Is there a Drayton website? I can't find one so thought I'd ask. Or, other than at shows and events, is there anywhere his products can be viewed?
Hi,
In ORRe, our digital magazine, you'll find plenty of details, including a test session with Mick Grant's Drayton copiously photographed, plus many photographs of them in action in the various classic trials around the country that have been 'Photoreported'
In the next issue (due out shortly) you will find images of some of the Draytons in action at Kinlochleven this year;
Dave curtis rode the Triumph twin engined sapphire as did John burton and Terry challinor for a brief spell although what engine they rode with i dont know
Here is a photo of my very good friend Terry Challinor, riding his Kyffin Sapphire in 1964, taken by Ray Daniel, and featured in his book "Motocross Rich Mixture", which I published and is due to be serialised in our digital magazine, ORRe. The motor was a 500 Triumph
Roger Kyffin was a motorcycle dealer, with a small shop, if my memory serves me right, near Brinington in Cheshire. He did a lot of mainly local scrambling and the occasional trials in the winter.
His bikes were always personalised into 'Sapphire' models - but I don't remember seeing anybody else riding them. Trialsrfun remembers correctly there were Triumph and BSA A65 engined versions, slotted into DOT scrambles frames and I suspect his trials model would be a DOT-based special, although I personally never saw it.
The Firefly was built by another sole trader dealer, John Lee - I think with a shop in Higham Ferrers, Northants.
Ripon Motor Club, Acklams Beta Summer Championship Series.
Event 1: Home Farm, Hutton Conyers, Ripon HG4 5EB. 23-04-2016
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 2.00 pm. Main trial 4.00 pm.
Ripon Motor Club, Acklams Beta Summer Championship Series.
Event 2: Fir Tree Farm, Grewelthorpe HG4 3DI. 21-05-2016.
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 3.00 pm. Main trial 5.00 pm.
Ripon Motor Club, Acklams Beta Summer Championship Series.
Event 3: White Wood Farm, Bewerley, HG3 5JF. 11.06.2016.
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 3.00 pm. Main trial 5.00 pm.
Ripon Motor Club, Acklams Beta Summer Championship Series.
Event 4: West Hill Edge, Galphay Moor, HG4 3PX. 27.06.2016.
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 3.00 pm. Main trial 5.00 pm.
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 3.00 pm. Main trial 5.00 pm.
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 3.00 pm. Main trial 5.00 pm.
Ripon Motor Club, Acklams Beta Summer Championship Series.
Event 7: Prospect Farm, Haverah Park, Harrogate,
Classes- hard course: Novices/Over 40’s/ Youths /Green course –novices/youths/Easy course-Over 50’s/beginners/youth/twin-shock. Small wheels –hard/easy/Class E.
Start time. Small Wheels 2.00 pm. Main trial 4.00 pm.
Oop north a man was in the office of the Yorkshire Post talking about an obituary following the death of his wife. The couple had been happily married for 50 years.
When informed of the cost, the man uttered, in true Yorkshire fashion, "Arrrrr Much? !!!"
He reluctantly produced his wallet. "I want summat simple" he explained, "my Gladys was a good-hearted and hard-working Yorkshire lass, but she wunt ave wanted owt s****y."
"Perhaps a small poem", suggested the woman at the desk.
"Nay", he said, "she wunt ave wanted anything la-di-da, just put; Gladys Braithwaite died'".
"You need to say when", he was told by the receptionist.
"Do I? Well, put died 17th Jan 2016. That'll do".
"It is usual for the bereaved to add some meaningful phrase about the dearly departed".
The man considered for a moment. "Well, put in, 'Sadly missed'. That'll do", he said.
"You can have another four words", the woman explained. "No, no", he cried, "she wouldn' ave wanted me to splash out"
"The words are included in the price", the woman informed him.
"Are they? You mean I've paid for 'em?".
"Yes, indeed".
"Well, if I've paid for 'em , I'm 'avin 'em".
The obituary was duly printed as follows:
Gladys Braithwaite died, 17th January 2016. Sadly missed. Also Tractor for sale.
A lion woke up one morning feeling really rowdy and mean.
He went out and cornered a small monkey, and roared, "Who is mightiest of all jungle animals?"
The trembling monkey says, "You are, mighty lion!"
Later, the lion confronts an ox and fiercely bellows, "Who is the mightiest of all jungle animals?"
The terrified ox stammers, "Oh great lion, you are the mightiest animal in the jungle!"
On a roll now, the lion swaggers up to an elephant and roars, "Who is mightiest of all jungle animals?"
Fast as lightning, the elephant snatches up the lion with his trunk, slams him against a tree half a dozen times leaving the lion feeling like it'd been run over by a safari wagon.
The elephant then stomps on the lion till it looks like a corn tortilla and rambles away.
The lion lets out a moan of pain, lifts his head weakly and hollers after the elephant, "Just because you don't know the answer, you don't have to get so upset about it!"
250cc Twin Cylinder Scooter motor, think there was a Triumph badged version too.
