Corona competitor
Neville Cushing got bored during the lockdown, so in seven isolated weeks he dug around his sheds, behind his sofa and produced this handsome, road-legal flat track weapon
One man's mission to build a flat track racer during lockdown
FOR MOST PEOPLE WHO START PROJECT BIKES from scratch, the vision of that mythical finished article is what drives them on. In their mind, so much is planned that an accurate shopping wish list is formed. It's a good, practical and sensible way to go about building a bike. The internet, books or magazine articles all help, with previous folks' attempts and experience; so the end result is more or less a proven build.
Then there is the serial bike builder's way. This is less organised, as it relies on their natural, visual talent to 'see' a bike in their heads. It is often joined with an unnatural ability to make, engineer or create anything, from anything. Well, nearly.
The look, even the purpose of their bike will be taken from stock they accumulate over decades.
Spot them at autojumbles; they're the ones that see something, never seemingly asking questions of year, or model; just 'how much'? Too much and they'll move on - remember, it's not for anything - yet. They walk round a sale, see a tank they like, and buy it for when it's needed. Go to a friend, see a frame, and buy it, or swap it, for when an engine comes along to suit it. Some bits are found for a purpose; but most will be in the shed, or sheds, for years; waiting for the right mission; waiting for their time to be useful. Oh, and the 'serial builder' will use the word 'just' a lot. Like fabricating an exhaust is 'just popping a load of pipes together' ...
Neville is most definitely in the 'serial builder' group.
A man of few words; well, few words without a joke in between, Neville knows how to build a bike. And tractors. And cars, stationary engines, wood chip augers. As an example, the 'Rough Inferior' he let me race at the Bike Shed Festival last year; an Aerial WLG/ Red Hunter frame, stretched to take the JAPKTOR V-twin from a Rotavator. Or the Fordson Major, with a Perkins engine, air brakes and now, thanks to his son's help, four-wheel drive with a Roadless front axle. Oh, and he also spent many years rebuilding traction engines. None of which you'll find on the internet, or in books - it all comes from that ability to 'see' the solution to a problem. See the theme?
Back to the bike in hand. The point of all this scene-setting is the ability to envisage how a bike will be, when made from parts brought together. I'd been receiving the odd photograph on my phone of the build (taken by Neville's neighbour - making stuff he can do, modern technology less so), and I know his bikes of choice are always dirtbikes; but when I first saw those exhausts and the low-slung nature of the bike, it took me for six. It's part speedway bike, part flat tracker, part dirt bike, part poster bike. And I love it.
"The idea just come from my head. I had a Tiger 100 engine, well, most of one, which I've always liked, so Ijust wanted something like a TRSTrophy or Tiger
100 frame; a rigid-type thing. But they all cost a lot of money so I thought I'll get some old rigid frame. Then I dropped onto this one and modified it a bit and, urm, there it is," explained Neville.
Why that style - did you decide before, or after you found the frame? "Well, it was a bit of both, really.
I like old track bikes, I like the look." A few years ago Neville took an old 1200 Sportster fitted with knobblies, naturally, to watch Dirtquake, a fun dirt track festival of inappropriate bikes at Kings Lynn speedway track. In the early days you could rock up and have a go, so there he was, racing round with the likes of Guy Martin. Since then, plus the scores of times we've all watched 'On any Sunday', Neville has enjoyed the thought of flat track. Hence this fine machine.
The frame is BSAA10, around 1957. It was a rigid frame that had been madded to take the alloy plates for the rear wheel. It was based on either a Sonicweld orTrackmaster-type frame (these were American frame builders that made frames for US oval racing). Looking at photos, I think it's more Sonicweld. The alloy plates for the rear made it quick and easy to adjust the height of the rear wheel and the wheelbase to suit the oval circuit.
The frame was a hell of a mess; both down tubes
were mangled so these had to be cut out and new ones had to be made and bent exactly. Then a friend, Steve, who is an artist with any type of welding, replaced them. "That's nice and straight now."The alloy plates are on their second incarnation, too, the 3/8th plate being replaced by a sturdier ¾in with more meat to accept some mudguard stays.
At the front is all the gubbins from a Honda XL250,complete with a 21in wheel. "I like the small brake." It can have an 18in or 19in for flat track tyres, as the forks have plenty of movement. To get the 1980s Japanese front end to fit, Nev machined up a two-piece sleeve from some pipe to allow the BSA inner race fit on the thinner Honda stem, with ball
bearings supplied by Draganfly. Pirelli MT43 tyres give grip for the trails, but good handling on the road. To complement the front, at the rear is a BSA18in QD rear wheel. The sprocket was cut by Talon, ¼ width,
520 chain, but then Neville had the inner cut out to fit the wheel.
