Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2024 i The Classic MotorCycle

This picture from the motorcycle show features two well known faces from 1935 England – Minister of Transport Leslie Hore-Belisha has his hands on the handlebars, while behind is Bob Wyatt, captain of the England cricket team at that time. The motorcycle they’re sat upon is a Coventry Eagle Pullman Two-seater, one of a trio of so-named, newly-introduced 250cc models. These came in three variants – the cheapest used Villiers’ older, two-stroke 247cc engine coupled to a three-speed gearbox; then there was the ‘new’ 249cc Villiers stroker engine, with the flat-top piston; while the four-stroke option came in the form of a 246cc ohv Blackburne engine – though by that time, the long-established firm was approaching its death-throes, the days of four-stroke proprietary engines coming to their end. Both the…

Guy Martin can talk; of that, there is no doubt. But with his knowledge of engineering, his vast experience of riding so many different bikes, and his endlessly curious mind, listening to him is never boring. For the second instalment of our two-part series, the truck mechanic and record-breaking TV star brewed another mug of tea, showed us round his garage, and ended up talking about everything from Manx Nortons to the collapse of the British bike industry. “The Manx Norton. I mean, how long did that bike dominate for?” Guy says, the admiration clear in his delivery. “What a bike. I read a magazine called Race Engine Technology and it very, very rarely does features on motorbikes, because it’s all about cutting edge technology. But there was a feature…

Before he passed away in 2015 at the age of 92, I was able to visit six-time 350/500cc world champion Geoff Duke OBE in his beloved Isle of Man, where he won six TT races during a decade-long career as modern-day motorcycle racing’s first superstar. Visiting him in his Onchan home he shared with wife Daisy, to ask him to recall his encounters with the 250cc BSA MC1 uncovered a bone of contention he was eager to set me straight on: whose idea really was it to enter the bike in the 1955 Lightweight TT? Here’s the true story, in Geoff’s own words: “I’d worked for BSA for a time before I went to Norton for racing, so when the rumours of BSA having a 250cc racing project first surfaced…

Most people will no doubt have heard the reply from the American author and humorist Mark Twain, when questioned by a reporter from the New York Journal about his health. He is reported to have said: “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” or there is another version which uses the words ‘grossly exaggerated.’ So what has that got to do with Dresda Motorcycles? Well, for many years after the closure of their factory in Longford, many people thought they had gone the way of many dealers and just shut up shop and become just another name in the history books. People with an interest in building café racers, or race bikes, knew differently. Dave Degens, racing legend and the driving force behind it, was still in business, basically…

THE SPECIALIST Motorworks has focused on BMW since the company was established some 35 years ago. It now offers thousands of product lines, spares and accessories for classic to present-day models – new, refurbished and second-hand items, standard or upgraded. We are grateful to Motorworks for overseeing this guide to this phase of the later 1970s Bavarian twins. ■ Motorworks: 01484 353600;www.motorworks.co.uk MODEL HISTORY By the mid-1970s, the Japanese manufacturers all but dictated motorcycle trends. With its own niche, BMW was mindful of needing to offer credible alternatives. The /7 series broke cover with the appearance of three models in September 1976. The R60 and R75 were updates of the preceding /6 series, but the popular R90 was supplanted by the 980cc R100/7 as the German manufacturer’s response to the…

Published in the March 8, 1951 edition of The Motor Cycle, the reverse of this picture (dated February 28, 1951) reads: “Pierre Gerard de Langlade, who drove a motorcycle with sidecar the 10,000 miles from Algiers in the Algiers-Cape car rally. He is the nephew of Abbe Breuil, who is now in Cape Town. He is being greeted here by the Countess Laura Leonardi of Rome. Her car broke down and she and her brother Michaelangelo Leonardi hitchhiked from Port Elizabeth into Cape Town, taking turns in some of the other cars.” Though no mention is made of the motorcycle, it’s clearly a BMW, looking to all intents and purposes an ex-German Army R75, one of the 18,000 supplied to the Wehrmacht between 1941 and 1944. It would have been…

