The charge begins
The 1960s saw a seismic shift for two-stroke 250s, from humdrum commuters to tear-away humdingers… Mick Duckworth takes us from Leaders to Hustlers
At the start of the 1960s, some riders of motorcycles over 250cc regarded two-stroke lightweights with contempt – but by the end of the decade they were having a job keeping up with them. The dramatic change from commuter hack to speedy technical marvel was initiated by ascendant Japanese makers, inspired by German ideas.
In July 1960, 250cc became a significant size in the UK as the newly-imposed maximum for learner riders of solo machines. Secondhand bikes flooded the market and it made sense to limit the engine power available to daring but inexperienced road riders as young as 16.
There were plenty of British 250cc roadsters available, most of them two-strokes from small factories. One of the bigger companies, Bsa-owned Ariel, had boldly dropped four-strokes after launching the 1959 250cc Leader twin, its ‘bike of the future’ influenced by a German Adler design. Seeing a brand new Leader while walking to primary school, I wasn’t impressed by the legshields, tall screen and steel panelling – it looked more like a scooter than an exciting motorbike. Most learner riders felt the same, so Ariel made a stripped-back Arrow variant that proved more popular. The 80mph ‘Golden Arrow’ Super Sports, sold from 1961, made the running among British two-strokes.
Most other brands used less pokey 250cc Villiers engines, mostly 2T and 4T twins. Amc-owned Francis-barnett and James briefly fitted a 250cc single engine designed by Vincenzo Piatti, the Italian engineer responsible for Suzuki’s successful four-valve Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber of the 1980s. Demanding a higher level of precision manufacture than could be achieved at the time, it proved to be a dud and pushed AMC back to Villiers.
Like Ariel, AMC latched on to young wage-earning riders’ tastes. James and Francis-barnett got ‘with it’, featuring shapely fuel tanks, lowered ’bars and flyscreens. Panther and Ambassador joined the trend, as did Royal Enfield with its 4T-powered Turbo Twin Sports in eye-catching Flame Red and Cream. The tiny Norman factory even imported Italian tanks for its pretty 2T-powered B4 Sports, a rare gem I recall scraping down on rural bends in the 1980s.