Classic Bike Guide - December 2020 preview

New retro: Royal BMW R18 rumble One huge boxer

Enfield’s Clipper 250

DECEMBER 2020

BUY  SELL  RIDE  RESTORE

TR6C

E FRE

CALENDAR THIS ISSUE

UK ONLY

Worksh op How to fit Helicoi a l

Impossible to find, so made at home

Museum marvels

Our favourite museum bikes – you can buy

The rule of six Honda CBX1000 restoration

New to classics?

Get the most fun from riding classic bikes

Contents

006 From the archive We look at the Catalina Grand Prix

010 Triumph TR6C

Built in the UK, but only available in the US. Unless you build your own, that is

019 Next month

We take one big look at the magnificence that is the Laverda Jota

020

Subscribe!

024

News

028

Products

Fancy receiving Classic Bike Guide for just £3.50 a month? Delivered to your door? It’s the bargain of the century!

Shows come and go, and imports and exports may get trickier in this month’s news

Books, helmets and even socks tested and reviewed this month and all for you, dear reader!

030 Letters

Let us know what’s going on in your world of old bikes

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DECEMBER 2020 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE

guide: Royal 032 Buying Enfield Clipper

It got you from A to B and maybe treated you to a little more, but the Clipper was a workhorse.

Great little runner now, though

040

Museum Marvels

The National Motorcycle Museum has to sell some bikes, so we had a look at a few of our favourites

064 New Retro – BMW R18 An 1800cc, Boxer engine cruiser, celebrating the BMW styles of old.

We sent Chad to find out what it’s really like – and I fancy a go

072 First time riders

Maria gets to grips with riding a 1950s British pre-unit bike and gives wannabe old bike riders a few hints she has learned on the way

Valve seat cutting Motorcycle characters – 076 048 Pip Harris He had more success on three wheels than two, but Pip was a character and a gentleman

054 From the archive

A leaning sidecar with disc brake, in 1923. Superb photo of a Douglas outfit

056

Honda CBX1000

If you want to know how hard it is rebuilding a six-cylinder bike, here you can find out. But what a great job

Oli breaks a valve and has to have his head repaired. So this is how the professionals do it

082 Project Norton

We repair the head, making an insert for one thread and helicoiling another

088 Hutch’s workshop

Helicoil. Many know the word, but how easy is it? Hutch shows us all.

095 Reader ads

I nearly got my wallet out checking them this month.

Some crackers in there

106 Frank’s last word

Petrol. Something about petrol.

Welcome

Housekeeping

H

ere’s to everyone enjoying the final flurry of nice riding days!

Although I do love those surprise autumnal or winter days where the roads are dry and the sun, for a few hours, is our friend. That’s the glory of not having immaculate bikes – they are always available for an impromptu ‘blat’ out.

Here at Hullville, we can tell it’s getting colder; not because the bike meets are getting quieter and darker; not because that jacket liner gets put in. We can tell because come late evening, the slugs move into the kitchen. I just cannot find where they come in, slimy little buggers. The kids think it’s hilarious. I don’t.

They’ve been seeking warmth for years; just like my BSA not starting when it’s still warm. Dynamo and magneto are all right, carb settings work and feel fine, but I dread trying to start it after 30 minutes or so, especially now Maria’s using it more.

Little niggles are what make every day different though, I suppose.

Bike-wise, we’ve had a quiet month; well, apart from the BMW valve clearances, which are rather vocal in reminding me they’re loose. I popped to see my friend Ben at TTT Motorcycles in Sudbury, where the guys in the workshop were putting a badly-restored Triumph back in shape. I also got to try a brilliantly tuned new Royal Enfield Interceptor they’d got just perfect –

more on that next month – and the great roads in that area.

Elsewhere we’ve been making a list of jobs needed on the old family Ford 103E that took my mother and father to hospital to have me, to see how big a task it is. Great news is the chassis – what there is – is in strong shape and the bodywork needed is pretty minimal.

The suspension and the non-hydraulic, rod-operated brakes will need some love and the 1172cc sidevalve engine is asking for the full works. And bearing in mind it hasn’t the performance of an M20, that engine weighs a ton! Bikes or cars? I enjoy them both.

And heading further back in time, our good friend was recently offered some old working trailers, so what better way to pick them up than steaming up the Garrett traction engine? For those not into steam power, traction engines are incredible machines that feel so alive when you’re next to them. To top it off they just happened to be coming down the road as the level crossing was closed for the Mid Norfolk Railway testing a Standard class loco at the same time.

There was more steam than a holed Scott radiator and more whistling than the workshop kettle. A wonderful sight and smell that made up for the lack of shows this year.

Workshop beckons. The ES2 is actually making progress; I’m enjoying it again.

The B31 needs an oil change, a couple of niggles and the tank repainted, the BMW needs a service and possibly more – I suspect the crank seal is leaking, causing the dry clutch to slip slightly. And I’m fed up with never having any room, so I’ve decided to have a clear out, sell some bits and bobs and general stuff, to be able to concentrate on what’s left. Then, maybe, I’ll find some time to stop the slugs.

Hope you enjoy this month’s magazine, we’ve tried to bring a nice mix of bikes and stories. If you think you have a bike or story that others will find interesting, or want to correct something, you’re all more than welcome to email me.

Be good

Matt Hull editor@classicbikeguide.com

CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || DECEMBER 2020

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a Triumph TR6C Allan Seggie has wanted a TR6C for years.

Most went Stateside, so Allan built his own.

WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY STUART URQUHART

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DECEMBER 2020 || CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE

CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || DECEMBER 2020

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ENDOFPREVI EW

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