aawil

charlie i see the s/car entry was down this year , i have heard from some of the regulars that it seems to get tighter for the proper british outfits each year , great for trick c15s and b40s and special expensive bikes but no way you can compete against them on a std old british bike having tried a few times in recent times on my 600 panther outfit i got so fed up with getting to the top of climbs then sitting rocking on the sump with both wheels in the air i decided that was it for the talmag,i i am thinking of offering my assistance to the organisers next year ,i would love to be a scrutineer , that would be very interesting ,as i have read the regs and if followed correctly , i leave that to your own thoughts . i my self have now built a greeves outfit which i would love to ride in the trial but its a two stroke . will

tried running my iron barrel 34 a trials outfit on 40-1 great in sections but partial seizures on the road between sections was a prob lem even with modern synthetic oil i have gone to 25-1 and the bike is still great in the sections and it keeps going and you can thrash it for miles with no problems , so having tried various mixes i know what i am sticking to 25-1 as greeves recomended, . will

the first tank is from an export a65 we used to buy them 4 in a box from MCSi in watery lane birmingham in the late sixtes, i visited them each month to help sid the gaffer sort out all of the stillage crates,that arrived from both bsa and triumph, the stuff they sold off cheap was incredible , things like boxes of 6 chrome lucas headlamps complete with the harness bsa twin cyls and heads, the best was pairs of1/532 amal gp carbs c/with remote float . i was paid in bits i needed for the family bike shop , oh what great days, looking back it is obvious that things were being sold at a tremendous loss no doubt by the accountants to clear up the books, will

you will need some sort of peg for your passengers right foot we used to weld a box spanner onto the rear wheel spindle nut then a series of small spot welds to give grip , some folk made a seperate footrest to weld on to the s/arm just in front of the spindle , later outfits used an extension on the chair floor which came over near the wheel the idea was to give the suspension a chance to find grip and the passenger an easier time i always thought they had an easy time anyway, the choice is yours my latest outfit has the extension on the chair it suits me fine ,so are old fan belts i have always cut a piece of car heater hose to fit over where the passenger grips taped to keep it in position so he has a good shaped bit to hang on to . get out and enjoy yourself its great fun , will.

i started running my 1958 iron barrelled scottish on 40.1 mix with modern synthetic oil, on the advice of the experts , great in the sections but on the road between sections it locked up 4 times it freed of after cooling down and i was able to finish the event, i asked the greeves riders club for help and the answer was to use a good quality oil at 25.1 mix, since then the old engine has been fine so i will stick to the advice of the greeves guys. will. i

what a great looking PROPER pre 65 trialer, all thats missing is the chair . i agree with deryk about the long lever i adjust the advance on my panther outfit with its lucas sr1 modifyed to manual use and vary it in the sections, the same on my road outfit and my special hillclinb panther solo , all fitted with the good old lucas sr1 magnetos which start first kick hot or cold , who needs modern electronics. will.

have a chat with norman at njb shocks, he will sort out just what you need, at a very reasonable cost , he is ex girling man who knows as much as anybody about suspension units , he used to come out to events and make up units to fit the fantic trials outfits , taking my weight and other things into the calculations .i cant find his phone no but i am sure someone on the tc site will have it. will.

do you still have to stop for a pint of belgium beer after each lap , i am sure it was compulsory for us sidecar crews back in the eighties. will.

i thought pre 1965 bsa c15,s had a distributor to supply the sparks ,

the original threads are 7/32 so it seems yours have been tapped out to a 1/4 no doubt when an earlier owner had the usual trouble , the original had small heads with a strange spanner size . it is worth checking the casting round the bolt holes as i have found many cracked , on my trials outfit i have two where the casting has broken away but with ht allen bolts and nuts holding the sprocket on it has been fine ,even with a big panther motor providing the power ,. will

i have been using lucas sr1 mags on all of my competition bikes mostly panthers all start 1st kick hot or cold, matchless used them as std before 1965 so problem solved. will.

can i ask why a trick matchless with modern pvl electronics is listed under pre 65, oh i wish i was a scrutineer in pre 65 trials instead of sprint and drag racing,

both 1/4 bsf and 1/4 bscy thread have 26 tpi/ so they are both the same , using those hubs on our sidecar outfits we found the weak points , ripping the bolts out and breaking the cast lugs apart , the solution was and still is to run a 6mm drill through the holes then use ht allen bolts with nylock nuts to bolt the sprocket on , i still use this mod today on my vintage hillclimb panther with no problems, will.

hi deryk you may not know that my first trials bike was a 125 saracen bored to 150cc and came s/hand the previous owner was david banks the son of that grand old east london dealer and greeves rider monty, it had scottish paint marking on it and i think that david rode it in the trial , it later became one of my outfits , fitted with a slightly detuned triumph daytona motor was asking a bit much of the frame but bill wilkinson welded it back together and enabled me to finish the allan jeffries that year,i became a sort of honary yorkshireman as to the shock of the locals bill did the job for nought, will.

