Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2024 i The Classic MotorCycle

Organisers of any outdoor event this year have been plagued by the sheer unpredictability of the climate, with some recent motoring festivals suffering ‘a month’s rain in a single day’. Kop Hill Climb, always held so near to the autumn equinox, was once again favoured by the weather gods, opening on Saturday, September 21, with cloudless skies and remaining so for the entire weekend, the meeting concluding on Sunday 22. This resulted in possibly the largest number of spectators ever recorded on Sunday, not certain as still counting, but a brilliant financial outcome for charitable funds raised. This year, two notable anniversaries were celebrated, with 60 years of Lamborghinis and the final event of the celebration of the centenary of the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club. The organisation displayed a selection…

Featured in Motor Cycle of June 27, 1963, the caption that went with this picture reads: “Conversation piece on Cam Fell, 1800 feet above sea level. A continuous shelf of limestone makes a natural well-drained way for many miles; thus, Cam Fell is a great route-centre of packhorse roads.” For that was what John Ebbrell’s feature was about – Packhorse Roads, or at least the riding of them. As Ebbrell explains: “Our primitive forefathers, Saxon, Dane and Norman, built up the old roads of England. The Roman Empire was gone. They needed only tiny bits and pieces of the great Roman roads; the rest fell into decay. “They grew their own food and made their own clothes; trade was a local affair in things like salt, wool and lime. “In…

On leaving the house at 6.45am, an icy coating to the car was a nasty shock, though it would have been more unpleasant if I’d been going on a motorcycle. However, on this occasion it was just a question of digging out the de-icer and turning up the heater, while still being somewhat surprised at the conditions. It wasn’t even October! Thing was, it had been a bright evening the night before, while the day promised to be similar – it might be cold, but it was going to be dry. And as I headed out across the country, bound for Birmingham from my Suffolk base, quite soon, the sun was brightening the sky and we looked like having a nice day in prospect. A nice day, weatherwise, that is,…

I heard a new word the other day: ‘rightsizing’. It means using the right vehicle for the right job. It’s a seemingly obvious concept, and certainly not a new one, but it’s one most people – and the motor industry – appear to have forgotten. Despite the price of fuel, that the road network is more strained than ever and ecosystems are collapsing around us, our vehicles just seem to keep on getting bigger, heavier, and more complex. I had to laugh the other day while reading some promotional material for the latest Japanese roadster, which the manufacturer proudly announced had been fitted with an electronically-controlled, automated clutch and gear change system to – amongst other claims – help make it more accessible for newer riders, yet it had a…

The Salisbury and District Motorcycle Club’s annual Arbuthnot Trial is one of the first events on my annual calendar. The route of this true classic motorcycle 80-mile trial was painstakingly put together by Ian Rennie in 1982 to match as far as possible the original route of the riders in the Arbuthnot Reliability Trial held in the 1920s. It takes in stunning views across the Wiltshire and Dorset countryside, a wide variety of off-road terrain on some routes not available to the general public, as well as the traditional blast up the hairpin bends of Zigzag Hill, just for the fun of it. No afternoon’s stroll The club promotes the trial by saying: “The Arbuthnot is not a Sunday afternoon’s stroll, it’s a hard day’s ride which will leave competitors…

On October 11-13, 2024, the annual Barber Vintage Festival at the world-leading Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum outside Birmingham, Alabama, celebrated the 30th anniversary of its foundation. It marks the third decade of what its founder George W Barber describes as “just having fun!” Courteous and correct, yet clearly fired by an inner passion for doing whatever in life he chooses to accomplish to the best of his ability, 84-year-old George W Barber is the man we all dream of becoming. The Alabama businessman from America’s Deep South has made a success out of everything he’s done in life. His father, George H Barber, founded the Barber Pure Milk Co family business in 1921, then purchased dozens of small independent dairies in the 1940s-60s, making the renamed Barber’s Dairy Company Alabama’s…

Returning to Shoreham Airport for 2024, the Pioneer Run is still going strong, albeit with numbers seemingly down on last year, though the spirit of the run is maintained. On October 5, veteran enthusiasts dug out their early machines to make the journey from Epsom Corner to Shoreham. Many turned up at the airfield, thrilled that they had made the run in one piece. Some groups shared a few generations within their contingent, which was great to see, proving that hopefully the run will have a core group to keep it going for years to come. Having attended the event lots of times, it is common to see many of the same machines, especially the ever-reliable Triumphs. However, I’m always thrilled to see some of the more obscure marques come…

