Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i The Classic MotorCycle

When I was selling one of my motorcycles a year or two back, I’d included in the advert that I’d be happy to consider any part exchanges, which is something I’ve pretty much always said whenever I’ve advertised anything for sale. One chap responded to my advert with the comment: ‘I presume you’re a dealer then?’ To which I explained I’m anything but a dealer, it’s just that when it comes to old motorcycles, as it was so beautifully put by the inimitable Oscar Wilde, ‘I can resist everything except temptation’. My tastes are so wide ranging that anything and everything is of appeal. To that end, I’ve perhaps not held onto things for as long as many people have or do, because I’ve always been keen to try the…

ASI MOTOSHOW The wonderful ASI Motoshow takes place over May 8-10, 2020, in Parma. With a sprawling autojumble, on-track action and free entry, it’s a great visit. Visit www. asifed.it CAMBRIDGESHIRE SALE Cheffins hosts an auction on April 18, 2020, at its Ely showground. Details or to consign from 01353 777767 or vintage@cheffins.co.uk JOIN TEAM OBSOLETE Team Obsolete is seeking a skilled race mechanic/ engine builder for their Brooklyn, New York shop. Please email CV and cover letter to bikes@ teamobsolete.com VELO BOOK BACK… AND BETTER Ivan Rhodes has updated his long out of print Velocette book, ‘Technical Excellence Exemplified’, with lots of new information and chapters and given it the new title ‘Velocette, Passion of a Lifetime.’ The official launch of the book will be at the National Motorcycle…

1920 The Birmingham MCC received 177 entries for their Victory Cup Trial, one of 20 open ACU events in this year. Of the entries received, 165 started, and 156 completed the trial. Although notorious hills including Birdlip, Old Wyche at Malvern and Rising Sun were terrors pre First World War, 1920 machines, in the hands of able riders, made easy work of them this time. Many, including Bert Bladder (8hp New Imperial outfit), Gus Kuhn (2¼hp Levis), George Dance (3½hp Sunbeam) and Howard Davies (6hp AJS) simply cruised up the ascents. Over a section of Bidlip, the Birmingham Club organised a timed climb, with Dance making fastest time of 25 seconds, closely followed by Eric Porter (3hp ABC), Davies, Frank Applebee (3hp ABC) and W Woodcock (6-7hp Ariel). Grinton (7-9hp…

This 1919 Model 140 Royal Enfield, owned by Paul Hepworth, is one of the oldest two-wheelers I’ve ever ridden. I was extremely interested in firing it up and taking the stunningly restored machine for a ride, but I wasn’t relishing mixing it with speeding cars and heavy quarry lorries lumbering along the busy roads near Paul’s home in West Wiltshire. A first ride on a motorcycle manufactured over 100 years ago, with its modest performance and marginal/ non-existent brakes, is not the ideal tool to negotiate modern traffic conditions, but thankfully salvation to my concerns came in the form of Robert Floyd, who invited me along to the beautiful Edwardian manor house at Great Chalfield to put the 3hp Redditch twin through its paces. Built in 1469, Great Chalfield was…

‘On any Sunday’ is a 1971 American documentary film about motorcycling, directed by Bruce Brown. It was nominated for an Academy award in 1972 and still has a cult following. For me, the appearance of actor Steve McQueen, filmed racing in the Mojave Desert, inspired me with an ambition to try desert riding, and like McQueen, I wanted do it on a Rickman Metisse. Bud Ekins, stuntman in the film industry and desert racer in Southern California, was the motorcycling mentor of McQueen. Ekins owned a Triumph dealership and as well as supplying motorcycles to McQueen, he taught him the skills of off-road riding. McQueen loved nothing more than leaving his Hollywood lifestyle behind and heading out to the desert with a bunch of friends to ride motorcycles. Along with…

I’m sitting writing this having spent the last three nights working on a pair of ‘teles’ – and I’m not done yet. I contest that while girders are fiddly, with bushes, grease nipples and the like, for flat-out hard slogging, nothing beats trying to bring a set of telescopics back from the dead. First comes the nerve-racking prospect of draining the damping oil. I say nerve-racking, not because there is anything difficult about the process, although air assisted forks can provide great excitement if you forget to let them down first; it’s surprising just how far even quite thick fork oil goes under a few psi of pressure. It is a big moment because, once you have got the drain screws to come out, the colour of the oil gives…

