aawil

have a chat with norman at njb shocks, he will sort out just what you need, at a very reasonable cost , he is ex girling man who knows as much as anybody about suspension units , he used to come out to events and make up units to fit the fantic trials outfits , taking my weight and other things into the calculations .i cant find his phone no but i am sure someone on the tc site will have it. will.

do you still have to stop for a pint of belgium beer after each lap , i am sure it was compulsory for us sidecar crews back in the eighties. will.

i thought pre 1965 bsa c15,s had a distributor to supply the sparks ,

the original threads are 7/32 so it seems yours have been tapped out to a 1/4 no doubt when an earlier owner had the usual trouble , the original had small heads with a strange spanner size . it is worth checking the casting round the bolt holes as i have found many cracked , on my trials outfit i have two where the casting has broken away but with ht allen bolts and nuts holding the sprocket on it has been fine ,even with a big panther motor providing the power ,. will

i have been using lucas sr1 mags on all of my competition bikes mostly panthers all start 1st kick hot or cold, matchless used them as std before 1965 so problem solved. will.

can i ask why a trick matchless with modern pvl electronics is listed under pre 65, oh i wish i was a scrutineer in pre 65 trials instead of sprint and drag racing,

both 1/4 bsf and 1/4 bscy thread have 26 tpi/ so they are both the same , using those hubs on our sidecar outfits we found the weak points , ripping the bolts out and breaking the cast lugs apart , the solution was and still is to run a 6mm drill through the holes then use ht allen bolts with nylock nuts to bolt the sprocket on , i still use this mod today on my vintage hillclimb panther with no problems, will.

hi deryk you may not know that my first trials bike was a 125 saracen bored to 150cc and came s/hand the previous owner was david banks the son of that grand old east london dealer and greeves rider monty, it had scottish paint marking on it and i think that david rode it in the trial , it later became one of my outfits , fitted with a slightly detuned triumph daytona motor was asking a bit much of the frame but bill wilkinson welded it back together and enabled me to finish the allan jeffries that year,i became a sort of honary yorkshireman as to the shock of the locals bill did the job for nought, will.

hi dave thanks for that i heard that he now rides a gold wing so may have given up on the trials riding , but you are missing a great fun time by not having any outfits to try , you should build one and have a ride , as someone once said its the best experience you can have with your clothes on . will .

hi do any of you canadian trials riders know a guy called bob manifold , he left england many years ago , i believe he has the first works fantic trials outfit that i built for the factory , i would love to talk to him sometime and maybe visit and arrange a ride before i get to old , also do you have a sidecar class in your trials , if not why not . many thanks . will hawkes.

it seems that we are all on the same side in this as i am cutting down on my work next year i will be in a position to offer help to any norfolk /suffolk clubs to lay out suitable sections that will ok for classic bikes and sidecars, in fact i think i still have a sackfull of red/blue/white section markers tucked away somewhere left over from my days as trials secetary of the north east london mcc, so if you need help just let me know .. will 01362 667859.

jon you get me wrong my solution is as yours. one route with sensible sections to suit the average clubman wide enough for us sidecar crews with a good ride between sections ,in fact just like the early sm series, which i thought was great to ride and also the friendships made are still valid , my comment about me helping out scrutineering was a tounge in cheek comment but it would be fun to exclude a (i think) majority of the bikes. i have given up riding my rigid panther outfit in the talmag as sitting rocking on the crankcase at the top of the steep climbs on lots of sections gets a bit annoying , i am sure when i started riding chairs 42 years ago this problem did not happen, so either my bikes have lost their ground clearance , or perhaps the organisers have made the sections harder ,i know the answer . will.

having just got the regs for next years talmag trial the general rules make interesting reading , which if used on all classic trials would stop a lot of the trick bikes overnight, i assume that the t.a,l.m.a.g. will not object to me quoting from the regs, general . ignition systems, must be either conventional magneto or coil ign of the period. ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED. this one rule would be interesting if it was enforced, forks must be of a type manufactured or fitted before 31 dec 1964. with the general basis that engine,gearbox ,frame forks hubs ign and carburettor must be of apre 1965 type ,specials accepted providing they are of parts manufactored before dec 1964, as i am now not allowed to ride the talmag as i am riding a greeves trials outfit which being a twostroke is not eligible i thought i might offer my services to help out with the scrutineering, this would be very interesting,( i can see the arguments already ) if all organisers used this sensible set up and back to the classic one lap 30 to 50 miles with one route for all li would come out and ride a lot more and my old mate deryk would have a smile on his face,

hi you may be too late but the beamish trial is on sept 21 a lovely trial one lap normally about 130 miles across the northumberland fells it is run by the south durham section of the vintage motorcycle club the guy to see is tom norman ,16 south crescent hartlepool TS240QD, phone no 07951 746362, its a great trial with a mix of bikes with simple sections that will suit a newcomer or someone like me a sprightly 70 year old what can be more fun than hurling a big panther outfit at the northern country side . will.

