Something for the weekend

Although waiting for conformation on certain bits, Its not a Military Bike but same meat different gravy, it left the factory black instead of Khaki.

Been looking for a Matchless WD G3L for some time but some prices and the stories behind them are a bit errrr.... well just not my cup of tea.

To be honest any Military bike would of done or post war (one or two years after) but there is something about the Matchless that has always appealed to me, browsing the net as one does seen this and struck a deal, its a 1947 Matchless G3L , its been restored to a point but not the full monty, very rough in some areas but its what I was after plus it runs.......
Plan was to finish it as a WD bike but think I,ll get it back to somewhere close to how it was in in 1947, it will give me a bit more insight of what to look for on a WD Matchless, must admit after firing it up the Grin factor was with me all day. After having Japanese bikes all my life and a Ducati it was like learning to ride again foot brake and gear selector on the opposite side.....:lol:

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...nhjk0tnp-1.jpg

Now all you need BD is the HRD Vincent Black Shadow to park next to her and all your Sundays would be complete.......

Very cool looking bike Geoff, great buy, well done. I would be very tempted to go to for an olive drab WW2 finish!

I can hear that superb engine note just looking at the picture...

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Originally Posted by mrclark303

Very cool looking bike Geoff, great buy, well done. I would be very tempted to go to for an olive drab WW2 finish!

I can hear that superb engine note just looking at the picture...

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John, still undecided buts its tempting, need to swap the yokes first to be correct for 47, its a catch 22 at times as a few WD bikes I,ve seen have been rebuilt to the gunnels, the only thing correct is the frame...... unlike some spending all there life with the Army that have been repaired just the same as anything else so updated or obsolete parts been replaced with new ones etc (not one for the rivet counters)

Good news is may have the opportunity to buy an Ex WD one in near future which is basically as it left the Army and hasn't had a stainless nut and bolt kit added..... Just happy to plod along with it and get some knowledge, like yourself few things from the toy cupboard have to go, but if we didn't sell to buy the cupboard would be bigger than the house.

Was 1947 the first year of production for civilian bikes from Matchless, post-war; with this being one of their first post-war bikes?

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

Was 1947 the first year of production for civilian bikes from Matchless, post-war; with this being one of their first post-war bikes?

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I believe they were producing the G3L from July 1945 for the civilian market..... think after 47 some changes were made, but the basic hard tail continued for a good few years.

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

Now all you need BD is the HRD Vincent Black Shadow to park next to her and all your Sundays would be complete.......

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I'd need to sell everything for one of them Cinders, I,m really looking for a WD bike then go from there, this one will be a learning curve.

There is a chap who has a Harley Davidson WWII bike that goes to the Cannington arms fair each year its a nice rig complete with a deact Garand or Thompson cannot remember but it was all there looked really great.

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Originally Posted by bigduke6

like yourself few things from the toy cupboard have to go, but if we didn't sell to buy the cupboard would be bigger than the house.

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Yep, trouble is I don't want to sell anything Geoff ... taking the 1903A4 out for an airing on Wednesday to try and talk myself out of selling it...

beautiful bike bd6. please keep us posted.

as an aside, does anyone know what sort of motorbike the australian MP's in singapore during ww2 rode? i did ask my grandfather once, but i can't remember the answer. his bike was a fairly important part of his ww2 story.
my grandfather Ralph, had just got back from a 48hr convoy escort duty on the malayan peninsular when a call came in about a fight in a brothel. he was the only one still in full uniform so he volunteered to deal with it. on the way there cruising at 50mph he overtook a truck slowing before the intersection at a factory, thinking "no-one ever comes out of the ###### factory now" only to be T-boned by a truck coming out of there. he ended up with multiple breaks to every major bone from his pelvis down. luckly they sent him off on one of the last hospital ships out before the surrender. he was in a cast from the chest down for 6 months, ended up with one leg an inch shorter than the other, one foot 2 sizes smaller and was pensioned off as a TPI in his 50's as he couldn't work anymore but it saved him from changi and the thai - burma railway.

Henry,

I would say it was most likely anyone of these, BSA M20/ Norton 16H/ Ariel W.N.G./ Matchless G3L....... or even a Harley Davidson.

A high school mate of mine and his dad rebuilt an Arial Square Four from a box of bits. I think he may still have it.

Another favorite bike I would love to own that and the HRD Rapide a story from long ago a W.A state road racing champion Wayne Patterson was at Bathurst going down conrod straight (before it had the kink in it) on his TZ-350 Yamaha and was behind a Vincent Rapide in he wound it on thinking he had the legs to pull the HRD in and pass ho hum not so in Waynes words the Rapide just walked away from him.
I heard a story about Vincent's that not only could could the rake and trail be altered on them by the rider but also the front and rear wheels could be removed at the same time from the bike that's just what I heard.