A longside developing an interest in car designs (including offering water-cooled versions of their single and V-twin engines, perhaps fostered by their earlier single cylinder JAP ‘Dual Sociable’) the Tottenham maker supplied engines to a growing list of motorcycle makers, including BAT, Chater Lea and Matchless. While JAP-powered machines enjoyed much success in trials and at speed events from illegal hill climbs to record breaking at the Canning Town cycle track, Matchless gave them their first IoM TT victory, at the inaugural 1907 races. Brothers Harry and Charlie Collier lined up for the race’s start on ohv 3½hp JAP single cylinder powered Matchless models, built by the Colliers, to be run over 10 laps of the St John’s Course. Every record book informs Charlie was victorious in the 158.125 mile…

One of the star lots at H&H’s sale at the National Motorcycle Museum on April 7, will include this 1938 Vincent-HRD Meteor, below, which was discovered incomplete in a barn, and subsequently restored over 10 years to its current condition. Specialists Maughan and Sons and Conway Motors have been involved in its rebirth. It has an optional Jaeger eight day clock, recently restored and in good running order. The Meteor has been dated and inspected by the Vincent Owners’ Club, with paperwork included. Copies of the original works order and original engine specification are included. Estimate is £30,000-40,000. Other eye-catchers include this unusual 1930 Norton CS1 (above), which has been in its current ownership since the 1960s. When sold, 100% of the proceeds of this Norton is going towards the…

Harley weren’t shy about promoting their new Big Twin flathead. “Boys, just gaze at this greatest of all Harley-Davidson 74s,” trumpeted the five-cent factory magazine. “Note the LOW saddle position. And see the brand new motor design. Yes, and look at the Drop Forged steel I-beam forks!” The catalogue gushed with even more self-praise: “Brilliant in design and engineering, brilliant in colours and chrome plating, brilliant in speed and performance – the new Big Twin is setting a new and faster pace in motorcycle history. Here is a mount that has everything you want or expect in a modern motorcycle – with advantages that no other motorcycle can offer, regardless of price... speed that fairly takes your breath away, lightning-like acceleration, amazing ease of handling, and the riding comfort of…

In my excitement to try and do away with the distributor for a tidier points-in-the-side ignition, a side case on eBay was bid on and arrived shortly after. It seems I was maybe a bit hasty, as it’s not right for the job, having more oil drillings in it than needed. All the part numbers cast in it were correct, so it was a bit of a mystery, still is if I’m honest, but the smart thinking – from someone who owned one – is it may be a 650 case. It is a very sad case which has been repaired by someone who welds worse than me.…

Beaded edge tyres – are they safe? Two readers have had recently fitted, new beaded edge tyres strip their bead and come off, while another asks is it better to have the wheels of his early 1920s V-twin rebuilt with rims to accept wired-on tyres, and three more have asked beaded edge tyre pressure advice. There appears to be a batch, or perhaps even a container load, of what are probably rickshaw tyres dribbling onto the European market and the two examples which stripped their beads may be part of this batch. While they are of appropriate sizes for motorcycles, one stated it must not exceed 30mph (50kph) and both implied they were two ply covers. However, priced at £35 each when offered for sale two years ago, they were…

THE SPECIALIST After nearly three decades, south London-based Ace Classics has become a byword for Triumphs, specialising in the pre-unit bikes. Usable, enjoyable, but in danger of being let down by poor-quality pattern parts, Cliff Rushworth, by establishing Ace, has done much to remedy that potential situation. He’s the man to thank for his wisdom on Triumph’s first Trophy model. ■ Ace Classics: 0208 698 4273; www.aceclassics.co.uk MODEL HISTORY Henry Vale, of Triumph’s recently instituted Competition Department, turned out three Speed Twin based bikes for factory riders competing in the 1948 ISDT (International Six Days Trial). With all awarded gold medals, it was an achievement on which the factory was keen to capitalise. One-day observation trials were the most popular of British off-road competitions, but were dominated by big singles.…

MARCH 8 Classic Bike Day. Ace Cafe, Ace Corner, N Circular Rd, Stonebridge, London, NW10 7UD. london.acecafe.com. Malvern Drive-In Classic Car & Bike Autojumble. Three Counties Showground, Malvern, Worcs, WR13 6NW. www.classicshows.org. Tel 01484 667776. Kenley Autojumble. Portcullis Club, Kenley Airfield, Victor Beamish Avenue, Caterham, CR3 5FX (sat nav CR3 5LT). www.kenleyautojumble.co.uk. BMPS motorcycle jumble & bikes for sale. Mochdre Village Hall, Colwyn Bay, LL28 5HU. www.bmpsnwales.org.uk. Email leonardferney@gmail.com. Ledbury MCC Anything Motorcycle Autojumble. Bromsberrow Village Hall, Albrighton Lane, Bromsberrow Heath, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8 1RU. Tel Sally Palmer 07968 649327. Email sallyannpalmer226@gmail.com. S Dorset VMCC Club Run. The Three Compasses, Charminster, DT2 9QT. Muchelney Abbey Run, tel Eddie Sheppard 01305 786891. MARCH 10 South Cumbria VMCC Club Night. Ulverston Sports Club, Priory Road, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 9HN. MARCH 14 S…

