Werner pioneer motorcycle

An early image here. The bike is a Werner, one of the true pioneer brands of motorcycles. Hard to pin a year on it exactly but I suspect the bike is a 1903 'New Werner'. The New Werner was introduced in 1901 and superceeded the previous model which had its engine above the front wheel - this caused various handling problems which may seem obvious to us today but for a technology in its infancy wasn't immediately so.

Something about the background of the image and indeed the rider cries out to me that this picture was taken somewhere in mainland Europe, perhaps Austria or Germany? Either way a great image of a very early motorcycle.

c1903 New Werner

Trondhjemsridtet 1919 - 2022 edition

Corona Virus meant there was no European events listing on this site for 2021 and the jury is still out on the merit of putting together a list for 2022 - at the moment it seems like the best option is to point readers back to the 2020 listing and invite to do your own research... https://reddevilmotors.blogspot.com/2020/03/vintage-veteran-and-classic-motorcycle.html

Thanks though to Jon Hodges for reminding me of the Trondhjemsridtet 1919. The event is a revival of one first held in 1919 and is open to pre-1945 machines. There are four days of riding, some of which are on good quality unpaved roads with accommodation in ski lodges and the like. It looks like a really fantastic event, one which I hope someday I shall ride myself. From what I know of the Norwegian coastline and inland scenery this event should take in some of the most spectacular roads to be found anywhere in the world. The event is held in June and there's limited time left to get an entry in - the closing date is 10 January.

Tronhjemsridtet 1919 website

 

Merry Christmas 2021

Wishing all a peaceful and safe Christmas 2021 and many happy miles for 2022.

Christmas card cobbled together from an advert for Royal Enfield girder frame bicycles in a 1917 copy of Cycling magazine.

Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon C90 1957

A cute photo from old Japan of a Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon scooter. Research suggests it is a C90 model from 1957. Silver Pigeons were imported to the States by catalogue retailer Montgomery Ward who sold them under their 'Riverside' brand, the same brand as used for their entire range of imported motorcycles and scooters regardless of country of origin or manufacturer.

Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon C90.

Stanley's Bradbury

Not the finest quality photographs but cracking images none-the-less. I'm guessing the chap pictured goes by the name of Stanley going by what is written on the first image. I'm not sure of the exact year of the bike but 1912 is a good guess. The Speed model was, obviously enough, the sporting machine in the Bradbury range. Key differences from a standard non-sports model are the lack of pedalling gears, drop bars and shorter wheelbase. Many other manufacturers called their sporting mounts 'TT' models.

Stanley certainly looks like he means business, those bars are dropped even further down than a standard Speed model and the straight through exhaust is not standard either - the original terminated in a small cylindrical silencer in front of the engine. Note two interesting Bradbury features - the first and easiest to see is the cutaway in the petrol tank above the spark plug that allowed the tank to sit lower and gave an overall sleeker profile. The second and harder to see is that the crankcase forms a part of the frame - ie the case is cast around the saddle and main tubes. The crankcase is in steel and there is a large aluminium plate on the offside that houses the timing gears, etc.

Power Pak News

Another edition of that venerable journal, 'Power Pak News'! It seems like Power Pak had a penchant for delivering advertising material in newspaper form - see the 'Financial Edition' from 1953. The Power Pak folks hitting you with raw facts!

The scan is slightly crinkly, but as ever if viewing from a pc, right click, open the image in a new window and click on to enlarge to full res.

Avon Cling sidecar tyres 1962

A cute brochure from Avon Tyres from 1962 for their 'Cling' compound sidecar tyres. Take a look at the machine pictured in the ad - it looks like it is an original photo that has been doctored. My best guess is that the bike is a BSA Golden Flash but now there are hints of Royal Enfield in the timing cover, Velocette in the headlamp nacelle and the tank is slightly AJS-ish. Presumably Avon was original equipment on a number of different brands so they chose not to offend their big customers by favouring one marque over another in their advertising.

 

 

Japanese cycling club

Something a bit different. Nothing really I know about this picture apart from it appears to be a cycling club, the photo is from Japan and it dates from the fifties or sixties.