Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Classic Bike Guide

FROM ALL AT Classic Bike Guide, WE hope you are all keeping as well as can be expected, and still smiling. Despite the world trying its best, we’re still going, and when fixing, building, cleaning, writing about or riding a bike, the situation that affects us all seems so very far away. I truly hope all our readers haven’t suffered and are adapting to this new environment. Everything we know has been affected this year. Speaking to James Hewing of the National Motorcycle Museum earlier, he revealed how they are starting a campaign to help the museum survive, as it is heavily dependent on its sister businesses, which are in the hard-hit hospitality industry. Read more about it on how you can help on page 20. While some outside shows…

THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MUSEUM has launched an urgent appeal to ensure the museum can reopen without having to sell some of the collection. You can help out... and could end up owning one of three spotless British classics into the bargain. The National Motorcycle Museum receives no external funding, relying partly on visitors’ support, but mainly on the income from the museum’s conference business and two sister hotels. With the hospitality and leisure sector one of the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is uncertainty about when these businesses, the National Conference Centre, Manor Hotel Meriden and Windmill Village Hotel Coventry, will be able to reopen fully, let alone trade profitably. Museum director James Hewing said: “Without the income from our three sister businesses, there is little likelihood of…

JUMBLES ARE BACK in Sussex and Kent. The first major jumble held since the Covid-19 lockdown hit was held in early July. Further jumbles are scheduled for September and October. Elk Promotions held its Summer Classic Bikejumble at Ardingly in line with government guidelines, with well over 100 all-motorcycle autojumble stalls. To make the event as safe as possible for all concerned measures taken included changes to the site plans to deal with one-way traffic and social distancing. Sadly, there were cutbacks on the show element in July to comply with regulations. The July event was held over a weekend instead of the usual one-day event to manage social distancing more effectively. As well as hand sanitiser available across the site and PPE equipment available at the gate, all stallholders…

AS WE EMERGE blinking into the sunlight, shows and jumbles are starting to reappear on the calendar. The Normous Newark Autojumble is slated to return on September 20, Kempton Park on September 12, and Stratford on September 6. While the EuroJumble at Netley has been cancelled for this year, The Classic Mechanics Show at Stafford is still in the diary for October 10-11. Visit www.classicbikeshows.com for further details. Classic Shows has rescheduled a number of its classic motorcycle and car events, including: Notts Classic Car & Motorcycle Show, Thoresby Park, Ollerton August 30-31. Cheshire Classic Car & Motorcycle Show, Capesthorne Hall, Macclesfield August 30. North Wales Classic Car & Motorcycle Show, Bodrhyddan Hall, Clwyd, September 6. Festival of 1000 Classic Cars & NW Classic Bike Show, Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas September…

OUR WORLD of old bikes mainly evolves around engines. Just as well, as the brakes on many of our favourite machines are woeful; the suspension, if we have any, is an afterthought; and the electrics are, well, minimal. But what about tyres? So many bikes that have been beautifully restored or wonderfully original are on scarily-old tyres, which if asked upon to brake or steer quickly, will stick two fingers up and throw you and your beloved machine on the floor. Yet put an old bike onto modern looking tyres and the purists have a field day – so what to do? My 1989 BMW R100RT came wearing old Continentals that were so poor the parts that were not cracked felt so hard I guessed they were pre-pneumatic, so had…

ENGINE: 844/978cc air-cooled four-stroke 90 degree V-twin COMPRESSION RATIO: 9.5:1/10.2:1 CARB: 36/40mm Dell’Orto POWER: 80bhp@7,500rpm TRANSMISSION: five-speed gearbox/ twinplate clutch, shaft drive FRAME: Tubular steel spine frame with removeable bottom rails. SUSPENSION: 36/38/40mm front forks, swinging rear fork with twin shock absorbers BRAKES: 300mm Brembo front discs, one linked to a 242mm disc at the rear WHEELS/ TYRES: 3.50 x 18 front and 4.10 x 18 rear (MkIV 16in front wheel ELECTRICS: 12V, points ignition (MkI/II DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase 55in (1398mm) Seat Height 30in (762mm), Weight 433lb (196kg)…

