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AJS MODEL 16 ...........................................
6
After a long life wasted seeking power and excitement, Frank Westworth has achieved a personal performance pinnacle : enter the 350 AJS... BMW R90/6 ..............................................
DUCATI MONSTER DARK ........................ 54
Two decades ago, Ducati were among the first to offer an unashamed retro roadster. The Monster . And Duncan Spokes subscribed to a magazine which gave one away...
20
BMW's boxer twins of the 1970s simultaneously embraced the company's heritage and indicated their purposeful direction of travel. Nolan Woodbury appreciates the oft-overlooked sibling to the sleek R90/S
ARIEL W/NG .............................................
BSA ROYAL STAR..................................... NORTON P92 PROTOTYPE ...................... 30
As the old British industry floundered they produced some unusual ideas, like an lsolastic 500 single. Alan Cathcart rode it ... HONDA HARRIER ....................................
40
You meet the nicest people on a Honda. And Paul Miles ... DOUGLAS FLAT TANKER ........................ ,46
Douglas motorcycles have held a special appeal for Rowena Hoseason, even before this magazine got properly going. So for our 200th edition, she investigates the origins of the company through one of its earliest successes...
62
After repatriating a military Ariel 350 single from Italy, Simon Holyfield finally returns the little red roadster to the rural roads in the east of England ... 68
BSA'sunit twins are always a popular choice for folks seeking a practical classic. Dave Narey opted for the smaller sibling to take him Continental touring . .. A CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE ...................... 80
Well. .. it is Christmas very soon, so here's a few ideas MAKING SPARKSFLY.............................. 86 The development of the ignition system, how it works, and a few maintenance tips . Jacqueline Bickerstaff (aka PUB)explains the fizzicks behind sparking performance. Part Three: The Flywheel magneto - a rotating magnet ignition system TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE BUILD ............... 92
Like many other old bike enthusiasts, Simon Wall bought his Triumph Bonneville intending to rebuild it. He didn't quite intend to rebuild it twice, however ...
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FROM THEFRONT My bikesneed cleaning!All of those which are on the road,of course,although the ravagesof the mighty Atlantic and my weedy attempts to protect motorcyclemetalfrom their effectsmean that eventhe off the road machineslook pretty grim. Sowhat? I hearyou say.I hate cleaning bikes.And cars, although carsareeasierdue to a lackof visible oily and rusting crevices. My gloomyconsiderationof cleaninghas beenpromptedby two machines,andyou can,unusually,seeboth bikesin questionin this issue.Firstoff,the 250Triumphwhich isthe subject of this issue'sShedshenanigans is ~'...,-!!JIY._.._ actuallyfixed and runningwell, not
thenthere'sno point.InfactI shouldspray I brushon moreof the preservative gloop, asthe roadsaswellastheskiesdo become prettycorrosive aroundnow.What'sthe pointof cleaningoff allthegloopandthe filth thatsticksto it (micehavesomethingto dowith this,mysteriously) , onlyto promptly allowedmeto spenda lot moretime than usualin coverit in freshgloop?Howdestructive to the TheShed. Ratherthan on the road,which is what I ecosystem, andsimilarlameexcuses . would prefer- aswouldwe all,of course. Truth is ... I hate cleaning bikes. Sothe Triumph is up and running and even The AJS,on the other hand,the most recent nearlylegal,but it is filthy. Not, mostly,because addition to TheShed,is actuallymostly clean.The of my shamefulreluctanceto clean it- or even Planwasto makesurethat it worksOK(it does) seasonalbone-idleness- but becausewhen it and then ride it around as much as possible, was last put away (only a couple of yearsago, mostly for fun, but alsoto remind myselfhow maybethree... ) it got sprayedand wiped down good they areto ride. But if I ride it as it is,it will and brushedwith ACFSO, which is a decently corrode beforemy unsurprisedgaze.Soshould effectivecorrosionpreventative.We live in hope. I lather on a deep coating of ACFSO,after which Althoughthe Triumphappearsseriously every ride will find the finish vanishingbeneath scabrous, mostof it is actuallyOK,or at leastI an extra layerof grime, is that right? thought it wasuntil I drainedthe oil prior to doing I find myselfhumming the tune to that sadly a few other entirelynon-essential bits'n'batswhich neglectedsong by TheWho, SilasStingy:'Hewore