The 2024 Telford Classic Dirt Bike Show Episode 2

In this Episode 2 we take a look at more vintage classics from the 2024 Telford Classic Dirt Bikes Show that was held at the Telford International Centre on Saturday and Sunday the 10th and 11th of February.

Yes hello to you all once again welcome back to classic dirt bike TV and uh we’re gradually making our way through the footage from the 2024 tailford classic dirt bike show we have lots of lovely bikes still to come here on my uh video channel and I hope

You enjoyed uh the first few bikes that we showed you in uh episode one so we’re going to crack on and get straight into to our next feature which of course is episode 2 right so uh straight away we’re going to take a look at some nice YZ Yamahas

That were all lined up on display and this collection here had almost all of the YZ Yamahas from a little PW50 there right up to the big daddy of them all the mighty YZ 4 90 open class uh rocket ships now we’re not entirely sure if these collection of yzs were being

Offered up for sale on the day or maybe just for display purposes only but uh it’s certainly a fine looking collection and they all look pretty standard looking bikes and I suppose if you were attending the show looking for an old Y Z racer then I expect that uh this is

The stand that you would have probably have found them on but we have a nice little threesome here what looks like it could be a small PW50 and maybe a YZ 50 and YZ 60 there in the background but how many of us began by running around on one of these

Little mini scramblers back in the day bikes which in fact are still quite popular and in fetching good money even here in uh 20 24 and this one here certainly a little cracker and it would make a fine little motorbike for your son daughter or maybe even grandson and this display uh certainly

Appears to have uh almost every model made in the early 1980s with these YZ 880s through to the 125 250s and of course these 490 and even uh this YZ 490 J looks in very good original condition so the owner of these bikes certainly has a thing about old Yamahas because

He’s even taken the time to have stands and number plates made up although uh regardless of uh what kind of off-roaders that you’re into there was certainly something for everybody at this year’s show and if your particular bag was maybe even trials or Motocross or Speedway or even in jural bikes then

There was certainly something here to keep you interested as you made your way around the halls but certainly this uh particular YZ Yamaha collection was quite impressive okay these bikes were maybe not as highly polished as some of the machines that were on display at the

Show but my guess is that all of these bikes are more than likely used on a regular uh basis hence their condition and general uh patina and so this next organization was certainly worth a mention because these guys do do a lot of uh excellent work raising money for charity and these guys

Are the twinshock sidecar charity series who have a range of uh different events around the country and I did learn on the day that it’s the race winners of the each individual classes who actually get to choose who they don’t donate their prize money to or which charity receives it but the actual

Riders themselves don’t get any cash or any silverware so it’s a big well done to everybody involved in this uh particular organization but as you can see the club members have brought along a couple of their outfits for people to have a look at and this particular Ren Tut wasp

Shassy has a big Yamaha four stroke motor to power it and bolted on to that chassis I assume that that is the outfit’s alloy oil tank with the motor’s oil cooler just next to it now that little coiled cable there as far as I’m aware is the engine cut off cable

Whereby the driver or Pilot would wrap that around his right wrist and if there was ever an incident where he’d get thrown from the machine then that connection would be severed from the motor’s ignition and the bike it would simply stop but as you can see it’s a big uh

Formidable lump of a motor this big single cylinder yamama engine probably a 650 or maybe even slightly bigger but the club did Issue a set of rules just in case you had the hankering to be a passenger on one of these outfits so it’s definitely no touching any buttons

Or levers and no screaming or crying and at no jumping off on on purpose and absolutely hold on tight and finally it’s year round at the bar that is of course if you actually survive the ordeal now this other nice looking outfit here was actually ridden by a

Father and his daughter and uh the father did his very best to try and explain to me just how much fun it was blasting around a racetrack with your precious sibling sitting or standing in the passenger but somehow I don’t think my daughter would be best pleased if I

Asked her to have a go on one of these machines but this outfit here certainly has a big Norton 750 or maybe even an 850 twin to power it along the track and I certainly do remember these big Norton on these outfits racing many years ago

