FEATHERBEDS F OR
WHATLIES WITHIN
TR IUMPHTRI DE NT T150V............................ 6
Amazing though it may seem, buyerswere discouraged by the original T150 Trident’s styling! The answer was afactory-developed ‘beauty kit’. John Young knows all about them; Frank Westworth went to learn…
DUCATI 175SS ............................................. 20
Bred for the race track success which would lead to great sales, Ducati’s 175Super Sports has a tremendous heritage. Alan Cathcartreveals all…
NO RTON ’S DOMI NATO R............................. 30
Last time, Colin Leighfeld had ownedaDommi 99 and a650SS. The latter was written of inan accident in the mid-1960s,but Colin’s Dominator story was far from over…
TR IBSA 50 0..................................................
38
Back in the late 1960s, Triumph and BSA were bullied into building one of the best long-distance trials bikes of its era. Dave Blanchard ridesthe spiritual successor to those factory TriBSAs…
TR IFIE LD......................................................
46
Paul Henshaw discovers so manypuzzles in one compact package. Why wouldn’t this Triumph twin engine run cleanly? Why did the Enfeld frame fexsobadly? Any why was this 500 soft-roaderso surprisinglyslow?
MOTO GUZZ ICOM BI NATION ...................... 54
In ffty years, AceTesterMileshas riddenmore than 750,000 miles on motorcycles. Butnot oneinch of those many, many mileshas beensteering abike with asidecar attached. Surely it’s time to rectify this omission?
AN EN FI ELDI NI ND IA .................................. 60
THE CONTENTSPAGE....................................
3
Triumphs are nothing if not versatile. Can we really feature aTrifeld, aTriBSA and aTerrifc Triple Trident in the same issue? Of course we can!
WE’VE GOTMAIL! ........................................
14
We had to leavesome letters out due to overexuberance on the part of Leon the Adman. But we love your letters –send more!
READERS’FREE ADS ....................................
68
Yet another interesting selectionofoferings here. Are you tempted?
PUBTALK .....................................................
82
This year’s centenary of the SS100, as celebrated at Staford with outstanding displaysofthe marque, would appear to be asuitable occasion to review the Brough Superior
LETTER FROM AMERICA..............................
88
How do you make asmall fortune from old motorcycles? Start with alarger one, of course. Kevin Lemire demonstrates anoble art…
TALES FROM THE SHED ...............................
92
Frank’s decided to rewire our A65 from stem to stern. Why? We all seek asensible reason.Here’s the sad story so far…
From the madness of Mumbai to sacred Hindu temples, Chaz Thorogood exploredsomeofIndia’s bounty aboard the most appropriate motorbike…
RE BU ILDI NG TH EMON KE Y! .........................74
You might not think you need anotherproject to keep yourselfbusy, but yourfriends may disagree! Simon Hoskins spent last winter in the workshop…
WHO’SDONE WHAT
JULYISTHE MONTH OF…erm,hang on, what? Averybusy M5? Theideal moment to get the chimney swept,ratherthan the middleofOctober? Adepressing reminderonthe calendar to pay HMRC? Allofthe above,and afne time to read issue 255 of RealClassic magazine. As ever,this has been artfully assembled by Rowena Hoseason and Frank Westworthofthe Cosmic Bike Co Ltd. Sanjay and Arun at Druck Mediapolish the pictures and deliver the design, while Kelsey MediaLtd (01507 529529) manage publishing,trade advertising, your subscriptions,special ofers, merchandise and backissues. Is it August yet?