The range ran 1969 to 1972 thereby offering four model years and given that both the 250 and 350 were volume market machines there’s a lot to choose from even now. The only caveat here would be the T250II high pipe model; if you have your heart set on one of these ensure it has those unique exhausts. 1970 – 1972 offers three model years with generally two colour options per market. There really is no significant differences between the T250s other than aesthetics and peripheral fittings such as passenger grab rails and even these may differ country to country. The TT250 is rare bird in the UK and it’s worth knowing that it’s possible to produce a ‘reproduction version’ via panels from a GT250. Such hybrids aren’t automatically easy…

If you needed reassurance as to the reliability of the design, know this – in 1972 Jim Eastmure entered a stock T350 in the Castrol Six Hour Production Race at Amaroo Park in the 500 class, taking on not only Kawasaki H1 500s but also the all-new H2 750, RD350 and TX750s from Yamaha, Ducati GT750s, Honda CB750/4s etc. After two-and-a-half hours Eastmure was in the lead and at the end of six gruelling hours he’d won the race outright, along with the 500 category… or thought he had! The 315cc stroker twin had embarrassed many of the teams who’d enjoyed quasi-official factory support and company pride was at stake. Complaints formally logged, the scrutineers were called in. Jim Eastmure was stripped of his win because the T350’s horn had…

Where do we start? The evocative name that carries a surcharge. After struggling to re-create their pre-Second World War success, Norton became an AMC company from 1953, and moved from its Birmingham base to the London AMC works in 1963 as part of the parent company’s struggle to stay afloat. It built a wide range of machines including sidevalve sloggers, ohc singles and ohv twins. Famously better handling than the Triumph competition, although many riders prefer the Triumph’s perky power delivery: and always more expensive than BSA, AJS or Matchless equivalents. Following the AMC crash of 1966, the new Norton Villiers concern concentrated on twins, launching the Commando in 1967 and relying on variants on this theme until production ceased in 1977. A revived successor company produced several hundred twin-rotor,…

Short levers are no good – get long ones You cannot get a tubeless tyre to seat without a compressor – you can with a tubed tyre Always remember new valves, tubes and rim tape – don’t be so tight! Never patch an inner tube Use the best quality tyres and tubes you can Take your time – if it’s fighting you, what have or haven’t you done? Keep an eye on the markings – most tyre have a direction arrow so fit them the right way You need to hear two pops, one each side, when blowing up the tyre to seat it on the bead Use this time to check spokes, rims, brakes, wheel bearings and parts you can’t see when the wheel is fitted. Fit the correct…

FANTIC KEV ISN’T NICKNAMED FANTIC KEV FOR nothing. Look at the faded period-perfect 1970s Polaroid shot of him – he’s seated on one of the legendary super ’peds of the day, a purple Super T Fantic GT 50cc, outside Digby Motors of South Harrow, North West London. At 16, he had already owned a red Fantic GT, and 40 years on, Fantics still figure in Kevin Powell’s life. “I’d first seen a Fantic Chopper when I was 14 back in 1974, in a scrapyard. It had been crashed, but I was struck by the odd shape of the motor and fuel tank, and I was amazed that there was even a 50cc chopper in existence! “I then owned other Fantics, but first bought a Chopper in December 2006. It was…

BUILDING A NORTON-BASED special or restoring a bike with a bent frame? Andover Norton has revealed that it has commissioned a batch of brand-new Norton Wideline Featherbed frames for road or racing use. The new frames are replicas of the road-going 1957 Norton Wideline product. They were manufactured by a long-established motorcycle frame maker based near to Andover Norton’s Hampshire site. The frames contain all the original brackets for customers wishing to produce a road bike, although special builders may prefer to remove some. The frames have now passed inspection and are supplied unpainted and made from 2mm (14swg) ERW seamed tube with MIG welds. The frames cost £1495 plus Vat and can be ordered from andover-norton.co.uk…

SPARES SPECIALIST DRAGANFLY is regularly adding hard-to-find parts to its catalogue. The latest addition is taper roller head race bearing set for small BSA, Triumph and Ariel singles. The set, which matches BSA and Triumph part number 65-5319TR, Ariel Colt part number 12755-54, replaces those used on top of all BSA Bantams, pre-unit C group singles, 1946-48 B series pre-units, the Ariel Colt and 1966-69 T20B Triumphs and the bottoms on the plain fork yokes where there is no lip at the bottom. Made exclusively for Draganfly Motorcycles in the UK, the bearings cost £38.29 (£31.91 excl VAT) each. Visit: www.draganfly.co.uk…

