Bike Of The Month
Every month we will be having a bike of the month section in our Newsletter (Sign up in the box to the top right) This will be a short article on a project undertaken by a BBB customer. This may be a bike which is now for sale, or somebody's pride and joy! If you would like your bike to be featured, please contact dannypage@hotmail.comJuly 2008
“The Story of “THUNDER”
By John Pappas
Forty years ago, I walked up to a motorcycle show room window in Arlington,
Virginia and gazed through the glass at the most beautiful thing my eyes had
ever seen. It was a 1968 BSA Shooting Star. I had seen the same bike in a road
test in the 1968 January issue of Modern bike magazine, but the bike somehow
looked unreal resting on it’s center stand in the showroom window. Walking
inside, I rounded the corner coming to a complete stop right in front of the big
single. I was stunned at the sight of this fiberglass, steel and chrome man-made
wonder. The red and ivory gas tank, side cover and oil tank weren’t just pieces
of fiberglass - they were works of art worthy of being in a museum! It’s chrome
fenders and headlight sparkled even in the dim, cloudy, February afternoon. No
other bike had such pleasing lines and futuristic design (which holds it’s own
even today!). I imagined the big single roaring to life with me on it!
I was seventeen years old and after saving every dollar from my after school job
as a dishwasher, I almost had enough money to purchase a motorcycle. A salesman
came up and said, “son, that’s one of the niftiest bikes we have ever had to
sell.” I asked how much it cost and he replied, “oh this bike will cost ya. It’s
$800.00“. I about dropped to the floor. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have
enough funds to purchase the bike that day or that even that month! I managed to
stutter the words, “do you have layaway“? As soon as I said it, I had a visual
of the salesman taking me by the collar and throwing me out on the street while
cautioning me not to ever come back. But instead he smiled and said, “for you
kid, sure.“ He then told me the bike would be mine as long as I paid for it in
full in sixty days. I blurted out, “yes sir, I can!“. He walked away and came
back with a sold sign slipping it over the handlebars of the Beeza. I was in
heaven! My father dropped me off about every two weeks armed with cans of turtle
wax, chrome polish and old t-shirts so I could sit on the floor and polish my
newly acquired beauty (they since moved my bike to the floor amidst six or seven
other BSA‘S. I would sit there for a couple of hours polishing each inch. The
salesman who sold it to me would come by and say, “son, you’re going to polish
the chrome right off of that bike…you know it is brand new!” Then he would
chuckle and walk away.
Two months almost to the day on a warm, April afternoon, I picked up my Shooting
Star and drove him home to Maryland with my father following me. And so began my
life-long love affair with Thunder (more on the name in a minute).
I had the only motorcycle in high school…I was the prototype for Fonzie. Guys
envied me as the big single roared to life in the school parking lot and girls
gathered around in hopes of an after school ride. The school newspaper featuring
the “car of the month” did it’s first motorcycle article along with a photo of
me standing along side my 1968 BSA. Thunder and I enjoyed the limelight! One day
two of my friends were walking home from their shift at McDonald’s when they
heard sounds like thunder. It was me riding my “thumper” a couple of blocks
away. One of them said, “that sounds like thunder!” When I drove up, they
christened my bike Thunder.
Throughout the years (all forty!), Thunder has been with me housed outside in a shed, carport and finally the last twenty years in a warm garage. Thunder has had a new electrical system, tail light lens and new paint job among various cosmetic items replaced. The mileage is original (a little over 6,000) having not ridden Thunder often in the years I was raising a family. Now at 57 years old, I ride Thunder with my wife every two weeks or so on picturesque, winding country roads in a laid back setting which suits Thunder fine. I hope to ride Thunder for as long as I can kick start him and prop myself up on the seat because it has been one hell of a ride (and love affair) ever since we first met!
The Bike in it's present day condition!
June 2008
BSA Rocket 3 Production
Racer
By Dick Herzberg
article after winning Club Production and 1000cc
Championships. Brian's sister still lives in
Rotherham and sent the advertiser on a regular basis
(I never got chance to thank her and like the fool I
am probably used the back of the letter for some
calculations)
I am actually looking for this bike, EDT 13J and my Ex Bob Heath Factory A70 if you could please put the word out.
Thanks,
Dick Herzberg
April 2008
Son of Sam |
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| The Son of
Sam is a Triumph Trident 1975/6. The bike was a
replacement for Slippery Sam. The bike was ridden by a number of racers including Percy Tait, Alex George and Martin Russell in the Isle of Man TT. Later, the bike was twice ridden in the Beezumph Rally by Mark Walker. |
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The Bike was owned by Burton Bike Bits from 1981 until it was sold to John You  ng.
