Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Classic Bike

PAGE 22 Bob Dixon As well as a long-time CB contributor, Bob’s also an experienced trail riding guide – the ideal person to lead us around an ISDT-inspired route in mid-Wales. Maybe he’ll have got his Laverda off-roader fixed up for our next outing... PAGE 46 Mark Graham A former Performance Bikes editor and Practical Sportsbikes staffer, as well as being a special builder himself, Mark was blown away by the ingenuity and purposefulness of the Davies Motorsport Yamaha TX500 race bike. PAGE 60 David Lancaster We all love a Vincent, but David’s got it bad – he has made a film about company founder Philip Vincent. He’s also written for Classic Bike in this issue about his own passion for the marque – and how he bought back his…

TONY EAST’S ARE bike museum at Kirkmichael was a popular destination for Isle of Man visitors during the TT and Manx Grand Prix. It closed following Tony’s death aged 81 in 2022, and now the contents are to be sold in a no reserve auction at the Stafford show on October 14-15. There are 80 motorcycles in the sale, which are mainly restored machines – and they range from cyclemotors, mopeds and scooters, right through to a Vincent Rapide. The Triumph and Greeves marques are especially well represented. There are 19 Triumphs, from a 1938 500cc Speed Twin to a 1955 Tiger Cub, and 11 of the Essex-built Greeves two-strokes, including road and competition models. Although the bulk of the collection are British machines, there are also some interesting European…

Fresh from watching the race action from the TT on the telly, here’s a reminder that, if you’ve never been to the Isle of Man before, then the Manx GP at the end of August bank holiday weekend is a great event too. Especially for those of us with a passion for classics. In fact, its arguably the greatest classic bike event anywhere in the world – nowhere else can match this combination of action, atmosphere, sociability and riding pleasure. This is the 100th anniversary of the first running of the Manx – and although, in theory, it’s the ‘amateur’ TT, there are still top name riders lined up to compete in the Classic Senior and Superbike races. There are two ‘modern’ races on the schedule too, and a ‘Lightweight’…

From Birmingham to Springfield and back again I really enjoyed the feature on US exports in the March issue. Here’s a picture of mine – a1955 BSA A10 Super Flash. It was consigned to the East Coast importers BSA Inc in November 1955 and supplied new to one Frances Parsons of Underwood Avenue, Mt Tom, Massachusetts by Wolfe’s Indian Cycle Sales of Springfield, Massachusetts in March 1956. I have a copy of the original bill of sale, detailing the extra-market saddlebags and safety guards. The panniers are amazing – they’re made of saddle-leather and fitted to chrome mounting-plates, just like the old Indians and Harleys. I have refitted the crash bars (safety guards) since the picture was taken, and the bike appears very original and low-mileage. Apparently, it was supplied…

FIRST RACE Pete’s dad was a keen amateur grasstracker, so it wasn’t long before his son joined in the fun. This shot is of Pete (second from right, bike #100) about to start his first ever race, at Ludford in Lincolnshire. BANTAM POWERED It wasn’t just riding that Pete learned from his dad – he picked up on the mechanical side of things too. Above he’s on his first bike that his dad made from a BSA Bantam motor and an unknown frame that was lying around in the shed. OFF TO THE BEACH With Mablethorpe just down the road and his dad’s grasstrack bikes in the shed, Pete inevitably ended up beach racing as a teenager. This and the early grasstrack forays perhaps explain how he took so easily…

£995 1955 NSU Quickly Looks to be in excellent condition, starts, selects gears and runs well, though it hasn’t been used regularly for about two years, so may need light recommissioning before use. Located in Belfast. 07394 444480 £995 1985 MZ TS125 MZ’s two-stroke lightweights have built up a following over the years. With just three owners from new – the last one having owned it for 32 years – it’s ripe for a sympathetic restoration. Yate Auto Sales 07917 224495 £849 1969 Honda CD175 A challenging but worthwhile project. ‘Sloper’ CD175s are sought after and this one’s engine turns over easily with good compression. Apart from silencers, most major parts seem present.  07704 554218 £975 1998 Honda CBR600FX Sure, this needs a little tidying up – and the mirrors…

