Motorbikes - A thread for Rich P

Discussion in 'Weapons, Technology & Equipment' started by Kieron Hill, Dec 30, 2008.

  1. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    Rich I believe you have a fetish for two wheeled pushbikes with engines...:p this thread is just up your street I hope you enjoy. Can you identify them all?
     

    Attached Files:

    • mb1.jpg
      mb1.jpg
      File size:
      100.9 KB
      Views:
      26
    zola1 likes this.
  2. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    3 more
     

    Attached Files:

    • mb4.jpg
      mb4.jpg
      File size:
      131.2 KB
      Views:
      27
  3. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    just one more
     

    Attached Files:

    • mb7.jpg
      mb7.jpg
      File size:
      131.2 KB
      Views:
      22
  4. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Cheers Kieron,

    No. 1 is a Triumph. I think a Tiger 100 but if someone said it was a Speed Twin, I wouldn't argue. FKR is a Kent Registration issued from March - August 1939 and 952 would put it towards the end of the series.

    The AJS DXV looks like a 350 to me. The number is a London County Council Series used from April - May 1937.

    No. 3 is a WD M20 BSA If the number begins 'C43.......' then probably from contract C7287, the largest of the wartime contracts (17000 machines commencing June 1940). It is fitted with the Vokes air filter which was not yet standardised at that time but sometimes available in dusty theatres.
    __________________
     
  5. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    1) Early war WD M20s again.

    2) Velocette 250cc GTP 2-stroke, presumably the rider's own. The plate is a Surrey issue dating from May - June 1938. It looks quite a long way from home.

    3) A Matchless G3 (the earlier war type with girder forks). Census number looks to be one of those five-digit ones issued to the RASC at the begining of the war. It is certainly marked to them. Does the number begin C96 ? 6000 from contract C.7183 were sent to Aschurch and Feltham commencing March 1941 and 'destined for Middle East' according to Orchard and Madden.

    Is the final shot the same bike photographed later, after it had lost its headlamp glass ? The overpainted lower half of the reflector is visible.

    Rich
     
    zola1 likes this.
  6. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Attached Files:

  7. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    Cheers Ron hadn't seen your previous post...great picture!

    Rich had a look at those numbers under a magnifying glass and the numbers are C941253 and C940299 on the matchless bikes

    One more picture for you Rich
     

    Attached Files:

    zola1 likes this.
  8. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Thanks Kieron, slightly later then. October 1940 on. The last 50 bikes had telescopic forks so very much a transition model to the G3L

    Your latest photo has a post-war look to it. A G3L with no black out mask.

    Rich
     
  9. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    Last one someone sent was of himself while serving during the Suez Canal crisis so you are spot on, so are you just a bike man or does your interest extend to the four wheel types to? reason I ask is that I have some unusual pictures of modes of transport used during the early part of the desert campagain most probably Italian in their origins.

    Cheers again Rich
     
  10. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I like most old vehicles but I'm certainly not the four-wheeled expert here, nor do I have all that many reference sources. Best to start a new thread headed 'Italian vehicle identifications' or somesuch. That should attract the right crowd :)
     
  11. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Great pictures but a bit too old and a bit too slow for me :D

    Incoming ..... Runs for cover :)
     
  12. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    You'll be old and slow one day too mate !:p
     
  13. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    One more for your Rich :D
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Cheers Kieron, another one of my beloved early pattern 16H Nortons. 1940 at a guess. Are you able to pull any more out of the original photo ?

    What's the background to the shot ?

    Rich
     
  15. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    The picture was taken at El-Geneifa October 1941
    cant get any numbers from the bike but it was
    ridden by a RAOC serviceman

    Thanks for the ID Rich

    Regards
    Kieron
     
  16. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    They keep coming Rich

    What can tell by the contract number on the tank
    it looks to C4142807 ?

    Cheers
    Kieron
     

    Attached Files:

    • mp1.jpg
      mp1.jpg
      File size:
      93.2 KB
      Views:
      16
  17. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Keep 'em coming, that's what I say Kieron !

    A nice early WM20 BSA. fitted with a tank top Vokes air filter which was a theatre specific application early in the war.

    I can't quite read the census number but C4142807 would have been the 2373 bike made under contract C.5610 for 4000 machines - production started on 17/2/1940 and the batch was completed on 25/6/1940.

    This contract still had the deep fuel tank and pre-war style 'deluxe' rear mudguard with side valances.

    This is the Ordnance receipt card for the C.5610 contract:-

    [​IMG]

    Any chance of a high-res scan of the photos so I can get my magnifying glass out ?B)
     
  18. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Being a biker myself I'm begining to get a interest in the 'Military Bike Pictures' from WW2. Heres a couple I found earlier tonight:

    Number 1

    Number 2

    Cheers
    Andy
     
  19. Kieron Hill

    Kieron Hill Senior Member

    Cheers Rich when I get round to it I will
    have to update my site with your
    identifications, if thats OK?
     
  20. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    Cheers Rich when I get round to it I will
    have to update my site with your
    identifications, if thats OK?

    Absolutely no problem Kieron.

    Andy, be careful mate, you'll find that you refer to yourself as a 'motorcyclist' soon !:)

    I know the Canadian archive shot. A late 16H but I'm struggling a bit with the head-on IWM picture. The panniers on the front look like US practice but I suspect that there's a bit of BSA in there somewhere.

    Rich
     

Share This Page