Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SATURDAY. OOTO BER TARTS AT BAM 4TH. 1997 PARKI By Alan Cathcart Photos by Kolch i Nakamura o o n, tr y it: A s k yo u r local mot orcy cling -trivi a cha mpio n w he n the first doubl e ove rhead cam, eig ht-val ve parallel -twin was p roduced, and by w ho m. Cha nces are he wo n' t eve n get the country right. You will most certainly get a lot of interes ting sta bs in the dar k, such as Honda BOOTH RED & WHITE BOOTH ~ ' (~ ) or Laverda, or any numb er of esoteric Ita lia n ma rq ues like Pa ton o r Bia nchi. Then your pal will probably figu re it was a trick question, invol ving some obscure ga rden-s hed conversion to an Indian or Ha rley board-track racer, and then refuse to co ntin ue the gam e. He pro ba bl y wouldn' t even be lieve you if you told him th e a ns we r: th e 1913 Gra nd Prix 500cc Peu geot , designed by the brilliant French engineer, Ernest Henry. At a time when the Elf 500 wit h its powerful, co mpact V-fou r Swissau to engi ne repres en ts a co mpe titive European four-eylinde r cha llenge to the mig ht of the Japanese ma nu facturer s in 500cc Gra nd Prix racing today, it is still a surprise to look back to the dawn of motorcycle road radng at the start of this century and discover that, back then, it was a case of v ive la France. A doubl e-kn ocker twi n with four valves per cylinder back in 1913? Ne ver! But yes, beca use the com pany which now ranks amo ng th e auto ind ustry's top 10 producers wo rldwide was one of the pioneer firms in the evolution of the motorcycle, whose prod ucts we re renowned before World War I for their eng inee ring sophistication and te chnical d aring . Mind you, th ou gh they'd been in business making ma chines of va rio us kind s s ince 1811 , it wasn' t always bikes or cars: Founde r lean -Francois Peug eot's firs t con triva nce was a machine for makin g braces to put Into ladies' corsets! Peugeo t b ega n ma kin g bi cycles in 1882, the n turned to cars a nd so p rog ressed into the fledgling m ot orcycl e ind us try - first wit h proprietary eng ines, the n fro m 1906 u s in g i ts own largecapacity C726cc an d 994ccl V-twins. These proved so p owerful and reliable that thei r repu tatio n swiftly g rew .o utside France, resulting in d eals to supply other manufacturers wi th Peugeot engi nes to fit in thei r o wn frames . Two of these we re British manufacturers - but while the record books tell us that Rem Fowler rode a No rto n to win the first-ever Isle of Man IT in 1907, exactly 90 years ago this yea r, they often forget to men tion it was a Peu geo t eng ine that powered the bike. Similarly, it was a pair of Peu geo t-engine British-built NLGs that finished first and seco nd in the inaugural motorcycle race at the new Brooklands circu it the following year. Spurred on by these and o ther successes, Peu geot decid ed to cons truct its own Grand Prix racer, using the latest in automobile and aerona utical technology - of whic h th e compa ny 's desig ner, Ernest Henry, was a proven master. In 1913, he p rod uced the world's first DOHC eight- valve vert ical-tw in mo torcycle, a 500cc Peugeot GP racer which, w hile unqu estion ab ly fas t and decades ahead of its time in term s of design , suffered prob lems with cooling the cylinder head s adequately - a perenn ial difficu lty wit h th e fou r-val ve concep t that o the r manufacturers were to encounter later on (even Honda, when it revived the format in the 19605,some 50 years later), Back in those early days, the problem was exa cerbated on the Peu geot by the relativel y unso phisticat ed materials av aila ble in that era, bu t in any case d evelo p m en t was i nterr u pte d by th e Great War, and when racing began again ~~ :..t- ~l $25 OM \ ': /II' ) I' : - ALUMINUM FRAME GUARDS SCRIB NER GAS CA N S FLAT SIDES BOOTH $80 BOOTH '1 \ FMF GOLD SERIES PIPES OSiCI T HELMET . BOOTH $24 " FROM $85 SIDI BOOTS FIRST COME. FIRST SERVE!!! C!9 @iJ 11' '" "'~(J) .~~ SAlBERIWlDlID M STREET ill r-'" BOOTH Mlll SJREET V- EXIT ~ 555Soud1 'It'SlI..c ® REIIlJlIOS -4 f- D IITARID C!V ® RIVERSIDE .1 EVS BALLISTIC KIDNEY BELTS . ALSO... RADIATOR GUARDS GLIDE/SKID PLATES . '" § /~ NO CREDIT CARDS OR CHECKS ACC EPTED ON PARKING LOT SALE MERCH ANDISE. QUANTITIES ARE U MITED. ARST COME A RST SERVED. All REGULAR FORMS OF PAYMENT ACCEPTED FOR IN-STORE PURCHA SES. Whenyouchoose SBS STREETexcel sinter compounds, you choose the bestIn sinter replacement padsfor your hightreet applications, performance s we offer hIgh friction (HSI frontsand lower frlctlon ILSJ rears to provide you with the ultJl1l3te Instopping power no matter what theconditions. When you'rereadyto replace your worn, slntered metal pacs. be sure to choose STR EETexcel from SBS - thesinter compo undswlll1l11e powerto stopyou. seeyou dealer today for allll1eright STREETexcel et

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