The Triumph Tigress, there was a BSA Comp Shop creation by Brian Martin of a trials bike created with the motor from a Tigress, we told the fully illustrated story in our digital magazine, ORRe, where you can still read all about it..........
The first thing to really get your head round is that when one says 'A-CU' you are actually talking about a small headquarters office staff, who may or may not even know what a motorcycle is - it's not relevant to their office duties..........
In the various sporting activities there are 'elected' responsible bodies for the separate sporting disciplines, BUT those elected bodies are, in my direct and personal experience, Primarily comprised of people who are good at being elected, again not necessarily knowledgeable about motorcycles or motorcycling, I have known personally many A-CU central committee members in the various sports who have never sat on a motorcycle.
There are some who are thoroughly competent riders - but that almost inevitably puts them in a minority as far as voting is concerned because those who are only good at being elected are very well versed in understanding that change is dangerous to their electoral status.........
I, with the aid of fellow riders, created the 'new' sport of pre-65, first trials then scrambles, in 1972 - swiftly followed by my own championship, aided and abetted by various keen club members around the country, then managed to get full insurance and legal cover........
When we had the series up and running with riders flooding to it - that wakened the A-CU (of the day) and they were willing to accept my rules and my supervision, coordination for the first ten years and all was well.
But I was in my thirties, full of energy and assisted by a totally committed, active wife.
Now I am nearer eighty and am the sole carer for a disabled wife who needs total support, so the thought of organising another new series MUST be with somebody else. I can advise, tell them the things we tried that failed as well as the things that we tried that worked - but then it will be up to them.
I promise you, I am not getting wound up - but I would prefer the spelling that my parents gave me which was DERYK
The first thing to get your head round is the fact that in classic trials the actual year of first registration is not the deciding factor. Of greater import is they type of bike. Yours is based on a Madras built machine using the machine tools and jigs bought lock, stock and barrel from the Royal Enfield factory in Redditch when they introduced a replacement machine in 1957-ish.
Yours is a pre-unit, that is, the engine and gearbox, although bolted together, are separate units, not built into a single unit casing. So it would class as a Pre-65 Pre-unit springer, because it has a swinging arm frame.
To be competitive most people would acquire an Enfield Crusader frame and shoe-horn the engine and gearbox into that, but if you just wanted to ride for the fun there are plenty of classic trials around the country with eased sections for beginners, or clubmen, etc., they all seem to call them something different.
If you want a better insight, just join our digital magazine, ORRe, where there are hundreds of photos of machines such as yours in action, with profusely illustrated photoreports of current classic events.
Attached, for example, is an image of a rider on a machine of similar origins to your own, enjoying a classic trial.
Sadly I am now convinced that there will be a total demise of the pre-unit bikes from the 2016 Sammy Miller series - which is totally foreign to the concept of creating fair competition for riders on similar machines. We created the series forty-four years ago and ran it very successfully for over twenty years, then it fell into A-CU hands...........
There is a potential solution. Start again but keep the A-CU well clear of it.
A car full of Irish nuns is sitting at a traffic light in downtown Dublin, when a bunch of rowdy drunks pull up alongside of them.
"Hey, show us yer tits, ya bloody penguins!" shouts one of the drunks. Quite shocked, Mother Superior turns to Sister Mary Immaculata and says, "I don't think they know who we are; show them your cross."
Sister Mary Immaculata rolls down her window and shouts, "p*** off, ya fookin' little ****ers, before I come over there and rip yer balls off!"
Sister Mary Immaculata then rolls up her window, looks back at Mother Superior, quite innocently, and asks, "Did that sound cross enough?
Sorry to be argumentative but I have found over the years that most of the 'problems' usually attributable to carburation problems in the lower end of the rev scales are far more likely to be an intermittent or weak spark..........
Check that you have a big fat blue spark at the spark plug when you turn the engine over slowly - when you have that, then start fiddling with the carburation.
I wonder what would happen if someone were to offer two separate awards for the Best Overall Performances in the Sammy Miller series by a rigid Pre-unit and a springer Pre-unit?
It would need someone to maintain a log of the results........
I bought a lovely chocolate retriever puppy as a surprise present for my wife on Valentine’s Day. Sadly it turns out she has an allergy to dogs, so sad to say she has to go and hopefully someone out there may be able to give her a good home.
Her name is Patricia, she’s 55, good personality and not a bad cook.
Just a reminder to the enthusiasts who enjoy photographs of the earlier Spanish models, here is an image borrowed from our digital magazine ORRe where it appears without the irritating watermark and with a similar picture of the other side of the machine, taken whilst my old friend Max King was testing the very first production Bultaco Sherpa to reach these shores.
There are many similar images of the various models as they have developed and we are about to launch a year by year review of many of the major trials of the 1970s onwards.
Due to the ground conditions at Hag Gill, Grinton, the Darlington D.M.C. trial scheduled for SundayMarch 6 has been changed to the Woodyard, Reeth. The Clerk of Course will be Neil Metcalfe assisted by Trevor Willans.
Richmond Motor Club, Harold Graham Trophy Trial Cogden Hall, Grinton, Sunday. Report and photographs from Barry Robinson.
