classic motorcycle forum

It's Triumph, but an unusual model. The LS was a unit-construction (crankcase and gearbox in the same casting) 350cc side-valve built in the mid 1920s. It was the only Triumph model with the magneto/magdyno behind the cylinder, so there was room for the funny muffler in front of the crankcase.

http://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/triumph-1925/Triumph-1925-LS350-Ireland-2.htm

Leon

Still a bit rough, but a better place to start? https://online.handh.co.uk/m/lot-details/index/catalog/83/lot/39896/

Leon

Are we looking at a 4-speed box? Norton used such a thing 1933-34-ish for its sportier models before going to the dolls head, but I think the 16H went straight from hand change to dolls head in 1935. What year is the bike?

We could muck round here, but Simon and John over at http://www.vintagenorton.com/ are experts and would no doubt know what is going on here. If you give them the engine, gearbox and frame number they can likely tell you how it all left the factory.

Do report back!

Leon

The term "bacon slicer" was sometimes used to describe the 250/350 ohv flywheel. The 8 hp side valve flywheel has nothing "bacon slicer" about it - all "mill stone"!!

If you wanted to combine the finesse of the 350 and the extra power of the twin, you could go for the 5-7 hp overhead valve fast tourist - quite a bike in 1924.

Leon

I love projects!

I acquired this one many years ago from a (late) friend. He was asking around if anyone wanted a Blackburne twin, and although it sounded interesting I had enough stuff on my plate. Later I tripped over part of the frame in his shed. "What's this Chris?" "That's part of the Blackburne frame" "But it looks Australian-made?"

Now I've got a bit of an Australian-made thing going on...

We dug out the rest of it, and sure enough the Adelaide-made Victor Blackburne identity unfolded. So far as I can see there was only one 8 hp twin made, c1921, and it went to a guy called Lenny Brooks who was an active member of the MCC of South Australia. He rode it in club events, won a fuel economy trial, even raced it on Sellick's Beach.

The reason my friend had the bike is that he was disposing of the estate of an eccentric Adelaide collector/hoarder. He dismantled everything he had, and the story was that his wife used to wrap random bits in newspaper and throw them in the bin. One of the heads had gone missing, and while all the single and twin heads are similar, I can report that there are many subtly different versions!

Anyway, I now have a matching head, and most of the stuff needed to restore the bike, even a nice period 60 degree magneto. The motor was seized, but I've managed to free it up and get it apart. With luck I'll be able to re-use the cast iron pistons. The twin has a built-up crank with roller big ends. It's a nicely-made thing, and the flywheel is almost unbelievably huge.

Fun!

Leon

And that photo was taken in the 1950s before a few more parts went missing!!

Hi Mateusz,

You win two prizes: one for excellent English, and another for "the most unusual British motorcycle to come from a Warsaw cellar".

You are exactly correct with the date, and the country of origin. The make is New Hudson, and it's one for the lightweights - something like the Model 91E 250cc from 1930. There were quite a few similar NH models at the time.

What a pity it's so badly rusted, but it makes a nice relic even if it can't be restored.

Best wishes from Australia,

Leon

Wow, what a flurry of excitement! It's such an interesting topic, and by a bizarre twist I've spent the last week or two researching Rudges in the late 1930s ISDTs. The speedtracktales website is brilliant. I love the detail, particularly the "final reports" that provide information that would be extremely difficult or impossible to glean ten years ago.

A word of caution about "ISDT survivors". I'm sure there are some genuine survivors, but there are also fakes. There's a particularly nice "1937 ISDT Rudge" (VSL869) out there, owned by a member of the REC executive, which is no such thing. Despite the owner regularly calling it "my ISDT", a photo of it on the REC web page labelled "1937 ISDT Ulster", and Rudge expert Bryan Reynolds describing it in his book "Rudge-Whitworth - The Complete Story" (where there are no fewer than three photos of it!) as "one of the 1937 factory ISDT machines", there is not a single part of it that went around in the ISDT!!! But it's very nice to look at, and that's what seems to matter these days. Such is the parlous state of motorcycling history...

Stew - good luck with your research. Some of the Rudge ISDT riders rode their own machines, and were entered under their own names. However even on the occasions where there was a team of bikes entered by Rudge Whitworth Ltd at least some of the riders had ownership of their machines after the event. I guess it depended on the "arrangements" between the riders and the factory. Note that riders could be entered under a number of banners: one rider could be part of an Official British team (say the British A Team in the International Silver Vase), AND a member of a Club team, AND a member of a manufacturer's team. As you can see from the Final Reports, there were awards in different areas.

Was it usually Leslie Ridgway, or Les?

Cheers

Leon