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June 2025

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Unlikely TT race bikes

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Nemesis cracks 100mph

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Tough nuts cracked

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May 2025

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Soldering on

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Reshaping the Bonneville

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A slice of originality

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April 2025

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Jumping back in time

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Road racing returns!

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Bolognese source

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March 2025

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Miller’s marvels

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February 2025

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SKY HIGH HILLCLIMBING

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Stately pile-on

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Get up for the Kop

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Time for a T140?

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Rick’s Fixes: cold comfort in the shed

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hole sideways

Did this Curtiss really do over 136.36mph at Ormond Beach, Florida in 1907? Nicksy thinks not...

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A RECORD OF EXAGGERATION

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HOW TO: MAKE A JET BLOCK EXTRACTOR

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BARON’S STROKE OF BAD LUCK

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How To: Make vintage bike grips

HOW TO: RECYCLE OLD CAR PARTS

THE ISLAND’S BIGGEST DRAW

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KEEPING THE FAITH

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HOW TO: FIT AN AMAL CARB TICKLER EXTENSION

HOW TO: REPLACE BSA BEARINGS

Offers and Competitions

Latest Competitions

Latest Offers

Features

Rick's Fixes

Mike Nicks

Magazine

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With the world-famous festival of road racing looming, the June issue of Classic Bike is a bumper Isle of Man TT special. Reflecting the spirit of the Island, there’s the story of Joey Dunlop’s greatest race, alongside tales of TT tearaways who bunked off school to see the races. Bike-obsessive Manx residents are also tracked down to their dens and there’s a roundup of the most unlikely TT race bikes ever.

Elsewhere in the magazine, a treasure trove of 11 Triumph prototypes built at Meriden is revealed, and there’s a tour of Wiz Norton Racing’s wankel workshop – as well as a Suzuki T500/GT500 buyer’s guide and all the usual practical fettling tips in the 22-page special section. Time to put your feet up and have a good read…

#### The June issue of Classic Bike is out now at all good newsagents, or why not :a[subscribe today and never miss an issue!]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-bike-magazine?utm_source=classicbike.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_classicbike&amp;utm_content=newissue_clb' }

#### Some surprisingly diverse machinery has entered competition on the Isle of Man’s legendary Mountain Course over the years. **Mark Graham** examines some of the more left-field examples

Just two years after its 1975 launch, the mighty Gold Wing was being repurposed into a Formula 1 TT contender. Well, not much of a contender – it endured an unrewarding practice experience and failed to make the grid for the race.

This was no ordinary Wing. Dave Degens, of Dresda repute, had wrapped some lightweight tubing around the big flat-four, and AP Lockheed calipers were employed to help scrub speed off the monster when required.

A Wing might seem a somewhat perverse choice for the Island, but back in ’77 it was still an actual motorcycle as opposed to the luxo-touring leviathan it has morphed into today. With 75bhp and 60lb ft to waft this lightweight version along, experienced TT rider Hugh Evans would surely have been in the midfield mix had the big Honda made the Glencrutchery Road startline. On another note, isn’t that period Dresda seat unit gorgeous?

Honda’s CBX750 may have looked something like a sports motorcycle. The spec might even have hinted in that direction: Pro-Link rear suspension, around 90bhp at the rear wheel and fake bellmouths moulded to the airbox sides indicated Honda were at pains to make it appear as racy as possible.

It was anything but. Boasting hydraulic valve lifters (as opposed to shim or screw-and-locknut) it was clear this engine was purposed as a low-maintenance hack. Which it might have been, had not early camchain tensioner failures been a problem.

The CBX was used largely as a police bike in Greece and Ireland. Not even the cops deserved it, but the opposition in the 750 class at the Production TT in 1984 must have been even worse. The top eight at the finish were all on Hondas, with Trevor Nation taking the win at 102.24mph.

By the following year, sports bike design had moved on, and Mick Grant won the class on a Suzuki GSX-R750, with six of the top ten on Gixxers.

Flitwick Yamaha boss Steve Linsdell made his name hustling a Royal Enfield Bullet 500 around the Island in Manx Grands Prix – an original Bullet from the Redditch factory in Worcestershire. Plainly no stranger to making unlikely machinery circulate the Mountain Course (he posted a 102.52mph lap on the Bullet) it was not a surprise when he entered Yamaha’s portly but ingenious GTS in the 1994 TT.

