Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2022 i The Classic MotorCycle

Car identity a puzzle Richard Rosenthal’s section of The Classic MotorCycle is always well worth the read, and we are very lucky to have someone so knowledgeable both in the historical and technical areas of our shared passions. However, and because the lovely old picture supplied by the Taverners’ Section of the VMCC (March and April issue) warrants as much scrutiny as can be mustered, I’d like to offer a suggestion or two on the identity of the car lurking so coyly in the picture of the garage, on page 76 of the March issue. It can’t be a Citroen, one of the makes suggested by Richard, for the very sound reason that said concern didn’t make cars at all until 1919, and when they did they trailed Ford in…

Motorcycles that you’ve owned and ridden for a long time tend to become almost a part of the family. Here is an outstanding example of that tendency, in the Harris family for 69 years, a 1923 Douglas 4hp, something of a favourite with the sidecar brigade who wanted a little extra power to transport the family as domesticity took over from any sporting pretensions. Bruce Harris, an engineer with a reputation for building competition engines and later quite a star of the world of model racing cars, had raced on grasstracks and in scrambles in his youth, favouring the Bristol-built Douglas as he was from that part of the country. During the matter of dealing with Herr Hitler’s ambitions from 1939 until 1945, he worked on aircraft engine design and…

After Karl Pugh got the club up and running in 1946 he remained very much involved with it. He soon held the position of chairman and either officiated or competed at events, which continued to grow in number and scope. It was obviously not all plain sailing as a note in the club history recalls interest from the local constabulary in the state and manner in which motorcycles were being ridden at a club event. However, things improved and a number of well known riders joined and entered sporting events under the club’s name. The depth of talent was demonstrated when the club could enter teams in trials and record significant success. The Fifties subjected the club to mixed fortunes. Member Derek Farrant became a big name in road-racing, riding…

01 Engine The power train and most of its ancillaries were contained in an aluminium casting, slightly altered from the /5 version, but still imposingly large. Within, the new design one-piece forged crankshaft ran on shell-type bearings, as did the 180-degree spaced connecting-rods. The 70.6mm stroke continued from the earlier series. At the front, a duplex chain drove the camshaft, located beneath the crank. The pushrods operated through tunnels beneath the horizontal cylinders. The barrels were aluminium,  but had bonded-in cast iron liners. The 90mm bores made the 898cc engine notably over-square. The pistons gave 9.5:1 compression. The rocker spindles moved on needle rollers and operated single inlet and exhaust valves in each cylinder. The R90S used 38mm Dell’Orto, rather than Bing, carburettors. Oil was held in an aluminium sump…

While the quotation heading up this feature is from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, and appeared in his 1890 story The Sign of the Four, it is applicable to the ‘Strange case of the untimed Triumph…’ which has been driving me to distraction for some time. On the face of it, a mild-mannered, 350cc Triumph 3TA isn’t the most technically advanced of motorcycles – I will allow as it is a twin there is a certain amount of doubling up in components, but, still, it’s not a complicated thing. Yet it has steadfastly refused to work as Triumph intended, or even work at all. I’ve pored over manuals, checked handbooks and puzzled over information, all to no avail. It’s not only Triumph who provided useful aids for…

Over the last month, I’ve given my 1967 Triumph Tiger 90 the once-over – decoke, new rings, service, replacement alternator and I was going to fit a new rectifier and Zenor. My local motorcycle shop looks after a few classic bikes and recommended that rather than fit the rectifier and Zenor, I should install a rectifier control unit… And, surprise, surprise, they have a spare one in their stores. Are they any good? Bill Graham, Kempton Park autojumble chat. I fitted one of these units to my 1966 BSA A50. The machine was bought as a crashed-but-running motorcycle. My son Peter and his wife Rowena sorted out the crash damage and gave it a flit gun paint job, as its role in our lives is as a hack, while I’ve…

