10. 1he NMM's G50CSR
That I've always thoughtAMC's midto-late 1950s single cylinder competition offerings are among the best looking motorcycles of all time, hardly makes me unique. Because, quite simply, they are. But, to me, the Matchless GsoCSR takes it to a whole new level.
While the rakish, red-tanked Gso racer is a thing of beauty and wonder, I always liked the CSR better - it looked usable, at least to a point, while it was also blue, which seems to be my favourite colour of motorcycle. So with a combination of the all blue finish and gold-coloured engine, well, I was sold straight away.
There was also something almost mythical about them too; this homologation special machine, which only went to the US, intending to stick it to the Gold Stars, Triumphs and Harleys on the dirt tracks, primarily. And it did too.
Rob Iannucci - Team
Obsolete principal and allround enthusiast - had written a feature in the press years ago, telling tales of his ownership of several GsoCSRs. I don't think I'd ever seen one until quite late on, probably at the National Motorcycle Museum. Then on one of the visits there, I suggested to director James Hewing perhaps we could get it out and run it.
"Course you can, mate, borrow it you like;' he jovially suggested. Really? "Yeah:'
So a few weeks later, I went over in the van and picked it up - the museum boys had been through it and given it a clean bill of health and let me take it away. When I brought it back to Homcastle I parked it in the foyer of our offices and for a while just went and sat down there and looked at it. I visited most days it was there.
The museum had been kind enough to entrust it to me, my idea being to use it for various events. Which I did, after a fashion. The main problem with it was starting; a high compression single, with no valve lifter/decompressor fitted, meant it was a challenge. It was fine when Tim Britton - our regular contributor - was about,
but I couldn't take 16-odd stone of Geordie with me every time I wanted to go for a ride.
The technique for starting I found was put it on the stand, into gear, getting it onto compression by jiggling the bak wheel, take it out of gear, then jump on the kick-start and hope it went. This got boring after more than three attempts ...
What about riding it? It went very well indeed. It was surprisingly civilised, owing to a standard gearbox, while the motor was lovely. Was it tonnes better than a G8o? In truth, probably not. But just look at it.