Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2018 i Real Classic

Of the many small-volume motorcycle manufacturers in two-wheeled history, Germany’s Friedel Münch was actually one of the most far-sighted. He foresaw the modern-day Superbike era in a dead-heat with Count Domenico Agusta by commencing production in 1966 of the world’s first four-cylinder performance streetbike to reach the marketplace, three years before the showroom debut of the Honda CB750. Except, the Count’s aesthetically challenged (I mean, a rectangular headlamp?) MV Agusta 600 Quattro was a practically apologetic example of multi-cylinder motorcycling, of which the 136 examples built had exactly half the capacity but somewhat more than half the weight of the aptly named Münch-4 1200TTS Mammut, as it was formally known before a German bicycle manufacturer who’d registered the name stepped in to prevent that. Münch Motorcycles constructed 478 such bikes…

Rodark panniers were originally made of metal and used an actual Triumph rear mudguard as the lid. Craven now manufacture these panniers in lightweight, durable fibreglass and rather than having the lock in the lid it is now mounted in the body of the pannier, for extra strength. The panniers themselves are not handed. They have stainless hinges with stops fitted to prevent the lids from falling and Craven has added an additional stainless wire strap to add another layer of support to the lid. The bottom fixing is a quick release secure push button. The handles were originally solid but these are no longer in production, so Craven have used the flexible metal and rubber handles that can be seen on their other luggage. These lie flat when not…

This month’s winners in our subscriber prize draw are GRAHAM PARROTT (member 6562) and STEVE SHARE (member 12,944). Congrats, chaps. Your surprise RC prizes are on their way to you! Our monthly winners are drawn randomly from all current subscribers: it’s our way of saying an additional ‘thanks’ for supporting the magazine. So if you’re not already an RC subscriber – sign up online or turn to the back of the magazine. It could be your turn next time! This month, there’s an additional opportunity to win something interesting in the Members’ Enclosure subscriber newsletter. So if you dropped it in the recycling before settling down to read the magazine, go back and reclaim it, quick……

The Sammy Miller Museum in New Milton, Hampshire, UK is crammed full of interesting machines – including one of the biggest collections of exotic racing bikes in the world, and all are runners! These include the V8 Moto Guzzi, AJS Porcupine, Mondial 250 with dustbin fairing, Nortons, Ducatis, Suzukis, Hondas, Velocettes and many more! The Road Bike Hall includes a huge collection of factory prototypes and exotic designs from all over the world, and of course there are plenty of dirtbikes and trial icons, too – over 400 bikes in total. The Museum is open to visitors daily from 10am every day at New Milton, Hampshire B25 5SZ. 01425 620777 / www.sammymiller.co.uk…

Check out the RealClassic Facebook page for up to date details of forthcoming old bike events, and to see if the RC Crew are on manoeuvers. Visit www.facebook.com/realclassicmagazine and ‘like’ the page. In the ‘like’ options, click to ‘see first’ in your news feed. Then you’ll always know what’s happening! SEPTEMBER 8 TH  & 9TH ➤ The YESTERYEAR RALLY opens 10am each day at Hampton Malpas, Chester, on the A41. Vintage cars and bikes, many other automotives, autojumble stalls, family entertainment, craft stalls, heavy horses, etc. Around 100 old bikes expected. Admission £10. 01978 780749 / malpas-yesteryear-rally.co.uk SEPTEMBER 9 TH ➤ The BORDERS CLASSIC BIKE SHOW opens 10am to 4.30pm at Lacon Childe School, Cleobury Mortimer, DY14 8PE. Just one day this year. Indoor show; outdoor jumble stalls,…

‘These are the current racer and its predecessor – now a quick road bike! The 350 racer’s engine is basically a Fury engine short stroked to 350cc and capable of 9500rpm. It’s fitted in a Crusader type rolling chassis and if I had been in charge at RE, it would have been offered as a big brother to the 250 Continental GT, and I would have called it the Continental TT!’ Lifelong Britbike enthusiast Paul runs Performance Classics in Carmarthenshire, and offers restoration services for all kinds of old motorcycles. Rebuilds, tuning and wheel-building are all done in-house. 01550 777608 / 07909 740160 / phenshaw@btinternet.com…

Well before the riding impressions can be written about, one has to actually ride the thing and make sure everything works well. Before this can be done legally one has to register the bike in the UK. Well… everything was now in place to get that very important age-related plate for the bike. So I duly filled in the necessary forms (V55) and sent off the data to the DVLA expecting problems – even though I have been through this procedure several times now. This way I am not disappointed when an issue crops up. No real issues this time except that after a week I was informed that the bike had to be inspected, presumably to verify it was what I said it was. So there was another delay…

1949 to 1956: Model 7 (29bhp) built 1951 to 1966: Model 88 (29 to 36bhp) built 1951: short Roadholders fitted to all featherbeds 1954: eight-inch brake introduced, welded rear frame loop 1955: alloy cylinder head, Monobloc carb, full width hubs 1956 to 1958: Model 77 (31bhp) built 1956 to 1962: Model 99 (31 to 36bhp) built 1956: AMC gearbox introduced, new camshaft, new silencers 1958 to 1960: non-featherbed Nomad scrambler built for export only 1958: coil ignition and alternator introduced 1960: slimline frame introduced; compression ratio increased 1960 to 1961: 650 Manxman built for export only 1960 to 1968: Atlas (49 to 55bhp) built 1961: compression increased again on 88 and 99 1962 to 1968: 650 SS (49bhp) built 1963: production moves to Plumstead 1964: 12-Volt electrics introduced 1965: drive…

Back in RC161 I’d sworn that if I had to choose between the Convert and my beloved 1972 Guzzi Eldorado for a long distance tour to remote places, I’d probably eschew logic and take the Eldorado, even though the Convert has all the advantages of better handling, better brakes, and a far more comfortable seat. But logic doesn’t always play much of a part in motorcycling. If it did I’d have left the Convert in the garage and taken my Guzzi Quota, my Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter… or have sold the lot of them and bought some new ‘adventure’ bike from one of those reliable Japanese companies. But where’s the fun in that? The Eldorado recently disgraced itself. At a mere 96,000 miles, something in the gearbox had decided it’d…

➤ The National Motorcycle Museum hosts its LIVE OPEN DAY. Join the RC Crew at the NMM, Bickenhill, B92 0EJ. FREE admission and stacks of attractions - including the RealClassic Car-Park Concours. FrankW will choose his top three bikes from all the machines in the car park at noon, with prizes for the winners and a chance to be featured in the magazine. Then there’s the opportunity to browse the museum displays of historic British bikes; an indoor autojumble and trade stalls, Stars on Stage, Meet The Experts, wheel-building demos; historic and recent race bikes fired-up; book signings, memorabilia, celebrities; food court, bar and live music. Bike parking free; cars £5 each. See you there! thenmm.co.uk…

It was the local VMCC’s Low Power Run at the weekend, which is aimed at cyclemotors, mopeds, small and vintage models, etc. and is to be encouraged. PUB intended to ride the sidevalve HRD, rather than the Firefly with which the round trip mileage would have been really arduous. Unfortunately, come Sunday morning the HRD’s front tyre was observed to be flat – oh dear. She did pop out to the start on the modern bike to commiserate with the organiser, for it had turned out very wet and entrants were likely to be few anyway – actually just one on a vintage bike, although half a dozen turned up at the café in cars. So the HRD’s wheel had to come out for investigation, without enthusiasm because of the…