NEC Classic Motor Show

Had a good day out on Saturday last with my good friend Jack, Visited the Classic show at NEC Birmingham, apparently in previous years this show was dedicated to cars, but pleasingly this year they included a couple of halls of classic Bikes.

This is a 1920s Norton, I'm not sure what model it is, I think it is a model 18 or 19. Feel free to tell me.

A lovely little 2 stroke Coventry Eagle, I have a photograph somewhere of my Mother sat on one of these when she was a young Lass!

A Wooler. Quite a rare thing, John Wooler made prototype motor bikes from 1911 through to the 1950s among them were some very interesting configurations of beam engines and shaft drives, they all had the tank and headlamp moulded into the sort of shape shown above, which gave the whole genre the nick-name "Flying Bananas"

A 1930s Scott. 600cc 2 stroke watercooled twin. Sometimes referred to as a "Yowler" because of the distinctive exhaust noise.

This is a Triumph "Junior" Poor photo, sorry.

Norton Dominator 99 in a featherbed frame. Pure Dream.

An Early HRD which of course became Vincent. A 1000cc V-Twin, amazing piece of engineering.

This is the MUCH later version of the HRD above, with a Vincent Black Shadow engine in a Egli frame. I could sell my Granny for one of those.

There were quite a few cars at the show, I will put a few interesting one on this organ shortly.

Stafford Show

Along with my good friends Jack N. I visited the Stafford Classic Mechanics Show yesterday, at the Stafford Showground and we were blessed with quite good weather for the time of the year. The only slight down side was that the autumn show is really dedicated to Japanese and other 'foreign' bikes. There were some interesting stalls and a fair few of the british owners clubs present but the ratio was greatly in favour of the Japanese machines.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Japanese motorbikes, in fact I greatly admire the engineering capabilities of the said genre, however I have never owned a eastern machine and have a greater love for British bikes (followed of course by American and European)

Below are just a few of the machines I could lust after:

A Brough Superior SS100 It was a similar model to this that T.E. Lawrence (Laurence of Arabia) rode, and eventually crashed and killed himself.

This is a lovely Ducati 175cc overhead camshaft engine with desmodromic valve gears. That means the inlet and exhaust valves were opened and closed mechanically thus doing away with valve springs and therefore valve bounce. a lovely example of 1960s Italian design.

This is a Douglas, I didn't make note of the model or the year, It is certainly 1920s and an horizontally opposed twin cylinder probably 350cc. Note the external flywheel, exposed primary chain, and almost complete lack of a front brake.

This is a Royal Enfield 250cc Crusader Sports. (approx 1964) I well remember as a young schoolboy waiting for my bus home near the bus station in Ardwick, Manchester, there was a motorbike shop and for quite a while that shop had one of these in the window. Just the same, signal red, clip on Handlebars and that big sporty looking front wheel hub. I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Secretly I would still love to own one, though I doubt I ever will.

Finally this is a War Department Triumph TRW. A sidevalve 500cc parallel twin, I believe the engine was originally designed to power static generators and later adapted to fit in a motorcycle frame. I don't know why but I have always admired these machines, you don't see many on the road but they have a certain charm. I would rather own one of those than any 200mile per hour Japanese rocket ship. OK I admit it I'm a sad old sod.

Deja Vu

Grandson Thomas wearing my Helmet. It almost fits him as well!

It has been a good week in East Lancashire, Had a couple of days work to top up the old Coffers, had a couple of good rides, almost identical to the rides reported a couple of weeks ago. On Thursday I went with Chris and his brother Tony and took them on the same ride as previously reported, via Kettlewell, Coverdale . . . . . . . finishing up in Slaidburn. Tony said that in 17 years of riding Motorbikes, that was the best ride ever! some accolade eh?

Friday I went again with Peter on the Old bikes, this time he went on his beautiful Norton ES2, Just to Slaidburn for a brew and a Scone.

Today I have been on a "Historic Vehicle Cavalcade" Organised by Lancashire Museums, a group of people with Cars ranging from a Model T Ford to E Type Jags and a handfull of motorbikes, my AJS included, travelled from Helmshore Textile museum, to Gawthorpe Hall in Padiham, to Queen street Mill in Burnley and ended up at Townley Hall in Burnley. All fascinating venues, just google any of them for more info, my highlight was the Mill engine at Queen Street Mill steamed up from a Lancashire Boiler. Great day out and met some lovely people in the process

Some of the Bikes on the Heritage Run, A BSA, Two Triumph and a Honda