laird387

Hi, The power of offroadarchive - here is an image of the bike by Don Morley for Offroad Review. As can be seen by various wear marks of the bashplate, for example, it had obviously been used in anger. Enjoy

Hi, To add another historic image, here is Tony Davis with his works BSA in the 1962 Wye Valley Traders. Note that the regd. no is '776 BOP', the machine latterly mainly used by Jim Sandiford - but Jim had it as a 343cc. Can BSA addicts identify the machine in 1962 as being 249cc or was it already a 343cc. I know Tony had ridden the larger version in several nationals because he told me: "It was hopeless compared to the 250 - the power characteristics were all wrong, it wouldn't bite down for grip on a slippery slope." All of which makes we wonder why so many these days have opted for the 343 route? Enjoy

Hi, Dick Bradley was probably best known for his win in the British Sidecar Trials Championship, but he was not averse to a bit of scrambling in the summer months - or riding his AJS trials 350 in trials where there wasn't a class for chairs. Here he is seen in just such a trial on his 350 AJS - but look at the registration 'AJS 2' - now I've never been able to find any reliable reference to that being a works registered number, but the bike was restored in the 1970s or so and then often exhibited at shows up and down the English/Welsh border - has anybody seen it recently? Enjoy

Hi, To keep the pot boiling, another Norman trials model from the archives, this time Dave Lane who, along with his brother Mike, was also a keen grass track racer. Enjoy

Hi, Another quite successful DMW rider was Devonian Richard Partridge, spotted here for offroadarchive by Gordon Francis. A nice picture - but not much detail of the bike. Enjoy.

Hi, Lady riders have actually had quite an impact on trials riding - and rightly deserve credit for taking on the men in what was oft regarded as very much a man's world. Some of the one's that spring to mind are Jill Savage, a very competent trials rider and not afraid of having a go at scrambling in the summer, who, when she retired from active riding, became a very efficient and active organiser for the Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists - but she was by then known by her married name, Jill McBeath. Another was very influential as the Secretary of the Auto-Cycle Union, Mary Driver, who was a competent trials rider and made sure that trials representation within the A-CU was kept fair. I'm attaching an image from my offroadarchive of Pam Barwick, riding through a real mud-plug of an event in Wiltshire in the late 1950s on her 'Bitsa' built up by her husband to be, Cliff Bean. Enjoy

Hi, Lady riders have actually had quite an impact on trials riding - and rightly deserve credit for taking on the men in what was oft regarded as very much a man's world. Some of the one's that spring to mind are Jill Savage, a very competent trials rider and not afraid of having a go at scrambling in the summer, who, when she retired from active riding, became a very efficient and active organiser for the Association of Pioneer Motor Cyclists - but she was by then known by her married name, Jill McBeath. Another was very influential as the Secretary of the Auto-Cycle Union, Mary Driver, who was a competent trials rider and made sure that trials representation within the A-CU was kept fair. I'm attaching an image from my offroadarchive of Pam Barwick, riding through a real mud-plug of an event in Wiltshire in the late 1950s on her 'Bitsa' built up by her husband to be, Cliff Bean. Enjoy

Hi, Another offroadarchive shot - this time of that man George Greenland again, seen in 1958 in an XHG Tigers event, the Priory Trophy trial, riding Des Smallshaw's very tidy Tiger Cub special. Enjoy

Hi, OTF, The real answer is, as I'm sure your tongue in cheek comment about the Linlochleven event implied, did anyone ever ride the old bikes in trials in the state they were delivered from the factory. In my memory the answer is a resounding NO. In fact I remember the announcements pronounced in the press of the day when the Greeves Scottish was introduced to the effect that here was the first trials model that could be ridden straight from the dealer's showroom to the start of the trial, whereupon most other manufacturers tidied up their acts and delivered rideable bikes. Enjoy.

Hi, Just an appetiser for those riders preparing for the forthcoming Talmag trial. The Talmag Trophy is the culmination of a gem of an idea by members of the Territorial Army London Mobile Armed Group, principally a keen sidecar trials rider, John Allaway, to create a trial for classic machines on the old training grounds in the Aldershot area. But years earlier Army motorcyclists (Don R - despatch riders) had been encouraged to enter reliability trials on their WD issue bikes, which were primarily BSA M20 sidevalve-engined girder forked monstrosities or the far more popular Matchless G3, with no rear springing, admittedly, but at least they had teleforks. Here Warrant Officer John Day is seen bravely competing in the Frome Valley club's 1959 Lulworth Castle Trophy trial on his Matchless. The Matchless contract had come about when the main WD contract had been awarded to Triumph to build their machines in their Priory Road factory in Coventry, but one fateful night in August 1941 Priory Road was destroyed in a German bomber raid. The Matchless formal offer for the contract had been rejected because their factory was in Woolwich and the War Department thought that was too close to Woolwich Arsenal which they expected would be a prime target for the German bombers!! Matchless stepped in and the 41G3L was awarded the replacement contract. Enjoy the attached image.

Hi, Another works Greeves in historical action! We know it's Don Smith and it could well be in the same event as the shot of Chris Cullen above - but enjoy anyway!!

Hi, And for the record - this is what the punter received from his friendly BSA dealer when he bought a new BSA C15T. From my offroadarchive an image of Max King testing his own newly delivered C15T - not a bike from BSA for a magazine test, but his own personal mount. Enjoy.

