Classic Dirt Bike Magazine - Issue 33 Winter 2014

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#33

Win a Honda CRF450R //Kawasaki KX500 two-stroke //100 years of the Scott trial

KX500

Issue

thirty-three Winter 2014

60+bHp TWO-STROKE pOWERHOUSE TESTEd

7of pages sport

– Action from across the UK

CHASE TY220 ‘A proper trials bike at last’ – The bike Yamaha should have built

100 YEARS

OF THE SCOTT TRIAL

19 prime ministers, 2 world wars,

1 mENTAL EvENT

DAVE BICKERS Our tribute to ‘The Coddenham Flyer’ Why the title ‘Legend’ is 100% deserved

#33

PLUS

CHANGE YOUR TWO-STROKE

CRANK SEALS

We show you how

SCOTT TRIAL WINNING BULTACO & BSA //DICK MANN MATCHLESS //TINTO PARK

On the cover Back with a bang is MX tester Vic Allan, the former British champion got together with Nick Haskell and sorted a few bikes for featuring over the next few issues.

First off the line is this 500cc Kawasaki making noises in Evo series.

Is the Vets MXdN at Farleigh Castle the biggest event in classic MX calendar? Good question and we’ve got this little taster from Nick Haskell, taken on the start line when Ryan Voase grabbed the holeshot (if you’re under 45 that means he got off the line first). Look out for a bigger feature in the next issue of CDB.

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Contents 03 In balance

The view from the sharp end of classic off-road. We’ve been out there getting dirty, meeting up with like-minded souls and just taking in the scene.

06 News, views and reviews

If it’s happened, happening or about to happen then this is the place to find out about it.

16 Subscribe! Subscribe!

All you need to know about having your favourite off-road sports mag drop on your doormat as soon as possible.

18 First of the line

We check out a Bultaco that became the first foreign winner of the Scott trial.

22 Something special

Take one TY175 Yamaha and add a touch of flair, make a few tweaks here and there, then get it ridden by an expert.

34 You need…

… a Scott trial winning Beezer in your shed. We feature Arthur Lampkin’s C15.

48 Dirt products

Got something for the off-road world?

Tell us about it and we’ll tell the world.

52 Dicko’s view

Our new columnist launches into CDB with an overview of the classic trials scene and makes a suggestion or two.

61 Smith tales

The elder statesman of world championship MX tells it like it is.

Always informative, always spot-on and genuinely interesting.

72 Dirt talk

Got an opinion? Have your say, tell it like it is, this is the place for discussing all that’s going on or even gone on in the off-road world.

82 Moto memories

One of the difficulties of this job is deciding what not to put in the mag; the hardest bit of all is the moto memories page, oh and there’s some soul searching.

Events 54 The sporting world

There are so many events in the off-road world – here’s a few we’ve been to.

62 Robbie Allan 50/50

We headed to Lanarkshire for the memorial meeting in July to celebrate the

sporting life of the Scottish enthusiast who succumbed to cancer last year.

64 Dave Bickers meeting

The legend that was Dave Bickers passed away in July; family and friends got together to celebrate his life.

How to 44 Rebuilt to ride

A tale of determination over adversity from a lad not letting a little matter like the theft of his bikes stop him from racing.

50 Tech Talk

Putting a seal on things… two-stroke not running right? Check the crank seals, maybe they’re due for a change.

Features 10 Hot stuff

Vic Allan grabs the handlebars of a superb Evo Kawasaki, but what does he think?

26 That was the year…

…the Scott trial began. An overview of the event 100 years old this year.

37 Main Mann

If you want something special building, give the task to someone special. Dick Mann is that builder.

66 Coddenham Flyer

Sometimes old MX stars just fade away, other times they embrace life and continue on. Nick Haskell reviews the life and times of legend Dave Bickers.

76 Prettying a Pursang

There are those in the world who think ‘okay’ is not good enough. John Dickinson chats to just such a man, and takes a pic of his bike too.

Kawasaki Feature Name KH500 10 An impressive motorcycle and one earning the respect of our tester.

Essential to the power, a decent exhaust, shame it’s so vulnerable, though a guard helps.

Kawasaki’s Uni-Trak single shock system is a serious top performer.

Once on the bike Vic finds the seat height okay.

Power house

Once the world decided two-strokes could cut it in MX, the scene went crazy… and we loved it! Vic Allan wishes he was 40 years younger.

Words: Vic Allan Pics: Nick Haskell

L

ooking at the Kawasaki KX500 on its stand with Zero Nine graphics and Michelin Zero tyres you just knew this was going to be one fast motorcycle. This machine and its Honda counterpart, the CR 500, had battled one another for supremacy of the 500cc World Motocross Championships.

