Classic Bike Guide March 2018

The WALMSLEY’S RACE-ENGINED BOBBER

FAITHFUL TRIUMPH T100

BUY

SELL

RIDE

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STEPS TO VTWIN HEAVEN

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FROM THE ARCHIVE A collection of British bikes, in New York.

BSA SUPER ROCKET SPECIAL CBG finds a BSA special and its wonderful owner, Ray Loxton.

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NEWS John McGuinness riding a Norton at the TT and many other goings-on in our world.

WHAT’S ON Pick a new show to visit this year with our comprehensive guide.

BRISTOL SHOW A few of our favourite photos from the Bristol show.

BUYING GUIDE – MOTO MORINI 31/2 Hardy Italian V-twin is easy to work on, great to ride and affordable.

BUYING GUIDE – TRIUMPH TIGER 750 Put a Tiger in your tank – or garage.

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BUYING GUIDE – BSA A7 Pre-unit 500cc twin heaven.

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FREDDER! Manx Norton OHC-engined special from none other than race maestro, Fred Walmsley.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE Belgian Grand Prix, Spa, 1954.

STEVE COOPER, VJMC If you want a Japanese classic, Steve says now’s the time.

PAUL MILES Paul declares his poor sense of direction but a loathing of sat navs – not a great recipe…

PAUL D’ORLEANS The ultimate bike? It may be the one you’re sitting on.

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LETTERS Your thoughts, plus a heart-warming story of an owner being reunited with his first bike – by chance!

ROYAL ENFIELD – BUILT LIKE A GUN CBG sits down with Siddhartha Lal, CEO of Royal Enfield, to hear what’s in store for the future, including the new twins. It’s exciting.

IN THE WORKSHOP – CHANGE YOUR TYRES We look at how to change your tubes and tyres at home.

READER ADS Loads of bikes and spares for sale – finish that project or start a new one.

FRANK WESTWORTH Frank breaks his own rule…

PRODUCTS New stuff tested!

THE TIGER FROM KASHMIRI A great story about a well-travelled T100 that’s been looking after its owner for nearly 40 years.

PARIS DAKAR BMW We get a world trials champion to test a tribute to BMW’s Paris Dakar-winning GS.

SUBSC AND SA RIBE VE OVE R

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CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || MARCH 2018 3

From the archive SOMETIMES WE COME across a picture in the archive, that for no reason fascinates us. Not much detail is known of where this print came from. It’s taken in America, at Tom McDermott’s motorcycle shop, Sunnyside road, in Glen Falls (now known as Queensbury), New York. McDermott was a BSA factory racer and the first American to earn a gold medal in the International

Six Days Trial, the ISDT. He also competed in AMA Nationals during the 1950s and scored four top-five finishes in the Daytona 200.

The shop is still going strong and is now a Harley-Davidson dealership, with Tom’s 1956 Gold Star on display.

For copies of this photo or to search through the extensive archive, visit mortonsarchive.co.uk

CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE || MARCH 2018 5

Welcome

||

Who’s who ||

EDITOR || Matt Hull editor@classicbikeguide.com PUBLISHER || Tim Hartley thartley@mortons.co.uk SENIOR DESIGNER || Kelvin Clements DESIGNER || Michael Baumber PICTURE DESK || Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield EDITORIAL ASSISTANT || Jayne Clements PRODUCTION EDITOR || Sarah Wilkinson DIVISIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER || Billy Manning ADVERTISING || Leon Currie 01507 529413 lcurrie@mortons.co.uk Kieron Deekens 01507 529576 kdeekens@mortons.co.uk Many thanks to Seastar Superbikes for allowing me to drool over their Panigale...

ARCHIVE ENQUIRIES || Jane Skayman 0 01507 529423 jskayman@mortons.co.uk SUBSCRIPTION MANAGER || Paul Deacon

Matt Hull

Winter wonderings

CIRCULATION MANAGER || Steven O’Hara MARKETING MANAGER || Charlotte Park PUBLISHING DIRECTOR || Dan Savage COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR || Nigel Hole

I’VE BEEN CHATTING with friends who’ve ridden the latest phenomenon, Ducati’s Panigale V4.

Phrases ‘game changer’ and ‘revolutionary’ were banded around. It’s not ‘just’ the 214bhp (in standard, warranty-friendly road trim) V4 MotoGP inspired engine. Hardened racers talked of the near-perfect balance, the counter-rotating crank and one ex-Superbike racer said “It’s the only bike with electronically controlled suspension I could race.”

With all this excitement the price is almost forgotten – £24,000. Oh, that’s for the poverty-spec model – the limited edition V4 Speciale, with more power (because you need 226bhp, don’t you) and various parts made from exoticum – will cost you over £35,000.

Game changing, maybe, eye-watering; definitely.

It seems crazy, but you can easily spend that and more on a bike that was built decades ago, has no safety features whatsoever, almost no electrics, let alone electronics, and as far as warranty goes…

An original Triumph X75 will cost you around the same as the Panigale V4. You could find a Vincent Rapide, though only one that – dare I say – doesn’t have matching numbers – oh the shame. A restoredto-concourse Kawasaki Z1A would allow you some change, maybe enough for a little Tiger Cub or Starfire for bombing around. Or how about a Velo KTT? Racing provenance like the Ducati and as focused, but hardly useable. At least the Panigale has a starter and lights. And a clock. Or how about an MHR900 or Jota?

