Yamaha TDR 125

Spotted in Switzerland a couple of months back, this Yamaha TDR 125. I'm not sure I have seen one before, it's not a model that made it to the UK. The TDR 125's big brother, the TDR 250 is something of a cult bike in the UK though a rarity. The TDR range was ahead of its time in concept though the swansong of the two stroke road bike.

Yamaha TDR 125 in Switzerland.

Stamps...

Had a bit of a clearout of childhood stuff and found this. Seems like I was a bike nerd from an early age!

Early French Wall of Death acts

A small collection of French daredevils. The early years saw a good deal of experimentation before the Wall of Death was generally decided upon as the best way forward. The big advantage of the Wall for the showman being of course that it is easy to control spectators. An ideal sideshow, there is something fantastic and raucous going on inside that cannot be seen from the out. Performers can exit the Wall, come out front, and set up a ballyhoo to encourage punters in.

The motorcycle sideshow developed naturally enough from bicycle shows, check the Vintage Bicycle blog for a couple of good examples. The snag with the bicycle stunt shows was that space was needed to gain velocity to perform the loop stunt. Bicycle walls existed but the energy needed to remain on the wall means that even the fittest can only stay up for a few laps. The coming of powered two wheelers enabled a whole new range of shows.

Equally interesting (at least for a nerd like me!) is the development of terminology. The early French shows had a penchant for using 'Infernal' rather than 'Of Death' and it took some time to standardise 'Wall' and 'Globe' as the norm. Check the captions below for enlightenment....

The Sckramson's Troupe must surely have been one of the
earliest Wall acts. I would date the bikes as c1903/4.
Apparently the Sckramsons were creators of the 'Ronde
Infernale' (which can be translated as 'The Infernal Dance' or
 'Round' or indeed 'Ronde' itself does appear in the English dictionary.
Here the Sckramsons are on the 'Circle of Death' which was a
bowl at something like 70 degrees rather than a full perpendicular
Wall. Note that they had sponsorship from Michelin.

Walson and Antonio on the Wall with their Monet Goyons.

Lucien, Louisette and Robert Altis
with 'The 'Infernal Ball'.

Nothing more of a caption on this one than
'Basket of Death'.

The Abbins' 'Infernal Lattice'. Sponsored
by both Monet Goyon motorcycles and
Hutchinson Tyres.

Madgray and Klinger on the Wall.

Mlle Louisette and Pilar, 'The Kings of the Stayers' A nice
twist on the Wall act.

Velocette Venom petrol tank from India reviewed

The Venom had been off the road for a shocking three years with the main issue being a leaky tank. The tank needed two coats of petseal to fix a few years back which then started to dissolve thanks to ethanol. My search for a leak free original 3.5 gallon Velocette tank proved to be a thankless task so I decided to go for a brand new repro tank from India.

A few years ago I used to import vintage & classic bike parts from India and get parts made to pattern. I knew that tin wear is something that is done pretty well in India. I remember having BSA Gold Star tanks made and visiting the guy making them. He would spend a week on each tank painstakingly beating them out using a shaped out tree stump as a form and then welding them together. The end results were pretty good.

I picked an ebay supplier with good feedback (Vintage India), made an offer, (which was slightly too readily accepted and made me think I should have offered less!) paid with paypal and sat back and waited. Here's the result.....

The tank took about three weeks to arrive - I guess it was probably
made to order.  Here's how it was packed.

Really no compaints at all about the packing. There was no
damage to the tank in transit.

Here it is unpacked. The chrome and paintwork are excellent.
It came with a cap. When you look closely you can notice a
few slight ripples in the finish that are a giveaway that the tank
has been rolled rather than pressed.  This is being fairly picky though.
An all painted tank would probably be harder to spot from an
original than a chrome one.

The front mounting lugs are a bit roughly finished though

in reality you do not notice this once fitted to the bike.

Less good was that the studs for the front brace were roughly
cut and bent. A shame that this let the side down a bit as
otherwise all was good. I had to sort these out with a thread file
in order to run a nut down them.

Underside of the tank.

Fitted to the bike. The bike looks a lot smarter and importantly
is back on the road with a non-leaky tank. The tank fitted
perfectly and everything lined up. The only snag apart from the
bent studs noted above is that I am getting some leaking from the
petrol cap. It seems to be that the tolerance on the height of the filler
is poor and there is not a good seal with the cap's washer. A change of
cap didn't help so I'm going to experiment with a thicker washer.

Overall verdict. Delighted. The tanks are good value and we've got to be thankful that there are guys out there making these parts and keeping our old nails on the road. With bikes like the Velo hitting their sixtieth birthdays it is no wonder that they are getting leaky (thanks to ethanol too...) and if these tanks weren't available fewer would be out on the road. Advice - don't be shy on buying one of these tanks but choose carefully who you buy from based on feedback (there are some suspiciously good prices advertised from folks with low scores) and accept them for what they are - very good but not perfect replicas of a part not otherwise available and very reasonably priced.

AJS 16M rigid

Period photo of a rigid AJS looking quite shiny and new. Looks like a model 16M which was produced from 1945 to 49. The 16 models were 350cc, the 18 500cc and the M designated a rigid frame whilst the later MS had a spring frame.

AJS 16M current from 1945 to 1949.

Royal Enfield 1954 Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure

The Royal Enfield spring frame range for 1954. This sales leaflet includes all the machines they listed apart from the models G and J2; presumably these were so long in tooth by 1954 that Redditch was slightly embarrassed by them though continued to produce as there was still a market there amongst the traditionalists and sidecarists, plus they undoubtedly had a big pile of castings to use up!

Apart from the Meteor each machine came with a single sprung saddle as standard. Strange really that Enfield were one of the last to drop the single saddle when they were the first of the mainstream British manufacturers to adopt swinging arm frames that gave the comfort necessary for rigid mounted dual seats.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure front cover.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 1.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 2.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 3.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 4.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 5.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 6.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 7.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 8.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 9.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure page 10.

Royal Enfield Spring Frame Motor Cycles brochure rear cover.

VMCC Godshill Autumn Run

Great clear Autumn weather last Sunday for perhaps the last clement run of the season. The start was the Fighting Cocks in Godshill in the New Forest for an amble through the National Park's narrow and scenic roads. A turnout of something like thirty bikes; myself I brought among my BMW R100RS, as unsuitable bike as could be for the terrain. I finished the day with sore wrists and back. The plan had been to take the Enfield J2 but a petrol tank leak put paid to that plan.

The Fighting Cocks is also a popular
gathering point for the free-roaming
Donkeys of the Forest. An appealing
expression brings easy pickings from
the plates of the pub's clientele.

This is the Vincent Owners' Club's HRD Meteor
available as a loan bike to members. It is parked
afront a Lotus Anglia that was coincidentally
sharing the car park.

Detail on the Lotus Anglia.

Immaculate Kawasaki Z1.

Few bikes have so many instantly recognisable design cues as
the Z1.

This fine Triton had just returned from the
Colombres Rally in Spain.

Vincent HRD Rapide.

My Norton Dominator loaned out for the day finds a new friend.