Innehållsförteckning för March 2020 från Real Classic

Warning! Anorak stuff alert! You have been cautioned! OK, that’s quite enough exclamation marks. But I felt that you needed to be warned that I’m going to talk about a tiny subject of interest only to a tiny number of folk. Rear chains. You are officially permitted to sigh deeply at this point and move immediately to the first story, which is all about a Velocette. Why chains? Because it’s midwinter, and the only time I think about chains, pretty much, is in winter, because in summer they just do their jobs, tirelessly transmitting the engine’s vast power to the rear tyre, day in, day out. I may have adjusted and even maintained drive chains in the less wet months, but if so those rare events have faded from my…

We’d love to share motorcycling photos from your own family album. So if you’ve got a snap of grandma and grandad on the old combination, or maybe your father on his first bike, then send them to us for this page. There may be prizes for TP’s favourite photo each month… It’s probably easiest to take a digital image of your original pic and send it by email to RCHQ@RealClassic.net but you’re equally welcome to send actual photos (but not prints of scans, sorry) by post, and include an SAE if you want them back. And don’t forget the younger generation – photos of your offspring and their close encounters with classic bikes would be wonderful as well!…

TESTED BY MOTOR CYCLING in 1959, the Model 50 returned 117mpg at 30mph. Even when travelling at 50mph, its fuel consumption barely fell below 90mpg. Flat out, the 350 reached 74mph at 4950rpm. It pulled cleanly in top gear from 25mph, but took a leisurely 47 seconds to reach its top speed and about 20 seconds to cover a standing quarter mile. Its braking was brilliant, stopping from 30mph in just 26ft at a time when 30ft was considered exemplary… FEATHERBED SINGLES offer impeccable handling without too much of the hard ride of the earlier models. All the singles tend to have hard rather than soft suspension, but they hold their line well. Roy Bacon, 1991 THE MODEL 50 is a gentlemanly mount which combines the docility, reliability and economy…

Iwasn’t going to build another race bike. I’d told myself the A65 was the last one, and I believed it too. But then... I was doing pretty darn well on the A65, I race against guys mostly half my age or less, on modern 450 MX bikes converted to flat track. But I must be doing something right as I can run top five in most races, top three regularly, and consistently enough to come second in our championship. But then you get to thinking. There’s a reason they stopped using BSAs for flat track racing 50 years ago – newer and better bikes came along. So if I never race a more modern bike, how will I ever know how fast I can really be? I still didn’t fancy…

There was a time, in that brief period between the death of the British motorcycle industry and the arrival of classic motorcycle culture, when the greasy-haired British proto-motorcycle customiser would chop pretty much anything he found in a skip with an internal combustion engine. Everything from a Bantam to a Vincent was fair game for a keen chap with a fistful of fivers, a hacksaw and a desire to stand out and/or overdo things. My own effort comprised an old BSA M20 rigid frame I found in a ditch which had the bits I stuck on it held together with some Meccano. The project foundered due to my inability to source the Ducati 450 Desmo engine I had planned. A jolly good job too, you might say, and I’d agree…

Summat to say? Send your comments, hints, tips, tales of woe and derring-don’t to: RCHQ@RealClassic.net I’d like to mention Karen of ‘Bustle About’ in Tipton who re-upholsters and re-covers motorcycles saddles, and does a super job. She does standard or custom seats and is good with logos. She uses marine grade materials for a lasting finish. Contact via 07817 851442 or bustleabout.co.uk Rob Davies WINTER WINNER! Thanks for the ‘winter wanderings’ mention. I will now have to buy a larger helmet! I got out for a run on my 89th birthday. It was cold, but OK with three stops for coffee and sinful cake. I hope that I am still riding on my 90th . Enjoyed the story about the ISDT. I remember it: I was 18 at the time!…

There are plenty of people looking for a middleweight, easy to ride classic. We speak to lots of prospective purchasers who come to our showroom wanting a bike which is reliable, light on the handling, reasonably low on the seat height and which looks good when parked outside a café. There are lots of four-cylinder machines from Japan which would fit the bill but that means four carbs to balance, more complexity and, in some cases, spiralling values which put them out of reach. Maybe a 500 with fewer cylinders would fit the bill instead? Something from the 1970s means historic status so no road tax or MoTs, and the twins and triples of this time each have their own character – they’re a long way from later UJMs. A…