you'llbe ableto readaboutsometimein the future. old clothesand he neverwashed,Becausesoap Afterstickingon the replacementprimarychaincase cost a lot, And the dirt kept him hot. . .'suitably cover,I wasunhappilystruckby howcleanit is rewritten to describemy unwashedbikes,where comparedto the restof the engine,which is, frankly, the dirt keepsthem clean.Mysteriously. Thankyoufor filthy.Thesprayed -on preservative graduallywashes Thisisthe 2001h issueof RealClassic. helpingusgetsofarwith whatfelt likea madcapidea downthe engineandendsup at the bottom. By 200 monthsago.Maybe210 monthsago,Rowena 'washes'I meanwasheddown by the perpetually salineatmospherewith whichwe'reblessedhere andI satat a restaurantin Launceston andaskedeach other:'Shouldwe havea go?'Youknowthe answer. in Cornwall.It doesin fact removeoilsandgreases with remarkableefficacy.Notasrapidlyasdoes We hope you havea great Christmasand that modernfuel,but effectivelyenough. the new year brings a little morejoy to us all. Here'sto the next 200! But... whatwouldbethe pointof cleaningthe Ridesafely Triumphin lateNovember -when I'm writingthis?If Frank Westworth I'mgoingto rideit throughthewetterbitsof theyear Frank@realclassic.net
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(9AJSMODEL 16
RealClassic
starting from hot. Indeed, steamed colleague Ollie Hulme hasalso recently acquired his own AMC heavy single (it must be contagious) and that's not wild about restarting when hot. But his hasa magneto, of - course.Of course my vastly superior Plumsteadplodder sparksvia a coil, so should be immune to hot start woes. And so it proves.A single kick and we're off again, doff-doff-doffing our The last of the roadgoing way home through the gloriously 350 singles. Gone are the hazy twilight of a late November barrel-retaining bolts at the base, replaced by long afternoon in Cornwall. the motion lotion and shows Instantly familiar AJS driveside. The primary studs holding both head and The riding position is little sign of excesspolishing in chaincase houses a sweet clutch and an barrel. And there's a Norton excellent. For reasonslong forgotten recent decades alternator delivering just 6 Volts oil pump Inside, too - although I could of course speculate- AMC,makersof AJS, Matchlessand y first real proper motorcycle but true) I have almost alwaysboasted a noble Norton 4-strokes,decided that the way forward was an AJS,which probably product of Plumsteadin whichever shed was explains a lot. I like AMC The Shed at the time. involved reducing the seat height of their roadster range - both singles and twins. They machines- real ones from AJS Thoughts like these - and many more and Matchless,although Norton made a few also had a tendency to fit flat, Norton-style floated through my increasinglysmiley head decent machinesin the AMCyearstoo, he says, as I chugged for the very first time around the handlebars,but some happy previous owner has replacedthem with wider, more upright local lanesaboard the machine you will be grudgingly. And although there have been very items here. It is really comfortable, too, and able to observe pictured nearby.How is this many dalliancesalong the path of the last halfpossible,why have I bought another, given that century sincethat first Model 18 AJS(sobering marvellously relaxing to ride. Not least because I already have an AJS(an early 500 twin) and the grey-faceSmiths magnetic speedo needle resolutely refusesto move, so I've no idea how a couple of Matchlesses(one single, one twin) lurking around the place,dripping menacingly? rapidly we're going - one of the delights of Well, hang on while I spend a few more buying a bike unseen. moments relishing the moment, revelling in the Oh come on, I sayto myself.You've been sheerexcitement of a traditional 350 4-stroke riding for a half-century; you know how fast single aswe boom and bang our way home you're going. Which is entirely true, although the long way home, of course. having no flickering needle to confirm a chap's velocity tends to make this chap ride (even) Boom and bang?Yesindeed, despite one of the reasonsI bought this bike being the more slowly. In any case,this is a 350 longlate model silly fat silencerwhich is usuallya stroke single which pumped out somewhere model of audio decorum. More investigation between 18 and 20bhp when it was new in 1966,and I doubt it's developed a few extra later. Pausefor a photo. Switch off. Feela sudden moment of terror, remembering other horsesdown the years. singleswhich were lessthan vigorous when One thing I've enjoyed about the AJS
M
8 I DECEMBER 2020
