For those who like old Motorcycles.

[New Haven Neil]

The black plate law is different here (cut off is 1990), but when getting black plates made for two of our bikes from a UK firm I had to provide all sorts of documentary evidence.  When the plates arrived they have no postcode or any identifier of manufacturer unlike a yellow plate.  Maybe 'that's how it is'.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Got the winter hack out today, started third kick.  Not bad, hasn't been ridden for a year or so.

 

Photo from a while ago - too cold to hang around with a camera today.

 

[polybear]

Austin Seven engined Brough Superior that turn up at one of our "Toy Train" running days in July this year.

 

If that's the real thing (and it certainly looks it) then it's a BS4.  Only 10 built, with 7 surviving.  If it were mine then I'd be securing it with a bit more than a chain thru' the back wheel.  Why?  Cos' the last (very scruffy and incomplete) example sold for a cool third of a million in April '16:

 

https://www.bonhams.com/press_release/21670/

 

Jeez....

 

Update:

 

The bike sold in the Bonhams Auction has some history, which may/may not influence the price paid:

 

"Following the Four's debut at the Olympia Motor Cycle Show, George Brough's friend Hubert Chantrey rode the show model, as a solo, in the London-Exeter Trial in December '31, an account of which appeared in Motor Cycling (13th January 1932 edition). At the end of the article, Chantrey stated that he had ordered one of the Brough Fours".

 

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/23600/lot/296/

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by polybear

[rockershovel]

Am I alone in thinking something's strange with that front mudguard? There seems to be a lot more daylight 'twixt guard and tyre than I remember on any of my Beezers.

 

Nice bit of period carpet, though ...

Mismatched mudguards. Front one is for a 21” wheel, rear one is either aftermarket or chromed by a previous owner. No BSA ever left the factory looking like that!

 

PROPER Road Rockets look like THIS, small tank and lightweight mudguards

 

 

Not particularly original (especially the seat and the alloy rims) but isn’t it nice?

Edited November 14, 2017 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

No justification for this except that it’s a rather nice picture

 

[spikey]

Funny old world, innit.  I was talking this morning to a pal who's been flogging off some old bike stuff he's had stashed away, and he remarked on the silly prices he was getting.  This prompted me to say I've often wondered what my old Vincent would be worth now if I'd hung onto it. 

 

Sorry about these naff scans from the negs, but that's all I can find of it.  It's a 1955 Series D Black Shadow, pictured here before the total (and I mean total) rebuild that took me the best part of a year on nights in the toolroom.

 

My pal reckons at least £50K, but that can't be right ... ??????

 

Edited December 3, 2017 by spikey

[2mmMark]

Funny old world, innit.  I was talking this morning to a pal who's been flogging off some old bike stuff he's had stashed away, and he remarked on the silly prices he was getting.  This prompted me to say I've often wondered what my old Vincent would be worth now if I'd hung onto it. 

 

Sorry about these naff scans from the negs, but that's all I can find of it.  It's a 1955 Series D Black Shadow, pictured here before the total (and I mean total) rebuild that took me the best part of a year on nights in the toolroom.

 

My pal reckons at least £50K, but that can't be right ... ??????

 

 

£50k isn't inconceivable as there aren't many Series Ds about, true value is down to how much someone is prepared to pay.

 

More than enough to make me think twice about leaving it parked anywhere if I had one. That's the one sad thing about escalating classic bike values.  Even securely locked up, a bike is still reasonably easy to steal. A lot go overseas never to be seen again and are sold in countries where fewer questions are asked.

[The Blue Streak]

Awesome Bike, Spikey.

Even Don Mclean sang about them -

 

"Vincent, this world was never meant for one as beautiful as You"

[Two_sugars]

[spikey]

Awesome Bike, Spikey.

Indeed it was.  Even before I put the Maserati air horns on it (which is what that compressor by the back carb is for)!

Edited December 4, 2017 by spikey

[phil_sutters]

There are a couple of bikes in my new Glasgow Mueum of Transport album - http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/image/84047-harley-davidson-motor-cycle-glasgows-museum-of-transport-c1990/

[spikey]

There are a couple of bikes in my new Glasgow Mueum of Transport album ...

Love the positioning of the Bantam next to that Rapide

[Londontram]

Well I said I'd post these at least a year ago but hay better late than never.

A quick back ground. My father was a Royal Signals dispatch rider at the end of ww2 and with the war over found himself kicking his heals around Berlin with very little to do. As he was called up late in the war he had a fair time to go before his demob so one day passing a notice board he saw a request for volunteer bike riders for special duties and dispite the old saying of never volunteer he stuck his name down the result of which a couple of weeks later he found him self with about 30 other guys infront of the CO who told them they had been selected to reform the Signals White Helmet display team the first since the end of the war.

Here are a few of his photos most taken when in training but I hope you might find them interesting.

 

The first is my father in his display kit of brown boots white breaches a signal red shirt and white helmet and gauntlets

Next is his bike, I believe a 350cc Matchless stripped of all dispatch riders equipment like paniers etc.

The next four starting with jumping through a hoop of fire show some of the tricks he performed.

