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WHAT LIES WITHIN
RUDGE ULSTER
ISSUE 195 JULY 2020 £3.70
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REALCLASSIC 195: PUBLISHED JULY 2020
HARLEY-DAVIDSON ELECTRA GLIDE .......6
The heavyweight Harleys of the 1970s often attract uncomplimentary comments and are damned by faint praise. Ian Woolley ignores internet myths and ill-informed observations to try the reality for size… RUDGE ULSTER .......................................24
No arguments this time around: no quibbles, no qualification. Paul Miles would like you to meet the best motorcycle he’s ever ridden. Rudge’s ultra-sophisticated sportster for discerning gentlefolk of the 1930s… KAWASAKI Z1000 ...................................30
Awesome, affordable and easy to live with. Martyn Roberts recommends an unsung hero from the Orient… PANTHER MODEL 100.............................36
Rowena Hoseason’s purrsuit of purrfection takes her to Cleckheaton, the home of bad jokes about big pussycats… IT’S A NORBSA! .......................................44
Built by a teenage tearaway to tackle short MAC VELOCETTE
BMW R75/5
RUDGE
ULSTER
HER MO
PANT
0 DEL 10
, Riding Running
RED HU NTER
STOR
AJS M OD
EL 18
X REGIN A!
Running , Rid ing &
M W ARN ING
350! JAWA
ssic Mot RealCla uilding & Reb
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THE CONTENTS PAGE ...................................3
Variety in all things is the RealClassic way. So, we start the issue with a HarleyDavidson, just because they are a bit remarkable and considerably different to the Rudge Ulster which follows. And we doubt that a Rudge would follow either a Panther or a Jawa for very long, but…
circuit racetracks, this is no trailer-queen café racer. Odgie talks to the man who raced it and his cousin who rebuilt it, and then lets the beast off the leash…
JAWA 350 RETRO ....................................54
WE’VE GOT MAIL! ...................................... 16
More about the manner of going than the going itself. Frank Westworth has been riding along memory lane with a reincarnation of an old friend…
More and more letters! This is great. Letters give TP something to do in between devouring mountains of chocolate!
FETTLING A FOUR ...................................66
READERS’FREE ADS .................................. 63
Bill Bowers’ Ariel wasn’t broken but he decided to fix it anyway… and inevitably it immediately stopped working. What was stopping it starting? The things he hadn’t fixed, or the things he had?
Lots more interesting bikes this month, and TP is delighted with a sudden outbreak of chocolates! And a Polish sausage, somehow
PROJECT WORLDBEATER .......................70
PUB TALK ................................................... 82
Each venture into the garage reveals ‘Invicta’ inscribed on the petrol tank of the little veteran – Latin for undefeated, unconquered. But is that message an encouragement for PUB or a warning from the 1914 2-speed belt driver?