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EitAJSMODEL 16 AJS.I've owned severalof them before, but cannot recall another as untouched asthis noble example.Almost all of the finish is factory original. I really like this. AJSenamel is a truly beautiful shadeof black. It actually is black - not the extremely dark grey of most powdercoats and a lot of other finishes popular with restorers.And the faintly crazy petrol tank pinstriping (a lightning flash?Really?)is original, and worn down to the point at which the brush strokesare clearly visible. Lovelystuff. Much of the chrome is factory fare too. Not that there is very much.The exhaust,the wheel rims, the headlamp rim and some fasteners. Nothing too thrilling. A sultan of shine this was not. This AJSwas built for the everyday everyman, riding to work and then for pleasure. Excitementwas not on the menu - the CSR twins and CSsingles provided that. I'm having an internal debate about the wheel rims, however.The afternoon ride is unspoiled by any eccentricity of those rims, but they don't appear to claim to be Dunlop (which they should be) and they don't appear to be laced with butted spokes(which they should be). Anorak details, but details are the devil's delight, asyou know. Whateverthe provenanceof the rims,the brakesthey're laced to work very well, with the single-leading 8-inch Norton drum on the front being a better stopper than the Commando 21sdevice currently fitted to the CSRtwin. That sounds bonkers,but is actually the case. There'sa definite rhythm to riding a trad long-stroke Brit single. And before you reach smugly for the email equivalent of a green Biro, I am awarethat these last engines are known as the 'short-stroke'singles.But they're not. The earlier engines counted out at 69 x 93mm and are known as the long-stroke,while this post-62 ~
It's always great to find original switches and speedo. It's even more great if the speedo works •••
2020 I 9 DECEMBER
RealClassic
It 's hard to imagine that most parts of this Norton N1SCSare the same as FW's AJS Model 16. Apart from the 750 engine and a few other bits ...
10 I DECEMBER 2020
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(9AJSMODEL 16
....,,,,.~cn7••• 350cc. 500cc.
G3 MERCURY GBO MAJOR
ijJ 350cc. 500cc.
Model Model
16 SCEPTRE 18 STATESMAN
engine weighs in at a svelte 72 x 85.5mm, so the stroke is shorter, but still longer than the bore is wide. The bigger banger,the Model 18 500 single, hasdimensions of 86 x 85.5mm, so is - just - a short-stroke device. Not that it matters much in the caseof the 350, which is (a little) more of a revver than the earlier engine, and (a little) more powerful - say 18/20bhp instead of 16, but you would need to ride them back to back to notice much of a difference. Anyway,that riding rhythm. I am a firm believerin the 'changeup early' schoolof piloting thesemachines.Thetorque is more impressivethan the power,and they reallycan haul surprisinglywell. Well.Soloat least.So I head directly for top, which arrivescomfortablyaround 30mph on the flat or downhill. If you'reaiming to accelerateuphill, then you'd hang on to third until 40 or so.And after top haslandedyou can revel in the easy,relaxedway the bike simplyrolls along. WhereI differ from most other early-shiftersof my acquaintanceis that I alsodownshift early, using asmuch engine braking aspossible.Thisis probably a legacyof earliermachineswherethe brakesarerather more marginal. So why did I buy this machine,and where does it fit into the gentle development path of AJSsingles?The second question is easiest,so I'll answer it first. In brief, this is the last of the old singlesand is in its final form. The Norton forks and wheels arrived in 1964, and are an improvement on the older Teledraulicsand the 7-inch drum favoured by the older machines. Oddly, however,just to make us classictypes scratchour collective head, the factory continued to use both the Teledraulicfork and that 7-inch front stopper on their competition machines- both the singles and the twins. The G85CSmay have a tremendous new allwelded frame and a truly fire-breathing SOO single engine, but it still used the older forks and indeed front brake,albeit with the cooling I bracing fins machined off. I digress... The reasonWhy?is a little lesseasyto explain. Backin 1984 I acquired one of my favourite motorcyclesof all time, a 1966AJS Model 31 650 twin. It's sometimesdifficult to remember a time without the almost instant communications we're used to in the internet age, but I'dfirst become awareof the late, Norton-forked machinesin the mid-70s,when I bought a MatchlessGl 1 which came with a pile of spares- including a bare frame fitted with Roadholders,but no one I spoke to had ever heard of them. The most common suggestion was that it was a home-made badge, although the headstockforging looked to be different. Where was the internet when I needed it? Enquiriesamong noted experts revealedthat these frameswere the very last of the line, and although I saw hardly any of the machineson my travels I decided there and then that I'd love >
