Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Classic Bike

FROM PURPLE BEAST TO PROPER BEEZA I picked up the October 2022 issue featuring BSAs, so I thought I’d send you these photos. My brother bought the bike from somebody in college and sold it to me to restore. This was in 1972 – I think it was a 500cc BSA A7, if I remember correctly. There was a warehouse near me with a lot of BSA inventory they’d bought from old dealers, so I was lucky. I removed the engine and took it to a local dealer to have it rebuilt. I rode it for a while, then sold it – at a loss, actually! David Leslie, Hinsdale, Massachusetts, USA Just dragged home a sorry old wreck, finished a gleaming restoration or had the best ride of your life?…

BAUER AUTOMOTIVE Summer EVENTS SPECIAL Julian Soper was a Welsh-born motorcycle mechanic living in Southend who’d started racing on a 650 Triton in 1970, aged 22. After a season with a 350cc Yamaha TR2B in 1973, he switched back to four-stroke power with a Dresda Honda 750 in 1974, though he never liked the Dresda’s handling. The solution – the Hadleigh Honda – came about through happenstance. Julian relayed the story to me before he passed away in December 2021: “One day that winter, I was at Piper Cams in Kent – and there in the corner was the Rob North Honda with no engine, only the cycle parts, basically just lying around. So I asked what it was, and I was told: ‘Oh, that’s just an unfinished project’. So,…

3 Rufforth Autojumble, Rufforth Park, Rufforth, Yorks. rufforthautojumble.com 3-4 CRMC racing, Cadwell Park Circuit, Lincolnshire crmc.co.uk 4 VJMC Day and Japanese Bike Meet. Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire If classic Japanese machinery is your thing, Sammy’s is the place to be this weekend. sammymiller.co.uk 4 Normous’ Newark Autojumble, Newark Showground, NG24 2NY autojumble.info 10-11 British Historic Racing, Pembrey, Carmarthenshire. britishhistoricracing.co.uk 11 Manchester Classic & Performance Motor Show -Broughton Rugby Ground, Manchester greatbritishmotorshows.com 17 Harley Davidson Owners Club of GB. Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire Head for Hog heaven at Sammy’s as the H-D Owners Club rumble into town. sammymiller.co.uk 18 Masters of Motoring Supercar, Collectors & Performance Motor Show -Bowood House, Calne near Bath. greatbritishmotorshows.com JUN 30 JUL 1…

Summer EVENTS SPECIAL JUL 1 1-2 CRMC Snetterton 300, Snetterton Circuit, Norfolk crmc.co.uk 1-2 Wulfsport King of the Castle Motocross, Farleigh Castle Circuit, Farleigh Hungerford, Somerset A feast of twinshock motocross action at the legendary circuit. 07887 407590 1 Rufforth Autojumble, Rufforth Park, Rufforth, Yorks. rufforthautojumble.com 1 Vintage Speed Trials, Grimsthorpe near Bourne, Lincolnshire. Pre-’39 cars and bikes take to the hill at Grimsthorpe Castle in a wonderful evocation of pre-war motorsport in a stunning setting. speedtrials.co.uk 2 Leighton Classic & Performance Motor Show, Leighton Hall, Carnforth greatbritishmotorshows.com 2 North East Classic Car and Motorcycle Show, Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield, County Durham. Classic cars and bikes in an elegant setting. How civilised. classicshows.org 2 The Brooklands Motorcycle Show. Brooklands Museum, Surrey. Classic bikes galore…

4-6 The Annual Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza, South Cerney Airfield, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Huge vintage fair with a well supported classic bike section. glosvintageextravaganza.co.uk 4-7 The International West Kent Run, The Friars, Aylesford, Maidstone, Kent A brilliant event combining organised rides out in the Kent countryside with a show on Sunday, featuring a motorcycle gymkhana and autojumble. iwkr.weebly.com 5 Rufforth Autojumble, Rufforth Park, Rufforth, York. rufforthautojumble.com 6 Sussex Classic & Performance Motor Show, Stonehouse Country Estate. greatbritishmotorshows.com 6 Smokin’ to Sammy’s – The Two Stroke Meet. Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire Proof that smoking can be good for you, as the Miller Museum embraces all things two-stroke. sammymiller.co.uk 12-13 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Chichester, Sussex. Extreme hillclimb entertainment. Expect a big…

