[karlosdeville]

Last weekend was the India Superbike Festival in Pune at the Amanora township. As part of the event a display was organised for vintage and classic bikes and scooters. It was also the opportunity to launch the Vintage Motorcycle Club - Pune. A boon for the Pune scene, which has been too dormant of late.

The showcase ranged from an early Triumph of the 1910s to 1960s twins, all mostly British. Attached are some images - poor lighting conditions and a camera phone though.



A neat touch was period ads pasted everywhere.


1931 Ariel particularly caught my eye.




Triumphs dominated, mostly Speed Twins and Tigers.






Plenty of military rigids




Impressive line up of racing machines included 2 Velocettes and 2 Goldstars


BMW was one of 2 singles


Pair of BSA Golden Flashes




Goldstar is a new arrival to Pune


Pair of older Hondas outside caught my eye. The older CB750 was bought by the owner in Germany decades back and ridden down!


Indian Chief was the lone American


Jawas were well represented


BHPian Shreeram's CZ


Evolution of Lambrettas - showcasing D, LD, Series 1 and 2, and finally a Vijai Super

[karlosdeville]

Continued.

Norton Dominator 650SS (that I thoroughly enjoyed riding to and from the venue!)


Fantastic Norton Manx was the star of the show. Even voted 'Loudest bike at the event'




Pair of NSUs included this completely original black bike




Early Triumph


Tiger 100 SS


My 56 Tiger 100


1956 Thunderbird was to be joined by a rare 58 Thunderbird too (with double cradle frame), but didn't turn up.


This pair of Velocettes we know very well





Cool scooter lineup started with an early Douglas Vespa with matching scale model perched on the seat - on to early Indian models and even a Bajaj 150 and Chetak. I particularly loved the grey unrestored bike.










Yezdi was very nicely turned out. I really must get down to restoring mine!


All in all we had a great time meeting old friends and talking bikes. Special mention to Mandar Phadke for spearheading the show. I was really amazed at the number of visitors who showed up. I am really looking forward to more events in Pune now.

[FINTAIL]

Whoops! So the show took place @Amanora?
Loved the Ariel.

P.S Is the registration on the Ariel ORIGINAL one?
Because, BYF is a forties registration, is it not?

Loved the 1931 Ariel. Your Triumph Tiger seems to be in a very good form.

P.S: Is the Norton Manx owned by Dhyanesh Samant?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by FINTAIL

Is the registration on the Ariel ORIGINAL one?
Because, BYF is a forties registration, is it not?


Is the Norton Manx owned by Dhyanesh Samant?

Registration series and systems have changed over the years - the present valid series having been introduced with the Motor Vehicles act of 1939. So (I assume) BYF series would have been first introduced in 1939 (when Bombay got BMW series).

Any bike of the 1930s would have had a new regn. number issued in 1939.

Yes, the Manx is Dnyanesh's.

[cr4nkshaft]

sight for sore eyes! I was getting bored to death in office writing (rather not writing) codes, and then I found this thread!

The hedgehog style cooling fins on the Yezdi is just superb. Can we get a few more Yezdi shots? I guess you have much more photos up your sleeve than you have posted...

[Stanher]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

Norton Dominator 650SS (that I thoroughly enjoyed riding to and from the venue!)

Superb rides and pics. indeed! Is the ADL Dominator formerly owned by our Norton Singh here by any chance?

[the VTEC guy]

Adding some pictures from my side. Most of them are repeats of what karlos has posted earlier.

[the VTEC guy]

Final lot. Visited the show On Sunday evening. Most of the bikes were Norton, BSA. And yes the Lambretta line up was cool to watch.

[(Alok)]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

1931 Ariel particularly caught my eye.

It is really an eye catching bike. Marked by blue line is a linkage to gear shifter(correct me, if worng), but where is the lever to operate? Is it B?
For what purpose is the big black tank above gear box?

Originally Posted by the VTEC guy

Vary different position of air filter. May anyone through some light on this bike?

Originally Posted by the VTEC guy

Shaft driven bikes are really rare, nice to see 2 bikes of same model in one city. To which era they belong?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by (Alok)

It is really an eye catching bike. Marked by blue arrow is a linkage to gear shifter, but where is the lever to operate? Is it B?
For what purpose is the big black tank above gear box?

The shifter knob is at the end. A clearer picture.

