The month in retrospect.

Been another busy few weeks, with three events to attend as well as restoration and writing work to do.

As usual, Stafford was a great weekend, although every year I seem to spend more time gabbing and less time buying things and I completely forgot to pick up some bits of metal I needed.

There was some interesting stuff in the auction. I remember years ago people saying the days of the barn finds were over, but every year there’s a selection of dusty relics brought blinking out into the daylight of the Bonhams Auction. But of course these are really second time around barn finds, like the Series A Vincent Comet that had turned up in a hedge in the back garden of a deceased enthusiast. They are bikes found in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties and now being released into new hands, the big difference being that where the original finder probably got the bike from a farmer in return for a bottle of whisky, now they have increased in value somewhat. One of the talking points was this lovely ex-TT Rudge Ulster.

Bidding careered wildly over £60,000! It is a nice thing but that’s frightening money…Makes me glad I bought my Ulster project earlier this year, sometimes this sort of thing pushes up prices of all the lesser models and it may not be so easy to find a bargain afterwards.

Now, how’s this for a mystery object? It’s somethingyou don’t see very often and I couldn’t resist leaning over the rope to get a picture.

Did you guess? It’s the bottom end of a Matchless Silver Hawk. A narrow-angle vee-four with a one-piece cylinder block, it looks a bit like a pen-jar with all the rods pointing at different angles. The Hawk and it’s sister model the vee-twin Silver Arrow, were a bold attempt to make thoroughly modern machines for the 1930s, indicating the futuristic way things might have gone had it not been for five years of war.

This complete Hawk was also on offer. A cool thing.

Back outside there was some interesting stuff floating about. On the subject of barn finds I really liked this Tiger Cub… U

Strictly speaking it is a Bantam Cub, a bit of ‘badge-engineering’ by BSA/Triumph to save production costs by fitting the Cub engine into the Bantam chassis. When I became obsessed with the Rocker movement as a lad, my dad – who had spent part of his twenties in the Margate Police sorting out the unpleasantness on the Bank Holiday beaches had a rather disappointing view of my heroes.”They were a bunch of berks.” he advised me, although he conceded that they were at least better than the Mods whom he recalled sweeping en masse through department stores in locust style shoplifting sweeps and worse still, constantly thieving bits off each others’ scooters. Some of the local Rockers used to come round home for his help with their bikes but I guess at the end of the day, while to a kid a 17 year-old on a bike is the coolest man alive, if that 17 year-old is riding this Tiger Cub, a late-twenties year old, 650 Triumph riding father may well see things differently. Age brings perspective and I now accept that a lot of the Ton Up Boys were more ‘Boy’ than ‘Ton up’  but then, isn’t that what being a kid is all about? Spirit of the Sixties? You’re looking at it and I only hope that whoever ends up with this little bike keeps it this way. Surely original teen café racers are rarer than restored Cubs and Bantams…

Before my soapbox collapses under my weight, one more thing…

This interesting beast caught my eye because it represents another developing fold in the old bike world. When I bought my Blackburne sawbench late last year – a rare 1919 Blackburne tank, engine and gearbox, mounted on a stand as a saw-bench power unit – I was surprised at how many other people were expressing a serious interest. I wanted it because I already had a frame, but surely these other guys didn’t have a frame too! Later I realised that an original paint tank, engine (with mag and carb) and gearbox (with clutch and sprockets) makes an excellent basis for a custom board racer or similar. The custom world has long been making hardtails and complete frames, why not make them for flat tankers? It’s a lot easier to make a vintage-style frame and buy a set of custom girder forks than to make an original-paint tank or an engine. What we have here is something along those lines. I didn’t look closely at the frame to see if it’s new or old but there’s a JAP twin engine, black Ariel tank and BSA forks and front wheel. And why not? It wouldn’t be for me personally, I’m more into recreating the past than using it as an inspiration, but for a long time I have thought how many engines there are without frames, frames without wheels etc. It’s better to make them into some sort of special than just have them lying about gathering dust. And perhaps more importantly the vintage thing is being put forward in a different forum. Correspondence in the VMCC -and other clubs – majors on how ‘there’s no young people getting involved’ and how they can be encouraged. For a start I think the premise is incorrect, I meet plenty of young guys who are very keen on all ages of old bikes – but, secondly when I was that age I wasn’t interested in boring owners clubs. They were always bastions of the middle aged, car park full of cars and excuses. The great mistake of middle age is thinking that because you haven’t perceptibly changed your outlook since you were young, you are still in tune with young people. The best way to be in tune with young people is to listen to them and not tell them ‘how different it all was in your day’; and just because they don’t join the Owners Club don’t assume they’re not keen. Clubs still tend to be very middle-aged and stuffy and I think this custom offshoot of the vintage scene has to be a benefit in the long run. Sermon concluded.