Worthy of a full-page feature in The Motor Cycle of May 19, 1932, plus a pair of paragraphs the week before, the report of the Austrian TT recorded that: “British machines did well.” The initial mention of the race (in the May 12, 1932, number) went thus: “The Continental road-racing season started early this year, several events already having been run. The latest is the Austrian TT, held last weekend. “British machines did well. Schneeweiss (Rudge) won the 500cc class and Leightl (AJS) the 350ccc. The 250cc event went to Cmyral, on the Austrian Puch, and Bohman, on a JAP-engined machine, the 175cc. The fastest lap was made by Runtsch (AJS).” That was followed up the week after with this picture and a fuller explanation of the race. The caption…

This picture was published in The Motor Cycle of April 19, 1914, as part of a feature called ‘Looking back – 10 years ago’ which promised, “Interesting reminiscences and comparisons as revealed by The Motor Cycle in 1904.” It’s particularly relevant for us with this issue, as we have the five machines which date to the 1902-04 period featured on page 48 – so what was being looked back at from 1914. Actually over that 10-year period the development was at a staggering pace, because by 1914 there were models available that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the 1920s, while the 1904-ish machines already looked like antiquated relics. Talking of the machine which we have pictured here, the photograph is complete with original 1914 marks and annotations, and…

It is well known and reported that Velocette – or Veloce Ltd, to give the company its correct name – excelled in motorcycle road racing, with the Hall Green, Birmingham-based concern racking up 15 TT wins between 1926 and 1967, European championships, the inaugural 350cc world champion in 1949 (and retaining it in 1950) as well as doing well in various trials and even, for a time, moderately well in speedway. But what about scrambling, or motocross as it became known? Not so much. The first recorded scramble/motocross took place on Bagshot Heath, Surrey, in 1924, its 100th anniversary being celebrated this year with a series of events. Whether there were any Velocettes in it, not sure, though it was won by a two-stroke Scott. In 1924, Veloce was the…

Event report | West Kent Run There’s a significant band of riders for whom the first weekend in August is firmly fixed as the signal for a few days to be spent in the agreeable surroundings of The Friars, the Carmelite Priory near the ancient village of Aylesford in Kent. That weekend is the traditional date of the International West Kent Run, when a common thread of bikes at least 30 years old brings together a mix of generations and nationalities. Now in its 38th iteration, it has become the type of gathering equivalent to some of the all-embracing continental events. The days when entries for the (pre-Covid) West Kent went faster than Taylor Swift concert tickets (a well known chanteuse, M’lud) are yet to return, but this year, the…

It was a fairly standard mantel clock of the day, nicely cased, with an attractive chime and equipped with gearwheels to govern the ratio of movement between its components, an arrangement that had been developed and refined in clocks over many years. By contrast, at the 1910 TT, the provision of transmission gears for motorcycles was in its infancy, most machines having direct belt drive from engine to rear wheel, giving just a single-speed. The exceptions were Scotts and Indians which had two speeds, plus a few that were fitted with a variable drive pulley, permitting a small alteration in drive ratio. The first TT race of 1907 was created by the Auto Cycle Club (later the Auto Cycle Union - ACU), “for the development of the ideal touring motorcycle”…

Although George W Barber’s collection was opened to the public in 1995 at its original Southside location in downtown Birmingham, it reopened in September 2003 in a purpose-built museum complex outside the city, alongside its own racetrack. This imaginatively designed structure, with a central elevator and Guggenheim-type spiral display layout, houses a growing collection of over 1400 motorcycles – at least 650 of which are on display at any one time – representing 216 different manufacturers from 20 countries. It’s claimed that 99% of the bikes on display are able to run after less than an hour of recommissioning. The museum’s display area now covers more than 250,000ft² in total, and attracts well over 300,000 visitors annually – usually over 80,000 of them at the Barber Vintage Festival for Historic…

We’ve all been there, doing a fiddly little job which looks like nothing, yet takes a much longer time than something major. In this case, it is the fitting of a chain tensioner to the rear final drive chain of Project Triumph. Why fit one? Because I’m accustomed to having a chain tensioner on my trials bikes, so want one on this project. Problem is, there’s never an easy way to do such stuff, or the easy way involves skills or facilities I don’t have… like welding. However, there are a number of lugs on a Triumph frame available to mount stuff on, so the theory was to find a cheapo tensioner, modify it and job sorted… I can’t quite identify exactly when rear chain tensioners – as opposed to…