Below is John Young's story of taking the Son of Sam to
The Netherlands. |
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Now let me make this clear from the very beginning – this seemed like a good idea at the time … The Netherlands Triumph Club were holding a one day rally to “celebrate” their 30th anniversary as a club. The highlight of the day was to be the drawing of the raffle to win a 1971/72 Bonneville and the person doing the draw was to be Les Williams. Amongst the other attractions was a display of Triumphs both Meriden and Hinckley. So my plan was to ride “Son of Sam” over to the rally to put into the display. Over the last couple of years, I’d got to know several of the Dutch guys and it seemed like a worthwhile idea to help support their rally. Sonia was going on her T100 Bonneville, so we had the capability of taking our luggage (and tools) on that.
Having given both the
Bonneville and “Son of Sam” a thorough check over,
including installing the kit that converted “Son of Sam”
from racer to tourer (see photo) As the M26 filtered into the M20, the last vestiges of daylight disappeared. 40 miles to go and all we had was the headlight of the Bonneville and whatever light my reflector beneath my number plate gave off to traffic following me. We kept to the nearside lane since I was well aware that I’d be all but invisible to the lorries trundling their way southwards. It was with blessed relief that junction 9 appeared and a short journey along an unlit A20 saw us arrive in almost total darkness at the travel lodge. Still, part one of the journey done. We could now have a good nights rest – and I needed it. Proddie racers are probably reasonably comfortable when you’re twentysomething, slim and fit. I’m fortysomething, fat and unfit .... However, after a good nights sleep, the world always seems a better place. By 8 o’clock the next morning we were on the shuttle and heading towards France. We were sharing our compartment with amongst others, 3 guys on Hinckley Tigers who were somewhat bemused by what we explained we were doing and what exactly “Son of Sam” is. However we explained it, the words “yeah, but it’s a 30 year old racing bike ….” kept coming from them. As we left the train, the 3 Hinckley riders turned off southwards sitting on their gel seats, holding their heated handlebar grips, twiddling with their satnavs. Myself and Sonia struck out for northwards – no gel seat, no heated grips, no satnav. I mean, the total creature comforts on “Son of Sam” is an aftermarket horn fitted to satisfy the MOT tester once a year …….. France became Belgium, Belgium became the Netherlands and it was time for another stop. I found I could comfortably ride for 75 to 100 miles before I needed a stretch and as we entered Holland, I was now again at that point. We stopped for petrol at the first service station inside the Netherlands. So far, the traffic had been fairly free-flowing and although the temperatures were once again unseasonably high, as long as I was moving along at between 60 to 80 mph, both the bike and myself were keeping nice and cool. It’s amazing how much heat a triple engine gives off. Under normal circumstances, it’s not that noticeable since the heat simply dissipates into the air, but with a close fitting racing fairing that directs all of the heat up past the rider, believe me, it’s very noticeable ! A feature of the journey so far had been that whenever we had stopped, the bike had attracted attention. This time, it attracted the attention of a Dutch police car. Both Sonia and myself saw the car pull up alongside the bikes as we were filling them up and we both did our best to avoid making eye contact with the two Dutch policemen inside it. After paying for the fuel we moved the bikes away from the pumps and the police car followed us. I hurriedly tried to formulate excuses for whatever traffic laws I’d broken. When we set out, it wasn’t crystal clear as to whether “Son of Sam” could be legally ridden through France, Belgium and Holland without lights or speedometer and bearing racing numbers, but we’d decided to “wing it” and see what happened. Here was the test of our theory - the car pulled up alongside and the police driver wound down his window……….. Well, all he wanted to do was to talk about the bike and wax lyrical about it. What we had here was a biking enthusiast who quite frankly couldn’t have given a damn about any traffic laws, he just wanted to hear the bike start up and me gun it as we rode away !! From the service station we needed to cut across country towards Arnhem. The rally was being held at Raalte which is a small town about 50 miles or so north of Arnhem. We were only about 125 miles or so from Raalte at the Dutch border, but from here on the traffic became increasingly heavy. With both myself and the bike in danger of overheating, we used the hard shoulder wherever possible so that I could keep some air flowing through the fairing. Alex George and Percy Tait may well have lapped the Island at the thick end of 100 mph on this bike, but I bet they never had to filter through mile after mile of motorway congestion on a Friday afternoon and on the wrong side of the road at that. It was nearly three hours after entering Holland