Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2024 i The Classic MotorCycle

A glance at just one image in our wonderful archive invariably leads to research which opens up a whole raft of interesting facts and stories. And this one certainly does that. The man at the helm of the AJS 18S and Canterbury Warrior sidecar combination is Colin Turnbull, an author and anthropologist, who, having set off in October 1957, had ridden all the way to the Belgian Congo, where he was to spend time at Camp Putnam, studying the local population. It wasn’t Turnbull’s first such trip though – as he explained at the start of his article published over two issues of The Motor Cycle, February 20 and February 27, 1958: “Fools never learn, they say. After Newton and I finished our 1951 trip through Africa and Egypt on…

Norton/Triumph | Dominator De Luxe/5TA Speed Twin When I see a ‘bathtub’ motorcycle – generally a Triumph as they’re by far the most common – the thing I ask myself, every time, is ‘why?’ I’m not debating whether the style looks good or not (actually, I happen to quite like it as it’s of its period), anything like that, but I just have never been able to quite understand it. The thinking, one assumes, was to keep road muck away from the rider but, really, how much detritus gets flung towards the rider from the rear wheel? None, I’d say. Was it purely an aesthetic thing in that case? People like to say it was to do with making the motorcycle look more modern, more scooter-ish, whatever. But if so,…

Interview | Duncan Dunbar Classic life It is the dream of many to strike out on their own in this working world and in this respect, Duncan Dunbar is no different to a lot of people. The difference for the man who runs Dunbar Race Engineering is his high level of academic qualifications in the subject which is backed up by practical experience gained in the hotbed of F1, British Superbikes and MotoGP racing. Such a track record alone would be good but, additionally, Duncan has a thorough grounding in the classic motorcycle world, which includes restoring and riding classic roadsters and racers. It was perhaps inevitable Duncan would be drawn to the classic world given his family involvement with the sorts of motorcycles which grace the pages of this…

Mention sprung rear hub suspension and we think of Meriden’s post Second World War concept, offered as an option from 1946 until the factory introduced swing arm frames. Considered by some a poor, dangerous product, but to others a useful addition to rigid frame design, Triumph was neither the first use of the concept, nor the only vehicles to employ such. Many pioneer motorcycles up to circa 1905 comprised engines clipped to cycle or stronger cycle-like frames, with their front forks cycle-type rigid designs. Even early small engines pushed motorcycles along faster than their cycle frames could handle, and the added weight of the engine, tank, accumulator and sundries aggravated the situation. The result was rider discomfort, snapped forks and fractured frames, especially near the steering head. Bracing helped front…

Though this angle is occasionally used for Isle of Man TT photographs, it’s one of the more unfamiliar ones, showing Ramsey Hairpin from a different perspective to that which is more normally shown. Looking at the background of the picture, the town of Ramsey and the harbour provide a fabulous backdrop, giving an idea of the spectacular location that the Manx isle afforded – and still affords – for the motorcycle racing. Our picture shows a scene from early on in the 1932 Junior race, depicting number 29 Jimmie Guthrie, Norton, leading 27 Stanley ‘Ginger’ Wood, on the number 27 Norton, with third, Frank Longman’s Excelsior. This is on the first lap, a circuit which was unusually completed by all 32 riders who had started the race. Of our runners,…

BSA | M20 Bobber Nick Hester, the creator of this M20 bobber, is also a master of his trade, which is carpentry. He is the fourth generation of a family which has worked with wood out of the same Oxfordshire village buildings and yard. “I do woodwork and general carpentry, construction and interior,” said Nick. But a beautiful wooden dovecot further down the village street lets you know he’s a craftsman, and something of a perfectionist. Off-road Nick’s hobby is building up motorcycles, mainly off-road-oriented; he’s ridden green lanes and competed in trials, though never motocross. Nevertheless, he’s created a beautifully-built BSA B50-based scrambler, as well as owning several more modern off-roaders, and an alloy-tank BSA A10 650cc twin adapted for trail work. So he did not come to…

