Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i The Classic MotorCycle

Our design team, led by art editor Kelvin Clements, has been playing with some new technology, which allows images to be colourised at the click of a button. To me, it’s rather amazing and, while admittedly not perfect, it stopped me in my tracks. This is the picture from page 16 colourised – impressive, wouldn’t you say? Colouring old pictures has always been done, from artist with brushes to, in recent years, digitally, but it has always been a hugely labour-intensive process. This software simply does it immediately. Remarkable. The plan is we’ll start to put a few up on our website (classicmotorcycle.co.uk) starting with this month’s archive pictures, from pages 16 and 20. Have a look, you’ll be amazed.…

The divisive legend that was Phil Read, seven-time motorcycle Grand Prix world champion, and the British rider with the most GP podiums, has died, aged 83. You may have already read our tribute on the preceding pages, but there’s more to come, in a specially produced picture book, which will collate something like 40 images of the Prince of Speed, with pictures taken from the Mortons archive. It’ll cost £9.99 and is available for pre-order by visiting www.mortonsbooks.co.uk or calling 01507 529529.…

In a variety of guises, which included scrambles, one and six day trials, touring, racing and clubman’s trim, there is little doubt that the bikes which carried the name of ‘Gold Star’ on their petrol tanks, were some of the greatest machines to ever roll off the Armoury Road production lines. Most enthusiasts will know that the name of the iconic British single was earned when Wal Handley lapped the famous Brooklands circuit at over 100mph in June 1937, on a specially prepared BSA Empire Star, a feat which inspired the Birmingham firm to produce the M24 Gold Star. A 496cc alloy-engined machine with an electron alloy gearbox and a rigid frame made of light tubes – devoid of sidecar attachment lugs – which in both 500cc and, post-Second World…

Event report | The Arbuthnot Trial Salisbury Motorcycle and Light Car Club advise those taking part in The Arbuthnot Trial that, ‘[The trial] …is not supposed to be a Sunday stroll, but a hard day’s ride that will leave competitors tired but satisfied that they have achieved a tough goal.’ It is certainly that, with up to 100 riders using British machines, from road bikes with road tyres through to trials competition machines, Pre-65 four-strokes and Pre-70 two-strokes. For many riders, the event is first on the annual calendar, relishing the chance to ride the 80 miles of byways, ox droves and private tracks from Barford St Martin south of Salisbury to Shaftesbury in Dorset and back, riding a dozen observed sections with a choice of ‘easy’ or ‘competition’ routes…

Now, it would’ve been easy for the National Motorcycle Museum’s James Hewing, charged with selecting 10 Triumphs to go on display at the Motorcycle Live show, to have gone down the tried and tested route, picking out the obvious models – so majoring on the Bonneville, Speed Twin and Thunderbird, but leaving out some of the lesser-known and rarely seen machines made by the firm. So Hewing went for a difference track and picked some oddities. “I just wanted to try and do something a bit different with Triumph, instead still picking out some great bikes, but just not necessarily the ones we’ve all seen many times before.” Before they were taken away from the museum and put on display at the NEC, we were invited along to take some…

Closer look | Matchless Silver Arrow and Hawk We think of the Midlands, and especially Birmingham and Coventry, as the hub of pioneer cycle and later motorcycle development and manufacture. There were many exceptions, including Canadian-born Harry Herbert Collier (1859-1925*), who established a part-time cycle making business at Plumstead, South East London in 1878 and was soon to employ the trade name ‘Matchless,’ though seemingly its usage wasn’t registered at this time, as another London cycle trade company, the Bicycle and Tricycle Company of East London, also used the name Matchless. Later in the 1880s, Singer acquired this trade name and manufacturing rights. Expanding, Collier went into partnership with commercial steam laundry equipment maker John Watson, forming ‘Watson and Collier, cycle makers.’ Henry wanted to continue using the trade name…

“Playing with the Boys” Olga Kevelos – Motorcycle Sportswoman – an extraordinary 20th century life in words and photographs Author: Colin Turbett Published by: Banovallum Books, an imprint of Mortons Books Ltd, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6JR www.mortonsbooks.co.uk Tel: 01507 529529 Softback, 295 x 210mm; 173pp with over 250 photographs. ISBN 978-1-5272-0795-0 £25 UK; $28 USD; $39 CAD; $45 AUD Olga Kevelos (1923-2009) was undoubtedly one of the most versatile and talented female motorcycle competitors of the post-Second World War period, riding successfully in centre and national one-day trials, riding many times in the Scottish Six Days Trial and winning gold, silver and bronze medals in the International Six Days Trial. She even did the occasional scramble and road race; was a member of the successful Honda…

Stafford show | Event report On the morning of Sunday, October 16, which dawned with a remarkably bright sun soon making its presence known, welcome after the torrential rain in the early hours, I walked up to the main gate at Stafford, where a tunnel passes under the road and through which visitors enter the showground. It was probably about 9.30am when I stood there – and I was transfixed as a seemingly never-ending snake of people kept emerging from the tunnel. It just went on, and on, and on. Although I’ve been going to the show twice a year since 2001, I’ve never been through the tunnel, which I rectified this year. This took me into the motorcycle parking area, where a sea of machines glinted in the sun.…

When the First World War started in 1914, opposing armies still used cavalry, and the horseman looked down on the humble dispatch rider and his motorcycle with some disdain. But this would quickly develop into the first mechanical war, and the horse was relegated to a pack animal. Triumph supplied 30,000 side-valve 550cc Model H singles to the Allied war effort, while Douglas contributed 25,000 of the 350cc flat-twins that became renowned for having an engine that ran as smooth as a sewing machine. Meanwhile, the American motorcycle industry shipped 15,000 Harley-Davidsons and 41,000 Indians to Europe. When peace came in 1918, it would be reasonable to assume that, as Indian had made substantial profits from supplying so many motorcycles to the Government, they would be in a much stronger…

