classic motorcycle forum
Motorcycle Discussions => British Bikes => Topic started by: Jane Wolf on July 07, 2015, 01:55:08 PM
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WANTED two classic motorcycles. Preferably Indian Royal Enfields. 500cc Bullets, between years 1960-1990. Although similar bikes considered. Budget small as restoration job is desired. Bikes are needed for a charity run from Bristol to West Africa by two lady riders supporting STREET CHILD. If any owners have, or know of a bike that could fit the bill please have a look at our web site jjbristol.uk (http://jjbristol.uk) and get in touch. Thank you! Jenny and Jane
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sorry but I think the idea is a bit daft and old hat , and why West Africa unless you’re looking for cheap diamonds. The bikes may only be needed for a one way trip when your air lifted back sick. Why not ride somewhere else and just send the raised proceeds? Try crossing the channel on a bike, not been does since the late 20s early 30s I think on an Ariel. You only need one bike, you will raise more, it will cost less, royal Enfield may well give you a bike for the publicity, and the Africa bike trip has been done very many times
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Hi Mark2,
Thanks for your opinion. Fortunately we have never claimed to have an original idea, so we know from other peoples experiences this trip is possible and we will return on the bikes and not air lifted out.
We have chosen to go to Sierra Leone because that's where the charity works, that's where I have visited and that's where our friends are from. We are using our own money to pay for the bikes and fuel so all proceeds will go to Street Child.
It needs to be a bit of a challenge to help drum up support, I don't think may people would donate if we took a holiday bike ride around Europe. Also part of the experience to is show the culture and experience because for some reason people think that West Africa is just about disease and diamonds.
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"It needs to be a bit of a challenge to help drum up support". I fully agree best of luck , and I hope you do make it there and back safe , this part maybe beyond your control , can you get insurance to travel to Sierra Leone west Africa at the moment ? "So, if you contracted the disease in Sierra Leone, Guinea or Liberia you would not be insured, but should you get it in the US or Europe, you would have cover. " as of today
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Totally the wrong machine anyway.
Modern Japanse trail bikes or I'd suggest a chinese 125, at least with genric engines you'll have some chance of getting them fixed out there.
Also a suicide stunt if you do not have extensive motorcycling experience. The run down the west coast from Morocco across the desert is very dodgy indeed; ask those who have done it.
No sympathy from me I'm afraid, charity begins at home, and I view these 'charity' stunts as pointless jollies.
If you want to do something useful out there, fly out. Sounds like some kind of ego trip,
like the man said, these charity bike rides are old hat.
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so im not on my own on this one , I agree with all you have said
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Thanks, I have had far too many requests to subsidise someones bike trip over the years, grown weary of someone doing some stunt in order to raise cash for some cause however worthy.
Its made me quite cynical about such things.
If the cause is that near to your heart, donate a weeks wages, but do not ask me to.
The choice of bike, I have had a couple, leads me to believe a lack of practical knowledge. Does she expect bikes to be donated? Half decent "real" Royal Enfield Bullets are few and far between and the costs of bring up some ratty Indian Enfield to a standard capable of such a trip are enormous and there is no guarantee they'd be up to it after.
I'd be more impressed if they'd managed to get a couple of new bikes at Indian prices delivered to say, Morocco and left them in Sierra Leone for the benefit of the locals.
What they need out there is birth control not motorbikes.
Yes I am a nasty person if thats what suits. If one one or other of these ladies contracts Ebola or some other nastiness out there in what is a high risk country for such things they'll expect the NHS to fly them back and treat them?
Africa has many problems and I am sorry for the poor people there, nature has a way of balancing things out, cruel as it may seem, well meaning white people have not made things better.
Remember saint Bob Geldof and his feed the world stunts?
Has it occured to anyone that those now flooding into Italy and camped at Calais are of an age to have been fed by that scheme? the population of the Horn of Africa has trebled since but they are still hungry, ill, and deprived, and living in misery.
Frankly they would have been better off left to die. Natures way, if you can't feed it don't breed it.
