WW2 Motorcycles Only

Looks like one of the previously-mentioned interservices sporting event teams! All wearing competition numbers, and couple of civilian rubberneckers!

 

Can't say I have ever seen a pintel mount there before !

 

Looks like a Moto Guzzi Falcone 500...which means he needn't worry, his Breda Modello 30 is either A/ going to jam, or B/ has already jammed! LMAO

As a machinegun it'll make a great lance...

 

Anyone now where this Pub is?


Royal Signals Dispatch Riders.

 

Good handling out them back tyres. Canvas tents and girder fork ribbed tyre motorcycles, not a good mix really.

Nice pic of Kit., check out the proper bix boots and over trousers. Decent gear.

Kev

 

Kev, don't knock a hardtail until you've tried it My first bike was an old Triump 500 twin retro-fitted with a pair of home-made girders (Chris Ireland) and a bolt-on hardtail. And I've had several since, even couriered on a couple of them in summer. Tracks better than you'd imagine - hit a bump, one bounce and you're tracking true again. Whether narrow or wide-section rear tyre. They also carry large loads like that a little better....all the weight at the rear is "unsprung".

I'm more interested in the two guys over on the left - something about them doesn't look quite right for British, despite the three-buckle DR boots...it's the style - Free French?

Does anyone recognise the location??? If you look up the street LOL there seems to be a big estate wall on the far side of the road...

 

Nice picture Andy.

Did they always run with semi-flat rear tyres?

Googled for the pub but came up negative!

Regards
Tom

 

Tom... not THAT flat! LMAO But, yes - less than nowadays. Narrow section, more rigid sidewalls than today, tyre pressures could be down at mid twenties psi compared with mid-thirties nowadays. Riders would drop them a couple of pounds from specification for extra traction in rough or slimy going, pump them up again for faster going on a good surface. (Army bikes came with their own pumps clipped to them somewhere) When softened, they'd be more...."wibbly"? - except a rider on his SPRUNG seat wouldn't be aware of that, the extra "suspension" insulates him a bit - and he EXPECTS it to be nice and worn and sloppy!!!

Noticably, here....they're in a convoy, so travelling at convoy speeds; so slower going than on their own, and they can run the tyres a little softer for comfort.

EDIT: nearly forgot - many used security bolts to clamp the tyre in the rim, so they COULD run soft. Just like moto-x/trail/enduro bikes today.

It's hard to describe the feeling of a hardtail and how it differs/behaves/should be managed, compared to a fully-sprung bike. ALL the handling suspension is done in the tyre at the rear, just like a bicycle LOL So if you remember how you handled all that as a kid, fiddling with tyre pressures etc., you're not THAT far off how they'd look after/use a Matchless G3!

 

Nice picture Andy.

Did they always run with semi-flat rear tyres?

Googled for the pub but came up negative!

Regards
Tom


NO! hence my comment.

 

I don't have G3 or G3L tyre pressures to hand, but a Norton 16H ran at 26Lbs p.s.i. in the rear tyre for a rider AND passenger, 24-25 for rider alone.

In comparison - a modern motorcycle runs 36 lbs in the back tyre.

 

Someone must know where the 'Six Bells' is. Is the star a brewery sign ? There are some other photos in the sequence and the town has a central / eastern England feel to me. It was discussed on the WDM20 forum a while back.

http://pub37.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=3155626639&frmid=16&msgid=959240&cp=1&cmd=show

Where were 8th Armoured Division on exercise in 1941 ?

If the Matchy rider had been off road then the low tyre pressures are to be expected but increase the risk of concussion bursts. I used to trial with 6psi in the rear tyre but it was like riding a rice pudding on the road sections.

 

If the Matchy rider had been off road then the low tyre pressures are to be expected but increase the risk of concussion bursts. I used to trial with 6psi in the rear tyre but it was like riding a rice pudding on the road sections


...hence the tyre-changing test in the old ISDTs ...and I THINK it's still in the ISDE.

 

The "star" - a brewery sign?....can anyone make out the letters on it? I can see a central *S*

 

Have I found a match do you think?

A 17th Century Inn on Church St Bicester

- Generated by Personal Ancestral File

 

Well Done Drew, that's it for sure. I reckon I've got it pinned down further - 'Operation Bumper' 26/9/41

 

Cheers Rich,

Operation Bumper = Home Forces exercise in counter-offensive against a series of hostile landings (in the Chilterns) (9-10/41)

 

The pub still exists. I reckon we should meet up there for a pint next time I'm over.

 

The "star" - a brewery sign?....can anyone make out the letters on it? I can see a central *S*

History - The History of Phipps Northampton Brewery Co & its future

 

The pub still exists. I reckon we should meet up there for a pint next time I'm over.

I was thinking of riding there on my bike for a now shot

When you're over from where?

 

Just had a look on Google Earth - Bicester, OX26 6AY, UK - and that IS a "big house" on down the road - the trees and the high wall are STILL there!!!