Hello again, it’s been a while…

You see it’s a busy time of year, but hopefully you have been too busy to bother looking in on this site anyway…

Where did we get to, oh yes Banbury. Well since then there was Founders Day, enjoyable as always although this time I didn’t find anything irresistible to buy (fortunately). That said I was drawn to this little fellow

Clearly a postwar Villiers 98cc model, the duplex frame identifies it as most likely a Bown, made in Wales. I was always a bit smitten with these. ( see the ‘my bikes’ page for details of my Villiers engined dalliances) The Duplex frame construction made it a Boss Hoss among 98s and I do have nearly enough bits left over to put together an engine…

Fortunately it must just have been a touch of sunstroke because I soon passed on and forgot it. Mind you it happened that I wasn’t the only one suffering from a pernicious desire to buy crap. I soon bumped into Calvin and Dave; two shady characters, who after discussing the whys and wherefors of buying parts for old Indians candidly admitted that all they had actually purchased was a toy lead terrier, a brass number 23 for a domestic gate and a tiny ship in a bottle.

 But carburetter restoration wizard (and all round good fella) Martyn Bratby was happy, while we were looking at some type 6 Amal carburettor bodies, he shot out a gannet hand and picked one up. After handing over the cash he confided that the numbers revealed it was a for a 1939 Speed Twin, they were only fitted for a few short months and he needs one for a customer.

I did have half an eye open for that Neracar project I saw in the Banbury autojumble but althought the stallholders were there, the Neracar wasn’t. Just as well. But there were some other nice bikes about. This Humber was quite a nice thing, I thought; ’27? ’28?.

Humber are one of those makes that were quite well known in their day – and of course continued to make cars long after, as part of the Rootes conglomerate – but the bikes are a bit obscure. They even made an OHC model in the late twenties.

This Rudge 350 looked pretty good too…

Although I think I’ll stick with the Ulster I bought recently for less than half the £7500 price tag of this one… Mind you even at that it looked cheap compared to a flat tank Norton.

This one is a 16H sidevalve – but even they don’t come cheap these days. Cammy Nortons have always been highly desirable and so have late ‘twenties flat tank Model 18s, the OHV 500, but this kudos has passed onto all of the flat tank models and although I didn’t see a price on this one I thought someone said it was over £20,000. Prices like that are a tough chew, especially when the rear wheel isn’t right – it looks like a 30’s lightweight hub – but at least the bike seems to have its original number. While I’m ery sorry to see how unaffordable these bikes have become, there is a part of me that rejoices in the fact that after all these years unrestored bikes are at last properly appreciated.

Things cost what they cost and it’s a seller’s market but still I would like to see a bike like this priced at around £7000. That would give a bit of room to spend whatever may be needed to get it up and sorted. The thing is if you buy a restored example, it may have been badly done and need pulling apart again but odds are it has newish tyres, the brakes have been relined, the magneto rebuilt etc etc and these are all expenses you can pretty much guarantee you’ll need to lay out on an unrestored bike. However, because unrestored condition is now valued so highly, there is no allowance in the price for this work. But then you could argue that it’s easier to rebuild a magneto than return a restored tank to its original paint…

Thing is, (excuse me while I mount my soapbox) a lot of people criticise the obsession with originality. Specials are more interesting they say. That’s fine but I think the benefit of complete originality goes back to the days when people were first dragging this stuff out of barns and hedges. If the bike was as it left the factory it had plainly had an easy life and was therefore probably still in good condition. The wrong engine suggests a blow up after hard use, the wrong frame or forks an almighty smack. Originality was a good yardstick by which to judge what you were buying and it’s true, the good original bikes I’ve had have been very good indeed, as the factory intended. However restoration made a nonsense of this concept. The bike could have been a right heap but a few years sourcing the right bits had made a silk purse out of what was perhaps a sow’s ear. The same is now happening with original paint. It is easy to find a load of rusty old vintage bits and pile them together. Our imagination does the rest, it was probably found in a collapsed shed, unused since the war; if it has dropped bars it probably raced at Brooklands…Or was it thrown together last weekend from various old bits to make money? The presence of a registration number on this Norton is a good sign but before rushing to buy any ‘unrestored barn find’ – especially an expensive one – you need to suss out the vendor and get some background on the bike and if possible take advice from an expert, there’s usually a few around at these events.

My first rusty flat tank project cost me a tenner, for me then aged 19 about a quarter of a week’s wage. There wasn’t much of it and I was just into my thirties before it hit the road but it gave me ‘vintage project’ that took me into a fascinating world. What could these young guys get today for an equivalent sum?

Anyway, after Founder’s Day comes our local do, the International West Kent Run. More brilliant sunshine for a brilliant event.

Here you see a section of the parking area at the lunch stop. With 362 entries of all years and nationalities (that’s rider as well as bikes) there’s no shortage of interesting stuff to look at.

It was a pretty warm day for these continental riders on their military bikes…

…but rather cooler than it would have been on Dunkirk beach for the original DRs, I guess…I rode my 1928 BSA and Judy took her Dad’s old 1948 Scott: its first proper outing since I had to strip the engine to fit a new crank sprocket. I’ve been very pleased with the bike’s first kick performance but some dodgy plugs kind of messed that up for half the run. Just because the bike has been starting so well I made the mistake of taking some suspect plugs as spares. Luckily after a frustrating time trying to get it going I remembered there was a brand new set in the toolbox.I think the oil pump is set too high and oiling them up. I backed it off slightly and fitted the new plugs and it started fine after. The old learning curve again!

Sunday is show day and again it was a scorcher. One understated bike that drew my eye was this unrestored Triumph 21. These 350s are a bit on the portly side and it’s no wonder that sixties lads turfed the timware but it’s nice to see an unrestored one in such good condition.

 I also liked this one owner ’58 Thunderbird. I had a ’59 for a while and they are lovely bikes.

I spotted a bit of interesting detail on the timing cover of an otherwse fairly standard looking 650 Bonneville…

Marchant and Durward were a cafe racer accessory manufacturer. I used to have one of their twin leading shoe brakes on my old Norton cafe racer, identified by the stamped letters M/D. I liked to think it was a bit classier than having the more familiar Dunstall or John Tickl, don’t cha know…

Caught up with a lot of old friends on the day including my buddy Mick who confirmed my suspicion that he’s a beer magnet…

Finbar spent most of the day in the cool of the Sunbeam MCC stand, he’s rapidly becoming the club mascot.

Speaking of the club stand, this BSA appeared at Founders Day, it’s the first of the saddle tank Model Ls, not something you see very often; basically the same engine as mine but with enclosed rockers and a different frame. By the time this model was produced the Sloper range had more or less taken over so I doubt many were sold.

Just to round things off I finally learned that the Banbury Neracar project has been bought by my friend Peter. It turns out that the leaf rear springs make it a Deluxe model, possibly the only survivor. Good luck with it, Peter.

Right that’s all from me. See you soon

Cheers Rick