in my Standard
Opinions vary regarding the effectiveness of the front brake, However, it does work, although whether the startling scoop improves things is a matter for another debate
Vanguard. Back then Burscough was a great place to do that, lots of wide open tarmac, and plenty of guys used to take their race bikes down there to try them out as well. ‘Presumably Joby got sick of all the noise and hassle, as one day we went down and he had the tractor set on tickover and just trundling along by itself, with a big four wheeled trailer behind full of bricks and rubble. They were in the trailer throwing these bricks and half bricks all over the place, scattering them the length of the runways. That put paid to anyone else using it for anything.
Few vintage Nortons survive with their original exhaust pipes which could have been fitted with an unusual, doublebarrel spiral-tube silencer
10 I NOVEMBER 2018
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NOVEMBER 2018 I 11
Sparks are provided by a magneto parked daringly between the engine and the front wheel, which must be fun in heavy rain. At least the points cover is easy to reach
‘Anyway, the bike was well known, I’d never tried to buy it as I’d heard it was never for sale so I just left it well alone. Then I got a call from a mate of mine, Bill Baybutt. He’d been speaking to Joby who’d mentioned he had an old Norton, so Bill’s ears pricked up and he asked if it was for sale. “Well, it could be…” Joby said. ‘Bill knew all about the coal shed bike from all those years ago, so he rang me. “Do you want to buy an old Model 18?” he said. I knew which one it had to be around here, so I jumped at it. Bill bought it for me and I bought it off him. OK, it’s not the exact same bike and there’s a year or two’s difference between this one and coal-shed one, but after all this time it’s close enough for me. My plan is to strip this one and check it over.
Then I’m looking forward to winding the clock back 60 years and finally getting to ride my Model 18!’
OVER 18s ONLY
The Model 18 is perhaps Norton’s longest serving designation, spanning over 30 years. It represented Norton’s first OHV model, a design overseen by JL ‘Pa’ Norton himself in 1922 and introduced into the range in 1923. Pa Norton only lived to be 56, dying in 1925, but not before he’d seen his Model 18s win the Senior and Sidecar TTs in 1924. Model 18s also had a very strong reputation for both speed and reliability, and won the prestigious Maudes Trophy for several years. It must have taken both great endurance and a certain fearlessness (foolhardiness?) to ride Lands
Norton’s famous ‘pie-crust’ fuel tank is of course a thing of wonder. Rather less famous but maybe equally handsome is this oil tank; handsome indeed
End to John O’Groats (and back!) on a spindly framed and barely sprung motorcycle over the rough roads of the era. Although the Model 18 had a long career, it was overshadowed quite quickly in the performance stakes by the new OHC engines which appeared in the racers in 1927 and in the road bikes the following year. Over the years the Model 18 grew many improvements, the engine received enclosed valve gear and pushrods and an inboard magneto, and the engine also spawned the larger Model 19 and was used in the higher specification ES2. The cycle parts evolved to include telescopic forks and plunger rear suspension post-war, and the well-loved and thought of Model 18 was only finally dropped from the Norton range in 1954.
A vintage adventure Just to prove that it’s entirely possible to go adventuring on an ancient oldster, Norton enthusiast Ian Loram took his 1920s flat-tank single on a grand tour last summer. Starting at Land’s End, Ian and his support crew covered more than 1400 miles in a fortnight, often accompanied by other members of the Norton Owners’ Club on more modern machines as they trekked north to John O’ Groats on minor roads. The Norton was running-in after a rebore. It had completed its shakedown mileage and rapidly freed up as the miles
12 I NOVEMBER 2018
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rattled by. Undertaking a long distance trek on a 90 year-old motorcycle is quite different to riding a more recent classic, as Ian explains. ‘With no speedo on the old girl, you are never exactly sure if you are doing 45, 49 or even 50 because of the differing road surfaces. The variable surfaces are challenging; you dare not lose concentration or a buckled rim would result, and this gets more difficult when you’re continually riding for eight or nine hour a day.’ Even once the riding was done for the day, Ian couldn’t
NORTON MODEL 18 TAKEN FOR A RIDE
Ever wondered what it might be like at the sharp end of a flat-tanker like this big single? Who better to take you for a test ride than one of the founding fathers of the vintage motorcycle movement, Titch Allen himself. Allen shared his experiences on a 1928 Model 18 in the first Vintage Roadtest Journal, and here are the highlights… ‘Lean and hungry looking, almost gaunt but with an arrogant air. That’s the flat-tank Model 18 Norton. Alongside the plump, well-fed looking saddle-tank bikes of 1928 this 490 looked a trifle old-fashioned, was old-fashioned, but it carried its years well. The flat-tank 18 was no more really than an overhead version of Pa Norton’s immortal sidevalve, and his final dream come true. At the end of 1927, Bert Denley made history on one by covering over 100 miles in the hour. ‘Yet there could not be an engine more simple and straightforward than the pushrod Norton. The secret must have been in the very honesty of the design, the generous dimensions of the ports, the substantial build of cylinder and head, the bold finning. The roadgoing Norton was a sports-tourer of moderate performance and exception economy… in standard trim it will easily top 100mpg. Speedwise the Norton’s performance was in line with other 500 ohv models of the day, the output being strictly limited by the low-grade fuels of the time. With standard petrol, 75mph was the normal maximum. Those 100mph Nortons were running on alcohol. ‘Starting is easy, merely a matter of getting big flywheels spinning. A long steady stroke
relax until he’d carried out all the routine maintenance and checked for any problems. Along the way, the rear mudguard came loose, the carb needle dropped and the oil filler cap jumped ship. A typical fettling session involved greasing various nipples, topping up the total loss oil system with another half gallon, and adjusting the pushrods. Some tasks needed a bit more attention… ‘I had an issue with the clutch as it was slipping by the time I neared the top of some hills. At just after 7am I was at the bike.