The Yamaha’s pivoted-fork front suspension and steering was not the issue (it was not a true hub-centre set-up), because that worked well. The major drawback was the sheer mass of the bike. At a lardy 289kg (637lb) wet, it was a brute of a thing to change direction with – even Linsdell’s vast Isle of Man experience and firm hand on the ’bars could not tame it enough to trouble the leaderboard.

Not even the considerable early prowess of Joey Dunlop could help nurse this big six-pot Benelli 900 to the finish of the 1979 Formula 1 TT. You can see blue smoke fairly billowing out of the foghorn-like exhaust and the machine was retired after just one lap.

It was a serious attempt, backed by the importer Agrati Sales Ltd. The substantial front-mounted oil-cooler, Micron exhaust system and SW air shocks indicate considerable efforts were made to give the engine a fighting chance – as well as to sweeten the handling of the big, wide device on what was then a much bumpier, punishing course than it is now.

It’s hard to tell from the photograph if the production duplex final-drive chain was retained, although that matter is academic as the Sei was among 23 DNFs in the race, sharing that ignominy with BSA, Triumph, Laverda and Ducati machinery. Hondas filled the podium places, with Alex George winning from Charlie Williams and Ron Haslam in third.

The Itom Competizione was the go-to 50 for privateers denied Suzuki, Honda or Kreidler products. In 1962 Beryl Swain, the first female to race at the TT, had to wear a diver’s weighted belt for the race after the FIM invoked a minimum rider weight in an attempt to prevent the eight-stone Swain from riding. ‘Too dangerous for women’ was the backward thinking. She finished 22nd at 48.33mph after losing top gear from her three speed ’box on the second of two laps. Ernst Degner won on a Suzuki at 75.12mph.

An even more exotic machine than the factory Honda RVFs of the 1990s – and certainly put together on a tighter budget. The Kiwi meisterwerk wowed IoM crowds with its lurid power wheelies and visibly brutal drive out of the turns.

Regarded by some as a the ‘wrong’ bike for the TT, with its extensive use of carbon fibre and advanced technology, Shaun Harris finished the 1996 Senior in 33rd place, posting a race average of 107.26mph.The bike’s creator John Britten died in 1995.

There was some exotic Ultra Lightweight machinery on the Island in 1952. Cecil Sandford won on a double overhead-cam MV Agusta, with Carlo Ubbiali and Len Parry second and third on the equally exquisite Monoalbero single overhead-cam Mondials. Further down the field, although not that much further, was Harvey Williams who came home seventh on a BSA Bantam. Sandford notched a 75.54mph average time; Williams achieved a race average of 58.03mph. He was the first (and only) BSA to finish. Bantams – plentiful, cheap and with store rooms across the empire chockful of spares – were a tuner’s delight.

Robust and capable of huge power hikes, the giant-killers of the times adored the little machines.

Aussie tuner Eric Walsh regularly put together 100mph 125s, while Brit George Todd published essential reading in the form of _Boost Your Bantam_, cataloguing myriad ways to go about squeezing unlikely numbers from the piston-port single. Fred Launchbury took a Bantam dripping with Todd mods to 20th in the ’67 125cc Lightweight TT at an average speed of 73.9mph

Hats off to Elmar Geulen for being the one and only TT finisher to ride a turbocharged motorcycle – and a CX650 Turbo to boot. The redoubtable German rider came home 16th in the 1984 Proddie TT, riding a novelty machine that had no reason to be lumped into the 751-1500cc class despite the ‘advantage’ of forced induction.

Still, the fact that the German rider posted a race average speed of 92.82mph compares very favourably with winner Geoff Johnson’s 105.28mph on a Kawasaki GPZ900R.

It’s hard to imagine riding a CX650 Turbo at the speeds required to not be a hazard to other riders anywhere – let alone on the Isle of Man. A ponderous 259kg (572lb) motorcycle with a mere 90bhp is going to be a mission to control anywhere when it gets to three-figure speeds.

Can you even begin to stop trembling at the thought of it hard on the gas between Ginger Hall and Parliament Square? Massive respects to old Elmar.

