Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2020 i Classic Bike Guide

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT Classic Bike Guide, we hope you all had far too much food, cake, drink and fun! Christmas time means many things to us all; personally it’s a reset, a time to reflect and even relax. Hope you managed that too. But the nights are now drawing out (well, ish…) and it’s surprisingly mild for the time of year – so let’s go! Neville, Maria and I decided to go and get dirty one sunny day in between Christmas and New Year, joining friends John and Tom for a bit of messy green-lane action. John had his Velocette MAC, Tom his Rickman-framed T140 that Neville built, Tom’s friends borrowed his Honda XL and I tried to keep up on my Triumph Scrambler. Meanwhile Nev and…

WILTSHIRE-BASED LAMB ENGINEERING has released details of a brand-new Triumph twin-based engine. The pre-unit engine will feature a top end machined from aluminium billet on aftermarket crankcases. The new engines have been fitted with a 270-degree crank with new camshafts all designed by Larry from Lamb Engineering. “It started when a customer came in with an old 1950s Triumph iron engine. I thought it was a really nice-looking engine, but it’s hard to find good cranks, so I made my own with cams to match. I’m planning on mating it to a modern five-speed box from an Enfield,” said Larry. Most of the engine will work not only with new components from Lamb Engineering, but also with standard Triumph parts. Two engines from the first batch have already been sold…

IT’S ALWAYS GREAT TO SEE BIG CROWDS AT the season-opening Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic Show at Newark. It’s got a down-to-earth feel and has become a bit of a ‘date’ to have bike and scooter projects finished. And we got away with the weather again, Saturday being dry but windy and Sunday sunny and mild. The season opener spread out over the large halls, with more autojumble stands both inside and out than we remember for many years. The Newark show might not have the presence of Stafford or Bristol, but it’s still possible to find a surprise or two among the Gold Stars and glitter – bikes you wouldn’t normally see, clubs you wouldn’t normally meet and a glimpse into the burgeoning Scooter sub-culture – as…

Engine: Air-cooled sohc single with bevel drive camshaft Bore x stroke: 62 x 57.8mm Capacity: 174.5cc Compression ratio: 7:1 Power: bhp @ 7500rpm Lubrication system: gear oil pump, wet sump Ignition: battery and coil Carburation: Dell’Orto MB 22 B Drive: Helical gear primary, chain secondary Frame: tubular steel single downtube. Engine as stressed member Brakes: 180mm drum front, 160mm rear Tyres: 2.50 x 18 front, 2.75 x 18 rear Length: 1980mm Seat height: 580mm Dry weight: 108kg Top speed: 68mph…

1972 Imola 200 The 1974 Ducati 750ss is a highly desired superbike, not only due to its small production number, but the fact that the production version is incredibly close to the Imola 200 race-winning machine of 1972. Paul Smart reluctantly agreed to ride for Ducati after being persuaded by his wife, Maggie. He also admits that he was initially unimpressed with the Ducati when he turned up to Modena for practice. Having just come from a race in Atlanta where he had ridden ‘One of the most evil handling motorcycles in the world’, a works Kawasaki, this four-stroke twin seemed like a rather nostalgic machine. Ducati had tried many top racers as they had big dreams for their highly developed engine, but had been turned down as it was…

AS THE YAMAHA ORGANISATION found its feet following tentative exports to the United States of America, it realised that two things substantially aided sales: successful racing results and an active development programme. Racing at the Catalina GP, a tarmac and dirt event, had brought Yamaha a significantly wider audience. Fumio Itoh may only have come sixth in the 1958 race but he’d also beaten some seriously big names and brands at the same time. There’s even a newsreel of the event where the narrator makes light of the strange Japanese Y-A-M-A-H-A and its rider: history would show his cynicism was desperately misplaced. Spurred on by this and other successes, Yamaha had a rolling programme of development which soon saw their two-stroke twins rapidly developing. Initially based around the German Adler…

MOST MODERN COMPANIES ARE set up and run around something called ‘a business model’ and for many it’s a good thing to work from – a plan – but not necessarily if your line of trade is old motorcycles and their spare parts. To succeed in this rather specialised game you’ll be needing an innate knowledge of the subject matter, a decent business brain, the ability to move with market trends and be pretty good at spinning a large number of plates at any one time, whilst answering emails and dealing with customers. Selling old motorcycles isn’t the most straightforward of exercises and it’s unimaginably difficult to predict what will sell and what won’t; therefore a good and varied stock should aid sales. CBG spent a day with David Wise,…