READ HEAPS MORE about old bikesatwww Real-Classic.co.uk
That ’s whereyou’ll fnd outfull eventslist forthe rest of the year,plus showreports, news,and sneaky small-adpreviewstoo…
TRADE ADVERTISERS forthe magazine or websiteshould call Leon Currieon01507 529465 or email lcurrie@mor tons.co.uk
EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES should be sent to Frank@ RealClassic.netortoPOBox 66,Bude EX239ZX
Please include an SAE if youwantsomething returned or apersonal reply
SUBSCRIPTION INFO is on pg98. Call 01507 529529 to subscribe or renew or buyback issues
SUBS QUERIES,latedeliveries or changes of address shouldbedirectedto01507 529529, or email subscriptions@realclassic net
ALL MATERIAL in RealClassic is copyrightits authors, so please contactusbeforereproducing anything.RealClassic is printedbyAcorn Web Ofset LtdofNormanton. OurISSN is1742-2345
THISMONTH we’vebeen reading THE REAL DOC MARTIN, aGP’smemoirwhich isscarily like real life; BORN IN ABURIAL GOWN by MW Craven (murder in the Lake District!); IDENTIT Y UNKNOWN by Patricia Cornwell (American forensic investigations); DARK DISCIPLE,by Christie Golden (charming but toopredictable Star Wars spin- of )and an endlessre-read of the Triumph TR65 par ts list
MEANWHILE AT THE MOVIES we were greatly gloomed to learnthattherewill be no more WHEEL OF TIME but were suitably inspired by the bir th of the rebellion in ANDOR S2; enjoyedananimatedPREDATOR adventure beyond all bounds of reasonablebehaviour, and concluded thatthe new CAPTAIN AMERICA /HULK ‘reinvention’was little shor tofjunk. THE ACCOUNTANT 2was excellent, mind,especially as Jon Bernthalstealsthe show
RealClassic is published monthlybyKelsey Media Ltd, Horncastle,LN9 6JR, UK
FROM THE FRONT
Patina is awordtoo oftenusedinthe great industr yofold things.Old furniture, old buildings,old boats,cars and of course bikes.And many, manyother areas too: my farmer neighbour,Bernard, forexample,has avast collection of quiteseriously patinated tractors.They ’vebeen ploughing their felds fordecades,soofcourse they ’repatinated. I mean, who wouldrestoreatractor?Such was my think ing beforeIactually met Bernard, who does of course restoretractors, in companywith his engineer son, Chris
Youmightremember thatIrecently acquired an old 650 Triumph, a1982 Thunderbirdwith a long history– mainly of neglectand seriously budget-conscious maintenance–ifthat’sthe correctword. Theold Thunderbirdisofcourse considerably patinated, plainly it toohas spent several decades ploughing felds –orriding over the salted,slushyroads of manyaBritish winter. Andwhen the bike frst appeared here in TheShed,myintention wastostrip of all the nastycorroded bits,throw away the broken ones and repair or replacethe merely tired and corroded bits.Ofwhich thereare many. In fact, I’myet to fndanuncorroded or unworn-out component. Which is nota problem, gentle reader:Iknewfull well whatIwas wasting my dwindling funds on when Iboughtit.
But here’sa dilemma.Atthe moment, the Triumph starts frst kick,has freshly rebuilt frontbrakes and runs andrides really rather well –atleast over acouple of miles.I returned from my last forayaroundthe lanes genuinely impressed by howwell it actually starts, runs, rides and indeed stops –eventhough the rust of ages will take afew miles to wear from the twin discs themselves.After only amoment’s thought, Iapplied ancient(thereforeefective) engine cleaner to the engine,waitedthe obligatory fzzyffteen minutes andthen hoseditall of again. Large portions of the engine’s original black fnish washed of as well as the baked-on grease,but at thatpoint Iwas thinking more about putting the old lump back onto the road forthe rest of the summer rather thanits cosmetics.
But then, Idid alittle self-restraint. The Thudderbird–sochristened by its previous long-termrider,Rod –carried all the marks of aver ylong-termlack of investment. This is of course the very defnition of patina,all the scufs and scars of long-termlow-budget ownership.The backtyre, forexample,a very old Avon SM Mk2, is completely square
in section. Along lifeofgentle back roads trundling,plainly.The fronttyrewas in asimilar tread-free state,and whenthe bike returned from Bude’s awesome Ace Mosick les it had been ftted with anew tyre Compulsor y–the guysreally didn’t want me to ride it with the old one,and as the wheel wasout of the bike having its brakesrevived, Austen decided to stick on some shinynew rubber to matchthe shinynew brake bits
Icannot argue with that. Therim is still patinated–orhorribly rusty, as we mightsay. ButI’m unworried about that.
Theexhaust is ahorrorall its own, but its manyscars bear witness to along lifein ser vice, so is all par tofthe machine’s long histor y, which is thatpatina thing again, no?