No Reserve 1958 Ariel Square Four If you thought all the genuine barn-find bikes had all been discovered by now, think again. Silverstone Auctions have unearthed an exciting cache of Ariels from a deceased estate and are bringing them to the Shuttleworth Collection sale with no reserve. No fewer than 10 Ariel Square Fours have been consigned, ranging from a 1939 iron-head project bike to this late MkII four-pipe model from 1958. From the penultimate year of production, the matching-numbers bike looks largely complete, but was last used in 1963 and is being offered as a restoration project. £8000-10,000 1969 Honda CB750 sandcast Prices of first-year Honda CB750s with sandcast crankcases having spiralled dramatically upwards in recent years, so this looks like a rare opportunity for anyone hankering after one…

£4760 1975 Triumph T150 Brightwells online sale, June 21 Leominster-based Brightwells are still sticking to the online auction format adopted during the Covid pandemic. And, while their sales major on cars, some interesting bikes do appear in their catalogue from time to time. This very well presented matching-numbers UK-market Trident was one of them. The bike has undergone an extensive mechanical and cosmetic overhaul relatively recently and, while it hasn’t been run for around three years and will require recommissioning, at a sale price of £4760 including buyers premium, it certainly looks like something of a bargain. brightwells.com £15,000 1907 Norton Model T12 Rem Fowler replica Charterhouse sale, June 29 Charterhouse Auctions’ June sale included three machines from the collection of the late Dr George Cohen, better known in the…

Starter kits for 650 BSAs A starter motor kit for BSA A65 twins is now available from Shropshire Classics. The complete kit, including belt primary drive conversion, costs £2995. triumphbonneville.com Massive Book The extraordinary two-volume 940-page Ultimate Collector Motorcycles book has been published by art house publisher Taschen. It features detailed features on 100 machines with fantastic colour photography. It weighs enough to induce a hernia, and costs £250. taschen.com Baby Triumphs Triumph have revealed two new 400c single cylinder motorcycles. Availability of the Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X models is scheduled for December, though prices have yet to be announced. The new Indian-made bikes are produced in a collaboration with manufacturing giants Bajaj Auto. triumphmotorcycles.co.uk Roadog for sale The (in)famous Roadog motorcycle, buit by ‘Wild’ Bill Gelke in the…

Known as the Olympics of Motorcycling,the International Six Day Trial (ISDT) was one of the world’s biggest sporting events, attracting top teams and star riders. The likes of Vic Brittain, Sammy Miller, and Jim Sandiford all competed, and – rather brilliantly – ordinary riders can still follow in their wheel tracks today. For the Classic Bike summer outing, I’ve planned a route that follows some of the 1961 ISDT course around mid-Wales. It’s ambitious, given that the CB team are not Milleresque in their riding talent, but editor Hugo is very enthusiastic. It gradually dawns on me that this is because he’s salivating at the idea of comedy breakdowns and hapless riders fashioning exhaust valves out of a blackthorn bush... We gather for a group meet in the caff at…

It was awkward. A fully laden Vincent Black Prince complete with its enclosed bodywork is no lightweight. My father, Alan Lancaster, was on one of his final trips abroad and manoeuvring the bike into a tight space somewhere in the Mosel Valley – and doing so with some difficulty. I went to help and he snapped back: “I can do it” That moment was unusual, though – thousands of miles and many decades on the road together and this was one of just two incidents of cross words between us. Anyone who has undertaken extensive journeys on motorcycles will know how those long days in the saddle generate fatigue; maps are misread, turnings missed, directions shouted and misheard over the noise of the engine. Alan knew this better than most.…

Trepidation and keen anticipation are my main emotionsas I head back to Harris Performance to see the progress on the Magnum 2 frame. Dominic Ferrar, performance engineering manager at Harris, greets me in reception and we head down into the workshop. There we find master frame builder Nick Daish standing next to the Magnum 2 jig. Nick was probably the craftsman who made my chassis when it was new back in 1984. I barely recognise the frame mounted up in it as mine, because shiny sections of new tube distract from the original parts. Nick shows me a box – quite a large box as it goes – crammed with pipe, brackets and gussets that won’t be making the cut; or more accurately, have been cut. I note that everything…