ALUMINIUM PARTS, LIKE ENGINE casings or fork legs are generally polished and lacquered, painted or even just polished. But over time, stone chips, salt and ultraviolet light break down the coating, allowing the finish to get very second-hand. Gradually the finish delaminates more of the protective coating to a point where the casting grows a furry grey overcoat. Painted cases can be cleaned back, filled where necessary and then repainted; all in all a fairly straightforward job. Polished case rectification takes a little more effort. It’s a messy job but we can do it at home. There are several DIY polishing solutions out on the market and it pays to have a look at what’s available. Our friends at Perfect Polishing have supplied a restoration kit for us to use.…

Taken from original glass plate negatives, we see the new for 1958 AMC 250cc singles, the Matchless G2 and AJS Model 14. In the main photograph, we see the two models with Harold and June Lines, both successful grasstrack and scrambles riders as well as both car and motorcycle dealers in the Horsham area, too. The AMC quarter-litre bikes looked good, with modern styling hiding their traditional pre-unit layout well and initial reports were favourable. Motor Cycling was one of the first to test the G2 and could get 72mph from the little machine, while a year or so later there came an off-road version, with a CSR model following in 1962. Parts were from the AMC cupboard; for example the front end was Francis-Barnett, and some said a little…

THE 40TH CAROLE NASH Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show is back this month, and to mark this special milestone organisers are turning the clocks back to the 1970s and 80s with a period birthday celebration. Held over the weekend of February 1/2, at The Royal Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, visitors get first view of many builders’ winter restorations and the chance to scour the vast autojumble for that all-important part. Watch the hammer fall in the Charterhouse auction on items such as a BSA Gold Star, a rare Ariel HS single and a late pre-unit Triumph Thunderbird which has a guide price of around £5-6000. Most importantly you can bathe in the sense of occasion generated by motorcycle club members and private entrants proudly displaying their classic steeds. Visitors,…

IN 1928 A YOUNG MOTORCYCLE DESIGNER called Edward Turner arrived for an interview at the Ariel factory in Birmingham. He was trying to interest big manufacturers in his Turner Special, a long stroke 350cc single with a gear driven overhead camshaft. He tried BSA first, but their response was lukewarm; so he hoped that Ariel would be more receptive. But it wasn’t the Turner Special that piqued Ariel’s interest, but a rough sketch on the back of an opened-out Woodbine packet for a new and very different engine: a 500cc with four pistons arranged in a square formation. After several months of negotiation, Jack Sangster, boss at Ariel, decided to give Turner his big chance. The Ariel Square Four was born in 1929, and it was worlds ahead of the…

I have always liked the look of the early YDS Yamahas, so a YM1 made a lot of sense – the looks of the YDS3, with an engine producing 20% more torque. The YM1 engine is a delight to ride, a lovely induction roar (as long as you wear earplugs), and a willing and very torquey engine, which is only let down by the large gap between 4th and 5th gears and slightly ponderous gear selection. The crankshaft mounted clutch is light to use and is only slightly grabby. The bike handles and stops very well, even with the original rear shock absorbers. Happy at 60mph two-up, up to 70mph cruising speeds are possible solo. The YM1 has so much character and really is the best of all the early…

WAS IT A SIMPLE LOVE OF CLASSIC TRIPLES that inspired Tim Riley?; an expensive set of clip-ons that had been hanging around with nothing to do for several years, or was it childhood memories of his mother’s connection with the old BSA works? Maybe it was all these things, and more. Deep down, Tim wanted a machine that carried the original DNA of the Beeza, but the power, reliability and modern technical additions that would truly make it a bike fit for the 21st century. Also, he intended the bike to be a dual purpose machine; to be a great bike to take on the track, but also to take him on adventures around the continent. Was it possible to produce a motorcycle that could elegantly do both? However, just…

