Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 51 Summer 2019 i Classic Dirt Bike

A 1962 Triumph 649cc TR6SS ridden by Bud Ekins, the American desert and enduro competitor who performed the famous jump as stunt double for Steve McQueen in The Great Escape, was one of the star lots at Bonhams' Spring Stafford Sale, achieving a world record auction price of £97,750 – over three times its top estimate. This outstandingly original Trophy model, which was the subject of competitive bidding across two continents and bought by an American bidder, helped Ekins, who was also a friend of Steve McQueen, win a gold medal inthe 1962 International Six Days Trial. Ekins – aTriumph dealer – arranged for the factory to prepare the machine and have it taken to the start of the 1962 ISDT ready for him to ride after his filming duties…

By 1969, when the Stormer was launched, AJS had long since lost its independence. Taken over by Matchless in 1931, by the 1950s it was part of AMC – Associated Motorcycles – which included Norton. But AMC itself wasn’t in great shape, succumbing to a takeover by Dennis Poore’s Manganese Bronze Holdings in 1966. This new regime launched the Commando, and the AJS Stormer was its second new model, though it could equally have been badged as a Matchless, Francis-Barnett or James, all of which were part of the AMC stable. The original 250cc Stormer was joined by the 370 in 1970 and the 410 in1971, but by 1974 NVT decided to close production down. “We needed the capacity for the Commando,” says Mike Jackson. “That was selling well, was…

1. BikeVice Not only is the cost of having your dirt bike nicked measured in monetary value, there is also the aggravation of having to deal with your workshop, shed, van or wherever being broken in to as well. Then there’s the possibility of higher insurance premiums – assuming you can get insured – plus the constant worry that it will happen again once you’ve fixed wherever it was nicked from. All this adds up to major frustration for the poor owner. What’s needed is a simple and quick to use security device and this BikeVice looks just the job. It accommodates the rear wheel of a typical MX, enduro or trials bike, a locking gate swings over the top of the wheel, it’s all locked in place with high…

A regular feature of the Classic Dirt Bike Show is the Saturday evening meal at which the show guests get to sing for their supper in front of a packed dining room. This year Jack Burnicle interviewed trials superstar Dougie Lampkin and former BSA factory MXer and multi-British champion John Banks. As is Burnicle’s wont he teased out a few revelations from each guest’s incredible history and we, the assembled crowd, got a flavour of just how Lampkin and Banks made their way to the top of their fields. Given Dougie Lampkin’s wry grin, this could be the point he admitted channelling some of his early sponsorship into a state-of-the-art sound system for his van. Trials riders Glen Scholey and Eddie Aitkin obviously enjoyed the dinner and interviews. John Banks…

Since event organiser Mortons Media Group Ltd announced the change of date and venue for the International Dirt Bike Show, trade continues to pour in, ensuring showgoers will have a jam-packed two days at Stafford County Showground on September 28/29. Latest to sign up is kit, clothing, parts and accessories giant Off Road World. The company’s managing director, Jason Harding, stated: “Off Road World is excited to be attending this year’s Dirt Bike Show at the new venue of Stafford County Showground. Previous years at Stoneleigh Park have been hugely successful for us and we look forward to carrying that on this year and meeting more new customers. Lining up alongside them are Yamaha and Talon Engineering plus wheel builder and exporter Central Wheel Components. The wheel specialist has put…

The Northern British Bike Championship, one of the UK’s best supported classic championships, got underway with its first round ‘The Poachers Bag’ hosted by Poachers Pre-65 Classic Trials Club at the end of March. Set in the picturesque Lincolnshire Wolds and starting from Smith’s Farm, the round consisted of a 22-mile lap of farm tracks, B and C roads and 34 observed sections, which really did showcase the trial for the 108 riders who had made the trip. Due to the loss of Biscathorpe Pit for this year’s event, the organisers changed the route and to vary the format increased the number of sections at Smith’s Farm, with a new group at New Wood that increased the opening leg to 12 very varied sections. Riders then followed the regular route…

Now, let’s tell you a bit about the owner. Chris served his apprenticeship at Siemens and when leaving to set up his own business – CT Systems UK Ltd, www.ctsystemsuk.com – his gaffer said they wanted him to be a Siemens Integrator, which is quite rare and means he’s still associated with Siemens. Trials ridingwise his career started in 1976 with a Dalesman at a Rochdale trial, followed by an event for Huddersfield Falcons at the same ground our test was on. From the Dalesman he went to Ossa and the usual other stuff us trials riders rode in the Seventies and through to the new millennium. When asked “What’s your favourite bike of all time?” He answered “this Velo .…

