Old Bike Mart September 2015

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The Carole Nash Classic Motorcyle Mechanics Show October 17-18

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Advance tickets on sale Hundreds of traders | Huge autojumb le Display bikes and clubs

Buy tickets 01507 529529 classicbikeshows.com Everything about Yamaha’s 250cc YDS3 two-stroke twin seemed exotic when it arrived in Britain 50 years ago – wheelieinducing power, Autolube lubrication, crisp handling, fantastic brakes and superb electrics.

During a Motor Cycle road test that year, Vic Willoughby (left) and Mike Evans study the stylish combined speedometer and rev meter.

Mortons Archive photo

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2 NEWS

September 2015

Pete’s Prattle www.oldbikemart.co.uk email: info@oldbikemart.co.uk

Editor Pete Kelly OBMEditor@mortons.co.uk Senior Designer Kelvin Clements Divisional advertising sales manager David England dengland@mortons.co.uk Advertising Ricky Nichols rnichols@mortons.co.uk Tania Shaw tshaw@mortons.co.uk 01507 524004 Marketing manager Charlotte Park Circulation manager Steve O’Hara Publisher Tim Hartley Publishing director Dan Savage Commercial director Nigel Hole Associate director Malcolm Wheeler General Queries 01507 529529 (24hr ansaphone) Archive Enquiries Jane Skayman jskayman@mortons.co.uk 01507 529423 Founder Ken Hallworth OLD BIKE MART (ISSN:1756-9494) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $48 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 City Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921.

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Morality might be just a little word, but when it’s lacking the world soon starts to fall apart.

Some OBM readers might remember my New Year ‘Prattle’ in which I expressed delight in the fact that 89-year-old John E West, from Ruthin, Denbighshire, was still riding after 72 years.

A couple of weeks ago, I was heartbroken to receive another email from John, who had just moved from North Wales to Sutton Heath, St Helens, Merseyside, informing me that his red 1989 ‘grey import’ 400cc Honda Bros, F186 EVG, had been stolen.

“The Honda is no more, as some ‘scum’ stole it despite the thick cable lock on the back wheel and

the disc brake lock on the front,” he writes. “These were left for me in pieces after the bolt-cutter had finished with them.”

It’s so easy to tear someone’s world apart, isn’t it? Even if he’s a pensioner, struggling to survive on a low income and has now had his main pleasure of motorcycling taken away from him.

“By the time the insurance company takes off the excess, plus anything outstanding on the policy, which I pay monthly, there probably won’t be enough left to buy another motorcycle,” he writes.

“I can remember in the mid1950s, when I went to Brands Hatch regularly for the racing,

leaning my Vincent against the toilets on Clearways with my helmet and gloves on the seat, and when I returned after a day’s racing they’d still be there.”

While not everyone was honest, as evidenced by the story of a stolen 350cc Cotton JAP that was dumped in the Grand Union Canal in the 1960s, I never remember such callous acts being as rampant as they are today.

There are so many examples of corporate and individual dishonesty that ‘getting away with it’ seems to have become an acceptable creed in many people’s minds.

It is never acceptable for greed and indifference to cause hurt like

Entries open for Exeter Long Distance Reliability Trials Entries are being taken for the Exeter Long Distance Reliability Trials organised by The Motor Cycling Club established in 1901.

Covering a 270-mile route, the hallowed event will start at 19.31 on Friday, January 8, 2016 and finish the following day.

As well as being open to members of The Motor Cycling Club, members of the Vintage Motor Cycle Club, Army Motorcycling Association and Morgan Three-Wheeler Club who hold an ACU trials rider’s registration may also take part.

There are classes for

motorcycles manufactured before January 1, 1970, solos below 450cc, solos above 450cc, sidecars and three-wheelers, with starting points at Popham Airfield near Basingstoke, Sourton Cross near Okehampton and Cirencester.

Competitors will converge on the Haynes Museum in Somerset before following a common route tackling 13 observed sections and three observed tests en route to the finish at Torquay.

