Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2017 i The Classic MotorCycle

This month has involved lots of miles on several different motorcycles, once again underlining that, for me, diversity is the spice of life. From my annual jaunt to the Irish rally, to a couple of club runs, as well as shows and visits, it has been a fairly frantic spell, where, as always happens, I realise my ability to become enthused about any old motorcycle is seemingly unbounded. My 350cc side-valve Sunbeam had a moment in the limelight, and I duly decided that was all any classic enthusiast could want – until I borrowed dad’s 500cc ohv flat-tank AJS and decided that, actually, was the epitome of old motorcycling, and I’d really, really like one of them. A day out on another of dad’s stable, this time his 1966 MSS,…

1917 Up to now, the British police hadn’t used motorcycles for their duty. But the Tokyo police office had bought three Indian Powerplus motorcycles, so was it a case of the west lagging behind the east? Despite the ongoing war, some British motorcycle and components makers continued to record satisfactory profits. Brampton Bros Ltd announced a 10% dividend on its ordinary shares and the Self Sealing Rubber Co Ltd announced a 12.5% dividend. 1942 The Lowestoft Corporation had officially written to the Ministry of War Transport suggesting front numberplates on all vehicles should be dispensed with. These plates could then be used as scrap for the war effort. 1967 Swiss racer Luigi Taveri finally announced his retirement from motorcycle racing at all levels. In later years favouring the under 250cc…

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! NEVER MISS AN ISSUE SEE P18 FOR DETAILS Further to the letter from Nigel Stennett-Cox, in the October issue, and again not strictly motorcycle related, Nigel comments the design was used on cheap American cars, it was also used on not so cheap British cars. Heading for Christmas in North Wales in my father’s 2½ litre Jaguar in either 1952/53, we stopped at my grandfather’s in Banbury for lunch (whose 1928/29 Sloper I still have, incidentally, in boxes). After lunch, about six miles out of Banbury, a scraping noise was heard at the rear. The rear wheel was out and scraping on the mudguard, still attached to the half shaft, but being heavy loaded did not come all the way out. Recovered back to a garage in Banbury…

The article on Bert Fruin (p80, October issue) mentions one of the fourcylinder kit bikes is in Peter Murray’s museum in Santon. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Many years ago, Peter’s father Charlie bought Bert’s home-made 200cc four-cylinder racer (with Demm cylinders) together with the 125cc single on which Bert had campaigned in the TT in 1957 and a two-cylinder two-stroke which Bert was planning to ride in the 1962 race, but which did not reach the start line. When Peter moved his museum from the Bungalow a dozen years ago, the four and the single were sold and both are now in a private collection in England. The Fruin twin does, however, remain on display in Santon. As well as Bert’s own four, as the article suggests,…

“The first bike I ever sold? It was a Manurhin Hobby, when I was 12. “Mum and dad had a bungalow with a big garden and a few sheds. I was into bikes and as we had the space I used to mess about with them and buy and sell the odd one. Bikes used to find me, really.” Almost 50 years later bikes are still finding Andy Tiernan; in fact there’s a fair chance that if you have a classic or vintage British bike in your shed, it’s passed through his hands at some stage in its life. The sound of a local radio station and the jangle and clang of tools fills the workshop. Andy, hands in the pockets of his freshlywashedoveralls– wife Jo made him wear a…

Born in Palermo on February 14, 1907, Domenico was the first son of Count Giovanni Agusta, whowas of Sicilian origin, and his wife, Giuseppina; in the same year Domenico was born, Giovanni designed and built his own biplane, the Ag1, before later working for Caproni. Giovanni and Giuseppinawere to have three more boys (Vincenzo, Mario and Corrado) and in 1923 Giovanni founded a company, Costruzioni Aeronautiche Agusta Spa, to build aircraft. But within four years of the foundation of his business, Giovanni died, aged 48, leaving the business in the hands of his wife, though young Domenico was involved by now. During the 1930s the Agusta empire grew but the Second World War ruined the company and come the cessation of hostilities, in the tiny village of Verghera, near the…

“Behind the Scenes in the Vintage Years” Author: “Torrens” (Arthur Bourne) Edited by: Richard Bourne Published by: Troubador Publishing Ltd., 9 Priory Business Park, Wistow Road, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leics LE8 0RX Email: books@troubador. co.uk www.troubador.co.uk/ matador Tel: 0116 2792299 Softback, 140 x 215mm; 323 pages with over 35 photographs. ISBN 978-1-78589-852-5 £24.99 Born in West London in 1902, Arthur Bourne had been amotorcycle enthusiast from an early age and at 14 was allowed to ride his first motorcycle, a 293cc New Imperial, to St Paul’s School, where he received a classical education, before studying engineering at the Imperial College, South Kensington, from 1920. By 1923 he had the great good fortune to be engaged as engineer to the Auto- Cycle Union (the ACU was the governing body for motorcycling), which…