The classic bike world is changing – as a classic bike dealer, that means I have to change, too. When I started my business, I concentrated on the bikes I knew and loved from the ’70s and early ’80s. But new generations of bikes are now coming to be regarded as classics and I’ve been giving some thought to recently-established and future classics. More bikes from the ’80s have made – or are starting to make – the leap to nailed-on classic status. Some, like Yamaha RD250 and 350LCs, are already there. A really good RD350LC will cost you £12,000-13,000 now. Other models made the jump more recently. BMW’s ground-breaking R80GS is one. A few years back, you could pick one up for as little as £5000. Now, good examples…

I’ve been asked about the ddifferences between the collector bike market in the USA and UK. And two of the categories I’ve been quizzed on are mini bikes and road racing machines. Mini bikes are popular here, especially at car auctions – most car collectors had a mini bike when they were kids, even if that was the last motorcycle they owned. The Honda Mini Trail and the CT70 were the most popular ones in the US back then, so are the most sought-after now. They can also be had for a fraction of what a collector’s car costs. With road racing bikes, we had 28 or so for sale at Las Vegas this year. AHRMA historic road racing is popular here, although I imagine in the collector’s motorcycle world…

MCN (Classic Bike’s sister title) and Amazon have teamed up to bring you an info and action-packed video series that sees a secondhand bike bought, assessed and done up before being given away in an epic competition. The Ready to Ride campaign sees experienced road tester Chris Newbigging and ex-mechanic Bruce Dunn purchase a 2019 Kawasaki Z1000SX, before getting it into the workshop. Here they have a proper look at the bike and set about getting it in tip-top condition. The three-part video series sees the pair evaluate that bike and perform various jobs on it, using Amazon tools, Castrol Oils and Noco products. The step-by-step process in episode one can be applied to most bikes and anyone looking to spruce up their machine should watch the series. In the…

August 2023 EVENT REPORTE CLASSIC NEWS WHAT’S ON YOUR LETTERS John Young, 1936 Triumph JAP 500cc John is seen here providing the action as he rockets up the Brooklands test hill onboard his methanol-powered sprint bike. “It’s a 1936 Triumph frame, with a 500cc JAP as used in grasstrack or speedway. It’s got a Norton gearbox with a set of close-ratio gears in it. I use it at sprints – I’ve done 106mph on it this year at a sprint. I’ve ridden it on the test hill once or twice,” he says. Mr Young is clearly not the type of rider to take it gently, despite the bike’s age. “I’ve been told off for going too quick before! Eight years ago on the Isle of Man, it did the quarter-mile…

Kevin Schwantz and Yamaha team-mates John Kocinski and Wayne Rainey sweep into Coppice corner, watched by thousands of sun-kissed, beered-up fans (see Fan-Tastic, pages 40-45). The race turned into another Schwantz versus Rainey epic, after Kocinski faded backwards. Rainey seemed to have it won... until Schwantz dug deep with his Suzuki RGV500, like only he could. He caught his fellow American and they passed and re-passed. Finally, Schwantz made victory his with an unforgettable move at the Melbourne hairpin. “I kept wanting to get Wayne on the brakes going into the hairpin, but he kept moving over to stop me going up the inside,” Schwantz recalls. “Eventually I was like: ‘Son of a bitch! Screw it! I’m gonna try the outside and see if I can make it work.’ And…

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO letters@ classicbike.co.uk I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading Rick’s piece about the Harley XLCR. So refreshing to read a straight forward review of the bike, whilst at the same time unpacking the Harley-Davidson myth in a completely non-judgemental way. I had also hankered after owning a late-’60s XLCR, but settled in the end for a new XLH Sportster 883 in 1989. I soon realised that my motorcycling friends were aghast that I had bought a Harley-Davidson – ‘What must I have been thinking!’ On the other hand, my new Harley-riding companions were clearly expecting me to trade up to a ‘real’ Harley by buying one of the ‘big twins’. The poor old Sportster was caught in the middle – and yet (whisper…

