Classic Bike Collector – Arthur’s dream collection – part 2/2

In this video we take a look inside Arthur’s classic bike collection. In total Arthur has 37 bikes here. We have already been to Arthur’s once to check out this collection. In our first visit we didn’t have enough time to see all of his bike. In this visit we’re seeing a lot of the ones we haven’t seen before.

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// ABOUT THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CHANNEL
The Classic Motorcycle Channel is for people who love classic, vintage and antique motorcycles. We are passionate about classic motorcycles and produce high quality motorcycle profile videos, restoration videos, restorer profile videos and also anything that takes our interest.

We also have a second YouTube channel for workshop video logs and additional video content – @theclassicmotorcyclechannel2

// CHANNEL PARTNERS
– Alex Rollings – director and producer for the channel.
YouTube: @motofilmer
Instagram: @motofilmer
– Dave Mitchell – in house mechanic, presenter and producer. Dave also owns and runs a classic motorcycle workshop called Mitchell’s Classics.
Website: www.mitchellsclassics.co.uk
– John Oakes – presenter and producer. John is a classic motorcycle enthusiast, rider and restorer and works closely with us on all our video content.
Instagram and Facebook: @classicbikeman

// A BIG THANK YOU TO
– Arthur for taking the time to film with us on the day.
– John Oakes for taking the time to film with us on the day.
Instagram and Facebook: @classicbikeman
– Classic Bike Magazine for their photos of the Vincent Rapide Series A.
– Alex Rollings for producing the video.
YouTube: @motofilmer
Instagram: @motofilmer

/ PHOTO CREDITS
– 1926 Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sport – Craig Howell – no changes
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/1926_Brough_Superior_SS100_Alpine_Grand_Sport_%283828496859%29.jpg
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
– Mv Agusta 750S – Jay Cross – no changes
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/MV_Agusta_750S
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en_02.jpg

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We’re here once again with good friend of the channel Arthur and we came here what 10 months ago had a look at the Fantastic collection that Arthur’s got and well great pleasure to be invited back after that yeah my pleasure I would love to come here and we’re going to

Focus on some new additions to the collection see what Arthur’s been up to but we’ve also got a couple of very special bikes firstly this one that we’re going to feature which is a Triumph Tiger 100 1939 from the National Motorcycle Museum and we’re going to take that out alongside

Plus probably the crown jewel of any collection let alone Arthur’s collection it’s a 1938 Vincent hrd rapid series a series hi which is a super special bike so well what better place to start really than than here with this so fine let’s tell us a little bit more about

This bike Arthur what makes it so special well what makes it so special really is the is the injured yeah um the engine is fundamentally the same Arrangement as the post-war bikes which effectively took the fundamental elements of this machine and encased it in the monoblock crankcase but

Essentially as I think a lot of people know it’s a doubling up of the series a single yep one two the cylinders are um are pretty much the pretty much the same yeah there’s a lot of similarities looking at that to the series a comet and meteor that I’m fortunate to look

After and you can see that but it’s 47 degree but it’s doubling up so it’s 998 CC it’s 990 98 CC’s it uses an external oil pump that was made by Vincent’s and it used the Berman four-speed gearbox the Berman four-speed gearbox um had to be specially strengthened

Because the power of the engine was such that a lot of the gearboxes split I’m pleased to say that I’ve had this one up to um well I wouldn’t have driven it over 70 miles an hour would I but uh but at the end of the day the gearbox have not

Split it’s quite a good gearbox and it’s fine the frame is more conventional if you can call any Vincent conventional than uh than the post-war machines um it’s low it’s quite light um certainly compared with the post-war bikes it’s um it carries its weight down extremely low

They had problems with these with uh with the clutch the clutch simply could not cope with the power and the power being what 40 45 brake horsepower yeah I would think a good good 45 horsepower um it’s it certainly does does sing and um it gives true credit to its uh

Nickname the snarling Beast it’s smiling but also known as the Plumber’s nightmare yeah oh yeah there’s about 10 pipes around this side as well this one’s actually um got a Triumph clutch in it oh okay um which was uh which is probably a pretty good idea

Um it’s the tronic 500 clutch but it seems to bite quite nicely copes a bit better and uh it copes better with the power you can buy the plates for it and so on and so forth it did require a change of engine sprocket to get the

Gearing right but it was a good it was a good mod and I’m pleased that was uh please that was done handles quite well yep um other differences to the single then so in lieu of because we’ve got more engine well twice as many cylinders oil tank is

