AJS K9 DUCATI / LAVERDA 750S JAPAUTO HONDA!
ISSUE 172 AUGUST 2018 £3.60
Running, Riding & Re ebuilding RealClassic Motorcycles
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WHO’S DONE WHAT REALCLASSIC rumbled into print this month, with Rowena Hoseason and Frank Westworth of The Cosmic Bike Co Ltd making potato-potato sound effects. Page design and clever production stuff were handled by Mike Baumber, Libby Fincham, Kelvin Clements and the team at Horncastle. Thanks to all the invisible admin staff for keeping the wheels turning, too COVER IMAGE by Odgie Himself. And it’s certainly eye-catching! You’ll find more classic bikes, 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 by William Gibbons & Sons of Wolverhampton. Our ISSN is 1742-2345. THIS MONTH we’ve been reading some speculative fiction about what might happen to future society on an overpopulated planet, in CONTRACEPTION by Degen Hill and THE COST OF LIVING by Marla L Anderson; definitely dystopian. HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris was far better second time around, and RETRIBUTION by Stuart M Kaminsky kicked off a new American gumshoe series. Meanwhile, we’ve a 100% recommend for RETURN TO HIROSHIMA by Bob Van Laerhoven, which is a remarkable tale set where you think it might be and includes a great plot, characters and remarkable Japaneseness from a non-Japanese author. Also CEREMONY and A SAVAGE PLACE, by Robert B Parker, another pair of amusing private dick stories set in the 70s. MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES… reading Hannibal meant we had to watch the movie too, so a special Saturday night double-bill started with RED DRAGON, which was surprisingly superb. Followed that with a midweek triple-header of PITCH BLACK, CHRONICLES and RIDDICK and pretty much loved every minute, demonstrating our mature tastes in cinematic excellence. Oh, and GRIMM is flat-out fab. True that. RealClassic is published monthly by MMG Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, LN9 6LZ, UK. USA SUBSCRIPTIONS are $58 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI. 54921. Postmaster: Send USA address changes to RealClassic, Motorsport Publications LLC, 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com
FROM THE FRONT
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njoyed several excellent conversations while visiting a grand show in Wales recently – more about it in this month’s ‘Shed’. One of them in particular has stuck to my remaining brain cell. ‘Do you,’ asked a reader clutching a bottle of lukewarm but welcome water, ‘Do you do research when you’re writing a story?’ Carefully ignoring the potential insult (‘Do my stories read as though I don’t research them?’) or flattering smugness (‘Wows; you think I know everything about all bikes?’), I gratefully accepted the water, drank it, and considered. The sun was too hot for much else. Of course I do research. Not as much as Rowena does, because she is of course youthfully diligent in all things, but more than I once did. At one time I wrote so much about 750 Triumph twins that I could probably list whole pages of facts about them, but not any more. These days I write less, as you have hopefully not noticed, and need to research more than I did. Which is often comic in a lateral kind of way. Such as, very often I discover that ‘facts’ I’ve known for a very long time aren’t actually facts at all. In fact, they’re made up somehow. This isn’t revisionism, not at all. It’s more that I’ve forgotten what I once knew and have instead remembered an inaccuracy I’ve either been told or have read somewhere. Which happens a lot. A lot more than it did. I think. Further inside this predictably unpredictable issue you’ll find a story about a Panther. As you may read, my very first motorcycle was also a Panther, a model similar but not identical to this one. So although I knew all about this breed of Yorkshire puddings I thought I’d better read up on it; better do a day’s research before sitting down with quill and parchment to write the story. It’s just as well that I did, too. The first discovery was how little actual history of these unusual machines is available online. Online is easier than staggering out of my comfy chair and rooting through the dusty book and magazine stacks to find real written history. The next discovery was that
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quite a lot of the online material is incorrect. I have no idea why this is, why those who have the knowledge don’t correct those who don’t. But it’s a little annoying, especially when we consider that enthusiasts may make buying or selling decisions based around the stuff out there in the interlimbo. So I dug out favourite research works: a couple of old books including the Pitman Book of the Panther, a monster work on British 2-strokes and another about Villiers engines. Then I sat down with the works of Barry M Jones and Steve Wilson, who mostly agree and are both expert and knowledgeable. An entire day vanished, and it was an entirely enjoyable day, too. At the end of it, I felt capable of actually writing a story in which I could be confident that mistakes had been held to a minimum. Which is a good thing. Loads of preconceptions had vanished. I’d gained much more of an understanding of one of the more delightfully eccentric British bike builders, how they worked and how they fit into their home town, Cleckheaton. And of course I had enough jotted down Remarkable Facts to fill an entire magazine, never mind a single feature. Research? I recommend it. Tremendous fun. And an excuse to stay dry through a wet day… Ride safely Frank Westworth Frank@realclassic.net
THE NEXT ISSUE
RC173 WILL BE PUBLISHED ON SEPTEMBER 3rd, AND SHOULD REACH UK SUBSCRIBERS BY SEPTEMBER 7th
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FACTOR You know those itches you just have to scratch, the ones which have been around for ages, never quite going away? Odgie investigates Project X, which scratches two such itches at once… Photos by Odgie Himself
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ige is a consummate Triumph man. I couldn’t tell you how many he’s owned and built over the last forty years or even how many he has right now. There always seems to be another one on the go. Mostly they are of some sort of custom variety, Nige having been a continuous member of the National Chopper Club since its inception in 1973, but don’t let that put you off. His projects these days tend to be more rideable than radical. Indeed, as the wheel turns full circle, the Triumph factory themselves now build bikes which look like the ones me and Nige have been building all our lives. So this is far from being a standard, stock, original Triumph (and if it was, I’d have very little interest in reporting on it). But it is a RealClassic, taking as it does two iconic motorcycling elements, the unit 750 motor and the legendary Métisse frame. So how did it come about then? ‘Well,’ says Nige, ‘for one thing, I always remember our kid having a Rickman. That was back when it cost just a 100 quid for the complete bike, and the frame was more green oxidised than nickel. But these things stay with you all your life, so inside my head for all this time I’ve always wondered what it would
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RICKMAN MÉTISSE
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Paul Myers liked his Indian-built Bullet so much that he bought another one, an original Enfield 350. So now he has a brace of Bullets, separated by a span of four decades‌ Photos by Paul Myers
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ENFIELD BULLETS
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owned my first Royal Enfield Bullet back in 1971/72. That one suffered a premature end mainly due to my lack of mechanical attention, probably contributed to by the previous owner’s various ‘improvements’. The next 30-plus years saw various motorbikes pass through my hands, until my interest in Royal Enfields was rekindled during a trip to India which involved riding one for about 10 days. Shortly after our return in late 2006, a suitable 350cc model of 1993 vintage appeared at an online auction. Photographs and the accompanying description suggested that the Bullet had a fairly low mileage and was still in factory trim.
I won the auction for a reasonable price without viewing the Enfield, and on collection found the bike pretty much as described. Initially it was intended mainly for my wife, who had also ridden on the India tour, but she never really took to the 350, finding it awkward to chop and change from her more modern ride. Over the next few years the Bullet was ridden occasionally by me on local rides in the Peak District, but spent most of its time languishing in the garage.
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At the end of 2008 we relocated temporarily down to the south coast and I decided that after the neglect of the previous years, the old machine deserved some attention as well as a facelift. The frame needed powder coating, which meant a complete strip down, and I felt a desire to rebuild it as a green-lane machine with a 1950s appeal. Below: A Bullet in Spain
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