There’s a shorter, less testing route of 150 miles, with 13 observed sections and three

observed tests, for competitors in class O, starting at the Haynes Museum.

To obtain an entry form, email dave@sappfamily.co.uk or send a stamped, addressed C5 envelope to Dave Sapp, 3 Lightgate Road South, Petherton, Somerset TA13 5AJ (01460 240679). Entries close on October 20.

New members of The Motor Cycling Club are welcome, and membership forms are available from the website or by contacting Dave by phone or letter.

this. I sincerely hope that the perpetrators are caught quickly despite the police cuts and that John is soon back on two wheels.

In a perfect world, his insurers would put morality before small print, too, and make damn sure that he was!

Pet food motorcycle cavalcade helps all creatures great and small The 26th running of the Great Potteries Motorcycle Pet Food Cavalcade, in support of numerous animal charities, will take place at Port Vale Football Club, Hamil Road, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on Sunday, September 20.

Bikes will assemble at 11.30am for a noon start and after the cavalcade there will be a rock concert and party, including an auction of motorcycle accessories and a raffle.

Entry to the event costs just £3 per person, and pet food donations would also be appreciated.

Last year, no fewer than 16 charities were helped – even including a chicken rescue!

NEWS 3

September 2015

Another dedicated Royal Enfield store opens An exclusive 600 sq ft Royal Enfield display area opened at Hartgate Motors, 20-28 Upper Green East, Mitcham, Surrey, early last month. It follows the launch of Royal Enfield’s first exclusive London store in May and further expands the Indian manufacturer’s footprint in the UK. Earlier this year, Royal Enfield acquired renowned British firm Harris Performance and also announced its new R&D tech centre in Leicestershire.

To underline this vital British connection, Royal Enfield’s Chief Executive Officer Siddhartha Lal has relocated to London to oversee the development of key markets outside RE’s massively booming Indian base.

Royal Enfield President Rudy Singh said: “The UK is Royal Enfield’s spiritual home, and we see a huge opportunity to develop the mid-sized market here as well as broaden the appeal and accessibility of motorcycling to a younger audience who might not have previously thought about it.”

Hartgate of Mitcham’s dealer principal John Hogsen said: “The new store gives us and our customers a real point of difference, and we look forward to receiving feedback on its look and feel and welcoming new and existing customers.”

The launch of the store came just days after Eicher Motors, Royal Enfield’s parent company, reported the best-ever quarterly figures from

There’s plenty of time to relax and look around, with a full range of Royal Enfields on display, in the new dedicated RE store within Hartgate Motors in Mitcham.

April to June, with a total income of £112.5m, an increase of 47% over the £76.5m for the same quarter last year.

Royal Enfield has also reported the best ever sales results in a single quarter at 106,613 units, a growth of 43.8% over the same period last year.

From market town to motorcycling mecca The annual Brackley Festival of Motorcycling, which helps support the local air ambulance, now attracts more than 20,000 enthusiasts as racing motorcycles ‘parade’ along both sides of the dual carriageway running through the centre of the Northamptonshire market town, while off-road competition machinery is demonstrated on a short grass circuit, writes Ian Kerr.

It was in 2009 that several local motorcyclists hit on the idea of turning the town in to a motorcycling mecca, and now, for one Sunday in mid-August, all roads leading to the town are alive with bikes and cars approaching from all directions.

This year, people had come from as far away as Newcastle.

The event is run totally by volunteers, so everything raised goes to charity.

All aspects of motorcycling

A Greeves scrambler shows its paces on one of the grass circuits.

Classic British off-road competition machines like these are playing a growing part in the Brackley Festival of Motorcycling.

tastes are catered for, although most of it is classic-based.

There was an excellent display by the local section of the Vintage

What a temptation! The street circuit for racing machines utilises both sides of the dual carriageway in the middle of Brackley.

Motor Cycle Club along with a great line-up of classic motocross bikes from the days when British iron ruled the berms.