On the other hand,another owner (I lack the recent histor yofthe machine,sadly) has repaintedthe fuel tank and side panels, which has hadthe odd efectofmaking the rest of the bike look insanely flthy, rotten and generally horrid. No patina or histor ythere. What to do?
By the time youreadthis,I’ll have made up my mind whether to ride it as it is forthe rest of the summer,ortosimply bitea fnancial bullet, sortit, and aim to have it on the road by next Spring
What would youdo?
Andride safely Frank Westworth
TheBeast stBeautifying
Amazing though it may seem, buyers were discouraged by the original T150 Trident ’s st yling! The answer was afac tory-developed ‘beaut ykit ’. John Young knowsall about them; FrankWest worthwent to learn…
Images by John Young,Frank Westworth
How long is your memor y? Canyou remember the launch of the frst BSAand Triumphtriples,the Rocket 3and Trident, respectively?Ican just about dredge up afew haz ymemories of those distantdays, butin1969 my life still revolved around pedal power. Engine powerwas on the horizon, smok ing slowly towardsme. Butaswith most sixteen year-olds,then and now, Isuspect, windowgazing and future fantasies were as far as I could see.
bike. Par
form. Hmmm. I digress…
Our Latin master was a noted Triumph fan, and rode to most days aboard his Bonneville, a machine he appeared to replace ever y or so. Subtly defecting a question regarding Caesar ’s Gallic Wars and their translation, I asked him whether he was going to replace his with a Trident? His reply was shor t and and in Latin. the days, so we’re told, when education was meaningful and He was not alone, of course. Read the road reports of the day and then read them again between the lines. Picture a pause here while I reread a stack of early Trident (and indeed Rocket features to I’m talking no more nonsense than usual. Hmmm… There’s loads about the remarkable 3-pot engine, its remarkable Borg & Beck clutch, and even its remarkable 3-into-2 exhaust headers – not outstandingly remarkable top speed and standing quarter stats – but discussion about the bike’s remarkable appearance is largely limited to bafement at the
A decent quote, from Cycle goes like this: ‘I would get rid of some some “stylist ” has sprink led around the bike. I think the fnned and refectorized whatchacallits have to cap the ends of the oil- are a tragedy. And the vented (HA!) and chromed pie -plates that cover the backside of the front brake are an atrocity. I that they must have hired whoever it was who stuck those por t-holes in Buick a few years this job. I just know he had a hand in the shape of the mufers.’ Stern stuf for 1968, when unctuous fatter y was the name of the journalistic game, adver being as impor tant then as now.
My schoolboy chums all that the Trident looked heavy but , though we all preferred Nor ton’s svelte, purposeful, fairly
But Idoremember staring in wonder at aTridentinthe Taunton Triumph dealer ’s grubbywindow. Iremember incredulity, mainly,asthe triple wasstanding next to ahigh-pipe 650 of somek ind,and Ithought thatwas beautiful.Assuming thatitwas aTR6C, then Istill think it ’s a beautiful bike.Par ticularly in its late 1960s form.Hmmm. Idigress… and rode to school most appearedtoreplaceevery year Caesar ’s Gallic Wars and sgoing to replacehis Bonnie insulting and in Latin. Those were smeaningfuland relevant. test reportsofthe dayand tureapause herewhile Ireet 3) features to check that mmm… There’sloads of talk markable Borg &Beckclutch, ustheaders–not to mention andstanding quarterstats emarkable appearanceis he silencer design. cle magazine (October 1968) dofsome of the brightwork around the bike.Ithink the hatchacallits they have used cooler areatragedy.And omed pie -platesthatcover tbrake areanatrocity.I fgure whoever it waswho stuck fenders afew years back for had ahand in the shapeofthe 968, when unctuousfattery rnalistic game, adver tising as now. hums all agreed thatthe OK ,though we all preferred airly frill-free Commando position of being able to matter.The crucialmarket USA, and they didn’t like the not talk aboutHonda’s obably my favouritetriple some light on what
Oh yes. But we weren’t in the of able aford either, so it didn’t actually matter The crucial market for BSA and Triumph lay in the USA, and didn’t looks much at all. At this point I will not about Honda’s new CB750. Oh no. Instead I’ll talk to probably my favourite triple fancier, who will hopefully be able to shed some on
Triumph plainlyhadn’t embraced those late Sixties psychedelic colourschemes
actually happened.Say hello (again)to John Young.Johnisinfactresponsible formy decision to tell this tale,ashehad acquired an earlyT150Tridentftted with aBeautyKit. Awhat? Read on, gentle reader,and gain insights into the struggling worldofTriumph and BSA at the end of the swinging Sixties. Fact Check frst.When didthe triples actually appear?
