The Classic MotorCycle September 2017

My friend Jim (a car journalist) and I play an email-based game between ourselves which we’ve called ‘Me want’, where basically we simply send each other a link for the latest vehicle, 90 per cent of the time a motorcycle, that we want. What makes it amusing is how eclectic both our tastes are. Mine are predominantly sparked by things I see in the course of putting an issue together, or being out and about at various events. So, this month, in no particular order, I’ve lusted after (among many others) a Series A Rapide (never going to happen), a Guzzi Airone Sport (it passed), Matchless G45 (see Rapide comment), a veteran of some kind (though Richard Rosenthal has counselled me, advising I go Triumph, rather than some of my…

Twomotorcycle-mounted scouts come to the aid of a lorry, stranded with a broken rear axle, somewhere in south Yorkshire one would reason, being that Swinton andMexborough are just north-east of Rotherham, on the banks of the River Don. The lorry was ‘conveying supplies to the camp’ from where, one assumes, the scouts had come; the motorcycling press had been at the forefront of the appeals for motorcyclists to join the war effort (war having been declared on July 28, 1914) so much so that just seven days after the outbreak of hostilities, the territorial units were all filled and there was a war office waiting list.The Motor Cycle stated (in the flippant tone of the ‘over by Christmas’ then feeling of the day): “Our readers are advised to seek other…

Kiwi ex-World SuperBike (WSBK) star Aaron Slight will be the guest of honour at the 24th Carole Nash Classic Mechanics Show over the weekend of October 14-15. As fast and smooth on track as he was flamboyant and controversial off it, Aaron will have some entertaining tales to share with the Stafford audience. And with more than a decade of racing inWSBK for both factory Kawasaki and Castrol Honda teams – when the series was arguably at its peak – the friendly New Zealander will have plenty of great races to draw from. The Classic Mechanics Show, the largest show of its kind in the world, majors on the later Japanese and European scene, and promises the usual successful mix of almost 1000 trade and autojumble stalls, stunning club stands…

• STAFFORD SALE The grid is being assembled for Bonhams’ October sale extravaganza, being held at the Stafford showon October 15. There is some tasty machinery already confirmed, including two each of SeriesCBlack Shadow Vincents and SS80 Brough Superiors. Details from www.bonhams.com or 0208 8963 2817. • BANTAMS STOLEN Three BSA Bantams were stolen fromagarage in Oxon on June 27-28. The three machines (blue 1966, registrationDWL256; red YKK96J; and grey FSD298) were all fully restored. Any information toThames Valley Police 43170 189047. • BONHAMS AT BEAULIEU Among the motorcycles in Bonhams sale at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, on September 2, are a Series C Black Shadow, aModelHTriumph and a neat little ZB32 BSA. Details from 0208 8963 2817 or www.bonhams.com • STROUD SHOW August 4, 5 and 6 are…

The vintage motorcycle movement lost one of its biggest characters and supporters with the passing in June of staunch, lifelong enthusiast and authority David Earnshaw. Winning the Machine of the MillenniumTrophy at the 2000 StaffordClassicMotorCycle Show gave David huge delight, being the icing on the cake of his lifelong passion for ‘old bikes,’ his expression for the flat-tank-eramotorcycles only. His 1912 738cc ohv TTV-twin Matchless won him this one-off millenniumaward. Born in Doncaster onJune 15, 1941, Davidwas brought up in the family home with his two sisters aside the Earnshaw’s fish and chip shop atThorne, run by his father Edward – or rather, Mr Earnshaw to most folk. At this point one could detail career, education and other achievements, but for David, family apart, it wasmotorcycles – namely veteran and…

Granville Bradshaw: a flawed genius? Second edition Author: 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.) E-mail: bjrustic@aol.com www.brenelltape.co.uk Softback, 190 x 250mm, 300 pages, approx. 200 photographs and illustrations. ISBN 978-0-9556595-4-6 £25. Granville Bradshaw was an engineer and inventor of extraordinary vision. His now legendary and often revolutionary designs for early aeroplanes and engines, such as the Dragonfly, pioneering cars andmotorcycles, including the ABC, and his interesting oil-cooledengines, quickly brought him fame and success. His designs for gamblingmachines made him a fortune, which he then managed to lose as a victim of a shares swindle. His life spanned the entire development of aviationand motor industries, fromthe very early days through…