Add some classic speedway and trials bikes to the mix, some exuding the fruity aroma of Castrol R, and the lower field easily rivalled the many classic racing bikes in the town centre paddock.

Even the National Motorcycle Museum turned out in force with a bike display, and was exercising a few race machines.

Displays by current bike manufacturers and clothing and accessories stalls were dotted around the High Street and fields, and a custom bike show brought clever engineering and stunning paintwork as riders showed off their ideal machines.

When the legs grew tired, Steve Colley’s trials show and a freestyle moto x display brought the opportunity to sit around the

Road race machines await their chance for a bellow through the middle of town.

grass arena and watch, and various bands provided the music to go with the rest period.

There was even a wall of death for those who craved yet more action.

Although the main theme of the Brackley Festival was ‘classic’, the whole sphere of motorcycling was covered by the various displays around the town – not to mention all the machines in the bike park and side streets.

The event is a fine example of what can be achieved through a little negotiation with the local community, allowing both a worthy cause and the name of motorcycling to benefit.

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12 NEWS

September 2015

Would you like to borrow a Brough?

The generous bequest of an unrestored SS80 to the Brough Superior Club seven years ago means that the historic machine is available on loan, with strict conditions, to anyone who wishes to experience the ‘BS bug’. John Wallis explains all.

I

n 2008 Mr P Tate of Bristol, who was not a BS member, bequeathed an unrestored SS80 to The Brough Superior Club. It hadn’t been ridden for many years and had been stored under a plastic sheet in his garden for 15 or 20 years.

There was evidence that it had been used for military use as it had the tyre pressures painted on the mudguards and a spotlight with Air Ministry markings was fitted on the forks.

The club committee debated what should be done with this amazing gift, and eventually decided that it should be restored to working order.

Dave Clark, our technical advisor, offered to restore it to running order and a reasonable cosmetic condition.

The club then decided to create a scheme under which it could be loaned out to those who do not have a Brough, or whose own Brough is not in a running condition.

Later in 2008 it was the club’s 50th year celebrations, and Dave Clark got it going in an unrestored condition so that it could attend the big event where there were 217 – yes, 217 – Broughs. It was very pleasing that all that needed to be done was replace the magneto, which was solid, and unstick a valve. The machine participated in the cavalcade in Nottingham, where Broughs were made.

Ferrous oxide had made a meal of the old Brough, and the cheap plastic ‘leopard skin’ seat cover, of a type many readers will remember from the 1960s (there was Scottish tartan too), added the final insult to a once magnificent machine.

Corrosion was rife when the Brough Superior Club’s technical advisor, Dave Clark, started work on the SS80.

When Dave took the SS80 apart he found the working parts in pretty good order, but obviously replaced standard things like bearings. The pistons were fine and the bores were on +30 with no sleeving. The oil tank was a different story, and had to be stripped, cleaned and re-soldered.

Dave, who does as much himself as he can, removed the paint from the mudguards, soldered on patches as necessary and dressed them ready for painting. He even made the new tank after de-soldering the old one, flattening the pieces, using them as patterns, before forming and seam welding or soldering them together.

He did reuse the noses, however, after they were stripped of chrome. There are numerous other examples of parts that Dave made, including the exhaust pipes.

The full restoration was finished in May 2009, and the Brough started second kick.

Before lending it out certain conditions, understandably, have to be met, eg that the applicant has had experience of riding an old machine; that there is a secure place to store it; and that it will be maintained especially with regard to oiling.

References are requested if the applicant is unknown to the committee. They must also have been a member for at least one year.

Due to insurance issues, the club does not lend it to overseas members,

and applicants must be over 25.

An introduction to the Brough is given at the handover, and a maintenance manual and toolkit is loaned with the bike. Even though it is not necessary to have an MoT, one is obtained as a double check. The scheme started in 2010 and with a break of two years due to insurance difficulties, it is now in operation again and working well. Participants always have a big smile, and one of the recent borrowers is showing interest in getting more involved with the club.