Experts on the escorts The motorcycles on page 61 of your July issue are not Welsh registered, but London i.e. Met. On plates of this era the last two letters, not the first two, indicate the relevant licensing authority. The motorcycles are CYM reg. CY seems to have been taken to indicate Swansea, but actually it’s YM that’s relevant, a London reg from 1925-1974. This is in fact a photo from the early days of the Special Escort Group (SEG). It is from 1965 and shows the SEG rehearsing before they travel to the British Show, held in Amsterdam in May, and attended by Princess Margaret. The senior officer on the left is Commander Fleming. The shot on page 58, of the Victoria Memorial (‘the Wedding cake’) also shows the…

THINGS TO LOOK out for on all Le Mans models include a clutch that drags or jumps under gear changes. If it does, there’s a possibility the splines are worn. Top end noise isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With the heads exposed and quite wide clearances a bit of noise is to be expected. If it doesn’t it could be a previous owner had adjusted them too tightly. If you see oil coming out the hole at the bottom of the clutch casing, the chances are there’s a failing seal in there, and you’ll have to take the engine out to sort it, though the removable bottom frame rails will make this easier. If the universal joint on the drive shaft clunks, it’s going to need replacing. Useful modifications to…

Being well engineered there are no inherent problems with the any of the models and most issues are largely likely to be attributable to lack of maintenance and/or owner abuse. One strange quirk of the design is that the oil pump drives off the back of the clutch. As the drive for the tacho then comes off the oil pump if the needle of the former doesn’t move, check the flow of oil in the lines to ensure the pump is working. These pre-moulded devices carry swaged-in banjos at either end which can work loose over time allowing air into the junction. Fortunately it’s possible to repair a joint with a low viscosity superglue and a suitable polyolefin primer. All Suzuki strokers feature check valves in their oil lines that…

Tom Herron leads Barry Sheene at Brands Hatch, in 1979. It was the Transatlantic trophy races and while the US team was without Pat Hennen and Kenny Roberts, the British team didn’t have it all their own way. Sheene may be in behind Pat in the photograph of the first race, taken by Nick Nicholls, but he would soon end up in front, and by the end would have chased down leader American Mike Baldwin. The second race saw a massive crash for Herron, but while hurting badly, lined up for the third race of the day, where he managed an heroic second place – in a helmet he borrowed from Barry! Tom Herron showed tremendous skill and promise as a rider and 1979 had started well with a factory…

Built by Phelon and Moore in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, Panther motorcycles inspire huge loyalty in their owners and seem to spur them on to incredible feats. Post-war, as well as the galaxy-spanning big slopers which featured forward thinking such as engines as stressed members and wet sumps, P&M built a range of lighter four-stroke singles and a range of two-stroke lightweights powered by the ubiquitous Villiers engines and featuring Earles forks. They also imported the Terrot scooter in a vain tilt at the scooter market. Panthers have little focus on performance but great charm and pull well. An active and completely eccentric owners’ club adds to the fun of ownership. Spares okay and owners helpful.…

A balancing jig costs from around £50 and is just a shaft held in a set of bearings with some cones to allow different wheels to fit. Once fitted, allow the wheel to self-balance a few times, marking with chalk TDC each time; they should be very similar. The more modern and good quality the wheels and tyres, the less weight should be needed. It’s a guessing game at first, clean the wheel with alchohol or brake cleaner before you fit the sticky pads – you don’t want the weights flicking off. Check again once fitted.…

“‘Everybody’ knows that Matchless 350 lightweight singles (ahem) are rubbish compared to their noble 500 brethren – and even the 350 heavyweights … but in fact, that’s simply not the case.” FAMOUS LAST WORDS Is it time to sing the praises of some modest machinery? Welcome to the age of the middleweight… MYTHS ARE WONDERFUL THINGS. WE ALL know this – and I bet we all know lots of myths, too, all too often accepting them as being actual facts rather than simple opinions with an egotism problem. One of the many classic myths I’ve never really subscribed to has been the one which insists that middleweight motorcycles are somehow rubbish, fit only for day-to-day hacking when new and fit for not much in this age of reverence for all…

