Real Classic - December 2018 - Preview

 TRIUMPH DAYTONA  ARIEL NH 350  HONDA CL360!

ISSUE 176  DECEMBER 2018  £3.60

Running, Riding & Rebuilding RealClassic Motorcycles

1920s L24 SORTED!

RIDING THE ROADMASTER

WHAT LIES WITHIN

6

TRIUMPH DAYTONA 500 ..............................6

HONDA CL360 .............................................56

Serendipity is an undervalued phenomenon.

Frank Westworth has been riding The Shed’s own 500 Tiger and then stumbled across its more sporty sibling, the Daytona

How do we attract new, younger riders into classic motorcycling? Morgan Rue suggests that his Honda twin is a good place to start…

AMBASSADOR SUPER SPORTS...................24

Matchless man Ian Massey likes his AMC machines to be traditional and flavoursome, so a 500 single should be just his cup of tea.

But wait! There’s something wrong with this Matchless. It’s, erm, an AJS…

In his teenage years, Tony Gutteridge owned an unusual Ambassador and coveted a Norman B4. After 55 years he eventually located one of each – and now owns both of his dream bikes…

INDIAN CHIEF..............................................28

Some classic bike enthusiasts will go to the ends of the earth to find their dream machine. One Australian couple didn’t have to travel quite that far, as Rowena Hoseason discovers…

BSA L24 ......................................................38

The term ‘barn find’ is frequently used inappropriately, but this time Stuart Francis really did pull a vintage motorcycle out of a crumbling barn where it had been gently decaying for decades…

ARIEL NH350 ...............................................46

Most vintage motorcycles reside in garages or sheds, although Ariel’s Red Hunter might well feel at home in a stable.

Stuart Urquhart catches up with an old bike enthusiast whose collection is safely stashed in… a crypt!

REALCLASSIC 176; PUBLISHED IN DECEMBER 2018

RC REGULARS THE CONTENTS PAGE ................................ 3

Two Triumphs. Also what must be the best photos of a 1920s BSA – ever!

AJS MODEL 18 .............................................62

WE’VE GOT MAIL! .................................... 14

The best bits of the magazine. How did Ace Tester Miles manage to survive after comparing a Morini to a Honda?

SCRAMBLES SUNDAY .................................70

EVENTS .................................................... 76

Odgie celebrated his 60th birthday with three off-road events in one weekend.

Three years later, he takes things a little bit easier with ‘only’ a flat-track race on one day and a series of scrambles the next. After a couple of seasons of flat-out flat-tracking on oval circuits, can he even remember how to bounce over bumps?

It’ll soon be Christmas. Time to tow your family around bike shows dropping hints about presents…

READERS’ FREE ADS ................................ 82

Small but perfectly formed. Something for everyone?

PUB TALK ............................................... 102

There has been lots to see at the Classic Mechanics Show, and at the National Motorcycle Museum’s Open Day

NORTON COMMANDO Mk3 REBUILD ........88

Martin Peacock had a vision, a conversion on the road to Bude. He understood that he wanted a Commando, and this is how he made it. Part 2: The Long Way Back

TALES FROM THE SHED ......................... 108

A month of riding delight, then. Frank Westworth’s autumn holds many Tigery charms…

LIGHTING UP TIME!.....................................96

There’s a simple way to boost the brightness of your old bike’s lights without upgrading its entire electrical system. Roger Slater shows us how UPGRADING AN ALBION ............................98

Last month, Stephen Herbert set about proving that five into four does go, by replacing his Enfield 350’s old Albion 4-speed gearbox with a more modern 5-speed set-up. This time he explains why, and what it’s now like to ride…

