AJS 7R Hailwood
The boy racer and the mighty 6
ur guides to: You
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Welcome
Every day is a school day, once you find the right teacher
A
dear departed relation once explained to me how people were different. “An angel will have a bucket with your name. It then goes along a line of drums, with each drum full of a different attribute. These drums are full of braun, brains, confidence, fitness, adaptability, reactions, thought, emotion or empathy. Now, there are seasoned angels, who will take a scoop from each drum until the bucket is full: this leads to a balanced person. But if your bucket is filled by a young angel, or even a lazy angel, they may just get to one drum and fill your bucket completely with just one attribute.” Tosh told to a naive young boy it may have been, but I love the thought. I’ve known some lovely brainiacs at Cambridge who could write mathematical equations on how belching after dinner could influence the clouds, yet couldn’t tie shoelaces, let alone drive a car: a young angel’s work. Equally, I know many people who have obviously benefited from that wise angel, and have the full quota of strengths. I think my angel was lazy and my bucket was short-changed. But, living in the sticks and hanging around the world of old bikes, I’ve got to know a lot of wise people, who may be apprenticed-engineers with a life of experience, or may just be blessed, but whenever I spend time with them I learn something. These people had their bucket filled with the right stuff; they don’t see
problems; they see what is broken, see what is around them, the tools they have and the time they’ve got, and fix it. I call it farm engineering. Farm engineering is the ability to not get ‘het up’ (a Norfolk-ism for getting wound up) about a problem, but to see what’s not working, why it’s not working and find an available fix You know when you’re talking to a farm engineer as they use the word ‘just’ when describing how they sorted something you don’t think you could. The best part I’ve learned is to have the confidence to try to fix something. From a young age I was gifted my mother’s car when it failed its MoT (I know, spoilt rotten), that I could round nuts off, fill with filler and make engine noises. Over time, I listened to the people around me who worked on cars, trains, tractors and bikes and gradually learned how to weld, how an engine worked and how not to use glass fibre to repair suspension, through a slow process of ‘fail, think what you’ve done wrong and try again’. Now the world has the internet, which brings an end to that trial and error. No longer do we need to listen to old boys and their hard-earned wisdom. And, as we all know, all videos and content on the internet is carefully edited, only written or filmed by professionals and totally trustworthy. Oh. What the internet does do is open us up to a world of suppliers of parts for our bikes.
‘New small end bush for a 1956 model? No problem Sir’. Except when it doesn’t fit. Bugger – can’t exactly go to the local bike shop, as most run a mile from a classic. The ’ net comes up with several answers, including how to buy a puppy and a guy from Wisconsin who shows you his small end – neither useful. What we then need is a farm engineer. ‘That needs reaming. We’ll ream it on the lathe, but when it goes in it may need a little more by hand’. I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it makes perfect sense. And it works. Learn from those around you. You’ll know who, when you meet them. But some bikes just seem to want to fight you. I’m trying to build a little aircooled Suzuki and at every stage the damn thing digs its heels in. It’s like it wants to be scrapped. Seized bolts, unknown engine faults, collapsed bearings and even a spare engine I bought as ‘a runner’ had a valve head rattling in the chamber. Farm engineering may be great, but you better have had your fill from the patience drum. Because if a bike is a wrong ’un, it’s a wrong ’un. So it's back to the shed; be good!
Matt Hull editor@classicbikeguide.com CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || MARCH 2019
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Contents
#010
006 From the archive
An AJS taking the flag at the TT, 1961
010 Machines that matter AJS created the perfect racer for privateers and professionals alike, the 7R
018 Subscribe
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News
Steve McQueen’s Triumph sells for a bomb, Norton sets its aim high and Hislop is celebrated at the TT
What’s on
Dig the diary out you got for Christmas and start planning those weekends
on a 032 Motogymkhana classic
078 Hailwood’s machines
Buying guide – 038 Triumph Daytona 500
086 How’s that work?
Buying guide – 046 Yamaha YL1
089 Project Norton
guide – 054 Buying Ducati 900SS
094 Restoration – Puch Maxi
We take a 64-year-old BSA B31, compete against the UK’s best Motogymkhana riders and have a ball!
For many, a perfect Triumph twin
Need some fun in your life? Ever thought of a 100cc two-stroke twin?
Beauty, character and pedigree all in one – the 900SS is a superb keeper
062 Archive poster A close up of the JAP single cylinder engine
066 068
Steve Cooper
The Japanese restoration world NOS supplies are drying up, says Steve
Paul Miles
026
Your letters
028
Products special
070 Paul D’Orléans
030
Products
Retro – 072 New Honda Monkey
4
Let us know what’s going on in your world
We have a look at how Alpinestars’ airbag suits could save you
Polishers, blasters, chargers and a great book on Gary Hocking
MARCH 2019 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
To shine or not to shine? How do you have your bike?
Paul starts looking into the history of leathers but ends up somewhere totally different
We start monkeying around on Honda’s new Monkey bike
Rachel looks at the mighty Honda Six, which tempted Mike from MV. Had he made the right decision?
