h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Can anybody identify this MC for me?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25054226@N08/4219714324/

PP

No1 Son had a look...

30s/40s... nah, 40s
not importing at that time...
350/500cc, twin exhausts... can we enhance it
possibly ex military...
AJS ... Vincent ... some of those things could do 120mph...


AJS.

Hope that helps
Rod

S'gotta be early 30s at the latest as the number plate format shown stopped in the early 30s. So it must be a 1920s or very early 30s model.
Which kinda fits with it having a square tank as well, and the leading link forks.
Looks like a hard tail with sprung saddle, possibly a twin. And with wide bars. Dunno, AJS? Rudge?

I'll get the pic when I'm at home, email it to work and ask my resident restorer of classic motorcycles (he has an AJS and a Vincent 500 among others...) at work tomorrow. If he doesn't know for sure then he'll know someone who does

Brilliant. Thank you.

PP

Right, I grabbed a moment with him and another PC and he's going to have a better look tonight, but we've narrowed it down to a pre 1927/29 flat tank (they went to saddle tanks in the late 20s apparently, you generally wont find an underslung flat tank on anything post 1929) twin port (possibly, the pic isn't detailed enough to make it easy!) probably a 500cc. Might be a Matchless or a New Imperial but we suspect probably a mid 20s AJS.

If you look up AJS on vintage-motorcycles.net (I think that was the address, search engine it!!) there's a black bike that's a 1924 (I think) AJS with an underslung flat tank. The tank is rounded except for a squared off panel near the front which matches an angle in that flikr photo. The mag is on the front instead of the back of the engine which also matches this picture - I think this could be a pretty close one!

I suppose you've tried to trace the reg no?

The woman sitting on the back looks to me like she's wearing a 1920s style hat.

You know, to me this looks a lot like this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rudge_500_cc_TV_1927.jpg

Note the front wheel with no brake drum, and rim-mounted brakes
The front forks match
The gearbox (the silver bit towards the bottom of the engine) looks very similar
The area around the back wheel, including the shock absorber mounted diagonally looks very similar...

The only difficulty I can see is the engine block itself, which is too indistinct on the original photo to make out.

yes, I think you're rght Whisky. I think it's a Rudge four.

Rudge four was 350 cc, later 500 cc, had four speeds and (!!) four valves in the single cylinder. The 350 version had a slightly different engine cover, not quite like on the photo. The 500 cc had this roundish cover that is on the foto.

my best guess would be Rudge four, 500 cc, around 1924~1925

http://www.usq.edu.au/users/grantd/motorcycle/rudge/rudge.htm

I've suggested this and got an 'it's got potential' hrm and nod...

I thinks we might be getting close!

That looks pretty good to me.

The hot tottie on the back (no pillion seat on Hapi Hippo's photo, but I guess that sort of thing was easily bolted on), was my Grandmother. She would have been about 34 at the time (early 1930's) and my grandfather just a little younger. The bike would have been 2nd hand and probably made a regular trip from Reading where Granddad was at agricultural college to Devon where my Gran lived, so it probably clocked up a few miles. Gran liked riding on the back.

It is not known whether she had any tattoos.

Thanks again H2G2ers. I knew that I could count on you.

PP

I believe the correct name for pillion seat was "pussy pad" at the time .. but of course your Grandmother would never have heard that

Yay - I must admit I thought 'Rudge' when I first saw it but know that I tend to be a bit too quick to judge these things and have no particular expertise in the area.

That wiki photo seems to clinch it - except that isn't a shock absorber on it. It was a hard tail - that object on the rear rails looks to me like it might be an owner modification like a fuel pump.

In fact I think we might be able to be a bit more specific.


This is a 1924 Rudge 500
http://classic-motorbikes.net/images/gallery/rudge_multi.jpg
note lack of front rim brake and also the the shapes at the front of the engine. Very difficult to make out but the downpipe goes into a collector at the front of the engine which doesn't seem to match the circular one on the 500.

But the front engine casings and the braking seem to be a better match for
http://classic-motorbikes.net/images/gallery/rudge_4valve_1924.jpg
which is also 1924 but is the 998cc.
The ovalish collector seems a better match too.

I think your grandaddy bought the faster one

were there any 998 cc models? the only 1000 cc Rudges I know of were v-twins.

ah well

My resident expert reckons on it being a 1926/27 Rudge Ulster. Either a 250 or a 350, apparently some had J.A.P. engines which this one could be.

He was going to bring in the book with it in but forgot

I think it's pretty narrowed down now! (bear in mind my expert was checking from memory, so the previous suggestions probably closer, but the year could be in question...)