Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Classic Bike Guide

TWO CLASSIC BIKE racers from Cornwall have broken two American Land Speed Records on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Phil Betty and Miki Sprosen featured on our news pages back in July and revealed their plan to seize back the two land speed records for Triumph. The duo, who have been vintage and classic clubman racers for over 20 years, together form Team Wildcard. They are sponsored by Monty’s Classic Motorcycles, who, like the racers, are based in the Tamar Valley in East Cornwall. Before their trip, the 350cc pushrod engine record was held by a Moto Morini and the 650 record by a Kawasaki. After the first two days of racing, the bikes, a highly modified 1957 Triumph T21, owned by Lenny Diggins, and Miki’s stock 1971 Bonneville, were just…

BRITISH RIDERS ARE invited to take part in a three-week ride across the US in the summer. Women’s Motorcycle Tours has released the official dates, routes and opening of registration for the Suffragists Centennial Motorcycle Ride (SCMR2020). Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the US, the female-focused, three-week cross-country motorcycling event will begin on Friday, July 31 and end on Sunday, August 23. Attending the cross-country event will provide multiple experiences for all disciplines of motorcycle riders in celebration of the centennial of women’s suffrage. It’s not a cheap way of seeing America, with fees from $995 to $8000 and the need to ship over your own bike, hire in the US or buy one and sell it at the end of the…

ENGINE: Air-cooled ohv high cam single BORE/STROKE: 68mm x 96mm CAPACITY: 349cc COMPRESSION: 6.75:1 (standard) POWER: 14-16bhp@5700rpm LUBRICATION: Dry sump, double gear pump IGNITION: Lucas or BTH magneto CARBURETTOR: Amal Monobloc TRANSMISSION: Chain GEARBOX: Four-speed foot change FRAME: Brazed lug chrome-moly tube, single downtube duplex cradle FRONT SUSPENSION: Veloce tele forks, hydraulic damping REAR SUSPENSION: Rigid or swinging arm with twin Woodhead Monroe shocks FRONT BRAKE: 7in sls drum REAR BRAKE: 7in sls drum TYRES: 3.25 x 19 WHEELBASE: 54in GROUND CLEARANCE: 6in SEAT HEIGHT: 28inch (rigid) 30.5in (sprung) DRY WEIGHT: 326/355lb TOP SPEED: 75mph…

NEVILLE CUSHING, FRIEND, mentor and creator of interesting vehicles, has a fondness for Norton’s mainstay-single, the ES2. He has two; a swingarm 1956 model that is standard apart from the exhaust from a speedway bike, upswept ‘cowhorn’ handlebars from when it was hauling a sidecar and a rather rudimentary, yet effective centrestand spring. The second bike, also a 1956, started life as a plunger-frame that Nev got with other spares when he bought the other one, which he took back to hardtail, fitted Ariel girder forks, a stationary engine magneto, alloy mudguards, a modified Japanese fuel tank modified to look a little like the 500T tank, Dunlop saddle and a somewhat diminutive exhaust silencer, which surprisingly works well. The engine plates hold a motor from another deal and are water-jet…

“The engine arrived in three plastic washing-up bowls and showed signs of abuse, neglect, and possibly seizure” THERE’S A SAYING THAT RUNS: NO GOOD DEED goes unpunished – and there’s more than a grain of truth to it. A particular case in point has to be the small Yamaha AS1 twin that has blighted my life for longer than I care to remember. For those that don’t know, the bike was probably the one machine that really put the tuning fork brand on the map. As fast as many of the period needed and easily capable of embarrassing most 250 singles, the AS1 was, arguably, the original pocket rocket. If the bike has one foible it’s the styling which is rather staid yet, perversely, this only adds to the machine’s…

THE IMPACT OF THE ROYAL CORPS OF Signals Motorcycle White Helmets Display Team on British motorcycle competition in the 1950s can’t be overstated. Many members of the team became highly competitive on track, on trials courses and on scrambles mud. But not many had the impact on the world of motorcycling of Percy Tait. Percy was born on October 9, 1929 within a stone’s throw of what would become the site of Triumph’s Meriden factory. He started racing at the age of 18 in 1947 on a 350 Triumph, then progressed through the racing ranks on borrowed Gold Stars, KTT Velocettes, Manx Nortons and AJS 7Rs. Along with most young British men in the 1940s and 50s, Percy found his life and ambitions put on hold by National Service and…