Norton’s Model 50 is an entirely endearing machine. It’s a featherbed Norton, dripping with history, charm and charisma, blessed with a remarkable combination of brilliant steering and handling, along with a trad single’s relaxed ride and easy starting. All of the various Model 50s are great bikes, their only weakness being that they are slow, but you’ll forgive that, because they embody that delightful chuff-chuff which so many of us remember from those distant days when old bikes were simply old bikes to be ridden and enjoyed, and when we were young. As well as the glorious frame, late Model 50s share the Dominator’s brakes, excellent gearbox and … infamously leaky pressed steel primary chaincase. It’s all character, of course. the brakes make this one of the few 19650s machines…

If you like the idea of a machine similar to the MAC, but maybe one that’s a bit less expensive and more mechanically straightforward, then keep your eyes peeled for one of Val Page’s excellent pre-war BSA singles. It was one of Page’s 500s which swept Wal Handley to Here’s another alternative to consider… Before he moved to BSA and designed their singles, Val Page was busy at Triumph in the early 1930s, updating their range of ohv and sidevalve singles. Then Edward Turner arrived in 1936 and created the Tiger sports-roadsters. The improvements weren’t just cosmetic – the Tigers were given significant  Gold Star success at Brooklands, but the 350s tend to be more affordable and available. This 1938 B26 Star is up for grabs at Andy Tiernan’s for…

It’s a cliché to say that there’s nothing new under the sun, but so often in motorcycle development terms that’s all too true. Consider the single-sided swinging arm on the 1950 Moto Guzzi Galletto, conceived 30 years before ELF patented such a feature – and sold it to Honda. Or the upside-down Dowty fork on the 1948 EMC road racer – developed 35 years before Brad Lackey won the 1982 500cc MX World title using a Simons USD fork that was swiftly adopted globally thereafter. Or the 50-degree transverse V-twin engine layout of the 1931 AJS Model S3, conceived 35 years before the Moto Guzzi V7 launched in 1967, which established such to be the Italian marque’s trademark engine format, that it’s persisted with right up to today. OK, the…

Although David did much of the fabrication and fitting work himself, completing the project to such a high standard needed some skilled and experienced specialists. This was particularly the case with: T&L Engineering of Elstow, Bedfordshire who did the cylinder head work, rebore, crankshaft assembly and balancing Paintwork Express of Wisbech for the petrol and oil tanks Classic Brake Services: Front wheel and brake Five One Wheel Building, Louth: Rear wheel and tyres Fenland Choppers, Wisbech: Oil tank fabrication…

MARCH 1 ST ➤ There’s a Normous Newark AUTOJUMBLE at Newark Showground, Winthorpe, NG24 2NY. Mixed bike, car and all things auto. Free parking. Classic vehicle display. Opens 10am (or premium pass from 8am). Display your classic for a £2 discount on the entry fee of £7. 01507 529593 / newarkautojumble.co.uk MARCH 8 TH ➤ The Cambs CLASSIC BIKE MEET assembles at the Jolly Sailor pub at Ramsey, PE26 1HH from 11am. Bikes and riders of all ages welcome. Dedicated bike parking at the front of the pub. ➤ The MOCHDRE AUTOJUMBLE opens 9am to 1pm at Mochdre Village Hall, Colwyn Bay, LL28 5BE. Motorcycle parts and b MARCH 14 TH ➤ There’s an OPEN DAY at Warco from 9am to 1pm, selling ex-demo machines and tooling…

Since the Triking departed from PUB’s garage there should have been working space to spare – but that is never the way it works, is it? Instead a couple more bikes have somehow grown in the space (from seed?), which makes far too many, especially as PUB had vowed to reduce their number. So how was it possible that she did not have a ride for the trip down to the Bristol Classic Bike Show? Strictly, of course, she did, for the PUB Vincent would be quite willing and able. But a committee meeting the same weekend could mean returning a long way in the dark, so as well as PUB’s dodgy hips to worry about, there were the not-too-young eyes being less than compatible with PUB335’s 6 volt lights,…