Coventry Transport Museum 2017

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Coventry Transport Museum

I was up in Barnsley the other week and passing by Coventry I made a little detour to visit the Transport Museum there. The journey was hampered by fog and traffic jams and it seemed to take forever to get anywhere. It was worth the effort as the museum has done an excellent job with their new displays. Just walking in was different from before with a Triumph Trident in a display case and on the wall next to it were all the names of the manufacturers that had been in and around the city.

 The displays were in order of eras with the early bicycles, cars and motorcycles put together by manufacturer. Rover, Singer, and Humber being the earliest. Each decade was represented as you moved through the displays. I did like the one of bicycles that seemed to curve around you and go on for ages.

As usual I took lots of photos to record what was there and how the displays looked. Although the Triumph factory was located by the Cathedral and was bomb damaged during World War causing, not only the factory to go up in flames but the Cathedral next door I felt that such an important marque would have more representation it did appear to be a little light weight with a feature display on the Hinkley Triumphs. Towards the end of the tour there was, as before Ted Simon’s Triumph noted in his book Jupiters Travels and also the  BMW that he used on his second trip noted from his book Dreaming of Jupiter. 

Both I have read and doing long trips is not impossible only yourself is the limiting factor. Doing them on your own is your best adventure. The more you have around you the less you interact with the locals. What was also on display, next to Ted’s bikes  was the outfit of Stanley Glanfield on a Rudge Witworth  all British World Tour 1927/8. Something to look up I think. It was a1927 Rudge Combination On the 2nd of July 1928, Stanley Glanfield embarked on a world tour, on his Coventry-built 499cc Rudge motorcycle combination. The journey was to take him just 8 months - covering 18,000 miles, passing through some 16 countries and crossing 4 continents to peak your interest. 

Remember the epic journey of Richard and Mopsa English that took their Triumph 650cc Thunderbird around the world in just over 4 years covering over 90,000 miles in this amazing adventure that they started in 1983. Since my last visit the number of motorcycles on display has been reduced but what they have on display is easier to see and understand what the manufacturers were achieving at the time. Something to bear in mind that in this  case “less is more”

Back at the Museum more interesting visitors the other Monday with a prospective around the world tripper coming along to see what we had and later in the day a couple of Scott enthusiasts commenting on whether our 1925 Flying Squirrel was really a Super Squirrel. A question to be asked of the BMCT as it is their bike and restoration. We had some interesting discussions about the Science Museum and the Scott aeroengine they have on display there. My biggest complaint about the aircraft and engine displays are that they are poorly lit and it is difficult to see much in any detail. I know there are austerity measures going on but reducing the lighting level helps no-one.

Last Sunday I was at the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Club monthly meeting and out on the Buell for the first in many weeks. I had a good run out and back but it was a little too cold to spend much time on the bike. Crisp enough to freeze the cobwebs. 

Triumph TRW

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TRW and Telephone calls.

Last Monday at the Museum was a bit strange. We were due to have a school visit that didn't arrive, it rained all day and a couple of guys who had visited us before, stayed almost all day talking bikes mostly with Pete but they had a keen interest in the Austel. Number one off the production, if you can call hand building a bike a production line, and they had both had versions later than I was lead to believe. 

Number eleven may not be the number of the unfinished one. They believe they had number twelve and that two more were completed after that using Citroen 2CV engines and gearboxes with novel foot operated rocker mechanism that got the gears in the right order. There could be at least another two Austels out there making fourteen. Other bits to note and this comes from Pete who used to work for Wilkinson so I found a picture of a 1913 model for him to look at.

Our conversation of the day was about a Norton Command Fire appliance! One was built. It was a Commando powered outfit with fire extinguishing facilities on the sidecar and room enough for an assistant clad in fireproof overalls.

Pete sent me these photos and some information as follows:

Mentioned yesterday the Fire Engine was all a part of trying to make car racing safer. Graviner already did some fire protection for vehicles as an extension of the aircraft work the company had been doing since the 1930s. So we were chosen as part of a consortium together with Rubery Owen and Shell. At that time Owen owned Norton and BRM.

I went to Bourn in Lincolnshire to fit extinguishers to a BRM racing car and the people at Norton at Wolverhampton set about building a Commando Fire Engine that would be kitted out with Graviner equipment. They welded a unique self designed sidecar to the Commando frame.

