Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i Classic Bike Guide

THE NATIONAL MOTORCYCLE Museum is getting ready to open its doors after 14 months in lockdown. “If everything goes to plan, we will reopen for three days a week at first, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, potentially from May 21. Then shortly after restrictions are completely lifted, we will reopen fully as soon after June 21 as possible.” James Hewing, Museum Director, says the complex will be ready to open its doors on Friday, May 21, a few days after the provisional date for the reopening of indoor venues, provided the Government is able to stick to the dates. “If everything goes to plan, we will reopen for three days a week at first, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, potentially from May 21. Then shortly after restrictions are completely lifted,…

SERVICE COSTS: Doing a home service on a CB350 isn’t beyond the average home mechanic, though a set of JIS screwdrivers will come in handy if you don’t want to butcher your screw heads. You might want to change the casing screws for stainless allen bolts (around £20). Oil filters are £7.99, air filters are cleanable, the sump takes two litres of oil (£15-20) and spark plugs are £4 each. Brisk plugs from F2 Motorcycles are worth considering. A new chain and sprocket kit is £40 from M+P, while a decent set of Dunlop K82 tyres will cost £170. You can get cheaper tyres; it all depends on how much your skin is worth. OWNERS’ CLUBS Honda Owners’ Club www.hoc.org.uk The Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club www.vjmc.com SPECIALISTS: David Silver Spares…

‘HA-KIDS, EH? DON’T KNOW they’re born’. Those often-ridiculed rug rats, wage-eaters, spoiled brats, call them what you will – but one of them, a young, vociferous lad by the name of George Brough, brought us and generations before us a range of motorcycles the likes of which we hadn’t seen, and never will see again. The Brough Superior was born from a young man’s enthusiasm – and a little egotism – to break away from the well-made and respected bikes and then motorcycles that his father, engineer William Brough was making in Nottingham. This was a momentous time, with industrial advances the likes no one had seen before. Coal was powering most moving machines and an intelligent engineer like William not only built his own house, but saw the revolution…

Gutted. Last month I revived the dynamo with new bearings, brushes and a thorough clean. But the dynamo parts I hadn’t got are proving elusive – the ‘specialists’ don’t have them, I don’t trust anyone on eBay anymore and there are no autojumbles! It’s just the Bakelite end, one long, thin bolt to hold it all together and the expanding ring you tighten up to cover the brushes. I’ve a number of someone Neville knows, so I’ll give them a ring when we’re allowed out again. Elsewhere, I thought I’d start at the front and work backwards. I’d spent some time on the BMW and was losing track of what to do on the Norton. And as I was painting, I thought the mudguard and stays would be perfect. Except,…

■ Past and present board track races Nowadays beach races are extremely popular in the USA and Europe, but board track racing is also increasingly popular in Europe. Unfortunately, there are few real board track courses left, in Germany there is still a real wooden track in Bielefeld, near Hannover. On the Montlhery circuit, just below Paris and of course at Brooklands in England, historical races are more often organised. There are also tracks where cycling laps are normally held, which are suitable as a board track circuit. It was therefore the European cycling tracks that modelled the board tracks in America, early last century. Unfortunately, you rarely see beautiful wooden oval tracks anymore, most of them are asphalt or concrete. However, the atmosphere is no less and the enthusiasm…

CLASSIC RIDERS WILL need to pick their petrol carefully from September. E10 petrol containing up to 10% ethanol will become the standard fuel available at petrol stations across the UK. The increased volume of ethanol could cause issues for classic riders. Ethanol attracts water, causing tanks to rust internally and rot out glass fibre and distort plastic tanks, damaging seals and destroying fuel pipes. To reduce the risk of damage, riders can use a range of fuel additives or move to E5 ‘super’ blends (Super unleaded), which will remain available at many filling stations but are more expensive. Not all super type petrols are ethanol-free and some use extra ethanol to increase their octane and RON ratings, so pick your fuel carefully. Esso Synergy Supreme petrol is ethanol-free in most…

IN THE EARLY 1970S, WITH THE BILL FOR insurance on a 250 crushing your average young rider’s spirit and apprentice wage packet, the sporty Japanese 200 was just the thing. They were cheaper to buy and run, could be coaxed into long journeys, were moderately fast and could be thrown about. Your biggest decision was which motorcycle brand to go for. This kind of youthful tribalism was very important at the time, almost as much as which football team you supported or who was your favourite Pans Person (Dee Dee, since you ask). Suzuki, with everybody’s hero Barry Sheene on their team, had an advantage in the street cred stakes. Until he left for Yamaha and you had to sell your Suzuki and buy a Yamaha and branded leathers. YAMAHA’S…

MOST MEN, WOMEN AND THEIR dogs know the rejuvenated Triumph brand has a parallel twin motorcycle styled and named after the ubiquitous Bonneville. Starting life at the Meriden factory, the bike that entered production in 1959 is not only the epitome of the British twin but, as far as many folk are concerned, was also the bike that dragged Triumph, kicking and screaming, from the Seventies into the Eighties. That bike not only saw the end of the Meriden concern, but it was also a Bonneville that has helped to support John Bloor’s Hinckley Triumph revival (though ironically he didn’t want a Bonneville at first) and, for 2021, there’s a new range. The first Hinckley Bonneville was launched in 2001, 11 years after the Hinckley Triumph was born, as a…

