Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2021 i Classic Bike Guide

GOOD DAY TO YOU, MAY YOUR kick-start whirr be followed by combustion first time, your tyres be firm and your insurance lower than last year. And if not, at least it’s not raining, well, here anyway. It seems just yesterday that ‘we’ were chatting last month and in this new world, things change so quickly. What have we been up to? The Stafford show was a welcome return to older times and while it had to be different, we enjoyed it, as did most folk we spoke to there. With fewer people allowed, it did mean there was more room to see and appreciate the great club stands and all the hard work that goes in. A special ‘hello’ must go to the Benelli and Motobi club, who fielded Maria’s…

What did we think? THE STAFFORD SHOW has a different feel to us, as it’s work. But as enthusiasts, it’s also pleasure, so we win! The weather did its best to keep away but failed, however the auto jumblers outside are a hardy bunch, as are those looking for that part or a bargain. Inside, numbers had to be limited, but while that meant a queueing system, it also meant it felt so much nicer inside, with fewer people! The walkways were also wider, giving you a chance to see bikes you may otherwise have missed. Fewer people meant reduced seating, so we had to eat our lunch on the floor, but the food was all right. There were fewer stands, but many clubs justifiably felt their members didn’t want…

THE CAR TRAVELLED A SIMILAR ROAD TO the motorbike, being the ‘must have device’ for the lucky middle classes at first – like a second home or Chelsea tractors are now. Gradually basic rules of economics intervened, the car followed the bike and dropped, in just a few decades, from leading, innovative machine to be seen in, yet again, to the working Joe’s (and Jolene’s) mode of gettin’ around. Today, bikes are leisure toys and have almost come full-circle, back to the poshies. But unlike much of the world, the two-wheeled scene forgoes snobbery and elitism (largely) and continues to be more inclusive, even than in the 1950s and 60s. Bike meets are a hotch-potch of wonderously alternate machines and riders. Few things warm my cockles more than a Dainese-clad…

BMW WHEELS FEATURE TAPERED wheel bearings, which need preloading. I’ve never come across this. The BMW has both a British Haynes manual and an American Clymer manual, started by Floyd Clymer. I’m lucky-enough to have both. Anything more complicated than undoing and doing up things has the Haynes avoiding solicitors and points you to the main dealer. Surprisingly, from the world of litigation and blame, the American Clymer has more information, albeit delivered via five times more words than you need. But even Floyd’s mechanics shy away from preloading the bearings. Surprising, as it is more common a job than stripping a gearbox, which is amply covered. The basics are that most bike wheels have two bearings to hold the wheel on the axle and a spacer inbetween so when…

I HAVE A 1951 ENFIELD G2 BULLET IN THE workshop for a bit of resurrection. The history of the bike is that it was apparently taken off the road and stored in large bits around 1954. A new owner had bolted it mostly together and had it running, but a year or so later it has found its way into my workshop. Some of the initial work showed that although it may have only been on the road for its first three or four years it must have had a pretty big paper round in that time! One of the symptoms it was showing was a lack of compression and a slight “sucking” on the exhaust when turned over. The present owner also told me that the piston had been…

■ BMWs are just tourers, eh? The Thruxton 500 was an annual race, held at Thruxton, Wiltshire, from 1958 to 1973, and the first team to cover the 500 miles won... erm, hence the name. But it was more than just another race; it was for production bikes, so it became massively important to marketing for manufacturers and prestige in the years it ran, attracting the top riders and factory entries. Harking back to the likes of the trials from the first years of motorcycles and then the TT, the Thruxton 500 was a valuable advertising tool, with near-standard bikes (er – officially, though there was no rules in manufacturers hand-picking engine parts and making sure everything was just so) thrashing round one of the fastest circuits for more than…

TIGER, TIGER, BURNING BRIGHT On those rare occasions I get to ride a prewar motorcycle, I come away thinking: “I really ought to get one of these.” The Triumph Tiger 80 single is a great looker, which helped encourage such ideas. It started easily and took off in a sprightly fashion. Taking a lightweight rigid framed bike with girder forks on the road requires a rather different style to riding something more modern. In deference to the age of the little Triumph, gear changes were dealt with firmly but with care with a momentary delay of a fraction of a second in the middle of the change before getting it on song again. Suspension is minimal and bumps at the back are constrained by the use of a decent sprung…

TWO WEEKS LATER I WAS BACK IN the garage fitting a recently delivered set of clutch plates and associated springs from Norvil. Surprising, but this simple job turned out to be quite a slog. First problem was there appeared to be too many plates; that is, if I attempted to fit five fibre and five plain as per the manual’s instructions. Unfortunately, adding a fifth fibre plate prevented the clutch drum’s securing circlip to be fitted. So I had to make do with four, otherwise the clutch might fall apart! I could only assume that new fibre plates use a thicker material than their original counterparts, thus packing out the assembled clutch. Second hassle was that the clutch lever arm inside the gearbox’s end cover refused to ‘adjust’. So I…

IF YOU’D ASKED MY GRANNY NORA, SHE’D have said the early 1920s, when she was belting round the West End of London on her Levis 250 in a flapper dress, breaking young men’s hearts. Others might say the early 1960s, when there was no 70mph speed limit, and when motorcycles had started getting faster. Thanks to £5 down and 17/6 a week, you could have almost anything you wanted – as long as you didn’t mind not eating. You could still buy a Vincent Rapide for £100. Motorcycling started to be roguishly stylish rather than the preserve of the impoverished working stiff. Riders became folk-devils, and what self-respecting young person didn’t want to be a folk-devil? Personally, I would (of course) say the best time to be a motorcyclist was…