Coding comments I’ve just finished reading July’s issue and enjoyed the article on the RAF Ariel W/NG, as I have a soft spot for ex-WD motorbikes. I did notice one small mistake on page 40, picture three, and later on in the text. It says that the ‘B/3’ marking on the mudguard stands for ‘Battle group three’ – not so, this is actually the RAF’s vehicle classification code. ‘B’ stands for B echelon vehicles and ‘3’ is for motorcycle: the number changed depending on the vehicle type. The Army used a letter code in the front of the serial number to tell what vehicle type it was, for motorbikes it was ‘C.’ Hope this might be useful . Jay Smith, via email. Anelay in Manchester On the topic of the…

WRITE TO: The Classic Motorcycle, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, LN9 6LZ EMAIL: jrobinson@mortons.co.uk With reference to the article on the splendid Matchless in the October edition of TCM, it may well have been entitled ‘Sizing up’ as indeed it was; were owner Andy Pennell and tester Phil Turner aware they were riding a 350? Andy has a G5 Matador engine squeezed into his G2 frame; the engine number will be prefixed by the year of manufacture followed by G5, or 8 if it’s from an AJS. There are 12 fins on the cylinder, the 250 has only nine, though it seems to be lacking the rockerbox fitted with an exhaust valve lifter of the 350, which was also fitted to some late 250s. The chassis is a 250 as…

Nestling by the river which gives the town its name, Bradford-on-Avon is perhaps not the kind of place you would expect to findamotorcycle factory, but it was here in the 1960s one of the UK’s best but now largely forgotten twins, the Royal Enfield Interceptor, was manufactured. Our test bike isaMark II Interceptor and one of the last to leave the West Country factory before its closure in 1970. After spendingmost of its life in the USA, it has recently been brought back to the country of its birth where its current – and fourth – owner is KevinCharles, a man well known for his impressive collection of Difazio hub steerers. In its 47 years, the 736cc twin has only covered 13,000 miles andwears that wonderful patina of faded paintwork…

“So I may have become a boring wimp, but at least I’m still here and still enjoying motorcycling.” If ever an old adage was patently too simplistic, it’s the one you see above. Unfortunately you inevitably become too old for some activities as you age, and I’m not venturing into personal relationships. Instead I’m thinking of things like the marathon I’m not able to run anymore (not that I ever did, although I once managed 10K), and I’m not going to become a weightlifter (not that I ever was, although I used to handle bags of cement with aplomb). The muscles and bone strength just aren’t there anymore and, as mature readers will know to their cost, it takes much longer to recover from strains and breakages if you damage…

Bill Hunt A clubroom quizmaster asked: ‘What role did Bill Hunt serve at the 1959 IoM TT?’ No one knew, including the quizmaster who had made an error in his crib sheet. Whoops! Jenny and Steve, email. Research, rather than memory, was involved in answering this question. Former American serviceman William (Bill) J Hunt was contracted by Honda to be part of its first team to visit the IoM to compete in the annual TT races. He had racing experience including with a 650cc Triumph, and had recently been appointed to act as translator in America before and after Honda began to establish its American network. Bill was a fluent speaker of Japanese and his IoM roles were as a translator who could help the all-Japanese team in the IoM,…

Aaron Slight, the flamboyant Kiwi World Superbike star, will be guest of honour at The Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show at Stafford County Showground, over October 14/15. Slight’s name will be familiar to many, mainly as he was from the era when world Superbike racing was on terrestrial TV and with Carl Fogarty support running high, a real battle between all the Japanese ‘big four’ 750cc screamers and Ducati’s big booming 1000cc V-twins made for compulsive viewing. Slight’s aggressive riding, outspoken views and outlandish haircuts made him somewhat of a cult (and divisive) figure. He’ll be on stage through the weekend. Elsewhere, it’s business as usual for the fabulous show – though the focus is Japaneseaccented, there’s a huge diversity of machinery to be found. Pre-order tickets at www.classicbikeshows.com or 01507…

▪ CHEFFINS SALE The Cambridge Vintage Sale of vintage and classic tractors, motorcycles, classic commercial vehicles, steam engines, spares and memorabilia at Sutton, Ely, Cambs, takes place on October 14. Details from www.cheffins.co.uk ▪ PREWAR TRACKDAY The organisers of a track day at Lydden on Saturday, October 21, are willing to run a group for prewar machines. Cost is £89 and the man to contact is RichardBott 07900 206634. ▪ H&H The next H&H auction at theNational Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, is on Saturday, December 9. There are a few machine sales already confirmed, including an interesting and rare Scott Cyc-Auto. Details www.handh.co.uk ▪ MELLING BOOK There’s a new offering out soon from Frank Melling calledRide of My Life. The bookwill be on sale at the Stafford show. ▪ MECUM Over…

Regarding the letter ‘Points to make’ (October issue) and Deltic (not Deltric) engines, these engines have 18 cylinders in three banks of six, arranged in a triangular formation and thus have 36 pistons (not three cylinders and six pistons). As the engine used a lot of aluminium in its construction, it was also fitted in minesweepers (non-magnetic). I worked on installing a Deltic in one minesweeper during the early 1950s. Because the engine was considerably lighter than the diesel which would otherwise have been used, some large lumps of lead had to be installed in the bottom of the hull to obtain the correct waterline. A half size Deltic, with nine cylinders, 18 pistons, was also manufactured. We seem to be straying away from motorcycles just a little here! I…