‘The bikes cameout in 1968 and were availablefor the magazines to ride,but the ofcial launch wasn’t until 1969.’
Andthe potential purchasing public ’s response to the big beast?
‘Not good at all.It’sabit of acliché but BSA /Triumphproduced whatthey thoughtthe Americans wanted,ie. something “American”, efectively atwo wheeled Cadillac –fns and
all –when in reality, whatthe Americans would have liked wasatriple thatstill looked like aTriumph and very British. Ironically of course,the original triple,the P1, would have been just whatthe Americans wanted.Bylate 1969 it wasclear thatthe Triples were failing badly in the showroom, so arestyle was needed and indeed wasimplemented; the “Nor th American Variant”,aka the “BeautyKit ”.’
Rather more thana Bonnie andahalf,the Trident’s engineisstill athing of wonder to Brittwintraditionalists
OGLE ’S ORIGINALS
The frstOgle designs. The original bikeactuallycould havebeenworse thanwhatwas fnallylaunchedin1968!
TheTrident’sbeautifcation boxeslanded in the USA midway through the 1970 selling season. Iwondered whetherthe Americans lovedthem… and also whetherthe kits were ever ofered in the UK .Bewarned, Ihave another anecdoteapproaching
‘I tdid help in the USA to move alot of unsold 1969 (“C” sufx) bikes,but by then the damage had been done and the Honda CB750 had gained an unassailable share of the big bike market in theUSA. To put this into perspec tive, in thefrst two years (1969 and 1970), Honda sold over 60,000 CB750s into theUSA. That fgurealone is almost twiceas manyasthe total number of Triumph Tridents and BSA Rocket 3s built over their entireseven-year produc tion run. Even the hugely successful racing programwasn’table to win back thelost market share. Andyes,itwas ofered over hereinthe UK and the fac tory did build a fewbikes (1970 season “D ”sufx) with the Beaut yK it already in place.’
TAKE YOUR PICK
Thank you, John. Time forthatanecdote. Back in the very early 1990s,wedecided to run acompetition to win abike, thus proving to anyone who cared thatour thenyouthful magazine – Classic BikeGuide –was somehowa forcetobereckoned with. Or something.Anyway, we decided to give away an expor tT150 Tridentofonly slightly dubious heritage and which hadrecently been repatriatedfromfaraway USA and legalised foruse on British roads
As soon as Isaw it Iwas smitten.This is a common occurrenceand shouldbeignored Butwhere,Idemanded,werethe correctray gun silencers? Thebikewas ftted with what looked like long refugees from some BSA twin, and thatwould never do.The vendor told me thatIwas wrong,but ftted apairof rayguns anyway,the customer traditionally almost being right. Almost always. That bike had been ftted with the BeautyKit (and a fewother laterbits too, but Ididn’t notice those). We all make mistakes.I tactually ran better with its original silencers,but sounded louder with the patternray guns. So it goes. I recountedmysad taletoJohn…
‘Although it’s nowwell over ffty years ago and it’s no longer adefnitivemethod,back then one of theusual diferences to identify aretro-ftted bike and abikethatcame from the factory already wearing the Beauty Kit, is that afactory bike wouldhavehad ablack oil tank under the righthandside panel whereas, on the retro-ftted bikes,the oil tank was generally leftinits original aquamarine colour.’
Did BSA ofer an equivalentfor the R3?