Flat out down Bray Hill in the 1951 Senior Clubman event is Johnny Cox, one of the leading lights of the Manchester Eagles Motor Club. Pleasant enough as a light tourer, a G9 would hardly be at the top of anyone’s wish list for a TT, even in 1951, but Cox was not deterred.

Plainly made of stern stuff, he would have endured numbing vibration from the iron three-bearing crankshaft engine, and all the time knowing that the fragile mehanite iron piece could spectacularly disintegrate at any moment. It comes as small surprise that Johnny failed to reach the flag in this race.

Triumphs filled the first three places of the race, although it should be noted that four Matchless machines completed the course. This was before the Clubman’s race became a BSA Gold Star benefit.

How we yearn for the days when a motorcycle shop could build a left-field race bike and enter a TT. So it was in 1980 when Trevor Wise borrowed his wife Christine’s Moto Morini to take to North Leicester Motors in Ellistown, south of Coalville, to turn into an F3 machine (250cc two-strokes/400cc four-strokes).

Formula 3 lasted from 1977 to 1981, with Ron Haslam winning a World Championship in 1980 on a hot Honda 400/4.

Trevor finished 18th in the 1980 IoM round at 79.36mph. Barry Smith won on a Yamaha 250 at 91.98mph, while 11 Aermacchis finished.

Another Moto Morini shop, Elby Moto, entered Trevor in 1981 on a trick 400cc Morini which was faster (128mph at The Highlander has been mooted) before destroying a rear piston on lap one.

Another rider taking a highly improbable mount to a very decent placing is Nick Jefferies – eighth in the 1984 Proddie TT and seventh in the 1985 race. “It was a lot better than people thought,” he says. “It was a bit heavy and a bit slow, but only 18mph slower than the winning GPZ900R. It would only ever do 137mph – it just would not go any quicker than that.

“But it pissed off a lot of riders getting beaten by it – and BMW were delighted with what it did. They got a lot of good publicity from it – full page adverts, the lot. It was an easy ride compared to the Honda CBR1000F I rode. That bike was evil. I managed top six with it. Honda were so impressed, they took me out to dinner with the top brass, gave me the bike, the works.

“In all the 42 years I rode there, that was the worst by far.”

Do you see any of these unlikely TT race bikes battling away on the Island? Let us know: **:a[letters@classicbike.co.uk]{href='mailto:letters@classicbike.co.uk' }**

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#### **Norton 1500cc V8** prototype clears its first hurdle, an 8000rpm run. Here’s how it went

It breezed up to 110mph, where it was completely stable.” That was the verdict of _Classic Bike_ contributor and professional test rider Bruce Dunn, after his first ride on the recommissioned Norton Nemesis. “The speed data trace was a dead straight line, with no flattening off. That suggests there’s a lot more to come.”

The Al Melling-designed V8 prototype, which started life in 1998 as a doomed attempt to revive the Norton name, has been brought back to life by famed engineer Allen Millyard. “He rode it first, because he wanted to check if the cooling system leaked, and that the engine held its oil,” explains Bruce. “Allen’s had to do a lot of re-engineering, because he worked out that the original oil pump couldn’t flow the capacity required – don’t ask me how he worked that out, but he did – so he increased the bore size of the passageways and changed the oil pump. He re-engineered the original cooling system too, so that needed checking.”

Once Allen had deemed the bike safe, Bruce was given the job of running it up to 8000rpm – some way off its 14,000rpm redline but ample for a first run, given that Nemesis hadn’t been on a dyno beforehand.

“We had to run it at _MCN_’s test strip because it’s so noisy,” says Bruce. “A V8 through straight pipes makes some racket. But it doesn’t sound like an American V8, because it’s a high-revving short-stroke engine.

“It feels bulky, but well balanced. When I was turning round it didn’t want to flop over like some cruisers, but the main thing is the power – Allen wants to break the land speed record for a V8 bike \[136mph\] and it should easily do that.”

Nemesis is rumoured to be appearing at Goodwood Festival of Speed on July 1013. We’ll let you know if that’s confirmed.

