Innehållsförteckning för May 2021 från Real Classic

One of those familiar waves of introspection has been sloshing around me over the last couple of weeks. A mysterious – and entirely unexpected – email landed, and as well as making me sit back in startlement also produced one of those excellent opportunities to sit and think back to my favourite bikes down the years. There have been many years, too. It’s some 51 years since I rode my first powered two-wheeler, which is quite a while. And that two-wheeler was actually a scooter and not a motorcycle, hence my use of more exact terminology than you might expect. A Vespa. It was faster and less effort than my Triumph Palm Beach bicycle, but apart from that the appeal of scooters has never been obvious to me. Not back…

Editor Frank’s lyrical musings about the qualities of his AJS Model 20 took me back to the summer of 1953 when, as a fifteen-year-old, my uncle Maurice took me for my first ever ride on a motor bike. When he and Joan married, they came over to our house. He had just bought a brand new 1953 AJS Model 20 and, with my parent’s permission, took me for a spin on the pillion. I must have borrowed Joan’s goggles and I could only just see over Maurice’s shoulders. We turned onto the Western Avenue and headed west. We passed the roundabout at the Polish War Memorial and onto the ‘Mad Mile’, by Northolt aerodrome. This was a stretch of dual carriageway with no side roads, so he wound the bike…

In 2008 after about 20 years away from bikes, I began thinking about acquiring another bike, perhaps a modern machine rather than a classic. I really wanted to spend my time riding and not working on one. Triumph quickly became my marque of choice because it was a British brand and, from what read, they had acquired a sterling reputation for quality and reliability. My attention settled on the Bonneville but I really couldn’t see the point of spoked wheels on a modern bike: I could do without inner tubes. I also thought that the kink in the exhausts looked strange. So I dithered. For 2009 the Bonneville range came with alloy wheels and a new, ‘kinkless’ exhaust system with peashooter-style silencers. This was the one. I arranged a test…

My research showed the tank artwork and toolbox transfers very well, but none of the usual suppliers of transfers had the correct designs. An IMOC club member (thanks Colin) sent a Bernina toolbox cover to Marcia at Classic Transfers so they could produce the correct items. The tank transfer design, however, was another matter. From the photos I’d found of this model, the tank design seemed to be a white Bianchi logo on a gold eagle. This isn’t the standard design but I was able to get the custom made – minimum order of two sets. I think they look pretty good against the black background and if Bianchi never did this then maybe they should have! Finishing off the paintwork on the tank was interesting, using every photo I…

Sunbeams are motorcycles unlike the others. That’s as true of the high-camshaft B-series bikes built by the Collier brothers’ Associated Motor Cycles concern during the Wolverhampton-derived marque’s brief sojourn in Southeast London between 1937 and 1943, when it was purchased by – some say, offloaded to – the BSA Group, as it is of the unique S7/S8 tandem-twins launched in 1946 after its return to the Midlands. Sunbeam was only in AMC’s ownership for a mere six years, three of which formed the first half of WW2, so AMC deserves some credit for what it achieved in the short time available to it. Like so many early British motorcycle marques, Sunbeam’s antecedents date back to its origins as a bicycle manufacturer – though that in fact only came about because…

When I returned to two wheels in 1995 it was on a Velocette Viper. It was a bitsa based on a 1965 Special but was the same price as the AJS 350 I had been considering. I’d wanted a Velocette single since my youth and I finally achieved it at the age of 45. Many bikes have come and gone since then, and the Viper stayed until I acquired a 1956 MSS and a 1960 Venom. To answer Phil Holloway’s comments in RC204: yes, they have become expensive but they are worth it. For me, the Venom is slightly over-rated. The MSS and Venom are like night and day in terms of how they behave. Handling is impeccable on both, it’s just that I prefer the comfort and laid-back attitude…

I enjoyed Frank’s Kawasaki W650 ride in RC201, although I was a little surprised that overall you seemed to think the bike was retro motorcycling vanilla. Now well into my 70s, I started motorcycling in 1960 on a plunger BSA Bantam. I progressed through many British bikes (mostly parallel twins), a number of single-cam Honda fours, some 1970s Guzzi 850s (Eldorado, 850T, Mk II Le Mans) and a Honda 900 Hornet. The Matchless G12 was the first big bike I restored from basket case condition in the early 70s and I’ve regretted selling it ever since. The Norton is a MkIIa Roadster that I changed to an Interstate. Recently I decided to revisit my earlier motorcycling experience and bought a couple of retro bikes rather than embarking on any more…