Graviner Fire engine 2 was taken at a Brands Hatch parade celebrating Lotus winning the F1 World Championship.

TrackFireOutfit I discovered by accident and looks to have been taken where it was built but I couldn’t trace who had taken the picture. Third picture taken at the parade shows man in asbestos suit on the back of the bike. That’s me standing in the truck behind the driver. The two girls at the back were wearing mini skirts and were shivering with the cold.

I’ve contacted Norton but they know nothing of the outfit and gave the impression that they didn’t want to know. I’ve asked the Norton Owners Club but no one has come forward as knowing anything about it. So it seems to have vanished.

Has anyone more information on this?

The TRW that we have in the Museum with rear suspension has more of a history than you think. The day started with Mick Duckworth of Classic Bike fame enquiring about our TRW that has rear suspension. 

I didn't know it at the time but it was owned by a Submariner no less a Captain. This was the link from Mick who wanted to know if this was that bike. I now know that it is that bike and it was put together by Peter Hayes. Later that day there is another call, this time from David Hayes his son asking if we would like more information about this bike. What a co-incidence that there ere two calls in one day from different people about the same bike. I'm sure there is more to know and at some point will be revealed.

Save the Children

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Christmas Jumper Day 2016

Have you heard of this? I've not seen anything advertised on the telly that this was happening. I posed for pictures in 2015 with a Christmas Jumper on and now it gets to part of this years collage on Facebook for Save the Children. I pictured myself riding through London and seeing myself portrayed on the back of a bus in glorious technicolor larger than life. That didn't happen so I must be content with what was published.

Not normally passive with things I had an e-mail from Guildford Harley's that they were doing Christmas Jumpers for two days, 16^th and 17^th December. I thought I would go on the 17^th using 16^th to head off to Jack Lilleys to try some Jumper promotion. They were already doing it with everyone in festive pullovers. Very colourful. I did leave a collection box for the odd coin and squeezed a few coppers from the Police Bike Safe Team who were doing training sessions out of Jack Lilleys 16^th and 17^th. The guys at Jack Lilleys had organised their collection to go to the local pub who had organised everything. Friday was a nice day and I had a pleasant ride out to Ashford. Saturday was a whole lot different with fog in grades of density and getting clearer all the way to Guildford. 

I met a few of these guys at Jack's Fish and Chips in Bagshott a couple of weeks ago.

I had a great time talking to staff and customers about Christmas Jumper day along with a bit of promotion for the Museum. I took a few photos of those in Christmas gear and after a couple of hours headed back to Ashford to pick up the collection box before returning home with the fog getting thicker all the time. The problem with this fog is that the droplets of water are so fine that you go from seeing to not seeing in seconds and I have to continually wipe my visor consciously leaving plenty of distance in traffic for this exercise and allow for the sillies in cars who don't have clear side windows and don't know you are there. I trust we will all survive for Christmas.

With Christmas Jumper Day behind us and everyone wishing they had another opportunity to wear those jumpers again don't wish just do it! When you get to Christmas you'll be as warm as toast and ready for your stocking filler!!! What is your dream? Something curvaceous? Could it be a Ducati?

A Triumph? A Moto Guzzi? A Honda? Yamaha? Suzuki? Kawasaki? Or something exotic? 

Grindley Peerless? Velocette? Francis Barnett? Gilera? Aermacchi? Beardmore Precision? 

The list could go on all the way to Christmas! 

Wishing everyone the best of riding and prayers from the Royal Enfield Shrine to keep you safe.

Merry Christmas!

After 2016 Off Road Bike Show

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After the Off Road Bike Show

As usual there is always some interesting stuff at the show and this one was no exception. There were all manner of scrambles and trials machines including this brace of Ariels that Sammy Miller could well have ridden. There was this EMC with a Puch split single two stroke engine, these Cottons, the scrambler in front of one of the three production racers.Remember the Cotton racer we have at the Museum. It appears to have closer finning than the Villiers Starmaker scrambler engine seen here. There was a DOT with an RCA engine and an array of Italian racing machines. I just love those Guzzi big singles.