Event report | The Pioneer Run There are many classic events that can be guaranteed to attract impressive numbers of attendees, either as participants or spectators. Surely, the daddy of them all has to be the Sunbeam MCC’s Pioneer Run. The 2023 event, On October 1, was the 83rd such occasion when two- and three-wheeled machines, all manufactured before 1915, made their respective ways from (nominally) London to Brighton. Since 1930, when the first run started from near Croydon Airport, the route is now from Tattenham Corner, on Epsom Downs, to Brighton City Airport, changes reflecting the growth of the cities at either end of the run and the colossal increase in traffic volumes. Both modern era start and finish add to the sense of history. Epsom was the site…

THE SPECIALIST For years, Rupert Ratio has helped BSA owners with his encyclopaedic knowledge of BSA’s unit singles. For those sufficiently interested, much of that wisdom is recorded in a trilogy of books on the topic, all available from his company, Ratio Publishing. We are grateful that he could take time from his various projects to assist with this guide. ■ Ratio Publishing: ratiopublishing@gmail.com; www.ratiopublishing.co.uk MODEL HISTORY An intense period of development had seen BSA’s competition department turn the cooking, learner-friendly, 250cc C15 into a bike capable of beating the best in the world in 500cc motocross. In 1965, BSA announced 441cc unit-construction singles for the 1966 catalogue. One option was the Victor GP, an off-road competition machine based on the works machinery on which factory riders such as Jeff…

Start your new year in classic style Hundreds of stunning classic machines will be on display with a good mix of traders, dealers and autojumblers at the upcoming CBG Winter Classic. It’s not just classic motorcycles that will be celebrated at the Newark event on January 6-7, as there’s also the popular Scooter World hall full of scooter clubs, private entries and traders. Plus there’ll be on-stage interviews with rotary racing legends Brian Crighton and Trevor Nation, hosted by TT winner and British champion Steve Plater. A great way to start 2024, it’s at Newark showground (NG24 2NY), and there are more details at newarkclassicbikeshow.com Shadow’s a Charterhouse hit Star of the show at the recent Charterhouse auction proved to be a 1954 Vincent Black Shadow, which had been totally…

Event report | Romney Marsh Run A few months ago Andy Wells bought a Dayton, a marque with a patchy, on-off existence. His 1914 example was fitted with what was then a newly-available 269cc Villiers two-stroke engine. As a Pioneer-eligible machine it looked a good entry-level model. However, it appeared to be a wise move to learn to walk before a Pioneer Run, trying to get to grips with a daunting array of controls involving levers, cables, rods and pipes linking handlebars and tank with engine and Albion transmission. Fortunately, the Sunbeam MCC offered a suitable opportunity for just such a test with its Romney Marsh Run. The south-east of England has many areas of dense population – and inevitable traffic – between London at its north-west and the Channel…

Like many an enthusiast, as soon as Bonhams announced its October 2023 sale catalogue and it detailed the sparkling delights offered from the Tony East collection – all with no reserve – well, I was a goner. The fact I really don’t need more motorcycles, that I have so many things which need sorting, all of that logic went straight out the window. I’d seen lots of shiny things for sale and I was decided that I needed to buy something new… The East collection was the enticement, but there were loads of other lots too. This warranted some serious consideration. A little background As regular readers will probably be aware, my life has changed a fair bit in the last couple of years, with working from home, then moving…

With a few exceptions, the majority of makers from the pioneer days and into the 1920s revised, developed and strengthened what were essentially developed cycle frames. A common form involved two, usually parallel, frame tubes with the fuel, often with oil compartment, fixed between them. There were of course exceptions to this concept, including ladies’ motorcycles with dropped frames, and occasional machines – often lightweights – with a single frame top tube from which the tank hung. These designs made for tall motorcycles. Even those with long legs struggled to reach the ground with both feet when sitting on the saddle, and shorter riders needed to hop off and on at halts. An early modification was to mount the rider’s saddle on a horizontal tubular extension of the frame’s top…

Rebuild | Triumph unit twinClassic life With the arrival of a Cub frame, a halt was called on the seat covering which, to be honest, wasn’t ever going to be The Seat Base For All Time. Basically, it fitted where it touched, didn’t have an ideal shape and, considering the subframe will be altered or replaced, there were more important areas for the cost of a seat recover to be aimed. However, a seat is still needed and some foam from a friend’s project was donated, a tenner’s worth of vinyl seat covering acquired and some contact adhesive left over from fitting a kitchen allowed all of the component parts to be stuck together so the bike has a seat (of sorts), while more thought is applied to the subframe…