when roy carey was the importer of fantics in the seventies ,he asked me to build a trials outfit to test he organised a big bore conversion to give more power to pull the two of us,, the alloy tank was indeed to make the bikes legai in the uk we even had a full 210cc motor with reed valve that had loiads of grunt , the first outfit which was the same spec as yours is still in existance owned by an old friend bob manifold who now lives i canada,

hi rob give norman at njb shocks a ring,, over the years he has supplied me with shocks for most of the outfits i have built and ridden he always seems to come up with the goods at a reasonable cost ,he used to be the top man at girlings so really does know how to set up suspension, good luck with the outfit . will.

i may be a bit late in adding my bit but here goes ,my first bike was i 1966 greeves and progressed through ariel ht bsa b40 , b44 triumph 500 , mz 250 cotton wassell 125 saracen 150 fantic bultaco loads of home made specials ,have ridden in most events from club to british championship with some success over the years i have noticed that sections got harder to take marks of of the so called experts, the pre 65 or classic trials were nearly extinct it felt until a certain gentleman i think got talking to the lads from yorkshire , who ran the shawford shake trial for old bikes and thea classic series of trials to suit the old original bikes was started with great results,many thanks to deryk for this but over the years trick bikes crept in , and to some of us it was getting harder and more dangerous, i still ride and like to do well ,but riding a rigid 600 panther that is ideal for original events does not work at the talmag sitting rocking on the crankcase at the top of most sections is fun at first but gets a bit anoying, so i have built a lighter panther , with hindsight make the section to suit the original bikes ,no need to have different routes if the trick bike and rider turns up and finds that a good rider on a std old trialler can beat him . he will soon either go and ride in a !modern PRE65 event! or get a std old bike to ride i will keep riding an old panther ,but have just aquired a 1969 greeves so i will be back where i started 47 years ago,the odd thing is that all of the bikes have had s/cars attached as a road racing injury in 1966 left my left leg badly damaged, but what fun i have had , will

i have used rear hydralic system on a few bikes over the years worked great on a triumph mettise trials outfit back in the eighties and have just modified a panther rear drum this seems fine as well , it does make for a very efficent self adjusting brake. aa will.

i have a contact who has new wide ratio gear sets for burman boxes , i have fitted both of the panther outfits with them, give me a call on 01362 667 895 if you are interested will.

hi charlie just back from the beamish long distance trial the first run out on the big panther outfit goes and handles great so next year i will be back riding so put me down for it , if you get to the talmag next january i will have a chat about old times. will hawkes.

hi have a word with the allaways at jamsport i believe that they are in surrey , the whole family have been involved with sidecar trials for years i even sold them one of the ex works fantic outfits back in the early eighties, but why not build a pre 65 outfit and come out to play with the real **********s after a phone call from one of my old competitors from the early championship days , i am now on a diet and the rigid panther 650 outfit is nearing completion i think it must be the thirty third i have built over the years so a few easy trials this year , then a full sammy miller championship in 201 for, a final mad fling befor i get to old .good luck with your outfit will hawkes.

hi it was not unusual for works bikes to end up with the same reg nos , a few years ago when i was devolping the fantic outfits one of our first big events was the inter centre team trial held near banbury , although we rode for different centres at one group of sections we parked the three outfits in a row ,a well respected journalist (the late rafe venables) called me over as he had noticed they all had the same reg no a quick check on the tax discs , i had the original but the others were duplicates , roy carey (the fantic importer )declined to comment.if charlie wants some info on 60s-70s chairs i can assist having built most of the ones i have ridden over the years including the first fantic for the factory in italy,the latest being on a 1953 panther last year on which i have just ridden the talmag, my first outing for 7 years will hawkes.

finally been dragged into the 21st century and begining to learn how this computer works i am new to this sort of thing .but having ridden trials sidecars for the last 30 years , from club level to british championship level i thought that i could offer help and advice if it was needed , i am just finishing a panther trials outfit to have some fun outings on , will