Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i Classic Bike Guide

WITH THE LAST CLASSIC SHOWS packed up here in the UK, we’ve got tinkering time ahead! Few like taking their pride and joy out in the depths of winter; and yet some of the best fun can be had, especially if you like dirt-riding, which we do here. Here at Classic Bike Guide Towers, the Benelli is getting stripped down for some new crank seals, while the Norton ES2, which has been left unloved on the bench while the weather has been treating us to some good riding, is now in full swing again. Hopefully the engine will go back together next month, and the metalwork straightened, primed and painted. Neville’s Beeza is flying now and could do with an oil change and the TriBSA needs a service; all good…

AN UNUSED 1977 Triumph Trident T160 is on its way to Mid-Wales following the draw for the National Motorcycle Museum’s summer raffle. The raffle was drawn by TT superstar John McGuinness at the Museum LIVE event in October. The Trident, a brand new/old stock, never registered example was won by Sally Peace, of Machynlleth, Wales. Derrick Dewhurst, of Barrow in Furness won the second prize, a Sealey Retro Style Combination Tool Chest worth £850 and Colin Bell of Stockton-on-Tees won a luxury hotel break and dinner for two at the Manor Hotel, Meriden. The National Motorcycle Museum announced that the winner of the next winter raffle will ride away on a top of the range limited edition Triumph twin. Museum director James Hewing said: “We have another ‘money can’t buy’…

AN AUSTRALIAN ARCHIVIST has put together a series of DVDs for classic British motorcycle enthusiasts, containing an invaluable mass of information from the postwar period about well known marques. The collator Kim White started collecting the information in the mid-1990s. Kim says: “I’m in Australia and back in 1995 I saw there was a need for classic British bike documentation to be available to enthusiasts and restorers at a reasonable price. So, I sought permission to start reproducing workshop manuals, parts lists, service sheets, and even advertising memorabilia for the major British classic marques. I started with Norton, and BSA and Triumph soon followed. I’ve been producing them ever since.” Kim scanned in the archives and burned them onto DVDs. Each DVD contains manuals, parts lists, and service sheets. Kim…

ENGINE: 344cc air-cooled OHV single-cylinder COMPRESSION RATIO: 9:1 POWER: 26bhp @ 7,000rpm GEARBOX: Four-speed FINAL DRIVE: Chain FRAME: Steel-tubed and pressed steel spine SUSPENSION: 35mm Ceriani telescopic forks, twin shock rear BRAKES: 190mm twin leading shoe drum (front), 190mm single leading shoe drum (rear) TYRES: 3.00x19 3.50x18 SEAT HEIGHT: 30.5in/774mm WHEELBASE: 53ins/1350mm GROUND CLEARANCE: 5.5ins/139mm DRY WEIGHT: 308lb/140kg FUEL CAPACITY: 2.6gallons/12 litres TOP SPEED: 83mph…

“But, is allowing a slew of machines to sit for years, unridden but rideable, noble in any way?” WHETHER ’TIS NOBLER IN THE MIND TO suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes spent on motorcycle ownership, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by selling, end them. To collect no more, and end the heartache, and the thousand natural shocks that motorcycles are heir to; ’tis a consolation devoutly to be wished. To keep is perchance to dream, of bikes to come, but conscience does make cowards of us all, and thus the native hue of seller’s resolution, is sicklied o’er. There’s a baker’s dozen of motorcycles in my name: most live in my warehouse, but three await ministrations at professional workshops. My 1973 Triumph TR5T…

JIM LIGHTNING (FOR WANT OF A MORE APPROPRIATE surname) could act as a stand-in for late Quo frontman Rick Parfitt, such is his likeness to the famous rock guitarist. But what rocks Jim’s silver locks these days are Small Heath unit twins; and the BSA Lightning to be more specific. This wasn’t always the case however, as Jim has owned umpteen BSA, Norton, and Triton motorcycles, and recently he restored a prize-winning Velocette Venom, as well as a trophy-accruing Norton ES2. The stunning silver and black ‘Lightning’ seen hereabouts was restored from the ground up by ace mechanic Jim and restyled by his ‘show queen’ wife Liz, who shares Jim’s passion for all things glitter and chrome. However, this BSA is no trailer queen – despite its impressive haul of…

