Innehållsförteckning för November 2022 från The Classic MotorCycle

There was basically a whole generation of motorcycle-mad youths who grew up when MV Agustas ruled the racetracks – consecutive 500cc world champions every year from 1958-1974 – and where BMW motorcycles were the last line in luxury, high-cost motorcycling. Witness Richard Rosenthal’s piece in this issue, about the 1961 (peak MV domination) ‘no show’ where an R69S not only cost more than a brand-new Matchless G50 in 1962, one could’ve bought a brand-new Bonnie and a brand-new Greeves TES for exactly the list price of the Beemer. As for the MV, when the Italian firm finally decided to market what many customers had clamoured for, for years, then those impressionable youngsters who’d longed to experience their own MV four, finally could – including our own contributor, Andy Westlake, who,…

1922 Following a meeting the previous Friday, the ACU announced dates for 1923’s IoM TT races: Monday morning, June 11 – Junior Wednesday morning, June 13 – Lightweight Wednesday afternoon, June 13 – Sidecar (new event) Friday morning, June 15 – Senior The ACU General Committee was yet to consider a proposal for an 1100cc Cyclecar TT. Bert Le Vack (Zenith-JAP, with and without sidecar) broke four British and two world 1000cc records the week before. British: Solo Flying kilometre (mean) 102.80mphFlying mile (mean) 102.91mphFlying mile (normal) 103.71mph Sidecar Flying mile (normal) 85.83mph World Sidecar Flying kilometre (mean) 86.62mphFlying mile (mean) 85.40mph Cyril Pullin also posted a new solo 500cc World Record ridingan ohv Douglas for the Flying mile (mean) at 88.59mph. 1947 Following his victory at the Lancashire Grand…

THE SPECIALISTS The aptly-named Speedway Service was established as a Jawa agent in 1968, eventually becoming sole British Jawa supplier in the eighties. Now, the company supplies parts, engineering and repair services for all makes of track racing machinery, even offering exchange units to get racers quickly back on track. Thanks to company principal Jamie Bellham for help in putting this guide together. Thanks are also due to Alec Gooch for his detailed knowledge of the Jawa DT 500 and its early development. ■ Speedway Service Ltd: 01553 829197; www.speedwayserviceltd.co.uk MODEL HISTORY After the Second World War, came the establishment of the Iron Curtain. Speedway was a sport that boomed on both sides, but under two very different political systems. The unifying factor was the supremacy of the 500cc JAP…

You were asking | Expert advice Disfiguring the countryside YOU WERE ASKING IS SPONSORED BY CASTROL CLASSIC OILS The accompanying photograph was passed to me at this year’s VMCC Taverners’ Section Founders’ Day Rally by a reader who didn’t want his details publishing. This start line scene was captured by a staff photographer employed by the Topical Press, 10-11 Red Lion Court, London, at the Herts County AC Aston Hill Climb on Saturday, June 11, 1910. Initially scheduled for Saturday May 7, the event was cancelled due to the death of King Edward VII a day earlier. This meeting attracted 111 motorcycle entries competing in six classes. The rescheduled event saw 61 riders signing on, as the new date clashed with other local events including the Herts County AC car…

Author: Phil West Publisher: The Crowood Press Ltd, Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR Email: enquiries@crowood.com www.crowood.com Tel.: 016725232 Hardback, 225 x 265mm (portrait): 208 pages with over 290 photographs and illustrations. ISBN: 978-1-78500-695-1 £25 (UK), $34.78 (US), $44 (Canada), $44.52 (Australia) Say ‘BMW motorcycle’ and most motorcycle fans will automatically think: ‘airhead boxer twins.’ The distinctive, air-called horizontally opposed, twin-cylinder engine layout has been so intrinsically linked with the legendary German marque that, for most of BMW’s history, very few other manufacturer have even attempted to use it. And what a history that is. From powering the first BMW motorcycle in the 1920s to style icons, racing and record-breaking in the 1930s; from wartime workhorses to a new generation of luxury tourers in the 1950s and 60s; and from…

Rebuild | Triumph Unit TwinClassic life Footrests on British motorcycles tend to be forged steel things, often intricately shaped to avoid the gearbox, exhaust and kick-start on one side, and the primary case on the other. Depending on the style of engine and gearbox – unit or non-unit – one end may be fitted to the engine plate or the primary case, or, for unit machines such as this Triumph, there will be a tapered boss on the frame somewhere which matches a taper in the footrest. These massive forgings usually can be heated and bent back into shape should the need arise. It also means their position can’t be easily altered. There are such things as spring loaded folding footrests supplied for machines destined for the USA market which…

ULSTER GP CELEBRATIONS The Northern Ireland section of the VMCC celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Ulster GP, with events scheduled for October 14 (100 years to the day from the first race), with a lap of the Cladys course by vintage motorcycles, at 4pm on the 15th. Email lario@btinternet.com H&H DECEMBER AUCTION The next instalment in H&H’s successful National Motorcycle Museum sales will be the December 7, 2022, event. Keep an eye on www.handh.co.uk for details. CHRIS PILE After a short illness, Chris Pile died on August 19. Along with his father, Bill, who died just last year, they were stalwarts of both the Sunbeam Motor Cycle Club as well as the East Sussex Section of the VMCC. They rode in all sorts of events on a wide variety…

