Beachcomber's Tales from the day
- Thread starter beachcomber
- Start date
Erskine said:There was a v good programme on TV the other day in the series Timeshift called 'full throttle - the glory days of British motorbikes. It's still available to watch on BBCiplayer. Great documentary well worth a watch gents
Yes saw it first time around and also recorded it.
The T/V only just missed being smashed to bits when Croxford started whingeing on about record racing .............
Apart from that and the innevitable Mark Wilsmore - who was 7 years old when the Ace CLOSED - not a bad programme. At least there was some new film footage that hasn't been done to death.
Erskine said:
His private life had more than a few skeletons in the cupboard.
However, the stats for the bikes themselves are absolutely awesome for that era - I can't imagine doing 100+ mph on that bike in normal roadgoing conditions. Feeble brakes [ compared to performance / weight ], almost non existent suspension and skinny tyres - and for night time riding - virtually NO lights. The Promenade Percies of the day were true pioneers.
One of the commentators DID give the impression that England in the 1920s had a lack of paved roads and everywhere was "goat tracks and stray dogs " - hmmmm, right up there with "Record racing".
ONE breath of fresh air was the admittance that there were "only a handful of seaside scuffles between Mods and Rockers" fueled by [ provoked by ? ] the media.
I watched it again last night, prior to the showing of "Closer to the Edge" [ ITV ] - this time ready with the finger on the fast forward button for the inevitable gaffs and terminal inexactitudes. Yes, there was some very good stuff amongst the BS and as I said previously - some new film footage "from the day".
Just think, filming wasn't common in the 50s / 60s, but there must be miles of unseen footage taken by amateurs and pros alike.
My pal Micky Carpenter [ Carps ] was an unlikely film buff in those days and shot hundreds of reels in the Isle of Man for the TT and Manx races. Also UK races and Sprints - including some of myself Sprinting at Duxford, Debden and other venues.
Must try to track him down - it's been over 20 years since I last saw him after he moved from Dagenham to Cornwall.
I was the Stills merchant - but I have related what happened to my 1000s of pix !
One final tale coming up before Christmas - a "Christmas Tale" in fact !
I've been running back through all the tales as a prelude to sorting out "The Book" and just realised that this Christmas Tale will be the 3rd year of Tales I started in 2010. Who was it said "Yep - nostalgia ain't what it used to be " ?
"The Tiger 90 Sprinter and the haunted attic "
This time going back to the late 60's [ 1967 ? ]. It revolves around a time when I was quite into Sprinting, road racing having "given me up" as beng not quite good enough. :'(
I was also in the transitional period of switching my main "hobby" to cars - again dabbling with circuit racing, and then more seriously - Drag Racing.
The Sprinter was based on a 350 Triumph Tiger 90 [ unit 350 motor ] - it had a reverse head, quite ahead [ ha ha ] of it's time and running on Methanol ........................ahhhh, the haunted attic ?????
I've been running back through all the tales as a prelude to sorting out "The Book" and just realised that this Christmas Tale will be the 3rd year of Tales I started in 2010. Who was it said "Yep - nostalgia ain't what it used to be " ?
"The Tiger 90 Sprinter and the haunted attic "
This time going back to the late 60's [ 1967 ? ]. It revolves around a time when I was quite into Sprinting, road racing having "given me up" as beng not quite good enough. :'(
I was also in the transitional period of switching my main "hobby" to cars - again dabbling with circuit racing, and then more seriously - Drag Racing.
The Sprinter was based on a 350 Triumph Tiger 90 [ unit 350 motor ] - it had a reverse head, quite ahead [ ha ha ] of it's time and running on Methanol ........................ahhhh, the haunted attic ?????
Yes, nearly there now - just looking for some period pix to illustrate.
While I was dwelling on the tale, another swum into my brain - so there will be at least two more, then that may well be it for a while.
While I was dwelling on the tale, another swum into my brain - so there will be at least two more, then that may well be it for a while.
Last one for this year - finishing touches nearly done, then I think I'll lay down in a dark garage for a few years ............................................
