9769_MCCPrewarPerfection

ROAD

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JEFF BARGER

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PAST PERFECT: 1937 BROUGH SUPERIOR George Brough, a man who had no trouble with words, described his motorcycle as an “atmosphere disturber.”

TIME TRAVELER: 1939 BMW R51

1916 EXCELSIOR

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ONE YEAR WONDER: 1937 BMW R6

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UPSIDE DOWN: 1937 INDIAN SPORT FOUR

First offered in 1936, BMW aficionados call the R5 Germany’s first superbike.

RADICAL RONDINE: 1939 GILERA FOUR All modern across-the-frame 4-cylinder motorcycles owe a debt of gratitude to the original version.

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1936 HARLEY-DAVIDSON EL KNUCKLEHEAD There are those such as Paul Woelbing of Franklin, Wisconsin, who would choose to piece together, part by part, a rare 1936 Harley-Davidson EL.

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ART DECO ON WHEELS: 1930 MAJESTIC Owner Serge Bueno spent some six months restoring this gem.

MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

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PURE MADNESS: 1914 MILITAIRE

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The goodwill of neighbors uncovers a bike more than a century old.

Some like the feel of the road, and prewar bikes deliver just that kind of rough-and-tumble feedback. Paul d’Orleans just happens to be one of those folks.

Touted as a “motorcycle with car abilities,” the 1914 Militaire was an enigma of a bike that mystified and intrigued riders, and continues to do so.

PATINA: 1930 HENDERSON KJ In the 1920s and 1930s, the Henderson, a sturdy, fast and quiet

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REFINED PIONEER: 1921 READING STANDARD

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ARIEL EXHUMED: 1913 ARIEL

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DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH: 1931 AJS S8 DELUXE

Some antique motorcycles are time travelers. They do much better in current conditions than they did when they were built.

One of these is the Reading Standard.

In the mountains of British Columbia, Jim Green found pieces of an Ariel, which led to lots of digging, researching and eventual reassembly.

Restorer John Whitby was flipping through ads for cars, when a motorcycle in the background of a photo caught his eye.

“I got bit by the prewar bug,” John Mavone says, “There’s just something about the prewar BMWs. There’s nothing extraneous about them.”

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Did this bike kill Indian? When Indian brought out the Sport Four, some say the firm started down the slippery slope to failure.

1939 AND 1947 ARIEL RED HUNTERS Perhaps most easily recognized among the crowd of British bikes of the prewar era was the Ariel Red Hunter.

A LITTLE FUN ON THE SIDE: 1941 BMW R75 Owner Mark Dunn urges us to retain our historical memory while keeping it light at the same time with a military sidecar BMW.

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SERGE BUENO

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THE LITTLE MULE: 1933 KTT VELOCETTE

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www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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JEFF BARGER

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machine (by the standards of the day), was a top choice of police departments all over the U.S.

SEDRICK MITCHELL

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1927 CLEVELAND 4-45 AND 4-61 Cleveland didn’t make it beyond Black Tuesday, but before then, they produced a striking array of motorcycles.

DAIN GINGERELLI

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ROBERT SMITH

MAP

The SS100’s engine and chassis seem almost lost under the broad seat and gas tank. The polished rods on either side of the headstock are later addons, crash bars in case of a fall.

SS100s with Matchless’ BS/X2 990cc 50-degree V-twin first appeared in 1936 and were built to the end of 1940, the last year of Brough Superior production.

collection and it was marked down to £950 [approximately $2,325 U.S.] ... Jeff desperately wanted it, but had no money.”

Because Alan had just sold one of his race cars, he had almost exactly £1,000 in the bank. After doing the deal with Brian Verrall, Alan was left with £50. An agreement was made between Alan and Jeff — when Jeff could afford to buy it from Alan, it would be his.

Yet it was Jeff who picked up the bike from Verrall’s. As Jeff recalls: “[Alan was away on a business trip] and I rode the Brough through Friday afternoon rush hour traffic in London.

Going through the Wandsworth roundabout it got into a bad wobble, which got worse as I accelerated over Wandsworth bridge. Sitting at a light just off the bridge a cab pulled up and the driver said, ‘Cooor, ain’t that a Brough? Beautiful. Your front tire’s flat,’ and off he sped. I put air in it. Handled great after that, but we put new Dunlops on right away.”

Jeff finally bought the bike from Alan, and it came stateside in 1975. “Frankly, the Brough was the most trouble-free bike I’ve ever owned,” Jeff explains. “My best man took it for a spin right before our wedding and had such a good ride he almost missed the ceremony. My wife still gives him a hard time 39 years later.”