To take the clutch cover apart, the exhaust rose needs undoing to move the exhaust pipe. The tab holding on the small dish cover needs straightening – and of course the tab broke off... ‘With the two engine breathers’ contents of oil mist being directed onto the two chains, and the fact that I had not been heavy handed with the twistgrip, this was the first time on the trip I had needed to move the clutch and gearbox back. Eventually a large German ring spanner sorted the problem, and then the final drive chain needed adjusting.’
Absolutely typically for a bike of its time, Norton’s 18 carries absolutely nothing unnecessary
Slowing down on a vintage motorcycle is another ‘interesting’ experience. ‘To shed speed, you throttle off with your right hand and apply the front brake,’ explains Ian. ‘However that very same hand also needs to reach down to the long Sturmey-Archer gear lever,
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situated on this bike between your knee and foot. While doing this, you also need to pull in the clutch – however that hand also needs to move the ignition timing lever to retard the engine… bearing in mind that you have no rev counter. Even when changing down, the
NOVEMBER 2018 I 13
on the kickstart with the exhaust valve lifted to get up speed, drop the valve any old where and the engine starts. The moment it fires you get the feeling of a mechanism turning over like oiled silk. In silence, too. The exhaust is a mere low-toned thump-thump. All one can hear mechanically is a soft click-click from the valve gear. The pushrods are like stair rods and because of their weight have separate return springs. ‘Though the engine does not vibrate in the ordinary way, it pulses. Every firing thrust comes through to the rider. As soon as the throttle is opened and the mixture starts to flow, you feel the firing impulses. I think it is the result of placing a powerful engine in a rather light and simple frame. There’s not enough frame to absorb the piston response. It’s not unpleasant, just a peculiarity, and it helps to emphasise the feeling of power. ‘The gearbox is Sturmey-Archer, with the lever set low for foot operation. Although it only has a click-click action, there being no positive stop, I soon acquired the correct touch of the toe to snick into the right slot. Travel is so short the lever can be worked entirely by foot. ‘The brakes are very good, the front being superb. The Webb fork, with its long travel and soft springing checked by friction dampers, transformed many vintage machines when it replaced more unyielding forks. This is true of the Norton. You had to be brave to cope with the earlier forks on pushrod Nortons but with Webb one can relax while the suspension gently rises and
The primary drive is protected by this impressive alloy chaincase. Access to the clutch takes priority over lubrication, plainly
falls. Very comfortable. Not exceptional handling – not unusually positive, heavy or light – just rather neutral steering which leaves only memories of safety. ‘I’ve ridden many ohv Nortons, some more potent because someone is sure to have
tuned them. But as standard it is as soft and gentle as a sidevalve, but with the ohv’s extra feeling that it will go higher up the scale.’
A vintage adventure gear selected is still driving you forward. Now you understand why it would be good to be an octopus!’ On top of that, the Norton’s brakes aren’t exactly cutting edge. Although some cut’n’shut was required, ‘the rear brake rod had to be adjusted twice, and then needed a quarter inch cutting off to shorten it, due to the way it is configured.’ Once Ian reached Scotland there was no escaping some steep climbs and some scary descents in inclement weather. ‘I was holding back from the van further than before, because my normally quite good brakes had become almost ineffective due to the continual heavy
14 I NOVEMBER 2018
rain. I tried putting them on many times while riding, in the hope that any moisture would be expelled, but this seemed to have little effect. At a coffee stop, I squirted a large amount of carb cleaner into the brake drums. After a few presses of the rear brake, this brake was as good as new. However the front was still quite iffy. Encouraged by the rear brake’s effectiveness I gave the front one a really
good squirt. ‘Climbing the pass we ran into thick mist that enveloped the top, but eventually reached the summit and congratulated each other. I decided that I would descend at a slow speed in a low gear. After about quarter of a mile downwards, with the front brake constantly on, it came back to full function so a reasonable speed could be achieved.’
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He makes it sound easy – but we’re sure there were some heart-stopping moments along the way. Ian was accompanied by NOC clubmen Mal Childs and Paul Pattinson, and Keith and Diana acting as back-up in a van, and they attracted attention for the entire two weeks. ‘We got lots of thumbs up from the public,’ says Ian. ‘If only they knew where we were off to!’
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