Early Cyclocross

Snap from a cyclocross event of yore. At a guess it dates from the early sixties.

Matt's express Royal Enfield transporter

This was a couple of months back now, just before heading off to the Moto Piston Rally in Santander. I had expected Matt to arrive in his car towing the Crusader behind but he rocked  up with this creation.

A homage to old school motorcycle shop delivery bikes this rig is pulled along by a Moto Guzzi V11 Sport. The chassis is a Blacknell and the body home made. Matt reported that, as a sporting outfit with a lot of weight in the chair, the ride was quite exciting. I rode it around the block with the Crusader unloaded and it was a hoot. Top marks Matt, this is an outfit you will not see another of!

Bournemouth Motor Cycle and Light Car Club events 1922

A post from Carrer Aldo on the fb Motorcycles 1867 to 1930 group combining for me both local interest and vintage motorcycles stirred my nerdish instincts so I went on a hunt for more info. I haven't found any good information on the Bournemouth Motor Cycle and Light Car Club (BMCLC from now on for brevity's sake) which seems to be long defunct. I did however come across a few more images and for good measure, just for the sake of it, I have included a couple of cars made in Bournemouth during the same era.

Several of the images are taken at Blissford Hill near Fordingbridge. The hill nowadays doesn't look like it would pose much of a challenge for any vehicle (though the event was a flexibility trial so maybe entrants needed to go up in top gear or some such) and is of course now paved. The location remains bucolic and is a popular spot for cyclists.

DT Phillips on a Harley Davidson storming up Blissford Hill.

'Bournemouth MC & LC Club Flexibility Trial, Blissford
Hill, Fordingbridge, April 29th, 1922.' A slightly more
stately looking ascent.

Bournemouth MC & LC Club Flexibility Trial, Fordingbridge,
April 29th, 1922. 'A minor casualty'.

August 12th 1922. A NUT and a Brough Superior outside
the Bournemouth Borough Council Offices.

August 12th 1922 again. Just by the Bournemouth
Council offices adjacent to the pleasure gardens.

Bournemouth MC & LC Club Flexibility Trial, Blissford
Hill, Fordingbridge, April 29th, 1922.

A suit and tie is the only reasonable attire for a gentleman
participating in motor cycle sport!

Bournemouth MC & LC Club Flexibility Trial, Blissford
Hill, Fordingbridge, April 29th, 1922.

Bournemouth MC & LC Club Flexibility Trial, Blissford
Hill, Fordingbridge, April 29th, 1922.

Spring Meeting, Bournemouth MC & LC Club, March
26th, 1922. 'Doesn't it look pretty, papa!'

Spring Meeting, Bournemouth MC & LC Club, Lyndhurst,
March 26th, 1922.

And for good measure a rather low res picture of
the Palmerston car, made in Bournemouth between
1920 and 1923 and which competed in BMCLCC events.
There is more about the Palmerston in a brief
article from local rag, The Evening Echo.

And another low res image of another Bournemouth
motor car: the Christchurch Campbell made for 1922
only and may very well have competed in BMCLCC
events. This image from online car encyclopaedia,
All Car Index.

Rigid AJS surrounded by sheds

A pair of slightly poor quality snaps of an early post war AJS, either a 16M (350cc) or an 18M (500cc) model.

I have no idea what or where the location is, it looks too grim even for a post war holiday camp, could it be army barracks or perhaps a wartime internment camp? In the second photo you can see the front number plate which is obviously not British though where it is from I am not sure.

More Cleveland Two Strokes

The second tranche of Cleveland two stroke miscellania. As with the previous Cleveland post these are all cribbed from the four corners of the interweb. A number of the scans were posted up on the Motorcycles 1886 to 1930 Facebook page by a kindly soul - sorry I cannot find the post again to credit you. I've got a parts manual and an instruction book too which I will endeavour to scan and post in the not too distant future. In the meantime, enjoy these snippets...

The two hundred quid Kwacker - part doh!

I've finally gotten round to getting the Ninja project up on to the workbench. In great optimism I had told myself that a fresh battery, fresh fuel and a drop of easy start would waken the beast. I was indeed right but then it all went wrong....

Finally up on the bench and getting some attention.

In the spirit of a skinflint project a friend donated a useable battery that was pretty much of correct dimensions. I gave it a charge, removed the airfilter to get maximum injection of easy start and put a couple of litres of 98 octane in through the filler. 

Fresh battery and a top up charge.

All the right warning lights came on, the motor cranked over a lot, spluttered a lot and then she burst in to life. Happiness, she sounded sweet as a nut and revved up fine so it looked like I wouldn't have to rebuild the carbs, good news.

Out of the workshop and on to the track round the back of our house, a gentle ride up and down and then stop to check all is well - I hadn't checked the coolant yet so didn't want to overheat her. Onto the stand and hmmm... a suspicious steady drip of oil.

Lights on!

Off came the sidepanels and a steady stream of rather milky looking oil was leaking down from the cylinder head area. Head gasket gone, so that was why she was laid up in the first place....

Alas the milkiness of the oil signifies that coolant has mixed with the oil where the head gasket has failed. With any luck no serious damage caused but it does mean flushing the cooling system, flushing the oil and a new head gasket.

And a suspicious oil slick.

And this, sadly is where I admit defeat. With several other projects on the go the dream of a dirt cheap classic back on the road for minimal effort has faded. Whilst fitting a new head gasket might possibly only take me one evening of work there is a chance I could have to go in deeper than that and don't want to get too sidelined away from other ongoing jobs. So, if anyone fancies a dirt cheap eighties classic then get in touch!

I'd still maintain that all the people who say that the hobby of classic / vintage motorcycling is unaffordable are wrong. Sure, on a limited budget you're not going to step right in to the scene and pick up a ready to go thirties thoroughbred for a song but there are plenty of bikes out there for not much money that you can have a lot of fun with and are fairly decent cheap daily transport too. 

The oil is coming from the cylinder head.

Spider's web is gratis with the bike. The oil in the cases looks
slightly emulsified.

Pure eighties. Quite a nice looking bike in my eyes.

Great number plate too. People you overtake will look at it
and think 'wink', definitely.

If Michael Knight were to give up Kitt for two wheels this
is 100% the bike he would ride.