WHEN WE GOT THE BENELLI 125 Enduro running after its shed-dwelling years, it sounded fine. We’d cleaned the tank, the carb, the points, replaced the plug and this saw the bike fire up without battery, thanks to the self-generating system. We were victorious! But it wouldn’t keep running for more than a few minutes at a time. There also seemed very little difference between on and off choke, though it generally started easily, after a few minutes of stalling. I’d cleaned the carb and even found the settings for the float needle valve; so that had to be right, you’d think? So the conversations started, and, dare I say it, the internet searching; the answer must be out there. This all came back to the same answer: crankshaft seals. As…

PONDERING OVER THE PICTURES OF this fabulous John Player Norton, you might correctly label it as a ‘replica of a replica’. But not so obvious is that this special and iconic Seventies racer has been created for everyday use by its proud owner. Subtle clues to this special’s exclusivity are everywhere – chic and timeless classic car mirrors, a bespoke and memorising cockpit that bristles with well-appointed instruments, plus a set of eye-catching and mischievous transfers – all of which add charisma to this race replica’s everyday practicality. Look deeper and you might spot the single 32mm Amal concentric, or the cheese-grater air filter and insane ‘twittering’ peashooters. Even the single Norvil disc brake and Lucas period indicators could hardly be mistaken for track-focused kit. Not honed for track life…

BRITISH MOTORCYCLE RACING legend Colin Seeley has died at the age of 84. Starting out as an apprentice mechanic at 14, he started his own business at 18 and was an AJS dealer at 20. He then began racing, coming sixth in the TT in 1961 on a Matchless G50 powered outfit. As a sidecar racer, Colin, together with his passenger and shop mechanic Wally Rawlings, won many British and world championship races, including the 1964 Dutch TT, on outfits powered by Matchless G50 and BMW engines. Seeley was one of the first riders to eschew the use of a black leather racing suit, deciding instead to wear red; a move which helped raise his profile on the tracks as he was easy to spot in a pack. In 1963…

DO YOU WANT to challenge your classic this summer? The National Road Rally on July 4/5 is a navigational scatter rally organised in conjunction with the ACU and the BMF. The event is not a race and each rider follows their own route, visiting different controls around the country, the only time stipulation is that riders complete their route in the allotted time. The number of controls each rider visits will depend on the award that they are competing for and the location of the controls will be issued to entrants two weeks before the event. Anybody with a full motorcycle licence can enter the National Road Rally, you don’t need a competition licence or any previous competition experience to compete. You can either enter online on the National Road…

SOMETHING OF A fan of Ariels, Jon Chick added a Square Four to his stable 18 months ago. It’s currently in the throes of a little electrical work, with the replacement of the original Dynamo with an Iron Horse 300w alternator imminent. Apart from the alternator to come, a canister oil filter conversion and an Amal concentric carburettor, the Square Four is standard. “I’m sorry to say I don’t know anything about the bike’s history. I bought it from a chap in Newcastle, who had never started it, and he had bought it from someone who had spent a lot of money on it, but whether it ran or not I’ll never know. I’m fitting the alternator as the dynamo isn’t really up to running lights. The alternator kit also…

“Ducati claimed 9hp at 9000rpm for Taglioni’s masterpiece, and a top speed of over 80mph” TIMES CHANGE, AND TODAY THE Ducati Americano looks about as kitsch as a pizza ashtray. But when this bike rolled out of the Bologna factory gates in 1958, it turned heads for all the right reasons. With its sweptback cowhorn bars and a saddle festooned with chrome stars, the Americano was taking Ducati Meccanica from the racetrack to the good old US of A. The story behind Ducati’s exotic overhead cam singles started in 1954 when Fabio Taglioni walked into his new office at No3, Via Antonio Cavaleri, Ducati. His task: to design a motorcycle that would win races. Up to that time the factory used converted road bikes for the classic Italian long distance…

I MAY BE OLDER, BUT I’M CERTAINLY NOT wiser. Luckily-enough to go on the International launch of the Triumph Scrambler 1200 in Portugal, I fell for it hook, line and sinker – something a journo should never be doing. But the looks, the power and the feel of this naked adventure bike had me under its spell, especially after a day riding on road and a whole day riding off-road, with proper off-road tyres. I could imagine one sitting at home; a big statement for someone whose job it has been to test most new bikes from the last decade. And so it came that I was custodian of one from April through to this January. When I first saw it I was still taken by it and together we…