While waiting for some engine components, Odgie gets on with a stack of odd jobs on his Can-Am flat-tracker. It certainly needs footrests and a seat and tailpiece. Time for some metal manipulation, then…
OLLIE’S ODDJOBS...................................... 88
AJS 18 IN CHAINS....................................76
Ollie glances backwards through the smoky haze of history to recall his MZ years…
Once you’ve got your old bike’s engine running perfectly, the next step is to transfer all that impetus to the rear wheel. A quick getaway and a quiet ride start with smooth transmission. Neil Cairns rebuilds the drive train on a typical British single…
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TALES FROM THE SHED ............................. 92
Frank discovers a complex, slow way to darken the afternoon sunlight
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WHO’S DONE WHAT REALCLASSIC is a confection of The Cosmic Bike Co Ltd, aka Frank Westworth (but not Rowena right now who’s still condemned to gardening duties for the duration). Massive thanks to everyone who contributes to each issue, with a special tip of the hat to Chris Abrams of AT Graphics for page design. 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 Leon Currie on 01507 529465 or email LCurrie@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 THE CONCRETE BLONDE by Michael Connelly, continuing a Harry Bosch theme; COLD MALICE by Quentin Bates, a convoluted Icelandic mystery; OF MICE & MINESTRONE by Joe R Lansdale, an uninspiring collection of ‘early days’ Hap and Leonard tales; A QUESTION OF FAITH by Glynn Stewart, which is a predictable but fun scifi story; DEATH IN PARADISE and TROUBLE IN PARADISE, both of which are cop stories by Robert B Parker – always a good read. SEEN ON SCREEN… our STAR TREK VOYAGER epic reaches season 4 when it really [ahem] takes off; we’ve galloped onto the fourth season of BOSCH as well, and it’s still superb and occasionally shocking. Hugely enjoyed the stunning visuals and impossible acrobatics of CIRQUE DU SOLEIL and thoroughly lowered the tone with Jason Statham’s DEATH RACE. Oh and you should avoid David Tennant in BAD SAMARITAN at all costs. Sheesh, it was rubbish…
FROM THE FRONT Magazine deadlines are always a source of entertainment in this household. For instance: further on – right at the end, in fact – you will learn that my elderly and considerably eccentric Matchless CSR is running again. Huge hurrahs, of course, and huge plaudits to Jacqueline PUB, who actually provided the electric impetus which allowed it to become mobile. However, magazine deadlines being what they are, in fact it’s been a runner for several weeks – a couple of months, to be honest. It’s been off the bench for a time long enough for me to haul more than one other ancient relic from the far back wall of The Shed. These are bikes from the dwindling collection of lots of bikes which we somehow acquired for no logical reason apart from the happy fact that they were offered at a reasonable price and in a deal which involved delivery to a point where I could meet the previously proud owner and bring them home. All bar one of them were bought as non-runners – a risky business indeed, but the only way a chap can get a bargain, in my view. And I’m glad that we did collect them when we did, because they’ve been a source of much entertainment down the years. And it is rare that a chap sells a bike for less than it cost if I was not a runner but now is, which brings a tiny smile to the cheeks, although people do tend to grumble about profiteering. Oddly. Because some bikes have been a financial horror story. This always happens in the same way… It starts like this: I have an idea. This is always dangerous. I discuss the idea with Rowena of this parish and if she doesn’t start kicking the cat, muttering darkly about earlyonset lunacy and the like, I turn the idea into a plan. Plans are always great, especially if they involve finding a machine, throwing money and spanners at it to turn it into a hopefully improved machine, then riding around on it for a bit. Things only ever get sticky when money begins to leave my account and heads off on a voyage of exploration of its own. So, while riding around aboard a machine you’ll probably read about next month – all being well – I stumbled across another machine entirely which looked familiar. The reason it looked familiar is that it actually is – I owned it for several years, but rarely rode it. I can’t remember why now, because the very last of the pushrod Bonnevilles – the Devonian subset – are among my preferred Triumph
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twins. Anyway, there it was. I’ll take a step back here for a second. Just a couple of days before that Bonnie encounter, I’d been looking for a kickstart lever for my old AJS 20. I know I have one, because I remember buying it in the early 1980s, but I cannot find it. This is a minor irritation because one of the bikes dragged from the slumber of oily ages is that very AJS. However, where it should have been there was in fact a big box containing an electric start kit for a late T140 Bonneville. You can see where this is going, can’t you? Correct! The reason I’d sold the T140 in the first place was that I am increasingly incapable of kickstarting big twins. These are good riding machines and although LF Harris never officially fitted electric starters … it’s apparently not a difficult task. You can see where this is still going, can’t you? Sanity may yet prevail. We will see… Ride safely
Frank Westworth Frank@realclassic.net
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6 I JULY 2020
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HARLEY ELECTRA GLIDE