Two of the motorcycle trials in North Yorkshire took a battering on Sunday morning from the weather. The Richmond club fought a running battle with a near hurricane that swept down Swaledale accompanied by rain showers. Brendan Suffell and Gavin Lowther waded through the sections planting flags above what became a raging torrent. The water levels rose rapidly in the Cogden Hall stream and the wind threatened to topple observers and competitors. The strange part about Swaledale on Sunday was a temperature in the order of 12 centigrade in direct contrast to the previous day. Many riders were blown off course in the sections. Masham Sausages boss Paul Dennis was swept off line his Beta, in the middle of two sections, feet up of course. He still won the green course class, just, from Adrian Harrison. The latter stopped in seven and nie but was good on the deep swirling second section at the bottom of Grinton Ghyll where Dennis footed on all three laps. At the top of the tree Guy Kendrew excelled over Richard Sadler and Ian Austermuhle. Sadler was sharp all the way but a stop in Cogden Wood on lap one gave Kendrew the break especially after Austermuhle fived the fourth section up Cogden Ghyll. Barry Watson, Richard Coates, Nathan Stones and Dave Nesham took the Grinton Wood sections and took the full force of the gale blowing down over Reeth. The ninth was a tough nut to crack. Very slippery but notable Kendrew had it sorted and cleaned on all three laps. It was also where Sadler dropped his maximum. The best cleans were down to Phil Alderson, Russ Cannell, top Inter Matt Maynard, and on the Green route Paul Dennis. Clubman winner Paul Sadler produced a 1-1-2. Class B runner Guy Stones did haul his Beta out first time round. The sections did test the rest of the class. Tom and Luke Constantine managed to deal with the severity as did Charlie Dent and Rob Weatherall on new 125 Beta machines. The Class C boys rode two laps where brothers Dan and Ben Hodgson set the standard overseen by their father Phil. Some minding task for him. Down in the low meadow Small Wheels guru Ted Harston and his assistants –read parents, managed to control twenty six boys and girls who rode a full nine section four lap course on the banks of the stream. There was a small percentage of aquatics but the grassy banks were the main tests. In Class BE Ripon’s Harry Mudgridge beat Monte Andrew but only on most cleans. If Jack Dent had not stopped in section four on lap one he would have taken the class. Every rider was fossil powered in the class. Conrad Andrew, also Beta mounted won Class DE. Charlie Astwood was the class act in the ED category and was feeling for grip on the grassy sections, and succeeding.
Results Check. Richmond Motor Club, Harold Graham Trophy Trial Cogden Hall, Grinton, Sunday. Hard course experts: 1 Guy Kendrew 7, 2 Richard Sadler 9, 3 Ian Austermuhle 13. (All Beta). Inters: 1 Matthew Maynard (Sherco) 53, 2 Mark Willis (Montesa) 67, 3 Russell Cannell (Beta) 71. Novices: 1 Tom Alderson (Beta) 52, 2 Nathan Cannell (Gas Gas) 66, 3 Jack Harker (Beta) 81. Green course: 1 Paul Dennis (Beta) 27, 2 Adrian Harrison (Sherco) 29, 3 Mick Sharp (Beta) 39. Youth: 1 Tom Needham (Gas Gas) 51, 2 Matty Napper (Gas Gas) 85. Clubmen: 1 Paul Sadler (Beta) 11, 2 Robyn Alderson (Gas Gas) 34, 3 Joe Simpson (Montesa) 50. Over 40’s: 1 William Wood (33, 2 Tony Wild 34, 3 Daniel Herriott 41. (All Beta). Twin Shock: Mick Grant (BSA) 64. Youth Class A: 1 Beth Waite (Beta) 49, 2 Sam Charlton (Beta) 74. Yoúth Class B: 1 Guy Stones 51, 2 Tom Constantine 55, 3 Charlie Dent 59. (All Beta). Youth Class C: 1 Dan Hodgson 69, 2 Ben Hodgson 78, 3 Martyn Pratt 102. (All Beta). Small Wheels-Youth BE: 1 Harry Mugridge 13, 2 Monte Andrew 1, 3 Jack Dent 15. (All Beta). Youth Clas DE: 1 Conrad Andrew (Beta) 32, 2 Sam Armstrong (Beta) 53. Youth Class ED: 1 Charlie Astwood (Gas Gas) 27, 2 Laurie Blades (Beta) 44, 3 Lily-Ann Thwaite (Oset) 66. Youth EB: Barnaby Fothergill (Gas Gas) 36
To help bring back some nostalgic memories for us oldies who enjoyed the use of Post Hill in the 1950s here is one of the images from my archives of one of the Knockout Hill Climbs in full swing with two of the riders just away from the start.
Bantam Trials Build Questions
in Pre-65 Bikes
Posted · Edited by laird387
Hi,
In ORRe, our digital magazine, you'll find plenty of details, including a test session with Mick Grant's Drayton copiously photographed, plus many photographs of them in action in the various classic trials around the country that have been 'Photoreported'
In the next issue (due out shortly) you will find images of some of the Draytons in action at Kinlochleven this year;
Enjoy