AJS & Matchless Owners Club Sample Newsletter

CORRECTION - PIPE DREAMS

In the last issue of Matchless News, I printed an article concerning Brett Mathews and his efforts to have produced, some exact copies of exhaust pipes. In attempting to fit everything into place for the article, I neglected to state that the pipes are intended for 1947 and 1948 AJS and Matchless 500cc singles. You can contact Brett should you be interested in these pipes at: 803 Riva Ridgr Blvd., Gahanna, OH 43239, phone (614) 855-2884 or email at RickmanMan@aol.com

My mistake Brett.

Dave

PINEOLA 97

Before you throw this page away this is not an announcement about Microsoft products from Bill Gates, this article is actually a report on the 4^th Annual Pineola rally held in Pineola, NC from September 5 through 7, 1997.

Twenty five AMC enthusiasts ventured (some were dragged) into the mountains of NC to enjoy some of the most beautiful weather that anyone could have hoped for. What a difference from last year, when Hurricane Fran caused a postponement of the 3^rd Rally until "brass monkey" weather was upon us and the rest, as they say, is history.

Well we missed our leader - John Diederich left for Germany before the rally started but Horace Greene and I managed to keep the organization running smoothly. That’s not to say that we don’t need you next year John - but, before this hole gets any deeper, let’s just say that he taught us all we know.

After a short ride for the early birds on Friday afternoon, Horace led the starving hordes to Spears Barbecue for what has become the semi-official kick-off meal. With bellies full we returned to the campground. Joseph Lucas should be proud of his efforts that night as most of us managed to keep the headlights lit and the road well illuminated. As it turned out though we arrived back at the campground to complete darkness and it stayed that way for about 10 minutes until I fronted up with $5 to pay for a couple of light bulbs for the pavilion. Frank, the proprietor, seemed to be working on some sort of medieval principle that where there is light, there will be trouble. It appeared that he had instituted a light bulb removal policy before our arrival just in case things got out of hand. With light restored overhead we scouted around for firewood only to find that it had been stored in the same place as the light bulbs. (Fire also causes trouble). Another few dollars changed hands and a bundle of wood made it to the pavilion. We now had light, fire and the trouble (sorry camaraderie) was about to begin.

Horace decided to set the coffee pot up on a timer for the next morning. Normally this would have been one of John Diederich’s tasks but, in his absence, we tried to do our best. A measured amount of coffee and water were put in the pot as per instructions. The pot was plugged in and the timer was set for 7:00 am or so we thought. At 7:00 am the coffee pot did not come on. At 7:15 it was determined that the plug was out. The plug was put back in. Twenty minutes later as the lines grew longer and the rhetoric more acrimonious, it was determined that the timer was set at 10pm. With the guilty party nowhere to be seen the timer was thrown away and the pot hardwired to the receptacle. Never mind Horace, you do have other talents.

Saturday’s morning ride was a short run up to Banner Elk and Grandfather Mountain. Horace led the pack on his 56 80CS sporting a new muffler from Armours. It wasn’t enough to keep the apparently supercharged 1946 model 18 ridden by Tom Moors off his back wheel. Tom has obviously found a way to cleverly disguise a Honda CBR600 but I wonder why he didn’t choose a Matchless twin to enhance the deception.

Now that we had blown a few of the cobwebs away we were set for the afternoon ride. I could tell a story about the maps, but the coffee making guy has already had a beating. Loose stones on the road forced us to alter the route slightly, but we ended up riding to a small Hamlet that goes by the name "Little Switzerland". If you like "twisty turny" stuff you couldn’t ask for a better ride. After a short ice cream stop we set off back to the campground. Unbeknownst to the lead bunch of six riders, Mike Monett from Ohio went wide on a right hand corner, parted company with his A-10 and hit a pick up truck. While the lead bunch waited about 2 miles up the road for what we thought were stragglers, the local fire chief drove up and stopped. He was in a hurry asked "if we were an accident?". We completely misunderstood the meaning of the question, supplying him with a variety of inane replies. He drove off muttering about stupid motorcyclists. We eventually retraced our route to discover Mike lying in the middle of the road awaiting the arrival of an ambulance. As things turned out Mike spent only an hour or so in the hospital while they checked the relative position of his limbs and other body parts. As for his mental faculties, once they heard that he was riding a BSA, they immediately discharged him, assuming of course that he was a lost cause. For the rest of us, the spill put a bit of a dampener on things. We rode back to the campground somewhat subdued with the realization that we are mortal after all and that things could have been more serious.