Been enjoying it BC. Nothing to do with our tales realy. But seeing your penchant for Enfields I thought I post this for you. Don Sliger around 1970. The first "naked" bike to exceed 200 mph. Merry Christmas to you and Mrs. BC and a Happy New Year.
Why thank you kindly Hoof ..................
reciprocal greetings to you and yours, here's to that new record in 2014.
BTW - love that pic ..........always thought Connies were underrated.
reciprocal greetings to you and yours, here's to that new record in 2014.
BTW - love that pic ..........always thought Connies were underrated.
Well here it is, Merry Christmas [ with apologies to Slade ]
Beachcomber’s Tales from the Day
“The Tiger 90 Sprinter and the Haunted Attic” December 2013
So here’s the last tale for 2013 and maybe for a while. We’re back to the Sixties for this one – 1966 and I’ve given up on circuit racing and got into Sprinting.
Through various deals I’d ended up with a couple of spare Tiger 90 engines – unit construction sports versions in 350cc, the smaller brother to the 500 unit twins. There were various models based on this motor – the cooking version being the 3TA, a mid range tourer / commuter. They were nowhere near as popular as the 500 unit motor and were very plentiful, meaning engines and spares were cheap.
I really had no plans for these engines, being too small [ capacity wise ] for me to be generally interested in for a road bike. However a pal of mine was Sprinting a 350 unit BSA with some success in a purpose made chassis. I’d helped him at various times with the engine – especially when he decided to switch to Methanol. At the same time he wanted to go with a slightly longer wheelbase chassis – as was the current trend with the larger capacity bikes, so he bought enough material to make two frames – one each.
The whole idea of a tuning a small capacity engine appealed to me, and especially as the engine was very similar to my normal 500 / 650 Triumph engines. I wasn’t a fan of the unit construction design [ from an aesthetic view ] for Café Racers, but they certainly had a lot going for them as a Sprint motor. It did mean that without major surgery you were restricted to the Triumph gearbox – but that was fairly robust and certainly able to handle the increased power.
I had also acquired some of the very special race parts for the 350, courtesy of Tom Kirby’s ill fated Tiger 90 Race bike exercise. Kirby had been very successful with Manx Nortons before an equally successful switch to AJS 7R and Matchless G50 [ see The Inter engines, half a Manx engine, an Isetta bubblecar and a Wheelbarrow” ]. Tom had some very trick parts made for his prototype T90 derived race engines including pistons, con-rods, push rods etc., with some very exotic materials used.
This was about the time when I was getting into 4 wheel fun, so my lock up garage was full of cars and stuff, with no room to build the Sprinter. My pal agreed to build the frame for me, as he already had a suitable jig for his BSA, and all the components were just lying around in various sheds and cupboards ! A Tiger Cub donated the front end – forks and wheel, while the rear wheel was taken from the same Tiger 90 that gave up one of the engines. Other parts were again in various stockpiles including a pair of Methanol modified Amal carbs.
My pal Dave [ he of the infamous Rocket crash [ see “Disastrous Day out at Duxford – never use Aerolastic straps to hold your Fuel Tank on” ] rented part of a 3 storey Victorian house in Romford, along with another of our pals – the 4 wheel version of Dangerous Roy. Both Dave and Les were keen photographers, and had turned part of their huge attic into a functioning photgraphic studio and darkroom – this had left another large space which they had no use for. Hmmm, only 4 stories up – ideal place to build a Sprinter !!
So a deal was done that I could use the space provided I didn’t get oil and shite everywhere, AND sorted out Dave’s new Gold Star [ see “How to tow a Gold Star – not” ].
The frame was soon knocked up in my pal’s shed and the bare engine cases used to mock up the engine plates – on the understanding that it didn’t take root there as his space was marginal [ 6’ x 8’ shed ]. The frame took the typical style of the day – large diameter [ 3” ] top tube that doubled as a fuel tank long wheelbase and naturally a rigid rear end. While we were at it I decided that I would reverse the cylinder head [ as was the current practice on Triumph twins ] and make up the exhaust to save time later. Once all that was done we pulled it all apart and sprayed up the various bits and pieces ready to transport the lot over to my pal’s attic. In the spirit of the day – lightness was King, even down to the “seat” which was no more than an open tubular loop. The exhaust [ rear facing ] ran VERY close to the underside of the open seating area, which resulted in the bike being named “Oomigooliesbike” after the first test ride.