This rather remarkable action picture is taken from the June 19, 1924 edition of The Motor Cycle, the original caption reading thus: “One of the Rene Gillet drivers, whose passenger had a strenuous 24 hours.” Yes, 24 hours – as the event in which the combination was taking part in was the Bol d’Or 24-hour race, held at Whitsuntide, on a road circuit (‘Circuit des Loges’) in the forest of St Germain, near Paris. The rider is Henriet, passenger unknown, though they finished third in their class, for 1000cc sidecars. Both Motor Cycling and The Motor Cycle carried coverage of the event – with each leading their reports on the news that, in a sea of French, Belgian and Swiss motorcycles, it was a British-made Sunbeam, an early 493cc overhead…

Brough, Vincents, Nortons – they’re all well represented in Bonhams’ sale at Stafford over April 23/24. Other eye-catching items include a pair of Sunbeams, the first being a rare and purposefully handsome 1933 Model 95 (the successor to the Model 90) and the other a 1950 S7, which was formerly the property of Robbie Coltrane, remembered by many for his appearances in TV series Cracker and the Harry Potter films as Hagrid – in fact, the lot comes with a picture of Coltrane in costume and a message ‘please look after the Sunbeam.’ There’s lots of other lovelies as well, including some nice AMC raceware – among them a Matchless G50 – and BSA Gold Stars, an MV Agusta ‘Boxer,’ a lovely flat-tank Model 18 Norton and a rare 175cc…

Looking at this picture, there are things that don’t tie up, so we sent it over to the ever-helpful Roger Gwynne, at Ariel specialist Draganfly, to try and work out exactly what it is. He said: “It looks most likely to be a 1946 350cc NG, with side springs on forks (as used 1939-46), the small headlamp, which is postwar, and the small oil tank, so 350cc, not 500cc. Tank is probably black rather than red and the rims are all black so NG, not NH. “But registration LMK 443 is a London number from May 1942, which does not match the image, as many features would not have been present on a bike built at that time, even if it had been built for a civilian organisation. I am…

One of the last events we enjoyed was the 2020 Bristol Classic MotorCycle Show, which took place just before the whole world closed down. So we have only missed one year – but, in many ways, it feels much longer. Heading back to the Royal Bath and West Showground, just outside Shepton Mallet, felt like a return to normality. Best in show was chosen as the rather fabulous 1960 Parilla single, owned by John Crookes from Yate. John bought the engine in 1984, as part of a project deal with another Parilla, stuck it under a bench, and dragged it out a decade later. He realised it was “a bit special” with a ‘high-cam’ engine and took it from there, restoring it himself to the condition it would have been…

There have been several landmark models in Ducati’s often roller-coaster rise from manufacturing two-speed 50cc pull-rod motors that could be clipped on to bicycle frames to alleviate the lack of personal transportation in war-torn, post Second World War Italy, to becoming the German-owned powerhouse it is today, winner of copious racing world titles. One of those staging posts along the way was the 1964 creation, by Ducati engineering guru Fabio Taglioni, of the company’s first customer road bike capable of breaking the 100mph barrier – the legendary 250cc Mach 1. Just 838 examples of this nowadays much prized ton-up model were constructed in the company’s Borgo Panigale factory in Bologna in 1964-66, fitted with the ultimate evolution of its first-generation, air-cooled, narrow-crankcase unit-construction SOHC valve-spring motor, with its cylinder inclined…

Bisected by the river which gives the small Wiltshire town its name, Bradford-on-Avon is perhaps not the kind of place you would expect to find a motorcycle manufacturer, but it was here in the 1960s one of the UK’s most iconic twins was produced. The machine was the Royal Enfield Interceptor and, as I cruise along the Wingfield straight which – prior to the bikes being shipped to the USA – was used as part of the road testers’ 20-mile shake down route, I’m on my way to meet up with three men (Maurice Mumford, Richard Smith and ex-road racer Richard Stevens) who all once worked at the factory at Upper Westwood. Over 50 years have passed since they clocked out from their last shift in July 1970, but, as…

Background Appointed managing director of BSA Cycle Ltd in 1921, replacing Charles Hyde, Commander Godfrey Herbert DSO was promoted to the board of the BSA Group in 1936 – a move upstairs for the man who’d steered BSA Cycles Ltd through the worst economic crises ever. Again promoting internally, the group appointed BSA Cycles Ltd’s chief salesman Joe Bryan as Herbert’s replacement. Aside from his sales duties, Bryan was responsible for many BSA publicity stunts, including the world tours with V-twins. As chief salesman, Joe knew the motorcycle range needed a revamp. True, BSA weren’t in the parlous situation of Ariel or Triumph when Valentine Page set to work, but their products were treading water rather than making the best of an improving world economic situation in the mid-1930s. Bryan…

