Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Real Classic

Way back in the foggy mists of antiquity, soon after the classic bike was resurrected out of the ashes of the old industry, one of the first manifestations of this back-from-the-dead enthusiasm was the sudden rise of the autojumble. I remember it well. I was at the time clattering around aboard a 1959 Matchless G9 of dubious reliability but great charm, and whenever I needed spares, the only source was the owners’ club, which wasn’t always easy in those postal days. Enter the autojumble. Back then I was living near Chester and working near Wrexham, and as commuting on the Matchless became … unpredictable, I bought my first-ever new bike, an MZ TS125 for the commute. Similar performance to the old Matchless, but rather more reliable and considerably more frugal,…

BRIGHT SPARKS Just read Members’ Enclosure with RC184 about spark plugs. I have been an NGK kinda guy for almost all my motorcycling days. However, recently I have fitted Brisk spark plugs (available from David Angel at F2) and these have improved the starting on both my CZs. It also improved fuel consumption, with my Custom managing 50 miles on 2.5 litres one day and 87 miles on 5 litres on another. The man with the Arrow might improve his Ariel by fitting Brisk spark plugs; I’m sure David at F2 would be able to advise and supply these alternatives. They are better fitted without resistor plug caps. As a two-stroke person myself, I would always try Brisk now instead of NGK. My loyalties have been swayed by the easier…

Built 1969 to 1973 Engine Air-cooled ohv opposed twin Bore / stroke 82mm x 70.6mm Capacity 745cc Compression 9:1 Power 50bhp @ 6200rpm Torque 60 Nm @ 5000rpm Lubrication Wet sump Fuelling 2x 32mm Bing CV Clutch Dry, single plate, diaphragm spring Transmission Four speed Final drive Shaft Electrics Bosch 12V 180W Chassis Oval steel tube, double-loop cradle Front suspension 36mm Sachs forks Rear suspension Swinging arm, twin shock Front brake 2ls 200mm drum Rear brake sls 200mm drum Front tyre 3.25 x 19 Rear tyre 4.00 x 18 Wheelbase 1385mm (1435mm from 1973) Weight 460lb fuelled Seat height 33.5 inches Fuel consumption 62mpg average Acceleration 0 to 60mph in 6.4 seconds Top speed 110mph…

Engine Air-cooled high-cam OHV single Bore / Stroke 68mm x 96mm Capacity 349cc Compression 6.75:1 Power 15bhp @ 5500rpm Ignition Magneto, auto advance Lubrication Dry sump, gear pump Carburettor Amal Transmission Chain primary and final drive Gearbox 4-speed, foot change Frame Single downtube, duplex cradle Front suspension Veloce oil-damped tele forks Rear suspension Rigid Brakes 7”sls drum Tyres 3.25 x 19 Wheelbase 52.25 inches Ground clearance 5 inches Seat height 27.5 inches Weight 280lb dry Top speed 70mph Price new £117 in 1947…

Buy the best MZ available at the price. If you buy a shed, it can end up costing more money than it would have done to buy something better in the first place. Look for one which is complete and intact; wiring harnesses can come in for a certain amount of butchery. People are beginning to appreciate the value of these bikes which keep going on for ever and can easily be fixed, at the roadside if necessary. So prices are increasing. Virtually every nut, bolt and washer is still available at reasonable prices. New frames and the tinware are still available although in limited numbers, and some tinware is relatively expensive. The 12V Vape (formerly PowerDynamo) conversion makes 6V lights really usable and greatly improve starting. Avoid the copy…

Get the ignition timing spot-on. Half a mill too retarded and it’ll lose top end, half a mill too advanced and it’ll seize. Look out for binding on the front brake calliper. It’s caused by the edge of the brake pad biting into the softer metal that MZ used in their Brembo copy. If it happens on a run, wait for the brake to cool down then swap the pads from side to side. Workshop fix is to clean up the ridges with a file then use some copaslip. Replace the foam in the seat. It doesn’t last forever and with age it will have crushed right down. You’ll be ok for a half hour commute, but miserable if you try touring on it. Scrub the rust off the downpipe…