Things were a little behind schedule at this point and back at the campground Bill Cable (a local culinary legend) and his family had set up to cook up a trout fish fry. Our small swap meet took place and attendees were asked to vote on the people’s choice for best AMC machine at the Rally. We all gathered around in front of a video camera so that Danny Boss could film us cheering the arrival of his first baby for his wife Tammy back at home. The fish fry was scrumptious and as the meal wound down, we found time to take a group photograph and a small prize giving before the light faded. Many thanks to Bob Schanz of Domi Racer and Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle for generously supplying the prizes. Tom Moors 46/18 won line honors for best AMC machine, Gene Thompson and Millie rode the furthest (from Michigan on their Harley) while Peter and Cathi Gay traveled furthest to the Rally from Rhode Island. A battered and bruised Mike Monett picked up an impromptu hard luck prize.

After some lively discussions which went late into the night we eventually made it to bed. All that I will say about Sunday morning’s coffee was that it ran out, but the donuts were great. A few people left early to travel long distances home while the die hards took in a short but pleasant ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway to the former Moses Cone homestead and back. Without a doubt it was a memorable weekend. I enjoyed myself immensely and I’ll be back next year. I hope you will be too. But, as a final word of advice, if John Diederich can’t make it again next year, try to develop a passion for cold coffee. Happy safe riding.

Kevin Archer

HELLO AGAIN

As many of you know, our Club in England has the factory shipping records (dispatch records) on most of the post-war AJS, Matchless & Norton motorcycles that were produced at Plumstead. These records list frame #, engine #, model, production date, and which dealer or importer the bike was shipped to. If you’re having problems obtaining a title for your AMC bike and need an official letter, or simply want to know when it was produced, or who it was shipped to, or what the correct engine # (or frame #) was if yours has been replaced, it’s really quite easy to obtain this information from our Machine Dating Officer in the UK. As far as I know, the dispatch records are available on all of the post-war touring bikes (including CSR twins), but records are missing on the competition singles from early 1954 through the early 1960’s.

New Zealand and 1998 Renewals

Kevin Archer is spearheading a drive to lead a group of us from North America to the International Jampot Rally in New Zealand in 2000. I know this isn’t for everybody. It will be somewhat expensive to get there, will require time away from home, work and family, and will involve riding on the "wrong" side of the road. Nevertheless, it should be a great trip. Those of us who made a similar pilgrimage to the 1992 Jampot Rally in England had a ball! We had our hands full trying to keep Charles Whaley out of trouble, but we met so many nice people on that trip and were certainly made to feel right at home. Kevin Archer, who lived most of his life in New Zealand, will be our de facto leader on this trip in 2000 and should make an excellent tour guide. Having lived in the area where the Rally is being held, he knows the area, the roads, and probably knows which are the better pubs, too! If you’re even the slightest bit interested in attending, it’s important that you get in touch with Kevin ASAP. Those of us who plan to ship a bike over and back are thinking of obtaining a multi-bike shipping crate to reduce the per-bike shipping costs, and we need to determine the size of the crate in the next few months. We could even end-up with several crates originating from and returning to various parts of North America. From England, 43 members (of 3000+) have signed-on to go, and they’ve secured a 40-bike crate for the round trip journey. We don’t expect that large a group from North America, though we could conceivably have 10 or 12 of you who want to make the trip. So far, 4 members (plus some spouses) are planning to go. Are there any others?

The 1998 renewal form will be sent in early December and will come to you in a separate envelope instead of being in the December newsletter as in past years. What we hope to accomplish is an improvement in the renewal rate and response time. I think some members set the newsletter aside (with the renewal form inside), then they forget to renew. Hopefully a separate mailing will work better and generate a quicker response too. If it’s not too expensive, I may even include a return envelope.

