Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i The Classic MotorCycle

Published in Motor Cycle (‘The’ had been dropped by then) of April 6, 1967, this photograph shows a section of the ⅓mile TT course, in a feature detailing all manner of events the hosting club held on its 80-acre site. The smaller picture shows riders in TT action, two BSA unit twins, with number eight a Triumph. American journalist Richard Renstrom was responsible for the piece and explaining the genesis of the venture. He begins: “The story started when a group of enthusiasts bought a tract of land close to the western slopes of the famous Rocky Mountains. The steep hill climbs are just the job for hill climbs, cross-country trials and scrambles, while they provide ideal grandstands for spectators of dirt-track races held on the floor of the narrow…

Event report | Talmag Trial For many, the Talmag Trophy Trial, run by the Territorial Army (London) Motorcycle Club each January, is seen as a season ‘reopener’ after all the festivities at the end of the previous year. Not only do 200-plus riders arrive at the famed Hungry Hill on MoD land at Aldershot, but thousands of spectators gather to watch the riders tackle the steep climbs and meet with fellow enthusiasts and renew old friendships, all without any cost for entry. Despite all the recent storms and bad weather, the sun shone to provide a ‘traditional’ English winter’s day for riders and spectators alike. As ever, the sandy ground had drained well, although there were enough slippery areas on some of the 15 sections to catch riders out. In…

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t necessarily have to look in derelict barns to find an old motorcycle that is something special or out of the ordinary, you can just as easily find one in an open field. Well, perhaps not just any old field, but the one being used for the annual rally of the Rudge Motorcycle Club in Gloucestershire, that saw the sidecar outfit pictured here briefly come back to the UK from Germany where it now resides with its current owner, Manfred Berger. It is, though, originally a UK-registered machine, which Manfred purchased from the previous keeper, who lived in Oxford, England. The motorcycle part of the combination was made on May 6, 1921, and the sidecar the day after, and it was registered as MD 6842…

The first Sunday in December has become an established tradition in bringing together a glorious variety of off-road machinery for the Sidcup and District MCC’s Jack Thompson Trial. The venue is the club’s dedicated ground at Canada Heights, Swanley, overlooking Junction three of the M25, where the varied terrain developed by the club and its hard-working members provides a mix of challenges. That the established formula is a success was confirmed as 2023 was the 34th running of the event and attracted more entries than ever. This year, the course plotting by the clerk of the course and his crew had to factor in a recent spell of wet weather. A near 150-strong entry and two laps of 20 sections kept the action going through the best of the daylight…

THE SPECIALIST Following the 250cc MOV, then 350cc MAC models, the 500cc MSS was a logical progression. Velocette specialists Grove Classics are very familiar with Hall Green products, but when it came to the earlier version of the MSS, we were directed to a model guide written by Dai Gibbison and published by the Velocette Owners’ Club. Thanks to all for the assistance, including Julie Diplock of Elk Promotions. ■ Grove Classic Motorcycles: www.groveclassicmotorcycles.co.uk; 01234 752033■ Velocette Owners’ Club: www.velocetteowners.com MODEL HISTORY Velocette was looking for steadier revenue streams as it faced the early 1930s and a shrinking market for upper-end motorcycles. Eventually, in 1933, the 250cc MOV appeared as the first of a trio of overhead-valve models that continued with 1934’s 350cc MAC and ended with the half-litre MSS,…

Presumably a publicity shot, we recently shared this photograph with our sister title The Railway Magazine, from where the following information is taken. The original image was published in The Motor Cycle of February 15, 1923, used to illustrate an article comparing the engineering and performance characteristics of locomotives and motorcycles. As The Railway Magazine notes in its January 2024 feature ‘…the conclusion [of the original 1923 story] perhaps understandably given where it appeared was that future locomotive development was ‘prohibited’ whereas motorcycles had ‘almost unlimited scope.’ William Beardmore and Company was a Glasgow-based company which, at its peak, employed 40,000 people from the Glasgow and surrounding Clydeside area. London-born Beardmore had moved to Glasgow at a young age (his fifth year) with his family, when, in 1861 his father,…

It was late on a Saturday evening that the song ‘Oops!…I did it again’ by the US popster Britney Spears started reverberating round my head, as I discovered I had placed the highest bid (well, in fact, the only bid) on a well known auction website for a pile of genuine Italian rust, with a smatter of paint. And, no, I hadn’t been drinking. I’d ‘won’ what was described as a ‘1955 Moto Guzzi Galletto,’ a sort of half motorcycle/half scooter recently imported from Italy. The few blurry photos of this piece of rare Italian exotica had been snapped down a wet alley in Blackpool and as far away as you could get from Mandello del Lario with its historic Guzzi factory on the sun-kissed banks of Lago di Como,…