The motor was meant to be the Tiger 100 engine in the shed, which only needed a few parts and putting together. But ever the one to spot a gem, Nev saw this complete engine while at a friend's workshop, and it turned out to be tuned, too. Nev likes building his engines, but this one, sitting there in all its glory and with shiny bits inside, was too tempting. The exact spec isn't certain, but: "it has high compression, E3134 cams in it, twin concentric carbs, racing mag (Alex from Matchless engineering, a friend who rebuilds mags were right jealous when he saw how good it was inside), a good crank and rods but you can't really see what they are. But that goes good. Well, now," smiles Neville.
Getting the new motor to run was a little tricky. It fired, but didn't keep running. The mag was suspected, so the modem, soft brushes were replaced with some old-style ones from the hoard. The carbs were tweeked and fettled, but still nothing and they looked a little scruffy and gummed up, so a new pair of 928 concentric Premier carbs were ordered. Then the new NGKplugs were swapped for an old pair of platinum ones hanging around; and it fired up and ran beautifully. Even the experts miss the simple things, occasionally ...
Fitting the engine was relatively simple, using the alloy Converta plates, but the oil feed and return pipes wouldn't work with the new oil tank, so a block had to be made and fitted with the pipes turned the other way.
The exhausts, however, took a lot more thought.
The downpipes are TT ones, modified to fit the 500cc head, then bent and adjusted to stack on one side. But silencers were tricky. "Everyone use those cheap ones like your racer (he says pointing at me ...) but I wanted something different - shorter, but with a reverse mega-look." In the end, while rifling through another shed for something, Nev rubbed up against a spare BMWboxer he has (as you do).The original BMW exhausts are Keihan, beautifully made and stainless steel. But they're too long, so out came the grinder, chopping the return at the end and shortening the front. Superwelder, Steve, then drilled the rear baffle out, repaired the insides and welded the shortened pair together. The result is unique, perfect for the bike, isn't too loud and should last forever!
Neville, how did you sort the gearing? "Well if you can't pass a Morris Minor then it's too low a gear. Thi'll be too low for road riding, but I've got good road bikes and I'm obsessed with large sprockets ... Because that's all I can remember from Lyng Scramble (Gadders Hill track is 10 minutes down the road) when we used to go as kids from school. I can always gear it up at the front, or on the Bob Newby belt drive I always fit.They give a lovely light lever and you don't have to worry about a chaincase, then. And round here (Norfolk)that gearing, it's good fun. There's a BMWin the shed if I want to go fast for miles. This one's good for down the lanes and up the hedges; it's the style I like."
Getting detail from Neville on such a unique bike is fun, as long as you can understand: "That's been right
difficult with this lock in - at first I had pram wheels that I couldn't get the gearing set up for, and a treacle tin for an oil tank. But I got there in the end, I'm lucky I know a few people; I'd ring 'em up, offer 'em £20 and a dozen toilet rolls, and got the part needed ..."
The tank is an alloy one, which was destined for a Gold Star scrambler. "I spent all week cleaning it up, painting it and popping the stickers on; then the first time I popped some fuel in the paint ran; I'd not lacquered it."The mudguards were both lodgers from the sheds, while that beautiful oil tank came from a local BSAspecialist and friend, Alex, at Matchless engineering in Norwich. The shed supplied the exVelocette saddle, that Nev then made a hinge and sprung base for,which can be lifted "so your arse don't get wet ... "
The small parts, the parts that take hours to make, have a functional, if rudimentary feel to them. The mudguard stays and the brackets made from scratch, the brass oil fittings found and stored for years, waiting for their time to shine. And the liberated parts; the footrests made from the draw bar of an International tractor and the rear wheel stand made from a Triumph 3T that spent 50 years in a field pit, immersed in water, rescued and given a new life. The speedo adds to the minimalist, racing theme; but isn't perfect. Neville smiles: "The speedo reckons a half-hour is 25 minutes; tha's nowhere near; the odd cyclist comes past, but on the lanes that's perfect. 40-50mph is where it likes it. It's a back lane scratcher and off-road it's all good. Now it needs the world to open and to be on a flat track."
This Beezumph is a culmination of a vision, of parts available, of skills learned, of friends made, and helped, massively, by the world closing down for weeks, giving the time to practically finish it in just seven weeks. Just last week, the Beezumph had its first journey for an MoT,via the local ford, some green lanes, naturally, where it then passed with the addition of a bulb horn. Next was straight to the Post Office to get its free tax and the long road to getting all those small details begins. Except Neville loves it just the way it is. And when the world reopens, we are hoping to race it in the vintage flat track championship, where it should fit right at home.
"I don't know if I'd do anything different," says Neville, with the hint of a smile as he looks at his machine. And that is all the proof you need of a great specials builder.
Many thanks to Alex at Matchless engineering, Norwich, 01603 630180, for all things BSA
LPWilliams ,Unit 3 South Barn,
Low West End, Claughton, Lancaster , LA2 9JX E, sales @tr i umph-spares .co .uk & fil m ../ ../ ../ ../ ../ ../
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