This bike just stood out for me so much at the Westonzoyland Sprint that I've decided to dedicate a whole page to it. Maybe it's something to do with me trying to self-teach machine tool work at the moment and I am in awe of the skill and time gone in to this bike or it could be just that it is an incredible thunderous beast.

It is a 1973 Hagon-framed Triumph. Originally a full Triumph engine it blew up in 2004 and was rebuilt with a lot of Weslake parts. What makes it so special though is the number of home machined parts it carries and the care and attention that has been lavished upon it. Not just that but it is an extremely effective tool at doing the job it was made to do. It's one of those bikes that the more you look at it the more exquisite detail you see. 

And here it is in action warming the tyres up.

And it's off. The noise was truly earth shattering. You

feel it inside you as it takes off the line.

Mid thirties snap of bright young things having fun featuring an AJS, a Rudge and an Ariel.

You won't normally find posts of copied magazine articles on this blog but this one is from such a low circulation source and a great story that it warrants circulating.

I'm always fascinated by early long distance motorcycle adventures and John Lloyd's travels are remarkable for the era that he did them. In 1948 the War would have been a close memory and the Europe that John travelled through on his way to Australia still visibly scarred. The machine he rode was a 350cc ex-WD Triumph, pretty much as decent a machine for the job as there would have been at the time. Slow, but plenty of folks overland even today with 350cc Royal Enfield Bullets which would be pressed to gain the edge on the Triumph in a race. John seems to have done his travels on the quiet for his own satisfaction and this article is perhaps the only record of them. I wonder if he is still around today?

Click on the images for larger, better definition scans.

I've got my entry in for the Pioneer Run so it seemed like a good idea to check over the Autowheel and make sure all works as well as it should.

The first job was to fit a 'new' wheel with Sturmey Archer three speed that I found for the bike a while back. It may be a light machine but pushing a tall gear up a slight incline to start the contraption was leading to my knees feeling like they would pop from their sockets. Problem is, you need a reasonably tall gear to maintain momentum to attack the hills. With no advance and retard on the Wall, once you drop below a certain speed on a hill you are doomed to a long and arduous walk so keeping a minimum speed is imperative. Having high and low ratios should overcome both issues.

The new wheel was a very lucky match for the front both in rim profile and patina. Taking the old off however reminded me of one of the great frustrations of working on the Wall - its incredible unwieldiness. To remove the rear wheel you also have to remove the engine unit at the same time. One of the engine subframe mounts attaches to the rear wheel axle and thus requires a long axle. With a Sturmey Archer hub there's no playing around with axle length so it seemed like a good idea to see if I couldn't come up with a slightly better mounting solution.

With a lot of fiddling around and minor adjustments I've managed to fit the Autowheel separate from the wheel axle by moving it just in front. It doesn't leave a lot of adjustment on the bicycle chain but given that average annual mileage over the last decade has been about thirty miles per annum I don't think that a stretched chain running to the limit of adjustment will be a problem any time soon.

A quick check over and a couple of other improvements and all that remains now is for a test run. It was a pity I didn't get to ride the Pioneer last year on the Wall's hundredth birthday - work got in the way. I'm hoping nothing changes and my ride for 2016 remains open.

The Vincent range for 1952.

Also posted up the Vincent HRD range for 1948

& The Conway Motors Vincent Buyers Guide.

I'm slightly hesitant to identify this machine as a Triumph but that is what it looks like to me, from around 1908. Perhaps someone can comment or get in touch to confirm or deny the identification. If it is indeed a Triumph it is a mildly customised one, it looks like the pedal cranks have been removed and the petrol tank has had a different paint job.

The Enfield Robin is a lesser known cul de sac of the Indian Royal Enfield story in the UK. The Enfield Robin was a collaboration between arch diesel motorcycle enthusiast Ernie Dorsett (who had already built several specials and a short run of Matchless engined diesel machines), Redbreast - the importers of the Japanese Fuji Robin diesel motor, and the UK Enfield importers - Bhavana. The model name DR400D stood for Dorsett Robin 400cc Diesel. The machine went on sale in 1992 (or 1993 depending who you believe) and somewhere in the region of 100 were made.

The Robin motor was 412cc and pushed out 8.5bhp. Of course power was not its selling point, fuel consumption was and in this it excelled at 150mpg though one could uncharitably point out that riding a Honda Cub slowly might give similar figures. 

Diesel motorcycles of course have a staunch following and the Enfield Robin is perhaps a best of breed in the traditional single cylinder industrial motor conversions. Personally I rode an Enfield Taurus diesel at an Enfield dealer in Rajasthan some years ago and find it hard to say anything nice about it. It was brutally slow, vibrated monstrously - something akin to riding a two wheeled version of an old fashioned dumper truck and gathered speed at the pace of a mobility scooter with a flat battery. That said an Enfield Robin green laner appeared on eBay recently and I kick myself for not buying it. If it is yours and you are reading this would perhaps like to sell it to me!

A few interesting Royal Enfield Diesel links: