Frank Westworth

Frank shares his alwaysappreciated knowledge, not just of old bikes, but of life itself

“Making it work was easy. Making it work well enough to ride it was also easy, if a little more long-winded and more expensive. Think tyres, brakes, battery”

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

Click click every trip. FW has been discovering the delights of electric starter classics…

Quests are always wonderful things, don’t you find? Set a goal and head off towards it. The goal can be sensible or it can be of the infinite improbability variety; both can be pure entertainment in their own ways. And as actually riding old motorcycles is something of a minefield these days, I decided that I needed a quest. A simple one, because I suspected that the answer was already ensconced in The Shed, and had been lurking in there for quite some time. Biding its time. Its time is now, I decided.

The quest involved locating, purchasing, prepping and actually rendering roadworthy a decently lightweight old bike with an electric start. Life is far too short to waste in explanations, but I can reveal that my judgement was clouded by the potential resurrection of an electric-started Norton twin. I should rephrase that: A Norton with an electric starter. The difference may be subtle, but it is important. And it couldn’t be a Commando or a rotary, which limits the field somewhat, as you will appreciate. But a quest is not a quest if it is not also a challenge, so I dragged an elderly Norton ES400 Electra from the damp of ages and set to.

These are great little bikes, as you may already know, and have only recently suffered from folk discovering this happy fact and buying them up at prices ranging from the merely optimistic to the seriously surprising. The Shed Electra has languished therein for at least a decade. Maybe more. And memory suggests that it should run, that it had in fact run before I stored it away. Memory can lie, of course. And memory failed to remind me that

I’d fitted it with a new set of exhaust pipes at some point. The chrome must be good, because they’d not gone rusty.

Making it work was easy. Making it work well enough to ride it was also easy, if a little more long-winded and more expensive. Think tyres, brakes, battery. The latter was important because of the quest: the electric starter needed to work.

I’ve ridden enough Commandos to be aware of all the ‘electric assist’ jokes, and instantly observed (it is a skill) that rather than the notorious Prestolite item some Norton optimist specified for the Commando, the rather less beefy Electra uses a Lucas item. Add your own joke here. I did what you would expect and checked that everything worked by whirling the motor round with the spark plugs removed. Everything worked. The engine however did not start. This was not much of a surprise.

Back from a zap (well…) down the lane, I switched off and took a deep breath. Pressed the red button. Enormous noises issued forth, something like a giant playing dominoes with shipping containers, and the engine started itself. Amazing. Aren’t modern batteries wonderful things? The Electra has room for a pair of accumulators, but I fitted only one. Goodness.

The Electra has never started itself since. I blame the battery. Only a fool would fit only one.

I decided to seek another allegedly selfstarting classic. But which? After months of negotiation I actually bought one, unseen, as is the lockdown way, from a total stranger. Why? Because I’d somehow forgotten that back in the mists of antiquity, or the classic haze, call it what you like, I’d entirely forgotten that Harley-Davidson once owned Aermacchi. Did you know that? Of course you did. Did you also know that right at the end of production of their sweet and neat 350 flat single they converted it from four to five speeds, moved the gearshift to the left and… and… fitted an electric starter? How could a chap resist such a treasure when someone offered him one in full working order? I knew you’d understand.

New battery (intended for a ride-on lawnmower, remarkably), fresh fuel and air, switch on and kick. First kick, off it roared. It’s very loud. Zoom around the lane, return and check out the starter motor. Click, it goes. Click click. And I do dislike left-foot kick-starts. Clicking is easier than kicking, I find.

There’s a moral. Never mind this motivational quest nonsense. If you want a nice lightweight motorcycle with a working electric start – just buy one. Return it to the dealer if it does not work. Be stern.

I wonder whether fitting a second battery would inspire the Norton? Hmmm… Frank Westworth is the editor of RealClassic magazine, the latest in a long series of publications that began in 1982 when he was bullied into producing The Jampot, the previously excellent magazine of the AJS & Matchless OC. He was also founding editor of Classic Bike Guide and has returned as a columnist as a penance. Or something. He has a mysterious obsession with riding obscure and elderly motorcycles, which he does very slowly…