Is gone from this isn’t it the oil tank is is in the in the top that’s the oh no that’s the petrol don’t want that your oil goes in in this one there’s still some oil in it that’s good um back in the day this was a hugely expensive motorcycle very exclusive in

Terms of well first of all it’s performance 110 miles an hour these times good good 110 miles an hour I’ve I’ve had it up to a shown about 115 on the on the clock um yeah not on the public Highway no good at least I’m not prepared to admit

To that but it really does fly it’s the fastest thing you could faster than an ss100 brough technically than in its day yeah and price wise was same as the broth as expensive as you could buy back then as well but yeah much rarer did you

Want a house or a or a Vincent hrd repeat I think there were about 80 of these made yeah figures vary people have different views there’s only a very limited number actually running yep um a lot are in collections and so on and so forth which is you know which is

Very nice but it’s a shame really because it is a motorcycle to be ridden fairly original in most aspects the brake drums are a bit special but they are not actually original but they’re sensible Sensible modifications the brakes are passable um it’s the best thing you can say about

Them really they dance up better than some yeah um some breaks um looking at the Triumph yes today about 20 miles to get here and um it goes an absolute treat this bike and but the brakes are not the best to be fair they’re not as good as on the

Series a uh single cylinder Vincent’s that arrived from the same year nowhere near so but it does go well and what we’re actually going to do and what we Arthur promised on the last video was John you can come back one day and you can ride my wonderful Vincent rapid yeah and

That is stuck in my mind for all the right reasons so we are actually going to take this out and you you will enjoy riding this because it one fundamental difference between this and that yeah um is that this has rear suspension of course absolutely yes um so it has the

Has the traditional um Vincent inspired cantilever yeah which they adopted from very very early on and of course it was copied by the Japanese as we all know um and and it does ride um it does ride quite it’s gonna go well and it’s going to ride well and then in return you’re

Going to take out this uh this tiger hundred that we bought from the museum so yeah that would be really interesting I’ve got a I’ve got a 650 Thunderbird yep um which uh it will be an interesting comparison to the uh to the Thunderbird is this this is the early so the speed

Twinning or 37 38 and then this coming out in 39 running into 40 was the the beginning of the Edward Turner parallel twin ranges wasn’t it that would have been the sports version absolutely um but as far as this is concerned there was no touring version

But we’ve got two of the most up-to-date most powerful desirable machines from their era so it’d be great to take them out together 33 horsepower parallel twin versus the V-Twin thousand seat Well 998 CC 45 horsepower machine and uh oh it’s gonna be magic so yeah looking forward

To that and before we do that we’ll have a little look at this uh sparkling beauty that is just at the side of his a new addition to your collection since we last visit yes indeed I um I’ve I’ve had a couple of villa sets for some while and I had a I

Had a Thruxton and uh I have to say Thruxton was was was was really really good once I’d sorted it um but uh to be perfectly honest um uh I don’t find the riding position of the Thruxton quite to my liking these days that’s going up for sale at the

Moment and I was particularly um enthused to buy this because it would give me a lot of the benefits of the Thruxton in uh in a package it’s just more suited to a gentleman’s oh there you go yeah and it’s it’s it’s it’s got styling which is so popular at the

Moment with modern Classics that you buy absolutely let’s explain what this is then to people watching it’s a velaset engine and gearbox but it’s in a completely different frame and it’s got an interesting story it has um back in the day there was a gentleman called Floyd climber Floyd climber was

An American publishing magnet an extremely wealthy man most motorcyclists and car owners will have heard of the climber magazines and uh maintenance manuals a bit like an American Haynes type manual um but he bought the Indian name and he decided he wanted to reinvigorate the name and make a range of machines

Um we didn’t have a factory so he said well I need some engines so he bought about I think about 120 engines from velaset some Venoms some thru accidents this is around 1969 1968 1969. um he bought a few Triumph twins yep from uh Meriden and he bought a few

Royal Enfield twins from uh from Enfield and he shipped them to Italy to a company called Italian who were well known for electric bikes and kiddies bikes and so on and so forth started by a very famous Italian racer called Mr tatarini and he said can you

Build me a motorcycle around this and he gave him some indications of what sort of style he wanted so this is a British engine gearbox clutch assembly in an all-italian chassis with an American badge with an American badge so it’s a real hybrid of uh it is I’m not so sure

