Old Knobblies
Fancy a go at one of these trail challenges? Then go to Philippe Vanderwalle’s Old Knobblies website www.oldknobblies. com for the latest info on the next one. The website is the home of classic and twinshock enduro and reflects Philippe’s motorcycling passion – enduro bikes and competition – his other passion is food and, as the former executive chef at the Ritz Casino in London, he has lots of experience in this field too. But it is the enduro scene we’re concentrating on here. The Old Knobblies website has lots of things for the dedicated enduroista and is well worth checking out. original but would be of the period. They are matched to Domino control levers, that would be original and also a Gunnar Gasser throttle, again a period accessory.
Enduro motorcycles are, or can be, road legal and also have lights fitted. It isn’t necessary to have lights on a motorcycle – or car for that matter – in order to be road legal, it just means if the weather turns bad then you’re stuck. The electrics on an off-road bike are quite simple and consist of a headlight, which can be dipped, a taillight with a stop facility and, for post 1973 machines, an electric horn. The ones on this 370 work very well indeed.
The final bit to add to the machine was the exhaust and it is one of Philippe’s own reproductions. Actually, it’s the prototype test system with the original internal volume exactly the same as SWMS and, once it had been proved, production started.
Although it is a good reproduction of the original, a chance was taken to make the silencer re-packable, which makes a big difference to two-stroke performance and the end spout was tweaked slightly too.
All that remained was for Philippe to add the modern Mikuni carburettor, new cables to the bike and it was ready for its outing at the ISDT centennial meeting in 2013. Philippe decided at our trail challenge that his 370 would be temporarily retired after it. “It has been used for four years now,” he explains, “and some things are getting a bit tired, it needs freshening up…” If only riders could have the same treatment.