That part of the move went without dramas as all the components were relatively small and light and I was soon established in my “workshop” part of the attic.
Now the attic was a dark dreary place that had an “atmosphere” and felt cold even when we had heaters on up there. Now I should point out right now that I am cynical, although agnostic about the “afterlife”, and despite tales of the attic being haunted – that didn’t bother me in the slightest. In fact, the overall atmosphere up there was such that Dave and Les would not work up there alone, and their respective Wives refused to go up there at all – leaving coffee and toast on the attic steps for us to collect !
The build went well, apart from the aggro of timing in the cams for the reverse head configuration ! Soon the bike had been fully assembled, and the time came for us to get the bike out of the attic and down 4 flights of stairs. Dave decided that he was going to record the event for posterity and loaded his camera [ Rollieflex ] with a fresh roll of film, anticipating all sorts of mayhem when we tried to get it down the stairs. We enlisted the help of a couple other mates together with Les to move the bike and Dave had the easy task of taking the photos.
Dave started off with some general shots of the complete bike in the attic, with the open door to their darkroom in the background. Again, there was a distinct cold and damp feel up there, even though it was late Summer. Our pals also commented on it, neither had been up there before.
Dave finished of the first roll of film as we were getting the bike out of the small attic door – by this time with the wheels out to make the tight turns a little more manouverable. And yes, the mayhem DID occur on the way down with Les getting his hand wedged between the engine and a door frame [ neccessitating a week off work – he was a graphic artist ! ] and one of our pals getting the bottom of the fork leg sliding neatly down his shins and into his foot ! That resulted in a trip to A&E and 10 stitches – after we got the bike down of course !
Dave continued to shoot with the second roll of film until the bike was finally brought down and assembled in the old “outhouse”. As everybody was well and truly fucked by the exercise [ some more than others! ], I decided to leave the odd tools and spares in the attic for another day.
We fired the bike up in the road outside their house and did a few burnouts just to annoy the neighbours !
That, ostensibly was the end of that little adventure. …………………….. until I got a call from Les a few days later to tell me he had just developed Dave’s first roll of film that was taken in the attic. This fact is important – as Dave had nothing to do with this part of the proceedure. Les was very quiet and suggested I came over as soon as possible to see the results. I was quite keen to see the pix myself anyway, so went over straight away.
He showed me 3 of the pictures and there was a very faint [ I hesitate from saying “Ghostly” ] but discernible figure of an old lady carrying a candle and wearing a long dark flowing Victorian dress. And there she was on all 3 pictures – The first looking directly at the camera and the next two turning and walking away. I immediately accused him of doctoring the pix in order boost his theory about the haunted attic. Then he produced the negatives, and sure enough, there were the images of the old lady. Remember this is before Photoshop or any other means of doctoring the film.
Dave returned from work later, and when he was shown the pix – said exactly the same as myself. Then he was shown the negatives, and had no answer for that and went quite pale. He had often said that he smelt burning candle wax when he was in the attic studio, and occassionally thought he had seen a flickering light out of the corner of his eye, whilst at the same time – there was a cold, clammy atmosphere in the room.
A couple of days later Dave took the negatives to a good friend of his at Ilford Films [ the film stock maker ] to get a second opinion. They spent a week going through the negatives and pictures and concluded that there was nothing in the manufacturing process that could have caused the image to be on the film, and that there was no evidence of tampering – and Les swore he just did a normal processing operation. There was nothing untoward on the second roll of film he shot.
Both dave and Les were sufficiently freaked out by this, that they couldn’t bring themselves to go back into the attic for months – and certainly not alone ! I must confess that I did wait until they were both up there working before I went back for my tools and spares !!!!!!!!
The story doesn’t end there – Ilford films sent a couple of guys round to check the attic out and take a load more pix, but the image was never captured again ...........................................
Something like this one.
