Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i Real Classic

Do you have a favourite marque? Even a favourite model? For many years – maybe a couple of decades – I was unfathomably keen on AJS machinery. I owned three for a very long time, although typically only one of them was on the road at any one time, and indeed the very first AJS twin I acquired is still mouldering gently in a remote corner of The Shed. I read everything I could find about AJS, which is a fascinating marque, although a lot of the history seems to be unappreciated in recent years. My enthusiasm was fed beyond reason in the many years I was privileged to edit the AJS & Matchless OC’s magazine, where I discovered that fine club’s excellent Historian – who knew masses about the…

A big service star to Devon Stainless Rims who manufactured a one-off rear spoke and got it to me in 36 hours, all for the miserly sum of £8.50! Paul Jennings, member I just had some new tyres fitted to my Suzuki TS250. I had been running some mid-knobbly types and I was never too impressed with them on tarmac. After much umming, I finally decided on some new-fangled Adventure / Dual Sport tyres as my riding tends to be 98% tarmac and 2% other. I finally chose Michelin Sirac and I am very impressed with their road performance, they feel very positive with good feedback, and in my opinion they look OK. I’m not too worried about off-road performance; I think it would be me that runs out of…

THIS SMARTLY turned-out 1965 Cub is a matching numbers machine that ‘starts and drives like new’. Up for grabs at Pembrokeshire Classics for £3695 ON A RECENT RIDE this 1969 Super Cub happily sat at 45mph; the rear brake was noted to be more efficient than the front. On sale for £2850 at Andy Tiernan’s emporium THIS 1957 T20SH Sports Cub which ‘starts and runs’ sold at auction in June for £2200 plus premium LAST MOT’D three years ago, this 1961 T20B Super Cub sold for £1650 on eBay recently DESCRIBED AS ‘a great little bike in good condition,’ which starts and runs fine, with slight corrosion on its chrome, this 1960 T20 bid to £1850 but didn’t meet reserve on eBay last month…

If the BAR-None MCC can claim to have organised the first military motorcycle events in Egypt, it wasn’t first time speedway had been tried in the desert. In 1928, just nine months after the inaugural and hugely popular High Beech event, pioneer riders Ivor Creek and Billy Galloway were recruited by an Egyptian dirt track syndicate (!) to build a quarter-mile speedway track inside an existing greyhound track. The event was held in pyramid country, at Zamalek just outside Cairo. Ivor and Billy enlisted local labour, initially using rakes and baskets to construct the track. However, time began to run short, so first they used a motor car with a cricket pitch roller towed behind it, and eventually a heavy duty steam roller, in an effort to get a smooth…

BIKES RALEIGH RSW Mk2 small wheel cycle, £60. 3-speed Sturmey Archer gears, front hub dynamo lighting, all working. Paint good, chrome reasonable. Needs new front tyre and tube. Ken, 01530 270747, Derbys WANTS GUZZI V50 II or III, not Monza. In good running order, cosmetics not important. Would consider swap/px with Morini 350, see Sale ads. 01963 362890 WANTED: Rover 350 OHV, circa 1925. Complete, incomplete, project or parts. Anything considered from anywhere. UK or overseas. craig.exley@btopenworld.com BITS TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE T140V forks complete with yokes, handlebar clamps, taper roller head bearings. £250 Triumph T110 luggage rack, £50. wgt0607@gmail.com TRIUMPH PRE-UNIT SPARES. E3275 camshafts, some pitting on lobes, otherwise good, £50. Inlet manifold for iron head E3304, good, £30. Distributor mounting plate, good, £20. Pillion footrest hangers, solid but need work,…

THE MOTORCYCLE is genuinely exciting. If you can’t respond to the CB400F’s electrifying mechanical presence you should immediately switch your sport to checkers. Cycle magazine, 1975 THE WRETCHED seat strap nestles dead centre under most riders’ rear ends and is all but useless to passengers. Cycle World, 1976 AT 10,500rpm, a siren-song comes shrieking out of the engine and muffler and this music is the most captivating sound west of an MV Agusta 750. Cycle magazine, 1975 THE 400’s CORNERING is in line with its sporty looks. You have no trouble dropping it into corners or making rapid line changes in S-bends. Bike, 1976 THE LOW handlebars have an awkward shape, bending the rider’s wrists at uncomfortable and unnatural angles. Couple this to Honda’s hard, biting grips and you’ve got…

Back in 1959 my friend, George Mundie, was looking for a bike here in the Shetlands. I recalled from a few years before seeing a very original, late 1930s BSA coming off the steamer from Aberdeen and going to a man I knew. Enquires were made and it was established that he still had the bike. He hadn’t used it for a year or two and would be willing to sell it. So the following weekend we set off for Lunning, 25 miles north of Lerwick, to view the BSA. It turned out to be a 1939 Silver Star 500 and it was still totally original and sound, although a little scruffy. After cleaning the points and putting a little fresh petrol in the tank it started easily and sounded…

You have to wonder what on earth was going on between BSA and their US importers to come up with this one. It’s a 1969 BSA B25S Street Scrambler. It may be the only one of its kind in the UK, though there are a few still dotted around the States. I can only guess at the conversations that went on in impenetrable accents between Small Heath and New Jersey. ‘We’ve got this sporty Starfire 250 we’d like you to sell.’ ‘But buddy, nobody wants 250s. And if they do, they want Hondas that are easy to start and don’t explode dramatically. Unless it’s an off-roader. How about one of those?’ In 1968 BSA took a stock Starfire, painted the engine block black so it ran hotter than it did…

RC RHYMES! Fourteen years old and Vespa bought No knowledge to ride must be self-taught Five pounds paid of pocket money Adventures ahead for this school boy brummie A gallon of fuel and fields to hand Bump start to heaven ain’t life grand Ride round in circles till all fuel gone Then push back to home and worried mom This was the start of my biking career Never fails to bring smiles from ear to ear Since these early days many miles have past Over 65 bikes life’s been a blast Race reps and cruisers off road and on For all different reasons I’ve loved every one See it’s not just the thrill of riding carefree It’s like minded people like you and like me Friendships were formed still going…

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! AUGUST 4TH ➤ The CRAVEN COLLECTION opens 10am to 4pm at Brockfield Villa, Stockton on Forest, York YO32 9EU. Admission £5. 01904 400493 / cravencollection.co.uk AUGUST 7TH ➤ Join the Mid-Lincs VMCC for a BIG BREAKFAST at Rachael’s on the A158 in Hagworthingham, PE23 4AA, around 10.30. Possible ride after food. 01427 872247 /midlincsvmcc.co.uk ➤ The South Lincs and Peterborough VMCC section leave at 10.30am on their WRINKLY RUN from Stibbington Diner, PE8 6LR. £2 entry. 01733 3770241 /…

It has been a disastrous day/week/month for PUB, but a final success for AJS Mary and the Rex-Acme Villiers… The PUB Vincent is now becoming somewhat harder to handle on longer trips, as well as hard on aged hips when starting – especially many times in a row on those trips. So it was to the more modern electric start GS500 that PUB turned for her holiday trip, even though it was to a Vincent meeting. The modern bike also has oodles of 12V electrics, for daytime light running in Europe, and for a GPS that might correct a route error or find a hotel if necessary. It is, after all, time that PUB, who spent a working life designing GPS equipment and microchips, actually got around to using one!…