Oldtimers

Connaught 1921 293cc two stroke single engine # 479 Connaught motorcycles were produced by the Bordesley Engineering Co. of New Bond Street, Birmingham. Their first machine was presented at the 1912 Olympia Show and The Motor Cycle of November 28, 1912 wrote: “This is an interesting little machine, which is shown on the Service Company’s stand, in that the lubrication is effected in a peculiar manner. To the present model there is no lubricating oil pump but a small measure screwed on to the oil ...

Coventry-Eagle 1924 Model “ C35” 348 cc side valve frame # 34316 engine # 1Y/M 24994/M The Coventry-Eagle Cycle and Motor Co. produced motorcycles between 1899 and 1940. Production began with the building of bicycles and tricycles assembled from bought-in parts. These cycles were well-built and popular, which accounted for the continued success of the firm. Already before 1900 the company started to produce motorcycles and over the years various brands of engines, both two strokes and four strok ...

Honda 1962 “Benly” CB92 Super Sport 124 cc OHC twin frame # CB 92 2103457 engine # CB92E-2102845 “Benly” comes from the Japanese word “benri”, meaning “convenient”. At its introduction in 1959 this sporty little 125 was surely a revelation to a European market used to traditional British machinery. The CB92 Super Sport took its styling and design cues from the larger-displacement C71, C76, C72 and C77 Dream series. The 360 degree overhead cam parallel twin engine generating 15 bhp at a heady 10, ...

Ariel 1914 5-6 HP 670cc V-twin combination frame # 5595 engine # A5515 Components Ltd., the Ariel parent company, had been involved in producing motorized vehicles since 1898. For the 1910 season a radical change occurred in the motorcycle range. All previous models were discontinued and were replaced by 3 ½ HP machines that would remain in production for the next 15 years: the T-head White & Poppe engine, in which the inlet and exhaust valves were placed an extraordinarily 4 ½ inches apart. Bec ...

Condor 1943ca “A680” Army Model 677 cc side valve v-twin frame# 151135 engine # 40886 Condor, based in Courfaivre, was together with Motosacoche the leading motorcycle manufacturer of Switzerland. The company started making bicycles in 1893. Founders were Eduard and Jules Scheffer. Responsible for the motorcycle side of the company was Otto Fricker, who became the son in law of Eduard Scheffer. Fricker produced his first motorcycle in 1901. Condor used a number of different engines: in the begin ...

Ducati 1974 860 GT Paul Smart Replica 864 cc OHC V-twin frame # 852732 engine # 855384 Designed by the legendary Fabio Taglioni, Ducati’s first road-going v-twin – the 750 GT – arrived in 1971. Lacking the resources of larger rivals from Japan, Ducati made the most of what it already possessed to create one of the all-time great motorcycles of the post-war era. A 90-degree vee, the engine looked like two of the Bologna firm’s bevel-drive overhead-cam singles on a common crankcase (which in essen ...

Indian 1924ca “Chout” racer 1206 cc side valve v-twin engine # 91X586 The overwhelming enthusiasm for the Scout caused many riders, dealers and overseas agents to push the factory to design a larger, heavyweight V-twin along Scout lines with more speed and power, especially suited for sidecar work. Many factory executives supported the idea because the still popular PowerPlus began to look a bit old-fashioned. Franklin retired to the drawing board and designed a new model that would be known as ...

Honda 1986 Z50R “Christmas Special” 49.9 cc OHC four stroke single frame # JH2AB0204GS706678 engine # AB02E-5706763 The Honda Z50R Christmas Special is one of the most desirable of the famous little Honda monkey bikes ever made. It was produced in very limited numbers, just two were sent to each dealer, and only high-performing dealers qualified to receive them. The Christmas Special can be identified instantly thanks to the ample use of chrome – the frame, fuel tank, fenders, exhaust heat cover ...

Mondial 1962 “Nova” 123cc OHV frame & engine # 3926 Few marques have achieved so fine a competition record in so short a time as FB Mondial. FB Mondial was founded in the aftermath of WW2 by the Boselli family, whose first venture into powered transport had been with the FB (Fratelli Boselli) three-wheeled delivery van in the 1930s. The name ‘Mondial’ first appeared on a motorcycle in 1948, when the Boselli brothers introduced a revolutionary double-overhead-camshaft 125cc racer. Mondial’s minia ...

Bradbury 1912 3½ HP 554 cc side valve single frame # 36212 engine # 4815 Bradbury & Co. is one of the pioneers of the British motor cycle industry: already in 1902 the company advertises a motorcycle driven by a Minerva clip-on engine. Before motorcycles were being produced at the Wellington Works in Oldham, the company – established in 1852 – had already earned a worldwide reputation as Britain’s and Europe’s first sewing machine manufacturer. Bradbury & Co. was active on various markets: the f ...

