Motor Cycle Reminiscences by Ixion

Canon Basil Henry Davies or to use his pen name 'Ixion' was the forefather of our great hobby and to the best of my knowledge Motor Cycle Reminiscences is the first work on the subject.

Ixion began riding in 1898 and wrote for The Motor Cycle magazine from 1900 to 1961, an amazing feat in itself. Being involved in the sport from so early on and presumably of a nostalgic frame of mind Ixion was perhaps the first to write on the subject of pioneer motor cycles in the pages of The Motor Cycle. For those that are interested to know more there is a biography of the fellow entitled 'The Fiery Wheel (The First Motor Cycle Diarist), The Life and Times of Canon Basil H Davies BA' by Dave Masters.

Motor Cycle Reminiscences was published in 1920 and is well worth seeking out for enthusiasts of pioneer machines. There have been reprints of the work across the years, though unfortunately all editions are somewhat scarce. There was also a second volume, 'Further Motorcycle Reminiscences' which alas I do not have in my library.

Sunbeam Model 80

A great action photo this one, in an unknown race a Sunbeam Model 80 is ahead of a Velocette KTT. Looks like the Sunbeam is a 1929 model. Some nice details, look at the very unusual streamlined nosepiece goggles the Sunbeam pilot is sporting. Several of the spectators are in motorcycling kit and all wear wear hats a la mode of the day.

1929 Sunbeam Model 80.

Packman & Poppe frame

Here's a recent and unusual visitor to my workshop, it's the frame from a 1923 Packman & Poppe. Sadly not my machine, but my father's so hopefully I might be lucky enough to experience riding it when it is completed... 

My job was to weld on the petrol tank and saddle mountings which had been cut off in an earlier incarnation of the bike. The bike was modified sometime just before the war or after for use as a grasstrack bike, the changes made to it over the years were fairly extensive but it carries its original character and is being restored as a road going bike with a nod to its grass track past. Examining the P & P frame up close it's an impressive bit of kit, very advanced for its time and a good choice for a grass tracker. The design is simple and rigid, a fully duplex cradle at a time when most other bikes used single tubes on open frames. It seems the frame needed a little reinforcing for racing even so as the bracing tube on the drive side is a later addition. An unusual feature of P & Ps is that the rear wheel bearings are carried on the frame rather than in the wheel.

Not much is written about Mr Packman but Erling Poppe was a distinguished designer with engineering in his blood. Erling was the son of the Norwegian engineer Peter Poppe of White & Poppe engines fame as seen in early Ariel motorcycles as well as many early cars, notably Morris.

Packman & Poppe produced motorcycles between 1923 and 1930 (in 1926 they were sold out to Wooler). Erling Poppe's greatest claim to fame was designing the postwar Sunbeam S7 and S8 bikes produced by BSA.

Here is the P & P as purchased. The forks and front wheel are
from a later bike and it originally left the factory with a sidevalve
motor, but you wouldn't want to change out that magnificent
Blackburne overhead valve lump would you?

BSA Sloper sidevalve

This young fella is astride an early thirties BSA Sloper side-valve, official model name S30.

The bike looks to be quite well used and mildly modified over its years of service. The toolbox is non original and the pillion is a substitution for a carrier. The front mudguard seems to have been fairly well bashed about and the bike is missing its valve cover.

BSA Sloper S30 c1931.

Lengthening a steerer tube

Here's a nice technique to fairly easily lengthen a steerer tube in the home workshop. Of course it'll work for bicycles motorcycles or butting any other tube together. The ideal would be to replace the steerer altogether with the correct length one but that's technically a whole extra level of difficulty.

So here we go step by step...

First up: below - the fork I want to use is on the right and the donor on the left. Before getting busy cutting anything measure exactly how long you need the steerer to be. First cut the steerer on the fork to be used above the crown, doesn't matter too much where as long as you give yourself enough space to weld and file. A plumber's pipe cutter is ideal as it will guarantee a square cut. Next up measure how long you need to add on to the steerer from the donor steerer and then cut that down too.

I had expected the tube wall to be the same size on both forks - it wasn't. Not a big deal, you need to make a sleeve anyway and it isn't a whole load more difficult to make a stepped one as not. It needs to be a good tight fit. Obviously for this a lathe is a must.

Chamfer the edges of each tube so that the weld will fill nicely and enable a strong joint even after filing flat. Push in the sleeve and then push the tubes together. Hold in your vice ready to weld.

Easiest to make sure it is all going together square and true is to tack every ninety degrees before welding fully around the full circumferance.

Here it is all welded up. To file it smooth I held it in my lathe to spin. For a brief time I did contemplate the idea of turning the weld down. Just for fun I turned the motor on, it was predictably a crazy dangerous arm mangler. Don't do it kids!

So yep, good sense prevailed and I turned the chuck manually whilst filing down.

And here it is all smoothed down. Pretty nice, eh? Can't even see the join. You could now knock the sleeve out if you wanted to but I chose to leave it in.

And here are the forks fitted to my Royal Enfield Bullet twin tube project. They are an almost perfect match for the originals.

Itom Astor 4 M

Here's the brochure / flyer for the Itom Astor 4M. A racy number and no doubt. Itoms were the tool of choice for the clubman 50cc racer through the 50s and 60s. Most of the Itoms raced started off as road going models, it took little to prepare them for the circuit as they were already powerful machines for their size and Itom offered several race kit options.

The Astor 4M was introduced in 1965 and continued through to '72. In standard trim it was good for just shy of 100km/h and pushed out nearly 6hp, more than the magic 100hp per litre. A four speed box allowed good use of what must have been a relatively narrow power band (it would scream up to 10,000rpm).

Cedos Bradshaw and JAP

A pair of Cedos motorcycles in what looks rather like a posed publicicty shot. The near machine is a Bradshaw 350cc ohv engined model. The Bradshaw motor was known as the 'oil boiler' on account of it having an oil cooled barrel (though an air cooled head). Oil boiler sounds like a bit of a derogatory term though I've never heard of it being anything but a good and reliable performer. Not really a huge commercial success, the Bradshaw engine was none-the-less available in a number of offerings from smaller manufacturers and was undoubtedly ahead of its time.

The further machine sports a JAP v-twin motor and is riding on trade plates.

I'm quite intrigued by the lady rider's outfit. It appears to be a bespoke motorcycle suit. The skirt seems to be more like a pair of kurdish style trousers that give the appearance of a skirt but preserve modesty and stop unwelcome drafts to the never regions. Are there any 1920s motorcyle attire experts out there who can enlighten?

A pair of Cedos motorcycles and their dapper pilots.