SEPTEMBER 6 TH  TO 8TH There’s a CLASSIC & STEAM VEHICLE SHOW at Harman’s Cross, Swanage, BH19 3EB from 10am to 5pm. Admission £5. Classic campers, stationary engines, motorcycles and more.bppcltd.com SEPTEMBER 6 TH  & 7TH The Carole Nash EUROJUMBLE opens 9am at Ringwood Road, Netley Marsh near Southampton, SO40 7GY. Huge old-fashioned jumble, some stalls under-cover in a big marquee. Bar and food. Garage clear-out plots from £20. Tickets £7 Friday / £12 Sat on the gate, or cheaper in advance from 01507 529529 /netleymarsheurojumble.com SEPTEMBER 7 TH  & 8TH The YESTERYEAR RALLY opens 10am to 5pm at Hampton Malpas, Cheshire, just off the A41. Admission £10. Vintage machinery displays and family entertainment. 01978 780749 SEPTEMBER 7 TH Madeira Drive in Brighton hosts the National…

Benelli have always been a bit odd. A gunmaker that decided to build motorbikes, they ran a class-winning racing team and endured a bitter family feud in which one of five Benelli brothers took exception to the company’s direction and went off to form his own motorcycle manufacturer, Motobi. Motobi was subsequently taken over by the Benelli family and then in the 1970s the whole lot was sold to an Argentinian playboy and sports car manufacturer who promptly and shamelessly ripped off a Honda design, built a ridiculous 750cc six and eventually went bust. Then Benelli started up again making a bonkers four-cylinder sports bike that no one bought, and some budget scooters. The brand was bought by the Chinese company Qianjiang and are still based in Pesaro, Italy where…

Matchless – and AJS, for they were pretty much identical – sprang into the brave new world of the parallel twin with a machine which was bang up to date for its time. And they dodged the money-saving tactic of converting their existing pre-war frames from rigid – no rear springing – into often clumsy plunger types, which were usually simply a lash-up pretending modernity. Matchless’s first G9 500 came with a swinging arm right from the start. And it’s pretty good, by the standards of the day. The engines themselves attempted to fix all the supposed flaws of Triumph’s original twin, the excellent-named Speed Twin. To this end, they included a central shell-type main bearing to better support the crankshaft and controlling both flex and vibration. And, to be…

If you’re seriously considering the purchase of an R75 then it’s well worth checking the docs to verify the bike’s actual mileage; very low miles showing on the odo might mean it’s travelled more than 100,000 and the clock has rolled over. That’s not necessarily an issue but it will affect value. On the same subject, trackday specials and café-customs are worth less than standard bikes, not more as most sellers would fondly like to believe. Prices go from £2000 for a non-runner needing work to £7000 for something spotless, either fully restored or barely used from new. UP FOR £3195, this is a 1974 disc-braked /6 with less than 42k miles on its clock. Recent top end rebuild, major service in 2016 and few miles since. Front mudguard needs…

I had a big crash on one of these. They did wheelies if you had a pillion. The clutch was binary, the gears had more neutrals than you could trust and the front brake could grab when damp and cold. They were great tourers and you could throw them around… but they could also throw you off. I bought the 1973 toaster as a teenager around 1981. It was my first proper modern grown-up bike and it seemed quite heavy and high up compared to my old British bangers. The battery was tired and I never forked out for a new one, so starting was always with the foot. That meant using the centrestand when cold and kicking sideways as the starter lever operated at ninety degrees to most bikes.…

THIS 1958 swinging-arm MAC went under the hammer at auction in East Anglia in July. It’s been off the road for donkey’s years but the engine turns over and has compression. Estimate £2000 to £3000; sold for under £2200 including fees EARLIER THIS YEAR this older restoration ‘needs light recommissioning’ 1953 MAC sold at auction for £3262. That sounds like a snip to us; it’d been with the seller since the 1980s, was converted to 12V and came with a big history file LAST USED IN 2012 or thereabout, this 1953 (but still rigid) edition sold for £4830 at the Bonhams auction at Stafford in April. It’s an older restoration in decent nick which came with its original logbook and V5C…