Bare frame
Beachcomber’s Tales from the Day
“The Tiger 90 Sprinter and the Haunted Attic” December 2013
So here’s the last tale for 2013 and maybe for a while. We’re back to the Sixties for this one – 1966 and I’ve given up on circuit racing and got into Sprinting.
Through various deals I’d ended up with a couple of spare Tiger 90 engines – unit construction sports versions in 350cc, the smaller brother to the 500 unit twins. There were various models based on this motor – the cooking version being the 3TA, a mid range tourer / commuter. They were nowhere near as popular as the 500 unit motor and were very plentiful, meaning engines and spares were cheap.
I really had no plans for these engines, being too small [ capacity wise ] for me to be generally interested in for a road bike. However a pal of mine was Sprinting a 350 unit BSA with some success in a purpose made chassis. I’d helped him at various times with the engine – especially when he decided to switch to Methanol. At the same time he wanted to go with a slightly longer wheelbase chassis – as was the current trend with the larger capacity bikes, so he bought enough material to make two frames – one each.
The whole idea of a tuning a small capacity engine appealed to me, and especially as the engine was very similar to my normal 500 / 650 Triumph engines. I wasn’t a fan of the unit construction design [ from an aesthetic view ] for Café Racers, but they certainly had a lot going for them as a Sprint motor. It did mean that without major surgery you were restricted to the Triumph gearbox – but that was fairly robust and certainly able to handle the increased power.
I had also acquired some of the very special race parts for the 350, courtesy of Tom Kirby’s ill fated Tiger 90 Race bike exercise. Kirby had been very successful with Manx Nortons before an equally successful switch to AJS 7R and Matchless G50 [ see The Inter engines, half a Manx engine, an Isetta bubblecar and a Wheelbarrow” ]. Tom had some very trick parts made for his prototype T90 derived race engines including pistons, con-rods, push rods etc., with some very exotic materials used.
This was about the time when I was getting into 4 wheel fun, so my lock up garage was full of cars and stuff, with no room to build the Sprinter. My pal agreed to build the frame for me, as he already had a suitable jig for his BSA, and all the components were just lying around in various sheds and cupboards ! A Tiger Cub donated the front end – forks and wheel, while the rear wheel was taken from the same Tiger 90 that gave up one of the engines. Other parts were again in various stockpiles including a pair of Methanol modified Amal carbs.
My pal Dave [ he of the infamous Rocket crash [ see “Disastrous Day out at Duxford – never use Aerolastic straps to hold your Fuel Tank on” ] rented part of a 3 storey Victorian house in Romford, along with another of our pals – the 4 wheel version of Dangerous Roy. Both Dave and Les were keen photographers, and had turned part of their huge attic into a functioning photgraphic studio and darkroom – this had left another large space which they had no use for. Hmmm, only 4 stories up – ideal place to build a Sprinter !!
So a deal was done that I could use the space provided I didn’t get oil and shite everywhere, AND sorted out Dave’s new Gold Star [ see “How to tow a Gold Star – not” ].
The frame was soon knocked up in my pal’s shed and the bare engine cases used to mock up the engine plates – on the understanding that it didn’t take root there as his space was marginal [ 6’ x 8’ shed ]. The frame took the typical style of the day – large diameter [ 3” ] top tube that doubled as a fuel tank long wheelbase and naturally a rigid rear end. While we were at it I decided that I would reverse the cylinder head [ as was the current practice on Triumph twins ] and make up the exhaust to save time later. Once all that was done we pulled it all apart and sprayed up the various bits and pieces ready to transport the lot over to my pal’s attic. In the spirit of the day – lightness was King, even down to the “seat” which was no more than an open tubular loop. The exhaust [ rear facing ] ran VERY close to the underside of the open seating area, which resulted in the bike being named “Oomigooliesbike” after the first test ride.
That part of the move went without dramas as all the components were relatively small and light and I was soon established in my “workshop” part of the attic.
Now the attic was a dark dreary place that had an “atmosphere” and felt cold even when we had heaters on up there. Now I should point out right now that I am cynical, although agnostic about the “afterlife”, and despite tales of the attic being haunted – that didn’t bother me in the slightest. In fact, the overall atmosphere up there was such that Dave and Les would not work up there alone, and their respective Wives refused to go up there at all – leaving coffee and toast on the attic steps for us to collect !