In 1996 Jeff sold the Brough to marque expert Michael

Brough Redux — The modern SS100 In 2008, Englishman Mark Upham surprised the vintage motorcycle community when he purchased the rights and trademarks to Brough Superior. At first, Upham focused on building new replicas of the original SS100, but in 2013 he announced plans to build a new SS100. In 2015, production of the first all-new motorcycle to wear the Brough name in 75 years started ramping up.

The new SS100 was designed by and is being built in collaboration with Frenchman Thierry Henriette of Boxer Design. Although the styling is decidedly retro, especially the vintage Broughinspired gas tank, there’s no mistaking this SS100 for an original. Echoing Broughs of the past, the new SS100’s engine is yet a V-twin, but built to modern standards. The double overhead cam, liquid-cooled 997cc 88-degree V-twin has four valves per cylinder and fuel injection and puts out a claimed 127 horsepower at 7,800rpm, with peak torque of 88lb/ft at 6,400rpm.

Final output is through a 6-speed gearbox with chain final drive.

The V-twin hangs from a space frame made of machined titanium, with a

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MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

fabricated titanium subframe carrying the rear shock and linkage. The front suspension employs a Fior-type cast aluminum wishbone fork with titanium links and an Öhlins monoshock. A cast aluminum swingarm is at the rear, pivoting in the engine case and also

equipped with a single Öhlins monoshock. Like the front, it’s adjustable for preload and damping. The twin aluminum-ceramic composite front discs are squeezed by radially mounted 4-piston Beringer calipers and there’s a single disc out back. — Richard Backus

The new SS100 pays homage to the original, but is decidely modern.

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FitzSimons, and that’s who had the machine when Victor Olson brokered the sale to Paul in 2005. “I haven’t ridden it yet,” Paul says of the Brough Superior. “I’ve got a few other projects on the go (including building the largest pipe organ in the state of Wisconsin in the Carmex warehouse). I specialize in crazy projects, but I like to encourage smart and talented people to try all kinds of things.

“I hope to run and ride the Brough soon. We’ll change the tires, and go through it and get it up and running. For now, it sits in my office with about 15 other bikes. When truck drivers come in to make deliveries, they get all wide-eyed. I’ll let them sit on any one of them. The more people who get enthusiastic about this stuff the better it is for the hobby.”

Since Paul hasn’t ridden the Brough, we’ll leave it to Alan to describe the performance of EAU 31, as he wrote in Old Bike Australasia.

“This is a long-legged, lazy-sounding gentlemen’s express, a twowheeled vintage equivalent of an Aston Martin DB9, or at least a Bentley Continental,” he said.

“Performance is both effortless and honestly impressive by the standards of any era. OK — the Brough won’t accelerate like one of today’s hypersports bikes, but it has a much more flexible power delivery that takes you from 10mph to the ton, all in top gear and surprisingly quickly. And 70-80mph cruising is entirely practical. The engine is extremely smooth and so forgiving, refusing to spit back at you through the carb if you allow the revs to drop, then wind the throttle wide open again.

It just — responds.”

Sounds like Paul has plenty to look forward to — it’s a good thing he’s got a ready supply of lip balm when he does get out in the wind. MC

TIME TRAVELER 1939 BMW R51

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Story and photos by Dain Gingerelli

Imagine if you will that it’s April 12, 1939. You’re in Berlin, Germany, standing outside a building known as the SS Hauptamt, the headquarters of the Third Reich’s Schutzstaffel, an organization more familiarly known as the treacherous SS.

Nearby, a delivery truck rolls to a stop in front of the building. Strapped to the truck’s flatbed is the very 1939 BMW R51 featured here. Officially, the bike bears frame number 509728 and engine number 504413, signifying that it was manufactured only a few weeks before, on March 24, 1939, to be exact.

As the sleek bike is ceremoniously rolled off the truck and

onto the cold, hard pavement, an SS officer signs a document confirming the bike’s delivery. The BMW is now part of the Schutzstaffel’s motor pool, and will eventually have a role of sorts, perhaps transporting SS couriers or even ranking SS officers from one station to the next as the Third Reich’s vast military juggernaut begins its deadly sweep across Europe.