ENGINE: Air-cooled single cylinder, unit construction, flat piston, 3 port two-stroke BORE X STROKE: 55mm x 52mm DISPLACEMENT: 123.48cc COMPRESSION RATIO: 9.3:1 LUBRIFICATION: 5% two-stroke mix, 1.5 litres of SAE30 oil IGNITION: 6v battery and coil , flywheel magneto, Marelli CW240L spark plug FUEL SYSTEM: Dell’Orto VHB 25 BS carburettor , fuel capacity 6.5 litres including reserve ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 6V-9Ah battery, 60W-6V dynamo, Aprilia 130mm headlight TRANSMISSION: five-speed unit gearbox , primary gears and chain, front sprocket 13 teeth, rear 46, 1:3.54 ratio FRAME: duplex cradle frame in steel CLUTCH: multiple disc in an oil bath SUSPENSION: Front telescopic forks with 32mm tubes in Durocrom, rear twin shocks with five-way adjustment lever BRAKES: Front 123mm drum, rear 140mm drum WHEELS: Light alloy Borrani rims, front 1x16”, rear 3.00x16” TYRES: Front…

A SPECIAL SHORT RACING season has been created for later this summer at Scarborough’s Oliver’s Mount circuit to give fans a burst of post-lockdown action. The two three-day events at the only real road circuit in mainland Britain have been created in conjunction with 243 Road Racing Association and are set for August and September. The Barry Sheene Classic, which was due to take place in July, has now been rescheduled to August 14-16, while the hugely popular Gold Cup will return and has been extended to a three-day meeting to run from September 11-13. Each meeting will have three days of road racing action, practice and qualifying on Friday, with two full days of racing on Saturday and Sunday. Oliver’s Mount Racing director Eddie Roberts said: “I’m delighted to…

MZ BY MICK WALKER WRITING ABOUT A motorcycle that has a wide reach, while at the same time has a passionate and dedicated following, is a minefield for the author. It’s even trickier when most of the information available is in a foreign language and shrouded in a fog of 1960s and 70s propaganda and state secrecy. Mick Walker’s book on the MZ makes a fair fist of telling the story of the East German brand in an entertaining and informative fashion. At 140 pages it’s not a massive tome, but still manages to cover the whole story and remain readable, eschewing minute technical detail for a broad-brush approach. We get a decent outline of the MZ company’s origins as DKW and their vastly important advance of two-stroke technology. There’s…

APART FROM THE looks, you’ll get pretty much the same riding experience from the saddle on any of the I, II or III models, so why not look at a MkIII? This low miles, white MkIII is for sale at Speed Motorcycles in Exeter. For sale on a Trade/Part Ex basis, the Guzzi will set you back £5999 – about £10,000 less than a restored MkI. It’s more comfortable that the MkI or II, and possibly a little less brutal to ride. The seat is slightly softer, while the footpegs have been mounted on long alloy brackets that seem to be set a little lower than the originals. Certainly, my knees didn’t protest as much. It had the clip-ons set slightly higher, which helped too. On the MkIII the centrestand…

There’s precious little reason not to home a T250/350 now if you’re keen to get into earlier Japanese strokers. Incomplete project bikes are always likely to be the proverbial millstone so avoid unless you can easily source the missing parts; a complete non-runner is arguably a much better bet. That said if you have the cash, most of what you might need is out there to varying degrees. A complete paint kit of oil and fuel tank plus side panel, painted and with badges is yours for £800 should you wish. Enterprising individuals have sourced oil pump rebuild kits, a Japanese firm have remade the pistons and rings along with con rod kits. eBay UK currently seems to be littered with NOS pistons and rings and its American cousin can…

Every example available will now be approaching, or over, half a century old – let that sink in a moment. Some pattern points are simply horrendous quality, OEM NOS examples can sell for £40 for one set and pair of genuine condensers will take £30 out of your wallet. Therefore, if the generator windings are dead or dying, a modern aftermarket system is arguably a better bet than a rewind in the long term, especially when you factor in the new solid state voltage regulator/rectifier that comes with the kit. A fork service with modern oil never goes amiss and any pattern rear shock absorbers you buy now are likely to be substantially better than what is already on the bike. A new pair of tyres will transform the bike’s…