The legendary road racer really did ride a Stormer, briefly. Mike Jackson takes up the story: “In 1973 we decided to pull out of international racing and aim the 250 and 370 Stormer at the clubman instead. To publicise it, we got Barry Sheene to ride one. “The idea was that the average guy just starting up has little confidence off-road, and Barry fell into that category. He was an occasional trail rider but had never ridden in a scramble or a trial, so perfect. “I knew Barry from seeing him at events so asked if he’d like to come down and ride the Stormer for a bit of publicity, and he said, ‘Yeah all right – 15 quid and a pork pie for me and me bird all right?’…

From the 1973 schoolboy MX scene in Northern Ireland to mixing it with the best at Farleigh in the 1980 MX d’Nations was a rapid rise for young Watson. Dave has suggested his early racing – against the likes of Laurence Spence and Stephen Russell – was instrumental in bringing him on. Racing against such competition in his formative years couldn’t help but make a lad improve and the result was Dave Watson was top lad in 1975 and the adult race scene was next. Adopting an unusual riding style – he kept his feet on the pegs, trials style, wryly claiming this was because he wasn’t the tallest of racers and the feet-up way felt more natural. By 1977 Dave was on 500s – almost straight from the schoolboy…

Parts for the Trials and Enduro models are freely available from Martin Matthews of MotoSWM, based in Cheddar in Somerset. Over the last few years he’s been busy both reproducing and tracking down SWM components, building up a large stock of new and new-old-stock and good second-hand parts to keep your SWM running. So far he’s managed to come up with everything I have needed, plus a heap of interesting and detailed information… He’s definitely recommended. www.motoswm.co.uk…

Classic Dirt Bike is very lucky to have our favourite 'Geordie' Tim in the editorial chair, or at least it is on the rare occasions he finds time to park his backside in the deep, comfy leather. This is because like most of his readership, he is either out there riding or more likely fettling one of his many and varied 'projects'. Sometimes he even gets round to writing about them! The latest old knacker – sorry, valuable future classic – to be wheeled into the venerable editorial rev-shed is a 200 Montesa, belonging to a family member, that terminally expired recently. The bike that is, not the family member. "It just stopped!” was the explanation as it was dropped off for Tim to work his magic on it. It…

Easter 1976 was an exciting time for me personally. At 17 years old I would take part in my first national trial, the Beggars Roost, on Easter Sunday, but before that my dad and I would break our trip to Minehead, with a stop off at Matchams Park, for the Hants Grand International (upgraded in 1967) on Good Friday. I recall dad set me the challenge of driving us through the streets of London in his Mini Countryman with my Bultaco Sherpa in tow. At the time I was driving on ‘L’ plates and I vividly remember being harassed by a very impatient driver as I negotiated atricky one-way system on the A4. Though not lost, I recall that he gave me very explicit advice as to where he thought…

XR200R’s younger sibling Having just flicked through the latest CDB, it seems we have another favourite bike in common, or nearly the same. I've got the XR200R's younger brother, a CRF230F, and similarly it is much more than the sum of its parts. An air-cooled, low-powered engine, drum rear brake, goes absolutely anywhere a lot easier than some highly tuned fuel-injected monster. Not sure what the cut off is for Vinduro, but these came out in 2003, although I don’t think they were imported here for long, if at all. The model has just been superseded for 2019 and it has hardly changed since they came out. Try and get ago on one sometime. Colin Beasley Email Colin, the Honda looks great and is a worthy follower to the XR200R,…

machine preparation was his trademark. The Norton power would go towards the end of the decade, replaced by a Triumph engine, but the preparation was still superb. A mysterious illness laid Cheney low for a year and convinced him to concentrate on the bike building side of things. A chance meeting with Jerry Scott led to A top rider and a top tuner working together can produce superb results, but when the two are combined in one individual, then excellence occurs. Just such a person was Eric Cheney, a top-flight MXer in the Fifties – when he and Les Archer campaigned a pair of Norton-based machines on the Continental MX Circuit immaculate the development of Cheney’s first frame and his knowledge of racing MX meant the world was soon beating…

Latest news from the Leven Valley Two Day Trial is the entries have been upped to 250 from an initial 200. So popular has the event been that the organisers were oversubscribed almost on the day the entries opened. The trial will take place in Kinlochleven on September 28/29, 2019 and will be all off-road. There will be one lap each day and the terrain will be typical Highland going. All successful entrants have been notified and all those who were not have also been contacted concerning a reserve list. If anyone has any queries about their entry get in touch via david.dougan71@ btinternet.com…

