Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i The Classic MotorCycle

What’s in a name? I was thinking that when reading about the Norton P11 in this issue (p20), which sports a Matchless badged petrol tank, but as it was a parts bin special when made in its day – Matchless frame, Norton engine and forks – then really either name could be employed. Bryan, owner of this one, happens to prefer Matchless and thus it has the winged M on the petrol tank (we know he’s not prejudiced though as his Norton featured in our December 2017 issue). The Motobi as featured in this issue too (p40) was another marque which later was subjected to badge engineering, with some examples sporting Motobi badges, and others Benelli, in the later days of the flat-singles. Then we’ve a Vincent here too; Vincent…

PIONEER RUN 2018 There are few finer spectacles in old motorcycling than the assembled throng on Brighton seafront, as riders finish the Sunbeam MCC’s Pioneer Run. Head for Madeira Drive on March 18. CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE WINTER CLASSIC Last minute reminder: The Carole Nash Classic Bike Guide Winter Classic takes place at Newark showground on January 6/7. See classicbikeshows.com  for more details. MECUM SALE There’ll be 1750 motorcycles offered at Mecum’s Vegas sale, on January 23-27, at the South Point Hotel and Casino. Details mecum.com AJW WEBSITE Ex-TCM staff writer and current Stafford chief judge Dennis Frost, has launched a website devoted to AJW motorcycles, dedicated to his late friend Roy Wheaton, a distant relative of AJW founder Albert John ‘Jack’ Wheaton. Take a look at…

1918 Welfare at work was becoming a cause for concern, especially regarding the employment of girls and boys in factories. BSA was taking the matter seriously and in a lecture Mr W L Baylay, for the Small Heath giant, outlined their enthusiasm for improving the issue. Mr Baylay said the welfare of minors entering factories was often neglected by parents and employers. He added that the BSA Co ran a scheme aimed at improving the life, training and careers opportunities of boys and girls. The works regarded such schemes as a matter of duty to minors, rather than a commercial or philanthropic undertaking. In return, the 1943 Figures released by the War Office indicated each complete 350cc and above machine now cost the Government 1968 Due to increasing business commitments…

Start ’em young... I took this picture of my daughter Madeleine yesterday and thought you might enjoy it. I have often felt that I’m a little younger than the average classic motorcycle enthusiast and we could do with some more young blood to keep the interest in classics going. I am proud to say that Madeleine, now nearly two, is showing the appropriate level of interest in bikes already. Perhaps she can skew the normal distribution of readership age by a few years at least. Not sure if I can substitute TCM for Peppa Pig at bedtime yet though. Simon Ingold, via email. BM from 1968 Thanks for publishing my letter in the December 2017 edition, about the terms of Ariel’s warranty on their bikes and including the photo of…

An early Friday morning, spring 1963, and in Ellesmere Street, Manchester, the sound of ‘clip-clopping’ feet on the cobblestones wakes 21-year-old Vic Vaughan who, after an all-night 250-mile drive from his home in Somerset, has been sleeping in his pickup, waiting for the Dot motorcycle factory to open. At 8am, Vic is greeted by owner Burnard Scott-Wade, before handing over one of Dot’s new 250cc Demon scramblers to Vaughan, the firm’s new recruit. The ‘kit form’ Dot is loaded up and within an hour, Vic and his bike are heading west, on a seven-hour trip home. Saturday is spent building the Dot, for its first competitive outing the following day. The Taunton youngster wins four races and records one second. A good start. Motorcycling was in the blood. Vic’s father…

Can you solve stroboscope mystery? Would you be kind enough to expose this problem to your wider and much more electrically experienced than me audience? While checking the ignition timing of my Moto Guzzi Nuovo Falcone recently, I came on a phenomenon which baffled me, and, also the UK agent of the manufacturers of my strobe, who initially could offer no help at all. My strobe is what you would call of quite reasonable quality, the sort you’d find in any self respecting motorcyclist’s workshop, but it simply wouldn’t show a light on my Moto Guzzi. I then tried it on my little Villiers-engined Francis-Barnett – success, then on my lawn mower – again, success, then back to the Moto Guzzi – and, again, nothing. Fortunately, I was able to…

RN – Remote Needle In 1937 Amal began marketing the RN carburettor, which loosely followed the basic design of the TT except its main jet, jet holder, needle jet and needle were mounted into a casting to the left side of the body, giving unrestricted choke. As with the TT, its air slide was housed in a casting on the body’s right side. While it followed TT practice with regard to size ranges (i.e. 15 RN and 10RN) and pilot system, it used a type specific needle (marked RN) and identifiable needle jet. Its complex fuel passages made the RN harder than the TT to tune precisely, but thanks to its unobstructed choke, it gave a little more power. Although a racing instrument, it was intended for petrol only and…

On Saturday, February 10, Artcurial Motorcars will hold a separate sale featuring an important single-owner collection of fascinating motorcycles. Belonging to a French enthusiast who started collecting in the 1960s, the collection comprises nearly 80 pioneer, veteran and vintage machines. Many of the bikes pre-date the First World War and they offer a fantastic testimony to the early days of the motorcycle. Based in Thiers, the knife-making capital of France, old motorcycles often found their way to the region to be dismantled so that the metal could be melted and recycled to make knives. This collector rescued some rare and unusual motorcycles from this fate and displayed many on walls, like paintings. In addition to early French machines, including Perno, Werner, Lamaudiére, Janoir and Majestic, the collection features well known…