‘Yes –although only onpaper.Itnever got as far as to make it into metal.I’vegot a sketch of aproposed Beauty Kitversion of the Rocket 3.Although therewas alwaysa distinct “usand them”between BSA and Triumph, it would appearthattherewas commonground in the dislike of the Ogle styling!’ Somewhere–Ican’t fnd it,ofcourse –we have afle of photos of aT150T Trident which waspresumably ftted with the fabled BeautyKit,except thatwhen Iborrowed it Ihad noidea whatthatwas.Ik new that some 1969/70Tridents wore those small, shapely ‘expor t’ fuel tanks and twin-style cylindrical(ish) silencers,but Iwas in blissful ignoranceofthe little detailofhistory which
laybehind it.WhatIdoremember,and quite plainly,isthatlike alot of 4-speed triplesit wasa delightfully long-leggedbike to ride I’dborrowedittodoacomparison between Triumph Tridentand BSA Rocket3ofthe same year and model,and much preferred the Triumph. Which Isuspectwas down to the higher seatonthe BSA –33” rather than the Trident’s31”,although whytheyshould have been diferent is as mildly mysterious as mak ing the same comparison with our own A65 BSA and T120V Triumph.
Take alook at John’s bike,marvellously unrestored and ftted with much of the kitit wore when it frst hit those mean US streets manyyears ago; increasinglyunusual in that it’s not been restored –sofar as Ican tell.And as I’malwayslooking forcreativeexcuses to acquireanother bike,Iwondered whether John went looking foritorwhether it simplyturned up,asisthe waymost of my bikes appear
‘Like so manybikes across the countr y, it wasboughtduring the middle of the pandemic –the devilmakesworkfor idle hands and all that. Iwasn’tpar ticularly look ing fora BeautyKit Trident,but this
The TR3OC rebuilt this,the P1 prototypeTrident. The frst production bikes could have looked likethis
Whatthe market got: a1969 T150 Trident. Striking,inits ownway
Fitted with the BeautyKit.Which is thebetter looking? Whichshouts out thatit’sa Triumph?
THEBEAUTYKIT
The kititself
BSA’s thoughts on whatthe Rocket 3ought to havelookedlike on what the 3 ought to have looked like
The signifcance of this photoisexplainedinthe stor y…
bike just came up forsale at areasonable priceand Ihad alwaysliked the look of them. Thefactthatthe bikeisstill very much in barnfnd condition wasafur ther attraction forme– Idon’t really do shiny.’
My kind of bike,asIsaid already.I wondered whatits proud owner liked best –orindeed least–about it compared with both earlier and laterT150s? How, for example,does it compareto 1975 T150V disc /drum machines (myown faves, in fact)?
‘The stand- out feature(forme at least) about theBeautyKit Tridents is thatthey are the one version of the Triple that youdon’t feel thatyou need to ride like aspor tsbike They seem to encourage youtojust bimble along.
‘Maybe it’s the well spaced four-speed gearbox, maybe the wide but still relatively loweast coast bars or maybe the traditional view forwards (for Triumph riders at least) over thetank. I’mnot sure, but when I’mridingmy “BK”, Inever feel the urge to acceleratehard through the gears,like youwould doonmost other BSA /Triumph Triples
‘Does thatmake it better or worse thatthe earlier or laterTriples? No –just diferent.’
Ihavetowonder whether the early Rocket 3s and Tridents would have fared better in the faceofHonda’s onslaughtifthey ’d been moreconser vatively styled? Idoubt it,to be honest.Although I’mnofan of the Ogle designwhich BSA TriumphGroup chose to decoratetheir fagships,Iwonder whether presenting it to the public as aBonnie-anda-half, just like the twin but moreso, would actuallyhavegenerated many more sales. We will never know,ofcourse,but Idoubt it.Ifeel thatthe real key to success in the marketplacewouldhavebeen to capitalise on the race success of the triples.Imagine afully road legal ‘Rob Nor th’style of racing machine or aproddie racerwith lights standing alongside the more conser vative triples in the showroom.
That worked well forNor ton, with their Production RacerCommandos,and even moresowith the visually stunning John Player Specials,profting from the rather morelimited race success enjoyedby Nor ton’slong-stroke pre-unit twin. We will of course never know,asIjust said. Butwecan dream, of course
In anycase,shor tly afterwards,for the 1971 season, Triumph and BSA updatedtheir triples with the new forks, wheels,clocks, indicators and silencers introduced across almost the entiregroup range,mak ing the machines look moremodernbut somehow less distinctive. This change made per fect
sense in termsofpar ts commonalityacross the range,but the writing on the walls of BSA and Triumph wasalready written and was becoming moreinsistentwith ever yday that passed.Decline is never pleasanttowatch, so maybe we should all just concentrateon the outstandingly enjoyable machinesthat the triples were –and still are, of course Andmaybe smile alittle at the ideaofa motorcycle beautyk it.Whoeverheardof such athing?
