Good Evans

 

 Another minor victory in finishing off projects. This 1930s F.W. Evans was one of those late night 'damn I didn't expect to win that' eBay purchases. The temptation was that it was very cheap, the right frame size and it came with a nice Chater Lea headset - worth the price of the whole frame alone.

When I first got the Evans I was just going to rob it of the headset for another project and then pass it on but in a weak moment I realised that I had loads of suitable parts lying around and that I should build it up as a vintage bike to ride.

Evans were the first British builder of specialist touring cycles and their pre-war cycles are of satisfyingly high quality with a number of unique features and be-fitting their touring function are designed for longevity. Evans himself passed away in 1944 and his business was sold on, it grew to become one of the largest chains of bicycle stores in the UK but was recently in financial difficulty and absorbed by the Sports Direct group. Happily though Evans have retained their identity and continue on. For more on the history of Evans take a look at the Classic Lightweights site.

I'm not totally sure of the year of this particular example, the frame number is 4430 (could it be the fourty fourth bike built in 1930? - it is very unlikely that >4000 Evans were built by the end of the thirties).

Initially I had considered selling the Evans once complete but now built up it is a very pleasant bike to ride and has become the weapon of choice for gentle pottering.

Distinctive wrap around lugs on the Evans.
Note the grease nipples on the top and bottom
headset races, another Evans feature.

I've got a strange fetish for the various
oddball designs of centre pull brakes that
were in vogue in the thirties. These particular
ones are by Hercules and work incredibly
well for pre-war brakes.

That deal clincher - the Chater Lea headset.

The handlebars are a very satisfying shape - they are
Reynolds Hiduminium North Road pattern.

Bluemels Airweight aluminium mudguards.

Sturmey Archer K type three speed. Originally the
Evans had very neat chain tension adjusters on the
drop outs but irritatingly they've been chopped off
sometime in the past.

The arse view!

Lucas 'Comet' bell tops it off. Later I know and a
fifties 'space age' design but I like it so fitted it!

New Gerrard

This photo is very dear to me as it is of my paternal Grandfather. I can recall tales of this bike from when I was very young, the most memorable of which was him getting stopped by a Policeman on account of the bike being too noisy. The Officer questioned the silencing on the New Gerrard and tested it by poking a stick up the exhaust - when the stick met no resistance proving the lack of silencing my Grandfather got reprimanded!

The New Gerrard was a rare bike back in the day as it is now and essentially a racer on the road. The engine is a Blackburne and I believe would have been a 350.

New Gerrards were made in Scotland by Jock Porter - the first Scottish TT winner in 1923 on one of his own built machines.

Jock Porter was by all accounts quite the character and built of stern stuff. He was partially deaf but none-the-less travelled solo from Edinburgh to compete in GP races across Europe - imagine that in pre-motorway, pre-passenger flight days. Even today most Brits consider a road trip to Monza a big undetaking. Picture going there all the way from Edinburgh in the mid-twenties. There's a good biog of Jock Porter here.

New Gerrard motorcycles were built from 1922 to 1940. There was also a line of New Gerrard bicycles.

My Grandfather with his New Gerrard, circa 1926.

BAT combo

A magnificent motorcycle from one of the pioneer manufacturers. It's a BAT v-twin from approx 1920.

BATs had several distinctive features, amongst which is the leading link fork and round petrol tank held on with nickeled straps (a design also used by NUT and Martynside).

There seems to be confusion as to whether the correct name is 'Bat' or 'BAT'. The company was founded in 1901 by a gentleman by the name of  Samuel Batson. The first model was introduced in 1902 and following its success (in competition rather than sales) the slogan 'Best After Test' was adopted in 1903. Early adverts feature cricket bats and the flying rodents of same name. The petrol tank transfers gave the name as 'Bat' but in advertising the company name was capitalised.

BAT were never a volume manufacturer and eventually folded in 1926.

Magnificent JAP engined v-twin BAT combination
from c1920.

Try spooning with a Premier v twin

'When tired of Cycling, try Spooning!'

As you may have guessed 'spooning' had a different and more innocent meaning back in the veteran era when it referred to flirtatious behaviour. All the same this probably would have been considered a risqué postcard back in the day. Apparently the phrase spooning has its roots in seventeenth century Wales where a young man would present an intricately carved wooden love spoon to the object of his affections. The spoon signalled his intent to both his amor and her family that he was a skilled man able to provide.

Of course of equal, or perhaps more, interest to us moto nerds is the bike. It's a very unusual v-twin Premier from roughly 1909. There's one in the Yesterday's archive of sold machines to compare:
https://www.yesterdays.nl/product/premier-1909-model-2-600cc-2-cyl-sv/

Premier gent spooning with two
young ladies, what a cad!

VMCC Shepton Mallet Autojumble February 2022

The VMCC Somerset Section's biannual auotjumble at the Shepton Mallet showground is always a good day out, as much a social occasion to catch up with old friends as to pick up parts for ongoing or future projects.

Stall numbers were slightly down on pre-covid times, understandable as the event only got the go ahead at late notice. Personally I picked up a handful of nice parts, a couple I needed and a couple I didn't but was slightly disappointed by the array of complete machines on sale. Maybe that's because I went with the hope that I would find a bargain veteran that I could ride home on, one can live in hope...

Below a few pics from the day.

Often the most interesting bikes can be seen in the
car park. The weather was mostly dreadful so due
credit to anyone who rode in on the day. If you are
going to ride in inclement weather you can't pick a
much better machine for the job than a Royal Enfield
with Airflow fairing. I've got a feeling that this Crusader
is REOC Archivist Bob Murdoch's daily rider.