Hi Charlie, I didn't know you cared........ Never realised you would be interested in 'standard' C15s........ Anyway, joking apart, the offroadarchive has plenty of images of Brian Martin on his own C15T, so I'm attaching one for the record. Enjoy

Hi, B40rt, Plenty more - I have many thousands of images to sort, so sadly it can't happen overnight - but as Miranda Hart is often heard to say - "Bear With". Cheers Deryk

Hi Charlie et Al, The 'man in the Cotswolds' was Brian Lethbridge, an inveterate sidecar nut and friend of mine, he used to write articles for ORR from time to time. In answer to another query - yes Charlie, I have all 101 ORRs - but am having to reorganise my office space to get access to them all - plus the piles of photographs, etc., Cheers, Deryk

Hi Charlie, 'Tis indeed Arthur - part of an article that I did on Celia and Arthur in the chariot gang - article is in the offroadarchive and I'm getting closer by the minute to having the archive available on the web. One of the features of the archive is that I have thousands of images that I never got to use in ORR or any of the twelve books that I wrote and/or published - and it is taking a little effort in sorting. 'Tis coming - and before long......... Deryk

Hi John, Yes still alive and kicking - but determined to get a certain dog fancier drooling !! Deryk PS There's more to come............

Hi, The Austin Seven engine based sidecar outfit I do remember. The engine had been converted either by, or with the help of, George Brown of old Stevenage, famous as the creator of 'Nero' the Vincent Black Shadow record breaker. The Austin Seven cylinder head had been very carefully milled to create thin cooling fins - which I remember very clearly. Sadly the other details are sketchy. Cheers,

HI suzuki 250, I'm sure there was a Tina-powered special - but I never discussed it with Roy myself and I am extremely lothe to take anything written in the rest of the press as being gospel - so if anyone out there knows for sure - there's a potential hole in the history needs filling !! Cheers

Hi axulsuv, I am sure you are absolutely right - and I only wish I had had the knowledge to tune my bikes more scientifically, but I didn't, so needs must. One useful piece of kit I did use - and still have it - was an american spark plug with a glass body so that you could see the colour in the combustion chamber - I found that very effective, science in an empirical fashion if you like !! It was even more useful when one of my first cars, a Morris Eight fitted with an SU carburettor, needed tuning - and since 650 Triumphs used a similar carburettor it would probably have worked for them. As ever - enjoy.

Hi, Another thought provoking, hopefully, image from my offroadarchive. The second special built by Peter Gaunt based on a Ducati fourstroke, that I bought from him and thoroughly enjoyed. It was definitely different. Enjoy.

Hi, And for a little spice to the discussion, other people had their own ideas about how to make a Bantam trials model - the motors were nice and cheap and virtually bomb-proof, so why not. One of those variants, which I believe was created by Mick Whitlock - but maybe someone can confirm that, was ridden by Doug Theobald, and here's a picture for you to enjoy.

Hi, Sorry to bother this topic with those confusing details called 'historical facts' but I thought you might be interested in a look at the BSA factory's own version of the 175cc Bantam trials machine. This actual 'works' bike was loaned to my old mate Bill Price, in late 1966 'for evaluation'. So there's one of those naughty little facts again - the works Bantam in late 1966 - i.e. not before 1965. That is why, in the day, we allocated it to the pre-70 class where it could compete on relatively fair terms with its contemporaries (Minarelli Cottons - maybe) Anyway - whatever your point of view, enjoy.

Hi, I'm fairly confident that the 'Ariel rigid' depicted in the original query is one of Jim Susans' bikes, created whilst he was still operating 'Bikecraft'. If you want to build an actual Ariel HT replica frame, then the enclosed picture might deter you - I'm sure those used to modern 'so called' pre-65 sections will claim it would be unrideable, but look for yourself. Enjoy.

Hi, Not wanting to add fuel to any fires let me at least give you some actual historical facts. Firstly I never worried about the balance factor in any of my own Ariels or AMC machinery - or any of the various one's that I restored - but I did concentrate on getting the ignition timing set 'just so' to my own parameters developed by experience. I'm sure some members might recall my 'party trick' with my Ariel HT5 - which I could actually start quite easily by hand. Valve lifter set 'to my spec.' (that was purely by feel - not very much science) - ignition set to just off retard, rock the motor round on the kickstart to just past BDC on the ignition stroke. Then with the valve lifter acting, start the motor swinging by hand on the kickstart and let the valve lifter go just at the right moment and 'chuff, chuff' away went the motor. But remember - I had learned the hard way with my favourite road bike being the Velocette Venom that I had restored, and they need 'the Velocette knack' to get them started. For a long while our personal transport after we had married was a big Panther sidecar outfit - and they need a decent swing on a cold morning. Life was very different in those days gone by and it is very hard for someone who has no personal experience of life before mobile 'phones, etc., to understand why we oldies seemed to do such strange things......... Incidentally one of Hugh Viney's little ways - and he really was the Maestro in so many aspects of our sport, was to have an extended lever on his ignition control. If you watched him coaxing grip on a slippery climb you would see he had the ignition lever placed on his handlebar so that the long lever sat in the 'vee' between his thumb and fingers on his left hand. He would coax the bike up the section using both hands as though they were on throttles, the twisting of his left hand giving him very fine control of the ignition. I never saw anybody else doing it and when I tried it was beyond my skill level! Whatever you do - enjoy it!