WW2 Motorcycles Only

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Post-war photos of a Triumph 3HW I reckon.

 

Style and control off road are epitomised by this Norton rider (now there's a surprise !)

 

(now there's a surprise !)


...especially on a 16H!!! Pity we can't see the drive side - it's got to have a dinnerplate-sized rear sprocket to do THAT!!!

 

...especially on a 16H!!! Pity we can't see the drive side - it's got to have a dinnerplate-sized rear sprocket to do THAT!!!


especially with those tyres...

Kev

 

especially with those tyres...


LOL They're not slicks, the front one is turning When you've the front end up...front-braking and stopping the wheel turning losses gyroscopic momentum - and a great deal of control! :mellow: That's why those taleneted riders (idiots) who do things like parade round the TT Course in one long 40 mile wheelie have a little auxiliary motor over the bars turning the front wheel on a second chain! Always good for a "Twin-wheel drive experimental motorcycle spotted!!!" headline in MCN!

It's "slow" film, so the treadblocks of the frontwheel are just blurred.

As an aside - "Observed Trials" used to be VERY popular among service teams during the war, both for cometition' sake between units/services, and to hone skills. The now-famous Talmag Trial, still held on MOD land, grew out of one of those inter-service competitions.

 

LOL They're not slicks, the front one is turning When you've the front end up...front-braking and stopping the wheel turning losses gyroscopic momentum - and a great deal of control! :mellow: That's why those taleneted riders (idiots) who do things like parade round the TT Course in one long 40 mile wheelie have a little auxiliary motor over the bars turning the front wheel on a second chain! Always good for a "Twin-wheel drive experimental motorcycle spotted!!!" headline in MCN!

It's "slow" film, so the treadblocks of the frontwheel are just blurred.

As an aside - "Observed Trials" used to be VERY popular among service teams during the war, both for cometition' sake between units/services, and to hone skills. The now-famous Talmag Trial, still held on MOD land, grew out of one of those inter-service competitions.


PR,
What tread blocks, Bloody road tyre!

Having spent a year on a Suz SP400 with Off road gear im quite familier with the art of a good minger.

Kev

 

The tyres here would almost certainly have been Dunlop 'Universals' - not as off-road biased as the later 'Trials Universal' but a good compromise. Unmetalled roads, cobbles and wooden setts were still common in the 1930s so most road tyres were fairly blocky.

Pre-war, 16Hs were often supplied with a 'competition' rear tyre and universal front. The comp tyre was more of a knobbly.

The army entered a 16H mounted team in the 1938 Scottish Six days Trial and all three finished. Those bikes had 21" front wheels and a comp mag but were otherwise to service spec.

The machine above has an MT school marking on the front guard and the rider is certainly an instructor showing how it's done. Due to the recruitment scheme intoduced by the motor cycle press, most pre-war trials and race riders found positions as NCO instructors.

WD 16Hs were down geared by fitting a smaller engine sprocket. The rear was machined with the brake drum so not variable.



I really can't imagine trialling in a respirator

 

I really can't imagine trialling in a respirator


Dunno - good for the dust!

 

What tread blocks, Bloody road tyre!



Depends on what THEY called a "road tyre", as Rich says...



cobbles and wooden setts were still common in the 1930s


Rich, I could show you a couple of short stretches of street in Belfast where they STILL exist...and I have to deliver on daily! They do NOT mix with modern bike tyres!!!

 

Rich, I could show you a couple of short stretches of street in Belfast where they STILL exist...and I have to deliver on daily! They do NOT mix with modern bike tyres!!!

That's a nice original Dunlop on a khaki rim. Do you know the bike it's on ?

I'm in Belgium so I know all about the hazards of riding a motorcycle on pavé / kasseien. Lady cyclists seem to smile a lot so it's not all bad

 

This guy must know a thing or two about wheelies......

Hey Harry do you mind leaning forward I want to put the front wheel down

 

Rich, it's from Rob Van Den Brink' excellent Norton site Norton wd 16h and wd big4, British military motorcycles of world war 2 so I assume a 16H.

Pavé is fine...in the dry...and depending on the section of the tyre! On my older, "working" GT550's with their 90/90-19 front and 120/90-18 rear, they're narrow enough to work well - but anything "wider" in a 17" fitment and the flatter section wanders to the side off a cobble

In the wet - all bets are off! Usually - followed sharpish by ME!

 

I can't quite get a look at the engine of the top one - but it looks like the corporal got the short and sh1tty end of the stick...as ususal! Going by the size of the plot - it's something like a 250cc C10

 

Captured Beemer and MP38!



Tom.

 

More of the same:





Tom.

 

Post 39 look like a couple of Guardsman if ever I saw two....Great pic!

It's funny how even on the battlefield they have a look of being immaculate.

 

Anyone know what's with those tyres?

Special Desert ones?

Over inflated?


Special BIKE! The Harley XA flat-twin BMW clone

1942 Harley-Davidson XA - Classic Bikes - Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum

Harley-Davidson XA

 

Grief Drew, are you having trouble sleeping ?

That's a nice picture that I've only seen very small copies of before. Where'd you find it ?

The front row Norton is one of the 1940 models with steel pannier tool boxes which seem to have been a stop-gap before the canvas panniers were introduced (incidentally they were a Norton design which was adapted by the War office for universal fitment). Interesting that the Norton tank transfer appears to have been applied over the ATS insignia or else someone touched it in afterwards.

The two other ATS bikes are WD/C Enfields - a 350cc side valve so about as powerful as a lawn-mower. Very often seen with lady riders.

One of the figures in the background has a G3 Matchless.

This is a very low resolution but less cropped copy of the original IWM print. There is a further G3 visible.

 

Hi Rich,

The 'Cats' away in Milan so the 'Mouse' is having a job/moan free weekend

I found the picture amongst the others via a few google searches ages ago and saved them to my hard drive. I'll have another look and see if I can find where.

Cheers
Andy