Till next time, ride safely.

John Diederich

AMC TWIN ENGINE NOTES

Several months back, Dave Blagdon sent me the following article on twin engine notes. I sent it to another person for comments and through the Postal Gods actions, it never made it. The article is late but still appreciated.

Dave

Dear Dave,

Here are a few notes on my latest work on my 1950 twin assembly. I know few people are interested in these orphans, however it may help the odd poor soul. My 1950 twin was purchased completely dismantled so I started from scratch.

Camshaft tunnels: Manuals describe camshaft tunnels and I went through a bit of trouble to make them as none existed in the box of bits. However 1949 and 1950 twins do not have them and they do not fit. This was confirmed by a guy who has a 1949 and a 1950.

Rocket spacers: Manuals describe the cam followers having one large and two small spacers. I went through the exercise above to discover, again, that they do not use the small spacers, only the large one between the followers for 1949/1950.

Timing side fitment: I drove myself a little nuts trying to fit the cases together, the roller bearing you have installed on the crankshaft has rollers that spread making fitment difficult. However you can leave the timing pinion and roller bearing off the crank, install the bearing in it’s race (it’s a tight fit on the rollers and should stay in place) and assuming you have properly centered the center web, assemble the halves easily. There is enough space to drift the bearing in a few thousandths and the timing pinion can be fitted now quite easily. Don’t forget to install the pinion with the timing mark facing you!

Keys for the timing pinion and the cams are the same, also, you can obtain these keys and the piston circlips at your local NAPA parts center. I looked all over the place before discovering this!

You should fit the later rockers with the oil groove to your early twin.

Dave Blagdon originally included a table of spring dimensions however it would not reproduce reliably. If you contact me I will send you a copy that has been enlarged. Dave

Dave Blagdon

VENDOR REPORT

Most of us are always attempting to locate one part or another for some AMC machine to complete or help a project along the way. I have recently had the good fortune of dealing with Neil Lynn in the UK. Neil is both a member of the parent club in the UK as well as the North American Section. Neil was extremely prompt, honest and more than fair with his prices for the items obtained. He can be accessed directly through our club’s web site on the internet, or through his e-mail address: NLYNN_5@compuserve.com , or his mailing address: 32 Cage Hill, Swaffam Prior, Cambridgshire CB5 0JS, United Kingdom. Neil does not take VISA or MasterCard which means that you have to send him either cash or a money order in Pounds but he was certainly worth the effort for me.

Dave

WEB PAGE UPDATE

Dave,

This is a 2 month update.

We had a total of 1,213 visitors over the last 2 months. There were 32 guest book entries, 19 from the USA, 3 from Canada, 2 each from the UK and Holland, and 1 each from Germany, Sweden, Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Many entries are requesting more photos. If you have any of interest, send them along and I will return them intact. I was only able to obtain photo gallery statistics for the month of September. We had 391 visitors. The G80 page won again with 108 visits, while the ’59 AJS model 14, the G85CS and the Metisse each had over 100 visits!

Wayne Woodruff

WHEEL OFFSET

Dear Dave,

When I bought my 1954 Matchless G80CS six years ago, I noticed that I could not get the wheels to align properly. On this model, there is a fixed stop on the left hand side of the swingarm and a threaded adjuster on the right.

So at first I thought that maybe the frame might be bent. But, the machine shoes no obvious signs of accident damage, and the frame appears to be straight to my untrained eye!

Then I took a simply measurement from the rear rim to the jampots on each side and discovered a discrepancy of about 7/16". After removing the wheel, brake drum, and tire, I took the wheel down to the local motorcycle wheel lacing specialist who carefully checked his records and discovered that…he didn’t have any reliable information on the correct offset for the hub on my Matchless! So I had him center the hub in the rim.

After putting everything back together, the wheels are now in alignment.

It’s a good thing I did all this work, because I discovered that the lock ring that adjusts the bearing play in the hub had come loose, and that the five nuts on the inside of the brake drum were also coming loose because the locking tab washers were missing. Things could have gotten ugly real fast.

