DUTCH CARRIAGE
We take off to the Netherlands to ride a 1903 Pebok on a pair of vintage runs
Well, I’ll be a Dutchman... for the weekend, at least. I’m in the north of Holland at the end of April for two vintage rallies running backto-back. First up is Saturday’s Rondom Gees, followed by the Horsepower Run. And, like the Rondom, the Horsepower – now in its 36th year – attracts around 100 riders hailing from Belgium, France, Germany and the UK as well as the host country.
Both involve a 100km (62-mile) jaunt through picturesque villages and along quiet lanes, sometimes bouncing over brick sets that have moved due to the shifting sand underneath them. And that brought home the feeling that the men who rode these primitive motorcycles, with nothing more than a sprung bicycle saddle to give rudimentary comfort, were as tough as old boots. Made in England, the 1903 2½hp Pebok that I’m riding has no suspension. It does, however, have a cracking little 350cc engine with an automatic inlet valve that is lifted into the combustion chamber when the piston moves down the bore on the suction stroke. Feeding fuel through a fat copper U-bend, the Longuemare carburettor is definitely updraught, but with a good spark from the De Dion trembler coil ignition the engine fired up after a couple of quick turns of the pedals... until the valve-lifter cable broke. Then it was more of a work-out. Genuine Dutchman Gerrit Miedema had an easier time of it. His Peugeot had a Truffault leading-link fork that floated the front wheel over those brick roads. Built in 1907, the 500cc single also featured a Bosch magneto, so he didn’t need a battery. By 1912 motorcycles were becoming more reliable and
‘BOTH RUNS INVOLVE A 100km JAUNT THROUGH PICTURESQUE VILLAGES AND ALONG QUIET LANES’
practical. Manufacturers like Belgium’s Sarolea refined the 500cc single into a side-valve slogger that could cover long distances in relative comfort, although the bicycle-type stirrup brake was only good for polishing the front wheel rim. Sarolea rider Vincent Belgraver knows it’s best to steer around obstacles instead of trying to stop before hitting them.
While bikes like the Sarolea might have a three-speed epicyclic gear hub in the back wheel, Hans Devos’s 1911 Zenith features the Gradua gear system developed by Freddie Barnes. This neat device combines a variable engine pulley with the movement of the rear wheel to maintain belt tension. A tram handle on top of the tank is used to operate the mechanism through bevel gears, so that the gear ratio can be changed on the move. The system was so successful in hill climbs that the Zenith Gradua was barred from some competitions, which Freddie used to good promotional effect in his advertisements.
Engine technology was also moving on, as demonstrated by Jannes Huising’s French-made 1912 Magnat-debon, which develops a healthy crack when he tweaks the throttle lever thanks to a pair of overhead valves opened by pushrods as long as flag poles. But it was the Yanks who really sorted the high-speed big V-twin. With automatic oiling, twistgrip throttle and ignition controls, and a three-speed box combined with leaf springing front and rear, Gert Holmersma’s 1914 Indian was one of the most advanced motorcycles of its time. His partner Thea Bron’s 1919 F-head Excelsior used the same type of fork, but neither bike had a front brake. Riders didn’t trust them. But a Dutchman came up with a solution. Klaas Hylkeman can use his clogs for extra retardation when his 1920 Bradbury V-twin outfit isn’t stopping quickly enough!