The Classic MotorCycle July 2015

WORLD ATLAS THE NORTON BUILT FOR THE UNITED STATES JULY 2015

Am I only

dreaming?

TRIBUTE TO

GEOFF DUKE

Following in the wheeltracks of Lawrence of Arabia

RIDING THE SS100

WHO BOUGHT & SOLD WHAT AT STAFFORD?

PLUS: BSA B21 De Luxe AJW Flying Fox

Kreidler 50cc racers Ariels for every occasion

Number 7 July 2015

£4.20

Editor’s welcome This month has seen a fair amount of riding, with the opportunity to get out on a variety of machines, including my first ever go on an SS100 Brough Superior, thus ticking off another ‘dream’.

It’s great to actually be riding for pleasure again, after a few months of waiting. In addition to that, we’ve had another Stafford too; it just seems to get bigger. I took the Rex-Acme along (below) and gave it a gentle run around the showground arena in company with fellow members of the Sunbeam MCC and assorted other machines. It, hopefully, all added to the colour and spectacle.

In terms of colour and spectacle, that was what the recently departed Geoff Duke brought to Britain’s racing scene, his whole appearance and demeanour seemingly a generation ‘younger’ than the riders dominant just a year or two before him.

Duke’s emergence, with his one-piece leathers and youthful features, seemed to mark a total changing of the guard, with the previous ‘top men’ (Fred Frith, Harold Daniell et al) belonging to another age. Duke was the new kid on the block and especially when he was teamed with the new, modern-looking Featherbed Norton, it signalled the dawn of a new era.

And when Duke switched to the Gilera, it started another new chapter too; the end of British dominance and the emergence of multi-cylinder racers. Geoff Duke was in that small handful of riders whose name was known to various generations.

Apologies if my comment in last month’s editorial column about ‘as if two-strokes never happened’ was misconstrued; I wasn’t making judgement or criticism of two-strokes, just trying to highlight the irony that 250cc four-stroke singles are what is being raced again. Also, apologies for the various mistakes, particularly on the news pages, in the last issue – we had a wrong date while several ‘typos’ crept in too. Sorry for any confusion caused.

We’ve started a new series in this issue, courtesy of Martin Squires, which I hope you’ll enjoy, while I have to say that the correspondence that pleased me most this month was from Jim Davies, reckoning that this magazine’s founder, Jim’s old friend and colleague Bob Currie, would’ve been ‘tickled pink’ with the magazine and his Ariel being featured on the cover of it. We do our best, just like Bob set out to do.

OW SUBSCRIBE N FOR ONLY

.50 £18 page 18

42

JAMES ROBINSON Editor

58 Contributors Dave Masters, Roy Poynting, Richard Rosenthal, Jerry Thurston, Alan Turner, Andy Westlake, Steve Wilson.

THE CLASSIC MOTOR CYCLE (USPS:710-470) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd., PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK . USA subscriptions are $63 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CLASSIC MOTOR CYCLE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com

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CONTENTS ISSUE | JULY 2015 Archive photograph ..........................................6 News....................................................................8 Diary ................................................................14 Geoff Duke tribute..........................................16 Subscribe and save........................................18 Duxford sale report.........................................20 Letters ..............................................................22 Stafford show report ........................................24 Norton Atlas super profile .............................32 BSA B21 De Luxe ............................................42 National Motorcycle Museum tours.............46 Straight from the plate – London-Dartmoor..53 AJW Flying Fox ................................................58 Ixion Cavalcade ..............................................62 Overland to India............................................64 Kreidler 50cc racers ........................................70 Gary Hall interview.........................................76 Men who mattered – Bill Shergold ...............78 Roy Poynting column.....................................80 Jerry Thurston column...................................82 Marque of Distinction – Ariel ........................84 Martin Squires’ sketchbook...........................86

84

You were asking ..............................................88 Restoration guide – Levis A2 .........................92 Classic components .......................................94 Technical feature – Dynamo explanation ....96 Next month...................................................112 Classic Camera ............................................114

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POST: The Classic MotorCycle, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, LN9 6JR EMAIL: jrobinson@mortons.co.uk or mbarraclough@mortons.co.uk

Stuck in the

middle

A motorcycle that bridged two generations, the Norton Atlas is located in a strange middle ground.