 
 

It was a bit frost on the Saturday so I went off to Kempton in the car. It was cold at the show so when I got home I needed a good mug of strong Assam tea fortified with a slug of brandy. I have this feeling that I'm getting a bit more like Guy Martin with his need for tea. Now Sunday was just as frosty as I ventured out on the Kawasaki for the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcycle Observed Sessions.

    My turn to be on the shop. We were and still are clearing old stock as freebies with a request for donations to this years charity. The excess muffs, old biros (some work), key fobs, lanyards and side stand plates or mud buddies need to be shifted. I did take some away to be passed on at the Museum.

More fun this Monday with part three being filmed by the Missenden Flyer about the other things in the Museum.

Part one.

https://youtu.be/tpevwGG-s8c

Part two.

https://youtu.be/q9kZk305Ygo

Part three.

https://youtu.be/2EmdWxNM7e0

Some cracking vlogs to watch.

2016 Off Road Bike show

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Off Road Bike Show

2016

December already and I still managed to get out for a ride on the Buell the last Thursday in November. It was an interesting ride out skirting towns with an amazing zig-zag route making a good day out of some 220 miles and it stayed dry! I was testing out my new Garmin Zumo, recording the route but when I needed some fuel and a direction to Cranleigh. It refused to allow me just to get to the town centre and I gave up on it. It relies on you knowing the address to enter and if you are out on a run and not knowing where you are or any of the local street names Tomtom has that advantage of being able to get you at least somewhere you know of. The other problem was that it didn't recognise where home was by the most direct route so it was trying to send me off in the wrong direction. I guess I will need to work out what to do from using it.

Brian on Display.

Still cold on Saturday morning as I was up at the crack of dawn to get to Kempton park for the Off Road Bike Show to be on the Museum stand. Another good day handing out fliers and talking to people about bikes and on my wanders I went to a stand that had a Seeley with the tank off so you could see the cross over top tubes and now more information about the design of the frames to try to clarify what had been made. The mark 1 frame has a full cradle that runs under the engine and beyond the pivot fork mounting, not much different to the mark 2 that has an incomplete cradle. The mark 3 may or may not have a cradle but could have front down tube supports depending on the engine used with the crossover behind the headstock having the top tubes on the outside and a cross frame support under the seat. The mark 4 has the top tubes on the inside to make it easier to manufacture. Frames made for Suzuki and Yamaha engines did not have a crossover behind the headstock. It may all be a little clearer from this photo I took.

I took more photos on interesting bikes and this 1927 172cc Francis Barnett Brooklands Track Special recently restored by Brooklands is a gem with additional pannier fuel tanks so it could keep going for at least six hours and in doing so collected many of the small capacity records in the late twenties. The Villiers engine has some interesting features in that it has plain main bearings lubricated by an auxiliary hand pump that is not easy to operate being just in front of the saddle.

Our Museum bikes created quite a bit of interest with Des Heckle's 50cc Moto Minarelli engined sprint bike, the 1927 Sheffield-Henderson Brooklands sprinter, Jim Tebby's speedway bike and rounded off with an unusual Police Rickman Mitesse. Next stand to us were “Reflections and Rust” two ladies who do original oil paintings and prints. One of whom used to ride an ex-police Rickman Mitesse. How about that for co-incidences? The art work is excellent and not to expensive to have you steed captured and preserved on canvas. www.facebook.com/TalanaGamahArtwork

Last but not least Zoe Cano has another book on sale Southern Escapades and her adventures around Florida. I'll report when I have read it. I was in Florida at Daytona for the October Bike Fest in 2003 and it is a place that is just a fantastic Bikerama! I visited the racetrack and had a test ride on a Harley dresser FLT. I had a 1340 shovel 5 speed FLT at the time that I think I should have traded it being that I had it from 1981 from new. It was heavy at 330kg but that is a lightweight compared to the modern dressers at 430kg!!!! Not good for filtering on London's roads. My 1981 FLT.

Video from the Missenden Flyer

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More Questions.

Like most interesting things more information is uncovered the further you dig. Some thing I had not considered was that there was more than one style to the Seeley frames. I only thought there was one however soon to be proved lacking Pete comes up with an article referencing Seeley frames. 

