Innehållsförteckning för January - February 2018 från Motorcycle Classics

Samuel Dalziel Heron is hardly a household name. Yet he helped design the first successful radial airplane engines, invented the sodium-filled poppet valve (a vital component in high-power 4-stroke engines) — and lent his name to the cylinder head concept he created. A Heron head has no combustion chamber as such: The cylinder head is flat but for the valve pockets, with the combustion chamber cast into the top of the piston. The design offered ease of manufacture, superior “swirl” (promoting more complete combustion and hence better fuel economy) while allowing higher compression ratios for more torque. Heron heads were fitted to engines as diverse as the Jaguar V-12, Ford “Super Duty” V-8, Repco-Brabham Formula 1 … and the Moto Morini 500 Sport. Designed by Franco Lambertini and Gianni Marchesini,…

2018 Las Vegas Motorcycle Auctions Bonhams and Mecum Auctions are both gearing up for the 2018 Las Vegas motorcycle auctions. Bonahms’ one-day event happens Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, at the Rio Hotel & Casino, while Mecum will hold an expanded five-day auction extravaganza starting on Tuesday, Jan. 23 and ending Saturday, Jan. 27, at South Point Hotel & Casino. Bonhams has yet to release a full consignment list, but in keeping with their previous Las Vegas auctions we anticipate a 250- to 300-strong list of vintage bikes. Mecum, on the other hand, plans to sell an incredible 1,750 motorcycles, a huge jump up from the 1,000 bikes consigned for last year’s four-day event. It will be interesting to see how that translates dollar-wise. Last year, Mecum reported total sales of…

“I have beat the hell out of my Nighthawk, crashed it twice, ran it harder than anyone should ever run a nearly 30-year-old bike and it’s never missed a beat. Over 15,000 miles, all I’ve done besides routine maintenance is replace a battery and rebuild the master cylinder.” — Nighthawk owner, posting in an online forum Fifteen years after Honda quit making them, Nighthawks are such popular bikes that eBay posts a Buying Guide for the model. Bombproof and easy to ride, Nighthawks continue to be an excellent choice for a first bike that a rider won’t outgrow in four months. Good for just about anything you would want to do with a street bike — getting to work, riding around town, going on trips and even doing a little…

When MV Agusta, one of the greatest names in motorcycle racing, decided to make a 4-cylinder road bike based on its success with Grand Prix racing, it did all it could to deter owners from racing it. That says a lot about what was fermenting in Count Domenico Agusta’s mind when he set his engineers to work preparing what would be the first modern Superbike, before the term was even coined. The bike featured here is the actual, very first road-going 4-cylinder motorcycle to roll off the assembly lines at Meccanica Verghera Agusta’s facility not far from Milan, Italy. Although most of us know the brand more for its racing than its road bikes, if history had been kind, the marketplace of two-wheelers, and especially scooters, would have been very…

It’s pure conjecture, but we’re fairly certain that had it not been for a certain Hurricane Nate, the 13th Annual Barber Vintage Festival, held Oct. 6-8, 2017, would have set yet another attendance record for what has become the single largest vintage motorcycle event in North America. The 2016 event witnessed a claimed 73,000-plus total attendance, and while Barber is not issuing attendance figures for 2017, a seat of the pants assessment says Friday’s crowds were the biggest ever. Unfortunately, with Hurricane Nate knocking on the door and threatening to make landfall Saturday night, the Barber folks made the only decision they could: cancel Sunday entirely. They made the right choice. Although Friday’s weather was picture perfect, by Saturday morning the sky had taken on an ominous tone, and by…

Intermittent charging Q: I have had an intermittent charging problem with my 1978 Yamaha XS750 Triple since the day I bought it. I bought it two years ago with 18,000 miles on it, and now it has 20,000. The previous owner installed a new regulator, so the first thing I did was install a new battery and repair the wire connections at the stator (it had been dropped and it pinched one of the wires). I use an amp meter on the battery side. When charging, it shows 5 amps at 2,000rpm with the lights on, which I think is a bit low, but according to the Yamaha manual I have is what it should be. But I find when I ride it the charging becomes intermittent and eventually drains…

The Owen Collection is a private museum tucked away in Walnut, a small community in southern California. Kelly Owen was a motocross racer who started racing on a 100cc Penton Berkshire in 1970, when he was just 13 years old. Owen raced professionally, including the 1974 and 1975 Los Angeles Coliseum Superbowl of Motocross. He knew he was good, but he also realized he couldn’t make a living racing motorcycles. Owen retired from racing in 1976 and apprenticed in his father’s construction business. After learning the trade he launched Clarion Construction in the 1980s. Clarion became very successful; its focus is on large-scale cold storage facilities in the food and related industries. Motocross racing and motocross motorcycles were still in Owen’s blood, and even though Clarion Construction was thriving, he…