Four-time World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty will headline a huge celebration of World Superbikes at this year’s Festival of Speed on July 10-13. More than 40 race bikes and dozens of riders from WSB’s golden era will be loitering in the paddock, and Foggy will thrash up the Goodwood Hill on his

1995 championship-winning Ducati 916. “I’ve had such a great time at the Festival of Speed over the years,” says Foggy. “I haven’t seen my 1995 916 for a while, so I’m looking forward to being reunited with the bike across the weekend.

“It’s great that World Superbikes is getting a moment in the spotlight and fans can see the bikes up close in the paddocks before they take to the hill.”

• Goodwood tickets available from **:a[goodwood.com]{href='https://goodwood.com' }**

#### The hardest part of Rupert’s Morini overhaul? It turns out to be removing the exhaust system. Although the gear linkage causes frustrations too

#### **Rupert Paul**  
1981 Moto Morini 350 Kanguro

Former _Performance Bikes_ magazine editor and motorcycle rewiring specialist Rupert has crossed over to the wonderful world of classics with a BSA 650 Thunderbolt and a recently-acquired Morini trail bike.

In the April issue, I airily claimed I had sorted out the wiring on my newly-purchased 1981 Morini Kanguro 350, and was moving on to tackle the smoky engine. I also predicted that the whole bike would be ready in time to take part in April’s Lands End Trial.

Benjy Straw, the Gandalf of Morinidom, was pretty sure the engine smoke was nothing more than rings. With a workshop (and work ethic) unsuited to oily delvings, I had no intention of finding out. So I offloaded responsibility to my friend Rupe Farnsworth. If you’ve ever read the children’s book _Uncle_ by JP Martin (and you should), you’ll know the One-Armed Badger, whose chief characteristic is a boundless enthusiasm for carrying heavy loads. Farnsworth is like that – but with engines.

To show good will, I removed the carbs, airbox and valve gear. All child’s play on a Morini. I had then tried – and failed – to undo the crenellated exhaust retaining nuts. These things are bronze, in a pretty fine pitch, screwed into an aluminium head. Rupe suspects the pitch exacerbates the problem, which is that galvanic corrosion (plus years of neglect) turns the aluminium to mush, and causes the threads to bind.

He extracted the almost toothless rear nut with a lot of heat, penetrating fluid, time and the patient application of violence. The front wasn’t so easy. In the end, he told me to take the bike away, strip the head and exhaust complete, and bring them back.

Benjy had already vouchsafed to me a ‘last resort’ method – drill an 8mm hole through the nut, the exhaust and out the other side. Rupe fitted the head in a vice, hit the nut and exhaust with his air drill, and used a length of silver steel as a tommy bar. To this he applied a mixture of long bars, light taps and brutal hammer blows – all backed up with copious amounts of heat, penetrating fluid and time. Eventually, the nut let go.

By now it was obvious that both exhaust nut threads were toast. Or would have been, if Benjy had not previously developed a beautiful fix: a bronze insert that gets the heads back to full functionality. Relieved,

I fished out the valves, washed the heads down and sent them off. I still had two 8mm holes in the exhaust pipe, but my mate Azza made short work of welding them up. His price: two packets of Haribos. I bought him a fruit cake as well.

With the pistons out in the fresh air, I could see evidence that supported Benjy’s diagnosis – the oil rings were gummed up. To be sure, I visited my old friend Andrew Scott, master fettler of classic Jaguars at The Splined Hub in Oundle, and owner of a set of bore gauges.

Andrew measured the piston-to-barrel clearance at 0.12mm. Max is 0.1mm. The ring gaps were even looser: 0.50.75mm. Clearly, I needed new everything. Unfortunately, the piston was 62.4mm, which is already the maximum oversize.

You can get ‘big bore’ 64mm pistons for the 350 Morini, but Benjy warned me that I wouldn’t like the vibes. Instead, he pointed me to Morini owner Ian Lucas, who had a set of plated Gilardoni barrels and good used pistons. Plated barrels are apparently quieter than my cast iron liners, and never wear out, so they were a no-brainer. To go with them, I ordered a top-end gasket set from Mdina Italia, plus new exhaust nuts, rings and gudgeon pin circlips.

Rupe Farnsworth put the engine together beautifully, and reassembled the carbs and airbox too. He claimed it was all a warranty job, even though it was his first time working on the bike. What can I say? I am surrounded by splendid people.