And the excitement and the smell and the noise it was certainly a spectacle that’s for sure and if you ever get a chance to maybe head along to one of these Motocross sidecar racing events then do make a point of going because if you’re into motorcycles in any way shape

Or form then you’ll certainly love love what these guys do with these three wheelers but one of the other things about these cyar racing outfits is the engineering that goes into building them because not only is a chassis a work of art in its own right it’s h finding and

Then fitting your chosen motor to power it and when you see how this big Norton’s shoehorned into into this uh wheel frame you can see that it’s a logistical challenge to get it all to fit although the other attraction for me with these bikes is uh watching them

Perform on the track and when you can get even half a dozen of these chariots coming off the start line in a hail of big rooster taals and the smell of castar then it’s certainly a sight and a sound that you’ll never forget and we’ll actually be taking a look at another

Sidecar example in a later episode from this year’s show but certainly well done to all of the gang at the twinshock sidecar charity series both for keeping these outfits on the track and for the Fantastic work that they do raising money for worthwhile uh Charities and if

You’d like to know a little bit more about their organization and what they do then just uh check out their uh Facebook page right so uh next up this was yet another old classic that I came across on my travels around the tford halls and this little beauty here is a 1960s

Rickman matis big single cylinder matchless four stroker now there was no information displayed with this bike on the day and didn’t appear to be anybody in the vicinity to provide any background but I’m pretty sure that this will be a 1960s Rickman frame with that late uh 1950s or maybe even early 1960s

Big single cylinder matchless motor uh sitting inside but with regards the big matchless engine I’m certainly not the man to speak to if you want to know all of the Gory details and specs of this particular matchless uh motor and uh those of you uh watching this video who

Are familiar with these big British made Single cylinder engines will know uh straight away exactly what you’re looking at here but as I said previously these old matchless engines and the bsas and the ajss and many of the other British built engines were used to great

Effect in these kind of pre-65 and pr70 scramblers when they were first used way back in the 1960s now here at the back end of our Rickman match list it’s a pair of quite modern rock shock suspension units which I’m sure that some of the original Riders who raced these bikes back then

Would have love to have had these kind of modern style suspension systems when they raced these bikes in the 1960s but these Rock shocks are certainly good quality and of course they’re all made right here in uh the UK of course these uh handlebars on the bikes and the controls aren’t the

Original 1960s Parts but uh these kind of changes are uh more than likely just for the rider’s own benefit just to make the bike a bit more user friendly when it’s out on the track now the bike’s front forks are almost certainly Italian serani units because these Forks were

Quite a common fitment on many of these Rickman frame kits from back in the day but it’s a a fantastic combination of that superbly engineer Rickman chassis in this beautifully sculpted matchless engine which I expect sounds fantastic through that unobstructed Chrome plated exhaust system and this particular old

School classic was just one of hundreds of similar bikes that were on display at the show this year and we have certainly more of the same in the pipeline to feature in the forthcoming uh episodes and so next up this uh is another bike that certainly got a lot of attention

Over the two days of the show and this is Steve coughlin’s 1988 RM 250 Suzuki a model that Steve told me that he used to race back in 1989 when he was a younger man and it’s been his favorite race machine ever since then but this is is

Another bike that we’re going to do a full uh feature on uh on my Channel at a later uh date but for the purposes of our tford look around we’ll just keep it kind of short and sweet for the time being but basically uh Steve told me

That he bought this bike back in October of 2011 for the princely sum of just 500 smackaroos and actually it paid the money without even taking a look at the bike or even seeing a picture of it because the seller did promise him that it was all in very good condition but

Just it needed a bit of tidying up anyhow it was a few days later when parts of a 1988 RM250 Suzuki arrived on a pallet at Steve’s address and just to make sure exactly what he’d bought Steve then threw all of the parts together just to get an idea of what was missing

And in fact he was so disgusted at what he’ just bought that he threw the lot in the corner of his workshop and there it lay for quite some time anyhow with the passage of time and after Steve had calmed down a bit he then decided that he would rebuild the