We, like many clubs, are in a position where the committee members are getting older, and some of us will gradually fall off our perches leaving very few to run the clubs. This is particularly true with the BS Club, which hopes this scheme might bring in ‘new blood’ and therefore ensure that the club can function in the future.

It is our hope that non-members will see that we are not an exclusive club but are reaching out to nonowners to try to give them the experience that we enjoy – in other words, to try to give them the BS bug.

The club asks only for a donation of £200 per month (which includes insurance) in order to have the ride of your life. If you would like to give it a go and can meet the conditions, join the club via our website or call John Wallis on 07923511795.

What a transformation – and now the dreams of those yearning to ride a Brough Superior can be fulfilled for just £200 a month, including insurance.

September 2015

13

18 MADE IN JAPAN

September 2015

Nothing new under the sun — even the Rising Sun! In a typically thought-provoking feature, Steve Cooper looks at the sources of inspiration for the first generation of postwar Japanese motorcycles.

T

he mid-to-late 1970s is a fortuitous if serendipitous marker for a number of reasons, perhaps the most obvious being the end of the British motorcycle industry’s mainstream production.

Furthermore, it marks the rebirth of firms such as BMW and Moto Guzzi that had previously been struggling to make money or lacking leadership; and ultimately the back end of the seventies would signify the Japanese motorcycle industry taking a long hard look at itself and begin to move away from some of the concepts, ideas and designs that had catalysed the rise to market dominance.

So just where did Japan look for its inspirations?

Soichiro Honda made little secret that Germany and Italy were his early points of reference. Look at any of the initial Hondas, and the influences of firms such as NSU, Zundapp et al are obvious.

Pressed steel forks and chassis were common features of the early Hondas and it’s fairly obvious where the inspiration came from.

Mr Honda was also very aware that the key to engine performance lay predominantly within the cylinder head design, and it can hardly have been purely circumstantial that he took a keen interest in the host of successful sub-250cc motorcycles from Italy.

The likes of Mondial, Benelli, Morini and Parilla had consistently and reliably always punched above their weight in the various short track and moto giro-type events, but what might not be so well known is that Honda was also acutely aware of the work of British engineer and racer Bob Geeson, who built his own successful double overhead camshaft 250 twins in a shed in his garden back in the early 1950s.

He had the likes of Hartle, Minter and Duke riding various iterations by the end of the decade — and back on the continent once more, it’s possible that the early Hondas drew on the littleknown Simson RS250 from East Germany, which also ran a dohc 250cc motor like Geeson’s.

The pressed-steel influence of motorcycles like NSU’s single-cylinder four-stroke Maxi, a smaller-engined version of the Max, is obvious on many early Japanese machines, such as the Honda 250cc Dream and 125cc Benly.

If one manufacturer influenced the other three major players from Japan, then it was unquestionably the German Adler organisation, which had begun as a producer of bicycles and then expanded into motorcycles and cars.

In late 1951 it showcased a pair of 100cc and 125cc singles and a 200cc twin, the M200. The latter was essentially a pair of singles joined together via a serrated central joint, a long through bolt and steel sealing rings. The long-

Why wouldn’t the Japanese want to be influenced by superb engineering like this, as a dohc Mondial is laid bare?

Sculpted perfection – the engine of the ex-Mike Hailwood Mondial.

stroke motor (48 x 54mm) was capable of speeds in excess of 65mph, which was top-drawer stuff for the time.

Two years later, an overbore took the engine to 247cc and laid down the basic architecture of the 54 x 54 two-stroke twin that was to run and run for more than a quarter of a century. Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki all took their initial design cues from the Adler, along with Ariel for its Arrow.

The addition of disc valves, relocation of the then crank-mounted clutch and revised crankcase jointing all took the original Adler design way beyond its original brief, but not beyond the latent potential.

A brilliant fifth on the Island by Dieter Falk showcased what was possible, and the final privateer-tuned examples, complete with water cooling, were pumping out around 40bhp in 1959 and almost topping 140mph!