Day four: It was cold and damp first thing. Despite being high, we headed higher – the Picos de Europa beckoned with a chilly embrace. An hour of misty climbing was not a great start to the day, other than it being the perfect conditions for the little Terrier to thrive in, as it seemed to love the thin, cold, damp air. Then, as if by magic, we broke through the cloud and emerged into a brilliant Alpine morning – all be it a long way from the Alps – of fresh green meadows with, of all things, daffodils, cows with big bells around their necks and rocky cliffs shooting vertically up towards the now clear blue sky. We headed north over the Puerto de Piedrasluengas at 4400ft. Then another…

Spring Stafford getting set The countdown is now well and truly on, for what is still the blue riband event, certainly in the first half of the year, for classic enthusiasts – April Stafford. This year, the springtime extravaganza takes place on April 20/21, with, as ever, the expected, mind-boggling array of machines assembling, as well as the great, good and the rest of us, from the classic world. Star names this year are TT star and TV personality Guy Martin, the enthusiastic Lincolnshire man who made his name at the TT, then cemented his place in the wider public consciousness with his memorable, often enthralling television shows. A true motorcycle and engineering enthusiast, he’ll be at Stafford on the Sunday. Meanwhile, the Saturday sees another TT ace, this one…

Around 75 years ago, the Vincent Black Shadow delivered the most performance from a street legal series production vehicle that money could buy – on two wheels, or four. Officially timed at 122mph, it outsped by 2mph the Jaguar XK120 sports two-seater, which was then the world’s fastest production motor car (hence the model’s name), making the Shadow the first true Superbike of the modern era. Vincent’s countless road racing and speed record successes testified to the inherent performance wrapped up in the British firm’s 50-degree V-twin engine – so much so that attempts to run a 1000cc Clubman’s TT in the Isle of Man foundered after just three races, all won by Vincents with the rest nowhere. Indeed, in the final 1950 edition, only Vincents took part. Nothing else…

Dubrovnik | Indian Museum You might associate one type of history with the stunning Old Town of Dubrovnik, in Southern Croatia, but another sort has recently arrived – the Dubrovnik Indian Motorcycle Museum opened in August 2023. The old monastery building of St Clara is now home to a collection of 29 motorcycles spanning the years 1904 to 1970. Over 40 years ago, Samo Rančigaj, from his home in Slovenia, began an interest in American motorcycles and Indians in particular. Through his travels, buying at auctions and making exchanges, he developed a large collection of Indian motorbikes which he worked on and restored with friends and fellow enthusiasts. Not surprisingly, Samo’s storage space eventually filled up and three years ago he decided that a museum was the answer. Dubrovnik, in…

In the previous century, several nations had their own superior motorcycle racing engines. While the successful BMW flat-twin came from Germany, Italy offered the four-cylinder MV Agusta and Gilera. The British made the Manx Norton – this extremely successful racer was built from 1946-on. The Manx moniker was earlier given to the racing variant of Norton’s road-going International model. The single-cylinder Manx is still in a class of its own and many decades later, still has a large fan base. In the UK, the reliable Nortons earned enviable fame for themselves, and for the entire British motorcycle manufacturing industry. The marque from Birmingham has won more TT races than any other factory in history. A few years after the Second World War, after international racing resumed in Germany, Norton’s successes…

In the early 1920s, British and European truck manufacturers experimented with double drive tandem bogey 6x4 truck chassis. Some also developed halftrack systems to give trucks better grip on rough ground. The British War Department encouraged the development of cross-country vehicles in light and medium configurations, including motorcycles. In 1926, the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) replaced the rear wheel of a side-valve Triumph 494cc Model P motorcycle with a swivelling bogie with two smaller wheels. A rubber belt could be fitted over the two small rear wheels to improve performance over rough ground. This unorthodox three-wheeler machine was known as a ‘single-track 3x2 motorcycle’ or sometimes referred to as a ‘3x2-in-line motorcycle.’ They had turned a solo motorcycle into a halftrack. When the RASC Triumph single-track 3x2 Model P…

Confusion Many sources state drum action twist grips as having straight pull action. They do, but as their straight pull action applies to the cable (inner/outer) rather than the handlebars, they are a different beast from the axial action designs. Basic drum design Although there are many variations to the drum twist grip design, its form is based on winding the throttle cable inner around a drum and guided by a circumferential groove. Increasing the drum radius gives more cable length pull per degree or rotation, while decreasing the drum radius reverses this effect. The drum often rotates within and is captive to an outer guide casting, which usually serves as the twist grip’s handlebar clamp. The design includes an outer cable location, friction device and often a stop. Roles…