According to my brother, the motor-cycle buff, "HRD" actually meant; "Hard to Run Down".

In his shed, one may find, among other goodies:

1926 Harley "Peashooter" (with the multi-valve head "circuit racer" kit).

Indian "Papoose" (Welbike), as in folding, parachutist "scooter".

"Norvin" (Vincent power-pack in a Norton "Featherbed" frame).

BSA "Gold Star".

I think he is finally out of sundry AJS / Matcheless machines.

Ex-Works BMW racing "outfit", parked beside his "daily ride" a lovely, late -'60's? BMW R75.

Not sure about what seemed to be the BSA "clone" of the DKW? job with the pressed-steel (as opposed to tubular) frame.

Etc., etc.

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Originally Posted by Bruce_in_Oz

Indian "Papoose" (Welbike), as in folding, parachutist "scooter".

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Can you shed any more light on this Bruce, the Welbike over here has reached the dizzy height of and over £10,000 , (the name as I only found out the other week comes from the "Inter Services Research Bureau" — based at Welwyn, UK, everything had Wel in front of the name of there design, such as Welrod pistol etc)

The Welbike was made by Excelsior Motor Co, who were a Bike and Motorcyle manufacture (little history lesson for the bank holiday)

The last time I saw one run was an example at RAFM Costford about 20 years ago, the staff had it running and taking turns riding it up and down the runway..

John, it wasn't that long back there was one for sale for around £600 on Milweb, all in bits of course but everything or almost everything was there, it was at a time when the plastic couldn't bend any further, wish I had of bent it to its max now.....

There is another bike (not Corgi) that was a 125cc can't remember the make but a normal looking one that was fitted in a cage for Airborne use and had its own parachute etc, am sure there was an add somewhere recently by someone wanting the "the crate" it was dropped in, not a crate as such but resembled something like a roll cage.

Well if I had the monies no particular order of preference, Z900 Jaffa, Green 1976 Z900, HRD Vincent Black Shadow and Rapide, Manx Norton, MV Augusta America, KH 750 kwaka widow maker and smaller brother the 500 Blue Max, Munch Mammoth, RC 30 Honda, Joey Dunlops Isle of Mann winning bike, Square 4 Aeriel, HD WWII dispatch riders bike, Welman, an RE 5, ZIR Mk I & II that should keep me happy if I won 10 lotto's dreaming is far cheaper.....

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

KH 750 kwaka

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Tell me, is Kwaka common Aussie speak for Kawasaki? Reason I ask is Goose's KZ-1000 from the Mad Max film has the tank logo altered to kwaka.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...05/Kwaka-1.jpg

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Originally Posted by CINDERS

HD WWII dispatch riders bike

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I just took a motorcycling course over the weekend and one of the other students had a restored 1941 he was showing photos of, he was there to learn to ride so he could master the HD.

i'm not involved with bikes, but from what i have seen, it is an older term but still gets used. not so much talking about newer bikes more related (in my mind at least) to the 70's and 80's bikes.

The phrase '.....something for the weekend sir!' has certain connotations for Englishmen that you foreigners, colonials and wild antipodeans out there in Forumland might like to smile about. During the 40's, 50's and 60's when men used to visit the barbers, at the end of your haircut, you'd go to pay the usual 5 shillings - and the barber would point to a large rack of 'rubbers' or contraceptives and ask whether sir would like '....something for the weekend....?'. Being sheepish boys with equally sheepish girlfriends, you'd sheepishly say yes and sneak a packet into your pocket for the princely sum of 3shillings and 6pence!

I happened to be 'seeing' a nice girl in the village where I lived and it got that I was 'having a haircut' almost every day - or certainly every week! A couple of months later I learned that the village barber lived just a few houses away from and was good friends with my girlfriends parents AND used to see me going there to take her out....... obviously putting two and two together! I never went back there for a haircut...........