“The Morini factory manual is first class, and the new parts (plus a tube of Yamabond) resulted in a really pretty straightforward rebuild,” he reported. “I’ve not been inside a Morini motor before and was pleasantly surprised with what I found – simple, well-executed engineering design.” I think he means Morini were better than BSA. Which is unquestionably true.

There was a further diversion, too. In the April issue, I’d claimed I had sorted out the wiring on the Kanguro – but there were more problems still to find. When I began to investigate removing the rear head and barrel, I was presented with an oily morass that hid a fresh horror – a bunch of wires so close to the rear header pipe they had melted together. It was a wonder the damn thing ran at all.

I hacked into the main loom, cut out the offending wires and replaced them with much longer pieces so I could avoid the route that took them close to the exhaust. Personally, I find grafting new wires onto old ones a satisfying procedure – it’s all about having the right kit. In this case, I used tin open barrel crimps from RS Components (part no 718-7640). The crimp tool is the TT72-F sold by Kojaycat, who also sell pretty handy brass open barrel crimps (for 1mm sq cable) that do a similar job. The new PVC sleeving comes from Hilltop Products. Other shops sell it too, but Hilltop’s is the best.

With all the time I eventually spent on the electrics, I could probably have built a new loom from scratch. But I didn’t know that when I started, which is what counts. As a result, the wires are bundled above the battery, Morini style. It’s not how I usually do it, you understand. But it works – and it will keep working.

The motor fired up instantly and smoked as profusely as before. This was hardly surprising – the exhaust system was caked internally in oily deposits. Within 50 miles, it was clear as a bell.

The oily morass behind the rear cylinder turned out to have been oozing from the crankcase breather hose, which had long ago gone hard and brittle. I replaced it with a fresh, supple one and so far it has done the trick.

With the Land’s End Trial days away, I tried an extended test ride of two miles. The gearchange didn’t feel great. A check of the linkage showed why – the ball joints were seized and the crossover tube was worn. Worse still, the chain tension roller had seized and started wearing unevenly. With a day to go I could only put it back and free off/lubricate the ball joints.

Of the Trial itself, little needs to be said. Hours of heavy rain, plus fog over Exmoor. The gearchange was little better. After four and a half hours, I could no longer find first or neutral, and it was jumping out of second and fourth. I bailed out, limped 55 miles back to my sister’s place in Bridgwater and was tucked up in bed by 3.30am. Everyone else in my team, including Farnsworth and _CB_ contributor John Westlake, finished at 2pm the following afternoon.

A few days later, I investigated the problem. The ball joints had tightened up again, but Benjy reckoned they would have been even worse after a couple of hours’ use. Apparently, nylon ball joints (which mine are) bind up when they get hot. I fitted some replacements with sealed bearings. The chain roller was a bit trickier; it uses a 10mm bolt, but the only decent rollers available are 8mm. Yet again, Benjy provided the solution: a reducing washer kit that turns a 10mm hole into an 8mm one. The washers arrived in the post with ‘A consolation prize’ written neatly on the bag. The new roller spins like a top.

A test ride revealed the gearchange was still useless. The bulkier front ball joint fouled the clutch actuator arm. I replaced it with the best of the old joints and tried again. Success. Except it’s still surprisingly hard to find neutral. Impossible from first; only with practice, and while still moving, from second. Which means I need to investigate the clutch for possible drag... before I go trail riding in France in six weeks’ time.

Some people shop around for months, weighing up one used bike against another. I prefer to wait until I’m inspired, pay the seller and hope for the best. You might think that’s not such a great approach, and I might agree with you. But it won’t stop me from doing it again.

That’s a punchy £935 on top of the purchase price to get a rideable bike. Which will shortly need new tyres...

The May issue of Classic Bike features a true icon of motorcycle design on the cover – the Ducati 916. It heralds a buyer’s guide within the pages of the magazine, to help readers buy the best possible version of the bike that stunned the world when it arrived over 30 years ago.

Delving further back in time, there’s the story of a great might-have-been – Craig Vetter’s re-imagined Triumph Bonneville from 1973, showing the prototype that failed to make it into production before the company’s descent into financial collapse.