Being pragmatic doesnt make me a bad person. Sorry if I have offended these well meaning ladies or anyone else, not intended but theres lots of kids in the Uk that need help, and the way things are shaping up, they'll need it soon.
What it boils down to is....
how will this stunt raise more money for kids there than if you gave the money needed to buy, renovate and fund riding them there and back, [surely several £1000s] straight to someone out there?
I have read your website and the bit re the bikes at Castle Coombe, I am sorry to say, leads me to believe , while enthusiastic your knowledge of 'classic' machines is sadly lacking, that is not a G45, and a genuine G45, of which I once had one, is certainly not a 'cafe racer',
Need to say I am not trying to offend anyone, apologies if my frankness does.
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sounds about right to me
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I have read the ladies website.
Enthusiasm and good intent is not enough.
40-odd years ago I used to prepare bikes for ISDT, Scottish , Welsh 3 days trials all of which were set up to try to break both riders and machine. Some of my teams won gold, more often bronze which was no mean feat.
Silly tricks like hiding spark plugs and bits of wire in handle bars are not good enough.
You have to prepare for the very worst,which may not necessarily be mechanical., A hard fall will drive a footrest through the primary case for instance. Spare plugs are no substitute for doubled up electrics or 100%waterproofing; spokes need to be reinforced, tyres need careful thought, the ones that carry you to the Med crossing will not be good enough for the rest, and vice versa. Can either of these ladies change a tyre, which should have been fitted with security bolts, how will they inflate the things? No good carrying spare cables and chains if they havent been run in before hand. Sprockets will suffer badly with worn chains and grit, Enfield rear sprockets are integral with the drum, how they get round that?
Can you get 19 inch tyres easily in Africa? I doubt it, how about 18 inch rims instead?
How much fuel can you carry? the tank will not be enough for some stretches, supposing you fall off? a certainty for sure, how much fuel will you lose will while you pick it and yourself up?
Filters, you'll need really good air and fuel filters, I'd certainly want two fuel filters fitted.
Crash bars are a must, not only as luggage racks but to save damage when the thing falls over, as it will.
How good is your fault tracing on electrics, usually the prime trouble spot, you using Magneto, coil or electronic?
I could go on and on.
Interesting we have not heard back from these lasses.
I fear its one of these good ideas you get in a pub on saturday nights, I used to get lots like it. Never go in pubs anymore.
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the answer is . Honda 90 , but like you say no reply
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Yes its been done on Honda cubs.
I reckon by 2017 when the trip is planned it'll be a no-go region, particularly for white women, with the inroads ISIS are making into that region
Personally I think rather than faff about with fantasy about riding 'free' classic bikes to Sierra Leona these women who presumably consider themselves enlightened women should be doing something positive against FGM which is 90% of women there.
A disgusting filthy barbaric practice.
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Agree with all you've written, particulary the birth control. Money would be better used on Vasectomys.
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In a way its all our fault.
You have a country [any] inhabited by ignorant and often none too bright people who accept as normal disease, starvation and high infant mortality, and short life-span living from hand to mouth in an often violent society.
Lets say, as example Ethiopia or Somalia, Nature is taking its cruel course, then out of the sky comes the white man throwing food clothes medicine and tents away freely, seemingly endlessly.
No wonder the poor sods think that such things come without the need for work or money in the lands of the white man. They risk their lives to get here only to find not only are the expected to WORK for things but there is little work anyway. So they end up well cheesed off.
Add to that the effect of some religions which teach them its all our fault and the fuse of the time bomb is lit.
Places like Sierra Leone do not need well meaning stunts as this. I for one cannot see how they will raise more money from 'sponsorship' than if they used the funds they say they are using to fund the return journey and its associated expenses to send directly to some responsible person out there already.
Birth control and some aggressive feminism and education in the field of hygiene is what they need.
Two women on an egotistical jolly on a couple of old bikes while holding out a begging bowl is not going to make a blind bit of difference.Worse, if anything goes badly wrong these women will be a burden and drain on local resources which the locals won't need or want
Ride a bike to Africa if you want, do it on a sensible bike, and maybe write a book or articles about it and donate the proceeds. But its all been done before, dozens of times and its as said, old hat.