So why aren’t we all running around on Adlers today? Declining bike sales in Europe caused cash flow issues and industrial giant Grundig wanted Adler for its world-class typewriter manufacturing expertise.

The Japanese motor industry is very much a bag of mixed metaphors; a conundrum wrapped in a riddle is a common example.

There’s a curious amalgam of the safe and proven blended with large dollops of openminded thinking, and few companies better exemplify this than Marusho Lilac. Their most obvious and best-known products were

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September 2015

Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club

Adler’s 1951 M200 two-stroke twin looks very like some of the Japanese machinery of the 1960s.

probably the flat twins that unarguably took their lead from a certain Bavarian-based company that had been making remarkably similar bikes since the 1920s.

Doubtless it was considered prudent to follow the various precedents set by BMW, even if longevity wasn’t something Marusho ultimately managed to achieve. Despite the power unit looking very Teutonic, it’s said that little if anything significant swaps over between the two makes.

Always intended to be 500cc machine, the bike was ultimately hogged out to 600cc to meet demands in the USA, with a planned 750cc version supposedly on the drawing board.

Although very obviously plagiarising BMW the ST/Magnum/Electra never really made the grade and were generally shown to be poor copies. In only one aspect did the Japanese flat twin precisely ape the Beemer: the final iteration as the Electra had a similarly woefully inadequate battery just like the first electricstart Bavarians!

One engine layout the Marusho Lilacs took and expanded way beyond the original design was the V twin. Eschewing the more traditional options, the Japanese maverick motorcycle manufacturer opted to follow the little-known Victoria Bergmeister of Nuremberg, Germany.

By opting for an across-the-frame, narrowangle (66 degree) V twin four- stroke, Marusho Lilac managed to produce compact motorcycles unlike anything else on the road at the time. Initially, all examples were 250cc and came as standard, with electric start and

Victoria’s narrow-angle 350cc V twin Bergmeister of 1951 was readily aped by Japanese manufacturer Marusho Lilac.

shaft drive. Unlike the V35, which ran a duplex chain based gearbox, the Japanese twins were all conventional cogs and pinions.

Made in fairly significant numbers for a small enterprise, the 250 was enlarged first to 300cc and then to 332cc to deliver a machine capable of a fairly laudable 85mph.

To prove that they weren’t just overt imitators, Marusho Lilac also ran the same style of V twin as 125/150 models. thus delivering exquisite commuters and just to prove the firm wasn’t simply a one-trick pony, it even showcased miniature flat twins at 125 and 160cc. Very few made it into production, but they did get beyond the prototype stage.

Sadly, Marusho was frankly rubbish at running a business and, after various closures and bankruptcies, the company closed for good.

The post-war Japanese manufacturing economy was often, quite fairly, accused of copying or imitating Western manufactured goods.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Europe and America ought to feel suitably smug but for the fact that both regions were generally unable to compete head-on with Japan in terms of motorcycle production.

If all of this teaches us just one thing, it’s this: there’s nothing new under the sun, even if it’s a Rising Sun!

More pressed steel craftsmanship from Zundapp. This is a KS600 flat twin of 1950. There used to be scores of Zundapp flat twins lugging sidecars around on UK roads. Where are they all now?

If you are interested, intrigued, fascinated or downright obsessed by Japanese motorcycles, there’s arguably never been a better time to be so afflicted. True, the parts you might need to either keep one running or get it back in the road may not be as cheap as they once were, but in general most of what you want is out there if you are prepared to look and make the odd compromise.

The classic Japanese bike scene simply becomes more and more buoyant as past owners return to the fold. Even machines that would once not have received a second look are attracting attention.

Twenty years ago very few would have given a Yamaha RD125 a second look; its forerunner, the AS1, was already in “must-have” status but not the second cousin twice removed. The passage of time, supply of bikes and the ever-escalating cost of Kettles, H2s, Z1s and the like have dictated that the value of what was once considered the lower ranks must inexorably rise.