Another daily rider. This sweet BSA B31 is still
giving the service its makers intended 70 years
after rolling off the Small Heath production line.

Norton Internation M30 was offered for sale, I didn't
see the price on it though.

BSA Bantam D14/4 Sports and a 350 and 500
Matchless, all at very fair prices. On the day the
Bantam sold and the Matchless' went home.

1936 Scott tempted me. I've got money burning a
hole in my pocket for a decent pre-war bike having
sold a couple of machines recently. It's a vintage open
frame Scott that I'm really after though so resisted
temptation with this one.

Triumph TR5 Trophy. One of Triumph's best looking
bikes ever.

This is how to do a jumble in style! More so if you
are selling Harley parts.

Dragon Rally 2022

Some pics and a brief write up of last weekends' ride up to the Dragon Rally in Snowdonia. If you can't be bothered to read on and just want to look at pictures, here's a quick summary: it was very wet.

In the run up to the weekend I had been considering getting my Velocette ready for the ride but in the end (and fortuitously as it turned out) lethargy prevailed and I took the easy option with the Enfield Himalayan.

I got on the road just after nine, heading up to Rhayader to meet Matt and Gary for lunch. Normally mid-Wales would be an overnight hotel stop to break the journey however this year we had a more ambitious plan to take in the Bruce Pollard Memorial Rally near Betws-y-Coed on the Friday Night.

A fly by from Matt and Gary with Matt's faithful Beesa

A10 combo.

The journey on from Rhayader was marked by cold and wet weather (we hadn't expected much different though had dared to hope to stay dry) along with fantastic scenery. By the time we arrived in Snowdonia we were well and truly finished with riding for the day. A stop for food in Blaenau Ffestiniog revealed that we had another hour to go, that was somewhat dispiriting!

We arrived at the Bruce Pollard site east of Betws-y-Coed a good while after dark and seemed to be the very last to arrive (apart from Phil who turned up significantly later!) A really nice friendly rally with a warm pub to relax in (though I was was worn out from the ride up and retired to my tent early). Some vicious winds and rain overnight but we all survived and were revived by a fry-up in the pub.

To know who Bruce Pollard was take a look at this article.

Nicely modified Enfield Bullet at the Bruce Pollard.

Kudos to the chap who turned up on this BSA M20
with correct military luggage, etc.

A damp Phil doing the morning pack down.

The Bruce Pollard rally field.

We were about the last to leave the Bruce Pollard when we headed off for Conwy to the Conwy MCC clubhouse at the base of Conwy Castle for the Dragon Rally check in. Always a great atmosphere there and the weather was clearing up nicely. There we met up with Dan and Wendy with Dan's Ural M72 combo. At this point Dan memorably declared that it looked like the rain was over for the day.

Having checked in, off we headed for the rally site... Soon after leaving Conwy the rain started and as we approached Betws-y-Coed we began to see rather a lot of bikes heading in the opposite direction, many of them familiar faces from the Bruce Pollard and wearing check in stickers. None-the-less we continued, as we gained altitude so the weather became yet more inclement and by the time we got to Capel Curig the rain was coming down in the proverbial sheets. As we crossed the pass to the rally site at Llyn Gwynant conditions were almost comically awful with streams running across the road and winds blowing us off course.

Many brave souls stayed but the prospect of putting up already wet tents in a bog with high winds, rain and worse weather forecast to come with no real shelter to be had we wimped out and made the decision to head back to our respective homes.

It was a bit of a downer to leave but the perceived misery of staying seemed so much the greater and the decision was unanimous. No grumbles though, it's a winter rally and if you set off to camp in the middle of February in the mountains you've got to expect inclement weather and harsh conditions. You make your choice and either put up with it or head home. And this time head home was what we did. With darkness approaching and a long solo ride in the rain ahead of me I took the decision not to ride back down through the twisty roads of Wales but to head out to England on the A5 and sit on the motorway for the journey. The Himalayan behaved itself perfectly on the motorways despite being out of its element and we made it home in around six hours.

Put off? No! Disappointed? Slightly. But in the end a fabulous weekend of riding was had in the company of good friends plus one winter rally was successfully attended. So, all in, not too shabby at all. Hopefully back to the Dragon again next year or the year after and wouldn't it be wonderful to have some good old fashioned ice and snow.

Loved this BSA A10 combo at the checkpoint.

Weird and wonderful chair on the A10
kind of looks like it has been stolen from
a fair ground ride!

My loaded up Himalayan next to Phil's
Kawasaki GPZ.

All sorts turn up to the Dragon.

A little video clip of the conditions at Llyn Gwynant.
The site is in the mountains at the top end of a lake.
Wind was whistling up between the mountains and
blowing waves up the lake towards the campsite.
Proper challenging conditions. Video taken from the
shelter of the toilet block and cooking area.

And a still of the site.

Last of all this lovely Brough Superior
SS80 from 1926 at a petrol station in
Betws-y-Coed. Great to see it used properly.
It had come over from Nottingham.

Japanese Sportster

That Japan has a vibrant custom scene is old news. What is less reported is how dedicated the guys involved are and how much they actually live the life and ride their bikes. My job has taken me to Japan quite a lot recently and I snapped pics of this Sportster-based chop at a service station on the road from Yokohama to Shimizu.

It was the middle of winter, quite cold, and the bike looks like a daily rider. Maybe it had a starting issue but impressively the owner left it running while going to in to have a pee or get a coffee, perhaps both. How many countries can you just leave a running bike like this unattended and not worry about it?