Telford oils old wheels!
By TMX Archives on 18th Feb 10
Following a Saturday spent checking-out the Telford classic bike show editor JD became an instant expert on the scene and fearlessly sticks his oar into the churning waters...
NOSTALGIA - it ain't what it used to be!
No, it's much better than that. At least that's what I thought while driving home following a day spent at Alan Wright's classic show which was staged at the grandly named International Exhibition Centre at Telford last weekend. Yes, it's a show, and a market and a jumble, and all kinds of things really. It's supposed to be the classic off-road show, I know, but the road racers appear to be almost taking over the Show part of things by stealth. I don't think anyone has a problem with that. They are all motorcycles and the people who take the trouble to travel to Telford are motorcyclists to a man.
Whether you go to look at the spectacular displays of old bikes - to be more accurate, brand-new old bikes - or to search out that elusive third gear pinion thrust-washer retaining clip for that ongoing restoration of your 1976 Montacossa thingy, the certainty is that you have a life-long love of noisy, smelly, lovely old bikes!
The Classic movement has been around for a long while now and while it originally kicked-off with the Pre-65 movement and its mainly British Bike element, it is these days just as strong, if not stronger, in the slightly later era of what is best described as Twin-shock.
This is 100 per cent logical as there are now more and more enthusiasts, who first got involved in two-wheeled sport in that era, now driving that movement along. The only surprise really is almost that it took so long to get wind under the fire. This is noticeable on both the trials and motocross fronts with lots of options available for anyone and everyone to get involved.
There were some fabulous ‘re-manufactured' Maicos on the Maico Only stand and while the prices were eye-openers - on the far side of £6000 for a complete machine - you are getting what is effectively a brand new bike. And my guess is that it doesn't lose 50 per cent of its value the second you push it out of the showroom.
On the trials front there seems to be more and more frame kits to allow you to build the bike of your choice whether it is a Majesty Yam, a Triumph Cub, a Villiers two-stroke or the rapidly ascending BSA Bantam. And there are a number of (very good) retail outlets for all things Twin-shock that look after Bultaco, Montesa and Ossa on the trials front and Maico, Suzuki, Yamaha etc on motocross.
The only downside that I picked-up to what I consider to be a boom in the ‘classic' scene as a whole is that the old eligibility rules seem to be rearing their ugly head again on a more regular basis.
Without any prompting I picked-up on this several times during the day by both trials and scrambles enthusiasts.
It's an age-old problem and an inevitable one in such a comptitive sport. Introduce a cut-off date, whether 1975, ‘74, ‘73 or whatever and the only thing that'll be competitive is the make and model that was the best on December 31 of that year! Which is why on the scrambles scene you see one class dominated by Maicos, another by CCMs, another by Bultacos, Hondas, etc, etc. Shift the cut-off days up and down the scale and you could, in theory anyway, engineer the system to the benefit of almost any make you choose.
Then of course there are the mods. If you are into the Classic scene then you very likely know much more than I do regarding what you can get away with and what you can't. Quite a lot is down to what you can actually see - or feel! On the trials front the ‘James' is the current favourite in the Pre-65 scene. It is the last bike that was competitive before Sammy Miller changed things forever when he signed for Bultaco. Sam of course was at the show displaying a very nice example of an early four-speed Bultaco that he had restored for a customer.
Back to those mods. For example, some of the replica James frames built in 2010 weigh about half what the originals did/do. Now repeat that for virtually every component on the bike.
Now, I'm not actually saying this is wrong. Part of me says, "It's my bike and I'll do whatever I want with it. In fact as far as I'm concerned, all of me says that!”
The conventional line of thought though is that there ought to be a line drawn in the sand beyond which you may not pass. And that's where the aggro starts because we all want the line drawn in a slightly different place. And it means more to some people than to others...
But we can argue that one out forever - and we will - the important point is Telford showed that the classic scene is as strong as ever - see you there next year!