welbike

Here you go, my 1910 P&M, that was (according to the story that came with the bike) used in the RFC, taken in by an officer, as they could use their own bikes. The Douglas was also very nice! The run ended at Shoreham airport, all in all a very nice day, and not much trouble for the P&M, the bike must have done the run for 20+ times, but never with me on it. Cheers, Lex

Nice work Ron! and I all saw it on your workbench last monday! Cheers, Lex

26" wheels, is always postwar, wartime only had 28" Hope this helps, Lex

Whatever plug you use, it doesn't matter much, the petrol has changed so much, that the original standards don't mean anything anymore, I just use whatever I have, mostly NOS stuff, and see if the colour is about right, when back from a good ride. Lex PS, got some boxes of nice US plugs in recently!

Yes, I just got that far, but looking at the debris in the river, it cannot be that location! Thanks, Lex

Well, Belgium is bi-lingual, or rather 3, but I'll save you the details, so I think it is in Belgium, but still open for other locations. Lex

Not so sure now Jan, the church steeple will surely have been replaced, and may look different, the only picture of the bridge, prewar I can find is this one, and I checked all bridges on the Schelde from the French border to Gent, but nothing like it. It could be a whole different river, or in France, but will keep looking. Lex

Here's the September 1939 Norton 16H, (all matching numbers, confirmed by the Norton Ledgers, thanks Rik, Rob and Jan!) as found, well I replaced the wheels, and added a headlamp, for the looks, as the wrong (Belgian prewar) wheels were fitted, it even runs, but needs restoring, I don't think the engine and/or gearbox has ever been out of the frame, since it was built! all original hardware present, and am quite pleased with it! have already found the missing parts, so will be easy to restore, there even is a bullet hole or strike in the rear carrier, lot's of Khaki green No.3 under the black paint, but alas no makings at all on the tank. Looking at the timeframe of things, it was built in September 1939, went over with the BEF, saw action in France and Belgium, was left behind in the April? 1940 fighting, and presumably dragged away from the place it was left by a nearby farmer, hidden for the occupying Germans for 5 years, then another 4 years to make sure the Brits didn't come back to search for it, and then it was registered in 1949, and presumably used by the farmer, I will go back there, to ask if they know anything about it of course, but it's the French speaking part of Belgium, so need an interpreter, Jan, Rik?? So, that's the story so far, it would be interesting if the picture of the bridge is the same bridge, but it could be somewhere else altogether! Also look for more WD Norton info on Rob's excellent website: Norton wd 16h and wd big4, British military motorcycles of world war 2 (wdnorton.nl) Cheers, Lex

Yes, I will get to that in a minute! but I checked the bridge that is 1,5 mile away from where my bike was residing for years and years, and came up with this shot from Google, old factory buildings could have been torn down, and new ones erected, but church looks the same, it's the village of Escanaffles on the south side of the river Scheldt, I'll try to find some old postcards online of the village. Are the slides German or British?, and can it be that your second picture is in mirror image? The Brits left behind a lot of material here, when 4th Division blew this bridge, but I'm not sure in what direction they went? I assume northwest, so in the direction of the coast. Interesting stuff! Lex

No idea about the bridge picture, but more Belgium/France than Holland. I have just bought a motorcycle that was left behind when a bridge was blown in Belgium in 1940, I'll check that out. Lex

Ron, you forgot the one under the inspection cap! And JT was working on having a better rear mudguard transfer made, the one now available is not very good with wrong font etc. The tanktop transfer I have drawn from originals, and sent the artwork to Classic Transfers, so it's perfect! Cheers, Lex

There's also a transfer on the primary chaincase, and sometimes on the oil tank. Lex

Russells used to have them NOS. Cheers, Lex

Ah, I must be going blind!! sorry! then it's more difficult, but you could have one turned from solid brass I guess? here's mine, also brass. Lex

You'll be lucky to find a complete one! but just buy a repro light, and transfer the knob over to the old lamp, should work, they are not bad at all. (except for the Phillips screw) Lex First picture, from the Lucas catalog, second picture a repro.

Nice detail! the bike is a BMW. Lex

Regarding the original batterybox cover, I tried to save the original paint, but nothing worked really well, so decided to blast and repaint, it would have looked too much out of place! will fit this original part soon, then the very nice repro will be for sale again, made from a set of drawings someone gave me years ago, Lex

Thanks Alex, it took way too long, almost 15 years, but not too much work to be done now luckily! Cheers, Lex

Thanks Mr. Ed! here a current picture of the toolbox in the Clark's ballast box, it was made to put sand or stones in, to get the weight up, when moving a lot of earth! They are also called "sandboxes" and the outside panels are hinged, to quickly lose the ballast, but have never seen any period pictures of them being filled, too much work I guess!! Not sure what they put in/on it in this period picture?? Lex

Also restored a WW2 toolbox, and cut some stencils for it, to put in the ballast box, it just fits! Also bought a lot of old tools, with big sizes. Lex

Ok, so where was I ?? the too short hydraulic line, in the end I found out, was OK, I just had fitted it wrong, the brackets had been extended upwards, so I cut them down, and used the original lower holes, now everything fitted OK! Also fitted original choke cable outer wire, inner is a replica. Original knob had broken off years ago. And the right size stencil had arrived, 1 3/4" high, as per originals, not 2" as I had them made before, this I still have to change, even now we're in September 2021! Lex

Another problem I ran into is that after the valve block was fitted to the oil tank, this metal line doesn't fit!! as all these parts come from different machines it's maybe understandable, but still very strange, and don't know what to do with it, except make a longer tube. Have an idea, that more to the front the line was shortened, as the weld looks different where it meets the crosspipe. so I may have to alter that! Cheers, Lex

Yes, I was wondering the same? the other day I used a 5 year old spraycan, I had filled with my own paint, 2K, with very little hardener in it, and after some persuasion it still worked enough, to finish a part I was spraying! had to use a small burner to get some life into the can, but it did work. Cheers, Lex

Nothing received??? Lex

Just in time I guess, but it will not be very cheap, as I first had to make the blank plates with the raised lettering, and now have them engraved with these special contract details, there were 4 (bigger) contracts, so please let me know which one you need? the one posted above is the first contract, if unsure PM me with your frame number, but I think to keep it easy I will not do more than 2 contracts at this moment. Or you can have the engraving done yourself, but it's a special font ofcourse. Lex