I see they flooded this site with requests, but havent replied to anything.
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I don't think this is the reaction they where hoping for , the truth maybe to hard to swallow
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I cant comment further, you´ve said it whilst remaining polite.
It´s nice to see there are still realistic thinkers in this country who dont need to look as though they are compassionate and caring to impress. Charity begins at home, and while I´m on can I interest you in donating to an endangered species of appealing mammals in Morecambe Bay.
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I hope, I come over as pragmatic and practical rather than anything else?
The poor sods in these countries need hard cash and practical expertise on the ground, not good intentions however genuine.
The rape statistics in South Africa for example are terrifying, for women and men I would not want to go there, and even less would I like my female relatives to venture to such a disease and a AIDS ridden place as S.L which is predominantley muslim with that cults attitudes to women.
Brave, well meaning women these, but in my view foolish.
Just reading about that place on the net is worrying enough.
Now who is going to donate two knackered Enfields? I had a rummage around ebay and so on and can't see any givaways, quite surprised at the price of them , in fact the older ones seem to be a favourite of the, "I wanna build a cheap chopper " crew. :'(
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"I wanna build a cheap chopper" Ha ha ha.
That is what American bikes are for (or Japanese).
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Have you seen some of the Enfield horrors that appear on bay?
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Hi all, thanks for your comments. We have both been away from an internet connection for a while. Despite everything, we're still as enthusiastic as ever. We have probably decided to make our bikes from scratch, getting most bits from suppliers as donations, the rest will be paid for by ourselves. All donations will go direct to the Street Child Charity (not sure if you've checked out what they do?) We might not know lots about these wonderful machines now, but we sure will after making two to our own specifications. With lots of help from very experienced friends, who have worked on similar bikes and done similar trips. (We will be going on lots of runs to get used to the bikes before we go in 2017) My father used to sell bikes so its in the blood as they say. Jenny has already spent time in Sierra Leone so knows the score and we are about to visit another guy who has just come back from doing exactly the same trip (we don't mind if it has been done before, in fact it's reassuring) It would be great if you had some positive feed back, but if not, I'm not being rude, but I probably won't reply. Thank you Jane
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I have read your website and the bit re the bikes at Castle Coombe, I am sorry to say, leads me to believe , while enthusiastic your knowledge of 'classic' machines is sadly lacking, that is not a G45, and a genuine G45, of which I once had one, is certainly not a 'cafe racer',
Hi, if you get a chance, please could you give me the correct info for this bike, I will update the caption. I'm not even going to pretend to know all about classic bikes, but I'm very keen to learn. Thank you, Jane
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The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made. The one I had,202, died in the Museum fire. As for the Arrow, I expect its owner loves it.
If you google Matchless G45 images you can check for yourself, and if you cannot spot the differences right away...................................................................mmm?
The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.
Thank you for coming back and for taking my comments in the spirit they were given.[I hope]
I still think you are going about it the wrong way, even more so now you have come up with the idea of building out of donated bits. Any owner of a classic bike will tell you the biggest headache is the widely varying quality of parts, frankly most of it is rubbish, and if its given away it will not be first quality.
Anyone here will tell you the most expensive and long drawn out way of getting a bike is to build it from bits.
Another hurdle is your mindset "these wonderful machines" aren't so "wonderful" Personally I wouldn't have an Indian Enfield as a gift, I had British made ones and they weren't that hot back then.
I love my old bikes,[incidentally Indian enfields are certainly NOT classic, merely an obselete machine made today] but 51 years on older bikes has taught me to be realistic.
Enthusiasm is difficult to turn into 1000s of miles of reliability.
You would be better off with a couple of 250 trail Hondas. probably cheaper too. One thing that will destroy you before the bike is the sheer weight of the things especially when loaded with the gear you'll need, they are a heavy old lump at the start. Lighter is better, just try pushing one with a load of gear on along a dirt road.