Millions of dollars had been spent on development of these bikes and their multi cylinder road race relatives where two-strokes ruled. Had that crafty photographer Nick Haskell set things up for a more sinister take on our tests by arranging for Phil Mercer to deliver his race bike, owned by the Chamber boys, to our test track at Oswestry near Winchester? Having just reached the ripe old

age of 69 with a 19-year-old hip replacement and a two-year-old complete knee replacement, was I about to feel my age?

The great thing about being an old rider is that nobody has left a blueprint of how you should feel and as long as the mind is still trying to convince the body that we are still 21 then off we go.

Men like George Greenland and Derek Cranfield are still defying the odds in their 80s in Trials and riding better than I did at 21, what role models they are. I started riding a motorcycle at nine years old, encouraged by my brother Robbie, and this was a two-stroke as well, a 1913 Levis, which means I have been riding motorcycles off-road for 60 years.

The Levis had girder forks, rigid rear end,

then came a DMW 197cc trials bike rigid rear end but the luxury of tele forks.

Next was a Dot which was a great stride forward with leading link forks and rear suspension. Forward to a Greeves Challenger with Ceriani forks and the first big production two-stroke Greeves 360 and 380cc, with greater suspension at front and rear.

The 370cc Bultacos gave us over 8in of travel which seemed like heaven but a full blown 500cc KTM with 10in travel with no reed valve or power valve system and aircooled was a real ding-a-ling of mechanical noise. The late Reg May and myself spent a whole day at Hounslow Heath with a multitude of jets and settings from KTM but it still rattled at the bottom end to such an

Feature Archive Name feature 26

27 27

1914 That was the year… …the Scott Trial started

Where is the ‘Bump of Locality?’ screamed the headline of the MotorCycle on March 5, 1914? ‘In Yorkshire’ answered the Scott factory, so beginning the most famous one day trial in the world.

Words Tim Britton Pics Mortons archive, Nick Nicholls Collection, Yoomee

P

It’s 1914 and the madness begins. How many of these lads vowed ‘never again’?

icture the scene, a slightly overcast October Saturday morning in a field near Richmond in Yorkshire. A nervous trials rider waits in a queue as the clock ticks toward his start time. It had already been an interesting morning just getting to the venue – heading down the A1 the trailer wheel passed the support vehicle and required some creative thinking to reattach it.

Rider after rider is given ‘the nod’ by the starter and hurtles off down the field through two lines of spectators. Our man’s time arrives, the kick-starter is worked, the engine fires, a gear is selected and he’s away. Sadly for the rider, me in case you’d not guessed, it was to end about 20 miles further in to the trial when a water splash turned out to be deeper than judged.

Many trials riders see the Scott as one of the must-do classic events. Trials, while modern in 2014, have that link to the dawn of motorcycling as they’ve been run continuously – international situations not withstanding – since they were started.

Though not unique in the context of having the result decided on time as well as observation, the Scott is certainly the best known, but how did the whole thing start?

The blame can probably be laid at the door of the MotorCycle which, in a leader feature of March 5, 1914, bemoaned the lack of map reading skills by the modern motorcyclist and doubted if more than a quarter of the riders in a trial could find their way to the finish were it not for directional arrows at every junction.

“Will some enterprising club not run an arrowless trial?” asked the editor in those far off days with the inference a rider with a

Rebulit Feature Name to ride...

44

It’s a starting point at least, and everything is there.

Getting creative Sometimes a bit of creativity is necessary to overcome adversity. Martin Speak thought his race career was over after a burglary… then he thought again.

Words and pics: Martin Speak

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espite racing in the twinshock series it is obvious this is not a twinshock bike at all. It is in fact a modified 1982 XR 500 that was bought to get me back into racing on a very tight budget after thieves broke into my garage and stole my modern CRF 250 and a pristine 1988 CR500.

The loss wiped me out both financially and motivationally. I had been racing since 2003 mostly on a 1981 Yamaha YZ465 and I had just ‘upgraded’ to the CR500 but within 12 months was deprived of the pleasure of its company by some very determined lowlifes.

I borrowed a twinshock bike last year and did one race meeting at Warmingham Lane and decided at 49 years old I was too young to pack in. I needed a cheap winter project to race.

The eligibility rules allow the Yamaha monoshock to race against twinshocks as it does not employ the rising rate linkage associated with modern suspension design.

A conversation with the organisers of the National Twinshock series confirmed it was “within the spirit of twinshock racing” but may have to go to a riders’ vote if an objection was raised.

I figured the majority of twinshock bikes were using modern technologically advanced shocks anyway and a complaint would only materialise if I started cleaning up. With slim chance of this I decided to proceed.