Considering this is the first time I have ever riddena bevel Ducati, it’s a very easy bike to get used to. What did I expect? I’m not really sure. The big Ducati twins have a beefcake reputation for their long, loping wheelbase and thrusting power delivery from low down the rev range, but the GTS is no rugby club scrum half. It’s more feline, like a tall, powerful but distinctly feminine woman – Iknow that sounds a bit wistful, but it’s an interesting parallel. The early Giugiaro-styled 860GT model missed the mark and later revisions failed to capture the adoration lavished on the Super Sports – but for me, the GTS is a blind date I would like to follow up. We’re already bonding, and with time I think we…

Pete Boast is surely Britain’s most multi-talented racer.He got top tens in British Superbikes, out-qualified Joey at the TT, raced professionally as a speedway rider, took British and European flat-track titles and won at ice speedway. But it’s the TT that’s always been his biggest love, despite having the most stressful debut imaginable. “It was like something out of a George Formby film,” he says, sipping tea in the British Superbike pit garage of his young protégé Franco Bourne. “Looking back at it now, it was unbelievable. It started when I got sponsored by a bloke called Andy Farrer, who was a big Ducati man. He’d bought a Formula 2 rolling chassis off Tony Rutter and put his own engine in it. It wasn’t the best motor, but I got…

REMEMBER MY my partner Judy’s Trifield that I sorted out as a CB project a while back? Well, it’s looking a bit different now – and thereby hangs a tale. The bike is a 250cc Royal Enfield Continental GT fitted with a 500cc Triumph 5TA engine, so the great power-to-weight ratio makes it a smashing bike to ride. But specials are never straightforward – unless you go for something as popular as a Triton, you’ll find very little that fits off the shelf , and although I got the Trifield on the road there were still issues. The only way to make the kickstart useable was with the footrests way back on the pillion brackets, where they not only look weird but also the pedals barely clear the silencers. Then…

1 Clean the exterior to get rid of grit and grime, and secure the leg in the vice. Soft aluminium jaws and rag avoid damaging the soft aluminium of the fork slider. This is a right way up cartridge leg from a Triumph 955i Speed Triple. 2 First order of business is to loosen the damper cartridge bolt in the bottom of the leg. Just crack it for the moment – don’t remove it yet. If you take it out now, all the oil will run out – plus it will make the next step tricky... 3 Loosen the top bolt/adjuster assembly. The spring pressure in the leg allows us to do this without everything merely rotating. Rubber glove under socket protects soft aluminium. A glove on your hand will…

What’s the attraction? With their simplicity, purity and gut-churning power, big four-stroke sporting singles take a lot of beating for getting the blood pumping. Lightweight, slim and chuckable, a good 500 single is a delight on twisy back roads and fast sweeping bends alike. The torque that fires you out of a slow corners is addictive and there’s nothing quite like the bark of a sweet-running single getting wound up. With only one of everything to worry about, maintenance is simplified, too. BSA’s legendary Gold Star and Velocette’s Venom are genuine ton-up machines, both have their virtues (and a few vices) and both have won a legion of devotees down the years. Which is the obvious choice? It has to be the BSA. Think of the ultimate British sporting single…

PRICES Mint £4500-5500 Good £4000-4500 Project £2000-3000 OIL-IN-FRAME A65 models from 1971-73 may have their critics, but they retain the best qualities of the earlier models with a broad spread of torque and typical British parallel twin midrange punch. An A65 will nip up to the legal limit in very short order and won’t struggle in traffic, despite the fact that the gearbox has just four ratios. There’s the parallel twin vibration of course, especially over 5500rpm – but that’s all part of the essential character of a Brit twin anyway. The seat height is not as impossibly high as its reputation, and the handling is impressive with excellent stability from the strong, stiff frame with its slightly longer wheelbase than the previous A65 model. As for the conical hub…

Running alongside the brilliant video series is another incredible competition. To celebrate Episode one of MCN and Amazon’s Ready to Ride series, there’s a brilliant bundle of biking tools and goodies to be won. Getting a bike in tip-top condition requires a decent set of spanners and tools as well as plenty of top-notch products. Amazon and our other Ready to Ride series partners – Castrol and Noco – have supplied an array of amazing items to win and they will feature in the videos’ Kit Corner. To win this amazing bundle of tools and parts, simply head to www. motorcyclenews.com/readytoride Entries are now open and the closing date is 11.59pm BST on July 18, 2023. The prize bundles contains: • Castrol Power Racing 10w40 motorcycle oil • NOCO lithium…