Francis Barnett Falcon

1950s Britain. Posing on a Francis Barnett Falcon. Typical dependable ride to work bike of the era for many folks in the era before cheap cars. The photo is annotated '1957. Garden at 25'. Presumably 25 is the address, pity we don't know the town or street.

Playing to the camera on a Francis Barnett.

Veteran Brooks motorcycle puncture repair and spare tube cases

I was lucky enough to pick up these rather nice veteran Brooks cases recently. Both are motorcycle items and each with a clip on the rear designed to attach to the rear carrier. The circular case is a B535 Motor Cycle Spare Tube Box and the rectangular a B539 Repair Outfit Case.

I cannot pin point the exact years of production but both appear in the 1911 and 1919 Brooks Book catalogues. I think this is roughly the span of their production.

Both cases shall be sympathetically restored and will find a home on my 1919 Quadrant.

1913 Royal Enfield v-twin

Here's a veteran Royal Enfield. I believe a 1913 Model 140 3hp 425cc v-twin. The little inlet over exhaust motor was supplied by the Swiss firm Motosacoche. The Model 140 was unusual amongst British machines for having a v twin engine of smaller capacity aimed at the solo market rather than the usual v twin sidecar hauler. Also noteworthy was the glass oil tank on the saddle tube, though glass might have seemed a bit delicate it was a neat practical idea that worked in practice and it was always easy to check your oil level.

1913 Royal Enfield Model 140 v-twin

Great Dorset Steam Fair 2019 pt2

The second lot of pictures taken a few weeks back at the blisteringly hot Great Dorset Steam Fair. The best open air working museum there is out there for just one long weekend every year.

1962/3 Emeuve Model CC 150cc. Emeuve
was the brand for MV Augustas made under license
in Spain.

Living wagons and Foden steam lorry.

1914 James model No6 600cc combination. 

Unusual finning on the James' barrel.

A Red Panther.

Very lovely flat tanker Black Ariel.

Craven panniers looking right on a BSA A10.

Old dump truck in the road building area.

Earth movers.

Sweet little Royal Enfield Flying Flea.

Ex-Dutch Army Triumph Tiger Cub.

BSA M20 War horse.

Indian 741.

Leyland Fire Truck.

More Fire Engines.

1919 American La France Standard Type 75 Pumping Car 

That's a 14.5 litre T Head straight six in the La France.

Normandy Beach Race 2019

I'm a bit late with the news here but I've just found out about this event and it looks fantastic. Pre-47 cars and bikes. Sadly I'm working this weekend, would have been so easy to get to. Hopefully it'll be a big success and run again next year. Looking forward to it already......

Singer 1913

The photo isn't in great condition but none-the-less a terrific image of a rarely seen bike. Apparently on the way to or from a hockey match this chap's Singer is a very sporting machine. An exhilerating bike to ride back then and even nowadays. I date the machine as 1913 but am happy to stand corrected if there are any knowledgable Singer types out there.

Jolly hockey sticks! 1913 Singer.

BMW airhead Power Flow silencers revisited

 

These Power Flow silencers I scored a while back on eBay. When they arrived I fitted them straight off. The seller had reported that they were a bit too raucous so he had tack welded in some db killers. As I discovered not only were they db killers they were also very effective performance killers and the bike ran dreadfully at anything above 3000 revs.

Next step was to set about removing the tack welds. Not an easy job given the recess in the outlet of the silencers and the fact that the term tack weld was rather under playing the large blobs of weld that held the db killers in place. A good hour with a die grinder had the offending noise restrictors out and then back on to the bike the Power Flows went.

 

So, how loud would they be? Quite loud is the answer, rorty but not too offensive. Did they make any difference out on the road? Really, I'm not sure - louder always seems faster. In theory they should give a performance edge but it will have to be in conjunction with some carb tuning. In many ways though the R100RS is already more than fast enough for its brakes and handling. Fuel consumption is already on the low end of the scale so just how much of an upgrade adding more performance to the bike as it is is rather a moot point...

The Power Flows seemed like a fun idea to have a play around with but I'm not sure if they will remain a permanent feature. They look great but the original Beemer silencers are great things, models of German efficiency, whispering quiet but with no stiffling of performance. And in a way that is part of the charm of a BMW, to be whisked along at high speed without disturbing the peace.

Lower fairing removed due to imminent top end strip for oil leak.

 And a short movie to get the aural experience.

The popping was traced down to a leak on the headers.

Steam on r/h head is from a recent wash.