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DECEMBER 2020 I 11
Finally, one that got away. A very rare touring AJS Model 33 Mk2. FW has no Idea how he failed to buy it, but he did •••
one - an AJS, of course. PMB68D.It was great. I rode it all over the place;commuting, holidays,fun, club events,National Ralliesand even a couple of VMCCtrack days.An unexpected bonus was that becausethere was a trace of the 'It's not a proper AJS'syndrome they were actually cheaperthan the earlier machines.One of the severalthings I liked about that old Model 31 was its originality. It had never been restored, the only non-stockitems being a pair of Goldiepattern silencers. By this time I was editing TheJampot,the AJS&MOCmagazine, and was in signalswith severalfactory folk, one of whom assuredme that for the engine to run at its best it should really havethe correct silencers.Right. Likethey were availableat Halfords.I spoketo Chopper at Hamrax,and almost by magic a pair of pattern items arrived. A minor diversion: Conversationswith Chopper were alwaysvaguely hysterical.He sounded very gruff indeed, but had a wicked senseof humour when I would askhim for advice to put into TheJampot. Sowhen he told me that I could only have a pair of left-hand silencersI assumedhe wasjoking. He wasn't. The 650 twin sharesits right-hand silencerwith the 350 single,so... He chopped off the bracket on one of the silencers, rewelded it on the other side and had it rechromed.All done by eye,and it almost fit, too. And yes,the engine breathed
12 I DECEMBER 2020
better with it, and was rather lessnoisy than with the goldies. You know how obsessionswork, I'm sure. Of course I wanted to try all the variants of the 64-66 machinesthat I could find and indeed borrow. So I borrowed or bought 350 singles with AJS,Matchlessand indeed Norton badges on their identical tanks, as well as both AJSand Matchless650 twins, in various forms. I still have a 1965Gl 2CSR,and a great machine it is,too. But it's not original - nowhere near. And that is the main reasonI simply needed to have this Model 16. Sad but true! It stands in The Shed next to an entirely original 350 Matchless, oddly enough, a 350 GSlightweight, the factory finish of which has survived for more than 90,000miles.That is some recommendation. Sowhat do you get with one of the very last of the AJSsingles?Youget the very basics.You get a machinewith no frills nor fripperies, no pretensionsto performance.It looksstaid in its smart blackcoat of enamel,and it is indeedstaid. I was a little surprisedto discoverthat the fuel tap was stuck open,and more so to discover that the battery was so flat that the horn just popped weaklywhen I pressedthe button. But fuel flooded when I operatedthe tickler (after I'd added some, of course)and after a coupleof priming kicksusing the decompressorleverit fired up at once.Thissort of behaviourendearsa motorcycleto me,frankly.
Anyonewith a lifetime spent riding earlier AJSsinglesshould achieve a smalleyebrowraising moment as soon as you checkthe oil return to the tank. Insteadof the weedy dribble which is the product of the famousrotating plunger pump of the earlierdesign,the Nortontype gear pump sloshesloadsof the black stuff around t he systemwith great energiesindeed. The downside to this pump is that like most gear designsit tends to let the crankcasefill up with oil if left standingfor a while. Youmight observe that this Model 16 hasbeen fitted with an oil tap. But it's a neat design,so I'll probably leaveit. The clutch is as light as a decent AMCclutch should be. Or at least it was once I'd lubed the cable and tightened the lever'smountings - observing as I did so that the dipswitch lever had been snappedoff. How,exactly,I wondered, grumpily. So,then, I bought the AJSbecauseit somehow reminded me of my long-ago Model 31 650, even though it's just a 350.Which isn't terribly sensible, really.Except... except that it hasa lot of the charm of the old twin. It's weirdly familiar,but at the sametime pleasantly different. It's no sportsman,but it is enormously likeable. It's no scratcher,either, but it handles exceptionallywell. And it reallydoes remind me of my old riding companion, PMB68D. Which is a good thing. A very good thing, in fact. Likethe closing of a circle,somehow... Re
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