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4 I DECEMBER 2018

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WHO’S DONE WHAT REALCLASSIC pranced into print with Rowena Hoseason and Frank Westworth of The Cosmic Bike Co Ltd holding the reins. Creative page design and all that production jazz were handled

by Mike Baumber (possibly for the final time: sob! Thanks for all the awesome artwork, Mike, and good luck for the future), Kelvin Clements, Libby Fincham and all the other fine fellows at Horncastle You’ll find more old bike features, book reviews and event info at www.Real-Classic.co.uk TRADE ADVERTISERS for the magazine or website should call Helen Martin on 01507 529574, email hrmartin@mortons.co.uk EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES should be sent to Frank@ RealClassic.net or to PO Box 66, Bude EX23 9ZX. Please include an SAE if you want something returned or a personal reply SUBSCRIPTION INFO is on pg114. Call 01507 529529 to subscribe or renew or buy back issues SUBS QUERIES, late deliveries, or changes of address should be directed to 01507 529529, or email subscriptions@realclassic.net ALL MATERIAL in RealClassic is copyright its authors, so please contact us before reproducing anything. RealClassic is printed

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Our ISSN is 1742-2345.

THIS MONTH we’ve been reading SNOWHAMMER by JF Leigh (galaxy-spanning sci-fi); BLOOD IN SNOW by Franko Marks (fabulous EuroCrime; quirky, literary and utterly absorbing); NEWCOMERS by Keigo Higashino (very clever Japanese multi-perspective whodunit) and SEVEN HELLS by that Frank Westworth chap (a new JJ Stoner novella, available at Amazon!). Frank’s been dull, reading two more books in THE EXPANSE series, which he appears to be addicted to…

MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES we were bowled over by the brilliance that is Joaquin Phoenix in the bitterly-bleak YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE; romped along with Clive Owen in the ridiculously violent and oh-so-savvy SHOOT ’EM UP; admired everyone in WIDOWS, and still found ourselves going ‘gosh wow that was great’ during the penultimate season of GRIMM. But – blimey – the final episodes of STAR WARS: REBELS are a bit sniffly…

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FROM THE FRONT We are galloping towards the end of yet another year! This means that it’s almost time to consider making a new year’s resolution or two.

I always do this (although if asked I would of course deny it) and for just about as long as I can remember the 2-wheeled theme of my annual resolution has been the same – ride more, fettle less, maintain less; ride more and further.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And in an ideal world it would be easy. And in fact … it is easy. The only genuine snag comes in deciding what not to do, so that there’s more time liberated for riding. As I have become increasingly ancient – an entertaining process – I have found that the peripherals of the actual riding thing have taken up an increasingly ridiculous amount of time – time spent to actually keep the amount of riding time remarkably consistent. How is this?

My own preferences are to ride familiar routes to familiar places, stay in familiar lodges and indeed meet up with familiar friends to do familiar things. Like eat too much, drink too much and decide far too readily that we – and we alone – are perfectly suited to putting the world to rights. Well… all good harmless fun.

I always enjoy it, too, and I always enjoy the riding, whatever the weather and – pretty much – whatever the bike. But … there is always a but … where’s the challenge? Of course, there is none, apart from that of actually getting togged up and fuelled up and actually doing it.

So, come January 1st I will inevitably announce (but only to myself, because there’s less embarrassment that way) that next year I shall ride far and over roads unknown to me.

I shall visit pals in remote locations, sample strange brews and stay in mysteriously similar yet oddly different Travelodges. Travelodges?

Oh yes, I know how to travel in style!

The obvious flaw in the creative resolving is that I decide to do this every year. Hmmm. And somehow … I don’t. Well, not as often as I’d like.

I’m not entirely sure why this is, apart from the gentle fact that familiarity breeds content – at least it does for me. I enjoy riding the same roads over and again, revelling in the way they

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change as the seasons change and the volume of traffic changes. I like to know where I’m going, too. The ‘follow the front wheel’ notion is a great thing to shout out, but in fact I prefer to know where I’m sleeping at night, and preferably who I’m sharing entertainment and entertaining lies with for the evening.

And … I have in fact never been very different. Even when young and more foolish I preferred to know where I was going. Never much of an anarchist, then!