There’s more variety served up with the story of a Yamaha RD350B restored after being owned for 48 years, a test ride on a 1989 BMW K100RS ‘Flying Brick’, and an interview with Alan Carter – the British racer tipped to be ‘the next Barry Sheene’ in the 1980s before it all went pear-shaped.

There’s also readers’ rides, Classic Bike project updates and other regulars – including a tour of MotoCatman’s workshop where classic Suzuki race bikes are fettled – and more practical hints and tips than you can shake a torque wrench at.

#### The May issue of Classic Bike is out now at all good newsagents, or why not :a[subscribe today and never miss an issue!]{href='https://www.greatmagazines.co.uk/classic-bike-magazine?utm_source=classicbike.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=bau_classicbike&amp;utm_content=newissue_clb' }

#### Last time the **Henley-Blackburne** was on the bench, Rick said it was nearly there and just needed the oil tank fixing. Of course, it turned out to be more involved than that...

I’m hoping to ride the Henlely at an event in the next couple of weeks. I’ve already got my skates on – but sometimes I seem to be going backwards!

Well, I call it ‘shed truth’ – stuff you think is true at the time, like ‘I’ll only be five minutes’ or ‘This is my last project’. Yes, the oil tank was the last big job left on the Henley, but as you work through the big jobs, smaller niggles always assume a greater importance so there’s always something left to do.

The oil tank is soldered together – and where it had leaked, degreaser-resistant Castrol R had penetrated the soldered joints, meaning it couldn’t simply be re-soldered. MIG welding would work – but just as oil pollutes soldering, solder pollutes a weld and once filled with water as a test, the tank leaked like a shower head.

The next step was to polish up the welds and solder the leaks, but it’s still not an easy ride. Most of us are used to soldering wire, but tin-work is like painting – preparation is the biggest part, it won’t stick if you just slap it on. Flux – acid, like Baker’s Fluid – is useful but won’t do all the work.

Grinders, power files and abrasive burrs are all needed to get the joint bright, after which the flux will assist flow to tin the surface; only then can the repair start.

Talking of oil pollution, the engine’s stood a long time and while Castrol R is very sticky, it also absorbs atmospheric moisture so it can either protect or corrode. Fortunately, 1920s engines don’t have the drilled oilways that gummy old R can block, but it was still worth stripping. That also allowed me to drill and tap an extra oil hole in the crankcase and find out why the head was shimmed up so far it was tight in the frame. Luckily there were no horrors in the engine – as I suspected, the bottom end has been reconditioned and any parts needed came from my spares stock.

So, with that all done and the oil tank fitted and filled, surely that’s the Henley finally finished? Er, well... full of the joys of spring, I made the fuel pipe and put fuel in the tank... which leaks nearly as badly as the oil tank did! Oh well. I ought to make a primary chainguard too, but like I keep saying, it really is nearly there now!

I’m glad I checked. Inside the timing cover, the Castrol R has dried out like wax – it’s very crusty and gritty in there after standing in a damp shed for 15 years and wants a good clean up.

There is one piece of good news – the camshaft is the asymmetrical ‘kidney cam’ profile used on Blackburne racing engines. One follower was a repro, cast in bronze, but I had an original in my spares stash.

This grubby piston is from a side-valve Blackburne. The ohv engine’s combustion chamber requires ring grooves lower on the piston to clear valve cutaways at the top of the cylinder.

Which is why this bike had thick shims under the barrel and head gasket – and why the rockers almost touched the frame under the tank. Just as well I’ve got a spare ohv piston!

The bore is standard and the big end feels good, but the small end bush is free to move in the conrod. I’ll need to make one slightly larger on the lathe to restore the press fit.

The bush wasn’t seriously loose in the rod, just sliding, so I added 5 thou. When sizing for the pin with an adjustable reamer, take tiny cuts – ¼ turn of the adjuster – to prevent digging in.

This is what I mean about R; you won’t get this out without a stripdown and scraping it away with a knife. Great oil, great smell – but don’t leave it lying in an engine for too many years!

Bearings were all good, and with everything clean there was just one other job to do: mount the case and drill a hole for the auxiliary hand pump. This was common on race engines.