Anything of it originated from America um but it’s an interesting combination and it’s it’s sort of breathed a little bit more life into a what was very at that point very old engine but a very good single cylinder and it gave it that American Street scrambleries yeah that’s right Street Scrambler before

They’d almost existed really um it was most of these went to California yeah um it was an extremely expensive piece of Kit it probably was significantly more expensive than a Honda CB750 of the Dust yeah you could probably get Honda 750 a whole bunch of riding kit and take the wife out for

Dinner for a week for the price of one of these and subsequently as it just you wouldn’t be surprised it didn’t really it’s 10 years some of these came back to the UK and were sold by Villa set dealers in the UK this one was in California and it was

Brought back thinking about 2005. yeah um and it has it has been restored um um but as far as I can tell it’s all pretty original um apart from an animal Mark II carbreta and the silencer foreign So in the garage now recognize this bike this was previously in the collection I looked after and then now he’s in after this custody it’s a black shadow um you’ve made some improvements to that haven’t you Arthur there were some changes yeah I’ve I’ve gone through it

To uh some original components that I had um I re I’ve swapped over changed one or two things um this is interesting though to make it a little bit more rideable yeah I um I did some measurements and uh and I found a chap uh who was into 3D printing and

He I calculated that if the battery box was about half an inch longer and a few millimeters higher I could get a much larger capacity to a volt battery in yeah um without it detracting at all from the overall looks of the machine and then while we’re on Vincent’s then

Egley we saw last time but this is the big ball Comet that was on the bench and it’s interesting that you see this for people that don’t know for instance have this quite nice and interesting feature that with the oil tank yeah this is this is known as the upper frame

Member yeah and on a Vincent there effectively is no frame there is what is referred to as the UFM upper frame member and with the engine number on the um cast headstock which is bolted in um these are reamed and very very secure at the front

Um and the rear frame member which is basically a triangular assembly which bolts onto the back of the motor that is the frame of instance so for those people that haven’t seen a Vincent with the tank off that’s the ultimate this is typically what’s what’s what’s underneath it um this particular bike um

Was raced in um or the rather the engine was raced uh on the continent for some years with with with some success attached to a sidecar and it has a 600 CC Terry Prince top end on it um so the cylinder cylinder is much much bigger than a standard standard one and

Uh I’ve got a Dyno sheet for this and um would you believe that Dyno gives it power that’s 43 horsepower at the back wheel nearly the same as a raccoon no next to that we’ve got the uh well it’s the first of the larger capacity Hondas

To to land in the market wasn’t it or mid-range yeah that’s right this is this is the one that really shocked the heck out the British industry yeah um this bike is 1966. I think they were launched in 64. the engine is a double overhead camshaft it doesn’t use valve springs no

It uses torsion bars yeah um torsion bars various cars like Alfa Romeo use torsion bars in their suspension and um and it seems to work it and it’s the model of this so to say everyone’s it’s a cb450 but this particular one KO was known as the black bomber this was this

Is the original black bomber um it it revs like crazy but actually it’s quite quite respectable mid-range it’s got a four-speed gearbox the later ones went up to a five-speed box I don’t really think it needs it quite honestly no and it’s got constant velocity carburettors on the final one

The hesketh we did touch on this last time I think there was you were just prepping this ready for the season almost but this you’ve been riding and enjoying and you took it to a very special event recently yes I did um I I to be honest it’s a big bike and

Uh and I do find it um quite a handful at standstill yeah when you’re actually on it it runs and rides really nice it’s very sweet the heskis club were invited recently to a couple of events one was Bentley Drivers Club race meeting at Silverstone where for

Some reason they like to put on a display of hesscus yeah and the other one was the opportunity to have a photographic session at Eastern neston which was the stately home of Lord hesketh where the things were originally built yeah um so we had big photo session there recreating some of the original

Um original um brochure catalog common permission of the current owner of uh of Eastern we can’t not mention this one after Sunbeam I’ve seen this on the Banbury run I know it’s a really good bike yeah I’ve I’ve lent this to a couple of friends for I think the last four

Banbury runs it’s a 1930 500 CC Sunbeam Model 9 overhead valve um is these were always considered the gentleman’s motorcycle yeah very very high quality finish um good solid reliable engine with a lot of sporting characteristics yeah that engine was an absolute cracker wasn’t it right through the well mid-20s right

Through to this period yeah absolutely there’s there’s nothing unpleasant about it about it at all the brakes are fairly okay for the period gearbox is is quite nice and she runs and starts extremely well we’re in what I call the Pirelli Lounge um and if you look around the