that we finally arrived at Raalte. The bike smelt very hot and was indeed very hot. Inside my leathers, was not a particularly nice place either - I was wringing wet from sweat. We’d travelled just over 500 miles since leaving home and my spine had felt every one of them ! I was looking forward to parking “Son of Sam” up until Sunday. Interestingly, as we’d been filling up at fuel stations, “Son of Sam” had been using more or less the same amount of fuel as Sonias bike. It had worked out at around 50 mpg. Clearly the fairing must help fuel consumption. However the oil consumption was somewhat different. “Son of Sam” had consumed nearly one and a half pints in the 500 miles, no doubt in part due to near on 50 miles of motorway filtering both in the UK and then in the Netherlands. The Hinckley Bonneville had not consumed a drop. After checking in and unloading the bike, a quick shower and change of clothes had me almost feeling human again. Given that we were both tired from the journey, we decided to eat at the hotel on the Friday evening. As we were enjoying our meal, a familiar figure came up to us to say hello – Les Williams. It seemed that the Dutch Triumph club had booked accommodation for Les and his wife at the same hotel as we were staying at. This was a pleasant surprise. Les had seen “Son of Sam” and the Bonneville parked outside when he arrived at the hotel and obviously recognised the bike. It was even more of a pleasant surprise when he recognised me ! I think he was suitably impressed that I’d ridden “Son of Sam” all the way from the Midlands to the rally, although as ever, the very fact that Sonia had ridden her bike at all overshadowed any achievement of my own. As I’ve said before, a woman riding a bike is still a relative rarity and therefore Sonia always, and quite rightly, deserves any plaudits that come her way. Saturday morning dawned to glorious blue skies and while we were breakfasting with Les and Joan, John Bouwhuis one of the main organisers of the rally from the TOCN came and introduced himself to Les. Once again, I was somewhat surprised when he seemed to know who I was as well, although he also seemed to know who Sonia was. It seems that I am forever to be cursed by being known simply as “the guy who turns up with Sonia” ! After breakfast, I took “Son of Sam” down to the rally site. One of the first people who I bumped into was Paul ten Broeke, another Dutch guy that I’d got to know over time. The rally was being held at the “American Motorcycle Museum in Raalte, which is one mans collection of anything that is both American and Motorcycle related. Clearly Harleys are the predominate marque represented although there are a few Indian bikes around the museum as well as some other makes that I’d never heard of. Again, whilst the content of the museum did not exactly enrapture me, the style of the museum was a delight, imparting on the visitor the same “garage type” atmosphere that both the London Motorcycle Museum and the Norton Museum at Best manage to create and yet our own National Motorcycle Museum fails so spectacularly to achieve.
Over the course of the weekend, the speedometer on the Bonneville showed that the bike had travelled just over 1030 miles. Given that we’d used the Bonneville for the run out on the Saturday afternoon and then the ride out that myself and Sonia did on the Saturday evening, meant that “Son of Sam” had travelled probably around 850 miles. Apart from the incident as we approached the last stop, the bike had ran faultlessly. True, it had used some oil, but the fact that I’d been able to take what is after all a full blown proddie racer near on a 1000 miles through some pretty horrendous traffic at times and arrive back home, without major problems speaks volumes for the bike. However - this is it’s first and last trip abroad under it’s own power. Whilst the bike coped admirably, I am just the wrong shape ! The next time “Son of Sam” leaves these shores, it’ll be in the back of a van !! |
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,
Thursday afternoon saw us setting off for the chunnel.
The plan was to stop Thursday evening at a travel lodge
just north of Folkestone and catch an early train the
next day. With “Son of Sam” having no lights, the
journey to and from the rally needed to be conducted in
daylight hours. All went fine until the M25 where we hit
some serious traffic. Filtering for some 10 miles or so
through solid motorway traffic is bad enough at the best
of times, but on what is effectively a full blown
proddie racer, with tall gearing, clip-ons and rearsets,
the task somewhat taxes your riding skills. Trying also
to keep my eye on Sonia following on her bike is also
more than a little difficult when you have no mirrors
and the ability to move your head no more than a few
inches either side due to the riding position. However,
after what seemed like an eternity we rode out of the
traffic and on towards our planned stop. Of course, the
unexpected delays on the M25 meant that the daylight was
rapidly fading and by the time we turned off the M25
onto the M26, dusk was already upon us. There was
nothing else to do but press on hoping that we could
reach our digs before darkness totally engulfed us.