Moto Morini 500s are thin on the ground in the U.S. So thin, in fact, that in a week of searching we failed to turn up a single one. Somewhat surprised, we turned to the overseas market, where, not too surprisingly, we found that, even if not exactly numerous, they’re a bit easier to find. Of the half dozen we found in the U.K., this 1980 500 Sport was far and away the nicest. Showing 20,818 kilometers (just under 13,000 miles) on the clock, it’s a rare (for the U.S.) black painted model. Claimed to be original and unrestored, it looks to be in close to perfect condition, with unmarred paintwork, a perfect seat, clean instrumentation and perfect black pipes. Not cheap, especially after shipping, but if it’s as good…

Here’s something we think belongs on every Motorcycle Classics reader’s wall; the Motorcycle Classics 2018 Calendar. Our first-ever calendar, it features 12 iconic classics including the Norton Commando, Moto Guzzi V7 Sport, Kawasaki H1 triple, Velocette 500 Clubman and more. The generous 21-1/2-inch by 13-3/4-inch format gives full priority to the beautifully reproduced full-color photographs taken by acclaimed Motorcycle Classics photographers Nick Cedar, Jeff Barger and more. Every monthly calendar entry includes a description of the featured motorcycle, and every monthly calendar includes scheduled holidays and calendar reminders. Our suggestion? Order two; one for yourself and one to surprise your best friend for Christmas. $15.99. To order, see our ad on Page 77.…

Regular readers may recall the story of a 1968 Yamaha YR2C (Field Find, September/October 2016) and how it languished in a field for decades alongside the Norton featured here. My son, Craig, negotiated a deal with the owner and brought them home, where we set to work on them. Decades of expo sure to the elements had not been kind to these bikes, and had it not been for their relative rarity they would probably have been destined for the scrap pile. Their fate, however, turned when we decided they were worth restoring, even though we knew there was an enormous task ahead of us. After completing the Yamaha we turned to the Norton. The first thing I discovered about the Electra is that in the sphere of Norton owners…

Although most people don’t know this, the first-ever Ducati 350 was made in America — by an American with an Italian surname. Before this bike existed, there was no Ducati 350, and like the mongrelized Cadillac in the popular Johnny Cash song, it was built one piece at a time. Meet Frank Scurria and his Ducati 175-cum-200- cum-250-cum-350 that had its origins in a 125 F3 frame but eventually found a home in a modified 250 frame. The pieces to this Italian-American puzzle have their origins in America’s oldest motorcycle road race organization, the Californiabased AFM (American Federation of Motorcyclists). Among AFM racers in 1959 was a young Frank Scurria, who grew up in Glendale, California. Scurria began road racing his Ducati 200 when he was a teenager and like…

The challenge sounded easy enough: Find two race-eligible dirt bikes at the Barber swap meet, fix them, and go racing. What could go wrong? Let me tell you about the Alabama woods. When you’re riding through them at speed, they’re a beautiful, moving kaleidoscope of shapes and colors. Tree limbs, leaves, vines, ivy and ground cover all appear and then whip past in a blur. The trail, cut deeper and wider by lap after lap of racing motorcycles, emits a moist, fragrant smell of fertile earth. Streaks of sunlight and their alter ego, shadows, dance and flicker like an old silent movie: nature’s own oscilloscope. And the still, humid Southern air creates a refreshing, cooling flow through your hot, sweat-soaked gear as you hit the powerband in first gear, shift…

Aerostich Cousin Jeremy Truth be told, two motorcycle jackets are all I need: One for hot summer days and one for the rest of the year. We get the chance to try out new gear pretty regularly around here, but when it comes right down to it, I’ve got two jackets I like. For 11 years, my summer jacket has been a Joe Rocket Sonic 2.0 ventilated leather jacket. The rest of the year I wear a Tour Master Transition I’ve also had for 11 years, and I never really wanted to replace it, until a new Aerostich Cousin Jeremy jacket showed up at our door. I’ve had the chance to try out a couple of Aerostich Darien jackets, but the tough Cordura they’re built from never made me want…

Enjoying the authors It seems like every issue outdoes the previous and the September/October 2017 issue is another example. Each page turned brought me to another topic of interest. I have every copy of Motorcycle Collector Magazine, published by Don Emde, beginning with the premier October/ November 1992 issue and ending with the October/November 1994 issue. I met Don at the Radnor Hunt show in Pennsylvania a few years ago when my 1968 Triumph T100C was exhibited, and he graciously signed the premier copy for me. All 24 copies are in excellent condition and one of these days I should donate them to the AMA library. A valuable contributor to Motorcycle Collector Magazine was Margie Siegal, as she is today to Motorcycle Classics. Her research and writing are outstanding. There…