A NEW COLLECTION of quality motorcycle clothing inspired by the early Paris-Dakar Rallies in the 1970s proves that you aren’t stuck with black waxed cotton or old school leather to get a stylish period look and quality motorcycle clothing. Fuel Motorcycles’ ‘Rally Raid’ collection is inspired by the endurance off-road legend Thierry Sabine and the rally across the Sahara. Fuel Motorcycles is a two-wheeled lifestyle brand born in Barcelona in 2012 by a group of riders brought together by the common love of motorcycles, adventure and vintage culture. The company says the Rally Raid collection is not just style over substance. The jackets and trousers from the collection feature: Cotton and polyamide outer fabric, an integral kevlar inter layer, a waterproof membrane, Smoothways CE Level 2 armour at the back,…

BENELLI IS DUE to release its new Imperiale single in the UK this month. The classic-styled 400 single is targeted squarely at the classic market as an affordable old-styled motorcycle at a reasonable price with all the mod-cons of a modern machine. The Imperiale seems certain to challenge Royal Enfield for that market. To attract the classic buyer, the Benelli has a teardrop tank with old-fashioned knee pads, wire wheels, 41mm telescopic forks and a long exhaust. The seating features a two-piece perch, with springs adding extra suspension to the rider’s seat. Powering the Imperiale 400 is a 374cc, air-cooled, sohc, single-cylinder engine that produces 21bhp. Braking duties are handled by a 300mm single disc with a two-piston floating caliper up front and a 240mm rear disc with standard dual-channel…

THIS ONE-DAY EVENT GETS BIGGER and better every year. The museum, one of the finest and most important collections of British motorcycles in the world, is almost a sideline, with biking celebrities taking centre stage. Racers like John McGuinness, Charlie Williams and John Cooper were there to amuse us on stage this year, as well as sign books and pose for photos, while Allen Millyard was on hand to talk about his creations and TV presenters Henry Cole and Sam Lovegrove entertained on stage with their latest show, ‘Shed and Buried’ live. Oh, the pull of television… James Robinson, editor of our sister title The Classic Motorcycle and myself had a full day talking to visitors on our stand; it’s great to get feedback as without it we just have…

“As the saying goes – every day is a school day…but only if you have the ability to shut up occasionally and listen to others!” MANY WHO ARE LONG-TIME PLAYERS IN THE arcane world of classic motorcycles tend to absorb information and data. It’s something we do and is, arguably, almost unavoidable; random facts become absorbed almost by osmosis as the years tick over. Inevitably those thus blessed (or is that cursed?) become founts of knowledge and frequently end up as the go-to guys for specific marques, or even models. Having such sources can be amazingly helpful when it comes to sorting out old bikes for whatever genre and digs many of us out of potentially large, and sometimes, self-dug holes. Numerous classic clubs will hold these people up as…

IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME, MONEY AND BALLS TO START A NEW event. Last year The Bike Shed, a motorcycle club based in London, put on a one-day event at Lydden Hill circuit called the Café Racer Cup, in order to see if there was any call for an event where people could take their non-racebikes onto a circuit for the day and race them. The emphasis was on having fun and experiencing something new, not winning – though that all depends on the people taking part! It was a success enough for them to return again this year, for two days, with the renamed Festival. The idea being simple; give all those bikes that couldn’t race anywhere somewhere to race, just for one weekend. The Bike Shed celebrates…

