VMCC Founders Day 2011



Mellowed Douglas 90 Plus with Stanford Hall as backdrop.



Given fine summer weather Founders Day has always been one of the better events in the old bike calendar. A great informal atmosphere, plenty of folks riding in and one of the best autojumbles of the year. It's been some three years since I was last able to make it but this year I was free and clear with leave of absence from home granted! An early start on the Norton Dommi, perfect weather and a 180 odd mile trip up through Dorset, Wiltshire and along the Fosse Way through the Cotswolds really felt to be in the spirit of the event.



Matt's 'Beam leant nonchalantly against an oak.



Since last attending the format has changed and everything now takes place in front of the Hall instead of to the rear. I worried that this would detract from the atmosphere as an abiding memory is of used vintage machinery leaned up against trees; trees with an established order as every year the Brough crowd would park up at a certain point, Vincents at another etc, etc. The move has lost some of this appeal to the event and it has inevitably become more formalised with clubs turning up to stands rather than meeting at age old gathering points handed down across generations of vintagents! But with greater organisation and consequent greater ticket costs parking on your club stand and getting the free ticket makes good sense. Matt and I arrived and decided to keep the time honoured tradition standing by nonchalantly leaning the Norton and Sunbeam against a sturdy oak. The move to front of house is however no doubt an improvement as the Hall now forms a impressive backdrop, the autojumble is on the flat and free of the clumps of sheep cacka that stood it out from other jumbles and the marsh grass tellingly doesn't grow at the new location.

First stop was, naturally enough, the jumble and many tasty machines were spotted; mostly at particularly tasty prices, for the vendors that is..



Neracar Model B project for those skilled in tinsmithery.



On Andy Tiernan's stand a Neracar Model B restoration project stood out. At £3000 the price was nowadays not unreasonable. It looked complete but the restorer would have to be a skilled welder and tinsmith!

There is a great resource on Neracars on the late Ken Philp's site.





Chater Lea project.

This machine really caught my fancy and with more funds and time it might have found a home with me! On the Yeomans Motorycles stand it apparently had a log book from 1934 giving the AA as the owners. As Chater Lea supplied combinations to the AA it is fair to assume it is one of these with a 550cc side valve engine and sans sidecar. I would say that the bike is earlier than '34, maybe '28 or '29 from the fittings though it is possible the wheels are from another later machine. At £3900 it was neither cheap nor excessively pricey.



Rosengart cyclemotor.



Underside of the Rosengart cyclemotor.



 The Smith's Autocycles stand was displaying possibly the rarest machine on the field. A Rosengart cyclemotor dating from probably 1923 and made in Paris. There's another example in the Rosengart Museum. It is a 90cc two stroke, quite likely deafeningly loud as the exhaust appears to be a short megaphone exiting the rear of the machine. The crank is in the same casting as the fuel tank. It makes for a neat appearance but the soundness of the design must be in question! Even more wonky is the method of transfering drive to the wheel of the bicycle. The crank drives a sprocket which pulls a chain wrapped around sprockets driving pulleys on either side of the rim. The drive is metal on metal against the Westwood rim. The only possible advantage of this design that can be fathomed is that a clutch is incorporated into the design, this operated from the bars by bowden cable which pulls apart the pulleys on either wide of the rim which are spring-loaded. No doubt the rarity of the machine reflects the number sold and its success in operation. I'm not sure if it was for sale as no price was given, all the same it made an interesting exhibit.





Gnom cyclemotor.



 Also on the Smith's Autocycles stand was this Gnom cyclemotor, a peer of the Rosengart. Though of similar vintage the design is significantly more conventional and in fact bears some resemblence to the later Ducati Cucciolo. Again unpriced on the day but it is listed on the Smith's Autocycles website at £4000.





1919 Blackburne engined Verus.



 This immaculate 1919 Blackburne engined Verus was on display. I cannot find anything on the marque other than they were made from 1919 to 1925 in Birmingham and fitted with a variety of proprietry engines.





Regent with Coventry Victor engine.



 Another immaculate obscurity spotted. A Regent with Coventry Victor flat twin engine. Apparently Regent were a manufacturer from 1920-21 and with just this one bike in the range. A nice quality machine with Brampton Biflex forks and Sturmey Archer CS gearbox.





AJS R7.



 Seldom seen and one of the finest vintage motorcycles, the AJS R7. It's rare to see one but on one particular display stand at Stanford there were 5!



Dorset VMCC Veteran and Vintage Run



1927 Triumph Model N - sadly no prize for scruffiest bike!



A damp morning in early July didn't promise a lot for a gathering of veteran and vintage machines in the middle of the Dorset countryside. Chinks in the clouds however encouraged some thirty hardy pilots of early machines to turn up at Alweston Village Hall car park and the weather gods blessed the virtuous as, despite downpours immediately before and after the run, the ride remained dry.