What I do enjoy is having my overnight booked, then just drifting towards it. Getting up decently early, maybe grabbing breakfast on the road, maybe using the sun to provide a compass, an occasional scan at a pocket road atlas to confirm that I’m heading the right way… which is all very romantic sounding, but tends to dump me into some ghastly city tangle rather than out on the open roads.

2019, then, should be much the same but better. I’ve told several pals that instead of us trekking miles to meet up, we’ll trek miles to meet up … in different places. They can choose.

So there you are: a resolution and a challenge, all on one. Roll on the new year then! Hope you enjoy Christmas on the way past…

Ride safely Frank Westworth Frank@realclassic.net

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RC177 WILL BE PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 7th, AND SHOULD REACH UK SUBSCRIBERS BY JANUARY 11th

TIGER TIME!

Serendipity is an undervalued phenomenon. Frank Westworth has been riding The Shed’s own 500 Tiger and then stumbled across its more sporty sibling, the Daytona Photos by Chris Spaett, Frank Westworth

6 I DECEMBER 2018

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TRIUMPH DAYTONA 500 In the views of many, Triumph twins are the definitive classic British bike. Is this actually true?

I

t’s always amusing when a coincidence trips a chap up, don’t you agree? I’d been planning a ride up to my favourite Welsh March stomping grounds, meeting up with a few chums, like you do, one of whom had been entertained by my rediscovered enthusiasm for a 500 Triumph. To be honest, he was mostly amused. Amusement at my expense is common. I try to take advantage of it by pretending distress so that the amused pal pays for lunch. Or maybe beer. Sometimes this works. And sometimes…

So while Martin and Roy reluctantly dug into pockets to ease my trembling lower lip, Chris simply chuckled some more and remarked that he thought I rather dwarfed the most excellent T100C which he’d seen me talking about on my Facebook page. This is scary. Mostly because I am convinced that nothing on Facebook is real … including me.

But he was correct; I had indeed been singing the praises of the tatty Triumph you can read about further on in the magazine. Probably.

But I did wonder why Chris had mentioned it.

Because… …because he had another, entirely similar but completely different, 500 Triumph conveniently to hand. I stared ruefully at the clear blue skies, at the dry roads, and understood that once again grim misfortune was about to compel me to rasp and rattle around some of my favourite roads aboard someone else’s bike. Sounds great, yes? And of course it is great, apart from the amateur

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road tester’s terrifying scenario involving the ‘You bend it you’ve bought it’ notion. Which is always the deal when I borrow a bike from a trader. It’s never (quite) happened yet, but there is always that traditional first time, and if I’m going to end up owning a bike I’ve just broken then I’d prefer it to be something I’d actually enjoy owning. I stared around the showroom. Not a 500 Triumph in sight, oddly, but several other machines I’d be delighted to find dripping oil into The Shed’s weary concrete. I wondered where it was?

Turns out that Chris had not even tried to start it, having just acquired the machine as part of a small collection. Bluff-calling time, obviously. Off to the shed where the unprepared bikes live, and there it was. And yes, it was a T100R, a Daytona. Very late registration, too. I did my best to appear knowledgeable (which is never easy). Doesn’t run – well, it hadn’t recently. Maybe … pump up the tyres? Charge the battery? Rebuild the engine, maybe twice? Anything to avoid actual ‘work’, you understand. Nothing to do with the bike being a Triumph. No. Hardly at all. I may have mentioned more than a few times how The Shed T100C had just … well … started. I may have failed to mention the prekick prep work.

Pour in fuel, check that it reaches the carbs.

Switch on. Press horn button. Feeble squeak.

Press headlight flasher. Dim glow. Wheel outside, full choke and one kick. There may be a reason why so many clever people really rate the smaller Triumph twins.