RM and make it one of the best 88 250s around and what you actually see here is years and years of Steve collecting New Old Stock original Suzuki parts to fit to the bike to eventually make it look better than brand new So eventually uh what we’re looking

At here now is a fully restored 1988 RM 250 Suzuki that’s been uh rebuilt using 100% uh New Old Stock original uh parts and it’s taken Steve uh six years to gather up all of the original parts that he needed and some of those parts mainly engine components are n on unobtainable

These days but uh with plenty hard work and perseverance Steve managed to Source exactly what he needed to complete the bike and uh this year’s 2024 tford sh was certainly the best place to put the bike on display now I’m not even going to try

And list all of the parts and the work that’s going into building this fantastic bike but as I said I’ve already reserved a spot on my YouTube channel to do a full feature on Steve Suzuki at a later date which will probably happen as soon as we’ve

Completed all of the videos from this year’s show so make sure that you Rune to take a look at that and uh even Parts like the original 88 RM Plastics are The Real McCoy on this bike and you just can’t locate these kind of rare Parts these days so

Steve’s been super lucky that he’s obtained these very rare items but this RM Suzuki was just one of three cracking bikes that Steve had on his stand on the day because he also had a stunning Kawasaki and a lovely 1978 Michael 440 which we’ll also take a look at later in

Another episode but certainly look out for the full story on Steve coughlin’s 88 RM250 coming soon to uh cdb uh TV okay so uh this was another quite tidy bike that was sitting on the west mland motor club stand and this is what I think is a 1974 or maybe even possibly

A 1975 at 440 uh twin shock Michael now again this was another bike that was being offered up for sale and it would certainly make a decent uh bike if you wanted to do the pre 75s or even the twinshock or classic races but uh of

Course this bike may have been sold over the course of the weekend of the show but then again uh maybe not and uh if you think you might be interested in this machine then just give Steve a call on this number but these uh older 74s or 75s are

Getting a bit harder to find these days but back in their he of the mid 1970s when the likes of the legendary Adolf wheel was riding these bikes to great success there were plenty of them going around and they were very popular with Motocross Racers of their day but this

Featured 440 Michael maybe isn’t a fully stock original bike but it does have a replacement exhaust expansion chamber and those alloy side panels as well which is uh not anything that you wouldn’t expect on an old twin chocker that’s about 40 odd years old now but uh things like these

Handlebars certainly look the real deal because uh back in the day these crossbars were welded across the bike like you see here so uh these certainly look like the correct items uh for its time although the overall condition of this bike is very good and it looks like

It’s almost ready to go so this would make a a very good starter bike if you wanted to get into uh twin shock uh racing but as I said uh who knows the seller may still have the bike so if this is maybe something that you might

Be interested in then as I said just call Steve on that number that you saw at the beginning of this clip but this uh quite nice looking Michael and a few other bikes as well as I said were on display in the west Morland motor club stand who were in the

Process of promoting all of their events that were planned for the forthcoming year and they also had this uh rather uh tasty looking uh 250 gaves on display that was uh promoting the up and cominging Dave Harper Greaves Championship which is a Greaves racing series for all Greaves scramblers that

Were made from 1954 to 1973 and the the series was actually initially started by one of the greeves employees called Dave Harper but this particular uh Dave Harper Series has been uh running since I think it was 2001 when it was first held at melany in Essex and they tell me

It’s contested by a very healthy field of over 35 Riders who race at various RAC tracks across uh the UK but it’s all usually part of the pre 65 Motocross club uh events and so this uh featured 250 Graves is uh naturally one of the bikes

That compete in that series and this is Alan graves’s race bike again not a fully original model because it does have quite a few modern Parts uh bolted onto it but mostly these are all still in keeping with the rules and the regulations of classic uh

Racing and as you can see here this Greaves engine has a much more modern Muni carburetor fitted to it as opposed to what probably would have been an old Amal concentric carburetor way back in the day but certainly this is a very nice piece of Kit and a good

Representation of the kind of bikes that you can catch a glimpse of if you ever get the chance to pop along to one of the race events at the Dave Harper gaves Championship during the course of 2024 okay so uh this next machine here is the latest creation from Lee Perry