Guest of honour at Elk Promotions’ show, at the South of England showground at Ardingly, West Sussex, on March 29, will be legendary Triton builder, racer and raconteur Dave Degens. Additionally, the show boasts five indoor halls, with all manner of attractions. If you enter your pre-1980 classic into the show before March 1, then you’ll be sent a pass which will let you in free. Visit www.elk-promotions.co.uk for details, or contact Julie Diplock on 01797 344277.…

The life and work of Charles Benjamin Redrup. Innovative engineer and engine designer. New enlarged second edition Author: William Fairney Publisher: Diesel Publishing, 2 The Tithe Barn, Hawksbury Upton, Badminton, South Glos. GL9 1AY Email: dieselpublishing@gmail.com Tel: 01454 238553 Hardback, 160 x 240mm (portrait); 360 pages with over 200 black and white photographs and illustrations, plus 33 colour plates and now includes an index. ISBN 9780955445521 £18.95 plus £2.80 p&p (U.K.) Charles Benjamin Redrup, the engineer and inventor, was born in Newport, South Wales, to wealthy parents, in 1878. The eldest of 10 children, Charles was privately educated, where he showed a great aptitude for science and engineering. He was apprenticed for five years to the Great Western Railway as a Premium Engineering Apprentice, where he learned all aspects of…

With a racing nickname of ‘Unlucky Jim’ there’s really no doubt as to which side favour fell for James Douglas Jerrold Hampson-Simpson, though he entered races as J H Simpson. But despite his moniker of misfortune, he actually achieved plenty, racking up 14 continental GP victories, setting seven TT lap records – including the remarkable feat of being the first man to record 60mph, 70mph and 80mph laps of the Mountain Course – and accrued four third places and a quartet of runner-up finishes, as well as a solitary TT win. Born in Birmingham to a comfortably off family in the summer of 1898, both his parents were motorcyclists, with his father a depot manager for Rudge-Whitworth, and in 1910 Simpson senior rode one of the first experimental 500cc Rudges…

Given that motorcycling is primarily a solitary occupation, it’s somewhat surprising that club membership plays a large part in many motorcyclists’ lives. On second thoughts, though, clubs are incredibly important because without them riders (especially solitary ones) would find it difficult to share interests, experiences and problems. But which club do you join? There’s certainly no shortage of choice; TCM’s sister magazine Old Bike Mart regularly lists well over 100 clubs, and that doesn’t include local and informal ones. It could even be that just a group of friends serves as your club, but if you want a dating certificate or expert advice, you’ll need one of the bigger national clubs. Before joining, though, it’s wise to study the club’s magazine (most will happily send you a sample copy), because…

Recently, I bought a box of new, old stock bearings. About half – including the ones I needed – were wrapped and coated in grease, while the others had been cleaned and have since rusted. How can I clean the rust off to save these bearings? Richard Newark, email. Unfortunately, once bearings have rust to their roller/ball element and bearing surfaces, they are scrap. Even if you succeeded in cleaning the rust away, the working surfaces will be compromised and they won’t serve for long, no matter how well you lubricate them. However, before you throw them away, check you are really looking at rust, not dried grease which will clean off with solvents, leaving bright shiny surfaces. Once clean, lubricate them immediately, as they will soon start rusting in…

From his grid position way back, Britain Dave Chadwick – with a couple of helpers in some rather natty headgear – looks fairly relaxed on his Norton for the start of the 500cc scratch race, at the Transvaal Club’s Grand Central Circuit meeting, on the main road between Pretoria and Johannesburg, staged on February 2, 1957. There was a crowd of around 20,000 lining the 2½mile circuit – and a lot of them had come to see one man – multi-world champion Geoff Duke, who was there with a 500cc four-cylinder Gilera. In this race, Duke duly did as expected, streaking off to take the win, though the start had been delayed allowing him to make it on time. Feeling unwell, he was last man to the grid, but there…