We look at how to read a Vernier
This month we look at the wheels, brakes and lots of rubbing down. Lots
Restoring a moped can keep the pressure, price and time down, with just as much fun to be had when it’s finished!
100 Matchless rebuild
Our G3L gets its head rebuilt and a new small end
104 Reader ads
Buy another bike. Buy another bike. Buy another bike. Buy another bike. Buy another bike. You need to
121 Next month
A Moto Guzzi 1928 racer, Honda CB750 and a Norton Inter, plus the Matchless gets going and lots more
121 Last word
Frank enjoys a great winter ride and considers what makes a classic bike
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From our archive
■ ONCE IS ENOUGH So often our archive photograph hails from Mona’s Isle. This is simply because the TT races were, for decades, the single most-important proving ground, promotional springboard and manufacturing bravado contest for motorcycles in the world. This was also at a time when the internal combustion engine was possibly the most important product in the world, with the greatest brains, largest investment and a promising future. Back to the photograph you see here, and it’s not always the top runners that have a story to tell. Here you see a splendid captured moment of Francis Reynolds, at 26 years old, winning his first Manx Grand Prix, the Junior, in 1961. Reynolds was a motorcycle dealer from Middlesbrough. He first entered in 1957 on a 350 but reportedly crashed at Windy Corner in practice and didn’t start the race. He returned in 1958 for the Junior Manx Grand Prix, but retired with a mechanical. This failed to deter Reynolds and in 1959 he finished 18th in the Junior. In 1960 he retired again in the Junior, but tackled the Senior as well, coming 15th, at 88.28mph on a Norton, an ex-Dave Chadwick machine prepared by Reg Dearden. But in 1961, Frank and his Ajay (the same machine that had let him down the year before but for this year the valve spring mountings had been modified) crossed the line first at a speed of 81.28mph. Can you imagine the feeling? He went on to race at the TT in 1962 and 1963, but only once would he stand on that top step.
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MARCH 2019 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
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CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || MARCH 2019
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‘Race on Sunday, sell on Monday’. From 1948 to 1962, the AJS 7R was the factory and privateer 350cc racer everyone wanted WORDS BY RACHAEL CLEGG PHOTOGRAPHY BY GARY CHAPMAN
S
ometimes, as a special treat, I search for ‘AJS 7R sound’ on YouTube just to hear the 7R’s majestic, visceral purr (I’m from Rochdale – it doesn’t take much). But the 7R has many feline qualities, even beyond its sensational growl: it is deceptively powerful, light, agile and one of the ‘prettiest’ machines of the postwar period. It’s also thanks to the 7R that we have the term ‘boy racer’, for this dainty little beast – which first rolled out of the factory ry y in 1948 – was designed and built for the amateur racer. It was one of the most successful over-the-counter racers of all time. And as such, it is a marvel of economy, on every ry y level. As the Vintage Motorcycle Club’s marque specialist Ray Carter said: “There is nothing on an Ajay that isn’t necessary ry. y There are no gimmicks, no trims, they were basic bikes built for people who didn’t have the time or resources for high maintenance. You can strip the engine of an Ajay in about 20 minutes.” The cost of this compact competition machine, in its day, was £249 plus £67 tax, which roughly equates to £8000 in today’s money. According to the National Archives this was the equivalent of around 175 days’ wages for a skilled job. For the add-ons, such as alloy rims, AJS added a further £6 to the price tag.
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The bike pictured here is an AJS 7R3A, the e first of a three-valv ve upgrade (one inlet but two exhaust valves, hence the twin exhausts), wh hich Ike Hatch designed d to bring the exhaus st valve temperature down. It is one of only four believed to ha ave been built, along with a few extra prototy ype engines, which also o had a shorter-strok ke bottom end and later featured a different frame and d tank. It would be th he bike that took Rod Coleman to the 1954 Junior TT victory
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MARCH 2019 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE
To put this into perspective, a race-ready over-the counter supersport today would cost about £30,000. Despite being a ‘toy for boys’, however, the Ajay was approximately the same cost as a Manx Norton, which in 1948 would set you back around £314 including tax. But costs aside, the 7R’s launch was a big deal. AJS’ salesman Jock West OBE also happened to be a motorcycle racer and thus proved to be both a public relations dream and a shrewd operator. He was the perfect advocate for the 7R. And such was the magnitude and notoriety surrounding the rumoured release of this little racer that West actually held a talk at Cambridge University about the 7R (though at the time it was referred to – confusingly – as the R7). A report in The Motor Cycle, dated March 4, 1948, read: “The line of thought that led to the decision to make the new racing AJS a ‘three fifty’ was explained by J M West OBE to an audience at the Cambridge Centaur, Cambridge University. “Few, if any can be more qualified to talk about the new R7 than Jock West. It hardly need be mentioned that he received rapt attention.” The report reads on, quoting West’s talk: “Why a three-fifty? Prestige in Europe, Jock explained, had put British motorcycles where they are today, and success in continental events, therefore had to be considered. And success on these small circuit road races that were held in Holland, Belgium, France and Spain could be best achieved on a machine that was light rather than one that had ultra-high maximum speed. “Of the three major classes the individual rider had in the past concentrated on the 350cc class. The
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