R51 roots We don’t know who within the SS rode this particular BMW, but one thing we know for sure about the R51 model is that it was based on the highly touted R5 (Motorcycle Classics, July/ August 2016) designed by Leonard Ischinger and first offered in 1936. BMW aficionados call the R5 Germany’s first superbike, and author Ian Falloon, in The Complete Book of BMW Motorcycles, spells out just how important the new model was: “The R5 was arguably the most advanced motorcycle available

Restored from a pile of rusted parts, this 1939 BMW R51 now lives in California. www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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SCAVENGER HUNT 1936 Harley-Davidson EL

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Story by Greg Williams Photos by Jeff Barger

Relatively speaking, it’s easy to restore a motorcycle when it’s already complete.

Wheels, gas tank, saddle, engine and transmission and all of the ancillary components that make up the machine can be photographed and documented before disassembly, then cleaned, repaired, painted and plated and put back together again.

That’s just too simple for some.

Others prefer to hunt for the parts and pieces to build up a complete machine, scouring deep in the bottom of dusty boxes at swap meets and constantly scanning eBay and other online sources for the last elusive shafts and gears.

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MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

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Then there are those such as Paul Woelbing of Franklin, Wisconsin, who would choose to piece together, part by part, a rare 1936 Harley-Davidson EL, a model introduced mid-year in the Motor Company’s production run, and one with more than 155 changes in the first six months of its release.

Visible above the chromed arm connecting the bike to the sidecar is the knob of the hand shifter for the 3-speed transmission. furniture, toasters, advertising, textiles and even buildings like the Chrysler Building in New York City.

When he had pieced together his creation Roy applied for a patent, in December 1926, apparently wanting to give the world a Christmas present of a new motorcycle. In fact, he called his new machine the “New Motorcycle.” Long lines did not form, but Roy pressed on, fine-tuning his concept with the Majestic, which he unveiled at the prestigious 1929 Paris Automotive Show. There, finally, he got some rave reviews.

the contemporary 3-wheeled Morgan cyclecar.

Production versions were apparently available in short and standard chassis versions, the latter measuring 64 inches overall. A review in the July 10, 1929, MotorCycling noted that while the Majestic looked like it had “an abnormally long wheelbase,” the review called this “an optical illusion,” saying it was in fact no longer than several other motorcycles then available. Contemporary test reviews of a Chaiseengined Majestic reported that “town speeds” of 35-40mph produced no vibration from the bodywork, with the steering Changing direction “agile, rather than rock steady.”

The Paris show bike was equipped Oddly enough, after Roy had built with an American-made Cleveland his pièce de résistance, he refocused on 4-cylinder engine and 3-speed transhis knitting industry activities, and in “The legacy of the mission. A 500cc single-cylinder French1930, the year Serge’s machine was Majestic motorcycle made Chaise overhead-valve engine was first built, he sold the Majestic rights specified for the production Majestic, to another French motorcycle concern, was brought to the although various other engines were Delachanal, which built motorcycles used, as well. under the Dollar name. A year later, public’s attention some Unlike the New Motorcycle, the with the world gripped by the Great 60-plus years later.”

Majestic was not a full monocoque.

Depression, Delachanal was taken Beneath the swoopy panels was a steel over by Metallurgical and Industrial box-section pressed-steel frame with Omnium, builders of Chaise engines. twin side rails riveted together via cross-members, along The Majestic continued in limited production, but the genwith front and rear bulkheads and floor pans rigidifying the eral public didn’t clamor for Roy’s novel and expensive Grand chassis.

Routier (“grand tourer”) although by any measure it was, and Although beefy looking, the bodywork was thin pressed is, quite grand. steel, so the bike was actually relatively lightweight, around An estimated 100 machines were produced, most powered 350 pounds when fitted with the Chaise single-cylinder by either 350cc or 500cc single-cylinder engines produced by engine. The gas tank is hidden from view, sequestered under Chaise. Some were also apparently fitted with a JAP V-twin, the front fender, forward of the engine. and 4-cylinder engines from both Chaise and Cleveland. The The unorthodox front suspension used a hub-center steerlast Majestic is dated to 1933. ing design similar to that used on the Ner-A-Car, but with the Roy was definitely dancing to a different drummer when he addition of sliding pillar suspension similar to that used on designed the Majestic. And while he came up with a some-

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MOTORCYCLE CLASSICS

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what streamlined effect, with aero design elements like the louvers and air intakes, the front fender was a bit gaping, no doubt to accommodate the center-hub/sliding pillar steering assembly he used on the Majestic.

The legacy of the Majestic motorcycle was brought to the public’s attention some 60-plus years later, when it was chosen to be one of the 114 milestone machines spotlighted at the highly successful 1998-1999 Guggenheim Museum’s The Art of the Motorcycle exhibition as seen in New York,

Chicago, Las Vegas and Bilbao, Spain.

