Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

~ ~ ~ ~ 00 O"J ~ C(j ~ ..... (l.) ..0 8 (l.) :> 0 Z (Above) The 1928 Norton CSI. a production race r for everyone. w ith girder fr ont forks. rigid rear end and sprung saddle. A shaft with bevel gears drove the ove rhead cams haft. The legendary Vincent Black Shadow had a high-horsepower V-twin engi ne that overpowered it s chassis, Note 250 kph speedometer. 16 was th e ta lk of th e industry and so ld lo ts of m o torcycl es. The co m petition was tough; for exa m p le, it to ok Norto n 19 yea rs to finall y take a pl a ce a mong th e ren own ed TT victors, fina lly w in n in g the 1924 Senior TT. In 1924, Norton a lo ne co llected a proud 124 first p la ce fi ni sh es in ra cin g worldwide, including th e T T a nd o ther events. Th e most notable th ing in th e Nort on victori es of 1924 was th e av erage speed at th e TT, 60 mph for th e mountainous TT co u rse, tin y br akes a n d skin ny tir es a nd all . Th ree years la ter, N orton won th e T T aga in, th is time with a bevelgea r-ca m sha ft-d r ive, o ver hea d -ca m en g i ne. Th e a vera ge speed wa s 70 mph for th efastes t laps a nd th e drum brakes wer e as big as d eli cate coo kware. Th e replica of this Touri st Trophy racing machi ne wa s offered one year later as Model CS I, so ld to privateers . The for -sa le racer ca me wit hout head lights a nd ge nerator and launched Norton on w hat lo oked to be a n endless str ing of victories. Th e Norton I nte rna tio nal and Ma nx Norton were raced successfully in Grand Prix events until 1938 and won wi th just a few excep tio ns, o ften taking the first two o r three places. Th e Norions won for quite a whil e, by th e way , with out rear suspension. Another m achine with a ll th e emp h asis on performance and none o n rider comfort was the Vincent: It had li tt le rear suspension. but its engine was a dream ; a 1000cc V-twin that, depending on th e model, put out between 50 and 80 horse po wer. It featured a speedometer that read to 155 mph . The chassis was far behind th e eng ine and even a fanati c would say it was h ard to get us ed to . The fir st Vincent test er cou ld descr ibe a ll the tech ni cal features we ll e no ug h , but cou ldn't give top-speed testi ng data. No tester in th e world co uld reach top speed or ride wideopen on the Vincen t. The British motorcycl e industry as a whole was very conservative and left well-enough a lone, ig noring the rear suspension . The Italians, on the ot her hand, were th e o p posi te of co n serva tive; they went to the ex tremes. In 1921 Giorgio Parodi a nd Carlo Guzzi built a motorcycle in th e northwest port io n of Ital y. Their first design I was a revo lutionary single-cylinder four-stroke with a ver y advanced cylinder head des ign. Ever yt h ing was built in on e unit. This co ncep t was so th ought th rough that they could bui ld it from 192 1 to 1976. Th ey did, h ow ever, ad d some sm a ll ch an ges. In 1923 th ey doubl ed th e horsepow er o f th e 500cc en gine b y puttin g in driven valves, on e sid evalve inta ke a nd o ne o verhe ad- valve ex ha u st. L at er , th ey cha nged th e design to tw o o verhead va lves a nd got 17 h ors epow er at 4200 rpm . In 1923 ca m e the introduction o f th e new BMW in Ge rm a n y. Seven years later , Max Schm ell ing was th e World Champion in boxing a nd Ca rlo Guzzi had intro d uced th e fir st rear suspension . An other five yea rs la ter, a Mot o Guzzi with rear suspe ns io n won th e Is le o f Man against th e unti l-th enunbeatabl e Norton fleet. Meanwhil e, th e real king in motorcy cle technologi ca l inn ov ation brought the singi ng noise o f a twostroke throughout th e world. Br itish su bject Angus Scott built his first motorcycl e in 1908 and , with some interruption a nd alternating success with various trademarks, hi s two-stroke twin was built until 1976. Ov er th e whol e tim e it was built, it wa s a lway s ex pe ns ive. In 1936, Am erican J essie Owens ran a wa y from th e world in th e O lympi c games in Ber lin, a nd a Scott so ld for 80 po unds sterl ing. T h e J aguar SSIOOo n ly cos t five times m ore. T he hard a nd stubborn Scott tech nici an kept th e two-stroke co ncep t with a floating co n nec tin g rod . In other co nt ine nts o th er tech ni cians had their o w n ide as. You ca n ' t beat c u bic inches. Which brings us to William H arley a nd th e Davidson brothers, Walter and Art h ur, who co n su lted Evinrude and bui lt motorcycl es in a barn , In th e firs t .yea r, th ey o n ly buil t th ree. U p to 1909 th ey built quit e a few m ore. After thi s, th ey bui lt a V-twin with a bi g ca paci ty o f a lmost 1000cc. Harley a lso bui lt a boxer en g ine, wi th th e e ngi ne inserted side wa ys, but th e rear cy lin de r ov erheated because of insufficient coo ling. In th e I920s a lo t o f m anufacturers thought th e m ost trouble-free co n ce p t was the two-stroke; th ey hoped to ca sh in and make big money in two-strokes. Unfortunately, ma ny undev el oped two-strokes hit th e m arket a n d en countered prob lems. Poor gas m il eage ruined two-strokes ' im ag e. But DKW brought out a very sophisticated engine a n d crea ted a good image. Auto U n io n , DKW 's paren t co m pan y, bought the Schnurle patent for th e tw o-stroke transfer port design in 1930. This n ew d esign o utdat ed all th e competition . (T h is p atent was in effec t until th e ea rly 1950s; wh en th e patent ex p ired, o t he r tw o -strok e m anufa ctu rer s jumped in on th e once-exclusive co ncep t th at m ade th e two -stro ke viabl e.) In th e 1930s, th er e was a boom in th e G erm an motorcycl e industr y. BMW 's boxer (opposed-twin ) m ach i nes went from one winner 's circle to another. From th e European cha m pionships, th e World Ch ampionships wer e born, In 1939 G eorge Meyer us ed a s uper charged 500cc BMW to win th e Is le of Man TT ea si ly. In the 1950s su pe rch a rge rs wer e o u tla wed , but BMW built normally-aspirated en gi nes good en ough to sti ll reach th e win ner's circle. Meyer a nd his young teammate, Wa lt er Zell er. had no difficulty continu ing BMW's racing su ccess. Meanwhi le, NS U 's ch ief en gi nee r. Albert Roder , ca me up with a new idea after looking ou t his o ffice window at a train 's steam engine. H e th ough t of a new ov erhead-cam drive. It was a 90° o ffse t co n necti ng ro d - 1 '. I ' I ,

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