Henry Gregson did a great job sprucing up the neglected Yamaha XJ650 in RC203, but reports a small niggle in that engaging first gear before the bike has been ridden results in a crunch. This phenomenon is well known to riders of older Triumphs, who always free the clutch before engaging first gear at the start of the day, by pulling in the clutch and operating the kickstart until the clutch plates free. The Yamaha has no kickstart lever. So before operating the starter button, put the bike in gear, pull in the clutch, and rock the bike forwards and backwards while sitting astride it. The clutch plates will quickly free. Go back into neutral, start the bike and put it into gear with no crunch. This worked very successfully…

It’s rather a long time since the great repatriation of ancient British motorcycles from far away began in earnest. From far-flung outposts of the two-wheeled world, back they came; loads and loads of them. Most were mainstream models and entirely familiar to us Brits, but among all the Bonnevilles and Tigers was a selection of TT Bonnevilles and a few TR6C machines; among the Gold Stars was the odd Catalina, and mixed in with all the Lightnings and Rockets was an occasional handful of Lightning Rockets, Hornets – even a Spitfire Hornet or two. Do you remember standing and staring at the unfamiliar machinery? I certainly do. To an eye familiar only with the home market offerings they appeared … strange. Back in the early 1990s I borrowed several of…

Over the years I’ve hacked my way through the sometimes impenetrable jungle of identifying and sorting threaded fasteners. This article is not meant to be a comprehensive lecture on the history and uses of screws and bolts but, by the end of it, you might be a little wiser on this subject than when you started and I will have achieved something. Let’s start by looking at the various types of threaded fasteners and their heads. First: the humble bolt. It is part threaded and then there’s a plain section or shank topped off with a hexagon head. Next there is a set pin, screw or fully threaded fastener. So why use one and not the other? A bolt is better at supporting parts being held together. Take two engine…

Looking for even more RealClassic reading? You’ll find brand-new and previous unpublished features at Real-Classic.co.uk; the articles we couldn’t quite fit into print. The internet has all the room required to give our expert and experienced contributors the space to explore their subjects in depth. For instance: THE AUSTRALIAN DOMINATOR investigation runs to four full episodes of evidence about this unusual 500 twin which appeared Down Under in the early 1950s THE MIGHTY MONSTER: a new book about Ducati’s most profitable model tells the behind-the-scenes story of the accessible Italian sportbike THE PIONEER RUN unveils an all-new destination for the 2021 event READERS WRITE about the perils of getting back in the saddle after so long in lockdown… All this and much more at www.Real-Classic.co.uk…

When the Royal Enfield Wallaby was announced in the UK press in early 1964, it was billed as ‘the least glamorous model ever made in Redditch.’That seems somewhat unkind, given the 250 single’s competition heritage and cobby appearance, but the press were probably sneering because this was a machine destined for an agricultural life in Australia. While British café racers were getting hot under their leather collars about Enfield’s Super 5 and the sparkling new Continental GT, something rather more utilitarian was needed on the other side of the world. Few vehicles could cope with Australian winters – even Land Rovers struggled, apparently – and motorcycles were ideal for sheep and cattle ranching. ‘The chaps that ride them are usually in the wild for days on end, so who needs…

Once it was back on the road, I played with the carburettor and ignition timings until the T15 was running the way I liked it. Unlike the later, side-points Cubs, the T15’s distributor and external clamp made ignition timing adjustments really easy. However, I noticed smoke coming out of the kickstart bush, indicating that combustion products were getting past the piston rings and building up crankcase pressure. Compression became poor and starting difficult. After a year some engine work became necessary, so oils were drained and the unit was taken out of the frame and made ready on the bench. The first job was to remove the cylinder head. I had not built this engine myself and this would be the first time I had been inside it. The cylinder…

Last time in Tales From The Shed: ‘This is worrying. I fall asleep worrying. Then wake up again. I have An Idea…’ Long, long ago, I rebuilt an Ariel. I have done this a couple of times and cannot pretend that I enjoy working on Ariels much. Certainly not as much as I enjoy working on AMC machinery. This is, of course, just as well, as I appear to spend a disproportionate amount of my life hurling abuse and spanners at AMC machinery. The Ariel’s centrestand was lifted from its in-use position to horizontal repose by a pair of bed springs. These turned out to be rather stronger than I am, which while unsurprising in the greater scheme of things is a little demoralising. I really struggled, and wrote about…