COVENTRY-EAGLE

It’s always a pleasure to hear from Juris Ramba, aka the Baltic Pioneer. As OBM told you last year, Juris has recently organised an exhibition about his work and history with old motorcycles for the Ogre Town History and Art Museum in his home country of Latvia. After that show, he was approached by an elderly gentleman who asked him to look at and help with the preservation of a British motorcycle.

It turned out to be this Coventry-Eagle of circa 1928, with a JAP KOR 500cc engine and a three-speed Burman gearbox. Juris has since discovered that the OHV JAP engine was only made for one year, 1926, and has eight valve springs per valve, one central spring and seven small springs sited around the central spring. It was a system invented to avoid the all too frequent spring breakages during racing. This may be, Juris thinks, why this model is, as he says, as rare as hen’s teeth.

The Coventry-Eagle has survived surprisingly well with a few minor alterations, such as the headlamp and the mag dyno, while the tank paintwork has been changed to feature only the name ‘Coventry’. The original engine numbers have been ground away and a new number stamped in an unusual place – Juris has yet to find the frame number!

However, Juris has been able to find very little information on the 1928 model. The VMCC has been able to supply only a single right-hand side view of that year’s model so Juris asks if any OBM readers can help with photos from the near side of the machine and supply any information on the oiling system, maintenance and any other details that could make this wonderful motorcycle roadworthy once more.