March 2008
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2003 Clubman 500 S "Classic" model
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| I thought
you might like to see what modifications I have made to
the standard 2003 Clubman 500 S "Classic" model that I
bought. Yes I did say "Classic" and I can use that word
because it is officially named so in the brand new
"genuine Enfield accessories" catalogue for 2007 from
Watsonian Squire. It turns out that my model is in the
"Classic" range. Not only is it a Real Classic but I have now converted it into a "Replica Gold Star" and to prove it here is a list of the things that I have done to achieve this. I have fitted "Bacon Slicers" and cut the black fibre glass wing things that covered the battery cover and air filter box. Firstly I substituted the air filter system that was fitted in the tool box for an old fashioned "Enfield" filter box. |
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| As I had the
"Gold Star" exhaust system I decided to keep an eye on
the carburettor settings which I had checked previously
while I was running the engine in. I found the needle
jet at the highest position and as I clocked the K's up,
I dropped the needle down to the middle position. I wanted a bellmouth for the carb, bought one and fitted it (see photograph) and then I changed the settings from the standard which was Pilot jet 25, Main jet 110, needle position centre. I've now fitted a 27.5 Pilot jet, 120 Main jet and the needle is on the 4th position. The Clubman is running great. Because I got rid of the air filter and fitted the bellmouth, it left a hole and the coil was exposed, so I fitted a black fibreglass cover that you can see in the next photo. |
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| Apart from
fitting Hagon Rear shocks, the last big mod was
replacing the Black casquette and fork shrouds for a
highly polished fork top yoke. The other parts required were the fork dust covers, chrome clips and clip-ons and a new ammeter as I'd found it impossible to get the original one out of the casquette without damaging it. Below are a few photographs of the change from casquette to fork top yoke. Most recently I have fitted the engine breather modification with the extension to the oil tank filler and got rid of the catch tank that was fitted below the battery holder. Last week I fitted a Smiths Chronometric Speedometer to finish it off....... or is it? |
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| So now I
have my very own "Gold Star" and the purists can say
what they like about it. I believe that beauty is in the
eye of the beholder and like you, I say it's what the
individual gets out of it. For me I get a great deal of
enjoyment out of my "Real Classic" I can go for 30 miles before my old back starts to ache, but the grin factor is that of a Cheshire cat. I just love riding the damn thing. So here are the "before" and "after" photos of my Royal Enfield "Classic" Clubman 500S. |
 Before the mods |
February 2008
| 1959 Royal Enfield
“ Super” Constellation Article by Klaus Lorenz This bike is now for sale, contact Klaus Lorenz |
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| Probably
one of the best you can find, … regarded to be the
fastest and most powerful production motorbike of the
“Fifties”. Being the predecessor of the mighty
“Interceptor” she has been in production for only a
relatively short period and therefore only few survived
to date, … less than Interceptors. Nearly as powerful as the Interceptor but much more reliable than her younger successor, it`s simply amazing how strong she runs … you will become addicted to that pull and sound ! Frame no. 8356 revealed that she has been dispatched to “ Pride & Clark” London SW 9 on 4th of July 1959 in the colour “polychromatic-peacock-blue” chrome , … some 43 years later I found her living in Worthing, taxed and tested in the careful hands of her keeper Keith Crowley in September 2002. |
"You
will become addicted to that |
| So here is a short description of my four-year “Royal Connie” rebuild: | |
First she
has been taken apart completely … every single part … be
it nut or bolt , washer or whatsoever, … was carefully
inspected , replaced by a “new-old-stock / better than
new” part, … fine-tuned and optimised, …polished, or
anodised, or chromed or painted. |
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The engine was tuned,
optimised and rebuilt by a former “Egli” employee
“Sommer Motorrad Manufaktur” , the
lubrication-system was converted from dry sump to
wet sump, with bigger oil pumps both pumps are
feeding ! … one solely to the crank , the other one
to cylinder-head. Modern high compression pistons
run in 1st bore cylinder
barrels,
cylinder-heads now carry modern BMW valves, guides
and seats, breathing through a single new “Amal 389”
carburettor with a 400-size main-jet , fired by an
ultra-reliable Lucas SR-2 magneto-ignition rebuild
with modern components. Primary drive is now a
heavy-duty belt-drive with dry clutch, completely
new electrics alternator / rectifier / regulator
black-box. Petrol-tank and other parts have been
chrome-plated or anodised by the most famous (… and
expensive) plater of Germany, additionally the tank
received an inner-conserve to last “ for ever”.
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“Smiths”
speedometer rebuilt by an expert but still keeps the
original indication, so you can see at what max. speed
the needle dangled in former times. |
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| Now for
the price of this “Unique Beauty” … It took me four
years and more than 18.000 Euro / 12.000 Pound … The
enthusiasm , experience and satisfaction is a very
rewarding … If there is anybody out there who can value that , I`ll give her away for only 11.900 Euro / £7,900 … with tears in my eyes ! Contact Klaus Lorenz |
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