Also known as the husk varam man and this bike here is at the latest Swedish racer from his stable of husana race bikes and this machine here is affectionately called Crazy Sue in memory of Lee’s late partner suzan David but it’s a massive 595 cc four Stroker with some fantastic Engineering in its

Construction including a full electric start modification now in the past I’ve seen quite a few of Le bikes down the years and uh I can tell you that this guy here is no Backstreet spanner Man Lee knows exactly how to design build and put these lovely husky specials together and

Not only does he restore and build these huskys he also races them as well and that’s of course in between selling his husk Vana spare parts that he usually specializes in all manner of two stroke and fourstroke husky race bikes from 1970 up until 1989 so he’s another very

Good contact if you need spare parts and bits and pieces for your aging husk vanas so anyhow this uh big Bruiser of a Husky motor uh would have more than likely have been about 510 CC originally but Lee had this engine on a course of steroids and he’s also boarded it out to

What is now at 595 CC so there’s certainly no shortage of horsepower when this big Beauty here gets fired up but this is the very first engine that Lees fitted with an electric start and uh this engine here is a bit of a a test bed uh because at a later date Lee

Intends to make the electric start as part of a bolt-on kit that you can buy over the counter so h no more kicking your big Husky for bangers to get it going just a quick Touch of a button and Away you go but you can see uh the

Engine starter motor mounted here at the back of uh the engine cylinder which naturally needs a battery to power it and uh leaves very neatly Incorporated it into a separate compartment here inside this custommade alloy airbox but it’s all all been very well thought through and engineered and by all

Accounts this starter system works very well out on the track and uh also I do remember Lee telling me on the day that because of where the starter motor was mounted on this engine he had to then convert the original cable operated clutch to a hydraulic unit which is another good

Upgrade for one of these big Husky engines but this bike here has so many trick and upgraded Parts bolted on to it that we’re never going to be able to cover them all in this short clip so this is going to be uh yet another special for a full feature at a later

Date and again here’s another nice modification that leaves made to the big Husky or Crazy Sue as it’s uh now known and that’s to extend the seat over the top of the tank so that the rider can get his weight as far forward as possible just to try and help the bike

Make sharper turns or even maybe to try and stop that front wheel from lifting uh when it comes off uh the start line so as we make our way along into the bike’s rear suspension Department it’s a good quality pair of yss piggyback units that are bolted onto the back of our

595 uh special and I expect that these front forks as well will have been kind of beefed up to cope with some of the extra weight of that starter motor and battery and some of the other add-ons that we have on this 595 but uh you can

Just imagine the growl that will come from this big megaphone tailpipe when that fourstroke husky motor gets fired into life and this tail pipe is another quality item fitted to this uh husky although another little intriguing upgrade that I did notice on Le’s Crazy Sue concoction was that appeared to have

Twin leading shoe brakes here on the back which was quite unusual because these twin brakes are normally found on the front end of these kind of specials although without question uh this is yet another uh quality build from Lee and his hus vanaman franchise and as I mentioned there’s quite a lot

More intricate engineering on this bike than we’ve actually covered in this very short clip but we’ll certainly pencil this bike in for a full and detailed feature at a later date here on my cdb uh TV uh Channel but a stunning looking machine and a great tribute to Lee’s late

Partner suzan David who actually along with Lee did attend the stalford show for the best part of 10 years so I can imag in it was probably an emotional time for Lee being at the show this year without his friend and soulmate but if you need any more

Information on these products or Husky Services then it’s probably just best to visit his website at husk vanam man.com so there you have it that’s the latest batch of machines from the 2020 4 tford classic dirt bike show we do have lots more lovely bikes to show you from this

Year’s event and if you’re not already a subscriber to cdb TV then I hope you will consider uh doing that very small thing because that way you won’t miss out on any future videos that I upload but I hope you will join us again very soon when we’ll be showing you more of

These superb Classics from the tford show and I hope see you back here again when we take a look at episode [Applause] 3