Andare these US-spec Tridents the best of the bunch forriding pleasure?
RC readers write, rant and rattle on…
Summattosay?Sendyour comments,hints,tips,tales of woeand derring- don’t to RCHQ@RealClassic.net
WH YO LD BI KE S?
Recently Irode, forthe frsttime, three diferentold bikes at the VMCC ’s ROBE; Ride Old Bike Event2;a1920s Sunbeam, RoyalEnfeld V-twin fat-tanker,and a 1951 Panther M100. Being newtoactually riding anythingbuilt beforethe late 1960s, these three bikespresenteddiferent challenges and gradients of learningcur ve Unsurprisingly, the Panther wasthe easiest ride (beingclosest to amodernbike) and the RoyalEnfeld probably the trick iest,but it wasalso the frst one Irode;Iavoided the fat-tank Harley!
Talk ing to some of the twenty or so riders in the morning session about their reasons forpar ticipating,a theme emerged of an emotional connec tion. While the scope of thatconnec tion ranged from having aphotoofa deceased relativewith their 1930s machine to having old bikes within the family but never having ridden any, it remained essentially an emotionalone Nobody viewed old bikes as afuture pension pot,although there wasone owner,Iwas told,who hadfourVincents in his collec tion. Happydays!
As someone with abackground in research, such abroad theme does not seem sufciently granular.After all,thereismore than one emotion –soI’m told! Based on my admittedly small sample of old bike riders, and bike riders who were old,along with my ownconnection, my hypothesis is thatthere arefourtypes of emotional connection to histor y. These arepersonal –the attraction to apar ticular pointintime; familial –an admired older relative; cultural–groups or clubs,and marque or model specifc.
My ownrecently purchased old bike is a1932 New ImperialModel 23 which has yettoberiddendue to the presence of an obstinate gremlin of the electrical variety, hencemyclaim never to have ridden anything made pre-1967. Thereason for buying this bike wassimplythatitwas the only afordable 1932-registeredBritish bike thatIcouldfnd; it could have been any bike as long as it wasa 1932 model. Why1932? While many things happened then –the Emu wars in Australia; 9000 US banks failed,and the frst festival for the English Folk Danceand Song Society –none of these arekey.The connection is very much of the personal type.My mother,abike fan who diedrecently, wasbornin1932 and Iwanteda bike as atribute. Asimple,but very personal, emotional connection to histor yas representedbyanold bike
David Moore
That ’s all rather academic –atleast for me! Istar tedriding amotorcycle because Iwas tired of pedalling and could takea special friend to the countr yside or seaside if the climes were kind.But then, Iama simple soul… FrankW
HITTINGA NE RVE?
Arewebeing abit oversensitiveabout criticism of the moremundane bikes we mayown? AMClightweights had their faws,and my frst bike,atrialsCub,had morethan its share. Abig end thatlasted about seven trials; Energy Transfer ignition thatwas abad concept from thestar tand aswinging armthatwas so narrowthat youcould only usea3.5” rear tyre when ever yother trials bike used a4”one.Igot so fedupwith itthatI ftted aVilliers 32A 250 motor from aDOT.As seen in the photo, it also had Matchless fork legs and anAriel Arrowfront hub
My presentbikes arenot immune to criticismfrommy‘friends’; Iwas recently warned not to leave one in alay-bytoo longorImightget done forfytipping That raisedachuck le from me
Tony Colman, member
Ithink there’sadistinction between gentle joshing with someone youknowwell–and being outright insultedbyastranger! However, Iagree in principle that for the Yamaha XS250, being drowned in acanal is probably toogood adestiny… Rowena
TH EOLDER IG ET…
Wh at al ovely,t hough tful Me mber s’ Encl osurel ast mon th. Iwell re call the frustr at ion at my cla tter y, old,b ut much love dH onda CX500 wh ich on ly achieved 98mph, and the as to nishing Ya maha FJ 1200 which to ok up twol anes of ad ual car ri agew ay at 140mph wit hf ul ll uggage and camping ki t. Re placing the re ar wheel bear ings and tr ying again produced the ro ck solid bike its re puta tion announced
And, yes, I’ve no idea of the topspeed of my Guzzi Mille GT from 1990 or my 2018 VStrom.I’m much moreinterested in stopping,too,and in not havingto mend things allthe time
Many years ago Iwrote in RC about my love of HondaSuperdream 250s, and Istill recall the smell of them and
the lovely blueish instrument lighting, something only Laverdas seem to replicate:whatgrand companyto keep,eh?