The build went well, apart from the aggro of timing in the cams for the reverse head configuration ! Soon the bike had been fully assembled, and the time came for us to get the bike out of the attic and down 4 flights of stairs. Dave decided that he was going to record the event for posterity and loaded his camera [ Rollieflex ] with a fresh roll of film, anticipating all sorts of mayhem when we tried to get it down the stairs. We enlisted the help of a couple other mates together with Les to move the bike and Dave had the easy task of taking the photos.
Dave started off with some general shots of the complete bike in the attic, with the open door to their darkroom in the background. Again, there was a distinct cold and damp feel up there, even though it was late Summer. Our pals also commented on it, neither had been up there before.
Dave finished of the first roll of film as we were getting the bike out of the small attic door – by this time with the wheels out to make the tight turns a little more manouverable. And yes, the mayhem DID occur on the way down with Les getting his hand wedged between the engine and a door frame [ neccessitating a week off work – he was a graphic artist ! ] and one of our pals getting the bottom of the fork leg sliding neatly down his shins and into his foot ! That resulted in a trip to A&E and 10 stitches – after we got the bike down of course !
Dave continued to shoot with the second roll of film until the bike was finally brought down and assembled in the old “outhouse”. As everybody was well and truly fucked by the exercise [ some more than others! ], I decided to leave the odd tools and spares in the attic for another day.
We fired the bike up in the road outside their house and did a few burnouts just to annoy the neighbours !
That, ostensibly was the end of that little adventure. …………………….. until I got a call from Les a few days later to tell me he had just developed Dave’s first roll of film that was taken in the attic. This fact is important – as Dave had nothing to do with this part of the proceedure. Les was very quiet and suggested I came over as soon as possible to see the results. I was quite keen to see the pix myself anyway, so went over straight away.
He showed me 3 of the pictures and there was a very faint [ I hesitate from saying “Ghostly” ] but discernible figure of an old lady carrying a candle and wearing a long dark flowing Victorian dress. And there she was on all 3 pictures – The first looking directly at the camera and the next two turning and walking away. I immediately accused him of doctoring the pix in order boost his theory about the haunted attic. Then he produced the negatives, and sure enough, there were the images of the old lady. Remember this is before Photoshop or any other means of doctoring the film.
Dave returned from work later, and when he was shown the pix – said exactly the same as myself. Then he was shown the negatives, and had no answer for that and went quite pale. He had often said that he smelt burning candle wax when he was in the attic studio, and occassionally thought he had seen a flickering light out of the corner of his eye, whilst at the same time – there was a cold, clammy atmosphere in the room.
A couple of days later Dave took the negatives to a good friend of his at Ilford Films [ the film stock maker ] to get a second opinion. They spent a week going through the negatives and pictures and concluded that there was nothing in the manufacturing process that could have caused the image to be on the film, and that there was no evidence of tampering – and Les swore he just did a normal processing operation. There was nothing untoward on the second roll of film he shot.
Both dave and Les were sufficiently freaked out by this, that they couldn’t bring themselves to go back into the attic for months – and certainly not alone ! I must confess that I did wait until they were both up there working before I went back for my tools and spares !!!!!!!!
The story doesn’t end there – Ilford films sent a couple of guys round to check the attic out and take a load more pix, but the image was never captured again ...........................................
Something like this one.
Bare frame
Time to say a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous [ and productive ] New Year to all my DTT pals. 8) 8) 8)
I was just warming up towards another Tale unti my MIL was diagnosed with a huge cancerous lung tumour over Christmas, and sadly passed away on Monday :'(.............. temporarily sucked all the will out of me.
Only 6 years my senior and NOT yer usual Mother in Law ...................
I'll gather myself up after the funeral and get back into my projects and the Tale.
Only 6 years my senior and NOT yer usual Mother in Law ...................
I'll gather myself up after the funeral and get back into my projects and the Tale.
Very sorry to hear that BC. A rough way to start out the new year. Regardless of your age losing a parent is hard. Sincere condolences. Take care of Mrs BC. Come back when you're ready.