Honda 1964 Benly CB92 Super Sport 124 cc OHC twin frame # CB 92 2105269 engine # CB92E-2101452 At its introduction this sporty little 125 was surely a revelation to a market used to traditional British machinery. The CB92 Super Sport took its styling and design cues from the larger-displacement C71, C76, C72 and C77 Dream series. The 360 degree overhead cam parallel twin engine generating 15 bhp at a heady 10,500 rpm must have been the most eye opening feature, but it didn’t stop there. Other un ...

Harley-Davidson 1921ca. 989 cc IOE V-twin combination engine # 19A14988 1909 marked the appearance of Harley-Davidson’s first V-twin, though it was not until the adoption of mechanically operated inlet valves in 1911 (replacing the ‘atmospheric’ type inherited from the single) that production really took off. Known by the sobriquet ‘pocket valve’, this ‘F-head’ (inlet-over-exhaust) engine – built in 61ci and 74ci capacities (1,000cc and 1,200cc respectively) – would remain in production for the ...

DKW 1931 “Block 300” 293 cc twin port two stroke frame # 209912 engine # 296285/74 Jorgen Skafte Rasmussen, a Dane by birth, establishes his first company in Saxony after studying Engineering in Mittweida. In 1904 he sets up an apparatus engineering company in Chemnitz, three years later moving to Zschopau, in the Erzgebirge region, where he begins to experiment with steam-driven motor vehicles in 1916. After the war, Rasmussen meets engineer Hugo Ruppe, who creates a small, 2-stroke 25 cc engin ...

Zenith 1919ca “Model F” 6 HP 770cc JAP side valve V-twin combination frame # 6300 engine # 8/81598 EX In pre W.W. 1 days Zenith machines gained many successes; driving force was chief engineer Freddy Barnes, who was responsible for the famous “Gradua” gear. The mechanics of the Gradua gear were a variable engine pulley worked by a handle, with simultaneous correction of the belt length made by sliding the rear wheel backwards or forwards in the fork slots. Its advantage showed itself most effect ...

BMW 1928 R52 487 cc side valve transverse twin frame # 12030 engine # 48538 For model year 1928 BMW presents two new 500s, the side valve R 52 and the overhead valve R 57 as successors of the R42 and R47. For the first time the company also provides models in the 750 cc class with the same cycle parts: the 745 cc side valve model R 62 and the 734 cc ohv R 63. BMW announces no less than nine important improvements for the new 1928 models, among which are a larger diameter front brake, wider mudgu ...

Velocette 1966 “Thruxton” 499cc OHV Frame # RS19078 Engine # VMT 304 Gearbox # 12-11876 The Truxton, designed in 1965 by Bertie Goodman, was almost an instant legend after a series of impressive results on various racing tracks, where its average speed often exceeded 100 mph. The name referred to the former RAF airfield north of Southampton, where since the early fifties motorcycle races were held and where in 1968 a proper racing circuit was established. The high performance production racer, w ...

Indian 1951 Chief “Roadmaster” 1340 cc side valve V-twin Frame & Engine # C2115 In 1940, 39 years after the company’s founding, Indian goes all-in on the skirted fender design, outfitting Scouts, Chief and Fours with the new tinware. After World War 2 only the Chief makes a return; supposedly a stop-gap measure until lighter, more advanced models come online. But a series of financial and engineering missteps doom the company and Chiefs are still being sold when the Springfield, Massachusetts fa ...

Harley-Davidson 1928 “JD” 1212 cc IOE V-twin engine #29 JD 7399 For 1928, about 4300 model J machines were sold; the 1212 cc JD was much more in demand with more than 11,000 units leaving the factory. Not surprisingly perhaps, as the price difference between these models was a mere $10. 1928 was the first year of the internal expanding front brake which was a practical innovation indeed. Some more new developments for model year 1928 were the addition of an air cleaner, larger size wheel spokes ...

BMW 1928 R47 Sports Model 494 cc ohv transverse twin frame # 5109 engine # 35678 In the nineteen twenties the BMW side valve models are marketed as touring machines, the more exclusive overhead valve types are presented as Sports mounts. The first is the R37 that is brought out in 1925 and has the smallest production run of all commercially produced models in the company’s motorcycling history: only 152 leave the factory. The R37 is replaced by the improved R47 that is introduced alongside the s ...

Scott 1915ca. Standard 3 ¾ HP Two Speed 532cc water-cooled two-stroke twin combination frame # 823/640 engine # 4129 Alfred Scott, a gifted Yorkshire engineering genius, starts experimenting with twin cylinder two-stroke power around the year 1900, when he mounts his little air-cooled twin in front of the steering head of his Premier bicycle. He keeps on refining his design and by 1910 the open-framed machine, so much different from standard motorcycle practice, is attracting more and more atten ...