Project examples of the RD are now commanding sums at near or above two grand.

Now that may well seem like very strong money, but with more apprentice restorers chasing fewer bikes, the dizzying spiral is likely to continue for some time.

Buying a project motorcycle is all well and good, but the reality of getting it up and running should, in theory, be more arduous. Yet amazingly, even though doom merchants prophesied we’d never keep old Jap iron running, it’s supremely viable.

The amount of spares out there may not be at the same embarrassing levels they once were on dealer’s shelves but it’s still eminently viable to get said tiddler terror twin up and running. If you have a decent chassis, panels, a seat and the basics of a motor then you are onto a winner and little is likely to trip you up.

Pattern parts are generally good these days, and wheel rims and spokes are doable. It’s the same with con rod kits, pistons and rings, so for less than £130 spent on parts, your engine can be up and running just like it was when Mud were singing about your Tiger Feet. If the bike’s wiring loom is toast, then there are several experts who can make you a new one and, if you fancy a challenge, companies who can supply the basic components for a DIY job.

For the rarer parts that haven’t been available for years, try trawling the internet. Those longsince-deleted air box rubbers might not be at the local Yamaha dealer. but there are companies out there remanufacturing them. Some will even give a set free if you supply patterns for components they’ve not handled before. Think about that one —free spares!

Stuff that once should have sounded the death knell for an old Japanese shonker is now commonplace. Enterprising individuals, dedicated enthusiasts and, hell, even sad old blokes in sheds, have set themselves up replicating rare parts such as tank and side panel badges. There are even fewer excuses not to take on a Japanese motorcycle.

And last but emphatically not least, never ever rule out a franchised dealership. You can make it easy for these guys by supplying them with a part number and smiling nicely. You might justifiably be shocked by just how many service and wear items are still available, but just on new part numbers. There are only so many sizes of little end bearing that can be used; sprocket bolts generally get used across vast model ranges; and stuff such as tank fixings are often used for decades.

Before you flippantly disregard that next project, just check what’s still genuinely available.

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38 IT’S MY BIKE

September 2015

Talisman by name, talisman by nature

Pete Kelly meets an owner who bought a second-hand 250cc Excelsior Talisman twin from Marston’s of Chester 55 years ago – and treasures it to this day.

T

he Pocket Oxford Dictionary tells us that a talisman is an object supposed to be endowed with magic powers, especially of averting evil from, or bringinggoodluckto,itsholder.

There was certainly something magical about an Excelsior twostroke twin belonging to a lady who wishes to remain anonymous, apart from her first name of Jayne, when I kicked it into life in the garden of her terraced cottage on the outskirts of Chester at the beginningofAugust.

“I haven’t been on it for over a year because of my hips,” she said, “and I’m a bit worried in case it doesn’t start for you.” The previous day she’d cleaned up the points and plugs – a simple task perfected over her long years of ownership – and after giving the tank a shake, turning on the fuel tap and flooding the Amal carburettor, she told me to give it two or three priming jabs and then a proper kick. I did so, and straight away a smooth crisp note emerged from the siamesed exhaustsystem.

A few blips on the throttle stirred many happy memories of my early motorcycling years, spent exclusively on two-strokes, and the Talisman felt genuinely light in my hands.

It was Old Bike Mart’s July cover picture of the Chester control during the 1954 National Rally that persuaded Jayne to tell us about her 1955 bike, for she’d bought it at the city’s once well known motorcycle dealership of Marston’s, on the same street as that archive photo, way back in 1960, when the manager was a Mr Bloomfield and his secretary a Miss Edge.

Since then the machine, registered XFM 889, has clocked up at least 170,000 miles and had a comprehensive engine rebuild.

Despite getting on in years Jayne – who also volunteers once a week for station duty at the Llangollen Railway – intends to clock up a few more after her forthcoming hip operation.

