Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2021 i Classic Bike Guide

WHEN ROYAL ENFIELD LAUNCHED THEIR 650 twins in 2018, it followed years of rumour and speculation. The end of 2020 saw a lower key, but potentially more significant launch of their latest model in world markets, the 350 Meteor. For Enfield in India the 350 segment is much more important than the 650 with smaller models outselling the 650 by a considerable margin. The European unveiling of the Meteor came a few months after the model’s launch in India, and unlike previous Enfields, the Meteor you can buy in the UK will be the same as the Meteor available in India and elsewhere. It will, ultimately, replace the 350 in India, and in Europe will replace the 500 EFE engined models. And the new 350 is a modern, if straightforward…

BRITAIN’S PETER WILLIAMS ACCLAIMED as the finest GP racer / engineer of modern times, passed away quietly in his sleep just before Christmas, after a long illness. ‘Pee Jay’, as he was known after his initials PJW, was 81 years old. Peter will be revered for his unique combined talents as an innovative designer and a top level road racer, as well as a gregarious, affable individual who made friends easily. Yet at various times in his career, whether out of patriotism, loyalty or misfortune, Williams turned down the chance to race for the works Suzuki GP team, forfeited a season-long GP ride with the Honda factory and declined an offer to work as a designer for Yamaha. Instead, save for a 250cc race at Daytona in 1967 on a…

Lee Chambers and Garth Brookes started this restoration only a few months before the big lockdown, and were lucky to get it completed half way through April, just as the UK was hitting the worst cases of Coronavirus. They worked quickly and efficiently, but were lucky to get it completed. In the end, Garth was only short of a couple of brackets for the indicators, but I believe he will have to wait till the breakers reopen to do the final touches. I started by sitting at my computer and doing the essential research for the Honda CB900F, so later I will be able to give you a genuine detailed rider’s report from back in 1981. However, one has to be cautious –indeed very cautious – because the internet can…

Acquiring new abilities can be something of a buzz for us classics fans. It doesn’t matter what fresh competences you’ve mastered; each one will become a vital tool in our skillset. Eventually, if you have an inventive or curious mind, you find yourself actively pondering upon tasks that previously you’d have farmed out and paid for. There’s only a few of us who can paint bike parts really well. Most can master a rattle can to sort out a frame tube etc. but when it comes the really serious/pretty stuff many tend to pass the job on to an expert, and rightly so. However, you can save yourself a huge amount of unnecessary expense by preparing the items to be painted by simply cleaning them up – unless they are…

Whilst the new – to me – Enfield Model G was on the bench having some new tyres and the ignition timing looked at (see last month) I thought it provident to take a look at the carb. The remote float bowl carburettor worked okay, at least the bike ran, but it was a bit leaky and all part of that ‘getting to know your new toy’ process. The Amal 276 flange-fitting carb was removed and stripped; how to do this is just a bit of basic fitting and reading up of the relevant documentation and I ended up with a small pile of bits and a carb body. All the component parts were cleaned, some being put through the ultrasonic cleaner (a lovely piece of kit and easily available…

■ Trials and tribulations, Cardiff – Leicester – Cardiff Trial 1928 This wonderful image shows a rather bleak picture of the 1928 Cardiff – Leicester – Cardiff trial. It was published in The Motorcycle and shows E W Spencer leading W R Latchem, both on 348cc Douglas motorcycles, with their inline, parallel-twin engines. Bushcombe Hill where this photo was taken, is on the western side of the Cotswolds and the riders would have been on their way towards Leicester, so were barely one quarter of the way through this hefty trial. I am liking the face shield of Mr Spencer – not only did it improve his vision, but he could go into a shop with that on!…

PERRY SAYS: “MY earliest memories of motorcycles are when as a young boy, four or five years old, my grandfather James Reginald Williams would occasionally pick me up from primary school and ride the short distance home with me sat on the tank. “In years to come he moved into our house and lived on the ground floor whilst we lived above. I spent hours with my grandfather whilst he told stories about far-off travels to Africa, The Russian convoys, Ceylon and the Far East. These were a source of great wonder to me and during those hours he used to tinker with motorbikes, stripping them down and rebuilding them in his front room as he didn’t have a workshop! “I would roll him cigarettes and he would reward me…

I’ve recently read your December edition of Classic Bike Guide. I’ve only been reading your magazine for around six months, my father had a subscription and would pass copies on to me after he had read them. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading them too. I was really taken by, and incredibly jealous of, the ‘New to classics’ article. It was a lovely article to read the thoughts and feelings, anticipation and apprehension. And the scary realisation that the controls all feel on the wrong side! As a child I avidly watched my father buy old classics, a Triumph T120 and an Ariel Leader, both of these bikes were fully stripped down and rebuilt. The Triumph when finished also had an Aero Steamliner fairing fitted to it, just as my dad had…