During the years of production different styles had evolved beginning with the Mark one and two where I could see no obvious differences to the three and four which ca easily be identified by the position of the top rear suspension mount. The Mark three has a short bracket close to the rear triangle and the Mark four has an extended bracket. Now down to a bit more interesting information the Sanby, Seeley, Khun, Commando in the Museum has a Mark three frame.

I like reading but I am not sure I will have the stamina to read Colin Seeley Racer and the rest volumes one and two but if I do receive them at some point I'll do my best to get through them.

There have been some interesting Mondays with a video being made with the Missenden Flyer and Geoff doing a grand job of presenting it for us. It was too long for one Youtube video and it was split in two. See them through the following links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU4UjQVZjpk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bwOWZE6jk

These were all about Triumph the next one may be about the rest.

We have had more international visitors from South America, Australia and just around the corner where they have finally found us.

I am always surprised when I see motorcycles in adverts. I think the most memorable one is the lady on a Ducati having used some perfume other than WD40 to attract her fella. Then there are the car ads were a young lady is rushing off with no helmet and wind in her hair. Is it to high light the rebellious nature of motorcycling that the powers that be want us off the roads? Then there is the One Show that is so squeaky clean! However where I going is to a lesser know postage retailer that has used a Mondial racer for its rebellious individuality that, dressed well, will pull the lady. 

John Lewis used a Triumph for last Christmas but it did not appear many times. Keep an eye on the ads for what is symbolised by a motorcycle being there. I think we are missing a trick by not making something of these ads particularly when nearly all our relations who lived in the fifties there only form of transport was a motorcycle and no one complained too much about how they were ridden even thought they were much noisier than today. Just a thought it is believed that the EMC split single we have in the Museum was the loudest and in the fifties you could hear it miles away. I can't hear much now as the continual white noise of traffic dulls the senses with the swish of cars and the rumble from the tyres from the main road. The nostalgia of dad leaving work with the steady beat of the old single ever coming closer to home is now lost in history and a fading memory of what was freedom.

A Visit to the Bike Shed

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The Bike Shed Visit

Another interesting day at the Museum with more visitors from South Africa. I am always amazed how people find us and just keep turning up from all corners of the world. I was a bit more comfortable this week as the heating has now gone on and I don't need two extra layers except when I go into the little barn where Bill Bragg’s sprint bikes are displayed. Yellow Peril has been rechristened “Brown Peril” in respect to Henry Coles efforts at Santa Pod on the Motorcycle Show. 

Just to keep me out of mischief I was out and about the other Thursday and being around St Paul’s I dropped in to the London Tourism Office to leave some fliers. The last time I was there was for the Olympics in 2012. We were quite busy during the Olympics and this prompted us to open for another day a week. It was quite difficult to be open 4 days a week then needing all our Volunteers to do extra. Still in London I headed off to the Bike Shed, Bike display, Shop Restaurant and Bar. It is quite a place under the railway arches near Shoreditch. I had been prompted to visit by an article in the MAG magazine “Road”. 

I have followed them on Facebook for ages with their reports on bikes that have been created in “one's shed” show casing peoples' dreams. They have a show from 11^th to 14^th November. It is an interesting place as the bar has an amazing selection of wheat beers and the shop has just the right stuff if you have a fair bit of spare cash. Even so a place to visit.

 One of the guys there runs his own bike club, MC Forum and they are always looking for places to go. I had to leave and missed out on the live performance as it was about to start. One side of the arch way under which is the Bike Shed sits is an alley that is used for parking your bike, right next to the entrance. What a bonus for those who a) don't like walking and b) keeping an eye on your bike. I have to go again. On the Monday at the Museum we had a couple from France who like British Triumph bikes and cars. They were talking to someone who likes French Bikes and cars. Strange world this? This Monday another question was asked and that was about the capacity of the Wooler flat four aero engine that was to power a folding aircraft. It turns out to be an over-bored 500cc making it 600cc. I think that would have been a lump to satisfy the sidecar guys. 

There have been some changes in the line up of bikes displayed with a few of the old ones moving on for various reasons and being replaced by others new to visitors. Time to pay us a visit again. Geoff has been working hard at getting some of the history of the bikes down on paper and there will be a short video on Youtube at some point. Peter has been ill and is now better and back with us. His enthusiasm for Ducati remains undiminished and he has passed on to me some information about the racing 50cc Cucciolo. A 60mph moped!!!