Walls you’ll see the reason why I call it the Pearly Lounge um so um so all good things come from in here and uh normally there’s a few more bikes in here but uh but they’ve been sort of moved around a little bit for the purpose of of to die um

125 Marine two-stroke which we looked at before but that’s now that’s now finished its restoration as far as I’m going to to do full valve radio Ulster 1937 which you saw before that goes that goes like stink they look cool don’t know and there’s an interesting feature on this actually that that

Matches up with the Vincent isn’t it yes that’s right on the um on the side you’ll see a big long hat big long handle reaching up to the engine this is connected to a center stand and of course Center stands in the 30s were a thing of a thing of great mystery

Um because nobody fitted them no but rudge Set uh set the standard for this really third and final room is a very nice space indeed but there’s some bikes that we didn’t see here last time Arthur um Zenith around this about 12 years it’s a 1927 6it side valve Zenith Jack what you

See is what you get it’s a very pretty motorcycle it is lovely lovely and very rare but talking of rare the one you’re leaning on there then the MV yes which is I’ll be brutal with yata and I don’t think you’d it’s a bit of an ugly duckling until you see the engine

That’s in it oh absolutely um they’re made about 120 of these and as I think I said before the uh the fact that something is rare doesn’t necessarily make it wonderful but in this instance it certainly does the engine is straight at the Enfield gust

At Race shop and you know it’s in a reasonably solid chassis should we say it’s not the prettiest thing in the world but it runs nicely and I like it it’s reasonably powerful um shaft drive very very unusual probably three or four in the UK don’t know how many of there are still

Existing worldwide but it does make it a a real Rarity yeah unusual and these these were precursor to this 750s and they’re like yeah absolutely it’s such a bizarre Story how they launched oh well we’ll get that amazing engine that we’ve won the World Championships in we’ll

Shrink it down and we’ll stick it in a in a a cruiser style maker Sports counter Guster didn’t want to make a four-cylinder no and he was persuaded by his management to make this bike but he said I don’t want people to go racing right so deliberately yeah

We’ll put shaft drive on it we’ll make it a tourer yeah we’ll do everything we can to stop people bracing it racing clubman’s versions um and of course there are still three or four of these in existence around the world where they don’t have engines in because people did take the engines out

And that’s it tune them up and so on this has got twin carburetors where’s of course the race bikes would have had four yeah um but actually the chassis is pretty much identical to the 750. yeah it really isn’t very much difference He’s gonna do a couple of ride-by shots and then we’ll go back to base it’s not Revenue [Laughter] doesn’t sound like any Vincent I’ve heard before that one absolutely well I think Bass so the minor issue that we’ve had with the Triumph with the clutch cable break

In Arthur has now brilliantly fixed it by what resoldering on a nipple on the end of the cable yeah and we’ve threaded it back through and that will now get me home and more importantly back to the National Motorcycle Museum where it lives which is great news and I suppose

We’ve got to finish with the bike that we really came to see today well yes I think you enjoyed riding it didn’t you I it was an honor and a pleasure and there’s always that saying never meet your Heroes isn’t it and this is a Hero bike

Of mine for all lots of reasons but genuinely I was blown away by one how smooth it was but two the power up the hills to talk and I mean I was only going gentle on it hit 60 miles an hour and it’s not even trying

In 1937 38 39 this must have blown people’s minds absolutely I I’m tempted to think it’s it’s actually more powerful than a poster War Machine yeah yeah what do you think I mean it felt quicker it felt quicker than yeah than the the seriously rapid in terms of its

Acceleration and it’s just it’s talk um it obviously felt it felt light from the front ends it handled really well I mean it is you’ve got to remember what was for me I sat on it and thinking it I’m on my 500. until you come to a stop

And try and move it remember it is a bigger bike yeah but actually sweeping through the bends great the brakes are more than adequate for it but the effortless power of that V-Twin 45 horsepower felt more like 85 horsepower to be honest it does it’s such a

Visceral uh experience and well I’m just absolute honor to be able to uh and privilege to have been able to ride it today after it’s just it’s just really really nice to share share something like this you’re not the first person I’ve let let ride it um and uh you know people shouldn’t

Queue up to ride it but on the other hand um you know it it’s an experience to be shared I like to share experiences and there you go and it is it lives up to its reputation and the legend that is this bike they are superb yep excellent