The International Classic Motorcycle Show at Stafford County Showground on April 23/24 will celebrate the life of arguably the world’s greatest-ever motorcycle racer. In a world exclusive curated exhibition, Mike Hailwood’s son David is bringing together and showing some of the incredible, personal artefacts held in the Hailwood family archive, most of which have never been seen before, outside of the family home, in decades. In support of an official new Hailwood book launching at the show, items on display will include the George Medal awarded to Hailwood for bravery when he rescued fellow F1 driver Clay Regazzoni from his burning BRM at the South African GP; Dunlop cap worn by Mike on the podium after he won the 1978 Formula One TT; scale replica Manx Norton built by Norton…

The recent death of Dave Kay was sudden and a shock to all who knew him. His international reputation as the founder of Mechanical Veghera UK, and the subsequent 35 years spent constructing precision motorcycles, is sure to be long remembered. After Dave went through the process of trying the best British, German and Japanese machines, he bought his first road-going MV, a four-cylinder Monza, in 1977. MV Agusta had already stopped motorcycle production and there were concerns about spare parts availability. He, I, and other owners, formed the UK owners’ club in 1979. Dave started servicing MVs for other owners, including me, and gradually built up his small business. The progress over the following years, after being joined by son Mark and grandson Mitch, is well documented. They were…

While each of us undoubtedly have a list of dream motorcycles that we’d all love to own at some point, for many the financial commitment of acquiring even just one of those fantasy machines is simply out of reach. But there is another way of getting hold of a stunning classic bike, albeit requiring a certain element of luck… Each year, the National Motorcycle Museum organise a couple of prize raffles – one winter, one summer – included in which is the opportunity to win one of two classics. The raffle helps to raise funds for the running of the museum as, despite there being an entry fee into the museum, this is deliberately kept at a level low enough to encourage visitors, with the side effect being that actual…

That 2020 was not a good year we all know. In addition to everything else that happened, all Lansdowne races were cancelled, and we lost all our sponsors except for Avon Tyres. But not to be deterred, a full season of dates (seven meetings) were programmed for 2021, and a plea made to our loyal members for sponsorship. This was very successful and satisfying as 13 members agreed to sponsor the series, either through their companies or from the goodness of their hearts. We were all set up for a full 2021 season. It started with disappointment as the Welsh Government decided, due to Covid, that the race meeting at Pembrey could not be held, but after that the remaining six meetings all went ahead with hardly a mask in…

Karl and his brothers were of an age that meant they would not be immediately called up. The threat of bombing began a Pugh family part-exodus from London. Karl’s brother Louis and sister-in-law Margaret had been involved in the manufacture of toiletries after they had bought into a London-based chemicals company. With the prospect of the capital attracting enemy action, they needed somewhere rural, but with railway connections, to enable the business to continue. Farm premises near Tenterden, Kent, offered suitable requirements. Still running the chemical works, Louis had joined the local Home Guard at the start of the war. He was in charge of an ‘Auxiliary Unit’. The vague term concealed a sophisticated, covert guerrilla network. Numerous small groups would form the English Resistance should the country be invaded.…

Excelsior publicity material rightly claimed the firm Britain’s first motorcycle maker, having displayed a small range of motorcycles at the 1896 Crystal Palace, London Show. In 1903, an Excelsior ridden by Harry Martin at Phoenix Park, Dublin, became the first British machine to break the 60mph barrier. Later, Excelsior motorcycles scored many race wins at home and abroad, including IoM Manx GP and TT victories. Until the mid-1930s, Excelsior usually employed proprietary engines for its machines although they had their moments, making – or having made – their own-brand engines, including 3½, 4½ and 5-6hp singles, before the First World War. At the time, Excelsior steadfastly avoided V-twin power, preferring their own 96x112mm, 811cc (some suggest enlarged to 850cc on demand) single-cylinder four-stroke engine to power their largest motorcycles. A…