April UPDATE

I am no Fool. The April Update will appear shortly.

Brooklands @ Kempton Park

Peter Allen with Epsom Salt

Old Timer

DECEMBER Update

Where did 2015 go? Once again we crammed a lot into a short time and it seemed that everything was happening in September. We did skip a blog in August and are still struggling to edit the footage from the Brooklands Great War 100, but we should catch up over the next few weeks. Here is a brief summary of our world.

Warbike Project

The book is now available via the link above or Amazon etc. The project is however more than just a book, and work continues to ensure that the full story of War Office Procurement, the motorcycles and their riders continues to be captured. The book is now lodged with the Research Libraries of the Royal Logistics Corps, The Tank Museum, Brooklands Museum, the Manx Aviation & Military Museum and the Imperial War Museum.

Brooklands Great War 100.

The commemoration of the 1915 Military Motorcycle events was well received and the early indications from Brooklands Museum suggest that it will be possible to have a similar WW1 period motorcycle event either as part of the 2016 Great War 100 or as part of a separate event earlier in the year. 

Brooklands Great War 100 2015

I think that it is important that we give both owners and the public every opportunity to see these motorcycles running.

Kempton Southern Off Road Show.

Once again we will be supporting Brooklands Museum at the event which is being held at the Kemptom Park Racecourse on 5 December 2015. We will be transporting a couple of racing bikes for the stand.

Norton OC at  Kempton Show

Kempton Off Road Show

 In search of ABC Motors

Brooklands ABC

I have recently been documenting the rebuild of Brooklands Museum's ABC. The motorcycle is a 1921 398cc ABC designed by Granville Bradshaw. It is somewhat unique in its design having front and rear leaf springs and horizontally opposed cylinders, reputedly later copied by BMW.

ABC Rear Leaf Springs

 Whilst the engine was on the bench several people remarked that it looked like an early aero engine; and they are not far wrong as ABC/Bradshaw were making aircraft engines for Sopwith during WW1. This engine owes much to its aero cousins in the form of lightweight castings and relative simplicity.

ABC Front Leaf Springs

I had already crossed paths with Bradshaw during the Warbike research. ABC were originally based at Brooklands where Bradshaw came into contact with motorcycle racers and manufactures of the day. It is easy to imagine how the ever active engineering brain of Bradshaw was soon developing unsolicited ideas and suggestions for faster motorcycles. This was no doubt the seed that launched a lifelong friendship with Freddie Barnes of local manufacturer Zenith.  At the outbreak of war Bradshaw was forced to move from Brooklands which was being taken over by the Royal Flying Corps. ABC moved to nearby Hersham where they changed the name of the company to ABC Motors Ltd. Here they manufactured stationary engines for the military and a few bikes including a consignment for Egypt which ended up at the bottom of the Mediterranean.

After a bit of digging I discovered that the old ABC works still exists. However, just as I was preparing to take a visit, I was informed that the site was about to be demolished to make way for a supermarket. Wasting no time I took the next opportunity to photograph the site. It was an overcast day, but I managed to get all of the buildings documented before the bulldozers arrive.

Site of ABC Works Molesey Road Hersham

I am now on the trail of Bradshaw's close friend, Freddie Barnes of Zenith. More on this during 2016.

Barry M Jones has just published an excellent revised edition of “Granville Bradshaw a flawed Genius?” ISBN:9870956497574 published by Panther. This book written with access to the Bradshaw Family archives is well worth a read. Barry says that he became interested in Bradshaw whilst researching Phelon & Moore. Bradshaw really did have connections with so many developments. As a postscript I even saw a Bradshaw oil cooled engine advertised on ebay last week. If you are interested in what connects ABC to Suzuki, VW Beetles, 3D TV and Wankel rotary engines, you need to get the book on your Chirstmas List. 

Website

Work on the website continues, but it is all too easy to be presented with a great looking site with little or no content. So; there is a bit more work to be done before it passes the content test. However, it will still have to continue to grow after launch. The shop is slowly being stocked and we also expect to have a regular stall at Kempton Park Bike Jumble during 2016.

1930's Projects

The AJS came out for a photo-shoot in October (more on that in 2016). It is a bike with a special back story and we should have it back on the road in time for the 2016 Shere Hill Climb.

250cc AJS Project

The Sunbeam is now owed a bit of workshop time. I do love an oily rag machine, but too many bits have been breaking lately! The silencer needs to be replaced, and the valve-lifter let go at Shere. The Engine and gearbox will come out early next year and everything will be inspected and the motley assortment of non period fixings and electrics from its 1980s rebuild will be replaced.

