A BSA or Two

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BSA Rockets

I didn't get out to the ROG's Run the other Thursday as I spent most of the day getting the car ready for Sunday with trying to get the car radio working however I did get out on the Saturday afternoon up to Redpath Studios to pick up some family portraits. It was a relatively quick trip around the M25 and off at junction 18 towards Ammersham and to the Chennies. I left some fliers there for customers and friends who are also keen motorcyclists.

I was out last Sunday with the 2CV car club for Drive It Day. We all drove off from Denby's vineyard along the A25 east to Ightham Mote. A very old and historic house in pleasant grounds. Good for a visit and even better if you belong to the National Trust. There was an impressive line up of Citroens with a couple of cabriolets to add even more style to the day with Gita taking a shine to a three wheeler.

In the evening Trusty made another appearance in the “Crimson Field” but more to what is going on at the Museum. I have found another article from the Classic Motorcycle magazine from December 1998 about the line up of the Rocket series.

In the Museum we have a Road Rocket and a Super Rocket. The Super Rocket is under going restoration and can be seen in the little barn. In amongst the Triumphs' is the Rocket 3 ohc model to add to the line up. What we don't have is the Rocket Gold Star, but we are ever hopeful that one may land on us soon to boost the collection.

The Rocket series of 650s was much loved by many people with excellent power and handling gave the Bonneville a run for its money. In the Museum we also have the unit construction Spitfire in road going and racing forms. It is interesting to see how compact the bikes become when they are of unit construction.

Matchless Owners Club Visit

A Flying M Visit

If you have been following the “Crimson Field” Nursey has got Trusty back again and I wait to see what adventures there will be in coming episodes. I do hope the bike stays out of the wraps. A few Mondays' ago the Thames Ditton group of the AJS and Matchless owners club paid us a visit and it was good to see some of the old faces again. They turned up on Matchlesses! (no mention of the classic BMW here). Velocette MSS man also an AJS and Matchless man had the Museum team get his bike out and we all had the joy a seeing and hearing the MSS running at the back of the Museum. Once again, when the experts who know their bike, I end up with lots of information about how the model was developed. The Museum is always the place where information flows free.

Coming more up to date I was at the monthly club night of the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club for a presentation from Lembit Opik the Public Relations Representative for MAG and he gave a very informative lecture about the successes and failures of MAG along with how the public image is changing also if you need to influence your MP as most constituences have at least 7500 motorcyclists and when this is pointed out to an MP they tend to start listening! There are campaigns going on all over the country to try to make motorcycling as enjoyable as possible. He pointed out that when MAG has been successful no one seems to notice. If you want to be more proactive about your biking have a look at the MAG website.

After the meeting I was talking to some guys who are members of the PanEuropean club and they are always looking for events to go to, they already know about the Museum, but not about the British Motorcycle Charitable Trust so I gave them loads of application forms for their members and told them about the benefits of joining the trust. There are a number of machines loaned to the London Motorcycle Museum by them, among them is the 1937 B24S Sunbeam and we have a new one just arrived this week a 1911 BSA that you can also see it on the LMM Facebook page.

A Week of Flyers

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Flyer Week

Last Thursday I had a trip out with the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club, for me it was a 268 mile day out on the Buell seeing different roads down to the New Forrest for lunch and back. The start was at Ryka's where I left a bundle of fliers for display before we headed off into to deepest Surrey and beyond. 

On Saturday I headed to Birmingham for an overnight stop at the Holiday Inn Birmingham Airport. It was for the Assam New Year celebrations called Bihu where there was much eating and drinking and dancing albeit, from me, Boris style of light bulb, lightbulb, motorbike, motorbike. This Holiday Inn has an international flavour and they were happy to have a goodly number of flyers for their things to do leaflet display. On leaving the Holiday Inn Gita and I went on to the National Motorcycle Museum. It was somewhere I have been wanting to go to for ages. Not only to see what they do but how they do it. It was an impressive display of several hundred motorcycles. I was on a mission to get engine plate measurements for a 1927 Cotton Blackburne. 

Bill has one of these in bits but not the engine/gearbox mounting plates. If anyone has one can we have the dimensions so we can get some made please. There was not one of that year in their display. I had some interesting conversations with the volunteers there and left a wad of flyers for them to display and took some of theirs away to advertise for them “in the south” at the Museum. Back at the Museum for my Monday stint, Bill arrived later in the day to have a meeting with Ealing Council about what surface would be best for the car park at the front of the Museum. I was on my way home before the meeting ended so I don't know the outcome. More to report later.

