Guest Clive Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 So far Neil, Norma, Pat and myself have waffled on this subject. Perhaps we should start a new thread? Photo,s if you have any to clivemott@dsl.pipex.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Clive, Neal and Mike C, I used to have an Ambassador Villiers 250 twin, used to smoke badly as all old two strokes did, and an Enfield Constellation and Triumph Tropy here. Pehaps the makings of a biker motorhome club?LOL Will be at Malvern look for the gin palace ("roughing it smoothly") come say hello and have a cold beer! Soory for digressing from 'Clubs' Pat Clubs(2) — Norma — 05/08/2005 22:13:46 Can I join too? I had a 250 Matchless (1965 model). Learnt on a 250 Suzzie racing bike, progressed to an Egli-Vincent and then had my own Bantam. Even was passenger in a racing combo - but the weight balance was wrongly distributed in those days! Have a gin for me. Clubs(3) — Clive — 06/08/2005 08:55:43 Hi all, What you mean is start the MMM Old bikers brigade then. Fine by me. Well, we will have a small DIY trailer with our two utility monkey bikes on at Malvern. I used to do engine machining on BSA A10 engines for Grass Track and Speedway for use in a Combo for someone who had more bottle than me. Kenny Norcutt and passenger Brian Peeling. We still see Kenny and his Mrs Anne occasionally and they live in Cornwall now but I haven,t heard from Brian for years They were Southern Centre Champions in the mid 60,s on the grass and used another name for speedway. First job was to hacksaw the manifold off the head and bore and sleeve it to take seperate carbs. Monoblocks for Petrol and remote TT carbs for Methanol. Another usefull thing I produced a few of was a throttle twist grip with a BIG diameter drum for 2 cables. Based on a short length of scaffold pole and a chunk of Nylon for the housing. With BIG carburettors the one to two cable adapters were barely long enough and you needed to turn your wrist through nearly 300 degrees to grab a full handfull. Not with my grip you didn,t! 45 degrees and you were FULL BORE! Later I built a 600 cc Ariel OHV from bits from a 600 side valve and a 500 OHV plus quite a lot of lathe work and a cast iron billet to raise the barrel! Put it into an outfit I made for Trials. I still have the lathe and the gas bottles. There was some nutter around on the grass at the time with an outfit based on a Square Four fitted with a Shorrocks super charger, went like a rocket but he couldn,t ride it. Then there was just one season when someone took a Mini Cooper front sub frame, strapped one wheel behind with some seats and cleaned up. So they changed the rules to only permit drive on one wheel. Jap bikes hadn,t happened then. Nostalga ! Have a look at http://www.motts.dsl.pipex.com/Motorcycles.htm just for a laugh. Its very primitave and only just started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geoff Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Please can I join. I've been riding bikes for 55yrs.Used to ride in trials mainly on James two strokes. I also had an Ambassador road bike that I adapted for use in trials. Happy days. Fortunately I am still able to enjoy my current road bike. We too will be at Malvern, would love to have a natter between the linedancing!! Regards to Everyone Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Welcome Geoff, We shall be parked in the MMM Team area. Reg R4 MOT. No doubt with our little bikes nearby. Come for a waffle. Talk about James, Greaves Fanny B or whatever you like. Does anybody remember "Pop Chandler" from Reading? He was the fisrt I knew to put desmodromic valve gear on a bike. Who rode the "Dratsab" for scrambles in the south? The Rickman brothers were kids then! Ride the Dream. (or is that visa versa?) Regards Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geoff Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 Clive Thanks for the invite, we will hope to see you there. I'm afraid that it is more dreaming about the ride these days. Regards Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike C Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Clive, Your comment about the Mini-three-wheeler? I do not remember this on grass track but did not Colin Seely?? race an outfit like this in sidecar racing in the early 60's. Some names to remember from three wheelers. Chris Vincent and the flying BSA, BMW's, Max Deuble, Florian Camathias and the Schidegger brothers, Bill Boddice - happy days at Brands and Silverstone. Not riding at all now (age and injuries) but still miss the bike especially when sitting in a traffic jam and seeing all those lucky b----s on bikes getting through. Started on a BSA 250 C11G then later to a Douglas Dragonfly but rode many of the bikes of the day and some older ones like a Rudge Ulster, Velocette KTS and Norton International. Nostalgia reins, Mike C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Hi Mike, Ah thats how you spell Nostalgia! I remember as a school boy in Reading seeing some clown take a corner too close to the kerb and knock one pot off a Douglas Dragonfly. But it was always a bike I fancied but never had. I never followed the tarmac track racing as my interest grew from those doing Scrambles or grass track in our village and trials a little later after I was married. Our monkey bikes are still great fun as local transport when on hols with the camper. Yes, traffic queues are great fun. The difference is that in France motorists in a queue pull over to let you through, in the UK the buggers try and close the gaps. Is it English cussedness perhaps? Dad had a Rudge Ulster and a Sunbeam No 1 Sports Special amongst others. I started with a 33cc Cyclemaster in a rear wheel of a push bike. I took the engine out of the wheel, mounted it in the frame and fitted a Sturmey Archer 3 speed back wheel. Quite fun until the 3 speed packed up. Then a BSA Bantam 150 with plunger rear suspension, leg guards and full size front screen. Screen and leg guards soon went, then I got a copy of Alf Irvings book "Tuning for Speed". Well the Bantam had the crank case halves padded out with aluminium sheets, the transfer ports were cut right through to the piston so became easier to polish, inlet timing was advanced by filing 3/16 inch of the skirt of the piston, con rod ground and polished to change the "I" section into a knife section to let the inlet gasses pass it easier and the inlet stub was hacksawed off the barrell and replaced with a bigger brazed on home made one to take a inch and an eighth TT carb. It flew, nearly 90 MPH with me on it for a few minutes until it got too hot. It lasted a week at best before rebuilds. New