I WOULD REALLY LIKE THIS R100 ON THE road by October. Allowing for the newly-opened world filling up weekends and general middle-aged laziness and apathy in the evenings, this means I need to press on. The plan is for an autumnal ride up to Skye with my friend Mikko on his R100 – optimistic I realise, but one needs a goal, you know. THE FRAME. OH, THE DAMN FRAME . I’d checked the wheel alignment before spreading the bike all over the county, so was happy of straightness. It was in good order, too, but the surface rust was too much to put up with, even though I’m going for a sympathetic restoration and not a ‘shiny shit’ (as we call overly restored bikes) job. So it had to be…

I’VE HAD A BIT OF BAD HISTORY WITH MEETING MY dream bikes. Often the reality of the most beautiful and exotic machines can never meet expectations, and I found my greatest joys in biking have come from an unexpected underdog. A year ago I was blessed with the opportunity to test-ride a BMW R69S, the pinnacle of German motorcycle engineering in the 1960s. It was the country’s fastest production bike ever, with long-distance comfort and sublime handling to match. Its endurance racing achievements helped solidify BMW’s reputation as a builder of exceptionally well-made and reliable machinery. This, along with a small affordable car based around the boxer engine, helped save the company from the threat of bankruptcy that had loomed in the late 1950s For the last 10 years, another…

August 1: Suzuki Sunday: Ace Café, Ace Corner, North Circular Road, Stonebridge London NW10 7UD 1: Rickman Enthusiasts’ Day, Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum: Don and Derek Rickman will be attending this celebration of all things Rickman. Organisers of the day expect a good turn-out of machines will be on show outside the museum. As well as the brothers, the event will also welcome ex-factory workers, there will be trophies for the best Rickmans on show and a Rickman parts Bring and Buy stand. New Milton, Hants. www.sammymiller.co.uk 1: Acorns Classic Scramble: Off A53, Newcastle Under Lyme. Contact Roger Simkin 07971 950921 2: August issue of Real Classic out today 6: September issue of The Classic Motorcycle published today 7: Old Bike Mart out today 7: Rufforth Autojumble: Call 01904 738620…

UNTIL A FEW YEARS AGO YOU would have heard people in the classic world complain that new bikes just didn’t fit their needs. Too complex, too ugly, or too expensive – or often, that they didn’t have big enough mudguards. And these enthusiasts were widely ignored by manufacturers which kept selling the same stuff, occasionally taking the fairing off and detuning something and calling it a “classic retro” or some such thing. And then the revitalised Royal Enfield came along, shook off its old image and produced affordable, capable, classically styled motorcycles, often to the initial derision of pundits who laughed at the very idea. But the buyers ignored those carping from the sidelines and bought the 650 twins in big numbers. Massive numbers. Now RE has come up with…

THE LAST TIME I SAW AN LE VELOCETTE WAS WAY BACK in 1970; now here I was 50 years later being invited by Keith Honor to take his later Mk3 out for a spin. Would one afternoon really be enough, and more to the point, would I like it enough to say nice things? The LE (Little Engine – but you probably already knew that) made its debut at the Earls Court show in 1948, and most of the public and even the press viewed the bike as an oddity – to some it was a complete turn-off. A few commentators have gone as far as saying that the LE helped to bring about the demise of a valued and well-known British marque. They may possibly have a small point,…

FOR MANY FOLK, THE LAUNCH OF Kawasaki’s first big inline, four cylinder motorcycle, the Z1A, gave a new and unapproachable style, presence and stature that far outshines any of the later models, with the added side-effect of also retaining the greatest value. Of course, just because a certain bike is the first model of a range doesn’t mean that it is the best. And while the Z1 was the first big four-stroke production bike from Kawasaki, not only did it come at the end of a long and tortuous path for the Kawasaki design and production teams, it also began a long line of ever-improving air-cooled inline fours from the Japanese manufacturer, that continued on into the 21st century. Had Honda not launched the single overhead cam CB750 in 1969,…

Less than £1000 Can you pick up a classic for less than £1000? You might find a rotting project, but that’s not all that is on offer if you fancy the challenge. There are still running BSA Bantams for sale at that price. The most widely sold of all BSAs was the Bantam which was the day-to-day transport of a vast swathe of the nation and a great learner bike. Enthusiasm for the Bantam is undying and the supply of bikes and spares plentiful even today. There’s an excellent Bantam owners’ club and an enthusiastic community of racers. It began life in 1948 as the 123cc D1, grew to 148cc as the D3 in 1954 and to 174cc as the D5 in 1958. The one to look for is the…

It is easy to ride at Top Speed on an elderly AJS 16, with little actual risk to life, limb or indeed licence THIS HAS BEEN A ‘SUMMER’ – IF WE DARE call it that – of more Norton riding than usual, or indeed anticipated. You know how it is; a chap spends the 51 weeks between sunny summer Sundays preparing the trusty steed for a bout of serious high-mileage tomfoolery at Top Speed and when that glorious day arrives... that same chap rides something else. At least, this particular chap does. And it is almost never planned. The Great Plan for summer this year was to storm around the south-westerly peninsula of the kingdom aboard a late AJS 350 single. It is easy to ride at Top Speed on…