The ones to go for are the TS250 Supa fives with a modified front brake: a good B-road bimbling bike. If you want to do motorway stuff then the later 301s are better for that. Me, I like the style of the early ETZs with long tank. Mine has a later 301 engine in it, and as long as you don’t thrash them they are reliable bikes. Walk away from any with excessive piston slap, but noisy clutches that go quiet when you pull them in are normal Gearboxes are fine, there is a long pull on the lever between second and third that catches out the unwary. Not much power below 3000 revs and not much more above 5500, so no use bogging it down nor thrashing them to…

BIKES HONDA C90 CUB, 1977. Grey, low mileage. Original chrome wheels. Starts and runs really well. New tyres, MoT and tax except, VGC. £1100 ovno. 07526 000910, Tyne & Wear WANTED WANTED motorbike / moped project. I am looking for a project for me and my boy. Can be anything, do not mind a pile of rust Must be close to Exeter. 01872 241852 Thanks NORMAN B4 or Cotton twin wanted by enthusiast. Prefer good condition but consider any. 07960 447592 or 01865 762859 TRIUMPH WD 3HW 1939 to 45. I am looking for a good, preferably still green and complete example of the above bike. If you have one, know of one for sale, let me know. Cash at the ready.bikermoss@yahoo.co.uk or 07720 419848 BITS BSA A10, B31, etc…

I’ve never had a trials bike and I had a sudden hankering for one. Don’t misunderstand; I have no intention of going trials riding and getting muddy. I just liked the look of a Royal Enfield pre-unit Clipper which popped up one day on my fuzzy laptop screen when in eBay mode. I’d been thinking about my next rebuild (cos we gentlemen cannot exist without a project on the bench, can we?) and taking an unhealthy interest in that great shoppe in the skye. An Enfield made perfect sense, because I’m a creature of habit and most RE designs didn’t change much from the late 1940s onward. Also, being lazy, I knew that Hitchcocks stock parts for most REs so there’s no need to go scouring bikejumbles! I spotted ‘Tribulation’…

Thanks to the owner, my friend Joaquin Folch, I was able to spend an hour or so riding this restored ex-ISDT 125 Regolarità very gently off-road around his country property outside Barcelona, and in something approaching anger on the roads outside. In doing so, I registered a personal milestone by riding a Ducati two-stroke for the first time ever in a ducatista lifetime – as well as discovering that everything I’d been told about the bike being hard to ride were absolutely true! After you’ve coaxed it into life via the right-foot kickstart, and been rewarded with a spray of blue smoke from the fat Lafranconi exhaust that was a trademark of the bike even when new, the problem is the power delivery, which is worthy of a two-stroke GP…

WEARING AJS BADGES might’ve mattered 57 years ago, but these days you’re likely to find little difference between the spec of a Model 20 and a G9. This late example is up for grabs at £4495 at Pembrokeshire Classics: ‘starts easily and drives superbly well’, and has been fitted with indicators to make life easier in traffic THIS 1957 AJAY was offered for private sale recently at £4950, with new tyres, stainless rims and spokes and a refurbished magneto. The paintwork was ‘very good’ and it’s supposed to be an easy starter SIX THOUSAND POUNDS sounds like a lot of cash for this 1951 G9 Clubman, offered by a dealer in Yorkshire recently. It’s a recent restoration: very shiny but there’s no info about how it runs or rides… THE…

I used to like an adventure. At least, the idea of an adventure: nothing too taxing, you understand. I tend agree with Bilbo Baggins, who saw adventures as nasty, uncomfortable things that made you late for dinner. He could easily have been referring to the elderly, British-built motorcycles which I have long favoured as the means of ridding myself of spare money. I will defend Britbikes until last orders and beyond, and still spend much income on them. Resident in Ireland, I hatched a plan to add a Norton to my modest collection, this bike being inconveniently located in the UK. With a wad of cash in pocket, helmet, gloves and extra clothing in rucksack and breakdown cover arranged, I boarded a plane to Bristol in the very nadir of…