Serge spent several years coaxing the elderly French owner to part with this machine, and then hung onto it for nearly 30 years before launching into an intensive six-month-long restoration, bringing it back to its original luster along with a French-made Bernardet sidecar, the perfect match for the Majestic. Powering the duo is a 500cc overhead valve Chaise single-cylinder engine fed by an Amal carburetor.

This is the second Majestic restored by Serge. MC

www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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The Indian Four was based on the Ace, a popular motorcycle designed

by William Henderson in 1919. The Ace was powered by an inlet-overexhaust inline 4-cylinder engine, with chain final drive. It was smooth and fast, but the company that built it had suffered serious setbacks.

Henderson was killed in an accident in December 1922, and the company’s financial management was worse than hopeless — a not uncommon problem in the Roaring Twenties. After two separate reorganizations, the patents and remaining stock for Ace were bought by Indian in early 1927.

World War I. These administrators were much more interested in shortterm gain than the long-term viability of the company. In the 1920s, some executives were effectively embezzling funds. Even before the stock market crash of 1929, Indian had repeated cash flow problems and was on cash-only status with many suppliers.

Yet while Indian’s management may have been suspect, the company’s engineers were top notch, and passionate about the company’s product. Charles B. Franklin, the designer of the Sport Scout and the Indian Chief, was the head of Indian’s engineering department.

Arthur Lemon, chief engineer for the Ace after the death of Henderson, had been hired by Indian when it bought Ace, and was put in charge of developing the newly acquired model.

At first, besides painting it red and changing the tires and

1937 INDIAN SPORT FOUR

Indian gets an Ace In the 1920s, Indian’s management was not much better than Ace’s. At one time one of the largest motorcycle companies in the world, Indian had been run by professional management types and financiers since

fenders, Indian did not make major changes to the Ace. In tion. With top-end lubrication not really well understood, August 1928, the Ace engine was bolted into a single-downavailable lubricants a long way from perfection and contempotube frame modeled after the frame of Indian’s successful 101 rary metal alloys for cylinder heads a study in shortcomings, Scout. The Scout-type frame didn’t work well with the Four Indian’s engineers tried their best with what was available. engine, lending excessive vibration, and was quickly replaced by a double-downtube frame. Although this frame didn’t The new Four vibrate like the Scout frame, it was considerably heavier and When it was introduced in late 1935 as a 1936 model, slowed the bike.

Indian claimed the new Four was the fastest bike it had ever Indian’s first major change to the engine was made in built. Frank Westfall states that there was possibly a 20 perMay 1929. The Ace three-bearing crankshaft was replaced cent improvement in horsepower and an increase in usable by a chrome nickel five-bearing shaft, which was stiffer and rpm range, rising from 2,800-3,000rpm to 3,500-3,600rpm. more reliable over the long haul Jerry Hatfield, an antique motorcycle — and heavier. Henderson’s Ace, expert and author, states that the a light, speedy thoroughbred, was and earlier Indian Fours put “Introduced in late 1935 as a 1935 being turned into a Clydesdale. The out about 30 horsepower and were reason was the prospect of police good for about 75mph, and the 19361936 model, Indian claimed sales. Indian was competing with 37 Fours had 35 horses on tap and the new Four was the fastest could manage 80mph. Red Fred says Henderson for the motorcycle cop market, and reliability was an importhat his 1937 Four is a good, comfy bike it had ever built.” tant selling point. ride up to 80mph.

Following the onset of the Great The engine configuration was Depression, Henderson pulled out unusual. Before 1936, all American of the motorcycle market in 1931. No one had money at that inline fours were either flathead designs with side-by-side point to buy motorcycles — or anything else. Indian had been valves or an inlet-over-exhaust valve configuration, with the bought by E. Paul DuPont a year before, but was still saddled intake on top of the cylinder and the exhaust on the side with debt and bad investments left over from the atrocious in the cylinder. The 1936 Four had the exhaust valves, and management of the 1920s. hence the exhaust pipes, on the top of the engine, with the By 1935 things were looking up, and Indian decided to intake plumbed up and under the cylinder head, making it an revamp the Four engine. The engineers involved in the revamp exhaust-over-inlet design. This arrangement, along with a new were a new group, as Arthur Lemon had left to start his own updraft Marvel carburetor, spawned the nickname “upsidebusiness in Michigan and Charles B. Franklin had died, way down” Four. too young at only 52, several years before.

Unfortunately, Indian’s engineers did not consider the rider The problem Indian was trying to solve was heat dissipawhen designing the new engine. “If you are riding the bike and www.MotorcycleClassics.com

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