This was the first public outing for my '27 Triumph Model N. I had worries about the oiling as it had tightened up on a test run but in the end the oil flowed and all was well. It did tighten up towards the end of the ride but a couple of minutes cool down time cured it. A couple of folks had a test ride at the end and it was pronounced to be more lively than another fellow's Model P but flatter than it should be and perhaps the timing is slightly out and causing it to overheat.

 

V twin Sunbeam in an AJS twin sandwich!



Everyone made it around with only a few belt slip issues and most folks took the longer fifty mile route. The route was nice and flat to suit older machines, a welcome change from a couple of years back when I took the mighty Wall Autowheel along a 50 mile slog of the hills of North Dorset!



Pilots-eye view of a 1929 Norton Model 18.





Seeing this beautifully turned out Model 18 gives inspiration to complete my Model 19 which has to my shame been a work in progress for the last 7 or so years.



Coventry Eagle Flying 8 enjoys some rare sunshine.



 

This Coventry Eagle flying 8 is a regular on the local scene and represents the ultimate in high-powered yet unfussy sports tourers of the late vintage era.



Kerry Abingdon rear view.



 Great period accessory leather spare belt case on this Kerry Abindon. I've got a rough copy of a veteran Brookes catalogue and a huge variety of leather cases for different applications were available to enhance your machine. Sadly virtually none have survived. The Kerry Abingdon was made by the same company as made, and indeed still makes, King Dick tools. Their motorcycles were branded over the years as Kerry, Kerry Abingdon, King Dick and AKD. The Kerry Abingdon was in fact produced for the East London Rubber Company from 1907 to 1915 and sold through their catalogue and dealer network.



Veteran Harley with wicker sidecar.

Another regular and solid performer on local runs is the veteran Harley. Pushbike style pedal start and ultra lightweight wicker sidecar must make for an exciting ride.









VMCC Weymouth Week 2011



Pub at Cerne Abbas chocka with old bikes

Always the big local run of the summer the Weymouth Run was expanded several years back to an entire week of runs. Sunday's Weymouth run is still the key event and the one with the most riders - not everyone is retired and can attend for the whole week! Several made the trek from overseas though and there were small Dutch and German contingents.

The weather for the whole week was pretty much ideal and turnout for each of the runs was good with seemingly few breakdowns. Myself I managed one run and two coffee stops. Most of the machines entered were more recent, perhaps reflecting that a run or day for a week is a lot to expect from a vintage bike.

Highlights of the week were seeing Cerne Abbas full of bikes for the lunch stop on Sunday, excellent fish and chips in Swanage and getting in the miles on Dorset country roads in proper English summer weather.

Here's a selection of pics of bikes that caught my eye over the week...


Vintage JAP engined Ardie.

This Ardie came over from Germany. German built but heavily British influenced with its big JAP side-valve engine it is a really high quality machine. The attention to detail on the build really puts many British bikes of the era to shame with the fine quality even going down to levers, switches and even a very neat map and instrument light!








Sunbeam combination fitted with a JAP 750cc sv motor.

A really nicely made Sunbeam special. Fitted by the builder with a JAP 750cc side valve twin motor it passed the 'specials test' of looking like something that could have been factory produced. In fact it seems strange that Sunbeam dropped twins from their catalogue in the early vintage era. It would have been easy enough to offer one as their 600cc side valve single cycle parts were ideal to accept a twin.







James 500cc ohv v twin.

Late vintage ohv 500cc James v twin. Fitted with James' own engine it is a beautifully high quality machine; light, nimble and designed for solo riding as against the majority of the Brit v twin buses of the era. I followed it as it was ridden two-up on Sunday's run, it kept a good pace and sounded superb. A bit of smoke from one pot but we can forgive it that!








AWO Simson 250cc model 425 single.

East German Simson over from united Germany. Not to everyone's tast styling wise it none-the-less appealed to me. With obvious design cues from BMW singles it is however quite apart from them. In fact I would go as far as to say the lines are far better than an R25 of the same period...

This is the 425 Sport model. The sport denotes swinging arm rather than plunger suspension as on the touring model.






Moto Rumi Tipo Sport.

A beautifully turned out Moto Rumi Tipo Sport. A wonderfully eccentric yet functional design - I've always wanted one. Seems hard though to justify the high prices they fetch. Perhaps at six foot three I'm a bit too large a pilot as well as holding different spending priorities.









Excellent Matchless G80 single with bathtub sidecar!

This is what it is all about! A proper old bike in the condition they were back in day! Matchless G80, cowhorn handlebars, sidecar with plywood board to which is bolted an old tin bath. All that is missing is a pair of greasers wearing stormtrooper helmets and studded brando jackets....










BSA M21 with launch type sidecar.