1-2 The Carole Nash Eurojumble, Netley Marsh, near Southampton, Hampshire classicbikeshows.com 1-3 TBC Ace Café Reunion Weekend. Ace Café, Stonebridge, London Incorporating the Brighton Burn-Up on Sunday September 3, this is the Ace’s big weekend. london.acecafe.com 2 Rufforth Autojumble, Rufforth Park, Rufforth, York. rufforthautojumble.com 2-3 CRMC racing, Anglesey Circuit crmc.co.uk 2-3 Manx International Classic Trial, Isle of Man manxtrialsclub.com 2-3 Two-Stroke Weekend, Squires Café, Sherburn in Elmet, West Yorkshire. Recall the glory days of strokers. squires-cafe.co.uk 3 British Bike Day. Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum, Bashley, New Milton, Hampshire sammymiller.co.uk 3 Cheshire Classic & Performance Motor Show, Arley Hall, Northwich. greatbritishmotorshows.com 3 Stratford Autojumble, Stratford-upon-Avon Racecourse, Warwickshire. stratfordautojumble.co.uk SEPT 8-10 4 Copdock Motorcycle Show, Trinity Park, Ipswich, Suffolk. copdock-cmc.co.uk 8-9 FIM Trial…

I wasn’t surprised I couldn’t buy a new battery pack when my cheap cordless drill suddenly stopped charging. But I was caught out to find it contained loads of paper-covered torch batteries, all soldered together – I was expecting something more high-tech! But when a mate told me he’d seen a crashed electric car, surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of similar small torch batteries, spilling out of its broken power cell, I realised this is as high-tech as it gets! Another mate checked his failed drill pack with a meter and found only a few were dud – but it still stopped the drill working. If the same technology is used in car batteries, won’t the same apply – replacing an extremely costly battery because some of those little ones…

1972 Ducati 750 Sport ‘Z-Stripe’ For Ducati fanatics, what could possibly be more desirable than a green frame 750SS? Well, perhaps a 1972 750 Sport. It’s possibly the rarest of all Ducatis, produced in very limited numbers, with its unique – and very striking – yellow/ orange paintwork and that Z graphic on the side of the tank. It was actually the very first Sport model V-twin from the Bologna marque. This one is on sale at The Bike Specialists in Sheffield for £139,980. If you think that’s a lot for a valve-spring Ducati V-twin, bidding for a similar machine at Mecum’s Las Vegas Sale in January 2020 reached $130,000 without making reserve. The 1972 750 Sport entered production in September of that year, alongside the ‘touring’ GT. The Sport…

Ride a Gold Star hard, with the engine spinning in third and fourth on a fast sweeper, and you’ll soon see what the fuss is all about. A good Goldie, even the ultra-focused Clubman DBD34, is a delight to ride in this way – it doesn’t do dawdling. Keep the throttle pinned, get the big Amal GP carb on the main jet and it all starts to make sense. As does the racer-like crouch enforced by rearsets and clip-ons. This bike has a one-track mind – it’s all about speed. The close ratio RRT2 gearbox is the one to have. Even that vertiginous first gear ratio makes sense as you snick down through the four-speed ’box. In tighter corners, if you can keep your speed up a bit, first will…

ESTIMATE £150,000-180,000 1931 Brough Superior SS100 One of the machines displayed on the Brough Superior stand at the 1931 Earls Court Show, this SS100 has been owned by the vendor since 1974, when he bought it from a friend for £150. The friend had owned the bike since 1963 (when he paid £70 for it) and, before that, it had been owned by well-known Brough racer Eddy Meyer. And the frame number is the subsequent one to one of TE Lawrence’s Broughs. It’s a special machine. The owner – a former Vickers and Concorde engineer – hasn’t ridden the bike for around 30 years, but it has been regularly started and run. Apart from the fuel tank, which is from a later SS100, it remains in remarkably correct condition. ESTIMATE…

ESTIMATE £15,000-18,000 1970/71 Arter Matchless, Charterhouse sale, March 30 Tom Arter was one of a handful of race bike builders fighting to extend the competitive life of the traditional British single in the early ’70s. His bikes featured his own frame, with a Matchless G50 engine, cast alloy wheels and disc brakes. The prototype was raced by Peter Williams, who finished second to Giacamo Agostini in the 1970 Senior TT and also took second in the ’71 Senior. This machine, one of only two or three Arter/ Matchless race bikes built, was bought by the late owner as a rolling chassis with Schafleitner six-speed gearbox. He sourced a period G50 engine, Lucas 2MTT magneto and Amal TT carb before racing the bike at Daytona in 1993. charterhouse-bikes.com ESTIMATE £4500-6500…

