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TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD z SUNBEAM S8 z BMW R45 z MORE BULLETS!

Running, Riding & Rebuilding RealClassic Motorcycles

ISSUE 148 z AUGUST 2016 z Â£3.60

WHAT LIES WITHIN

NORTON DOMINATOR 99 .............................6

BUYERS’ EYE ...............................................66

Odgie goes looking for a particular memory, but ﬁnds instead a somewhat particular bike...

Our ongoing investigation into the old bike market continues, and this time we’re looking at what five grand gets you. We’re seeking roadworthy machines which need a minimum of recommissioning; ideally ones you can buy and ride straight away. So what kind of classic motorcycle can you find for £5000? And how do current costs compare with prices from five or more years ago? Rowena Hoseason investigates…

SUNBEAM S8...............................................26

Enthusiast Mike has owned more than 170 machines while seeking his ultimate motorcycle. Richard Jones discovers that he has something of a soft spot for Sunbeam’s distinctive S7 and S8… BMW R45.....................................................36

Almost every motorcycle manufacturer includes an entry level model in their range. Mostly, they’re built down to a price. But not BMW’s R45, which Ric Campbell discovers has survived some serious neglect… TRIUMPH THUNDERBIRD ...........................44

Not all Triumph twins are speed machines. Roy Plowman chose his Thunderbird for the riding pleasure, and told Frank Westworth all about it… AJS 16MC ....................................................52

We’ve featured AMC ISDT machines before, like Hugh Viney’s ‘AJS 5’ 500 twin appeared back in RC135. Now Mike Powell has uncovered a Model 16 MC which retains much of its original trials equipment…

REALCLASSIC 148; PUBLISHED IN AUGUST 2016

RC REGULARS THE CONTENTS PAGE ....................................4

Have we ever produced a more remarkable cover than this? We think not… WE’VE GOT MAIL! ........................................16

Loads and loads of experience, opinion, one or two lonesome facts and tiny clumps of entertainment here as always. More please!

NORTON COMMANDO STARTER ................78

EVENTS ........................................................62

Richard Negus reveals the inside story behind a non-starter

Lots going on: loads to see, folk to meet and places to try to stay dry

SUNBEAM MODEL 10 SORTED ...................82

READERS’FREE ADS ....................................72

Ian Soady got more than he bargained for with an austerity-era girder-forked, handchange, pre-war single. After a whole lotta TLC it was close to being ready to ride…

The usual eclectic mix of machines. Where are the oddities? PUB TALK ...................................................102

The three-wheeler theme continued at Gaydon, where PUB and Fearless Ros spent their 2016 run in a nearby layby, learning more about 19th century engineering. Eventually enough life was restored to creep back to the parking area, but next year, says Ros, she will take a picnic!

TRIUMPH 6T PROJECT ................................88

Over the last half century, Gordon Geskell had built up quite a stock of spare parts. Perhaps, he mused, it might be possible to assemble them into an actual motorcycle. Part Two, in which Gordon builds up his engine. And a clutch. He has suggestions about making them even better than the originals, and very much more…

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

Progress has been patchy. Stumbles have been many. Eventually, the B25SS might become a motorcycle again…

BULLET BUILD.............................................96

Last month, Stephen Herbert began a ‘modular’ rebuild of a much maltreated, 25 year-old Indian Enﬁeld 350. This time, the perils of buying online from overseas and the wonderful world of wiring…

RC COMPASS CHALLENGE.........................114

Some truly remarkable navigational skills and imaginations are on display here. Get riding; it’ll soon be winter!

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NORTON DOMINATOR 99

Pear-drop silencers, Armstrong shocks and painted chrome rims. True nostalgia – even for Odgie

There’s something very characterful about those lined and painted rims

Real Bikes. Real People. RealClassic: online at www.RealClassic.co.uk

AUGUST 2016 I 13

SUNBEAM S8

Grandad Mike has lined up two S8s for his grandsons to enjoy. This is the 1949 S8 intended for young Henry

IN SEARCH OF

SUNBEAMS Enthusiast Mike has owned more than 170 machines while seeking his ultimate motorcycle. Richard Jones discovers that he has something of a soft spot for Sunbeamâ€™s distinctive S7 and S8â€Ś Photos by Richard Jones