The Sunbeam MCC’s main purpose is to encourage ownership of pre-1940 motorcycles. The investment market may have salted away many such examples, but the club also does its best to promote the use of older motorcycles in any way that it can, by offering opportunities to ride the bikes in similar company over roads more suitable for bikes with fewer horses answering to the throttle. Once a weekend of activities, these have now been condensed into the more convenient Summer Pioneer Run, as it incorporates the Bolney Vintage Run, so the day is now open to all Sunbeam-eligible motorcycles. Naturally, sidecars, tricycles, even quadricycles, are also welcome. The village of Bolney in West Sussex was the centre of operations. It has good access as it marks the crossing of two…

This year’s theme for the Heritage Zone classic display at Motorcycle Live at Birmingham NEC over November 16-24, 2024, with machines provided by the National Motorcycle Museum, is ‘First and last’. Of course, it’s impossible to have the actual ‘first and last’ machines from every company, but these selections give a good impression of where five of Britain’s big motorcycling names started, and where in their original incarnation, each ended; for all five of our quintet are still making motorcycles, to bigger or lesser degrees. While not wishing to take anything away from the modern concerns, which, in the case of Royal Enfield, BSA and Norton are all now Indian owned and making fine products, likewise Triumph and Ariel, though still in British ownership, the ‘last’ chosen for each maker…

Arguably, the overhead camshaft Norton is probably one of the most famous motorcycle engines ever made, lasting over five decades in its various guises, starting as a racing powerplant and one that, over its iterations, would give the company many championship wins and accolades. The first ‘cammy’ engine designed by Walter Moore in 1926/27, it was based on Norton’s existing Model 18 engine designed by James ‘Pa’ Norton, who had died in 1925, with the newcomer sharing the crankshaft, crankcases and the same bore and stroke. The engine, with its familiar 79x100mm dimensions for the 500cc version, had the camshaft driven by two pairs of bevel gears via a hollow vertical shaft running up the outside of the engine. At the bottom the gears were contained within a new case…

THE SPECIALIST Draganfly Motorcycles was established in 1976. Soon after, it started trading in Ariel parts and has continued to do so ever since, acquiring further stocks and, importantly, making pattern replacements when this is feasible. Roger Gwynn was the original principal of Draganfly and we are grateful for his knowledgeable input with this guide. ■ Draganfly Motorcycles: 01986 894798; draganfly.co.uk MODEL HISTORY BSA had acquired Ariel (and Triumph) in 1951, but they remained separate entities. Brand loyalty was a valuable sales aid and Ariel a well-respected marque. While its stable-mates had released 650cc twins to the market in 1950, Ariel’s 500cc choices left a big step between those and the one-litre Square Four. To fill the gap, and maintain the marque’s equine appellations, the FH Huntmaster arrived in 1954.…

YOUR EVENT SHOULD BE HERE The Classic MotorCycle is anxious to learn all about your motorcycle-related events. Contact us at The Classic MotorCycle, Mortons Media Ltd, Diary Listings, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email obmwallplanner@mortons.co.uk NOVEMBER 2024 1 DECEMBER ISSUE OF THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE IS IN THE SHOPS TODAY 2 YOUR OLD BIKE MART WITH YOU TODAY 3 Ton Up Day (The Leather Boys 60th Anniversary), Ace Cafe London, Ace Corner, North Circular Road, Stonebridge, London NW10 7UD. Tel: 0208 961 1000. Web: london.acecafe.com 4 NOVEMBER ISSUE OF REAL CLASSIC OUT NOW 7 Classic Bike Night, The Victoria Bikers Pub, Whitwick Road, Coalville, Leics LE67 3FA. (Every Thursday from 6pm.) Tel: 01530 814718. www.vicbikerspub.co.uk 8-10 The Iconic Auctioneers Autumn Motorcycle Sale, The NEC Classic Motor Show, NEC,…

Black nickel A sound, shiny, deep black finish, often applied to electrical and instrument components. The matt finish is achieved by pre-blasting parts with bead or even sand if appropriate, to abrade surface. Can be used for fasteners which originally had a chemical black finish. Cosletising Some regard this as an example of chemical blacking components, others not. There are a range of approaches to cosletising, often involving heat. An example employed by some, is to boil steel items in a solution comprising 30gms iron filings and 120mls phosphoric acid per 5l water. Phosphoric acid is not only dangerous to handle but is difficult to source, and the vapour released on boiling is corrosive. Not a process for the home workshop… Cadmium plate For decades, the soft, dull finish of…