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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

Norton | Atlas

T

he Norton Atlas was a machine in the middle.

To some, it was the last true flowering of the thoroughbred Featherbed-framed Norton twin tradition. To others, it was the precursor of one of Britain’s only Superbikes, the 750cc Norton Commando. And to all, it was severely qualified by the V-word.

As foreseen by designer Doug Hele, who in 1961 had supervised the twin engine’s expansion from 650 to 750cc at Norton’s traditional home in Bracebridge Street, Birmingham, vibration meant that a low state of tune was essential, the only method to make the

Atlas (named after the latest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile rocket) a half-way practical proposition.

During development late in 1961, Atlas test rider Fred Swift had returned from a high-speed run on the recently-opened M1 motorway with his hands swollen; this was the famous ‘Wimpey Fist’, experienced by road drill operators, and Hele later said: “I decided that if we put a big twin into production, , it should not have a compression ratio higher than 7.5:1.”

And the first models were announced with just a single carburettor, and an output of 49bhp, the same as the 650SS.

Words: STEVE WILSON Photography: GARY CHAPMAN

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

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A rare

BEAST

Ex-scrambler Tommy Barker (who we profiled in our January 2015 issue) is the proud owner of this unusual single.

Words and photography: ANDY WESTLAKE

BSA | B21 De Luxe

O

Below: Tommy Barker painstakingly handpainted the tank decal.

Below: Superb quality of the paintwork is testament to restorer Tommy Barker’s fastidious attention to detail.

n his retirement from trials in the early 1980s, experienced off-roader Tommy Barker turned his attention and skills to the burgeoning vintage and classic scene. This extremely rare BSA B21 De Luxe is a motorcycle which he restored some 30 years ago. The transformation from a rusty heap to better than showroom condition was not an easy one as in its De Luxe specification, the quarter litre single was only made for one year and it’s reckoned that during 1939 only around 1000 examples of the little ohv four-strokes rolled off the Small Heath production lines.

How many still survive isn’t known, but it’s certainly a machine which now falls into the category of ‘hens teeth’ and one I was really looking forward to taking for a spin through the leafy Gloucestershire lanes. But before we fire it up, we should reflect back to 1937, the year BSA first introduced its range of B models and hear from Tommy about his long restoration project of the quarter litre single.

The B21 was one of seven 250 and 350s designed by Val Page – a man regarded by many as one of the most gifted engineers to work in the British motorcycle industry – and were available with both overhead and side-valve engines. The three 250s all shared the same bore and stroke of 63x80mm and four-speed gearbox, but only the sporty and more highly tuned B22 Empire Star came with a foot change. For the 1939 season, Small Heath introduced an ohv four-speed foot change De Luxe model of the B21, but its life proved to be a short one. The late summer outbreak of the Second World War meant that the whole range of ohv quarter litre singles was dropped and for the next six years the BSA production lines concentrated their efforts on the rugged military specification side valve machines.

Mainly the M20, but others like the C12 too.

“It’s reckoned that during 1939 around 1000 B21s were made.”

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

43

Livingthe

DREAM So, you dream of riding a Brough Superior SS100, but you’ll never afford one. Now there is another way…

Words: JAMES ROBINSON Photography: GARY CHAPMAN

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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

NMM | Experience day

‘E

xperience days’ are a relatively new phenomenon. I’ve been lucky enough to do the odd one – most memorable was a ‘flying lesson’ in a Tiger Moth, while driving a Le Mans-esque V6 Jag-engined ‘spider’ racing car at Cadwell Park was good fun too. Some kind of bizarre shooting thing, with live ammunition in a gun club in a Berlin backstreet was an ‘experience’ indeed, but in no-way a pleasurable one…

