A Blast from the Past

A reader of my blog recently sent me this link – now many years old – about a bike that I had restored 20+ years ago and so I thumbed through my old pictures (relatively low-res by today’s standards) to remind myself what I had done.

I bought 2 bikes, a Matchless G80CS (the Competition Model of the 500cc single) and a Velocette KTS from a vendor somewhere in Wales. These are the 2 bikes in my workshop shortly after their acquisition.

 Both bikes underwent a complete mechanical and cosmetic restoration.

The all-alloy Competition Model G80CSs are fairly rare, especially an early one such as this with the magneto behind the cylinder – AMC moved the position to the front of the cylinder shortly after this one was made – same as the AJSs.

The Velo also turned out OK

and both were a pleasure to ride although I recall the KTS being quite heavy for a 350.

It seems the Matchless is in New Zealand and Petr from Czechia (Czech Republic) contacted me recently to say that he now has the AJS M10 that I sold last year in a Bonhams auction. Petr has a well-equipped workshop and has done quite a bit of work on the bike – adding a lighting system, more comfortable footrest position etc,

quite probably required to be road-legal in Czechia.

I was looking for a file on my laptop recently when I came across a movie that was my one-and-only attempt at using a helmet-mounted camera. Out of curiosity I bought a camera some years ago and tried it out at the Manx GP in 2016. This is an attempt to film a trip from The Bungalow heading down the mountain on the A14 (it’s a back road) in the direction of Sulby Glen. I was riding my 1928 flat-tank Norton that I had restored some years earlier (see HERE), this one,

and it’s probably feasible to work out the engine rpm from the frequency of the vertical bouncing of the picture.

….and with narrow tyres you have to avoid hitting a cattle grid at an angle and scaring the sheep that wander around and that can be a bit unpredictable with an open pipe exhaust.

Last, but not least, this short movie clip shows the AJS K7 that I rebuilt some years ago participating in a hill climb event.

Ian Hatton, the proprietor of Verralls, is riding the bike which is for sale at his establishment.