If Jim’s P&J doesn’t fire up your creative juices then perhaps a standard BSA unit twin could be your next fling? They are readily available in the small ads and spares back-up is nothing short of excellent, with specialists such as SRM, Draganfly and Burton Bike Bits catering for all models. Launched in a wave of publicity during the early Sixties, the initial A50 (500cc) and A65 (650cc) models were BSA’s attempt to stem lost sales to Triumph – especially the iconic Bonneville, which was already a huge hit on both sides of the Atlantic. Soon after both models appeared in 1962, the A50 received glowing reports in The Motor Cycle and Motor Cycle Illustrated. Similar reports followed for the sportier A65 – although Motor Cycle Illustrated reckoned the smaller…

TRIUMPH HAS ANNOUNCED two special editions of the Bonneville T120 and T100 that celebrate the legend of Bud Ekins. Bud was a professional Hollywood stuntman, top motocross and desert racer, and the rider in the 1960s who made arguably the most famous motorcycle film jump in history, in the The Great Escape, on behalf of his friend and ISDT partner, Steve McQueen. These two new Bonneville specials feature a one-off California-inspired Bud Ekins paint scheme and see a revival of the old Meriden-Triumph badge along with a range of dedicated special details and touches. As well as the Ekins specials, Triumph also has a new version of the Thruxton café racer and a new special edition of its Bobber.…

Olfi one.five Black action camera CAN’T EXPLAIN WHY you love riding your bike to friends? Trying to show a problem in the workshop to someone abroad? How about an easy-to-use video camera, that’s the size of a matchbox? In a previous life I thoroughly tested as many of the action cameras as possible and the Olfi came out on top. I’d never heard of it before. It does everything I have needed a camera to do, plus crucially it isn’t too complicated to use. And the vertical shape seems to make fitting on your bike, and definitely on the side of your helmet, a lot easier. The one.five is an improved version, with better stabilisation, which helps your videos look less like a vomit-inducing fairground ride, and higher quality. It…

ANEW BIKE HAS JUST JOINED THE ECLECTIC shed. Huzzah! Is it yet another girder rigid monstrosity, you may well ask? Well, no, it’s a new bike, as in shiny and with little booklets in an equally lustrous plastic wallet. It even has a key! It’s all terribly exciting. The reason is rather more mundane, of course. I prefer riding bikes to driving cars or hitchhiking and sometimes need to go somewhere that’s far enough away to make me question my sanity by using a 15bhp rigid-framed single with gas lighting and bulb horn; hence the…Honda. Now, I’m pretty active on social media, especially Twitter (@classicrider as you ask) and enquired of my twitmates what sort of modern bike should I buy that matches my requirements – 300 miles per day…

“Spare parts were already quite a problem, though the G50/7R were better off than equivalent Manx Nortons, thanks to Colin Seeley’s late-Sixties efforts” THE BIKE THAT WAS THE CATALYST FOR founding the CRMC was my original 1962 Matchless G50 which, when I bought it in 1974, was just 12 years old. But while it was quite uncompetitive against the RG500 Suzukis, overbored TZ350 Yamahas and suchlike, which would come to dominate National 500cc racing in the late 1970s, it was also too young for the Vintage Club/ VMCC, with their 25-year cut-off date. The only places to compete with the bike were the single-cylinder races at Brands Hatch and Snetterton, run by Bemsee and the Newmarket Club, the last resort of an endangered British and Italian species. Spare parts were…

“And it started. Of course it did. It ran badly, but encouragingly. Helmetless, legality-less and senseless, I rumbled back to the shop, perspiring only copiously. The Huntmaster smoked from everywhere.” IT WAS 1978 – MAYBE 79, MEMORY STRUGGLES with precision. The classic bike had only recently been invented and harmless old clunkers were yet to be elevated to some mysterious near-mythic status which they didn’t enjoy when new. They were entertaining times, not least for those bewildered, like me, by the sudden and inexplicable popularity of harmless old clunkers which had previously been mere objects of fun and derision. And cheap entertaining transport for the poor – which I was. Mostly. My latest attempt at gainful employment actually paid wages with something approaching regularity and quantity, and the hours were…