Cool in the cold I noticed you are looking for pics of readers ‘when we had hair’, so here’s mine. I had just picked up my new Commando a few days earlier (mid-March ’72) and had ridden it from Toronto to Waterloo, where I was at university. It was below 0°C, so I had had to stop four times in 60 miles to regain the use of my fingers! Hence the snow in the background. I did a six-month camping trip down south on it that next winter, ending up at Daytona in March ’73. Alex Loizou, Toronto, Canada Touring and tear-arsing Here are two photographs of me from the 1970s. The one with me and the Honda CB125J was taken in the summer of 1976, when my brother and…

Mick Lendrum, Kawasaki Motoplast, 1981 You’ll seldom meet a more enthusiastic classic racer than Mick Lendrum. “I’m just there having fun, but I did set a PB this weekend,” he said as he wheeled away a very rare motorcycle. Italy’s Motoplast frame often gets confused with France’s Moto Martin, as both look similar and were produced around the same time for Formula One and Endurance racing plus a roadgoing option for wealthy riders. Mick, who has had a long career in motorcycle sales and servicing, has owned his Motoplast since 1981, when just a handful were imported into Australia. Perhaps as few as 70 frames were produced over three years, mostly to house Kawasaki’s 900cc/1000cc four-cylinder engines. Over the years Mick has used his industry contacts to source a close-ratio…

Write a (big) Czech Praga, a Czech motorcycle manufacturer that last made bikes in 1933, is the latest brand to attempt a revival. Their retro style ZS800 looks well engineered, uses a Kawasaki W800 engine... and costs a whopping £75,550. We’ll pass, thanks. pragaglobal.com Irish road racing cancelled Road racing in Ireland, the most significant bike sport on the island and a major tourist attraction north and south of the border, is currently suspended because of insurance issues. This means that, at present, the famous North West 200 as well as other events will not go ahead in 2023. Watch the action at Scarborough, Aberdare Park and the Isle of Man while you can – it might not be around forever. Brittens at Mecca A display of Britten bikes is…

Summer EVENTS SPECIAL In the 1970s, the Scottish Six Days Trial was a huge event, attracting the world’s top riders. Mick Andrews was a five-time winner, and for 1978 had switched back to an Ossa, after five years and two wins for Yamaha. He led after the first day, too, but then dropped marks, eventually climbing back to fourth. He’s photographed here on Wednesday’s Achlain stream section, where the spectators are enjoying the sunshine. The trial was won by Martin Lampkin on a Bultaco. If you fancy an excursion, this year’s SSDT is on April 30-May 6, while the popular Pre-65 event is on April 28-29. ssdt.org May 2023 RACES, PLACES & EVENTS FOR THIS SUMMER 5-6Squires Café – Northern Rockers Rumble. Sherburn-in-Elmet, Leeds. Party time on Friday and…

Come on, admit it. We’ve all done it. There you are,out for a blast, daydreaming that you’re tipping it into the Gooseneck on the Isle of Man or swooping elegantly through Gerard’s at Mallory. There’s a racer fantasist in all of us. Then a bus pulls out and you’re dragged back to reality. But what if you actually did it? What if you entered a race? Would that reality match the fantasy? Well, it might be easier to find out than you think. Classic racing offers the chance to ride your bike as fast as you like, pit yourself and your bike against your new (or old) mates and enjoy the camaraderie of the classic racing paddock. And it needn’t cost a fortune. Who says so? Andy Green. Andy is…

In 2002 the MotoGP grid was populated with adazzling mixture of machinery. Such an eclectic bunch hadn’t been seen since the early 1970s, when Giacomo Agostini and his MV Agusta four-stroke triple lined up against Kawasaki two-stroke triples, Yamaha two-stroke twins, Matchless four-stroke singles and the Konig, a motorcycle powered by a flat-four two-stroke outboard motor. New rules meant the 2002 grid was even more diverse, with a deluge of 990cc four-stroke behemoths facing off against the old 500cc two-strokes. In the four-stroke corner was Honda’s sublime RC213V, Aprilia’s bonkers RS3 Cube, Yamaha’s initially underwhelming YZR-M1, Suzuki’s problematic GSV-R and Kawasaki’s short-lived Ninja ZX-RR. And fighting this new wave were two-stroke Honda NSR500s, Yamaha YZR500 V4s and Kenny Roberts’ Proton V3. Given that diversity, it’s no surprise MotoGP riders, paddock…

