No Signals

even for you :-D

It might be a mans bike(only might) but it is a pig to work on. Nortons (of any era) are vastly overated and the honestly sold ones come with a pair of rose tinted spectacles. If ease of acquisition, ownership and usage are the prime points then BSA M20 is the way to go. But as with any ex-wd stuff dont expect it to be cheap and if you are doing any resto work yourself dont believe anyone who says a bike is easier to do than a larger vehicle - they obviously have never done a bike! The Ariels and Triumphs are fine but are much thinner on the ground and will be less easy to acquire a good one at a decent price. The RAF had Indians, but that is really getting in to the realms of the rare and exotic.

Gawd, it's going downhill already!

A pair of WW2 large packs converted for use as m/c panniers. Anyone recognise anything familiar about them and can throw any light on them? Could date from any postwar service period or they might even just be some bit of bad 'resto' bodging - although they seem that out of the ordinary for someone to do that to them. Maybe some significance in the pair having remained together? If the '2' had been hanging on the front of a vehicle I might have thought it was a bad immitation of a bridge plate, ut I seem to think 3(tons) was the lowest limit marked up? This pack also has IB2 in marker or paint on the main part. The only thing I could turn up on a Google search for that was to do with Clansman stuff, but that hardly seems relevant if thye were in use on a bike. The one marked '1' initially was marked '3', it is just showing through. I would have posted the pic here but the site is the pits at the moment, for me at least, for uploading anything so I've done a link. http://rides.webshots.com/album/583122473gtOWTW Any ideas? Over to you :-)

This event is postponed until September due to waterlogged area. Now there is a surprise :-)

As you are in W Yorks you might find a bike or two turning up to the Meltham Memories do in a couple of Saturdays time, but that is just a guess on my part. Might make it myself but it isnt definite at the moment. I'll be glad to chat bikes if you collar me, as will most owners. 'Over the hill' to Saddleworth in August will definitely have few in attendance and some of us will be making the trek to Stanford Leicestershire for the Taverners Founders Day event at the end of July. The theme this year is military motorcycles so if there aren't any there then you might as well give up! :-) As has been mentioned dont expect a bike to be a cheap alternative to a 4 wheel vehicle but dont be put off. Wartime bikes tend to attract quite a premium over their comparable civilian counterparts. If you get one sorted (preferably by doing as much of the work as you personnally can, that way you know it has been done properly) then you will have a vehicle that will run well, be reliable and do pretty much what you want and above all else be a whole load of fun in its own right irrespective of the re-enacting side of things. In my experience dont expect too much help from collectors of classic and vintage machines. For the most part, in 40 years of biking, I've found they tend to be a bit disdainful of military models so you will find more help on such forums as this and the WDM20 site refered to - a v.useful forum. All the best in your search.

Hi james, take a look through the threads in this section, they are have a pretty good selection of the typical ones.

Thanks for that Ron, much appreciated.

Regarding the rear carrier, do the 'middle' mounting stays bolt to holes in the mudguard or via 'clamp on' brackets to the mudguard stays? I ask as I have a(at a guess a modern repro) carrier that looks like the one in the diagram but mounts in that fashion. Or should I say it was mounted in that fashion to the bike it came off, and obviously was not for that machine (BSA). If I can get a proper identity for it it will help when selling it on. Cant access my photos at the moment so cant post one but, without having it in front of me, I would reasonably confident say that it is the one.

Fort Campbell on the headland to the north of the bay. Have a look on Google Earth. Worth a bus trip down to Valetta for two reasons 1) the ride on an old bus :-) , although I'm told they are being forced off the road since they entered the EU 2) if you like fortifications, Valetta is heaven.

Not one coming from the MV scene but geographically reasonably central (England speaking!) this looks as if it could be a good day out for military bikes. http://www.thetaverners.com/Founders_Day.htm

You mean that small button like thing? C'mon on John, that's the screen wash nozzle!

Rippo's book is correct - 25. 40 might prove too firm and not 'give' enough on wet bends?

Glad we finally got it sorted

Interesting. I was told that the item shown doubled up as both a trailer socket and a diff light. The feed would go to the electrical socket head that is doing nothing at the moment and if used for the trailer then the cap would be dropped off and the trailer lead put in there. If a diff lamp was needed then the feed would be put in to the 'capped' end and a bulb would be put in the end facing the diff. Obviously I was informed wrong but it did seem that what was said would work. So what does the correct diff lamp look like?

I've seen Lottery money spent on many worse things. Interesting, I hope it goes well.

Thanks, the info I have came from following the very same. Thanks Lex. The thing was I know I've read a thread somewhere, some time back, that discussed the post war registrations and there was some info about which regiments(?) had certain numbers/letters allocated to them. Rather than the reg numbers being allocated to a batch of vehicles, but it could be my memory is wrong on this. Which is why I'm asking. But of course it could have been on a different forum in which case it s a case of keep looking, eh?

So, says he with baited breath, did he tell you what YD were? I have a census number and a P/W reg which has YD as the middle two and as per Radiomike7 it is a bike. So I really am intrigued to find out what any documentation might say. Where are you Wally Dugan? :-)

I know I've seen info on the forum about this before but I can't find the result I'm after from a 'search'. So does anyone know of an online reference that I can use to find out which branch of service used 'YD' as their mid two letters on their reg. numbers? Cheers.

No number on it Ron, just the description 'Dark Olive Matt'. Dont know why he has no specific 1944 onwards British Olive Drab as, lets face it, it is a 'known' colour and must be on enough vehicles to warrant producing it. At the time when I ordered it ( O. Drab) over the phone, if I recollect correctly, he seemed as if I was asking for something that never existed that I was wrong in my description so I accepted the substitute. But what I've read since and from what Ted has told me British OD is an actual colour. I was interested to hear if any bikers knew where it (Dark Olive Matt as opposed to British OD ) might have fitted in to WW2 bike colour schemes.

Ok then fellas, I've got a tin of Frank Burberry olive green, I am told he doesn't do a paint designated (1944) British Olive Drab so where would that fit, if anywhere, for WW2 use?

RAF is different.

You need an 90 degree adapter to mount it on. Guess who has got one? :-)

Dont know a particular font name for it but this period pic shows the style fine. All the numbers there, apart from 1 , 8 & 9, but enough info to make up your own version I would have thought? Lets see the results when its done! :-)

http://www.classic-car-accessories.com/lamps/ http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/products/257amb-rubber-indicator-lamp Part 257AMB on the main page looks promising , until to you go to the detail and then it is definitely a diffrent item. Might be worth enquiring if the 'detail' page pictures are the item you get - or the main page one. It might be they have both?