Other bikes have come and gone, including two Iron Curtain products that were as different as chalk and cheese – a totally unreliable Russian Neval (remember them?) and a totally reliable MZ – but despite the merits or otherwise of everything else, she could never bring herself to part withtheTalismantwin.

She caught the motorcycling bug from her father George, who had an AJS, and once they had a

Jayne’s Talisman twin still looks ready for a daily ride to work and back – and, of course, a long weekend jaunt into Wales.

Sixty years old and still as good as new, the 1955 Excelsior Talisman twin stands proudly in Jayne’s cottage garden.

The instrument panel and handlebar controls are simple, uncluttered and logical.

competition to see who could do the most miles in a day. “I went through Abergavenny as far as Tintern Abbey and then set off back home via Aberystwyth,” she said.

“At the village of Cammaes Road the Talisman cut out on one cylinder, but it was only a plug cap that had come adrift. I got as far as Craven Arms, where I called on my grandma and spent the night with her.”

A true expert on two-stroke Excelsiors, she has folders full of sales pamphlets and information about the marque that was based in King’s Road, Tyseley, Birmingham, and was once one of Britain’s oldest-established motorcycle companies – and we could have talked about Consorts, Universals, Sprites, Couriers, Roadmasters, Skutabykes, Monarchs and Talisman twins for hours.

A member of both the British Two-Stroke Club and Excelsior Talisman Enthusiasts, Jayne has always done her best to help fellow members with spare parts, and wonders whether her Talisman Twin is the only one in North Wales. If anyone knows differently, please let OBM know and we’ll passonanymessagestoher.

Note the gear indicator on top of the Albion four-speed gearbox, and the immaculately clean twostroke twin power unit.

The front stand and tyre pump come from a different age, but one of the Talisman twin’s virtues was that it always felt light and nimble.

With the building of the Preston bypass, the motorway age had just begun when this pamphlet, thought to be from 1960 and showing a speeding Excelsior two-stroke on a virtually empty road, was published.

If only it had stayed that way!

“Mix 1 part oil to 20 parts petrol” – the oil measure that slots neatly beneath the polished tank filler cap brings back the memories.

Not a speck of oil in sight! The cylinders are fed by a single Amal carburettor.

September 2015

39

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3 WHEELERS YARD, ROAD GREEN, COLYTON, DEVON EX24 6DT

Tel 01297 552396

Email postmaster@davemassam.co.uk

170 m ile s to the ga llon (a pprox)

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MATT’S MACHINE SHOP 18A WILLIAM STREET, ABERCYNON, MID GLAMORGAN, SOUTH WALES CF45 4RW

Unleaded valve seats using Serdi equipment • Valve Guides made & fitted • Reboring & Honing • Cylinder sleeving Heads Skimmed • Vapour Blasting • Thread repairs Triumph exhaust ports repaired Big & small ends fitted & honed

Over 20 years experience

TEL/FAX 01443 742791

The Die s e l pow e re d Roya l E n fie ld Bulle te xc lus ive ly from

T ested by T im Britto n

Independent dealers in R oyalEnfield

D ies el engine k its to fit R o ya l Enfield B u llets SP EC IALS M AD E T O O R D ER OVER 40 M ACH IN ES S OL D

Servic e ex c ha nge engines fro m £ 4 75 + V AT c o m plete -rea d y to ins ta ll

N ew w heels com plete,stainless steelrim s and spokes,from £120 + V A T D ieselengine conversion kits available please contact for details

Pric e Pa rts , Cla ra nc e Ho u s e, R o c k ha m pto n, B erk eley, G lo s G L13 9 D R , United K ingd o m . Co nta c t: Henry Pric e, Tel: + 4 4 (0 ) 14 5 4 2 6 1 79 8 Fa x : + 4 4 (0 ) 14 5 4 2 6 1 9 2 1 M o b ile: + 4 4 (0 ) 78 3 6 5 75 8 2 5 Em a il: s a les @ pric epa rtm o to rc yc les .c o .u k W eb s ite: w w w .pric epa rtm o to rc yc les .c o .u k