Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Real Classic

Remember when Rolls-Royce didn't disclose the power of their engines, preferring to describe them as 'sufficient'? I recall driving a Silver Shadow and beforehand anticipated sufficient to be on a par with a seven-litre Chevrolet - all bluster and kudos. Instead, I experienced an engine perfectly suited to fit the criteria expected from a Rolls. Smooth and whisper-quiet, the motor whisked the driver along on a soft and compliant magic carpet in complete comfort. A racer it wasn't, the designers had never intended it to be that. In many ways, the Sunbeam To refresh your memory, the post-war Sunbeam is a tale of confused decision making, unrealistic expectations and a general apathy from both manufacturer and the buying public. The BSA group had acquired a number of German wartime machines…

The deep hum of a road bike at speed has a unique way of clarifying your priorities. I've never flown an airplane nor steered a great ship through the sea but I doubt either could top the singular personification of two-wheeled travel. Yet as we stride across an empty Sonoran desert in Arizona, a lingering fear of mechanical failure steals any joy that might come from our reunion. Fifteen years apart, during which time the Guzzi led another life. Worry not, the red twin seems to signal, reassuringly stable and wishing for just a bit more throttle . All is right in the world as this 949cc Le Mans rolls again, now adopted by my son Alexander, who has pulled a neat trick to reinvent an old family heirloom. He's…

They say you should never meet your heroes, as you are most likely to be disappointed. As far as bikes go, my rose-tinted lenses had been reserved for Triumph's Trident since the mid-1970s, when I had been enthralled by the exploits of the racing T150s and then by the arrival of the beautiful Tl 60. When the time came to buy a classic British bike, the Trident was at the top of my list. Hence I was planning the acquisition of a much modified Tl 60 or its stablemate, a wonderfully restored Tl 50 which I found locally several months ago. But fate is a funny thing and, funds not being immediately available, the purchase was put on hold while I sold my classic car. Then came the offer of…

It began as a lark, as these things do. It was back in '72. After a few Japanese trail bikes, I was seduced by a shiny blue Bultaco Alpina. I happily rode it for several years, even modifying it with some Sammy Miller exotica. Life happened and the bike was parked for a couple of decades. While moving house I gave the Alpina to my best friend to serve as his son's first big bike. But soon the cravings began, so when said son moved on to bigger (if not better), I reacquired the bike and embarked on my first ever restoration of a motorcycle, or of anything really. It came out pretty nice, ran OK, and won a show trophy or two. This was 25 years ago; subsequently I…

There was a plan. There is always a plan. Almost always. In this case the plan was that i would grease up the few remaining areas of surviving chrome plate on my recently acquired AJS Model 16 and ride it throughout the winter - in exactly the same way that i rode a succession of gery prorridge machines in those fable years gone by. Those would be the good old days. I failed to remind myself that those good old days actuallyy axquired the word' good' only when i stopped trying to persuade my matchless G9 that its magneto was waterproof and bought my first- even new bike - an MZ TS125. And I had been riding the Matchless to work because my Triumph T140V was simply too unreliable, so…

Moto Guzzi's decision to slot the touring V lOOO engine into its sporting US import remains a puzzle. Surely the experienced tuners in Man dello had to know that a package of more capacity and less power wouldn't fulfil Berliner's requests? Or was something important missed? Many commentators flatly state that the small-valve 949cc was chosen solely for emissions reasons. Mike Berliner - who ordered the American editions from the factory- recalled the circumstances. 'That bike was built because the Americans wanted a larger capacity machine; he's quoted as saying . 'If it was less powerful than the 850, it is because the factory did n't take the time to make it more powerful: By 1975, Tonti's Sport chassis had adopted Guzzi's integral braking system (seen on the Vl OOO…

I had acquired most of the bits I needed from Mick Broom over the years. I dug the bike out only to see a sorry state. The blisters on the tail faring had not got any worse but had not improved either, and where some of nickel had earlier flaked off the frame, there was a slight surface rust. Plus, to top it all off, something must have fallen against the tank, making a small dink! So I decided to do a complete restoration. I stripped the frame and took it to a local platers to remove the old nickel, polish the bare metal then re-nickel. I took the bodywork to a local sprayer and started on the engine. The first thing to do was to take the gearbox to…

Following on from last time ... My old friend Stuart Francis having brought up the fact that not all magnetos have either rotating armature winding nor rotating magnets, I will have to cover a third type - the polar inductor magneto. First I should mention that 'my old friend' refers to our years of acquaintance, and not a reflection on his age, which is rather less than my own. However he is correct, there is this third classand they do include motorcycle types, although I understand that they have greater application in the aircraft world, where the ability to get more than two sparks (and even odd numbers to suit radial engines) is of particular value. In fact I have an apology to make, in that it is likely that…

Mark runs Somerset Classic Motorcycles together with Andy Taylor, focusing on Japanese classics from the 1970s. They offer everything from newly found survivors, just waiting for a new owner to get them back on the road, right up to fully finished bikes which are as good or better than they were when new. At the time of writing, they have a red 1975 CB750 in stock. It's been recently serviced with the carbs synced, fitted with new plugs, chain and electronic ignition. It does have a small oil leak and provides 'plenty of scope for improvement' so is priced accordingly at £5495 . Andy and Mark can arrange delivery across the UK. See somersetclassicmotorcycles.co.uk…

The words 'impossibly' and 'shiny' sprang immediately to mind when we clapped eyes on this 1947 S7, which was offered for sale at the end of 2020 by a posh car dealer in Lancashire, where apparently people have £12,500 to spend on a 500 twin [kof]. Fitted with chrome crash bars and fog lights, this S7 shows just over 6000 miles on its odometer - although we're not entirely sure that the Mist Green colour scheme should extend to the wheel rims. For that kind of money, we'd expect the machine to be fitted with the original 'clean handlebars' and extremely elegant inverted control levers, too This S7 Deluxe from a private seller looks like an altogether better proposition . The engine, gearbox and final drive were overhauled in 2019…

Readers may remember that I took a trip to Italy and bought a couple of bikes, a Mi- Val 125 and a Bianchi Bernina 125. I liked the look of them and enjoyed rebuilding both of them immensely. Before starting the stripdown, I did some background reading and found out a great deal about Bianchi... Founder Edoardo Bianchi was born in 1865 in Milan to a family in dire financial straits, so he was brought up in a religious orphanage. There he received a formal education and at the age of seven had developed an interest in how things work. By eight he was working in an ironworks, then became a mechanic's apprentice. His flair for creative engineering and entrepreneurial innovation was obvious even then. The region of northern Italy…