1980-1983 Moto Guzzi 500 Monza After taking over Moto Guzzi in 1973, Alejandro de Tomaso commissioned Lino Tonti to design a new half-liter bike to take on the Asian imports. Tonti downsized the classic Guzzi shaftdrive V-twin, but with numerous design and cost-saving improvements. The 90-degree twin used Heron cylinder heads fed by 24mm Dell’Ortos. Drive to the rear wheel was via a dry, singleplate diaphragm-spring clutch and 5-speed gearbox with shaft final drive. The engine unit bolted to a dual downtube cradle frame with removable lower rails. Features of the 500 included Guzzi’s linked braking system with three Brembo discs, an easily accessed oil filter and a redesigned swingarm/driveshaft pivoting in the gearbox. The Monza version, launched in 1980, used 28mm Dell’Ortos, bigger valves, Nikasil-plated cylinders (instead of steel…

Honda transformed motorcycling when it released the CB750 in 1969, its radical multi-cylinder design launching the era of the Seventies Superbike. But was it as radical as the very first across-the-frame 4-cylinder? That bike would be the Italian Rondine, developed in the 1930s. How radical was the Rondine? Try this: water-cooling versus the original CB750’s air-cooling; double-overhead camshafts versus Honda’s single-overhead cams; forced-induction supercharging instead of a bank of four conventional carburetors. To be sure, the Rondine was a specialist racer, but all modern across-the-frame 4-cylinder motorcycles owe a debt of gratitude to the original version. To appreciate how advanced it was, one need only look at the history books: The Rondine won the 1939 European championship, the precursor to the post-World War II Grand Prix World Championship. Free thinkers…

Without question, the tensioned wire-spoke wheel was one of the most significant inventions of the 19th century. Without it, bicycles and early motorcycles would have had to use heavy, rigid and unforgiving wooden wheels. For this innovation we have to thank James Starley and William Hillman of Coventry, England, who quickly incorporated their patented wire wheels on the bicycles Starley was manufacturing. Because their invention made their bicycles much lighter, they named them Ariel — the spirit of the air. In 1896, Starley merged his company with Westwood manufacturing, acquiring at the same time the Selly Oak, Birmingham, England, site that would become Ariel’s home for the next 70 years. Like many cycle makers at the time, Ariel was soon experimenting with the internal combustion engine and produced its first…

A quarter of a century ago, rotary-engined motorcycles seemed set to be the next big thing. In 1992, the Norton RC588 scored a Wankel-engined bike’s greatest victory by winning the Senior TT in the Isle of Man in the hands of the late Steve Hislop at a then-record speed of 121.38mph, after a thrilling battle with future four-time World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty’s Yamaha. Coupled with the Duckhams Norton team’s domination of the 1994 British Superbike championship, with riders Ian Simpson and Phil Borley finishing 1-2 in the points table, Norton might have expected to benefit from this win with a spike in demand for its F1 Sport race replica street bike — but the indebted British company was sliding towards insolvency, and production of the last Wankelengined motorcycle money…

The Sammy Miller Museum (sammymiller.co.uk) in New Milton, Hampshire, U.K., is crammed full of interesting machines — including factory prototypes and numerous ingenious designs from all over the world. It also counts as one of the world’s largest collections of exotic racing bikes, all of them in running order and including the legendary Moto Guzzi 500 V8, the supercharged AJS 500 V4 and post-war Porcupine, and innumerable famous bikes from Triumph, Norton, AJS, Velocette and many more. There are also offroad enduro, motocross and trials icons. The Museum is open to visitors daily from 10 a.m. year-round.…

As reliable as vintage Japanese electrical hardware may be, everything has a service life, and that includes the starter motor on our subject 1970 Honda CB450K4, which had been displaying a tendency to drag and otherwise turn slowly, making the CB450 somewhat hard to start. New starters for the CB450 haven’t been available for some time, and while used starters are — typically for around $50- $90 — it’s possible you’ll end up buying the same problems you already own. That makes rebuilding your starter a good option, and fortunately, kits like the one we got from Honda specialists Common Motor Collective (common-motor.com) are readily available. The $65 kit we purchased is very comprehensive, with all new wear and service parts including a new drive-end bearing and seal, a new…

The world of Grand Prix motorcycle road racing gently shifted on its axis in March 1978. That’s when Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., publicly announced the formation of a one-rider team that would challenge three world championships in the coming months. The press release’s second sentence said it all: “Riding after the world crown will be 26-year-old Kenny Roberts. The U.S. road racing champ will contest the 250 and 500 Gran (sic) Prix World Championship Series and the Formula 750 races. His schedule will include a 26-race tour of the U.S., Canada, South America and Europe.” The rest, as they say, is history. We all know that KR failed in his bid to become 250 and F750 world champ that year, but he succeeded beyond everybody’s wildest dreams to win the…