hi dave thanks for that i heard that he now rides a gold wing so may have given up on the trials riding , but you are missing a great fun time by not having any outfits to try , you should build one and have a ride , as someone once said its the best experience you can have with your clothes on . will .

hi do any of you canadian trials riders know a guy called bob manifold , he left england many years ago , i believe he has the first works fantic trials outfit that i built for the factory , i would love to talk to him sometime and maybe visit and arrange a ride before i get to old , also do you have a sidecar class in your trials , if not why not . many thanks . will hawkes.

it seems that we are all on the same side in this as i am cutting down on my work next year i will be in a position to offer help to any norfolk /suffolk clubs to lay out suitable sections that will ok for classic bikes and sidecars, in fact i think i still have a sackfull of red/blue/white section markers tucked away somewhere left over from my days as trials secetary of the north east london mcc, so if you need help just let me know .. will 01362 667859.

jon you get me wrong my solution is as yours. one route with sensible sections to suit the average clubman wide enough for us sidecar crews with a good ride between sections ,in fact just like the early sm series, which i thought was great to ride and also the friendships made are still valid , my comment about me helping out scrutineering was a tounge in cheek comment but it would be fun to exclude a (i think) majority of the bikes. i have given up riding my rigid panther outfit in the talmag as sitting rocking on the crankcase at the top of the steep climbs on lots of sections gets a bit annoying , i am sure when i started riding chairs 42 years ago this problem did not happen, so either my bikes have lost their ground clearance , or perhaps the organisers have made the sections harder ,i know the answer . will.

having just got the regs for next years talmag trial the general rules make interesting reading , which if used on all classic trials would stop a lot of the trick bikes overnight, i assume that the t.a,l.m.a.g. will not object to me quoting from the regs, general . ignition systems, must be either conventional magneto or coil ign of the period. ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. this one rule would be interesting if it was enforced, forks must be of a type manufactured or fitted before 31 dec 1964. with the general basis that engine,gearbox ,frame forks hubs ign and carburettor must be of apre 1965 type ,specials accepted providing they are of parts manufactored before dec 1964, as i am now not allowed to ride the talmag as i am riding a greeves trials outfit which being a twostroke is not eligible i thought i might offer my services to help out with the scrutineering, this would be very interesting,( i can see the arguments already ) if all organisers used this sensible set up and back to the classic one lap 30 to 50 miles with one route for all li would come out and ride a lot more and my old mate deryk would have a smile on his face,

hi deryk its john perry and andy hay on on jack matthews victor outfit which john purchased from eira after jacks accident will.

hi you may be too late but the beamish trial is on sept 21 a lovely trial one lap normally about 130 miles across the northumberland fells it is run by the south durham section of the vintage motorcycle club the guy to see is tom norman ,16 south crescent hartlepool TS240QD, phone no 07951 746362, its a great trial with a mix of bikes with simple sections that will suit a newcomer or someone like me a sprightly 70 year old what can be more fun than hurling a big panther outfit at the northern country side . will.

when roy carey was the importer of fantics in the seventies ,he asked me to build a trials outfit to test he organised a big bore conversion to give more power to pull the two of us,, the alloy tank was indeed to make the bikes legai in the uk we even had a full 210cc motor with reed valve that had loiads of grunt , the first outfit which was the same spec as yours is still in existance owned by an old friend bob manifold who now lives i canada,

hi deryk you have missed jennie and judith who i built a l/weight panther outfitf for a few years ago,based on a 1954 mod 75 overbored to 400ccand one of my chairs, it goes great i rode it in the talmag to test it out , the girls after a few spills decided a lighter outfit would be easier to pick up have bought a montesa 348 , to contest local trials in derbyshire,but have kept the panther for long distance trials, as such have won the ladies class of the beamish trial a couple of times,even beating me last year.both are avid panther club members and jennies normal mount is a 600 sloper with commercial box which she rides with lots of aggression, will

deryk i will look forward to seeing some of barry's shots , i think you can remember my style or riding,,,,delicate is not my throttle range ,normally flat out and a bit more if i can get it, i can still remember the day when bill wilkinson welded up my sprite s/car outfit as the tuned triumph motor proved a bit more powerful than the 250 villiers ,the local riders were astounded as bill did the job for nought, it was the talk of the dales for months.i just assumed i was accepted as an honary yorkshireman, cheers will

hi deryk another great trial two days of sensible sidecar sections in the some of the best trials land around. the sat night at the rugby club was also quite testing but the pie and peas at the finish made it all worth the trip up from london,any chance of pics from the allen jeffries trial especially the moor end sections which i reckoned to be one of the best sidecar sections ever, flat out in third gear and hang on keep up the good work. will.