classic motorcycle forum

I've been researching Rudge racers in Australia in the 1930s. Over the past year or so I've been digging a 1932 racing Rudge from a pile of Rudge parts. So far it has been identified from its engine and frame numbers as a Works bike, one of four 500cc machine built for the 1932 I.O.M. Senior T.T.  It was shipped to Melbourne in October 1932, and raced in events such at the Australian G.P. and Australian T.T. (at Phillip Island and Bathurst, but not on the circuits used now).

As well as this bike, there were 6 or 7 other "Works" or "Special" Rudges here. I'm now desperate to find photos of Rudges racing in Australia in the 1930s, particularly photos where the bike can be clearly seen. Riders were people like George Hannaford, Don Bain, "Reg East" (Norm Osborne), Les Sherrin, ...

The photos are needed to help sort out who rode what when!

Here's a photo of "Reg East" on his 1931 Works Rudge on which he won the 1932 Australian GP and the 1933 Australian TT, both held at Phillip Island. In 1933 it was muddy! ALso a photo of the 1932 Works Rudge.

Thanks in advance,

Leon

OK, I'm puzzled.

I'm helping a friend to sort out his shed, and one of the items is this Norton "Inter" project. The engine number is 64131 (which seems to give 1936 from my list - sounds OK), but the frame number 43739 has me baffled. I thought that Norton numbers in the 1930s were in the same range for engine and frame, but a plunger frame would have to be either late 1930s (1938/39) Inter, or perhaps postwar Inter/ES2.

Now in my list the years/first numbers go:
1937    69800
1938    81500
1939    87920

1945      1001
1946   A 2131
1947   B 7756
1948   C 13792
1949   D 20701

Can someone tell me what the frame is?

Thanks

Leon

Yes I know I'm part of a very small group of people who think of 1920s bikes as "a bit modern". For loonies like us there is not much on offer in the current crop of glossy "classic" magazines.

Not much point in sulking; better to produce your own! Because Serpolette's Tricycle is free, and only a click or two away, it can't hurt to have a look at the first issue: just go to http://earlymotor.com and follow the links from there. If you like what you see, add your name to the mailing list for future monthly issues. Beware, you might catch the early motor bug.

Cheers

Leon

I am currently "recomissioning" an Excelsior fitted with a racing Villliers motor. Unfortunately it is not mine!

The provenance of the Brooklands Villiers motor in the bike is pretty good: it was brought out to Australia in 1929, and was used to set records at races on Sellicks Beach (south of Adelaide) on January 1, 1930. The flying mile was knocked off in 57 seconds - about 63 mph, which is not bad for a 172cc motor. The cylinder had Brooklands cast across the lower rear flange. The engine number is S 43002.

But what of the cycle parts? It is said that the motor, after racing in various events in various frames in the early 1930s, was reunited with its original frame parts and Albion close ratio box, and restored some 20-30 years ago. Does this seem plausible? The front fork is Druid with side springs. The frame has a couple of numbers: on the right side of the seat lug it has 372 in rather small numerals, and on the left side of the head lug down towards the front down tube it has 3  L300 stamped in larger letters. The Albion box is stamped ER 278 on the bottom right corner of the timing side end cover.

I doubt that the bike has been ridden any distance since restoration - there are some issues!

Comments welcome.

Leon

A friend found this photo amongst his father's papers (together with some happy snaps from c1930 TT races). The original print is only about 2" x 1 1/2", and somewhat bent and faded. Through the marvels of Photoshop, the bike seems to be an early Humber - around 1910-11, as the later ones had the magneto behind the engine. Or it could be one of those funny marques that look just like Humber - Centaur comes to mind. Given the electric? head light, perhaps the photo is a little later.
To try to put the photo in context, can anyone add anything about the bike, the location, or the origin/date of the registration F4654?
Thanks. Leon

It seems like the bulletin board "search" function (the little box with the magnifying glass) doesn't work with old posts - perhaps those before the bb software was upgraded during 2008?

I was looking for an old post (1 year old) with the word "connaught". The bb search wouldn't find it (but did find a recent post), but the Google search (from the "search" tab on the main red site menu, then select to search just the vintagebike site) found it fine.

Moral: for searching for info in old bulletin board posts, use the Google search rather than the bb search.

Leon