One thing I did take a close look at in the auction was this ossified specimen. Once upon a time it was a small Levis two stroke – a classy lightweight of the day. In fact in the 1920 (I think) TT the Lightweights (250s) were run with the Juniors (350s) and while there were fears that they would get in the way of the bigger bikes, R.O.Clark’s 250 Levis was lying second in the Junior race until a crash toward the end of the race. Anyway, estimated at £400-600 it actually sold for £200 which I reckon made a good buy. Although it looks a little…well, shop soiled, it’s actually fairly complete. The frame needs some re-tubing but although the rims are missing, the hubs are there, which is good. The tank may be rotted but the caps and fittings were all present, making remanufacture straightforward – and Levis tanks do appear for sale occasionally anyway – but you can bet they wont have the caps and bits when they do. Looked at another way, you’re getting a mag and carb, lightweight Sturmey Archer gearbox and clutch, a set of Druid forks and a Levis engine, which made me fear the buyer would simply break it and stick the bits on Ebay.

But as it happened I saw it for re-sale on a stall at Kempton Park the following weekend, still in one piece. But I bet it was for more than £200. Auctions certainly can reach some astral prices for the right bikes but in a sense that sometimes means that the dregs of a collection, like this Levis, go for bargain basement prices and anyone with a lot of time but little cash looking for a cheap Vintage project might unexpectedly find it among the quarter million-pound Broughs in the saleroom.

Kempton Park Autojumble was busy as usual and I saw a couple of things of interest, one being this Triumph CSD project, like the one I built for Gavin Curtis as a CB Project a couple of years back. Didn’t seem too over the top at £1750.

There was a time when these big vintage Triumph bangers were very cheap but they seem to have gained ground and are becoming quite popular now. No wonder, they are a pretty practical bike with not-too-bad parts availability – although bear in mind that in the late 1920s Triumph were not as big a name as they later became and in fact were ultimately bought out by Ariel. BSAs of this period are still vastly more numerous.

The thing that really caught my eye though was this anonymous Fafnir-powered veteran.

So I would like an early Veteran…but I have too much on my plate and will have to think about that another time. On the other hand, better not leave it too long or I probably really will have that coronary. It’s a dilemma!

The day after Kempton was the Elk Promotions South of England Classic Bike Show at Ardingly and what a cracker of a day that turned out to be. An excellent turnout of exhibitors, autojumblers and visitors and sunny all day. One pleasing point, a surprising number of exhibitors on bikes of all ages rode to the show and home, probably because you can get there via leafy lanes instead of braving the gladiatorial arena that is the M25 but nice to see.

No, not the Stafford Levis miraculously restored but a similar model, to give the idea. This one is fitted with different forks.

Couldn’t help liking this tidy BSA C15…

I desperately wanted to take my test on a C15 but one never came along in time, then my mate bought one and didn’t get in in time before the learner law changed, so he passed on a Panther outfit. Hard to believe that in today’s complex, forbidding and expensive test environment…

This nice unrestored Matchless was one of the bikes I saw ridden away; but the star of the show for me was this fantastic BSA twin. It belongs to John Silberman who writes  for ‘La Vie de la Moto’ in France. It looks like it’s had a bit of a tidy up many years ago but the whole thing has adopted a superb patina and the condition of the original plating was incredible.

What really did it for me though was this little chap. John asked if I thought he was a Buddha but that would have been a bit obscure in the 1920s. I think he is a little portly Imp and I’m sure I have seen him advertised alongside ‘cock-a-snoot’ devils in 1920s magazines.

A lovely accessory on a lovely bike, well done John.

Well, that’s it for now; back to the shed I go!

Cheers Rick