I kinda like the old bikes, but can not afford a real WW 2 one. Thus I have 2 post war bikes, a ruskie copy of the BMW R 71 with driven side car and the other a chicom copy of the same bike with a non driven side car.
Some day I will get around to painting the ruskie in Lw blue and mounting my MG 42 on it. The chicom is painted ruskie OD green with a red star on the side car. That one stays as is to represent a ruskie for reeenactments and parades, usv.
Also shown is a 2. chicom (on the left) that I'm going to sell.
Sarge
Attachment 73287

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Originally Posted by Peter Laidler

The phrase '.....something for the weekend sir!' has certain connotations for Englishmen that you foreigners, colonials and wild antipodeans out there in Forumland might like to smile about. During the 40's, 50's and 60's when men used to visit the barbers, at the end of your haircut, you'd go to pay the usual 5 shillings - and the barber would point to a large rack of 'rubbers' or contraceptives and ask whether sir would like '....something for the weekend....?'. Being sheepish boys with equally sheepish girlfriends, you'd sheepishly say yes and sneak a packet into your pocket for the princely sum of 3shillings and 6pence!

I happened to be 'seeing' a nice girl in the village where I lived and it got that I was 'having a haircut' almost every day - or certainly every week! A couple of months later I learned that the village barber lived just a few houses away from and was good friends with my girlfriends parents AND used to see me going there to take her out....... obviously putting two and two together! I never went back there for a haircut...........

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As the Bike was delevered on late Thursday thought the title was quite fitting, there was a comedy sketch years ago regarding the saying and set in a barbers shop, after the barber delivered the famous line, the customer replied "yes please", the barber then placed a lawn mower on the counter.............

---------- Post added at 02:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:38 PM ----------

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Originally Posted by Sarge

I kinda like the old bikes, but can not afford a real WW 2 one. Thus I have 2 post war bikes, a ruskie copy of the BMW R 71 with driven side car and the other a chicom copy of the same bike with a non driven side car.
Some day I will get around to painting the ruskie in Lw blue and mounting my MG 42 on it. The chicom is painted ruskie OD green with a red star on the side car. That one stays as is to represent a ruskie for reeenactments and parades, usv.
Also shown is a 2. chicom (on the left) that I'm going to sell.
Sarge
Attachment 73287

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There are a lot of Russian copies that are given a make over to produce a BMW R 71, some are realy good only the rivet counters could tell them apart.

Did the U.S. Army have any other make of dispatch rider's motor bike other than the Harley Davidson? Back in the 1960s my father purchased an ex MOD dispatch rider's Harley Davidson from a chap who had bought it shortly after the war as war surplus and civilianised it by removing any remaining military kit and repainting it. He also made his own side car for it and it was used as family transport until he sold it to my father. I am try to find a photograph of it which I have somewhere which I will post if it can be found.

My girfriends dad had an Indian motorbike that he purchased from a motorcycle shop in Swindon - who bought it from the huge post war WD auctions. It had been painted blue and in the early 70's was sat forlorn in his garden shed. You could still decipher the old WD C- number and army signs under the now faded blue paint. I seem to recall that he told me that tyres were impossible to obtain by 1970.

I know it's off topic, but can anyone shed any light on this? It was posted on faceache with no captions. I'd like one as a weekend runabout though.
Attachment 73373Attachment 73374Attachment 73375

The link below will shed some light on it.....

Armoured Triumph WO 3SW - Walsh Family Vehicle Collection

Thanks, Geoff!

After some searching over the weekend I found these 2 pictures of my father's Harley Davidson in an album next to my desk and while not the best photographs in the world they are the only ones which I have available at present. I have blanked out my father's face as he doesn't wish to appear on the net. The pictures are captioned in the album as it being a 1946 bike although I always thought it was of wartime vintage and the 1946 date maybe the first civilian registration in the U.K.. It looks like the original military panniers have survived onto this combination. Interestingly the side-car was home built/made by the previous owner to my farther who purchased it as MOD surplus.


It's a long shot but does any-one know if this bike has survived??? I believe that my father swapped it for a pre-war Rover 10 car in the early 1960s.

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Originally Posted by Flying10uk

It's a long shot but does any-one know if this bike has survived??? I believe that my father swapped it for a pre-war Rover 10 car in the early 1960s.

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You may be able to contact the DVLA to see if the registrtion is still in use for a motorcycle, not sure if they will give any other details out, you could also see if they have a classic or vintage Harley Davidson club in the UK, I would say 1946 is the Bikes first registration and is WD bike for sure.

There is the Historic Military Vehicle forum you could also ask for info etc regarding finding the bike.

My father owned a number of motorbikes between the late 1940s and the mid 1960s although I believe the only ex military examples were the Harley and a Royal Enfield. I will try and dig out a few pictures of some of the other bikes in due course. In the period of the late 1940s to the late 1950s he took part in some off road motorcycling and for this he sometimes wore an ex WW2 British Army tank crew overall/coverall. Although I haven't seen it recently, somewhere, I still have it. This coverall is a light brown colour and the material is, if memory serves me correctly, fairly thick. British tank crews have been using black coveralls for years but I don't know the reason for changing from brown or when but suspect it could have been shortly after the war???

