Roadholder 370 - October 2018

18 British Oil Leaks I know that the fall of the British motorcycle industry has been the subject of numerous discussions, but, speaking personally as someone who has regretfully witnessed the failure at first hand, there are many reasons. I worked in a car and motorcycle garage in the '60s and witnessed the build quality of the motorcycles going down: we used to receive new BSA/Triumph/Norton bikes that were really only loosely assembled when they came from the factory! They leaked oil from new, but hardly ever leaked oil from the centre joint of the vertically split crankcases, but they certainly did leak oil from most of the numerous joints/porous castings or from gearlever and kickstart shafts as they passed through the cases without any oil seals; some had felt seals, which were useless. Most owners accepted their bikes would leak oil providing it wasn't too much! In reality, the problem of oil leaks was minor compared to snapped conrods, broken crankshafts, clutch failures. Really, the list is very long and really depressing. When the first Japanese bikes arrived, we were amazed they didn't leak oil and for the first 500 mile service, most only needed a general adjustment of chain and cables plus oil change. The bikes weren't completely fault free, for example: the Honda C100 used to snap its kickstart shaft, usually due to size 12 boots being used to starting big Singles , but the electrics were reliable and everything worked as it should. The big difference was that the Japanese listened to our problems and made sure the problem was fixed, with the British factorys, when we reported problems with the bikes the answer usually was "we haven't got the time or money to fix the faults". The first Yamaha 250 Twins had vertically split crankcases, but didn't leak oil and were a revelation to ride as the power was surprisingly good, as was the Honda CB72 250cc model. The Suzuki Super Six 250 could embarrass 500cc British bikes with it's speed and good brakes. The Bantam used to break the gearchange spring which entailed a complete stripdown! One of my biggest disappointments was going around the Bracebridge Street Norton factory: it felt as if I was back in the time of Dickens - how on earth did they manage to produce any bikes? The factory had very old machinery, some of which had to be packed and shimmed by the operators to get a reasonable chance of accuracy. I like British and Japanese motorcycles, but I need reliability first and foremost from a bike. Thank you all for a very interesting read, of which I read cover to cover. Neale Didcock Dave Evans Remembered I was saddened to hear of Dave Evans' passing but Den Bourne's letter in the August 2018 Roadholder was a moving tribute to a great guy. I only met Dave a handful of times having contacted him through the Shropshire Branch of the NOC three years ago to seek his help with the Commando I had recently bought. He very kindly came over one Sunday morning on his Fastback, balanced the carbs on my machine and got it running. After that, he was always willing to offer advice whenever I needed it and the depth of his mechanical knowledge and ability to explain things simply and clearly were second to none. I knew he had been ill and I guessed things might not be good when I read his article in the June 2018 Roadholder where he talked about handing on his much-loved Fastback to a friend who he knew would look after it. While I didn't have the privilege of getting to know him well, I suspect Dave wouldn't want people to mourn his passing but rather to remember him for his humour and generosity. He was a credit to this Club and in the words of his friend Den, he was "a top bloke". Tom Kilkenny