Other experiences one can sign up to are wide and varied – fancy sky diving? No problem. Swimming with dolphins? Yep. Sharks? Can do that too. My cousin even had a day working as a ‘zookeeper’ which doesn’t sound so much experience as ordeal to me – seems she spent a vast majority of the day shovelling, er, ‘waste’…

Motorcyclists seem to have been quite badly served in this field. Though there’s always been various opportunities to say have a pillion ride on the back of a superbike at an experience day as part of a British Superbike meeting (one of my friend’s was the rider for such an enterprise – I had a couple of pillion rides with him; it was an experience... a terrifying one) and Ducati did its ‘two seater’ MotoGP Desmosedici, there’s not really been a great deal of opportunity to actually be at the controls.

Sure, the VMCC does a great job with its Training Day (the day before the Banbury Run, traditionally) but that is an off road, controlled environment experience – there has not been the opportunity to get ‘out on the road’ at the controls of something exotic or different – until now.

Everyone poses for an end-of-day picture.

Lots of smiling faces!

The National Motorcycle Museum has now launched its take on the ‘Experience Day’ with a tiered scheme in which Friends of the Museum (see separate box-out for details) are afforded the opportunity to ride a variety of motorcycles, with a sliding price scale dependent on the machine selected.

Of course, it’s not cheap – but then it was never going to be. Prices start at £200, rising to £1000 for the Brough Superior SS100. For that, riders receive some instruction (and assessment) in the morning, then an escorted ride, then back to the museum for lunch, then another escorted ride in the afternoon. Our day started at 8.30am and we were back around 5pm.

Museum director James Hewing explained the thinking: “We want to dispel the myth that the museum is just rows of static headlights. It’s a unique part of the friends concept that [the friends] can ride.”

With the idea in place, the museum decided to launch its first attempt. Rather than a whole complement of paying customers, James (the man in charge) decided to go with a mixture of three people who had spent their own hard-earned, plus an extra two places on the most exclusive machines (Vincent Black Shadow and SS100) to be filled by ‘guinea pigs.’ Andean-rodent-for-the-day number one was Karl Gamble, an experienced rider who has ridden all manner of machines, with the second given over to yours truly.

As surely with many enthusiasts for old motorcycles, I’ve always dreamed that I’d one day have an SS100 Brough Superior. It is, effectively, the ultimate – the nearest equivalent to say a Blower Bentley or one’s own Spitfire aeroplane. It’s a thing of beauty, a wonderfully engineered all-time classic.

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

as he had also managed to turn his outfit over earlier in the trial. It certainly wasn’t a good day for Mr Clark.

Similarly S H Allard (Morgan) streaked past both lines.

The Clifford Bridge section constituted an enjoyable portion of the course; the only real obstacle was a rocky outcrop, and even that did not throw up too much trouble for the riders and their machines. The next hill, which only a day before was unclimbable due to a huge oak tree falling squarely on the route the riders were due to take. This problem was solved (quite spectacularly, it has to be said) the day before the trial’s participants arrived by John Thyne and his crew, who had sawn through the tree at two separate points then lifted the obstructing portion clear, leaving a gap large enough for motorists to pass through.

Only 65% of the starters managed to finish the trial – a statistic that corroborates the challenging nature of the event. The most challenging elements of the trial were the brake test and the wet weather but the general consensus – if period reportage is to be believed – is that the event was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.

Left: There was a high attrition rate, with 35% failing to finish. That may have been the fate of this outfit!

Straight from the plate

Top: E E U Rogers (499cc Rudge-Whitworth) on Netton.

To view the rest of the pictures in this set and to order prints please visit mortonsarchive.com

Above: J W Broad (Morgan) climbing Manaton.

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE | JULY 2015

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THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE USPS:710470 is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ UK. USA subscriptions are $63 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595 chris@classicbikebooks.com PRINTED BY William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. © Mortons Media Group Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage retrieval system without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

ISSN No 0263-0850