Three-stone cylinder deglazer’s a bit hit ’n’ miss compared to real honing – but if you use one, go up and down fast to steepen the hatching angle and make sure the barrel’s well secured!

Deglazing the bore will help bed in the new piston rings I’ve fitted. I made a new base gasket and fitted the barrel. The engine was looking much better. I’m pleased with the twin oil unions, too.

A few days soaking in my caustic soda tub cleans oil and carbon from iron heads/ barrels. It also burns skin and shoe leather as well as dissolving alloy castings, so use with care and rinse thoroughly.

With the valves ground in, the next job was to set the rocker heights. They screw in and need to make good contact with the valve tip throughout the opening range. After that, the valve springs can be fitted.

The head had been fitted with Allen bolts, but I had some originals. I have an original key for the square heads. Fit them in the head before the rockers or you can’t get them in the holes.

The difficulty with the oil tank is that, as you grind back the welds, tiny blowholes like this one (pointed out) appear. I think they’re caused by pollutants that reappear as you try to weld over them.

I find the best way to get around this problem is to use a small burr on a Dremel tool – use it to open out the hole, like a dentist on a tooth cavity, cleaning up the surrounding metal so that solder will take.

Unfortunately, blowholes are often duplicated in the solder too – sometimes they’re just tiny dots – and can be stubborn to beat. Once again, burr them out as deep as you can and try again using flux.

If all else fails, the last resort is to heat very locally and blob solder over the blowhole so that it fuses with limited melting. That’s sorted, but there’s a drip of water – from underneath this time.

So it goes on, until all leaks are fixed. Here the solder won’t flow over the tinned surface, which may be due to a lack of heat or possibly pollution. Try heat and brushing with flux – it should follow the brush.

This is what you don’t want. Seeing the edge of the solder tucked under tells you it hasn’t fused. It may work, but is unlikely to last; if you try to tidy it up, the leak’s likely to restart.

That got it! Note how the flux floats to the top where it can be wiped clean later. Use a small flame – and sparingly. Too much heat warps the steel, so it’ll move as the solder sets.

I made a new tank top ‘lid’. Rolling the edge around anything you can use as a former will increase strength, so it resists heat distortion and produces a groove for weld or solder.

My lid needs soldering to the internal frame to prevent oil leaking from under the bolt. The best way to do that was first to generously tin both the bracket and the steel top.

Bolt/washer secures the lid while supplying a conductor for heat to reach the solder without risk of distorting the lid. Tightening the nut as the solder melts presses the parts together.

Don’t try to bridge gaps when welding sheet, you’re likely to burn holes that way. Just dress the metal with a hammer to close up the gap as you go; weld heat makes it easy.

All done. The cap needed altering to fit properly and I had to make a pipe to run from the hand oil pump on the left to the new crankcase fitting – it’s an extra for high-speed use.

Another little job I’d been meaning to do was finding a way to grease the rocker spindles. I made these domed nuts on the lathe; threaded for grease nipples, they’ll make the job easy.

For soldering steel, Baker’s flux is essential – but it’s corrosive, so wash everything clean after. Carbide burrs in a Dremel and a power file are also great for buffing corrosion.

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#### In 1971, American freelance designer **Craig Vetter** was asked to restyle the Triumph Bonneville. The result received good feedback in the USA – but British bosses disagreed and the bike never entered production

**Words** MICK DUCKWORTH **Photography** CRAIG VETTER & MICK DUCKWORTH

**O**f all the misadventure and missed opportunities that littered the last days of the British motorcycle industry in the 1970s, the Bonneville TT is probably one of the most unfortunate. The dirttracker-influenced machine could have been a contender – especially in the USA, where Triumph’s esteem had taken a dip – and earned lucrative Stateside sales. But, although a prototype was produced and shown to Triumph bosses in the UK and dealers in the US, it failed to make production. Why?

The model’s creation was fuelled by the reaction from Triumph’s US dealers and loyal customers to the redesigned 650cc Bonneville, launched for 1971. They thought the makeover, executed by the BSA Group’s Umberslade Hall research centre, was a disaster. Not only was the seat set so high on the oil-bearing frame that it could be awkward even for six-footers, the new look also lacked the pizazz that had become a Triumph trademark. Sales were plummeting, just as the US went into an all-time motorcycling boom.