The heavyweight Harleys of the 1970s often attract uncomplimentary comments and are damned by faint praise. Ian Woolley ignores internet myths and ill-informed observations to try the reality for sizeâ&#x20AC;¦ Photos by Ian Woolley
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JULY 2020 I 7
Americans invented creative copywriting…
Distinctive it is. Unobtrusive it is not
W
Power unit. Although it’s not exactly unit construction, and some complain about the power, too
As with all heavy Harleys, there is much to gaze at, in wonder, mostly
8 I JULY 2020
hat is this you see before you? A 1977 HarleyDavidson FLH 1200 Electra Glide. An iconic name if ever there was one. AMF’s (American Machine and Foundry) range-topping heavyweight cruiser, which is obvious from the letters in the model designation: F, for the big ohv twin engine; L, for Hydra-glide style front forks and wide front tyre, and H, for Highway – which refers to the touring frame. Alternatively, you can find that FL stands for the heavyweight engine, in this case 74cui, and H is for hand shift (erm, I don’t think so), high performance (erm, again), or heavy duty (heavy, certainly). This confusion typifies Harley ownership; there is an established nomenclature and machine specification, but over the years there have been so many variations that the exact meaning / specification has become lost in the mists of time. Indeed, much like some of the British bike industry, the specification was a bit of a movable feast. In 1977 H-D were not in a good state. They had been owned by AMF since 1969 – and folklore will tell you that the AMF years
were a nadir for the quality of the products, that AMF neglected the company and ess didn’t understand the busine of motorcycle manufacture. Echoes of the British bike industry, perhaps? Like mostt folklore there is some truth in the comments and quite a bit that is wrong. AMF sank a consideraable amount of money into H-D, millions of o dollars, and by doing so they tripled sales. However, what they didn’t manage were profitable sales (business firstt rule: turnover is vanity, profit is sanity). While it is fashionable to blame AMF for H-D’s woes in the 70s it probably has much more to do with it being an American company used to gently evolving its product having to cope with a Japanese onslaught of high-spec modern machines. More echoes of the Brit bike industry? How is this reflected in the bike you see before you? The Electra Glide was a new machine for 1964, although then the new machine still had the Panhead engine which was first offered in 1948. In 1966 it benefitted
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HARLEY ELECTRA GLIDE bo ottom end of the venerable Paanhead engine. The ‘new’ cycle paarts owed much to the 1949 Hyydra-glide, which in 1958 beecame known as the Duoglide – for having suspension at both ends, although the FL deesignation had been in use sin nce 1941 on a bike with the Kn nucklehead engine. So if a 1964 Electra Glide was am mishmash of other models, wh hat was its reason for being? It had an electric hoof. It would start at the push of a button – heence the ‘Electra’ moniker. For many years it was also fitted wiith a kickstart too, but this was See those holes? Homeland security … in this case provision larg largely redundant as the electric for a padlock start was reasonably reliable. A crankshaft-mounted alternator arrived in from the new Shovelhead engine which 1970, 1970 along with an upgrade to 12V. The 60bhp Actually raised the power output to 60bhp. Actually, ignition points moved into the timing cover, the ‘new’ engine was an and tthe timing gears were simplified. A disc improved top brakee was fitted in 1972. Other than that, end on the it seeems that over the 11 years to 1977 the chan nges were cosmetic. So o we have another example of a design that was around just after WW2, was then n sparingly updated and was still in prod duction in the mid-1970s. Back then, Hon nda’s Goldwing GL1000 had been about for three t years, the Suzuki GS750 was on the t scene, Triumph were still selling the later developments of the Speed Twin – one with a pretty paint scheme for the t Queen’s silver jubilee – and BMW had its /7 range. The UJM – Universal
Japanese Motorcycle – was a definite thing, and Europe had what were recognisably modern motorcycles. What did the Electra Glide have to flaunt? A 1200cc V-twin dry sump engine producing 60bhp and 70 lb/foot of torque. A spacious chassis with a wheelbase of 61.12 inches, and an overall length of 92.88 inches. A heavyweight bulk of 760 lbs, with fluids. A four-speed gearbox. Selfcancelling indicators. A spring mounted dual seat – although other perches were available. Footboards. Man-sized controls: there is nothing dainty about them. A pair of glassfibre top-opening panniers. That’s a whole lot of bike. The Electra Glide is a recent addition to my shed, so I’m still feeing my way with it. It benefits from a belt drive conversion and a dry clutch from Rivera Primo engineering, Jim’s lifters and lifter blocks – an upgrade to the tappets, and an S&S carburettor. Other than that, it may or may not be standard! The bike shows evidence of lots of love and attention being lavished on it in the past. The frame has been powder coated, although careless use of bike lifts has chavelled the finish on the bottom frame rails. It has been rewired, although some of the idiot lights have been omitted – the high beam telltale bulb holder appears to be absent, and the neutral light needs attention. So far, so normal for a 42 year-old machine. On the plus side the cosmetics are generally good. So why did I buy it in the first place? It would be nice to come up with a really sensible reason for the purchase, but I can’t.