DECEMBER 2018 I 7

This is the engine, in case you wondered. Observe firstly that it’s neat and compact, and also that despite having been at least a little thrashed it is leaking no oil

And there must be a little history around this particular machine. Have you seen the registration number? It’s ‘R’ reg. That makes it a 1976 machine, which makes it a Meriden Co-op machine and at least a slightly more interesting machine than, say, an earlier Daytona. And this is indeed interesting, at least to history wonks like me, not least because the last 500 Daytona twins were built in 1974, which suggests that the bike – which is a UK original – sat unsold for quite a while. The next thing to do, to satisfy my curiosity and to avoid actually writing about actually riding it, is to check out the build date. Remember that the middle-70s were a time of considerable confusion for Brit bike

The drive side is as neat and compact as the timing side. Observe the add-on tacho drive and the big engine breather pipe – the main reason for the lack of leaks

8 I DECEMBER 2018

The twinned Amals work well. Observe the swinging arm supports, which improved the handling, and the neat housings for the reflectors, rather better than just hanging them on a flimflam bracket

Just behind the oil filler lives a gear indicator, somewhat pointlessly. It confirms the absence of a fifth gear, too

fans, with all manner of stories circulating, both in the weekly press and at local level.

Remember also that it was a time of great industrial unrest.

A little background, then. Following the collapse of BSA Group, the shotgun formation of Norton Villiers Triumph and that subsequent industrial unrest, it seems remarkable that any bikes at all were produced at Meriden. But they were, and this is one of them. Until I rode this machine and researched it, I’d thought that production of the 500 twins had by 1974 contracted to just the oily-framed TR5T, basically a Tiger 500 engine in a BSA B50 bicycle. I was aware of the T100D, mainly because I’ve ridden two of the supposedly dozen built, but … memory can fail, and I’d forgotten a lot of it.

Absolutely none of this passed through my mind as I set off heading south down a really great riding road, a road I know very well indeed, having ridden it frequently over a couple of decades. I was very conscious that I was riding a bike which hadn’t been ridden

for a while, although the oil looked nice and clean, the tyres’ rubber was soft enough and the engine was … well … typically Triumph, in that it rattled merrily. But no more than is usual. So my ride was in two parts. Firstly, I set off and rode as gently as respect for an unfamiliar 1974 engine demands. Then I pulled up to take a few photos, and was mildly surprised when Chris pulled in behind me – riding my own bike. Well, fair’s fair, as we say. He was curious about my … ah … relaxed pace. I explained my concerns.

‘Nonsense,’ he replied. ‘It’s a 500 Triumph.

They’re bombproof. You can thrash it. It’ll easily do a ton. I expect I’ll be able to keep up on your old lorry.’

Stung, I was.

But… Starting from warm is a thing I’ve come to worry about in these days of old engines and mysterious mixtures of strange organics masquerading as fuels, but I needn’t have worried. One kick. This has to be one reason why Triumphs are so popular. I think I’ve already said that once…

A fine view of that large breather pipe. Also of the silencer. For 1974, the lore states that these would have been ‘torpedo’ type, but the silencers fitted are correct for that year’s export models. An anorak is always a comfortable garment

One of the best drum brakes made in the UK, no doubt about that. BSA / Triumph’s group 2ls devices are very good indeed. Observe how the brake plate is not black, which was UK spec for 1974. Export bikes, however…

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TRIUMPH DAYTONA 500 also around 3 inches shorter in the wheelbase than a T140, which will tend to sharpen up the steering and add to the considerably responsive handling. And this is immediately obvious when you’re out on the road. So, you ride tall, in a seating position remarkably similar to the bigger Triumphs, but on a machine around 15% lighter than the others.

There’s plenty of poke, too. As ever, the figures quoted for the model vary quite a bit depending on the source, but 39-40bhp, delivered at around 7000rpm, seems to be the consensus. That doesn’t sound a lot in these days of 3-figure engine outputs, but in practice the machine flies off the mark, breathing cleanly and rattling merrily like only a good Triumph does. And it does – rattle, that is. It takes a little getting used to

at first, but I’d already been spending saddle time with our own T100C, so was expecting it.