That’s why Jack Redmon, Stateside Triumph’s newly-appointed Product Planning Director, turned to Craig Vetter. The switched-on Illinois-based industrial designer and fairing manufacturer had already made his name by creating what became the Triumph X-75 Hurricane. Commissioned by BSA’s Eastern US office in 1969 because of disappointment at the 750cc Rocket 3’s boxy looks, the radically-styled triple caused a sensation when pictured on the cover of _Cycle World_ magazine in September 1970. But potential Hurricane owners had to wait until 1973, when it emerged as a Triumph. It has since become a cult machine.

“Jack called in November 1971,” Craig recalls. “He was worried. Demand for the Bonneville had fallen off and Triumph was in trouble. He wanted a redesign of the just-redesigned Bonneville and suggested a number of solutions. The one he favoured most was a chopper style, like a conversion he’d seen offered by Triumph Burbank in California.” That didn’t work for Craig. He knew Triumph history and understood how much styling established by Edward Turner and his gifted assistant Jack Wickes, known as ‘Turner’s pencil’, had contributed to the brand’s success in the USA. Like Redmon, he thought the 1971 redesign had lost the magic.

“I was asked to return the Bonneville’s good looks – but at the same time, take the model into the future. Making it American, but also British. I looked to the style of bikes racing on American TT dirt tracks. Studying photos of Gene Romero’s 1970 AMA National Championship-winning Triumph, I was inspired to make a TT bike for the street.

“I signed a contract with Triumph in January 1972, and in May I was given two Bonnevilles to work on – 750s, like Romero’s. I had three months to do the redesign, but was also busy with my Windjammer fairing that had launched a few months earlier.” Charly Parethian, an enthusiastic student from the Rhode Island School of Design who’d written to Craig asking if he could work for him, joined other keen design students in making various parts to his designs, sometimes in cardboard.

Even before being contracted, Craig had started making loose sketches, a method he favours over the detailed renderings produced by some automotive stylists. “I think quick sketches have more life and spirit than polished drawings,” he explains. One of the first elements he chose to accentuate was the widely-splayed individual K&N air filters on the 750cc Romero engine’s carburettors. Looking to create the same effect, while complying with construction regulations, he and Charly fashioned a cardboard mock-up of cylindrical filter housings that drew air from a closed underseat box acting as a plenum chamber with a slot for air to enter.

Craig felt it imperative to replace the flat-backed headlamp shell with the traditional teardrop style, mounted on ‘ears’, rather than the much-criticised chromed wire and rubber bushes arrangement adopted in 1971. Vetter’s brackets would also carry direction indicator stalks. Thinking about the legendary raised ‘dinner plate’ instruments on Vincent twins, he designed a new binnacle unit that lifted the speedometer and rev counter into the rider’s line of sight. The tilt angle of the assembly, which incorporated the ignition key switch and warning lights, could be adjusted to suit the rider. Noting that the rubber surrounds for the standard instruments sagged out of shape, he changed the material. The horn was sited at the front of the binnacle, facing those who needed to hear it. The handlebars had the high-rise pattern many US dealers had wanted for years and the seat was made as low as possible.

“I wanted a slender gas tank in the Turner tradition,” Craig explains. “Round at the front and pointed at the rear.” A shapely dummy was formed with board and clay, which had to surround the large-diameter top tube of the oil-carrying frame, compromising on fuel capacity.

“The biggest mistake I made was to paint the bike all black, because that doesn’t show up details. We had tried and rejected the blue and white livery of Romero’s racer livery, but in hindsight I should have kept that.” The tank’s deep gloss black with gold pinstriping in typically Triumph scallop shapes was later changed to incorporate a gold-edged red panel on the front upper part.

“I always believed my under-engine exhaust system was the design’s best feature,” Craig says. Aware of Triumph’s concern over looming noise regulation, he combined a strong styling statement with a technical solution. “With 15 times the engine capacity, it would make the new Bonneville quieter than anything ever. Honda did the same thing a few years later on the GL1000 Gold Wing.” TT-style slanting downpipes fed into the large canister under the power unit, while heat shields on the twin outlet pipes were formed by the outer casings of old-style Bonneville silencers, with the assembly achieving six inches of ground clearance.

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