Innehållsförteckning för May 2023 från Real Classic

I just read Frank's account of work on the Commando: absolutely brilliant. It reads like a Booker prize-winning novel; finding good bits, bad bits, fixing it and finally finding that it runs, ticks over and revs up. I bet his face ached from the smile. I didn't stop reading til the end. Anyone who has repaired old engines will know the feeling and elation when you've fixed a problem. It's why we do it, I suppose. Thanks for a smashing magazine and the contributors that really make it special. Adrian Bland, member The Commando is ready for the road. But… DVLA refused to register it! Must try harder. Frank W…

I have had subscriptions to many magazines over the years and would like to congratulate RealClassic on an excellent magazine. I picked up some old issues at the Caine bike show and enjoyed the variety of the articles. A relative brought me a subscription that Christmas and I have stuck with it. I have been riding for 50 years, on- and off-road and have owned 35 powered two-wheelers. I'm a life member of the Motorcycle Action Group and member of the British Legion Riders Branch. I hope to carry on riding, reading, restoring and rebuilding for as long as possible. To everybody involved with motorbikes: keep an open mind and enjoy! Max Powell, member 13,359 Thanks for the kind words – very much appreciated. We do get quite a few…

It is commonly stated that the Royal Enfield ‘Flying Flea', like the Bantam, was a copy of the pre-war DKW RT125 (eg. see Oddjobs last month). It is not so, even though 'war reparations' did indeed deliver the DKW RT125 as the basis of its mirror image Bantam (to make it right hand footchange), and indeed early Japanese bikes, the DKW & IFA/MZs of course, a rash of Italian makers (including MV), and even the Harley-Davidson Hmmerowed their designs to DKW. But the idea can be overstated, as, for example, Villiers had a long historyi nt wostrokes and continued their own development line. Royal Enfield, although associated with four-strokes, had produced their 225cc twostroke in the 20s, and that engine continued into the 30s for their three-wheeled delivery vehicle. When…

I have been reading Frank's shed adventurers with the Norton. To remove damaged cross-head screws I found some cross-head ‘easy outs'from the middle isle in Aldi.They have got me out of trouble many times. You need an electric drill, on low power on the reverse setting. The easy-outs are sized so pick the one that best fits. The heads are made to grip on undo so apply pressure and start drilling. Just keep it moving slowly. If the screw breaks off it should release the pressure. Sometimes the easy-out head will shear off but at £3.99 I always have two sets on standby. Thanks to everyone at RCHQ for your continued hard work on producing a great magazine Jacko Jackman, member Sad to say, but although I have attempted to…

Since writing about my Triumph T160 in RC226,1 have now covered over 200 miles on it following its rebuild. Thankfully there have been very few issues, however I knew that there was potentially a problem with the tyres. When I had the wheels rebuilt in 2005 I had new tyres fitted; Avon Road Rider on the front and Avon Venom on the rear. Then the rebuild stalled and it was 17 years before the bike was completed. The wheels were stored in the garage away from daylight. When I got on with the build, the tyres looked OK and I fitted them to the bike; after all they had not been used and technically they were new tyres, just 17 years old. As the better weather began to arrive, I've…

RealClassic MATCHLESS G12 CSR Hands up! I am something of an AMC anorak. Have been for decades, ever since I acquired my first AJS, a 1948 Model 18, in 1971 or so. It was a great bike, and carried me to many adventures in my late teens – usually while I was supposed to be studying for my A-levels. Oh well. My parents and teachers endlessly and wearily explained to me that I could never earn a living from motorcycles – or from music, my other great passion for as long as I can remember. Pause for an ironic sniff. And oddly enough, my first contact with journalism was by taking on the editorship of The Jampot, the monthly magazine of the AJS & Matchless OC. I knew nothing about editing,…

PO BOX 66 BUDE EX23 9ZX HANG ’EM HIGH Fitting the cast iron barrel on my 850 Commando presented a heavy challenge for a solo mechanic. How to do it with no help? I devised a scheme to suspend the barrel from the ceiling, mounting the crankcases directly underneath on my motorcycle lift. I fitted ring compressors and gradually lifted the cases up to the barrel, a fraction at a time. If a picture is worth 850 words then the sequence will show the scheme worked. Hope this helps out the weak of arm, such as I am. Great mag, keep up the good work. Tony Cording, member Thanks for this, Tony. Great idea! I am hoping against hope that I'll not need to remove the barrels from my Commando…