Speaking of the T100C, does the T100R’s extra carb make a difference? Yes, it does, a noticeable difference. I’m no fan of twin carbs, preferring the easier low-speed running over an ability to rev higher, but in this case the extra pep was plain throughout the entire ride. Now then, here comes a caveat: our T100C has never been rebuilt, so is probably decently worn inside, whereas this Daytona feels very new, very crisp; the engine has no real ‘sog’ to it. This may explain the extra zap of the T100R, because apart from the extra carb I can find no difference between the engines. They both run the same compression (9.0 : 1), the same ignition and cam timing, and the same gearing and

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DECEMBER 2018 I 9

The riding position is remarkably roomy.

Why remarkably? Because this is not a big bike. Unlike, say, a 500 Norton, or Matchless, or BSA, Triumph’s 500 twins are a stretch of a 350 twin, not a smaller engine in a bicycle built for a 650, and that defines a lot of the riding and owning experience. But… the Daytona is not a short bike, it boasts a seat height of some 30 inches, which is only an inch lower than a T140 or indeed a T160, although the latter actually feels lower in the saddle, which is a little odd.

Where the bike wins over its bigger siblings is in its mass: 356lb dry, a lot less than a T140’s typical 413lb. And it really does feel like a light bike. Very easy to position on the road – a large amount of the riding delight – and also to wheel about when the need arises. It’s

‘OK, I give in. Where is the starter button?’

sprockets, so the performance difference is all down to the top ends. Or, as I said, to the different level of wear in the two engines.

Back to the bike. The clutch is seriously light, as it should be (and if you ride any middleweight Triumph with a heavy clutch, there’s something wrong with it), and it neither slips nor drags. The gearshift is delicious – exactly the same on both the T100R and T100C. But it heralds a concern, at least for this rider. More on that in a moment.

The first time you sail into a bend will bring a wide smile to your face. Guaranteed.

Although early unit Triumphs had pretty poor frames and could handle truly badly when pushed hard, well over a decade of development transformed them into some of the best-handling machines on the road at the time. And yes, this is a genuine instance of racing improving the breed. The rear shocks are unremarkable Girlings, firm but accurate, but the forks are excellent. They really are; compliant, well damped and responsive.

10 I DECEMBER 2018

More delight comes the first time you apply the brakes. There’s no mealy-mouthed ‘the brakes were adequate / up to the performance / fine for the time’ stuff. They’re excellent.

Both drums are 7-inch, the front is one of the best 2ls devices ever fitted to a British motorcycle. It’s a scaled-down variant of the 8-inchers fitted to the 650 BSA and Triumph twins, and is truly fine. I found the first couple of slow stops to be a little grabby (only on the Daytona), but after that everything was most reassuring. It’s difficult to describe to anyone who’s familiar only with modern disc brakes how good a 2ls drum can be, how progressive and controllable. Entirely unremarkable when compared with modern systems, as you would hope, but for the time they were outstanding, and in practical terms they still are. Front and rear work together very well, and combine with the compliant front fork to produce those excellent all-of-a-piece moments, when a bike handles well enough to inspire complete confidence. It’s a great package.

So then, we have a brisk engine, fine handling and excellent anchors. What’s not to like? Is this the perfect motorcycle? I’m aware that I’m making it sound that way. And there’s more: consider the riding position.

This is a personal thing, but I’ve not always been comfortable on Triumphs, Triumphs of most generations, although rigids are the best of the rest for me – those and the TSX. Even earlier 350 and 500 unit twins aren’t particularly comfortable for me, and I’d not want to own one for that reason alone – ignoring the often desperate brakes and loose handling. No such reservations here!