AUGUST 2016 I 27

BMW R45

Photos by Ric Campbell and the RC RChive

ike many I have always fancied owning a BMW, but the imagined pleasure of owning one was prevented mainly by cost. I am no BMW expert by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems that the middleweight R45 and R65 are not the most popular of the range, the 45 being the most unloved. That may be what made mine aﬀordable. I ﬁrst laid eyes on the R45 in the

back of a mate’s garage. I transported it home with the help of said mate plus a couple of cronies, all of a certain age. It was like an episode of ‘Last Of The Summer Wine’… So at long last here it was, superﬁcially looking not in bad nick at all. The BMW came with a sidecar which I gave away. I am not at all a sidecar fan. It seems to me that you get the worst of both worlds; unable to sneak through the ever more common traﬃc

queues and get soaked in the process. Also, if I were to attach a chair to a bike I would pick one that had the power to pull it along; more of this later. A quick look over the R45 revealed a lot of things that caused sharp intakes of breath, and the more I looked the worse it got. Tyres and exhaust of course, the pipes and silencers had only the fast decaying chrome holding them together. Never mind, press on.

Real Bikes. Real People. RealClassic: online at www.RealClassic.co.uk

AUGUST 2016 I 37

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Richard Negus reveals the inside story behind a non-starter Photos by Richard Negus, Stuart Urquhart and the RC RChive

The proud owner of this 750 Commando could be forgiven for wondering whether the factory forgot to ﬁt something essential

any owners of early 1970s Norton Commandos must have wondered what the slightly dished steel plate on the back of the timing chest was to be used

So yes, it is true that the Commando was heading for an electric hoof even in its early 750 days, and yes, the factory tooled up to make it, and no, it didn’t work. Hence the interesting steel plate

78 I AUGUST 2016

for. The short answer is that it filled in the redundant hole for a proposed electric start system that filled a gap where the magneto used to be on older engines, looked neat, but didn’t actually work. But, production lead times being what they were then, the crankcase castings had to be modified to accept the starter mechanism long before the system was fully developed and approved. One of the first jobs I was allocated when changing allegiance from BSA to Norton employment in 1969 was to pick up an electric start scheme for the Commando. This was initiated at the AMC Plumstead design office and transferred to the Andover office with Bob Trigg, chief designer, and Roger Jordan, chief

draughtsman, in charge. My part was to produce the individual manufacturing drawings to have prototype parts made and to carry it forward to production. The motor, a Lucas M3 type, drove into a hypocycloidal (Google® is your friend) reduction gearbox, thence via a sprocket and chain to the intermediate timing gear and then to the crankshaft. Like the camchain, the starter chain tension was to be adjusted by means of a moveable slipper mounted on a cast boss inside the timing chest. Calculations had already shown that the overall reduction ratio between Lucas starter motor and the crankshaft needed to be of the order of 35:1. As the ratio between the intermediate timing gear and the crankshaft

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PAR TW T O

Ian So oady got morre tha an hee barrgaiined d forr witth an n austterityy-era girder-forked, war sin ngle. Affter a wh hole lotta a TLC C it was closse to being ready to ride… hand-change, pre-w otos by Ian Soaady Pho

he wheel bearings rotated reasonably smoothly and could be adjusted to give minimal play at the rim, so I opted to leave them in place and merely packed them with fresh grease as I was very doubtful about sourcing replacements. I was entirely new to girder forks so decided to strip them, and was pleased to ﬁnd little wear in the spindles and links. So again these were reassembled with fresh grease after cleaning out the old stuﬀ. The Cheng Shin tyres on the Sunbeam were in decent condition and of an appropriate pattern. As I plan to ride the Model 10 only in dry conditions, I merely removed them, checked the rims and spokes, and replaced the tyres after painting the bare wheels. The rims were pitted but basically sound and the

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Unlike most other vintage Sunbeams, the Model 10 features wet sump lubrication with the oil level some four inches beneath the crankshaft-driven oil pump

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RT PA O TW

Over the last half century, Gordon Geskell had built up quite a stock of spare parts. Perhaps, he mused, it mig b possible to assemble them into an actual motorcycle. Part Two, n builds up his engine. And a clutch. He has suggest even better than the originals, and very much m Photos by Gordon Geskell

hile waiting for the painted parts to dry and harden, I assembled the engine. This means you don’t g up waiting for paint to dry. I al heat alloy engine component halogen electric ﬁre. Done th you don’t waste time or gas leave the casting on the ﬁr as you like. It can’t damag no matter how long they re always lovely to hear the bearings ‘clonk’ down into place without any hammering or banging.