Originally Posted by (Alok)

Very different position of air filter. May anyone through some light on this bike?

Most military models of this era (WW2 mainly) had these extra large air filter boxes mounted on the tank. I'm just guessing, but they could be heavy duty to deal with harsh weather / dusty conditions in combat.

Originally Posted by (Alok)

Shaft driven bikes are really rare, nice to see 2 bikes of same model in one city. To which era they belong?

I guess early to mid 1950s.

[(Alok)]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

The shifter knob is at the end. A clearer picture.

Thanks for the reply karl.
Should the rider need to leave accelerator/ right hand from handle to shift the gear (grab the knob)?

For what purpose the black tank in Airel & green tank in Triumph above gear box?

[karlosdeville]

Originally Posted by (Alok)

Thanks for the reply karl.
Should the rider need to leave accelerator/ right hand from handle to shift the gear (grab the knob)?

For what purpose the black tank in Airel & green tank in Triumph above gear box?

Yup, it wouldn't be easy!

The tanks you mention are oil tanks.

[Britishbangers]

Hello Alok,

As mentioned by Karlosdeville, the 'thing' above the gearbox is the oil tank with feed and return lines from the engine that contained an oil pump.

The 'rectangular' thingamagic perched on the petrol tank are "Vokes" air filters usually fittted to WD bikes namely BSA M20/21s. Triumph 3H, 3HW, Norton 16H, Big4, Matchless G3, G3L among the more common ones, they were fitted to other makes too but notably on the ones mentioned above.

There is an oblong - chrome/cadmium plated contraption atop the Ariel's petrol tank, it used to be a common feature on certain machines of the 20s/30 and contained the speedo, ammeter, clock, inspection lamp & switches - all in one go or a combination of the list above.

If you think grabbing the gear shift lever while your hand is off the accelerator is tough, you should attempt riding the Indian with a left hand throttle twist , suicide clutch on the right leg, advance/retard twist on the right hand and gear shift on the tank side.

Glad that motorcycles have developed from there on!

Thanks a tons for the blokes who have taken the effort to post the photos, makes life a tad bit bearable out here.

Reg,

BB

[karlosdeville]

This press coverage appeared after the event.

[harit]

I was in Pune for a wedding when I heard about this event. On Sunday before returning to Mumbai I went and had a "Dekho" (look).

The mall was rocking, focus was on modern super bikes which were prominently displayed. The maximum crowd came for the superbikes ofcourse, and the mall had lots of foodie joints, good to spend a day with the added entertainment.

The vintage and classic bikes were displayed separately. A nice and orderly display was put up, bikes were placed behind ropes with identification tags and owners contact details. There were about 50 to 60 2 wheelers, I did not count, but there were plenty. Some bikes came all the way from Mumbai. But Pune has more bikes, maybe next time we will see more. Most of the bikes were in good shape and restored.

These bikes were more of a decoration, and therefore they were housed in a hall which was a bit aside, one either came across this hall by chance, or one had to search. The hall was still raw, unpainted and no AC, hot humid and we were sweating. I had my camera with me and now know that it has a temperature sensor, after the display showed "high temperature", it shut down!. But that did not take anything away from the display, the crowd really appreciated the show.

I did notice a few things though. Some bikes were not what they were made out to be, others had the wrong year mentioned. I think that many are aware of the history of many of the bikes displayed, maybe the organiser should insist on accurate description. A modified bike is just that, modified, not simply upgraded, and the year of the bike is when it was manufactured, not when the model was first introduced.

I also noticed the existance of a Vintage Motorcycle Club Pune. When did that happen? It is a very good thing, there was some motorcycle club in Pune in the past which held two events and then was encouraged to shut down. The fact that one display came from a VCCCI office bearer was a pleasant surprise. More such clubs should be encouraged with high and independant local content, and more interaction between clubs. I would definitely enter bikes in their events in future.

One thing which I did not notice was a 1910 bike. Where was that hidden? Perhaps it came after I left from there, around 2 in the afternoon. I also took pictures of the bikes displayed, but it would be repetitive of the excellent photos already posted.

As usual, one meets a lot of fellow enthusiasts, and lots of gossip was exchanged. Now looking forward to the next event in Goa, and some event in future to come up in Pune too. Maybe its also time for events where these bikes are ridden.

Cheers harit