My only real reservation concerns the gearbox. It has but four ratios in it. And if I have a single criticism of the Daytona, this is it. This dates it far more than the rest of the package, which stacks up very well against most of its competition – especially when you consider that very little development on Triumph’s 500 twin engine took place after 1972. The Daytona holds its own really well

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TRIUMPH DAYTONA 500

As you already know, the rear light changed to this handsome Lucas 917 type for 1973, and at the same time the rear grabrail was modded to carry the indicators. The compulsory reflectors are part of the red light lens

Very handsome black-faced Smiths clocks are commendably stable … except at engine speeds over 5000rpm, when they become a little over-active. Observe that there is no red line…

Although this generation of Lucas switchgear is largely unloved, it usually works well enough and is decently robust

with its 4-stroke competition from Europe and the Far East. It genuinely does – apart from the gearing.

When Chris offered the bike as a test victim, I’d expected that it would be faster, more accelerative than our own T100C, and it is.

I’d expected that the bicycle package would be much the same, and it is. I’d expected the overall gearing to be a lot higher … and it’s not. Which is a flaw, from my own perspective, because it means that the engine needs to be revved hard to produce A-road performance. I’m uncomfortable with this. If you’re not, and lots of riders both then and now have no problems revving the engine to

6500rpm or so and cruising at 6000rpm, then hurrah! But I am not that chap.

However… it’s a (slightly) different matter when the bike’s owner is riding along behind and encouraging a somewhat brisker pace than sheer mechanical respect would usually suggest. So. Peak power is developed at around 7000rpm, so I decided to push on until the usually steady tacho indicated 6000 – not in top at first, but through the gears.

Which of course revealed the second side to the Daytona’s character. At the speeds I would ride the bike were it my own – in other words, at the speeds I ride our T100C – it’s fun. As I’ve already said, it steers and goes and stops really well, but my self-imposed limit found me in top by maybe 35mph. The engine sounds really sweet – jangling away, but they all do that, sir. And I usually find a cruising speed reveals itself pretty early on; it’s the point at which the vibes start to appear or the engine’s mechanical thrash becomes more of a mechanical clashing –

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maybe 55mph in this case. Chris insisted that he’d ride it far, far faster than that.

So I did.

And the engine revealed a side of its character which is usually lost to me, gentle potterer that I am. Push it to 6k in first – you get to that point on a wide throttle very rapidly indeed. Quick shift – just feather the clutch, half-close the throttle and click the lever. Perfect. It was plainly designed for this.

As soon as the tacho waggled its lever around the 6k mark, repeat the process; big throttle and do it again. And again. This is 20mph into illegality, which is quite fast enough for me, thank you.

And how does the bike work when thrashed?

Perfectly.

Back to base, pull into the drive to take some detail pics for your wonder and amusement, and discover two things. First, it ticked over like a watch and wasn’t even hot. Second, there was not a trace of a lube leak. Check out the photos, which were taken

DECEMBER 2018 I 11

Underseat gubbins are easily accessible, and look decently stock, with half-height nuts in evidence.

Observe the bigger, fatter oil tank and its useful froth tower. Holds a lot of oil – almost 6 pints

after the rides. This is impressive stuff. This is a 500, not a 650. It would have been better had there been a fifth gear, but only if that gear were an overdrive.

OK. Personal stuff time. The bike is as quick, as rapid, as a 650 Matchless, for comparison. Probably around the same actual performance, the 650’s extra mass absorbing the engine’s extra power. But … I prefer a bigger, more lazy engine. Other views are certainly available and those views sold an awful lot of 500 Triumphs.

But this handsome example appears to have languished in that 1970s showroom for quite some time. A check of the engine and

12 I DECEMBER 2018

Very 1970s front end, this. Completed by handsome and only mildly self-rotating indicators and a sweet heat sink for the diode

frame numbers reveals that the build code is ‘JJ’, which translates as August 1974, but it wasn’t registered until 1976. That’s quite a gap. The reason may well have been that the market had really lost confidence in Triumph, even though they did survive the hideous debacle of the BSA Group collapse and the formation of the Meriden blockade. History reveals that when the blockade was lifted, a couple of hundred bikes, built before the conniption, were sold off to raise money for

the company. This is probably one of them, a theory borne out by its subtle departures from UK spec for 1974. Which of course is not to say that it’s not as it left the factory…

A conclusion? You’d like a conclusion? The T100R Daytona is a smashing bike. Easy to live with, easy to ride, easy on the eye and on the wallet. Would I buy one for myself?