STAR LETTER Not such a freak… That article in your April 2024 issue regarding a ‘Freakishly Fast Triumph’ (Letters, page 21) rang a very loud bell. In the late 1960s, while at university, I ran a Triumph 5TA which was disappointing in its power delivery. Basically, it was too slow. So, as I was doing a mechanical engineering degree, I used my new-found skills to find out why, and realised that the flat (disappointing) power curve was achieved by timing the exhaust camshaft for high efficiency at high rpm and the inlet camshaft for high efficiency at low rpm. So, I advanced the inlet camshaft by one tooth (very easy to do), and the engine was transformed. It revved really well and went like the clappers. I ran the bike…

Bat and Martinsyde. Discuss. Now, for many of us, that might be about as far as the conversation would go, such is the manner in which these two, once well known names have fallen from even classic motorcyclists’ consciousness. Those whose particular penchant is the early vintage or veteran era will be at least familiar with both makers, but, really, experts on either are few and far between. So a motorcycle which combines a major bit from one (namely the engine) and another main component from the other (the chassis) will, for the vast majority, ask more questions, than provide answers. But we’ll come to that. Firstly, some background. Bat (which should be correctly written thus, not with capitals á la BSA, AJS etc) is the older of the two…

When it comes to talking about classic motorcycles, it’s a toss-up whether you most often hear: ‘I’d like one, but I can’t afford it’ or ‘I started my riding with a Bantam, and I’d really like another’. And those who’ve actually got as far as investigating the possibilities may well combine the two sentiments and say ‘I’d like a Bantam, but I can’t justify the cost’. With up to two grand being asked for something which – to be honest – is more nostalgic toy than road burner, you can’t deny these people have a point. If they took their rose-tinted specs off, though, they’d find there are Bantam-like options offering much the same riding experience at a significantly lower cost, and these bikes may well have been made more…

A motorcycle is designed in a number of ways. In the old days – like the end of the 1890s – the design concept may have involved a wooden wall or stone floor in a blacksmith’s shop. An idea would be laid out in chalk and the process would go from there as bits would be attached, and so on. Later manufacturers would smile indulgently at such memories and wonder how even a semblance of accuracy was achieved in such archaic ways. No, they would say, far better now with flat drawing boards, clean white paper, drawing instruments and the tea-trolley twice a day. Fast forward to the computer age and even basic laptops can power design packages to draw out all sorts of things from revitalising your home to…

Come to Kempton The Kempton Park Classic Bike Show and Autojumble returns on May 11, 2024. This year will be the biggest show and autojumble to date at the venue, with over 350 trade stands, more than 120 classic motorcycles, plus the event is also being supported by all the key motorcycle clubs. This one-day show will feature more special guests than ever. Rotary Norton guru Brian Crighton will be joined by Gordon May, an author who has extensively toured worldwide on classic machines (including a BSA Bantam), and last but not least, Kempton Park Autojumble founder, AMA speed record holder and all-round die-hard classic fan, Eric Patterson. The Kempton Park Classic Bike Show and Autojumble sponsored by Old Bike Mart will also have a bevy of awards to hand…

This year, the Celebration of Speedway took place at Hertfordshire Zoo – not a new destination, simply a renaming of Paradise Park, which remains home to enough exotic animals to keep David Attenborough happy for another lifetime. Held on March 17, the event was packed into a single day, making for a fast-pace – so speedway style then. The Museum of Speedway, located within the zoo grounds, also has much on display to impress, as well as hosting the occasional gathering of yet more mechanical exotica and some special people, at events organised by the World Speedway Riders’ Association. The recently introduced track-racing jumble proved to be a popular addition with a dizzying variety of parts on sale. Anything from a handlebar clamp to a complete bike, it was there…

Growing up as a motorbike-mad teenager in the 1960s I was an avid reader of all the motorcycling magazines and newspapers, including the weekly Motor Cycle. As some readers will know, this publication had its own Midlands editor, Bob Currie, based in Birmingham at the heart of the British motorcycle industry – the man who went on to launch The Classic MotorCycle (TCM). I knew the names of all the Motor Cycle staff members and I remembered Bob as a stylish-looking rider in the magazine’s photos, and for many years he wore a distinctive peaked pudding basin helmet with his ears exposed. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that one day I’d be working alongside him, and eventually replace him as editor of The Classic MotorCycle. I first…