Clive Fletcher emails from New Zealand to ask a few questions about his 1961 T120 Bonneville restoration. The cylinder head had been repaired and skimmed, and Clive wonders how to work out what’s been removed. what’s been removed, ‘So,’ as he says, ‘I can install the correct-thickness copper gasket to maintain original rocker geometry – I know the problem these engines can be if there is any appreciable deviation from original specification.’ The only spare head I have to measure is a later unit 650 item – that’s 1.125in from the centre of the dome to the gasket face and since the same pistons produce the same compression ratio for both heads I’d guess the combustion chambers are the same. This got me thinking about compression ratio. If the head…

I got an interesting bit of feedback from Will Gray about the quest for Rickman brake discs. Looks like I was wrong in assuming they were bought in from one of the major manufacturers. Will says: ‘The discs fitted to all but the very last of the Rickman road chassis were manufactured by Pagehiln Ltd in Bermondsey. There were several designs, all cast iron, zinc plated to resist corrosion with a final grind over the pad contact area. ‘Not only did Rickman make their own discs, they made all the spoked hubs and forks of that period. The forks were particularly well made. With yokes and sliders cast in LM25 and 1.625in stanchions , they were so much less prone to flexing than most rival products that Friedl Munch fitted…

I received a bit of feedback about Bantam crankshaft end-float (January Fixes). Dean Bristow says he’s covered setting up the float (and other Bantam matters) on his ‘Retromeccanica’ youtube channel (youtu.be/sltZxRMzTKk) . Dave Thorp also had a related problem recently with a modern two-stroke single rebuild project. The big end checked out good for re-use, so Dave fitted new main bearings and reassembled the bottom end. Checking the end float, he was puzzled why there was none unless the crank was at or near bottom dead centre. Dave checked the main bearings were correctly seated and put it back together again. The problem remained. Puzzled, he stripped it again and this time thought to check the crank alignment. It was about eight thou out from side to side. After getting…

£995 1981 Montesa 348 Another month, another Montesa. This one starts and runs, and looks pretty tidy, too. Will need a good going through, but another ideal starter bike for twin-shock trials. chichestermotorcycles.co.uk £995 1983 Honda CD200 Benly Has time conferred classic status on Honda’s little commuter? You decide, but this one starts, runs and all electrics work. Becomes MoT and tax-exempt on August 19 as well. Looks like a relatively easy project. 07954 581360 £850 1992 Honda VFR750 Runs, but brakes are binding; it sports a few scuffs and scrapes, bent levers and a blowing exhaust. Looks like a fairly straightforward project, though, and the reputation of Honda’s VFR is legendary. tradebikesdirect.co.uk £499 1950s Elswick Now, this tradesman’s delivery bike with Cyclemaster attachment looks like fun.…

SOLD FOR £47,250 1994 Ducati 888 Corse A 926cc 1994 Ducati 888 Corse race bike – one of only 26 produced by the Italian factory – set a new UK auction record for the model when it sold for this price. Part of a private collection for the last 20 years and in unused condition, it certainly was an exceptional machine. Still fitted with its original battery, it came with its Ducati letter of authenticity and a rare marketing brochure from the period. The 926cc 888 is a rare model in road specification – but the 142bhp over-the-counter race version is genuinely über-rare. This particular example, in as-new condition, made a worthy record breaker. SOLD FOR £16,875 1982 Kawasaki Z1000J2 S We’ve become used to early Z1s and Z900s making…

AUCTION EXPERT MARK BRYAN SILVERSTONE AUCTIONS We had another successful sale at the MCN London Motorcycle Show. The total sale of £960,000 compares well with the £767,000 recorded at the first London sale. Nearly 50% of bidders were in the sale room too, with the remainder online or on the phone. Part of the reason for the success of the sale has to be the continuing rise in interest in more recent classic and collectable machines, of which we had a good selection on offer. And, of that selection, three machines ended the weekend setting new auction records for their model. A 1994 Ducati 888 Corse set a new UK auction record, and both a 1995 Ducati 916 Senna 1 and a 1982 Kawasaki Z1000J2 achieved new world record auction…