You could play safe. £30,000 could buy you a nice pre-unit T120, a trials bike for winter fun and a project, with crucially the funds to finish it. Or swap the project for a touring bike, spending the time you would disappearing into the garage for seeing the sights. Or go mad and spend it all on racing…

Money is an ugly subject. The term ‘investment’ is one I personally despise when it comes to classics as it tends to come hand in hand with inflated prices beyond the realms of helium. Your Panigale V4 may hold its value for the first few months, maybe a year, while demand out-numbers supply, but depreciation is inevitable. Yet spend your money on classics and as long as you choose wisely, your money is pretty safe. But bikes are not a business decision, they’re meant to be enjoyed.

If you buy a new Ducati, you’ll love the performance whether you use it all or not, the attention it gets, the sound and the sophistication.

Some could say: “You can’t use that kind of bike nowadays.” But then if you’d spent similar amounts on a classic, how often would you use that? “I’m not taking the Brough, it might rain.” Oh yes, because they melt if they get wet, don’t they.

Buy a classic and you’re buying history, character and can rest safely in the knowledge it shouldn’t depreciate. But only you know what you want from bikes. So stick with what you want – not what’s most financially sensible. Personally, I’d like a modernish mode of transport, like a used BMW GS (sorry, but they are a great donkey), a rigid single, a twinshock mud-plugger and an old racebike. Not a big collection, but one realistic to my means and time constraints. That’s still not enough for a Panigale, but I’d be more than happy. After all, value doesn’t matter when you’re riding, only when you come to sell. Though I may put on my best leathers and ask for a test ride. Just to see what 214bhp feels like compared to my 350’s 17 pit-ponies...

In the meantime, stay warm and be good, Matt.

Matt Hull editor@classicbikeguide.com

EDITORIAL ADDRESS Mortons Media Group, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR WEBSITE www.classicbikeguide.com GENERAL QUERIES AND BACK ISSUES 01507 529529 24hr answerphone Email: help@classicmagazines.co.uk Web: www.classicmagazines.co.uk SUBSCRIPTION Full subscription rates (but see page 18 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £50.40. Export rates are also available – see page 18 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. DISTRIBUTION Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf,London E14 5HU. 0203 787 9001 USA SUBSCRIPTIONS CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE (USPS:002-674) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $54 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to CLASSIC BIKE GUIDE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com PRINTED BY || William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. ISSN No 0959-7123

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BSA Super Rocket Special WORDS BY OLIVER HULME PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON BRYANT

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AS DUSK FALLS on a farmyard somewhere in the south west of England, Ray Loxton is tinkering with the oil pump on his pre-unit Triumph Bonneville. “I’m not getting the pressure through, brother.” Ray calls everybody brother. “It should be coming through the end of the crankshaft, but it isn’t. I’ve got a new pump coming. I hope it’ll fix it but if not I’ll just keep replacing things till it’s sorted out.”

Ray has been riding motorcycles since he was a child and among his earliest memories are the trips to the coast on his father’s BSA A10 Super Rocket, coupled to a Steib sidecar. “I’ve got the frame of one of those Steibs somewhere,” he says, waving his hand at a pile of scrap steel and welding cylinders.

The reason for my visit is to see Ray’s own BSA A10 special. Although the 650cc twin has the specification of a later Super Rocket, it was registered in 1954 and would have started life as a Road Rocket.

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The Road Rocket was BSA’s flagship sports bike when launched in 1954. It was designed to take the wind from the sails of Triumph and Norton, who were sweeping the board and cleaning up in the market for big fast twins; Triumph had their engine and Norton the Featherbed frame. Sold as “Undoubtedly the world’s greatest motorcycle,” the BSA A10 Road Rocket was released to the world in 1954. The Road Rocket had an A10 engine with an alloy cylinder head, high compression pistons and a high lift camshaft giving 40bhp and a top speed of 109mph. The bike became more powerful as the decade went on, being relaunched as the Super Rocket for 1958.

Ray’s bike has been upgraded over the years to Super Rocket spec, with higher compression pistons, lumpier cams and uprated cycle parts. US magazine, Cycle World, tested the Super Rocket at 116mph.

The Road Rocket was the first A10 to use BSA’s new swinging arm frame where the range had previously used a plunger design. This housed the engine up until the end of production in 1962. The same basic design principles allowed for frames of a similar style to be used on many other BSA machines, including the Gold Star and the 350cc and 500cc B

Above: Quite a shed full Below: Classic lines on this special

SPECIFICATIONS BSA ROAD ROCKET MANUFACTURED: 1954-1957 ENGINE: Air-cooled ohv twin BORE / STROKE: 70mm x 84mm CAPACITY: 646cc POWER: 40bhp @ 6000rpm LUBRICATION: Dry sump IGNITION: Magneto CARBURETTOR: Amal Monobloc/TT TRANSMISSION: Chain GEARBOX: Fourspeed foot change FRAME: Twin downtube duplex cradle FRONT SUSPENSION: Tele forks, hydraulic damping REAR SUSPENSION: Swinging arm Twin three-way adjustable shocks FRONT BRAKE: 8in/203 sls drum REAR BRAKE: 7in/177mm sls drum TYRES: 3.25 x 19 Front 3.50x 19 Rear WHEELBASE: 56in/1422mm GROUND CLEARANCE: 6in/152mm SEAT HEIGHT: 30in/762mm DRY WEIGHT: 418lb/190kg TOP SPEED: 108mph (est)

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singles. Even when BSA replaced the pre-unit twins with the slinky A50/A65, their new frame’s geometry took some of its styling cues from the A10, retaining a similar duplex frame loop and rear subframe which lasted until the advent of the Oil-in-Frame design of the early 1970s.