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A pa crankcases, c with their main bearing

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PAR TW T O

y modular approach to this project involved doing the strip, fettle and rebuild process in chunks (eg. rear end, engine, forks, tank) rather than stripping the whole bike, painting the frame, forgetting where all the bits are stored and where they fit, and having to wait around for parts to arrive. Rusty was so named because he was, but rusty Rusty rapidly developed into shiny Rusty. I decided not to change his name, but maybe to keep a small part of him rusty as a reminder. More of that later… My view is that originality isn’t sacred, particularly true with this relatively ‘young’ Indian Enfield. Even so, I wanted to create a look that suggested late 1940s or early ’50s. Hence buying chrome handlebar levers rather than the corroded black ones that Rusty wore when I rescued him. This look can only work to a degree, of course, because the bike needed to be roadworthy and safe according to the requirements of its age. So it needed a front brake light switch and indicators, which restricted my choices a bit. For these reasons, a fair amount of the stuff I bought was from India. I know there are

96 I AUGUST 2016

A larger carb requires a bespoke flange. Stephen ordered one from an Indian vendor who helpfully provided dimensions to choose the correct size. Sadly, they weren’t the correct dimensions so fit the first flange did not…

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The three-wheeler theme continued at Gaydon, where PUB and Fearless Ros spent their 2016 run in a nearby lay-by, learning more about 19th century engineering. Eventually enough life was restored to creep back to the parking area, but next year, says Ros, she will take a picnic!

pologies for rather more typos than usual in last month’s column (eg. Royal Enfield carrier tricycle, not Darrier). PUB was a bit poorly when press day came around, which affected concentration on proof reading somewhat. Hopefully it more or less made sense. The three-wheeler theme continues this month, commencing with the Bollée. There are lots of local events at this time of year, including Daventry’s Motorcycle Festival that PUB helps out with, but more importantly the VMCC Banbury Run, centred at The British Motor Museum at Gaydon – as it is now titled. So it was time to take the tricycle out for a test. The usual strenuous efforts eventually got a start, only for it to stop again some way up the road – not part of the plan. The tickler seemed to reveal petrol, and the trembler ignition audibly trembled. Much cranking usually restored life for a while, but if not the alternative was an almost impossible push, because any direction from chez PUB involves a hill. She was soon too exhausted for any more.

A few days later it was exhibited at the Daventry Motorcycle Festival, but not without more breakdowns in both directions (and with B44 Clive following lest it fail completely). PUB was all for writing off this year’s Banbury entry, especially when she discovered that sister AJS Mary had broken her foot and would also have to scratch her own entry. Examination then revealed a broken inlet valve cotter, but after its repair another test showed that that had not been the problem. Carburettor then? In desperation an Amal was built up from parts and modified to fit, but when removing the existing pipework and carb a partially blocked filter was discovered within its feed union – enough to gradually and repeatedly starve the engine. This was not the usual accumulation of debris, but a fine coating of verdigris inside the tiny pores of the brass filter. PUB is not a believer in blaming effing effinol for all the faults under the sun, but it just might have been responsible for this one. Although tanks on her rarely used machines are usually drained, this union,

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Above: Lowest point in the fuel system is this union, with its very fine mesh filter. Modern fuel, left for long (without aftermarket stabiliser additive) attracts water, and can become mildly corrosive to old fashioned fuel system components. Verdigris is evident on the threads, but the fine brass filter has been thoroughly cleaned Right: Inlet valve collar and the broken cotter, its two ends still wired together, preventing its complete escape. Replacement cotter is also shown, but its fitment did not solve the problem

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TALES FROM

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D E H S many. umbles have been St . hy tc pa en be s Progress ha cle again… become a motorcy ht ig m S 5S B2 e th , tually

Even

t is entirely possible that the BSA B25SS represents the pinnacle of British motorcycle engineering. That lofty, cloud-swathed summit. Mysteriously elusive but achievable only by superhuman eﬀort. Or I may have enjoyed too much recreational pharmacy as a teenager – when, of course, the BSA B25SS was in production. Brieﬂy. It was standing in the showrooms for a lot longer than it was rolling down the Small Heath track. The prompt for my elevation of the noble Beezer to legendary icon status? Its electrics box. Along with its far less impressive Triumph single twin, if you see what I mean, the B25SS (but not the earlier pre-SS versions of course) and the B50s were illuminated and sparkled through an outstanding example of engineering, an exercise so purpose-free that it is worthy of an outstanding award. Are you familiar with the BSA electrics box? Look away now if you are of a delicate constitution. For no reason I have ever understood – and as you know I am a master of pointless speculation – BSA appear to have decided that one thing all riders of their oily frame singles would have in common was that sudden desperate need to remove their

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Rear view of the electrics box. It is pretty compact, to say the least. As well as the coil, you can also see the clever rubber mounting for the capacitor and the condenser, and also the rectiﬁer. None of these components is famous for enjoying great heat

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