Innehållsförteckning för April 2019 från Real Classic

At the risk of sounding somewhat bike-bigoted and, unusually for someone as pro-BSA as me, I dislike BSA C15s intensely. I abhor their poor performance and dreadful build quality, but most of all I despise their meanness. At a time when all three Japanese motorcycle manufacturers were offering wonderful experiences for riders of lightweight motorcycles BSA provided less, and worse, with the C15. If you rode a BSA Spitfire, or raced a B50 MX on the dirt, you could hold your head up high because these bikes had flair and performance, even if they were becoming ever cruder in comparison with the Japanese. By contrast the C15 dripped inadequacy from every pore, and leading the mediocrity pack was the SS80 – BSA’s sports version of the basic C15. The story…

The bike’s handling is taut and predictable, pretty much what you would expect from a frame developed from many years of trials success. The suspension is much firmer at both ends than the factory spec. I fitted Hagon units at the rear a long time ago and, more recently, stiffer fork springs which came with the Indian fork legs. This gives a ride which is firm yet never causes frame flexing on uneven surfaces. The Avon Roadrider tyres are nothing short of a revelation of road stiction, somehow being both grippy and hard wearing. You’ll notice the extra kilo of rubber above the weight of your average floppy old classic tyre if you put one on a rim yourself. I needed a lie-down after wrestling with one for the first…

The news that John McGuinness, winner of 23 Isle of Man TT races in the past 20 years since his first in 1999, will be fit to ride for the Norton factory team in the 2019 TT, makes the historic British marque a serious contender for victory on the Island. This would be for the first time since another TT legend, the late Steve Hislop, scored Norton’s last win there in the 1992 Senior TT on the ABUS Norton Rotary racer. It gives an added boost to the fortunes of the British company, which Norton Motorcycles owner Stuart Garner is in the process of taking to another level via what appears to be a carefully planned global expansion programme. Garner, 50, is the man who, exactly a decade ago, bet…

In this month’s magazine I am turning our attention to a rather delectable and superbly finished example of a twin 2-stroke 250cc DMW. A DM-what, I hear you say! And rightly too, for indeed I had never heard of one either before this encounter. So let me introduce the name Dawson’s Motorcycles Works – or it could equally be Wolverhampton – and it’s probably best at this point to take a peek at a how this company came about. DMW, A Potted Visit DMW Motorcycles of Wolverhampton was the result of a meeting between Leslie Dawson and Harold Nock during the latter years of World War Two. Dawson was a fairly successful grass track rider during the 1920s and 30s, and ran a small garage in Heswall, near Birkenhead. He…

Like many of us, I’ve enjoyed the long-running saga of Frank’s Devonshire-built, almost-but-not-quite a British bike which has appeared in RC a couple of times. I’d assumed it was a ‘keeper’because our great leader had told us so on several occasions. So when he mentioned in passing that he planned to have a clear-out I indicated that I might be persuaded to take it on, not believing for a moment that he was ever really going to sell it… A few weeks later the Matchless washed up on these fair North Dorset shores courtesy of another RC subscriber (thanks, Dave). I heaved it onto the bench, noting the sticky front brake; still, I’m sure the rib will eventually pop back into place. The bike looked… grubby. All Frank’s bikes seem…

Honesty is the best policy. Possibly. I was staring at an online pic of a vaguely strange Honda. Do not laugh – several Hondas look vaguely strange to someone who knows almost nothing about Hondas, which would include me. However, I am familiar with sohc CB750 fours, because I ran one for a couple of years in the mid-1980s. Mine was a 1976 CB750 K6, bought cheaply because it sounded like no Honda should ever sound and the owner was convinced that the ghastly misrunning, clattering and misfiring was because the camchain tensioner had failed and the engine was eating itself. My mate Bill, who ran a GPz750 Kawasaki so plainly knew all about Hondas, had already viewed the bike and had nodded and winked and said to me a…

At first sight, Phil Price’s Velocette looks like another well-prepared KTT 350 from the New Zealander’s collection of classic racers. On closer inspection, if you know about racing Velocettes, you realise that this is a very unusual machine. It’s a copy of a 1936 dohc works engine housed in a replica of a 1952 works semi-duplex frame. This extraordinary Velocette is a product of Phil’s long-term friendship with Nick Thomson, Velocette aficionado and engineering guru. The inspiration for this 350 came while Phil and Nick were watching Bill Swallow aboard the dohc Eldee 250 Velocette compete in the 2014 Isle of Man Classic TT. The 250s were being sidelined and, to stay competitive in the 350 class against later model twins and multis, a very special 350 Velocette would be…

AC Stuart, Norton seems poised to really put on a spurt in growth. How many people have you got working here in the factory, which seems to have grown a bit since I was here last time? SG Our workforce here at Donington now numbers 120, including a dozen new apprentices. They serve a roughly two-year apprenticeship before being fully employed in the business, as most of them do choose to become. We still have the original 45,000ft² factory, but we’ve already added another 10,000ft² for the separate shop where we do all our welding and fabrication. Then with the several new models coming through, we have another 12,000ft² of covered space being built right now, which we’re hoping to occupy by April. This will house new dedicated production lines…

REAL REVELATION I’ve just found RC177, when I bought another bike magazine. I’ve already read it cover to cover, a great magazine. The front page and the article that followed on were terrific. The Triaki or Kawaumph is a revelation. This is the bike that Triumph or Kawasaki should have built. The finish is superb and it puts the new Street Twin in the shade. The paint job, particularly the tank, really set off the whole the bike. Just looking at the pictures you wouldn’t have known it wasn’t factory built. When I’ve finished this I’m going over to the website to order a subscription. Keep up the good work! Terry Pope, member READING, RIDING REALCLASSIC RealClassic writers and readers, by their own admission and evidenced by the content of…

In 40 years, the Moto Guzzi is only vehicle I’ve ever owned from new. I bought it when I was 20, in 1979, and the only reason I could afford it back then was because someone ran a red light and knocked me off my Suzuki GT500. I needed transport for my imminent holiday so part-exchanged the repaired GT500 and got £565 for it against a brand-new V50 costing £1364 from Kings of Birmingham – the insurance pay-out for the accident meant I could just about afford it. I kept the Suzuki’s rubber-mounted mirrors and fitted them to the V50, so they’re older than the rest of the bike and date back to 1975. I liked V-twin engines and the idea of shaft drive, especially after adjusting and replacing chains…

I had always hankered after an Aermacchi and early in my search went to view a 1970s Harley Sprint – a development of the original Aermacchi single, built in Italy for the American market – but when I saw it I could not believe how disjointed and awkward it looked. The cylinder had the later, all-covering head cover, longer forks, peanut tank, high bars, mismatched seat and mudguards, all apparently standard. It looked like someone had designed it after a bad trip, as they used to say in the 60s. Then I found an Aermacchi Blue Wing, the Ala Azzurra. It just looked right to my eyes. It was advertised as an Ala Verde, the sports model, but I could tell from the photos and a bit of research that…

Time passes. It does this at various rates, as you may already be aware. When a chap’s waiting for a clutch puller for a BSA to arrive – part number 61-3766, in case your memory is as clouded as my own enthusiasm – time can drag. A minute can feel like 66 seconds or so. Fans of interstellar distances and Dr Who time travel would of course be unfazed, though I doubt that the good Doctor wasted much time waiting for BSA clutch pullers to magically appear in the TARDIS. The puller arrives. This is the second puller for the clutch, as the first to dive headlong through the RCHQ litterbox somehow had the wrong thread. At least, it wasn’t the thread inside the clutch. The second, however, had a…