Art Sirota

Walridge Motors Address Change

Hi Dave,

Please amend my address in the next newsletter as follows: Mike Partridge, Walridge Motors Limited, 6-1565 North Routledge Park, London, Ontario, N6H 5L7, Canada, telephone 519-641-2770, fax 519-473-3960,

e-mail: Matchless@std.net

Thanks, we didn’t move but our village of Hyde Park was swallowed up into the "city" of London.

Kind Regards

Mike

MORE ON PINEOLA

Dear Dave,

Once again another Pineola rally has come and gone. The only thing I can say (as I have for the last four years) is that once a year is not enough to meet and ride with such excellent people. The Jampot is usually out of reach for me, but again I heard several other requests for a spring rally at the same location or a different one. One thing that was different this year was Mike Monnett’s accident. I felt that the response both by club members and the local rescue groups were excellent. Without any discussion our club members placed themselves strategically to control traffic. One thing we need to remember is not to remove the victim’s helmet until the cervical collar is in place. It should be noted here that Mike Monnett did not receive catastrophic injuries and the cervical collar was strictly for precautionary measures. Mike was released from the hospital about 1 hour. Dave

1998 RENEWALS

I wanted to use a little space myself to tell every one what to expect in the mail before too much longer and why.

As most of you are aware, the dues will be going up for 1998 to $15.00 US for members within the USA, and $23.00 Cdn for members living in Canada. Norma and I are able to mail out the newsletters to countries in Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil for the same postal fees as before.

In past years, John Diederich has included a membership renewal form with the December news letter. Most members returned this form in a timely manner and the problems were certainly managable. However some members would wait for several months before sending their dues in and this does cause a tremendous amount of extra work keeping things straightened out.

This year will be somewhat different. Next month, John Diederich is going to mail every member a separate membership renewal form. FILL IT OUT AND MAIL IT BACK WITH YOUR DUES TO JOHN DIEDERICH. If you have a change of address or telephone or e-mail and do not tell us, no one is to blame but you. There may also be a flyer showing our club regalia items for sale such as t-shirts, sweat shirts etc. for you to purchase.

The membership rolls will be updated in January and everyone that was a paid up member in 1997 will receive the first news letter of 1998. After that, only paid members will receive their Matchless News.

I would like to add that the following reasons will no longer be acceptable for not getting the dues in on time: old age, senility, gum disease, gout treatments, lack of sex and parking tickets. George, if you are reading this, your finally caught.

We really do need to help each other with the renewals. If anyone can not afford their dues for genuine personal reasons, please let either John or myself know because we have the means to correct that.

Dave

PISTONS

The following is excerpted from a letter I received from Mark Seibert. I believe that several members will find it interesting because of the difficulty in obtaining pistons.

Dear Dave,

On the "home front", I have received news that the firm making Robbins Pistons for me for the singles and twins are in the process of re-making and improving the molds. Praise be to Allah! Past problems have been with sharp edges - particularly around the singles piston valve pockets, poorly finished pin bosses, rough machining, etc., resulting in much cleanup work and hair tearing by me. It had really gotten to the point that it just wasn’t worth the hassel.

The new molds should be much improved and I am to receive a pre-production example for evaluation and comment before several hundred are cast and rough machined. These pistons should be available for the singles in a month or so, in over sizes up to +.100 inch increments of .010. I have a standing order for 20 Or so to go to England, as well as the one’s I will stock here at Wheel Power. By the way, we have a 24 hour FAX line up and running now - 760-438-4552. We will be sending a large order for parts in to the parent club and various other suppliers in England, so if someone wants something not normally carried, now is the time to let us know. As always, folks should feel free to write or call for a free price/availability list of new/used parts.

Mark Seibert

Replica Rubber Tank Knee Grips

I mentioned this to another member recently and though that perhaps some one else might benefit from the information as well. A firm in the UK called Jim Hunter Engineering, is currently manufacturing replica rubber knee grips for a variety of machines. I cannot give proces or availability but it might be something to stick away for safe keeping.

Dave