Many de ecorative aftermarket bits are patriotic. As with this, the quaintly nicknamed ‘derby cover’. It’s not pronounced ‘darby’, being American n, and it covers the clutch
These are serious touring machines, intended for serious mileages across America. Serious comfort is a high priority. So the seat is sprung. Of course it is
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JULY 2020 I 9
Heel’n’toe shifts work perfectly with footboards. Tap down with your toe to change down (and to engage first); press down with your heel to change up. It’s a slow shift, no need to rush
IIt would be nice to come up with a really sensible reason for the purchase, but I can’t. I bought it because it looked pretty. Don’t judge me. I could waffle on about poor investment rates and the chance that the bike will go up in value. I could spin romantic tales about the model of an Electra Glide my dear, departed grandmother bought me while I was still at school. I could give you guff about it being an iconic bike that I’d yet to own but… at the end of the day I bought it because it was shiny. As I say, don’t judge me. When it arrived, the Glide looked very pretty – until I cleaned it. Then I found that there was a lot of road dirt mixed with oily waste hidden where the eye would not normally see. Not a big problem, but something I had to spend a while cleaning. Since the first clean I’ve also found that there are one or two places where I needed to apply spanners; oil lines and one or two bolts that just need a tweak – all perfectly normal for a bike that has been restored and has then not done lots of miles. The amount of oil appearing from the rocker box feed was reassuring … but it was a pain to clean off! All sorted now. What’s it like to ride, then? My initial ride round the block wasn’t encouraging. It felt
10 I JULY 2020
wobbly, like a new-born lamb. I have piloted large boats that answer the helm better that this bike steered. You know those bikes that weigh a lot and as soon as the wheels are rolling you forget about the bulk? The Electra Glide isn’t one of them. It takes a determined heave to lift it off the The front end is as subtly sophisticated as the rest of the motorcycle, but it works in its own way. As does the oddly huge brake caliper
‘jiffy stand’ – I don’t know why Harley called it that, there isn’t an alternative, so the bike lounges on its sidestand whether for a jiffy or not – and once upright you need to make sure that you don’t lean too far from perpendicular or the plot will get away from you. To steal another motorcycling cliché, the weight is all low down … but there is a LOT of weight. The engine has more grunt than a bacon factory and will whisk you quickly to a sort of fast lope. About 55mph the plot is reasonably happy. Big A-road and motorway speeds are tolerated, but don’t be surprised when your foot is vibrated off the footboard. Alleged top speed is in the mid-80s, but that isn’t what the bike is about. The gearbox is the venerable four-speed unit that Harley had used for eons. You’re never in doubt when you are in a gear – the heel and toe gear lever doesn’t hide the impression that you’re using it to move large lumps of metal. That isn’t to say that the gearbox isn’t smooth or effective, just butch. There have been entire essays from erudite writers about the dire nature of Harley brakes. The bike benefits from disc brakes, gripped by huge single-pot callipers. The current Ford Ranger has more pistons in each calliper
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