I should be working on other things. The Norton, the Hondas, my other BMW; the house, for heaven’s sake. But the ‘new’ R100S fills my head with thoughts of long journeys, fulfilling its original brief; to take its pilot, passenger and luggage far and away, in style, speed and safety. FAIL As I said last month, the plan was always to hear it run first, to see if there was anything glaringly wrong. But the carbs were seized solid and the electrics, which largely live under the tunnel of the fuel tank, seem to have attracted moisture (the tank still had petrol in after 27 years standing) and are riddled with rust. Needless to say, regardless of fiddling and even with rebuilt carbs, nothing was alive. Disappointed in my failure,…

A NICE, RIDEABLE-CONDITION, BSA B44 TURNED up at the workshop with some running problems. It started and ran okay until hot when it lost its spark; after the usual carb/ignition and charging investigations and work, it ran much better but was still a pig when hot. As the usual suspects – coil, points and ignition wiring had all been replaced (the original wiring circuit was in the expected, crackly insulation state for something of that age) some further looking was needed. Eventually, the remaining problem seemed to come down to a soldered dry joint in the earth wire, seemingly held together more by the heatshrink over it than the actual solder. I made a comment recently about not wanting to get involved in the ‘which type of connector is best’…

THE DISTINGUISHED SOUND OF A HIGH performance inlet-over-exhaust engine rumbles in the ears, the unmistakable smell of old oil and gasoline is in the air. The sharp pulses from the exhausts stir the sand, the motorcycle shaking, and the rider dressed in period clothing twists the throttle and as a free galloping mechanical horse, he takes off. It is Jurgen who rides his old Harley-Davidson JD racer full throttle on the beach; with goose bumps on our arms we fully enjoy the visual and aural feel of yesteryear. Priceless Jurgen’s board tracker got a lot of attention during the Normandy Beach Race last year and spurred on by this machine and its performance, we pay a visit to the sympathetic Belgian at his home, to learn more about his racer.…

APPEARANCES ARE IMPORTANT, and so is sticking to the road. Modern retro owners can add all kinds of goodies to give their bikes a heritage look. Now Dunlop have launched a range of new tyres that follow the lines of the classic TT100 tyre using modern compounds and sizes. The TT100GP Radial suits the modern Triumph twins particularly well but also the likes of the BMW R9T, Kawasaki Z900RS and Yamaha XSR. The Dunlop TT100GP range comprises two front and four rear sizes. It can be fitted to more than 60 different motorcycle models from 16 different manufacturers. The tyre is also proving popular with custom builders. The tyre’s tread pattern draws inspiration from Dunlop’s heritage at the Isle of Man TT. The T100 name was coined when Malcolm Uphill…

A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, A malfunctioning TV-monitor caused a disaster for the TOP Mountain Crosspoint motorcycle museum, in Austria. Many enthusiasts, including myself, had never heard of the museum; but it boasted almost 300 unique exhibitions. Tragically, the first time this amazing place was seen by many was when it was ablaze, and unfortunately was almost completely destroyed: the exhibits in the main hall were all irretrievably lost; 15 years of passionate work destroyed. Only the exhibits of the special exhibition “Indian Motorcycles” on the ground floor could be saved. “I had tears in my eyes and the hairs on my arms stood up. Devastating news, one of Europe’s most beautiful museums was on fire, I was shocked, just like the rest of the world. A big loss for…

WE IN THE UK NEVER REALLY took the Honda 350 twin to our bosom, yet as the years pass once-unfashionable motorcycles sometimes get a new lease of life. Today these twins are enjoying something of a renaissance. This early lack of recognition had a lot to do with Britain’s L-plate laws. If you were young and over-enthusiastic, without a full licence, then you would plump for a 250 from one of the big four Japanese manufacturers. Only Honda would sell you a 250cc four-stroke and it would be left behind in a cloud of blue two-stroke smoke, until the rival’s plugs fouled, at least. Meanwhile, lurking in the Honda dealership were the CB350 twins, which appeared to be just a bigger version of the bike the law restricted you to.…

I CAN’T REMEMBER WHY, BUT I BOUGHT A PROJECT Honda CL350 from DK Motorcycles in Newcastle under Lyme, more than 10 years ago. In fact, I bought two. One was in good condition while the other looked like it had been in a fire. As I recall, one was £1200, the other £800. DK were buying stock from the US on a large scale at the time and told me that the easy-to-find bikes on the coast had already been snapped up – they had to advertise and hunt further inland to find bikes. My good one had a CB tank and CB350 18in front wheel, not the 19in the CL should have – it had been put together with parts to look whole, but the engine turned and chassis…

ON THE OPPOSITE PAGE YOU’LL SEE A PHOTO OF this splendid Norton’s owner, Mike Peter – also known locally as ‘Mike the Bike’ (for obvious reasons). Also nicknamed ‘Skinny’, he’s an off-road nut and cyclist, and fit enough to tackle the lung-sapping Fife Alps before breakfast. Mike’s had more bikes than I’ve had porridge and currently he has a stable of 10 classics; including two lovely Norton Dominators and a rather salivating yellow Commando. By profession Mike’s an offshore mechanic and when not servicing North Sea oil rigs, he can be found fettling or riding his many classics – bringing us neatly to the immaculate 1955 Norton Dominator 99 that features in this month’s magazine. But by way of confession Mike wasn’t always a fan of British bikes... “I cut…

Back again? You must be suckers for punishment – but welcome! Last month we took a look at the basics of painting and if it was something that you could or would want to do at home. Economics mean that to attempt any more than using aerosols for small work means a large outlay, space and time to practice – but it’s by no means impossible. And if you get together, or have an interest in cars, tractors or other, larger toys, then it can really become a very useful skill to have. So you’ve looked at the cost and whether you have decided to paint your parts or not, they will need preparing. We touched on this last month, so let’s see more closely what’s involved. But like we…