Ioften wonder whyIsur vived the speed years of my 20s and 30s.Mustbe lucky!
Simon Lock,member
An dj ust whe nI think I’ ve lef tm y maddest moments long behind me in the distant his to ry,If ind my self riding ov er Di nas Maw ddw ya tt he end of a to rr ential day in the saddle ,w ith the mountain pass lit by moonbeams , te eth chatt ering ,e ye sw ide .M or et han for ty ye ars sinc eI star te dr iding ,Is till hav et he ca pacit yt os urprise my self!
Ro we na
ADVE NTUR ES ABROAD
Ihavefound achannel on YouTube,‘Oriand KaitoMotoAdventure.’ In thisprogramme, acouple aretouringJapan, showingthe beautyofthis countr y. They areboth on the Enfeld Himalayaninthis travel show, meeting the people whoare lovely.The countr yissoclean! They showyou what you have to do to pass your test in Japan; the motorcycling culture, bike dismantlers and so much more.
Well wortha look!
RoySavage,member
Such is the wonder of the internet! We can ‘visit ’places that arenormallybeyond reach. Ialways find it fascinating to obser ve the universal values of humanity, reflectedinother riders Rowena
TH IN KZ INC? MEM ORY LA NE
Iwas intrigued to see the ar ticleabout switching from aBSA to aHonda in RC254. I have never had aBSA, but IdohaveaHonda CB450K1, the same model as in the ar ticle. Your contributor wasadvised to use ‘full zinc’ oil,a new phrase to me.Icouldn’t fnd any mention of zinc in my Motul 5000 10W40, so Ihavebeen browsing
It seems that ZDDP is the zinc additiveand thereare someoils produced forclassicswith this listed as an ingredient–so presumably it isn’t in mostoils these days?My Honda
has the occasional gear selection issue thatIhad put down to old age.Ik nowthe feeling! Iamgoing to change the oil for one thatdefnitely contains ZDDP and see howthatgoes
Anybody else been through this? Am I late to the par ty?
Chris Lelong,member
Oh goody! Canwehaveadecent oil thread,please? It ’s been toolong FrankW
Iremember Globe Motorc ycles in Pompey very well from around the same time as Jon Hurst who mentioned the shop in RC253. Many ’s the time when Iormymates would parkupinTelephone Road at the side of Globes.I tisentirely possible that Jon and Imightevenhavecrossed paths during thattime
Between 1978 and 1979, my riding friends boughtsix new Bonnies –although one of them wasstolenfrom outside the owner ’s house!Sowe made regular trips to Globe’s,pick ing up bits and bobs.Wealso enjoyed occasional evenings in ThePalmerston at Southsea, which wasabikers’ pub back then.
I’mfortunatethatthrough good fortune,chanceand HMRCI’vemanaged to hang on to my bike and still ride it today.
Mark Butler
Ilooked around for aphoto of Globe Motorcycles,but failed! Does anyone haveone? FrankW
SE RV IC E STAR S
I’dlike to give agold ser vicestar to British Motorc ycle Parts. Iboughtaset of T120 exhaust pipes at the StafordShowa few weeks ago.When Igot home,I discovered that Ihad got push-inpipes instead of slip -overones.Icontactedthe business and explained my mistake.I wastoldto returnthe pipes with anoteto include the dimensionsofmyexistingpipes
Thewrong pipes were posted on Mondayand the replacements areontheir
waytoday, on Thursday. First class ser vice, especially considering it wasmymistake!