 

There duties were fairly lax being excused all other duties and when off duty they would often go for a ride into Berlin this was in a time when there was still unrestricted movement across the zones and in this next photo my dad (left) and his mates are about to set off on one of these off duty rides out.

At the end of the autobarn was the old banked turn used in pre war races and here you can see my dad high up on the banking, one wonders how fast he was going to get it up that high.

As well as the big fixed displays they also took part in lots of inter unit and inter army off road trials and being a smallish light bike the Matchless did rather well.

So the last couple are of my dad taking part in one of these off road trials.

Sorry about the poor picture quality but hope you find them interesting enough to overlook that.

Steve

Edited July 30, 2018 by Londontram

[Londontram]

Just found a couple more in the first one is the team in a large V formation and the second just starting to form the classic display team pyramid

Edited July 30, 2018 by Londontram

[runs as required]

... dispite the old saying of never volunteer he stuck his name down the result of which a couple of weeks later he found him self with about 30 other guys infront of the CO who told them they had been selected to reform the Signals White Helmet display team the first since the end of the war.

Here are a few of his photos most taken when in training but I hope you might find them interesting.

Thank you for a lovely post

My favourite architecture tutor at university was Jimmy Quentin Hughes - Jimmy to the Army; Quentin to the RIBA

He and his fellow student friend in their first year at Liverpool in 1939 decided to go off together and 'volunteer - for an interesting tim. And they continued to volunteer right through WWII.

 

Consequently he was in on the early days of the SAS and was parachuted into Italy at night from Malta behind enemy lines onto the Lake Trasimeno base in Umbria to destroy aeroplanes . I warmly recommend his book "Who Cares who Wins" recounting his war as a fascinating read (written in his 90s) 

After blowing up a handful of machines, he got captured, having lost an eye in the encounter. But the Germans would not shoot him until the eye wound healed. He made friends with the eye specialist who treated him and managed to jump from a train and escape to the Partisans in the Appenines.

 

When he was my second year tutor he raced his Alvis Speed 20 (sorry not a motor bike) in Club events at Oulton Park.; in 2D with only one eye!

dh

[spikey]

Those snaps reminded me of the large scrapyard in North Lincolnshire which in the early sixties was still full of stuff left over from WW2. They had so many ex-Army BSA M20s that as late as 1965, you could still take your pick and take one home for a fiver. How long it would then have taken you to strip off the evil-smelling brown grease in which they were lathered so you could start removing the thick green paint on the silencer (and in many cases the tyres) is anybody's guess.

Edited July 31, 2018 by spikey

[Guest]

Just back from a trip to Spain, and I have for a long time wanted to visit the motorcycle museum near Guadalest. Small, but well worth a day out. A few pictures selected from the 100+ bikes on display...

 

[N15class]

I like the Benelli six I had the use of one for a month back in day. Nearly bought one after. But someone bought a Laverda montjuic. Much more fun. Wish I still had that one.

[New Haven Neil]

Welsh Bike...Benelli.

 

Love that little Mont road bike in front of the army job...

[Guest]

I like the Benelli six I had the use of one for a month back in day. Nearly bought one after. But someone bought a Laverda montjuic. Much more fun. Wish I still had that one.

 

I remember my brother had a Benelli back in the 70s. I doubt it was the six but I'll ask him. He used it to commute to and from British Telecom. Correction... he used it to commute to and from BT in dry weather only. It just wouldn't work in the wet thanks to the fantastic magical Italian electrics...

I have more shots from Guadalest that I'll post in due course.

 

Edit: After Googling Benelli, I'm amazed to find they still exist. For some reason, I thought they folded years ago. Knowing how complicated bikes are today, I do hope they've nailed the electrics...

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Pete 75C

[Guest]

Some more from Guadalest...

 

[Kickstart]

Edit: After Googling Benelli, I'm amazed to find they still exist. For some reason, I thought they folded years ago. Knowing how complicated bikes are today, I do hope they've nailed the electrics...

 

benelli.jpg

They did. They were owned by Alejandro de Tomaso, along with Moto Guzzi, Maserati, etc.

 

They were restarted in the early noughties with the Tornado. They didn’t have the best reputation for reliability. They are now owned by a Chinese company, and much of the range are produced in China

 

Katy

[sandwich station]

The Benelli 750 6 cylinder. The engine used to look remarkably like a Honda 500 4 engine with an extra pot stuck on each side. Not sure how they got away with it really, unless there was some sort of agreement.

[rockershovel]

The Benelli 750 6 cylinder. The engine used to look remarkably like a Honda 500 4 engine with an extra pot stuck on each side. Not sure how they got away with it really, unless there was some sort of agreement.

 

Honda briefly built a road-going “six”, the CBX. The Benelli Sei was, indeed, derived from the Honda 500 Four engine, Honda apparently having decided that the six-cylinder concept wasn’t worth pursuing.

[PatB]

I think all Benelli 4-strokes of a certain era used Honda derived engine designs. IIRC there were 250, 350 and 500 variants of the SOHC four, and 750 and 900 sixes. The resemblance is so close that I assume there was some official cooperation rather than a case of piracy. Was it Benelli, too, who built an Italian flavoured Triumph unit 650 twin? I know one of the Italian manufacturers did but the old memory isn't what it was.