Here is a selection of photographs of some but not all of the other bikes which my Father owned. His first, a BSA Bantam was purchased in 1949, new I believe. There then follows pictures of: a 1946 A.J.S., a Sunbeam, a 1958 Royal Enfield Bullet and finally his first vintage bike a 1927 BSA 500cc side valve single. I'm afraid that the order of the text doesn't match the pictures which is due to my very limited I.T. skills. The pictures are the Royal Enfield, the 1927 BSA, the Sunbeam, the AJS and the BSA.

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Originally Posted by Sentryduty

Tell me, is Kwaka common Aussie speak for Kawasaki?

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Sure is Sentry just like Spewzukis, H D's Hardly dependable, rice burners, sin bins and a few roo's short in the top paddock.................among other things colonial as PL refers to us outcasts as when I am taking the p*ss outa some one from the old country who has just landed and they complain it being hot in winter time here I just say Geez ya wouldn't want to be here in summer then even the flys wear sunscreen and sunnies.........REALLY

Just those two-letter number plates VW, KD and GV would be worth a kings ransom now

Post #32 Fourth pic along, the AJS is basically the same as the Matchless G3L (in post one)......... notice the painted rims, I,m told not long after the war chrome plating was limited to small parts etc, so painting the rims was the norm also a process later was used to coat the steel rim, can't remember the name but it gave the appearance of Aluminium.

Regarding post one I mention a WD G3L....... looking for some spares etc I spotted an advert for one, the price was right so a deposit was paid ASAP, hope to pick it up at the weekend, so the 1947 will have to go sooner than later, will tidy up the bits that need it and get it in perfect running order...... they seem to be like buses at the moment you wait and wait then they all arrive at once.

Must admit offloading some of the collection to fund it is easier than I thought and going to a good home......

The second picture along, the 1927 BSA, is in pretty much as purchased condition before my Father had carried out any restoration work on the bike. I believe that I am correct in stating that the BSA Bantam was based on a pre-war German design and perhaps other members may be able to explain more about this if correct, please? For a number of years my Father was employed by the Automobile Association riding a motorcycle and sidecar known in the trade as a road service outfit (BSA bike). This was at a time when he was living in Essex and he often had to patrol the busy A12 road when it was a single carriage way. At this time in the Automobile Association's history their patrol's were still expected and obliged to salute their customers displaying the AA badge on the front of their vehicles unless there was a Police speed trap in the area. It was while performing this task of saluting an AA customer and while also riding his motorbike and sidecar on the busy A12 that my Father had a slightly unfortunate little mishap- he rode into the car in front. It was lucky that he wasn't riding very fast and no-one was hurt; the only real damage was a bent rear bumper to the car in front. The accident did shake my Father up quite badly and after some thought decided to leave the AA; a short time later the practice of saluting AA members by AA patrols was discontinued.

Long and sad day yesterday, bike in post #1 has gone, but got a good offer and couldn't refuse...... although not wanting to sell but had no choice really and have the WD G3L to continue with, https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=57224

Killed two birds with one stone as I dropped off the two small lathes I had sold to a buyer near Birmingham, then continued to London....... eyes on the end of stalks by the time I got back.

Have to give credit to my Van (Citroen Berlingo) , its only topped up with Diesel and oil had a coil spring replaced and needs other side but has never missed a beat, what our friends from down under call a " ute " take the front seat out and a Matchless fits in perfect.....

Had to do a repair before I left as one of the securing legs for the battery holding down bracket had snapped, replaced with a piece of stud bar etc. Its when I noticed the indication window that show the battery condition was gone !! not sure whats caused this as it was temporally lashed with a bungee cord, anyone ever had this window pop out before?

Very nice!

Love the bungey cord fix sounds like something we Aussies would do and call it a permanent fix!!!

You can also fix a lot of things with cable (zip) ties, Velcro straps, gaffer ("duct") tape, fencing wire, baling twine and / or Blue-Tac, in various combinations and permutations.

Epoxy putty is handy stuff as well.

All above are good emergency repair stuff, Gaffer tape (Duct tape) has got me out of a few sticky moments in the past, along with bailing twine used with a stick/branch to make 2 x tourniquet's to repair a split radiator hose....... Wasn't my car at the time it was the girlfriends, managed the repair and carried on to destination, also got to a spares place for a new hose and back home. Approx 40 mile round trip and temp repair was as dry as a bone. If it had of been my Land rover it probably would of stayed like it for some time...........