The 1935 Sunbeam waits to burst into life at the 2015 Shere Hill Climb

We would always recommend that bikes which no longer require MOTs are regularly inspected and receive a full independent check every two to three years. This will ensure that the bikes remain in a condition to be enjoyed by us and future generations to come.

The second AJS Project is a sound bike, but needs to be registered and a lot more work before it can be put back on the road.

Fenland ClassicsTV

Click below for this month's selection of Bike related Films:





Old Timer

WARBIKE: British Military Motorcycling 1899-1919

 Still at the launch price.

JANUARY 2014 Update

Cambridge: 1 Jan 2014. On the Water in any Weather!

As you can see from the photo it is rather a wet New Years Day in Cambridge and as I write this introduction I hear that lots of people are arriving at Brooklands Museum to enjoy the annual New Years Day Meet which is growing every year. This is particularly good news following the news that parts of the Museum were flooded on Christmas Day. Thanks to the dedication of the Museum Staff and Volunteers all the exhibits were kept from harms way and work is already well underway to get the worst affected areas ready for today. I gather that the ground floor of the club house may still be closed for a few days but other areas are open.

Southern Classic Off Road Show

December turned out to be quite busy. We were supporting the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers at the Southern Classic Off Road Show at Kempton Park. Stars of the show were the Record Breaking Brough Superiors which were run at this years Bonneville speed week by Riders Eric Patterson, Alan Cathcart and Henry Cole.



The Eric Patterson Record Breaking Brough

Also on the Brough Stand was The new Brough Superior SS100 on one of its first outings. We try not to do press lines in this blog, so it was great to have a chat with Brough Superior CEO Mark Upham about his own personal views of the project. This is a man who is passionate about delivering a modern state of the art machine which earns it's place beside the George Brough Marque. In a parallel to developments in the aerospace industry this motorcycle is a European engineered machine and a lot of time and care has been taken to develop what is a beautiful motorcycle.

The New SS100 Photo: Fenland Classic Motorcycles

I have to admit that I was not sure about the bike when I first saw the pictures and Mark explained that despite taking a lot of time which the publicity shots he was not sure that they captured the full essence of the bike. Surrounded by others prior to the show as the bike was placed on its stand it was clear that others were also sharing my view that it looks so much better in the flesh, and therefore my final verdict is that it is worthy of the name and could easily be the sort of machine produced if there had been continuity of production over the last 80 or so years. It is details like the retention of a state of the art girder fork suspension as well as the positioning of the cylinders and radiator that I found were not so evident in the photos.

Mark Upham and the new SS100

You too can get to own and ride one. However, this is not something that you just go down to your local bike shop for. No; you will get the Mclaren style service in keeping with its state of the art engineering heritage. Mark says that the bikes are essentially bespoke and buyers will be measured for their machine, then taken through a range of options including a number of performance packages as well as bike part options. All I will say is the price seems competitive when viewed against other specials and limited editions. And as they say if you have to ask you can't afford it! More Information at http://www.broughsuperiormotorcycles.com


It would be unfair to do a stand by stand report, because I am sure that I would miss something, particularly as my viewing time was limited. It was good to see the Pendine Landspeed Record Club guys and they won a few awards. The Frends of Speedway stand made a big effort and were rewarded with best stand, and we should also mention The London Motorcycle Museum which I need to pay a visit soon.

As for the Brooklands Stand we had a lot of interest and gave away thousands of leaflets and New Years Day promo flyers. As always, the Motorcycle Volunteers and events can be found on their facebook page.

Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers Christmas Lunch

It was great to attend the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers Christmas lunch. Good to see so many people from the world of motorcycling present. This was their end of term bash and turned out to be an end of an era event as Team Leader John Bottomley announced that he would be leaving. You can read a statement from John on the facebook page and we which him all the best in 2014.

John "Brooklands" Bottomley at Brooklands Ton-up Day

Warbike Project

The Warbike Project continues to be the main focus at present and once again I would like to say thanks for the information I have received so far, but we are still on the look out for stories of individuals and details such as maintenance of machines in the field (World War One). Email us with any information warbike@fenlandclassics.co.uk

Plans for 2014

We will continue to support the Brooklands Motorcycle Volunteers and also look forward to expanding the site which will also include a sales area later in 2014.

This year we will be promoting Sense, who provide support for Deafblind people. Find out more about Sense on their website and how you can support Deafblind People By Clicking Here

Old Timer