Avon Cling Tyres 1963

Avon's brochure from 1963 for their 'cling' rubber tyres. Even today 'cling' still appears in some of the Avon promo material.

For fun there's also a couple of youtube clips below:

The first is a promo for motorcycle cling tyres, unfortunately it looks like it has been filmed on a phone looking at a cathrode ray tv through a fish tank but is still worth a quick watch.

The second is celebrating 100 years of Avon Tyres published by Ride Magazine, not much informative content but it features a guy wearing a suit hooning around on a Vincent Rapide.

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.

 

 

Exuberent French Illuminator

 A mystery item here. All I know is that it is French, stylish in a quirky manner and slightly crazy. Is it from a bicycle or a moped / autocycle? It appears to mount on the handlebar stem. I'm guessing the age is thirties, forties or perhaps early fifties. I do not really have anything suitable to fit this light to but it is the kind of item that makes me feel the urge to build up a two wheeler around it! 

Can anyone out there assist with further information?

Fi-Glass motorcycle accessories 1962

The Fi-Glass brochure from 1962. The brochure concentrates on fairings but Fi-Glass was equally well known for their fibre glass cafe racer seats and petrol tanks.

Fi-Glass motorcycle accessories
brochure page 1.

 

Fi-Glass motorcycle accessories
brochure page 2.

Fi-Glass motorcycle accessories
brochure page 3.

Fi-Glass motorcycle accessories
brochure page 4.

Heavily screened Norton Commando

A bit more recent than most of the photos that feature on this blog. Someone has decided to fit a Norton Commando to their Craven Clipper fairing. The Craven Clipper was noteworthy for having a luggage compartment just below the perspex of the screen.

Norton Commando Interstate attached to a Craven Clipper fairing.

Tynesider veteran pillion saddle

Up for sale on ebay UK at the mo courtesy of Paul Milner is this rather wonderful and unusual Tynesider pillion seat. The Tynesider is for sidesaddle riding and surely can only really have been intended to use with a combination. The mini chesterfield style is charming and puts Goldwings to shame!

The fitting seems to be on a pillar rather than rack but due to the weight it would seem that more than one mounting point would be wise.. It's not cheap but try an find another: museum piece is a phrase often banded around but here it is certainly true. You've still got a week to bid here at time of writing.

There's nothing out there about the Tynesider but Occhiolungo has an article on veteran era pillions.

CEAL security petrol tap

Here's an interesting autojumble find. Even back in the day bike theft was a problem as was petrol theft. Nowadays bikes tend to be chucked in to the back of a van for a quick getaway but in previous generations I guess the preferred method was just to start up and ride off what with no ignition key to worry about.

Over in India the lockable petrol tap is still a popular accessory but comes with a key. They're pretty good devices, I've fitted a couple to Indian Enfields.

The CEAL tap dates from the twenties. The concept is simple, the tap has no clear on and off, petrol will only flow in one position of the ten available. To set the tap from new you take off the dial, find where the open position is and then put the dial back on with the number of your choice facing the on position. Of course the security flaw is that the thief could just take the dial apart or try flooding the carb in each of the ten positions. I guess it's a mild deterrent rather than Fort Knox level security.

A nice touch with the CEAL tap is that there is a gravity filter that you can easily take apart to remove sediment from time to time.

I'm all for period accessories, way more interesting than standard catalogue restorations and more evocative of bikes that people actually rode. I bought a pair of these and they will eventually find their way on to a couple of vintage projects lurking in the shadows of the workshop.  

The Lockwood spring heel conversion

Generally this blog does not feature scans of magazine articles. This however is information that won't be seen anywhere else and is such an obscurity that it deserves publishing.

In the early post-WWII years rear springing conversions were a burgeoning business. The McCandless (from the same folks that brought you the Norton Featherbed frame) one was the best known and possibly the best designed and made. There were numerous others around, this being one. The conversion was made by Monty Lockwood of Ipswich and was billed as being half the price of a McCandless conversion. In all honesty so it should be as the McCandless job was a conversion to a full swinging arm and the Lockwood is a pair of plungers cut and shut on to the existing rear triangle.

Time was you would see quite a lot of restoration project bikes come up for sale with rear spring conversions. These bike were generally unloved and a lot cheaper than factory spec bikes. Most of them got restored back to factory spec. It is nowadays rare to see a machine with period aftermarket rear springing and they are beginning to be appreciated for what they are and retained when a bike is restored. Good job too as they are an interesting avenue of motorcycle history.

The below is copied from the Motor Cyclist's National News vol 1 number 2 March 1949.

The Monty Lockwood spring heel
conversion as modelled on an Ariel
Red Hunter.

Repro Esway prop stands for vintage bikes available

The EsWay prop stand has featured a couple of times before on the blog. Now it pops up again on account of the stand being back on the market. I'm a big fan of these stands, hauling a pre-war bike up on to the rear stand is a bind and carries fairly high potential for back injury.

EsWay telescopic stands hit the market in 1927 or shortly thereafter and were available until the fifties (presumably up to somewhere around the point that side stands became standard fitment on all bikes). They're a good period accessory, the design is neat and the function is better than a conventional side stand. Some criticise that it is pretty catastrophic if you forget to raise the stand before setting off but we wouldn't do that would we?

Mick Hall has gone to the effort of making these replica EsWays and is selling them under the name of Vintele prop stands. The stands are a very reasonable £120 in powder coated finish with stainless fittings. Definitely recommended if you have a pre-war bike.

Visit the Vintele website.

Original EsWay shop card flyer.

An EsWay fitted to my '27 Triumph Model N.

And one on the Royal Enfield J2.

Here's Mick's Panther test bed with unpainted Vintele stand.

What you get for your £120. Good value: there's a lot of
individual parts here. I've gone to the effort of making replica
vintage parts in the past and know from experience that it is
a labour of love rather than a get rich quick scheme!