MAX SPEED: 130mph STANDING START ¼ MILE: 12.20sec FUEL CONSUMPTION: BEST 43mpg - WORST 32 ENGINE: DOHC Inline four cylinder, four-stroke. Bore and stroke -57x63. Piston displacement: 747cc. Compression ratio: 9.3-1. 83 BHP at 9500 but sources vary. GEARS: 6. FUEL: 22 litre tank with 4 x Keihin CV 34mm carbs with transistorised ignition system and spark advance. Front Tyre: 110/90V16. Rear tyre: 130/80V18. Brakes: front double discs of 281mm; two piston caliper, and single disc on rear. Dry weight: 481lb. Overall length: 85.6in. SUSPENSION: Telescopic front forks with air assist and three-way rebound with TRAC. Rear is Pro Link Monoshock air unit with preload and three-way damping.…

THE IMMORTAL OGRI was the proto-rocker that a certain kind of Seventies and Eighties rider wished they were. Created by the genius that is Paul Sample, Ogri, along with the hapless Malcolm, the frankly pneumatic Mitzi and Kickstart the dog, was a monthly part of British motorcycling life from 1972 to 2013, published first in Bike magazine and then, for four years, in custom bike publication Back Street Heroes. In 2017 Laughing Gnome books published a special collector’s edition of the strips called Now to Make My Getaway’; The Complete Compendium of Ogri strip cartoons 1972-2013. After the success of this sell-out special edition, the publisher has enlisted the help of lifelong fans to help compile a lighter, slimmer, and considerably more aerodynamic volume: Ogri – Everybody’s Favourite. It features…

BDK magnesium throttles for 2, 3 and 4 cylinder engines IF YOU ADMIRE engineering, these are a thing of beauty. BDK race engineering are fanatical two-stroke experts that practice what they preach, racing anything from TZs, to VFR400s to a Jawa 350 V4 two-stroke in classic events, including Chimay and on road circuits in the Czech republic. They tune, modify and rebuild some of the most incredible machines and every time I pop in I learn something! They also make parts, like racing generators, and now, the lightest throttles I’ve ever seen. A magnesium throttle body, cast and then hand-machined individually for perfect alignment for either two, three or four throttle cables, which are operated by a magnesium throttle tube. It is all cast and then machined in the UK…

BECAUSE THE CLUTCH is mounted inboard of the final drive sprocket, the mechanism is very slender. With an engine arrangement that is already very narrow and compact, it’s unlike almost any other clutch, with 16 tiny springs mounted in a ring behind the slender clutch basket. The clearances between the plates were correspondingly narrow and unlike a more conventional clutch, with a central pushrod, the plates are separated by a bush pushing on one side of the centre so the plates ‘peel’ off. Riding the clutch rather than slipping into neutral could mean those clearances could run out very quickly. If it did you would have to remove a plate on the chaincase and use the Velocette clutch adjusting tool. This is a steel rod with a flat on one…

“Motorcycles are actually usable devices and, in my ever so humble opinion, need to be out there on the road as much as possible” AS I WRITE, THE WIND AND RAIN IS POUNDING on the glass and my garden furniture has been swept into a pile of confusion against the shed; today is not the day to be out riding. Instead, I’ve mostly been idly browsing the interweb and magazines for what I laughably call ‘research’ and the same topic keeps reoccurring – are classic bike prices falling? My first reaction on reading this was ‘who cares if they are?’ But there is a bit more to it than that. classic motorcycles are no different in many ways to anything else ‘collectable’, be it stamps, inkwells or bowler hats (I…

I’M A SUCKER FOR RESCUE PROJECTS, AND they don’t come much better than this amazing restoration story. Casting a casual glance, one might assume this all-American motorcycle to be a concours restored, 1936 Indian Junior Scout. But peer a little closer and you might just notice the modified primary chaincase and the Triumph dry clutch that lurks within; or perhaps the tell-tale Mikuni carburettor or the Indian’s unique tractor-style saddle has raised your appreciative eyebrow. Each has an extraordinary story to tell, as do a sack-load of other hidden mods that await discovery. Hard to believe then, that this gleaming red machine was resurrected from a box of disassociated parts by CBG reader Tony Adams. Prised from the shed of one of Scotland’s best loved punk rockers, the box of…

PRISE YOURSELF OFF the sofa and head to the Huddersfield Auto/Retro Jumble on Sunday, December 29 at The Old Market Building, Brook Street, Huddersfield. The event, situated in the picturesque Victorian market building, consists of up to 130 stalls selling car and motorcycle parts, accessories, tools, motoring literature, brochures, mascots, automobilia, workshop manuals, retro items, etc – in fact, anything concerned with motoring, with the emphasis on the older (and not-so-old) collectors car or motorcycle. There will be free trade papers and free street parking. A good selection of hot and cold refreshments will be available. Doors open at 10am and admission is £2.50, with children under 12 free.…