Rober tFinan,member
In eeded separ ate, shor t- te rm insur ance cove rfor fi ve days to ri de af ri end ’s 1928 Scott .Adr ian Fl ux we re br illian t: detail ed
AM AL MYST ERY
Ihavethree 1950sbikes that areftted with Amal monobloccarburettors.Two of these carbs arequite new, but one of them developed an odd fault.I twouldfood quite horrifcallyupon opening thepetrol tap on the tank.This wasnot adribble, as happens when the needle is not seating,but afood. Iput aquer yonthe RC Facebook group and
ananswer came back the same day.
It seems some monoblocs foatswill ‘stick ’ when the foat chamber is empty, on the cover securing screw bulge inside the chamber.I’vechecked the other twoand they were quitefree, butthis one on my 1952 AJS18S would jam on thatcasting edge.The cure it seemsis to use afle andtake away about 0.020”.Witha tiny bit of mazac removed, the foatisnow free to liftofasthe chamber flls.I tmustbethatIhave amonobloc with oppositeends of the production tolerances of the die -casting carbbody and the plastic foat
Neil Cairns,member
questions and fle xible solutio ns.£ 55 fully co mp
Alan Ward,member
How’sabout this forser vice? Idecidedto put apair of new transfers onto the BSA which has been infesting the bench for far toolong,but wasundecidedabout which to use.Along stor yfor later. In the end Idecided to call it aLightning (it is in factaLightning,despiteappearances), so ordered new graphics fromClassic Transfers on aSaturday… and fttedthem on Tuesday. Star ser viceindeed!
FrankW
Thanks for this,Neil.Ihaveheard of this oddness before, but havesofar been lucky! FrankW
TWINSPIRATION?
Enough with the variousincarnations of the parallel twin! This subjecthas been chewed to alimp rag. How’sabout youtack le something moreadventurous,for example an ‘almost sor ted’ Ariel SquareFour?Thatwouldkeep your readership riveted.
Phillip White
Whydon’t Itry ‘somethingmoreadventurous’? Well,Ihave, from time to time,including a Square Four as seen here.Thatwas probably the most costlymachine I’ve ever tried (and ultimately failed) to put back ontoand keep on the road.Eventhen Isolditatahugeloss.In terms of expense and effort,only aT160 Trident comes close
If Iventureout intoareas unknown (I really would liketotry to resurrectatired Ducati 900 Monster or BMW Rockster,for example) Iwouldn’t be able to affordit, sadly.Webuy all our own bikes and all the bits for them, pay for the labour/ par ts if Ineed exper thelp,then sell them at nowherenear break- even. This wasn’t toomuch
of aworr yinyears gone by but it is now. So Istick prettymuch to what Iknowand understand.And canafford! FrankW
AB IG JI GSAW PU ZZ LE
Ih aveb een look ing fo ra Br itis hp ar all el tw in fo ra ro und ayea ro rs o, keenly fo llowi ng the progre ss of Fr an k’sB SA, as this wa sa mod el on my search l is t. Unfor tuna te ly,a fter tr y in g one fo rs ize, Irea lis ed the B SA and Tr iu mph OIF models we re to ot all fo rm e. But th en a suitab le bike une xpec te dly tur ned up via a good fr iend –a 1969, one -owner Tr iumph T120 tha th ew as se lling pr ior to emigra tin g and at ap ri ce Icould n’tref use.H eh ad a histor yw ith si m ilar bikes and is pic tu re dh ere on one b ac ki n1 970.
subframe,new fork springs and stanchions,new shocks,cleaned and polished engine cases and the sale includes ahuge number of new par ts.It’smissing aseatand tank but ever ything else seems to be presentand has been sor ted into labelled boxes. Iwas also gifted ahuge number of tools,which is very handy as all mine aremetric I’mgoing to take my time over the rebuild (eighteen month target) and will undoubtedly have questions as the bike progresses. My only previous experienceofBritish bikeswas over thir ty years ago when Ihad a(terrible)C15/B40 hybrid
Pete Holland,member
Theone issue with theT120 wasthatit’sbeen completely dismantled.Much work has been done,including refurbishmentofframe and
That ’s precisely whyI encourage Frank to choose ‘accessible’British bikes for his ownrebuild projects: machines which arereasonably cheapto buy,fairly straightfor ward to work on, with several reputable specialist par ts suppliers and excellent suppor tfromowners’clubs and online groups.We hope to encourage other folks to takethe plunge –and it looks likeitworked this time! Rowena
IT ALL The Startof