The time is September 2022, the place is Somerset, in the UK, and we are among the biggest collection of Giro-eligible 175cc ‘tiddlers’ (plus a few slightly larger friends) anywhere in Europe. We are about to start the Giro South West’s Three Moors Run, the jewel in the crown of the UK’s 175cc event schedule, completing 500 miles of west country roads over four days. We are surrounded by Italian exotica, ranging from Bianchis and Parillas to Mondials, Motobis, MVs and Morinis, interspersed with the occasional Bantam and Triumph Terrier. There are 18 manufacturers represented among the 60 chosen entries. This really is the place to be if you own and ride a small capacity classic. Event organiser Russell Benney enthuses: “When God invented the motorcycle, he didn’t have today’s…

The next of H&H’s successful National Motorcycle Museum sales will be the December 7, 2022, event. There is an eclectic range offered, with among them the two illustrated below – the glorious Longstroke Sunbeam, in the same ownership for 55 years and displayed in wonderful patina, and the equally patina-laden MV 750S, showing what’s reckoned to be a genuine 2222 miles from new; the MV was in the Midland Motor Museum for years, hence the belief mileage is the true figure. There are more details at handh.co.uk…

When Classic Bike Guide editor Matt Hull and I heard that Sunbeam-riding fundraiser, 23-year-old Harry Bott, was going to be in the Norfolk coastal town of Hunstanton, we hotfooted it over to greet him on arrival and to buy him a cuppa. It was one of the final stops on Harry’s 8000-mile ride around the British and Irish coastline, visiting all of the 238 RNLI Lifeboat stations of the British Isles on a 96-year-old Sunbeam. When we saw him, on October 3, he was ticking off number 220 – he completed his task, station number 238, on Sunday, October 15. Harry’s road trip began on April 6, 2022, on his 1926 Sunbeam Model 1, a 350cc side-valve, that used to belong to his great-grandad and has taken him through England,…

In the last quarter-litre Isle of Man TT of the vintage period, Scotsman Guthrie, who had made his first visit to the June races in 1923 when he rode a Matchless to retirement, ran out as winner of the 13 who finished; he’s pictured here, number 25, with runner-up, Irishman Paddy Johnston, next to him, and Cecil Barrow, third, on the machine with the number one plate. Both Johnston and Barrow rode OK Supremes with JAP power; as did, it would seem, all the other finishers save Guthrie, his AJS team-mate Lind (fifth) and sixth place Ted Mellors on a New Imperial, with the firm’s own-made engine. The other 10 – including George Himing’s 11th place Rudge – used engines from Tottenham-based JAP, though the power for Vic Anstice’s 10th…

Stafford | Auction report With our news programmes issuing a daily dose of doom and gloom, it was fair to perhaps approach Bonhams’ October Stafford sale with a touch of trepidation, as if it might signal a real downturn in the commitment to the classic two-wheeled scene, from potential buyers. Not a bit of it – in fact, the opposite, as some remarkable prices were achieved, albeit for top-drawer machinery. Though perhaps the sale was lacking in the headline-making Brough superior or Vincents, say, of recent years, other machines stepped up to the plate. None more so than a 1974 ‘round case’ Ducati 750SS which sold for an impressive £172,500, topping the sale, which realised a total of £3.66 million, with 96 of all lots sold. In the Ducati’s slipstream…

Early arrivals on the first day of the event – Saturday, September 24, 2022 – witnessed the famous hill blanketed in a dense hill fog. However, happily the sun appeared well before the earliest Veteran and Edwardian vehicles were due to make the first ascents of the hill. The outcome for the entire weekend was perfect weather; dry, cool and sunny, which helped to attract the largest-ever Sunday attendance of enthusiastic spectators. A special tribute was paid to Paddy Hopkirk, the famous rally driver and Monte Carlo winner, who passed away earlier this year. Belfast-born Hopkirk, best known for his exploits in the works Mini Cooper, was a prominent and active patron of the Kop Hill Climb. The main concourse leading to the hill from the paddock, along which all…

“The styling is very futuristic for its time, and it’s one of the first electric-start bikes to be offered for sale anywhere in the world.” Compared to war-ravaged Italy, France and Germany, bombed-out Britain didn’t experience the same post-Second World War boom in new motorcycle registrations, despite a similar chronic lack of personal transportation. That’s because the UK Government prioritised earning precious foreign currency – principally, US dollars – over the convenience of its population, by exporting the products of the various local motorcycle manufacturers in return for granting them access to postwar stocks of scarce materials like steel, aluminium and rubber. So new motorcycles for British customers were hard to obtain, and much prized. It was a situation ripe for the entrepreneurial talents of a well-connected person like Kaye…

Although concepts using the dynamo as an electric starter have been used with success since before the Second World War, they are typically only suitable for smaller engines, often two-strokes, although have been fitted successfully to small capacity four-strokes – but they aren’t powerful enough to start lusty four-stroke singles and big V-twins. Examples include the Siba Dynastart (see TCM, August 2015). Dynamo/starter systems apart, the vast majority of motorcycle electric starters are direct current designs, with high standstill torque to turn the engine. All have a high electric current demand – as much as 125 amperes, or more – and they load the battery heavily when in use. Cold engines have a higher demand than warm motors and prolonged, continuous use if the engine fails to start is warned…