THE WAY WE WERE Inspired by your fantastic ‘1973’ issue, here’s me in the car park at South Kent College of Technology in Ashford, Kent sometime in the spring or summer of 1974. I was in the first year of my mechanical engineering apprenticeship – four days in the practical workshops learning turning, milling, grinding, welding, etc. Valuable skills that, although now retired, I’m still using to this day. Not so much fun was one day and two night schools in the classroom. Several of us would congregate in the car park during lunch hour, tearing up and down attempting wheelies and stuff until eventually we were banned. In the photograph above, notice the forks at full extension and left hand poised over the clutch in preparation for another feeble…

AFTER 46 YEARS, 2023 will be the last time that the East of England Showground at Peterborough will play host to Britain’s traditional May motorcycle rally. The BMF Rally first ran in 1961, but moved venues from Beaulieu to Woburn and Donington Park before settling at Peterborough in 1977. Attendances soon climbed from 15,000 in the first year at the showground to 50,000, with rally goers seeking discount kit bargains as well as enjoying entertainments and overnight camping. It became the MCN Festival in 2016. Later this year the site will be redeveloped as housing, putting an end to the event at this location. “We’re really sorry to be losing the Peterborough site,” says event director Rachael Beasley. “But we’re seeking out new venues and the festival itself will continue…

Documentary evidence A reader writes with memories of Graham Bentman – and his moment of fame on TV I WAS INTERESTED to read the feature on the Norton Model 7 and its previous owner Graham Bentman in the February edition. Back in the mid-’70s, I was riding an old pre-unit Triton which had been converted back to road use from formerly being a race bike. It was totally inappropriate for commuting to college – very difficult to ride and understandably unreliable, especially in the ownership of an impoverished student. It was a lot of fun, though! At this time my dad was looking to buy a van for his business, and I spotted one advertised locally in MCN – we lived in Richmond at the time, Twickenham being just a…

Summer EVENTS SPECIAL The Transatlantic Trophy races were the traditional British season opener in the 1970s and ’80s, with thousands of race fans making a three-day pilgrimage to Brands Hatch, Mallory and Oulton Park. And although the Easter weekend signalled the start of the riding season, it could still be bitingly cold. This is the start of race one at Mallory on Easter Sunday 1974, eventually won by Peter Williams (12). Barry Sheene was disqualified for riding a 500 rather than a 750, but he’d also lent leathers and a crash helmet to American Gary Sehl, riding a Harley-Davidson (3) which must have confused spectators. Back in the present, this year the classic racing season starts with the Goodwood Members’ Meeting on April 15-16. Let’s hope for better weather than…

Summer EVENTS SPECIAL I’m trying to imagine that it’s May, that we’re in Italy with the sun warming the back of my neck, blossom blowing across the roads and glorious views across the Umbrian hills. That’s quite a leap from reality. Actually, it’s February, finger-numbingly cold, and we’re in Rutland with the flag of St George fully unfurled in a strong easterly wind. But at least the bikes are right for that Moto Giro d’Italia fantasy. Lined up outside the Two Flags Café on the A47 near Uppingham for our inaugural Moto Giro d’Rutland are a 1958 Ducati 125 Sport, 1957 Ducati 175 Turismo, 1956 Moto Guzzi 160 Lodola and 1957 Bianchi 175. They’re all veterans of the Moto Giro d’Italia, and so are their owners. Chris Bushell, the owner…

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Summer EVENTS SPECIAL Heikki Mikkola arrived at the 1977 British Motocross Grand Prix having scored top points in the previous seven championship rounds on his Yamaha. At Farleigh Castle, on what was the hottest day of the year so far and in front of a huge crowd, his run was ended. He retired in the first leg and, although he won the second, American Brad Lackey took the overall win on his Honda, his first GP victory. Here, Gerrit Wolsink leads Mikkola and Suzuki team-mate Roger De Coster. Wolsink finished third in the first leg, and eighth in the second after his chain came off twice. Inevitably, Mikkola won the championship. Farleigh Castle is still a hugely popular motocross venue, and you can see classic bikes from the ’70s in…