West coaster

The bike was a Californian import bought as a non-runner for £700 and although it looked rough it did have the bones of what I needed and the motor had good compression.

I originally intended to modify the frame and fit a pair of twinshocks until I started looking at the frame. The mounting for the pro-link shock was a perfect geometry to adapt the KTM linkless system, mounting a shock directly on to the swingarm. A decent pair of twinshocks was going to cost upward of £700. I sourced a KTM shock from eBay for £35 and a few measurements confirmed it would work.

The original XR swingarm proved to be too short for motocross and a 1982 IT 465 aluminium arm was sourced which was 100mm longer and half the weight of the steel original. It then became apparent that tyre choice for the Honda 17in rear wheel was limited and the spindle would not work on the Yamaha arm so an 82 IT rear wheel was sourced too. A bit of spacing between the frame rails to align the chain between sprockets was all that was needed. The 18in rear wheel rim had seen better days so a 19in rim was laced in with double-butted stainless spokes. A specially made longer brake cable also had to be commissioned from Venhill.

The frame was strengthened and a few mounting lugs were welded on to

Martin realised he still had the MX bug despite the low life wiping out his garage.

An hour with 66

Bickers in typical forceful style.

67

The Coddenham Flyer The term ‘legend’ is often bandied around in the world of MX; in many cases probably undeservedly but in certain instances it barely does justice to the recipient. Such a case is the legend that was Dave Bickers, Nick Haskell takes up the story.

Words: Nick Haskell Pics: Mortons archive, Nick Nicholls collection and Nick Haskell

The dictionary definition of the word legend states: ‘An extremely famous or notorious person, especially in a particular field’. So I have no reservations in using the term legend when referring to the late great Dave Bickers. He has more than earned that accolade in any number of fields.

The untimely passing of Dave Bickers, following a massive heart attack in July 2014, really shook not only the MX fraternity but also that of the stunt film industry. It may come as a surprise to many that the affable East Anglian was equally as famous in the world of film stunts as he was for being a two-time 250cc European MX champion.

Yet despite two European titles, five 250cc and one 500cc British title, five Grandstand trophies plus more than 60 years devoted entirely to the motorcycle industry he never received recognition in the ‘Honours’ lists.

Dave Bickers, who hailed from Coddenham, near Ipswich in Suffolk, is a man who needs little or no introduction as he became a virtual household name in the 1960s, thanks in the main to his many appearances on what was then prime time Saturday afternoon TV viewing.

Back then one could say we were extremely fortunate, as scrambling was screened regularly by both the BBC and ITV networks, both of which ran their own independent winter series. Bickers was a major factor in both, claiming numerous race and championship victories.

Using what money he earned he bought a brand new 197cc DOT with telescopic forks, at a cost of £130, and during the Easter of 1954 he entered his first scramble at Burstall in Suffolk.

It was a fairy tale debut for the 16-year-old who won his first heat and took a creditable second spot in the 250cc final. Further encouraged by his father, Bickers obtained a 350 BSA Gold Star and this was then followed by a brand new 500cc version which he raced in his local Eastern centre.

Bickers also used the DOT to great effect in local trials events, and although he won 50% of those he entered, he admitted he was never very good. Like several of the scrambling fraternity, he often rode trials in

the closed season to improve his two wheel skills. He later obtained a 500T Norton which he found more suitable for the feet-up game.

In 1955 he was picked to ride for the Eastern Centre in the Inter Centre team trial in Wales, although it proved a disaster for the 17-yearold, as he was unfamiliar with the rock strewn terrain. “I tried to lift the front wheel over a rock and ran straight into it,” exclaimed Bickers.

Although his main interest was the scrambling, Bickers continued to ride trials in the off-season and two years later in the winter of ’57 he was loaned a Triumph Trophy for a trial at Colchester. One particular section, a yard deep stream was causing a lot of problems for his fellow competitors as

It was a fairy tale debut for the 16-year-old who won his first heat and took a creditable second spot in the 250cc final

The early years

David Geoffrey Bickers entered the world on January 17, 1938, and was the only child born to Geoffrey and Kathleen. Bickers Snr was a garage proprietor who also owned the local bus and coach business.

With the Shrubland Park Grand Prix venue roughly a mile away from the family home, it was regular visits there as a child that first influenced the youngster. From an early age Bickers had already decided his future; he wanted to be a scrambler.

At the age of eight he got his first motorcycle, a 500 Norton with half an engine which he rode around the local fields near his home. The Norton was followed by a 1920 Francis-Barnett.

Bickers openly admitted he was no scholar, so after leaving school at 15 with no qualifications he started work in the family business as a motor mechanic and welder.

Sometimes scrambles were sunny. The bib indicates an international team event.