MUSEUM MAGIC
To say it in advance, the museum is fantastic. Anyone who has even an ounce of motorcycle enthusiasm in his body feels like a child in a toy shop. George Barber had earned his fortune in the
dairy trade and started collecting motorcycles in 1991, which has led to more than 1700 bikes in the collection.
Barber also came in contact with English motorcycle world champion John Surtees, among others, when he was looking for MV Agusta motorcycles for his collection. An ex Surtess Seeley Matchless is also part of the collection in Birmingham. > See PDF
Glemseck 101
https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/story/news/europes-biggest-cafe-racer-and-sprint-racer/
The Glemseck 101 began in 2005 as a fun motorcycle event and morphed since into Europe’s biggest party for lovers of café racers and old-school sprint racing.
Read more ->
THE BSA LOWE FLYER
A belated tribute to Kiwi home builder Don Lowe and BSA motorcycle development.
BSA was tasking Bert Hopwood in the fifties to develop new, visually and technically innovative motorcycle concepts. Said engineer doesn't really need any introduction in classic motorcycle
circles. Any Norton buff will know, that Hopwood penned the firm's legendary Dominator paralleltwin post World War II.
He joined BSA in May 1948, then the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer, to take on
the role of its chief engineer. Eager to pump new blood into BSA's product range, Hopwood sketched in 1949 a 250cc horizontal cylinder single with short overhead camshafts, simply coded the MC1 .
The same year, Doug Hele also transferred from Norton to BSA and was subsequently given free rein by Hopwood in 1950, to turn the MC1 concept into reality
as the template for a possible range of new sports roadsters. But Hele had other ideas and developed the prototype more in line with a racer, with the view of restoring British glory on the
racetrack, such as hunting Moto Guzzi's dominant singles in events like the Lightweight TT on the lsle of Man.
- more in PDF file attached -
Words: Uli Cloesen - Photos: Steve Green, Kevin Eagle Archive, Uli Cloesen, Sammy Miller Museum
Robe dell'altro mondo.
Nel 1949 il famoso progettista inglese Bert Hopwood, allora direttore tecnico BSA, aveva disegnato una rivoluzionaria gran premio con motore bialbero orizzontale a quattro valvole radiali di 248,5 cc (70 x 64,5 mm). Che messo al banco aveva dato 34 CV a 10.250 giri, potenza allora da primato anche per il campionato del mondo. Siglata MC1, la moto con questo motoreera stata provata anche dal grande Geoffrey Duke, che ne aveva detto piuttosto bene. I dirigenti della BSA pretendevano però che esordisse vittoriosamente al Tourist Trophy, che nei primi anni Cinquanta vedeva nella classe 250 la supremazia delle Moto Guzzi, con potenze appena sotto i 30 CV.
Hopwood, come logico, si era opposto a questo diktat, non potendo matematicamente assicurare la vittoria, la disputa era durata a lungo (dando tempo alla NSU di entrare in scena con mezzi molto
competitivi), poi Hopwood aveva cambiato casacca, approdando alla Norton. Così la moto era stata accantonata e non scenderà mai in gara. Oggi è visibile al museo di Sammy Miller a New Milton, UK.
Passano tanti anni e succede che in Nuova Zelanda un appassionato e pilota di nome Don Lowe vede per caso
qualche foto della MC1, se ne innamora follemente e decide di costruirne una replica, visto che l'originale
resta saldamente ancorato al suo paese. Naturalmente rinuncia al motore, troppo complicato, e lo sostituisce
con un Gold Star, inclinandolo a 22°. Ma riesce a riprodurre la ciclistica quasi al 100%, come si vede dal
confronto con l'esemplare del museo. Portata ripetutamente in pista dal suo stesso costruttore, la MC1,
definita Sperimentale, non manca ogni volta di polarizzare l'attenzione come altre sue estrose realizzazioni
tipo la monoruota con motore Suzuki 50.
ULI CLOESEN (FOTO DI STEVE GREEN E KEVIN EAGLE)
Glemseck 101 - Custom Mania
The city of Stuttgart in South-West Germany is sometimes referred to as the 'cradle of motoring' and considered the starting point of the worldwide automobile industrie. Not only is Mercedes Benz based there, but is is also the home of Porsche, the automotive parts giants Bosch and piston builder Mahle.
But, we talk about motorcycles. Read more
Rod Coleman war der erste Siegfahrer aus Neuseeland in Europa. Lesen Sie hier den Bericht über seine bemerkenswerte Karriere:
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