Good luck with your idea, I hope it goes safely and well for you. Yes I did read the Street Child bit, my attitude is still charity begins at home, and they need birth control not pencils; missionarys and the like of all kinds have been dishing out pencils and education for a 100yrs or more and made no difference.
There are more than enough children of African descent here in the UK who could do with the same help.
Africa will always be Africa, not even time will change it.
As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects; It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you, and you get an idea of how happy those blokes with lots of tat will be to give it away to you.
If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?
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The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made.
The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.
As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects; It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you. If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?
Thanks for this, I'll update the caption under the Matchless and have a look at some images of the G45 so that I know the difference. It sounds like a nice bike you had there!
It's a really good idea to do a stall, I'm going to look into that.
Here is a bigger version of the bike that I couldn't identify:
(http://)
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[img]
The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made.
The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.
As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects; It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you. If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?
Thanks for this, I'll update the caption under the Matchless and have a look at some images of the G45 so that I know the difference. It sounds like a nice bike you had there!
It's a really good idea to do a stall, I'm going to look into that.
Here is a bigger version of the bike that I couldn't identify:
http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015 (http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015)
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still a bit fuzzy, My guess is its Rudge.
Everything on a G45 is different, frame, tanks, engine,gearbox, brakes. two huge GP carbs,open megas and slam open, slam shut cams which made it one of the noisiest bikes I ever had.
Vey fast till they went bang, probably just a couple dozen left.
What you showed was what we used to call a 'cafe racer' back in the 1960s when we all tried to make our bikes look like race bikes rather than the current fad for pseudo american easy rider stuff.
That one as I said is a road bike with a passing resemblance to a G45.
You need a wider audience base for your idea,so glad you like the idea of a stall, why not float the idea to the bike mags run by [spit spit] Mortonsmedia group? Or local Bristol radio/TV?
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And speaking of "fakes", the mystery bike is a 1937-1939 Rudge. No doubt the ride could tell us stories about its race pedigree, but most likely it started life as a road bike - a "Special" or the hotter "Ulster" - and rather than collecting the very elaborate parts require to restore it, it has been turned into a "classic racer". The Rudge race shop was closed down in January 1933; a 1939 Ulster would make a respectable Clubman Racer, but would be seriously uncompetitive against a proper race bike.
Leon
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You need a wider audience base for your idea,so glad you like the idea of a stall, why not float the idea to the bike mags run by [spit spit] Mortonsmedia group? Or local Bristol radio/TV?
These mags look great, they publish loads! Thank you
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And speaking of "fakes", the mystery bike is a 1937-1939 Rudge. No doubt the ride could tell us stories about its race pedigree, but most likely it started life as a road bike - a "Special" or the hotter "Ulster" - and rather than collecting the very elaborate parts require to restore it, it has been turned into a "classic racer". The Rudge race shop was closed down in January 1933; a 1939 Ulster would make a respectable Clubman Racer, but would be seriously uncompetitive against a proper race bike.
Leon
Thanks Leon, Ive quoted you on our website, hope that's ok?
http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015 (http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015)
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Hi Jane,
Probably not the bit about fakes! We don't want to sound rude. I'll leave it to your clever editing.
(I'm restoring a real works Rudge racer, so it's funny to look at so many Rudge racers which are, in fact, no such thing.)
Leon
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"Classic racer."
any old bike chasing other old bikes around a circular track hoping to beat at least one of them to the finish, can't see any problem with fake.
bit like a trials bike.
=a road bike fitted with knobbly tyres and alloy guards because the owner couldn't find the missing bits.
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Thanks guys, the quote works just as well without using the word 'fake'. Can't wait to get working on some bikes, hope something turns up soon. Cheers, JJ
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At a recent club meeting here in South Australia we had a chap showing us his AJS classic racer. It was my idea of the ultimate of this genre: it did not contain a single AJS part! The only pit was that he had to blow up a very large number of original AJS motors before he realised that what he wanted was something much faster, and more durable, than the real thing.
I try very hard not to destroy any of the things I muck around with. Successful so far.
Leon