Tuesday I headed for Bristol for a family visit and was invited along to the Chipping Sodbury Tractor Club. This is a serious club that takes their tractors to shows and events and will be out on the 27^th April for “Drive It Day! The presentation that evening was of the history of Parnells of Fishponds Bristol and peaked my interest with their associations with aviation and the Parnell Pixie that used a 700cc Douglas bike engine in 1923 rated at some 6hp but with about 25bhp on tap and more than enough power to put the plane in the air. Parnell and son did many things that included shop fronts and fittings and used at Selfridges in 1908. They also scales that were later to become known as Avery. During World War 11 the company made gun turrets that were fitted to Wellington and Lancaster bombers. I guessed that some of these were electrically powered and the connection with Triumph and the generator was instantly made. I gave a presentation of a couple of minutes at the beginning to the group of about 40 members telling them a little about the Museum and opening times and location but also mentioning that we had a 1914 Triumph model H on display. 

During World War One these was affectionately known as Trusty Triumphs and just to add a bit more, if you are watching the new BBC Nursey series the “Crimson Field” one of the nurses turns up on one late in the first program. More interest was generated in the Museum and another wad of flyers disappeared.

A Scooter at the Museum

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Velocette Viceroy

Just something I forgot to pass from a few weeks ago was and article in the London Evening Standard from Wednesday March 12^th and in their regular feature on Homes and property they talked about the amenities near Northolt. They mentioned Greenford park where there are three mounds next to the A40 and the London Motorcycle Museum in Greenford. The photo they used was an old one from 2011 and the display has changed considerably since then!

Now another Monday at the Museum this week as we had around 15 visitors that kept us busy all day with visitors from as far afield as Cornwall and Telford. It seems today there was much interest in the Velocette Viceroy scooter and as you may gather there is another article to quote from in the December 1998 Classic Motorcycle magazine. The article was written by Dennis Frost who is also the LE Velo Club Historian. I have often thought that Velocette had all the ingredients to make some very interesting lightweights but never got around to mixing them together to make more marketable products.

The Viceroy engine was very unusual having a 250 cc flat twin two stroke motor. It had reed valve induction because having a common crankcase piston controlled porting would require twin carburettors or an exceptionally long and cumbersome manifold. Many of the parts were common to the LE and Valiant but was streets ahead in that it had a starter motor run on a gear wheel like a car. Scooters at the time that used Villiers engines had a dynastart fitted that doubled as the generator as well as the starter motor. The Viceroy engine was also used as a commercial engine and many found their way on to lightweight hovercrafts that were the fad at the time. It was a very powerful motor for the day and would pull the scooter along at speeds in excess of 65mph which was quite quick in its day considering that many 350 cc bikes around at the time did not go any faster.

In the range of lightweight models at the time were the LE, Vogue, Valiant and Viceroy all encompassed by the LE Velo Club. The LE and Vogue shared the same running gear. 192 cc side valve water cooled engine. The Valiant was a modified LE engine, air cooled with overhead valves and was also 192 cc. The Viceroy was quite different in having the 250 cc two stroke engine. For the lightweight range you have the LE pressed steel body, the Vogue with the glass fibre body on a tubular frame, the Valiant with the duplex cradle frame and the Viceroy with a pressed steel body around a tubular frame. I wonder what it would have been like to have a Viceroy engine in a Valiant frame. A full 250 cc howling two stroke pushing you along. I reckon it would have given an Ariel Arrow a run for its money!

I have a much modified LE and a black Valiant that has had a few awards at concours over the last few years and if I'm at the Museum you may see one or the other parked up outside.

BSA M20

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BSA M20

In the time there are no visitors I sift through the magazines to see if there is something interesting to read or there is an article on one of the machines we do have in the Museum. In the Classic Motorcycle of February 1993 I find, amongst other things one such article on the BSA M20. The 500cc side-valve single that was a strong plodder and used by many for sidecar work.

According to the report the Ministry of Defence people had set specifications that turned the very comfortable civilian M20 into a decidedly uncomfortable forward lean version with too much weight on the arms and knees pressing into the tank. It did about 60 mpg and about 60 mph! Used for dispatch riding. After the gripes there was much praise for the robustness of the machine that it could carry an extra 400lbs of armour plating along with a machine gun. BSA had provided them with a bullet proof machine and some say one has been purported to have survived a nuclear attack! It was not necessarily the best machine for the job and as you may remember the bit about Douglas DW60, and the TRW and there was a BSA twin that was never to get into action. It did not have the ground clearance or the lightness to be what the military needed and as army surplus you could buy one from Pride and Clarke for as little as £20 in the sixties. It was an endearing machine with good reliability and easy maintenance as most people at the time could not afford someone to do the work for them.

The one in the Museum is of a similar spec but without the monumentally long side stand that you could park it up quickly on any terrain, good old canvas bags and in our case a manikin that has got a bit tired and dropped off holding his tray of medals. 

In the background is the little 122cc James, the “Clockwork Mouse” and next to it a Vickers machine gun (sometimes used to wake him up). In the other photo is the “Flying Flee” a 125cc Royal Enfield that was so named because it was used by the parachute regiment and dropped in a steel cage where it could be rescued from the cage and set free to bite the enemy as required. A complete one in its' cage, can be seen at Duxford at the Imperial War Museum.

There is an M20 at Duxford parked up by a communications van. In spite of the extensive use of motorcycles used by the military from the First World War onwards there were only a few examples to be seen there.