Tidy late thirties BSA M21 fitted as it should be with a sidecar. In this case a launch type of the deisgn favoured through the late twenties and thirties.

Vintage Revival Montlhery part II

Cycle race 'stayer' in action.

One of the several cycle pacers in the 'stayer' parade. I'd hoped that they might be actually pacing period track bicycles. If I'd have had a suitable treader there I might have volunteered though it could well have exposed a fitness deficit. Plus I suspect that there is quite a degree of skill required from both the stayer pilot in keeping a nice steady pace and the cyclist keeping close enough to benefit with making catastrophic contact. Look at the huge wooden belt pulley.

Sima Violet flat twin two stroke racer - loud!

Quite possibly the loudest vehicle I have ever come across. Sima Violet monoposto racer. A flat twin 500cc two stroke engine running through short megaphones. More noise than speed perhaps but it kept a fair pace with later sports Morgans with an engine only half the size.

Super Kim Agentinian land speed record contender.

'Super Kim' Argentinian record racer. Built by a producer of motorcycling accessories from the starting point of a Zenith, it sadly never quite broke any land speed records but was beautifully made. 1700cc and supercharged. As a nice touch relatives of the builder were at the event but alas the bike was not fired up.

Bugattis hit the accursed chicane.

 A pair of Bugattis on the dreaded Montlhery chicane; seemingly put in the track to stop folks getting high up on the banking. It was one disappointment of the event, given that there were so many authentic speed bowl racing machines present, that entrants weren't able to give full gas and lap on the full banked outer circuit. The section of banking used nowadays is relatively small and getting up near the top is a challenge.

'Piglet' GN / Ford special.

Frazer Nash / GN / Ford special 'piglet' replete with taxidermy weasel gave a good showing of itself around the circuit.

Maserati monoposto dash.

Dashboard view of a Maserati monoposto.

Sandford three wheeler on the grid.

French built Sandford three-wheeler on the starting grid. With a 1100cc Ruby engine it is quite a potent machine. In its day, more rapid and refined than a Morgan but doesn't hold up against the power to weight of a developed racing Morgan.

Strange 'Ganardiz' rotary engined beast.

I know nothing about this wonky French one off rotary aero engined machine other than it says 'Ganardiz' on the tank, has a Sturmery gearbox, looks a bit ungainly and runs. It was started up by the owners but not ridden, the exhaust note was suprisingly subdued given the stub exhausts. That carb has its work cut out though supplying five cylinders!

Lovely Darmont three wheeler.

Look like a Morgan but isn't. French built, Blackburn engined, Darmont.

Koehler Escoffier race monster.

Awesome French built Kohler Escoffier race bike. 1000cc ohc v-twin,

Nougier Magnat Debon 125cc record breaker.

Nougier Magnet Debon record breaker. A genuine Montlhery bike, back in 1938 this machine took four speed records. 125cc, double overhead cam and four speed box. It took the 100 kilometers record at 114.450 km/h as well as the one hour, fifty kilometers and fifty miles records.

'61 Norton Dominator 99ss homeward bound.

My '61 Norton 99ss loaded up and on its way home. A 700 odd mile round trip. Excellent event, thoroughly recommended and assuming it is held next year I hope to be back and perhaps on the track....

Vintage Revival Montlhery part I

The days of the Coupes Moto Legendes event at Montlhery hold happy memories. Manic frenchmen hyped up on the atmosphere and red wine hooning their vintage machinery around, campfires harvested from the circuit's woodland and of course the sight and sound of hundreds of bikes circulating the banked track. Sadly though those days are long gone and it's been around a decade since the event moved to the more sanitised surroundings of Dijon-Prennois.

Brooklands Zenith out on the circuit

So when we got wind of the Vintage Revival event attendance seemed very necessary. A joint car and bike bash, the promotional literature made clear that it would be a different kettle of fish from Moto Legendes but it still held great promise. The very un-french prohibition on picnics, booze and camping appeared to be a stipulation by the circuit's owners wary of memories of alcohol fuelled lunacy, pillage of their woodland and the frenchman's perception that any mildly secluded bit of nature is fair game as a toilet (though given past time's facilities at Montlhery any option was preferable to the official one). As it turned out, though it would have been good to camp on site, the lack of picnics and alcohol didn't put any damper on affairs.

Ferry across the Seine

Our gang of four met up at Portsmouth Ferry Terminal for the crossing to Le Havre. Dan on his tweaked 625cc Bullet, Matt on his Velo, Rob astride a Ural and myself with Norton Dominator. We were in good company with, amongst many others, several brace of Morgan trikes, an Edwardian aero-engined four-wheeled special and a large group of Frazer Nash BMWs on their way down to Sicily.