For many this was the best British GP ever. At the finish, after 28 laps and 82 miles of racing, Kenny Roberts beat Barry Sheene by just three hundredths of a second. Back then Silverstone was a high-speed, slipstreaming circuit. The lead changed hands several times and the pair averaged 114.5mph. This was also the race at which the Honda NR500 four-stroke made its debut – but Mick Grant crashed at the first corner and the bike burst into flames. This year’s British GP is at Silverstone (now with chicanes) on August 6. silverstone.co.uk…

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Not for the first time during our chat, renowned motorcycledesigner and cartoonist John Mockett is teetering on the brink of giggling like a naughty schoolboy. His face is creasing, but the 79-year-old is holding things together so he can finish a story about six-time world champion Jim Redman, who based himself in John’s parents’ garage for the pre-season during the year the factory pulled out of GPs and Redman rode private Hondas. “I remember once, Jim went up to Oulton Park and I went with him and mechanic Blue Lewis who was standing in for Nobby Clark,” says John between mouthfuls of tagliatelle at his local. “So I was, technically speaking, a Honda mechanic warming up the bike. Of course, I wasn’t – Iwas a hanger-on – but no one…

1 Don’t try to smash out the ceramic from an old plug; it’s harder than it looks. You need to cut off this rolled-over swaging with a lathe or using an angle grinder. 2 The ceramic is bonded in with a sort of dry paste. It chips out fairly easily or you can tap the ceramic side-to-side to crumble it – but use care and goggles in case it shatters. 3 On this NGK, there’s also a sort of circlip that may need releasing. Now cut off the body electrode and the ceramic should tap easily out of the body from the threaded end. 4 There’s a restriction in the bore that can be drilled out. The bore is about 3/8in, which is an easy size for a 10mm x…

Out and about on his Triumph TR5T Adventurer, Simon Clark found the gearchange started stiffening up and the lever needed a prod to return. Back home he found it now stuck in third – but when attempting to dismantle it, Simon found he couldn’t remove the gearbox cover. On these unit 500cc engines, plungers in the positive stop mechanism click into holes in the gearbox camplate. They don’t like moving sideways, so it’s usual to have to waggle the gear pedal and pull the cover at the same time. But this time that didn’t work – and not wanting to force anything, Simon decided to phone Pete at Britsteel Classics in Dover. Pete said that the plungers are retained by split pins and it sounded like one or both had…

What’s the attraction? Six cylinders, for a start. Though Honda’s CBX1000 wasn’t the first mass-produced six – that was the Benelli Sei, launched in 1974 – it did take things further. Introduced in 1978, it’s a spectacular showcase for Honda’s late-’70s tech, with a super-smooth, air-cooled dohc engine suspended dramatically from a spine-type frame. From the front, there’s no downtube to spoil the view of all that polished alloy and the six header pipes, while a claimed 105bhp is good enough to propel it to 130mph. If you can hang on. Kawasaki’s Z1300 is an altogether different animal. Launched in 1979, it’s around 22kg (50lb0 heavier than the Honda, at 295kg (650lb), and more of a grand tourer than a sports bike, with shaft final drive. That said, its 120bhp,…

DEALER EXPERT I can’t believe we’re already a quarter of the way through the year. I’ve been really busy since the new year, which is (hopefully) a good sign for 2023. In fact, I can’t remember a busier start to the year. The phone has been ringing and I’ve sold a few bikes. But, outside of work, I’m determined to take in a few classic events. I’m doing the Malle Rally in June, so I really need to get my Matchless Model X sorted. The bike is an older restoration that I discovered in Italy and bought without even seeing it. With my dealer head on, that’s not the way to buy a bike, but it’s in good condition. I’ve got a UK registration for it, so that’s the first…

CRANKSHAFT A rumbling sound from the bottom end of the engine spells crank trouble. The crankshaft is the weak spot of a standard Goldie engine. The taper-fit crankpin works loose over time – as do the riveted-up flanges locking the timing and drive side mainshafts. A modern pressed-up replacement with needle-roller big end (and a beefed-up conrod, of course) is the solution – though it’ll set you back around £850. GEARBOX As with camshafts and pistons, there was a bewildering array of gearbox options for the Gold Star owner to choose from. If you’re looking at what many regard as the definitive Gold Star – the DBD34 in Clubman trim – the close-ratio RRT2 gearbox is what you’ll expect to see. The gearbox case should be stamped ‘RRT2’, but that’s…