The Ormonde

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The Ormonde on an outing

I just happened to drop into the Museum on the Sunday to have an update from Bill about what has been going on in my absence and while I was there the owner of the 1902 Ormonde was in to take it out of display in preparation for exhibiting it at the Stafford Classic bike show at the end of April. It was an opportunity not to be missed to take some more pictures of the other side of the bike. It is relatively light and was removed from display with a bit of muscle. It is still at the Museum but now located in the barn waiting for some TLC in readiness for the show. It is surprising what happens when an old bike is just standing there and reveals some of its history.

Out in the sunshine

On the side you are not able to see some of the original paintwork reveals itself.

Mysteriously broken pipework.

The engine number is finally found.

On my travels, later in the day I see something that is a rare sight on our roads today it was bright yellow and turned out to be a modern Triumph outfit heading around the north circular.

During last week I was out and about around Uxbridge and ran into another biker who has lots of biking friends and I passed on a number of Monday discount fliers for him and his mates. I do hope they come and make use of the offer. Also during last week I have set the ball rolling for getting a stand, again this year, at the Southern Classic Bike show at the end of May for the LE Velocette Owners Club. If you look up the EGP Enterprises web site you will be able to see last years winners. Among them were the Tiger cub from the Museum and my Velocette Valiant. I have found another Classic Motorcycle magazine from February 1993 about a BSA M20 and I will be following that up some time soon.

More on Douglas

More on Douglas

Over the last few weeks I have had an enforced rest and during that time I been researching, still did ever Bosch make Douglas motorcycles under licence from 1919 to 1923. It has kept me busy reading and going over some old books like the “Best Twin” by JR Clew and, the more recent Douglas, The Complete Story by Mick Walker. I found the re-read of the Best Twin quite entertaining as there are descriptions of some of the leading lights of Douglas that are amazing Characters in themselves among them Freddie Dixon and Cyril Pullin and Walter More. There are many others who helped make the Douglas brand in trials and on the racetrack however my interest lies in the technology that went with this and during World War One Douglas was testing a leaf spring suspension frame and was in production until 1921 when it was withdrawn it possibly because there was an infringement on the Coulson B patents. In the research I found the Coulson B patents and also a reference to the Cushion Frame patented by Charles Travis in 1899. Spring frames have been around forever and a good site to look them up is at The Online Bicycle Museum. Moving on to the hey day of Douglas and 1927 and the “first” Speedway event was organised by Camberley Motorcycle Club near Camberley that was on a hard surface and a difficult track to ride around the same time Lionel Wills had seen Speedway in Australia and thought it would do well in the UK so he organised the first dirt track race at High Beach in Epping in February 1928 and at Easter there was one at Greenford Park. There is a Pathe News film of one such event. Greenford Park, not far from the Museum, was the site for horse racing that had ceased to become a “Gentlemans' Sport” and had become the Gypsy domain with horse and buggy racing. This did not go down too well with the local population and when dirt track racing arrived it was received with open arms as bringing a “Better class of people to the area” (Somewhat different from the current thinking about motorcycling). Speedway was an instant success as was the Douglas dirt track bikes based on the RA model, first used in Australia and up until the early 30's when the reign was ended by JAP engined bikes. The Douglas had been ideal having a long wheelbase and excellent handling it was the bike of choice. At the outset the art of broadsliding was new to Britain and was aptly demonstrated by a New Zealander Steven St George winning everything he entered. By the end of 1928 the Brits were getting the hang of this technique and Jack Barnett got his Douglas up the front and started winning too!

After the this golden era for Douglas finance and family problems got it the way of producing motorcycles, but that didn't stop some very interesting bikes being produced. By 1935 Douglas had come up with their first transverse flat twin, the Endeavour although not a success at the it set the trend time at what was going to happen later. Even during World War Two development did not stop even though Douglas did not produce any motorcycle, they still did other things for the war effort that included 100cc engined portable generators and pumps, some used in Halifax and Lancaster bombers as a standby power source in the event of a failure of the hydraulic system. Also the bigger engined generators that were used for portable radar equipment used on the south coast as the first line of defence and such was the reliability of those systems. Post was things looked up and Douglas had an opportunity for a military motorcycle contract. An equivalent to an ISDT held at Aldershot for Triumph, BSA and Douglas. Douglas's entry was the DV60 a 600cc transverse twin and not unlike the Endeavour, however on the day the DV60 failed as did BSA's entry leaving the Triumph the only survivor and that as the TRW! 

In the 50's Douglas's fortunes, as with many other motorcycle manufacturers, were not too good and just after their new bike the Dragonfly was introduced the official receiver came in, the company was bought by Westing House and all production ceased with any remaining motorcycles being assembled from parts by Pride and Clarke and sold on at silly low prices. This is not the end of the story Douglas Vespa come on the scene and keep Douglas in the picture for a few more years. Now it is time to read Robin Spaldings book about British Scooters!