Old bikes are great – until you ride them.
The only exception among those I have was a 1942 Harley WLA, a sweet and gentle ride which was a gem compared to a scary 1948 Panhead with a suicide clutch, a 1978 Electra Glide which was like trying to control a 345kg blancmange, and a Ural which was, er, agricultural.
Still, always open for new experiences, I rolled up undaunted to Evolution Motor Works, the custom shop which had supplied the aforementioned Harleys, to meet Barry Cooper.
Barry, a former aircraft engineer who’d travelled all over the world fixing Boeings apart from a couple of years restoring Spitfires as chief engineer for Trent Aero in Nottingham, opened a Royal Enfield dealership in Wales, then retired to Northern Ireland with his wife Pat and now worked part-time at Evolution rebuilding wheels and other bits and bobs.
But he’s been riding motorbikes since he bought his first in 1961 as a 17-year-old RAF apprentice, a BSA C11G, and his real passion is old Soviet bikes, for the simple reason that they’re unusual and cheap.
Which is why half an hour later I was standing beside him as he swung open his garage door on a denski of delight – although he insisted that the fact his car number plate started with MIG was entirely coincidental.
First out wasn’t even a motorbike, but an Avion trike produced by Cornwall company Blackjack and powered by a Citroën 2CV engine. Gorgeous.
Behind that was an 1965 ex-Soviet Army Dnepr K750, basically the Ukrainian version of a Ural, complete with gas mask container, jerry can and ammunition pannier.
“It’s taken me two years to get that running properly, but it’s really lovely to ride, with a nice smooth engine,” he said.
Next to that was a slim black 1971 Izh Jupiter 2, a 350cc two-stroke 17bhp twin which his brother had found while doing a house clearance.
“Izh were one of the most produced motorbikes in the world at one stage. I overhauled the engine, then treated it to a paint job and fitted bar end indicators so I could use it as my daily ride,” said Barry.
“And people say that Russian bikes are basic and unreliable, but to be honest they’re no worse than old British bikes.
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“They’ve also got some really clever engineering. The entire rear mudguard and seat is hinged on this for removing the back wheel easily, and the cylinders are designed to blow warm air over the carbs to stop carb icing in the winter.
Next to that was a green 1955 Izh 49 350cc two-stroke single with a unique foot and hand gearchange, presumably for indecisive bikers.
“It’s rated at 11bhp on a good day, and is comfortable cruising at about 45mph, but again it’s got a really clever twin oil bath and cooler,” said Barry.
Even weirder was a GTW made by Geoff Thomas White, which consisted of a Citroën Visa 650cc engine, 2CV gearbox complete with reverse, Honda wheels, front forks and tank, home-made frame and swingarm and BMW K750 headlamp fairing.
Barry started it up, and the air filled with an intriguing combination of air-cooled clatter and smoke which made me wonder if there was a gas mask in the Dnepr’s container.
“As I said, the Dnepr is more or less the Ukrainian version of the Russian Ural, which as you’ll know, is basically a copy of a 1940s BMW. The Germans donated quite a few of them to the Russians in 1941 against their will, and the Russians copied them. Anyway, would you like to see what I brought back from Kabul?” said Barry.
Who could resist a question like that? It turned out to be a Jezail, an 18 th or 19 th Century Afghani flintlock musket made of steel, brass and copper, probably by a blacksmith, and still producing an impressive spark.
Barry bought it in Chicken Street in Kabul for £25, and paid the same price for an 1861 Enfield Snider .577 rifle, complete with disturbing looking bayonet which brought to mind Corporal Jones’ famous line in Dad’s Army: “They don’t like it up them, you know.” Indeed, I wouldn’t either.
And so, time to ride. We were running low on time, and I didn’t want to push my luck with Barry’s precious collection, so he suggested the Izh Jupiter.
And you know what? It was lovely – light, easy to handle, gentle power delivery, tidy gearbox and decent brakes if you used front and back together.
I hummed along happily at 45mph, imagining myself pottering home through the suburbs of Irkutsk after a hard day at the beetroot collective to a beautiful wife called Natasha for her famous mutton stew and a nice bottle of vodka.
But then I remembered I was already married and was forced to return to the real world, which I try to avoid as much as possible.
* Evolution Motor Works is at evomotorworks.com
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