The Kia twinshock series is going from strength to strength and full entries are the norm, however there’s a bit of extra special news as the organisers have been taking donations for the Teenage Cancer Trust and have already collected £1286 in memory of Dominic Feaks, Nigel Allen’s partner’s son. Dom lost his battle with cancer last June, aged just 21. To raise further funds there will also be a Calendar Girls Charity Calendar photoshoot on July 20 and all proceeds from the sale of the calendar, trial entry fees and tickets for the evening will be going towards the Teenage Cancer Trust in memory of Dom. Keep an eye out for updates and more information on the Kia Championship website. In the meantime, if you have any questions or…

Anyone who has ridden at or been to either the Pre-65 Scottish or our CDB Northern British Bike Championship trials will have seen Chris Haigh’s superb Velocette. In a scene where excellent preparation is the norm, Chris’s bike takes things to a new level and it is a level we should all aspire to. That aside, in the trials world Velocettes aren’t all that common, though thanks to Chris and one or two others in the Huddersfield Falcons club there’s now more of them out there. CDB got the chance to have a close-up look at Chris’s interpretation of a Velo trials bike and for good measure Paul Jackson was persuaded to bring his MOV and MAC along too. The basis of Chris’s bike is one of Paul Jackson’s HT…

...Huddersfield Falcons MCC for sorting the use of their regular venue at Horn Hill; John Fortune for instigating the test with an email before Christmas; Chris Haigh for letting me loose on his bike (brave, as he’s seen me ride); Paul Jackson for the chance to try not only the bike he’s prepped for Richard Allen to use in this year’s Pre-65 Scottish, but his 250 too. The day was a ‘Falcons’ benefit really, as multi-Classic Manx GP winner Bill Swallow, a lad with more than a passing connection to Velocette and regular Pre-65 rider Nigel Greenwood – both of whom have held a variety of offices in the club – were on hand for ‘encouragement’ and allowed their bikes to be photographed too. If you’re based in the Huddersfield…

Terry Pickering, it’s fair to say, has a thing about AJS Stormers, owning several of the two-stroke 250s and 370s. Growing up with AJS development engineer David ‘Fluff’ Brown as a friend of the family, it could hardly be otherwise. “I knew Fluff Brown as Uncle Fluff,” Terry told me, “because my dad ran Stormer Motocross so he and Fluff knew each other well. Because dad ran the business I of course rode a 250 Stormer in motocross, but by the late 1970s it was getting outclassed. I can still remember the Maicos coming past me.” AJS was one of the oldest British motorcycle marques but by the time the Stormer first appeared, was a minor cog within Norton-Villiers. Launched in 1969 as a 250 based around the Villiers Starmaker…

Choosing material from the vast archive at the CDB head office is a monumental task, not because it’s difficult to find images to put in the magazine, but because there are so many it’s difficult to decide what to leave out. Flicking through the back issues of The MotorCycle – the publication which forms the backbone of the archive – is often the way to start. It helps of course when the issue concerned is from 1980, an era when the editor was actually reading the paper as an enthusiast rather than a journalist and each page is a memory jogger rather than a ‘good grief, did they really do that then?’ So, September 1980, and the mainstream British industry, as far as off-road was concerned at least, was over.…

The Milan-based company founded by Piero Sironi and Fausto Vergani built its first machines in 1971 but didn’t get into the trials market until 1977, choosing, perhaps unusually, Austrian Rotax two-stroke engines with rotary valves to power their creations. Introduced in 1983, the Jumbo broke the rotary valve mould with a reed valve 350cc motor, which was essentially a tamed version of the Rotax enduro engine. It was wrapped in an all new frame with restyled plastics to suit and running the new-for-1983 alloy swingarm in common with the company’s smaller trials models. Famed for having almost too-much in the grunt department, 1984 models like mine would lose the reed valve in favour of a blanking plate in an effort to soften the power and gain 38mm Betor forks to…

The American Suzuki team bikes were a bit closer to the production machines of the year and the theory is in those days the US had a ‘claiming rule’ where for a certain period after a race was finished any rider in the race could claim the winning machine, there was a set fee that would have to be paid and the bike would have to be handed over. The thinking behind this was to prevent ‘money no object’ factory bikes doing all the winning. If your factory bike is a tweaked production machine then this matters a little less than if it’s a handcrafted special.…