Five decades ago Nortons JPN tiny Thruxton- based race shop not only established the prototype of the modern fully-sponsored road racing team, it also created a race-winning bike that was the most sophisticated and avantgarde motorcycle in its chassis design that the world had yet seen. Even by today’s standard’s the JPN Monocoque would be a true leading edge design, yet in echoing Britain’s newly-established early-1970s Formula 1 supremacy via firms like Lotus, Cooper, Brabham, BRM and Lola, the Norton was a two-wheeled anachronism thanks to its semi-archaic air-cooled pushrod-twin motor, housed in this mould-breaking frame. Although just three such motorcycles were ever built (plus a fourth prototype chassis), all of which competed for just a single race season in 1973, its unlikely success against much more powerful Japanese two-stroke…

More than a decade of terrible, out-of- touch upper management, self-defeating unions and tired product ranges lead to Triumph’s demise. But in 1983, as the shutters clattered down, its saviour came in a most unexpected guise. To this day, little is known about the reason successful, self-made businessman, John Bloor bought the Triumph Engineering name and rights from the receivers, when he was surely just looking at buying the factory land to do what he was best known for – building houses. But I for one, am truly glad. The model range was first seen in 1991 and was cleverly thought out. The names sounded familiar, but it was not the continuation some thought would come. The Trophy was for touring, the Daytona for sports and the naked Trident –…

THE STORY OF HOW , IN 1946, TRIUMPH TURNED a Lancaster bomber generator engine into a Manx GP winning racer is often told, and the Triumph Grand Prix is justly famous. There was, however, another manufacturer that raided their wartime stores for a motor. And, unlike the Triumph, which was essentially a prewar twin with a lightweight alloy barrel and head, the Douglas “Mark” series not only had a new engine, but a radical new frame and suspension system too. Douglas had mostly built inline flat twins prewar, with the exception of a shaft-drive transverse flat twin, named the Endeavour and a more conventional lightweight two-stroke. During the war they stopped making motorcycles despite having built 25,000 for the military during the First World War, and made other things for…

NEW GUZZI GETS POWER BOOST MOTO GUZZI HAVE launched a new version of the popular V7 twin retro with a beefed-up 850cc engine. The new V7 arrives more than 50 years after the launch of the first transverse V-twin unit bearing the name. Two versions of the new V7 are available, the V7 Stone, which Moto Guzzi describe as “minimalistic” and the V7 Special, with “classic” lines. The new bike gets a modified version of the 850cc engine introduced on the V85 TT adventure bike. Responding to criticism from owners that the V7 750 engine lacked top end pep, it has 25% more maximum power, going from the previous 52hp at 6200rpm to the current 65hp at 6800rpm. Maximum torque has also increased significantly. The larger engine features fatter exhaust…

The name Trident will flicker two memories, depending on your age. Either ‘Slippery Sam’ which took five consecutive Isle of Man Production TT wins from 1971-75, or the muscular 750/900cc Trident that was launched in 1990. One was a dominant production race bike, the other a heavyweight brute. They both use a triple-cylinder engine, as does the all-new Trident for 2021, but that’s where similarities end. The new 2021 Trident is powered by a 660cc triple and aimed at experienced and new riders alike, unlike its predecessors. THE ENGINE. The capacity of the triple engine is 660cc, therefore some may assume it’s an electronically de-tuned Street Triple S, but that’s not so. It is based on the older 660 unit and is furnished with 67 new components. This obviously means…

“He’s also quick to rebuke the Italian factory for creating ‘some horrendous looking models that tick the downright ugly box’!” I feel privileged to count custom builder and restorer Tony Adams as a good friend. He’s an interesting chap and I’ve been fortunate to pen features about several of his Guzzi and Indian projects in the past – most recently his amazing resurrection of a fabulous Indian Junior Scout (CBG January), an extremely rare machine that was sympathetically restored from a collection of disassociated parts. I concluded that story with a promise to report back on whatever creation Tony might come up with next – and here it is – a lovely Guzzi Bobber special that cocks its yellow hat to tradition. Tony would openly admit to being a member…

With a shiny new toy in the workshop in the guise of my BMW R100S, as well as a new workshop, the Norton again found itself forgotten. Although I realise I am very lucky in having plenty of room, moving workshop was much, much more work than I’d anticipated and also led to reworking the other shed. Now I have a clean workshop to build and strip the bikes and engines, with all the welding, grinding, spraying and blasting in the dirty shed. But with the cylinder head fresh from having the rocker box stud locations fixed, I looked at getting the engine together – primarily so that things wouldn’t get lost! But engines don’t like balancing on a bench and in my new pursuit of being more professional, I…