There’s no shortage of persistence among the enthusiasts in Thanet, at the far east of Kent. After many years’ absence, in 2015, the Western Undercliff at Ramsgate saw competition motorcycles once more in a revival of the Sunbeam MCC’s sprints that were once a popular attraction. For the time being, the Ramsgate course remains unavailable, but a weekend of bike entertainment was very much still an ambition. Eventually, Betteshanger County Park came up on the radar. This is a leisure facility located on what was the largest of the Kent coal field pits, near Deal, which closed in 1989. Even focusing on this as a venue proved to be less than straightforward with the restrictions generated by that well known virus to combat. Finally, in 2022, on August 14, it…

“John B Nicholls of Tralee had put a notice in the BSA OC magazine, with a picture of his recently acquired alternative-looking A50 unit 500cc twin, and an invitation for BSA folk to make contact.” Towards the end of July, I managed to do what I most enjoy with a motorcycle – I went travelling abroad on two wheels, for the first time in three years. Sadly, not on my BSA. Long trips on an M-Series machine are perfectly practical, but only if you have the time and the funds to take them at the leisurely pace they deserve. I didn’t, on this occasion. So I set off from Oxfordshire for Ireland aboard the modern Moto Guzzi 850, on what was forecast to be the hottest day of the year.…

My ‘fear of disappointment’ dilemma with my recently acquired Model 18 Norton, as detailed in the August 2022 issue, did actually bring about a fair amount of response and correspondence, so thank you to all those who got in touch, to mainly offer understanding and reassurance. Suffice to say, I eventually took the 18 out for a gentle 100-mile ride; it was necessarily gentle, because it refused to carburate cleanly, at anything other than low throttle openings. As I was riding it on a vintage and veteran event, it didn’t really matter, as it was still about the same speed as most of the other machines – but with the Irish national approaching, I knew that there’d be more challenging times ahead, so it was a case of needing to…

I always have fond memories of my visits to Mallory Park, whether it be walking around the paddock with my sketchbook or watching my wife passenger in a racing Morgan three-wheeler, which ended up performing a 180-degree spin through the esses My trip to this year’s VMCC 1000 Bike Festival was no exception; I filled so many pages of the sketchbook that my findings from the event will be expanded into multiple articles. This first article sees my general findings among the plethora of motorcycles in attendance. Subsequent articles will cover the wonderful feet first motorcycles on display, plus an incredible V-twin Rudge. But in the meantime, let’s delve into the sketchbook and see what caught my eye... 1964 Honda CB72 Clubman Racer This 'just right' CB72 was found in…

YOUR EVENT SHOULD BE HERE The Classic MotorCycle is anxious to learn all about your motorcycle-related events. Contact us at The Classic MotorCycle, Mortons Media Ltd, Diary Listings, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email obmwallplanner@mortons.co.uk OCTOBER 2022 7 NOVEMBER ISSUE OF THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE ON SALE NOW 8 VMCC South Dorset, Breakfast meet, The Three Compasses, Charminster, Dorchester DT2 9QT. Tel: Martin Figg 07896 507278 8-9 Straightliners, Melbourne (Round 10). Tel: Helen 07921 712266. Email: helen@straightliners.co.ukwww.straightliners.events 9 Navestock, Navestock Village Hall, Navestock Side, near Kelvedon Hatch, Essex CM14 5SD www.woodclass. com Email: events@woodclass.com Tel: 02082 526831. 9 British Motorcycle Preservation Society, North Wales. Motorcycle Jumble and Bikes for Sale, Mochdre Village Hall, Mochdre Colwyn Bay LL28 5BE Tel: Len 07592 370572; Chris 07436 111553 or Email: leonardferney@gmail.com…

We’ve all run out of petrol – the familiar loss of power then maybe a pick-up as the dregs of fuel trickle through to the carb bowl, followed by the eventual dead stop, when there is no more. Open the tank cap, spot there is no fuel left, curse yourself and shove it to the nearest garage to fill up… I’ve got a thing about trying to get my tanks really clean these days, after owning a Triumph 3TA that would constantly shed small flakes of rust from the deepest recesses of the petrol receptacle; these would percolate into the carburettor blocking the jets. Sod’s law dictated that my first ride got me 10 miles from home before a blocked jet, then, of course, it stopped me every couple of…

A correspondent in a club magazine recently queried the reason for the much-repeated advice that the angle between a brake lever and its operating rod or cable should be less than 90 degrees. It’s a question well worth asking because the advice has been given so often – even appearing in Haynes manuals without explanation – that most people accept it as gospel. And those people include the scrutineer who threatened to exclude my Greeves from the VMCC’s Festival of 1000 Bikes parade because its brake arrangement didn’t match up to his preconceptions. In short, he’d accepted something which has become a bit of folklore, and if you’ve ever been drenched because you believed ‘rain before seven means fine before 11,’ you’ll agree that folklore isn’t very reliable. So, what…