mag flywheel,new second gear for the gearbox, new platinium point spark plug and new crank pin as it managed to shear these regularly. And this was an every day go to work bike! Week ends were always busy. Then a 1946 Austin 10. Then a Matchless 350 (slug, slower than the bantam by far) then a velo Viper Clubman someone gave me in bits in a tea chest, then more cars, then the Ariel was built for trials. Yes Colin Seely I do believe you are correct but it was someone else on the Grass but I cannot bring their name to mind. Did it start with an "L" Chris Vincent certainly was around, If someone passed me a tea chest today with a Dragonfly in it it would become the number one project. When my mates were racing BSA A10 on the grass it was in a Norton Featherbed based frame. There were a lot of tribnortons around at that time but we managed to get more out of the BSA engine that the lads did with the trumpets. I can waffle! Hope you (and the rest of the bikers) can make Malvern. Regards Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest David Powell Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Hello all you MMM Kick Start Bikers, been looking through old black & whites, but hardly a photo of the good old days. Didn't go in for cameras much in those days, nor crash helmets until it became law. Wifes first crash hat was the old 'Corker' she only needed it once, she came off on gravel on a sharp bend. My first bike was a '31 Coventry Eagle, Pressed steel frame, Villiers 198 two stroke, Albion gear box, hand change, an awful old wreck. Did my courting on an Aero Douglas 600 twin side valve, "fore & aft" not transvers like the later ones. Had the foot warmer type later on. Last bike was an Ariel 600 OHV long stroke sidecar bike with a Watsonian saloon c/w boot, fabulous for torque, fired about every third lamp post in top gear. Then the family got too big for it so had to go to 4 wheels, and the wife chopped her 2 wheels in for three, the "old" Reliant with ali body drophead, with Austin 7 engine, gear box, and back axle, long before the GRP ones came out. Must dust off my cowboy hat, see you at Malvern, Thursday to Monday. I'm the doddering old git with the grey beard in an old Holdsworth Ranger [not many around] parked in the disabled part, afraid the wife can't "kick start" any more, and I've got the dreaded gout so I can't drink alcohol unless I want to suffer the consequences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brian Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 Just switched on,Looks like you've really started something here.I'm going on 67 and still biking,on the 22nd bike now which is a 250cc Honda CBF,nice and light to get on and off the trailer with the minimum of assistance from the boss,she's only a year behind me but still rides pillion including touring northern Spain for the last 7 years.When is this meet.As for David's gout I had the same problem until I looked up all the information I could on the internetand found the cure-drink at least 4 pints of water every day from a jug filled up each night,usually it's too cold straight from the tap.Ive never had even a hint of it since,as we get older our body appears to produce too much uric acid but the warer keeps it flushed through,try it.{not all at once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 All of a sudden I am starting to feel younger! Ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Docted Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Clive who is younger? and do they know that you are feeling them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike C Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 Hello Clive et al, Sorry, will not be able to get to Malvern (Hospital appointments and distance from NE Scotland) so Kay and I will have to miss the "bikers meeting". We promise to get to the next one. If someone passed you a Douglas Dragonfly in bits to rebuild it would be a worthwhile project they must be worth a fortune now due to their rarity. Mine was cream and green but some were black and silver like the one in the National Motorcycle Museum at Gaydon (that is if it survived the fire). Just a thought. A motor caravanners bikers reunion at Gaydon some time in the near future? Regards, Mike C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike C Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Clive, Unforgiveable mistake in previous posting. For Gaydon read Meriden. National Motorcycle Museum is at the holy of holy's Meriden on the site of the old Triumph works NOT Gaydon where the National Motor Museum is sited. Mike C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gary Langman Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 Hi all, I'm glad I'm not the only motorhome biker. I started at 15 with a BSA D12 bantam, then a B25ss gold star, B50ss gold star, A10, oh the memories!. Then I got the jap bug, with various honda 750's, 'til I saw one day a "chopper", from then on for 15 years I built & rode some wild creations!. After that I got a serious Harley Davidson bug, which unfortunately has come to a very sad end, due to back problems, & a hectic business schedule last year. We wil be at malvern, & it would be great to talk "bikes" again. I do so miss those days!. Cheers Gary. Look for the guy with red hair & big 'tache!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Geoff Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 What a good idea, a meeting of motorhomes at the National Bike Museum. I haven't been since the fire but it was a wonderful place and almost all the bikes brought memories flooding back. We usually visit the outdoor show at the NEC in Feb.and I wonder how many other motorhome bikers do.Very easy to visit the National Bike Museum from there. If a meet was planned at any time I would be happy to travel down from Yorkshire. Regards to you all Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest brian Posted August 10, 2005 Share Posted August 10, 2005 After all the waffle will somebody say where and when this meet is to take place,,,,,,,,,,,,,,please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Younger Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Younger here ... and I'm feeling frisky!!! Sorry Clive, you may be feeling younger but frisky's better!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clive Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Why don,t we meet up at York? We shall be there for the duration. Email me and I will give you my mobile number which I will have with me at York. cliveg4odm@dsl.pipex.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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