Do you recall the revs v cc war? I was there. In the mid-1960s I was returning home from an evening ride on my Norton Model 50. The 350cc single was plodding along up a slight incline, when something shot past – a Honda twin, I think it was. Being at that silly young age, when you don’t know any better, I thought to myself, ‘right, I’m not having this,’ so I opened up. Yes, that’s right – very little happened! The bike had more sense than me. I heard a gulp of air into the carb, then the Norton, going slightly faster, carried on regardless. The Honda, or whatever it was, had gone. So I learned the lesson – revs were not for me. I am happy to report…

Although beaten to the honour of creating America’s first fourcylinder motorcycle by the Pierce Four introduced in 1909, when Scottish-born brothers William G andThomasWHenderson founded the HendersonMotorcycle Co. in Detroit, Michigan in 1911, their aim was tomanufacture a luxurious, reliable four-cylinder machine that was substantially better than anything else available. While TomHendersonwas a financial whizz, brother Bill proved to be one of the finest engineers in the USA’s early days of motorcycle R&D.The luxuriousness and quality of his designs outranked anything yet made by a European manufacturer, resulting in the company’s products being christened as ‘two-wheeled Cadillacs’. After building a single prototype in 1911 with belt final drive, in January 1912Henderson Motorcycle Co. began manufacture of 25 examples of its first Model B Four for public sale, powered by a…

Track racing is a blanket term, usually covering the disciplines of grasstrack, long-track and speedway. While the techniques involved in any of the three are similar, they are all totally at odds for thosewho have ridden solely on the road. Imagine travelling flat-out on a bumpy surface and approaching a broad hairpinbend. Instinct says you need to scrub off speed as soon as possible. Yet your lightweight, high-speed machine has no brakes! And no conventional gears. Overturning a road rider’s instincts, as you turn the bike, you lay it down and twist the throttle back open. Balancing throttle and wheelspin broadslides the bike around and into the following straight. Opponents can be performing identical actions just inches away. Track racing is physically tough and mentally demanding. Since it began, almost…

“Villiers Services were both amused and concerned by my woes, confirming that, in their experience, clutches either slipped, gripped or wouldn’t release, but rarely did all three!” I’m still playing with my Villiers-powered 1961 Fastakart. I had initially decided to stay with its period modified specification, but when a kind acquaintance offered literally all the parts needed to return it to as-built specification, the decision to remove the later modifications, such as the better front brakes and the more modern gear-change, was an easy one. The engine has been checked and, with a few electrical tweaks, is running, and I’ve even had a little test drive and established a full complement of gears – all very satisfactory. It hasn’t all been easy though. I’ve been fighting with a clutch that…

YWA Reg mark: CE 2085 = Cambridge c1910 Unfortunately the tank transfer is indistinct and makers of ladies models often followed a similar theme making identification uncertain. We have a 1910 Ladies Model Handy Hobart with 293cc side-valve MAG (or MAG copy) engine and Armstrong clutched three-speed rear wheel hub, which looks in many respect very similar to the subject model. Similarities include dropped frame design, enclosing engine and rear wheel shields, long Druid or Druid style front fork, light possibly grey enamel finish and near box like tank housing both engine oil and petrol. But there are dissimilarities too. The angle of the visible cylinder implies the engine is either ‘sloped’ to aid installation or it’s the front half of a small V-twin. While motorcycle makers often endeavoured to…

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 obmfreeads@mortons.co.uk OCTOBER 4?15 Rally Colombres. Sixth International Meeting of Classic Motorcycles, 1st Rally North of Spain. www.motoclubindianos.com OCTOBER 7 Rufforth Autojumble. Rufforth Park, York. Tel: 01904 738620. www.rufforthautojumble.com OCTOBER 7/8 CRMC Brands Hatch. www.crmc.co.uk (provisional) Westonzoyland Sprint. Tel. 07753 146099. OCTOBER 8 Bovingdon Autojumble. Upper Bourne End Lane, Bourne End, Hertfordshire, HP1 2RR Tel: 02082 526831. BTSC Red Neck run. West Surrey Section run to QE Park Petersfield. Tel: 01483 272765 Garstang Autojumble. Hamilton House Farm (on A586, off A6), Garstang, Preston, PR3 0TB. Tel: 07836 331324 (day) or 01772 323654 (6pm-8pm). Email:…

In May 1955, a course was run at the Army Motor School, Strangnas, in eastern Sweden, for the prospective maintenance men of a batch of Triumph Tiger 110s, to be used by the Swedish police, the members of which did much of their training at the Army site. Until the mid-1960s it seems the Swedish police was largely regionalised, which meant that each area was free to choose its own vehicles, with the featured area plumping to spend some of its budget on the new, top-ofthe- range Tiger 100, the freshly introduced 650cc twin. It’s interesting to note the highrise ‘export’ handlebars and the valance on the front mudguard, plus the addition of crash bars, warning lights and sirens, with a neat leather bag nestled on the tank-top parcel grid.…