Normandy is my usual entry point into France so I was sceptical that we would find a scenic route down to Montlhery from Le Havre but it turned out to be a corker, following the Seine down for a good few miles, cutting across around Paris and then traversing the forests to the capital's South. Rob's Ural dictated a cruising speed of around 50mph, an ideal speed to enjoy the countryside. The '68 Ural had been the subject of considerable scoffing until we saw it in action and despite leaving a light smoky trail in its wake its performance was a pleasant surprise to all until it started to tighten up with about 50 miles to go. We stopped to find a motor that was volcanically hot. One side was considerably hotter than the other. Dan, also Ural afflicted, suggested it was running too weak on one side. Raising the carb needle didn't really seem to improve things. We all sat down and had a picnic waiting for the bike to cool down. In grief at his bike's woeful showing Rob slashed his hand with a knife whilst pretending to cut a baguette.

Brooklands New Hudson sidevalve

 On returning to the Ural we made the startling discovery that without oil an engine will seize. Rob's performance modification of an extra large sump giving nearly one more litre of oil had apparently increased the bike's non-seize range by some 20 or so miles. However in testament to the slack tolerances of Soviet engineering the Ural was filled up with fresh oil and ran fine. At the end of the day this performance won Rob the innaugural presentation of the 'Pink Spanner Award for Least Meritous Performance of the Day'. A new and self-explanatory addition to our two wheeled touring adventures.

With a new, lower, more sick Ural friendly, cruising speed we arrived at the munipal campsite at Dourdan in good time to put up tents and wander in to town for a meal.



Burt LeVack designed dohc 250 JAP New Imperial

Day broke and action in the camp was slow. Sausages were cooked, camp stoves misbehaved and Matt took ages in the shower block with his daily beauty regime. Engines were kicked into life and off we went. The Dourdan camp site is the closest municipal one to the circuit but still about half an hour away. We had expected other vintage enthusiasts to be staying there but more than likely they had found accommodation of greater luxury. Halfway there the solitary bungee attaching Matt's circuit clothing to the Velo's carrier gave way and ejected a shower of shoes and cut off jeans across the highway. A strong contender for the Pink Spanner had been identified!

 It's always a great feeling arriving at Montlhery. From the outside you can't make out much of what is within. You show your ticket, ride through the tunnel under the banking revving with bravado to hear the note reverberate and then emerge the other side to enter a vintage petrol head's wonderland.

Looks right but wasn't right.
ohc Sunbeam of disappointing performance and
fantastic looks.

 And the machinery on show was indeed wonderful. The event was certainly more car orientated than bike and not huge in size but it was all about quality over quantity. There was a strong UK contingent from the Vintage Sports Car Club and the Brooklands museum had brought along a selection of motorcycles and the awesome Napier Railton. Sadly the Railton didn't seem to get above a tickover out on the circuit and it was a pity to see the Wickstead blown Triumph replica misbehave in the holding area, overheat and tighten up. Generally though machines were being driven with some verve out on the track and it was great to see so many Bugattis and other exotica being thrashed.

Part two to follow......



Sammy Miller Autojumble

Beautiful unrestored Norton featherbed International

A sunny day on a May Bank Holiday is always a fine reason to ride over to Sammy's autojumble. I'm not alone in the sentiment as there's always a great line up of old bikes in the car park. The jumble is organised on the fine principle of being free for vendors, pay a deposit, turn up and you get it back, don't turn up and lose it.

There's a healthy number of stalls and one or two interesting bits and pieces on sale but for me the pleasure is in riding over, scuffing around stalls and having a natter with aquaintances old and new. A couple of machines for sale caught the eye, a lovely original trials D1 BSA Bantam for a very reasonable £860 and on Sammy's stall an unusual Parilla Slughi. The little Parilla was missing its side panels though was otherwise complete and would make someone an interesting if probably disproportinately expensive project. The lines of the bike are late fifties futuristic and fairly easy on the eye though it is hard to see how they sold any in the UK market back in the day. I guess the answer is that they didn't shift many making it the rare oddity it is today. Parillas seem to attract a strong following though this is certainly down to their beautiful high cam singles rather than the Dan Dare strange Slughi.

Parilla Slughi project anyone?

For those enthused by the Slughi picture (!!) here're some useful Parilla links:

North American Parilla enthusiasts page

Italian Parilla enthusiasts page

UK Parilla enthusiasts page

 As an interesting compare and contrast in the car park was a lovingly restored Francis Barnett Fulmar. Seems like the boys at FB had a look at the Slughi and wanted in on the action.

 

There's something familiar about it.......

Other assorted lovelies parked up were a pair of used and parrently unrestored Norton Internationals, a Featherbed as above and a Garden Gate as below. On the theme of unrestored and original a Honda CB72 rolled in later in very authentic condition. Nice to see as early Japanese bikes seem to, all too often, get given the catalogue perfect shinier than thou going over.

Honda CB72 as it should be

Garden Gate Norton International