I have been following the petrol/ethanol discussion with interest. Perhaps I have been lucky but I have never had any issues with stale fuel, deteriorated seals or gummed up carburettors. Never drain fuel tanks or carbs during lay-up and don't use fuel stabilisers. I've had a couple of old bikes in the garage for the last seven months or so. Charged the batteries, turned on the fuel, primed and kicked and they both start and run fine. One started first kick after priming, the other took a little more effort but always has. Perhaps regional fuel quality differs? Who knows, life is mysterious. The Rudge story in RC228 was great. The two bikes really did look difficult to tell apart, which left me slightly puzzled by the picture of the…

The Federation of Small Businesses bestows annual business awards to the best companies across the country. The efforts made by the classic motorcycle industry are rarely recognised, however – which is why it's so impressive that Draganfly Motorcycles recently won the regional trophy. Go team! In fact, Draganfly were the only automotive business at the award ceremony, when Lauren and lain Gwynn collected their award for Service Excellence –something the whole Draganfly team has focused on over the last few years. ‘All the staff at Draganfly have worked very hard to give top customer service, no matter what part of the shop they work in, and to have it acknowledged in this way was much appreciated.’ Owner Iain explains ‘We talk about customers like they're friends, we know the names…

BMW F650 SCARVER RealClassic This F650CS, alias the Scarver, is a strong contender for the Marmite Award. Even my son, who kindly used his van to pick it up, said ‘you aren't getting THAT, surely?’ Kids can be so cruel. Talk about role reversal. This model was designed at the end of the 1990s by American stylist David Robb, who had a part in creating the GS, K1600 and some Porsches. The Scarver was aimed at the commuter market, with novel, custom-fit soft luggage in the dummy fuel tank or rigid plastic storage boxes, even one fitted with hi-fi and speakers (although try finding one of those now). Different colour tank fairings and seat colour options were offered too. The engine was the 652cc Rotax unit used in the F650 range…

RealClassic MZ 250 I probably became aware of MZ in the early 1970s when they were first imported. I read Motorcycle Sport avidly and when the ES250 appeared it was a case of WOW. It was certainly different: the leading link forks, massive front mudguard, chunky-looking all-alloy engine with the carburettor hidden below an aluminium cover and the crowning glory (in some minds, anyway) the headlamp which ran smoothly back, almost becoming part of the petrol tank. However I had a job with a company car so I had no immediate requirement for a new bike. When my new job in 1982 didn't provide a car, commuting transport was required. A locally advertised TS250/1 Supa5 looked to fit the bill. The bike was only a couple of years old and had…

My love for motorcycles began in 1962 at the age of 12. A friend of my elder brother had a non-running Norton 600 sidevalve. He said that if I could get it running then I could have it. There was no spark: I cleaned the magneto and it fired up. I used the Norton fora couple of years around our allotment, minus exhaust – bet the neighbours were impressed! At secondary school, all I could think about were motorcycles. The science teacher used to ride an old A10 Golden Flash with a double adult sidecar. In the classroom he had a cammy Velo engine: I could spend hours rotating the crank, watching how it all worked. I left school with no A or O levels, not even a spirit level!…

ORIGINAL WARDILL There were, it seems, some benefits to those long lockdowns in pandemic times. Some projects which had languished long could finally come to fruition. You might have seen the Wardill 4 prototype at the end of the last decade, displayed at classic shows by its creator, Mark Wardill. It was a homage to a machine created by his great-grandfather Percy Wardill in the early 1920s, which originally had a homebuilt two-stroke single engine in it. It's a Wardill 4 because the last Wardill, made in 1927, was the Wardill 3. Mark had wanted to recreate the engine, but building a twostroke single from scratch isn't exactly an easy task. So while the Wardill 4 had the same sort of frame as the original, down to the actual wheelbase,…

FRANK WESTWORTH RealClassic This is it. This is the moment we've all been waiting for (‘we all' in this case being everyone who's ever bought a nonrunner and tried to fix it). After interminable and almost insurmountable ponderings, problems and procrastinations, the engine has started. It works. Because I'm something of a half-full glass chap, I tried to restrain my wild delirious excitement until the engine had done the starting thing a few times. As I said last month, time to retire to the house fora refreshing glass of something made from old apples and to think a bit. May I confess to a little apprehension when I returned to The Shed a few days later? First things first: a close examination of the engine and its ancillaries to seek out…