AMC SINGLES An AJS Model 16 or Matchless G3 should definitely be on your shopping list. A good AMC 350 will come in a lot cheaper than a Velocette, to the tune of thousands of pounds. Originally a rigid, and always fitted with telescopic forks, like Velocette, the AMC rigid framed bikes jumped past the use of plunger frames to rear suspension in 1949. It’ll be easier to live with than a MAC, as it is simple and practical and could be kept going with minimal maintenance. It also, like the Velo, comes in black and gold. BSA B31 The B31 350 single was introduced in 1945, and it beat all BSA’s rivals to the punch, as it was one of the first new models available. It had a rigid…

Engine: Liquid-cooled parallel-twin four-stroke with four valves per cylinder, 270° crankshaft and chain-driven double overhead cams with idler gear Dimensions: 82 x 61.5mm Capacity: 649.57cc Output: 84 bhp/63kW at 11,000rpm (at crankshaft) Torque: 64Nm/6.53kg-m/47.20lb-ft at 9000rpm Compression ratio: 11.5:1 Fuel/ignition system: Electronic fuel injection and engine management system with Mechtronic ECU and 2 x 48mm Jenvey throttle bodies, each with a single Bosch injector Gearbox: Six-speed extractable cassette-type with straight-cut primary gears Clutch: Multi-plate oil-bath clutch with cable operation Chassis: Twin tube seamless steel perimeter chassis with engine as semi-stressed component, and aluminium swingarm mount. Suspension: Front: Fully-adjustable 50mm Marzocchi Roadholder inverted telescopic fork with 150mm wheel travel (200 mm) Rear: Braced cast aluminium swingarm with Marzocchimade Roadholder monoshock and rising rate link with 150mm wheel travel (200 mm) Head…

“Ladies’ skirts grew so short they almost needn’t have bothered, while every form of media was suddenly awash in procreational hormones.” NO ONE IS A GUEST WITHOUT EXPECTATION. AS a five-year guest of the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles (guest curator that is), my job is to pull rabbits out of hats annually for their motorcycle exhibitions. This year, we travel back in time to Italy, exploring ‘motorcycles of the sexual revolution’ (the unofficial subtitle), an era coinciding with the adolescence of baby boomers in the 1960s, and surging through the 1970s. It was the era when recreational sex was legalised and normalised, when gentlemen grew their hair, their sideburns and their moustaches, while the hem of their trouser widened considerably, as did the width of their neckties. Ladies’ skirts…

Classic Bike Guide is giving away five pairs of tickets to the Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic show – that’s £120 worth of tickets to be won! If you fancy a day out on either Saturday 11 or Sunday, January 12, 2020 at Newark showground, surrounded by all things classic bikes and scooters, star guests and live action, you need to get your name in the hat! All you need to do to be in with a chance of winning is head over to: www.newarkclassicbikeshow.com and enter your details online. Entry is completely free, but you must enter before 31/12/2019 to be in with a chance. Terms and conditions apply. The winners will be the first five names selected at random. There are no cash alternatives available. To…

THE INTRODUCTION OF AUTOMATIC oil injection dramatically changed the way the bike-buying public felt about two-strokes. In an instant the laborious and tedious ritual of premix fuel was ancient history and stinkwheels motorcycles became substantially more user friendly. From the early 1960s when Autolube, Injectolube, Posi-Force etc first appeared, right through to 2004 when the last Aprilia RS250s rolled off the production line, a combination of rotary and reciprocating motions have been feeding oil to crankcases, main bearings, inlet tracts and cylinders. Effectively, self-lubricating two-stroke pumps generally require little maintenance other than bleeding post rebuild, perhaps checking the pump stroke or adjustment of their pull cables. That might be your perception of what’s necessary, but what about the pump on that project you’re about to rebuild? Do you know the…

“Some madman actually stole the Jawa – the steering of which was locked, leading to an entirely mental image of hapless idiot riding in endlessly pointless circles” IT TOOK A REMARKABLY LONG TIME, BUT suddenly and at last I find myself using a Triumph twin as daily wheels again. For the first time since 1976/77, in fact. Which is not to say that there hasn’t been a steady stream of twin-pot Trumpets passing through my hands over the years, because there has, inevitably, but very few of them – remarkably few, in fact – inspired me to ride them much, to view them as that go-to motorcycle, rain or shine, long or short journey. Way back in 1976, a summer of truly staggering sunshine, enormous heat and vast drought, a…