Only if it had high pipes and a single carb, and an engine number including ‘T100C’. Just so happens…

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DECEMBER 2018 I 13

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MILES COURTS CONTROVERSY Morini riders are fantastically enthusiastic about their wonderful and brilliant motorcycles. So I expect that Paul Miles, who wrote about the 3½ Strada in RC175, has by now had terrible things done to him, probably involving the Official Morini Flywheel Holding Tool. His main criticism is that it is ‘underpowered’ compared with the Japanese bikes of the 1970s. It might be but, somehow, that is a comparison most Morini riders do not think about. When buzzing a 3½ Strada or Sport along a nice twisty road, most riders are thinking about the delights of the handling and the lovely free-revving urge of the engine. Some say the acceleration and speed are not far short of an old British 650 of the go-to-work variety.

According to an old road test I have in front of me, a mid-1970s Honda 360 produces only the same power as the Strada (34bhp for the Honda, 35bhp for the Strada), although there were of course more powerful Japanese 350s.

I was going to claim that the Strada is much lighter than a Japanese equivalent but the figures do not back that up: Strada dry weight 353lb, mid-70s Honda 360 357lb. However, I think the Strada carries its weight lower and its wheelbase will be shorter. The latter, particularly, is the key to the Strada’s lovely handling characteristics.

Paul did sort-of acknowledge the lovely handling. Morini riders would go a bit

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further and, perhaps, say they have never experienced a more completely-together motorcycle. Steering, suspension, brakes, engine and gearbox all work as a package — as they were designed to by Franco Lambertini, the former Ferrari engineer who was brought in and given the freedom to design something distinctive. Riding a 3½ briskly on the sort of road motorcyclists like is a delightful experience. Sometimes it seems you just have to look into a bend and the weight-shift steers you round. Sometimes you want to lean over hard at slow speed — coming out of a roundabout for example — just because you can.

Acknowledgement of imperfections: yes the kickstarter is very awkward. My 1976-registered Strada (probably made in 1974) is pre-electric so I just have to put up with it. Because I have never learned to leftfoot kick, I have to do the starting while off the motorcycle. That is a problem if you stall in traffic, of course, especially if you have removed the sidestand to allow you to give a longer kick. Because of the way Morinis make their sparks — the battery is not used in the sparking department — you need to give a long yet brisk kick on the starter to produce the required electrons from the alternator, while reaching across to open the throttle a little as you do so. A finger on the front brake lever is also a good idea, because the

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motorcycle can rock forwards off the main stand while you are jumping up and down.

Spectators love it when this happens.

Paul’s Strada has a disc brake at the front and he feels it is ‘wooden’. Riders of drumbrake Morinis know theirs are the best: mine will do everything from the slightest retardation to a full emergency stop with just a couple of fingers on the lever. It is extremely comforting to know that this power is available — and I made use of it last week when a car decided to change lane swiftly in front of me with no hint of a signal.

I am thinking of starting a pressure group for the reintroduction of drum brakes. Yes, they might fade when you are riding down a mountain hairpin road, but how many people do that very often?

Paul comments on his Strada’s vibration.

That is not a general criticism in Morini circles and I wonder if his engine is set up just as it should be? If not, that could also explain his observation that the power available seems less than official 35bhp. Also, of course, strange things can be done to the internals of perfectly good motorcycles over 40 years.

There is no cartridge-type oil filter, just a strainer as he says, but was this not the norm in the 1970s? Since the clutch is a dryplate type, the wear particles coming off the friction material do not get into the oil so the strainer is adequate. The 3½ carries

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