“The Rugged Road” Second edition Author: Theresa Wallach Introduction and biographies by: Barry M Jones Published by: Barry M Jones, Unit 2, Rustic Crafts Workshop, Bixley Lane, Beckley, Rye, East Sussex TN3 6TH (First published by Panther Publishing Ltd.) Email: bjrustic@aol.com www.brenelltape.co.ukSoftback, 155mm x 235mm, 174 pages, approximately 48 photographs and illustrations ISBN 978-0-9564975-2-9 £14.95 London to Cape Town overland by Panther motorcycle and sidecar, pulling a trailer. No roads, no back up – just straight across the Sahara, through equatorial Africa, and south to the Cape – in 1935, without even a compass! This is quite simply the most amazing motorcycle journey ever told and a revelation for today’s travellers. Theresa Wallach and friend Florence Blenkiron were remarkable women in a male-dominated world – Wallach gaining a degree…

“The thing is, I’ve decided, motorcycling in whatever form suits your lifestyle and interests is all about the sensations it evokes.” I’ve just read an article about learning to ‘get your knee down’ on corners, and to be honest my first reaction was to be a bit sniffy about the whole thing. Obviously I can see why racers do it when they are cornering hard, because it’s a useful way of gauging how far they are banked over; and on the limit (or just over it) they can use their knees to support the bike or even nudge it upright again. But I’ve always done my best to avoid any bodily contact with the tarmac while I’m riding, so the idea of paying a couple of hundred quid to go…

Born on January 6, 1924, in Garbagnate Milanese, Alfredo Milani was considered among the best – if not the best – of the immediate post-Second World War era Italian road racers, with his most successful year being 1951 when he finished second in the 500cc world championship to future Gilera teammate Geoff Duke, then riding a Norton. Making his racing debut in 1946, Alfredo was for four years a sidecar driver, but swapped to solos in 1950 – he was good enough to appear (chosen by Signor Giuseppe Gilera) regularly on works two-wheelers by 1951. His brother Albino, passengered by another brother Rossaro, continued on Gilera chairs, with Albino a four-times GP winner. Alfredo was a regular Gilera team man in the 1950s, winning three GPs – 1951 at Monza…

Steve Jones was well known to all on the autojumble circuit as Steve’s Stainless, selling a vast range of stainless steel fasteners from his stall at events all over the UK. His wife Mand and daughter Tam often accompanied him on an adjoining stand. Ever helpful, Steve must have enabled thousands of people to complete restorations and keep their machines on the road. Sadly, whilst on holiday with Mand, in Goa, he was taken ill and died there of a heart attack. His cremation took place in India, attended by Mand and their children Aaron, Lawson, Sophie and Tamaryn. Our thoughts and condolences are extended to Steve’s family.…

Look in just about any motorcycle manufacturer’s catalogue from the 1930s and you’ll find a competition model listed. Designed for the man who liked to ride to work during the week and enter off-road trials on Saturday or Sunday, these bikes usually featured knobbly tyres on 21in wheels, high-clearance mudguards so that they didn’t get clogged with mud, a crankcase shield to protect the engine against rocks, a high-level exhaust pipe, and wide handlebars for better control when the going gets tough. Weight was saved by using open chain guards instead of fully enclosed cases, and lights would be an optional extra. But Adrien Mercier decided there was another way to build the ultimate go-anywhere motorcycle. Based in Lausanne, the Swiss inventor looked at the tank for inspiration. These heavy…

Motorcycles are often loosely described as trendsetters when they are nothing of the sort. Taking a couple of examples from opposite ends of the spectrum, the vintage four-cylinder Matchless Silver Hawk and the 1972 Triumph X75 Hurricane both created much razzmatazz at launch, but disappointed their makers with relatively few sales and no successful follow-up models. In complete contrast, nobody could have predicted how the humble Vespa – introduced as a cheap commuter suitable for war-ravaged Italy – would be followed by innumerable variants, and it’s still going strong. Closer to home, the BSA Empire Star was another machine which had much further-reaching results than even its makers could have reasonably expected. The Small Heath, Birmingham, company was always known for no-nonsense, value for money motorcycles, and that was undoubtedly…

Born on March 8, 1895, in Highgate, London, Charles Benjamin ‘Ben’ Bickell was working in the civil service as a clerk at age 16, though his love of speed was strong from early on. But it wasn’t until 1928, when he was 33, that he made his motorcycle competition debut, accepting a personal challenge at a grasstrack. Enjoying this taste of competition, Bickell wanted more, making appearances at Brooklands – by the end of his first season he was getting noticed and before year’s end was mixing it with the frontmen, as well as earning a reputation as a fast starter. At the end of 1928, Ben – now running a motorcycle and car garage, Bickell and Sons, 260 Archway Road, Highgate, N6, in partnership with his brother Joe –…

Earlier in 2017, I was lucky enough once again to be invited to commentate at the annual Sywell Pistons and Props event. The motorcycle and car runway demonstrations are exciting for everybody and one of the highlights for those attending the event as an ‘insider’ is always the Saturday evening drivers’ dinner. That sounds a bit highfalutin and formal, but it’s actually a low-key affair that allows all the drivers and riders demonstrating at the event, along with partners and the kids added to the mix, to chat, listen to a band and generally have a good time. Noticeable is the almost total absence of alcohol; while there is wine and beer laid on, most abstain as they are going to be strapped into or draped over some high powered…