If you're anywhere near the New Forest in the south of England ~ 'new' because Henry VIII had chopped down all of the trees around London and needed some place else to hunt ~ then this museum's a must for petrolheads.
On the way in there's as good a selection of petrol-pumps, in fact, that you could hope for and ideal by way of mental stretching-exercises. This is the sort I most remember as a kid, and into the days I'd work as a teenager filling tanks:
Thereafter I'd recommend a visit to the caff, not only for a fine selection for brunch or lunch, but for its array of oil-cans. During the aforesaid work at a petrol-station, this is the one I recall that I sold most often ~ or used in my two-wheelers ~ beside Castrol's legendary GTX. A recent YouTube video explains how engines are failing sooner nowadays because oils are thinner, and as everything else is fairly shit I can imagine that's the case:
At the entrance to the museum ~ itself beyond a quadrangle that used once to form the outbuildings of a farm and which itself contains any number of curiosities ~ there is what I am sure is the only motorised mono-wheel that I have ever seen and which in some ways is not at all surprising:
Move on inside the main collection however and there is apparently no fewer than five hundred motorcycles to inspect. The only other sizeable collection exists in the Midlands, which is where bicycle and motorcycle manufacture is historically centred in the UK: they have double the number despite a serious fire some time ago. Bear in mind however the museum we are looking at here is essentially a private effort begun by a legend in the field of motor-sport, and run by volunteers.
Let's get back to the show, though, by admiring a delightful 50cc unit from Honda. In view of the fact their 50cc Super Cub is the best-selling form of transport ever, technically this engine and its derivatives is the most-produced machine in history:
There are any number of custom motorcycles to look at beside production runs and here's one with a petrol-tank that has literally taken a beating to knock into shape:
Another aspect of the development of motorcycles is the range of different engine configurations that has been experimented with, before evolutionary forces weeded out the least likely, such as this square-four:
Inevitably in-line variants tended to win out over the course of that evolution (my own favourite Kawasaki's two-stroke 750cc triple), though like Gillette's razors they covered both ends of the spectrum as represented here by Honda's in-line six:
There has also been some debate as to whether the front or rear wheel ought to be driven, and whether the engine ought to be cradled in-between or else fitted on or above either of those wheels. My first moped ever was the Honda P50, which I have only ever seen in Glasgow's Transport Museum... where my offer to buy it would be rebuffed. Although it incorporated its 50cc motor within the rear wheel, however, it appears not to have been the first to do so:
Honda themselves though have proven to be among the most innovative and indeed experimental companies on Earth, not least due the imagination and perseverance of its founder. We as teenagers once found a 100cc two-stroke twin to restore and it may have been a Yamaha, but either way I figured that's about as far as dividing cylinder-capacity as things could get. But seems I wad wrong, and here is a Honda 50cc divided among no less than four (!) cylinders. Thought I was going to orgasm at this point!
I incorporate this next Yamaha FS1E because at school it was a choice between this or Honda's 50cc four-stroke SS instead. I could not afford either, and persisted with a moped with an engine for a rear hub. Conventionally 'mopeds' had been engine-assisted pedal-bikes, but the Japanese managed to include vestigial pedals into a pair of motorcycles that any 16-year old could ride. As a consequence the deaths of 16-year olds around the world became statistically significant, and you'd wonder if that kept them awake at night; although I doubt it.
I wondered looking back at these photos why I had included this particular one, and I wonder if you can guess? Yes, it's an example of the Brough Superior upon which Lawrence of Arabia died on those country lanes in Dorset! He lost his life swerving to avoid two boys on bicycles, effectively both living and dying the hero that he has commonly been viewed as ever since:
We've seen some interesting variations on the theme, though, haven't we although to my mind this takes the biscuit. The radial engine was a spectacular success in the aeroplanes that featured in WW1, and it is perhaps no surprise therefore to see that it was tried out in a motor-cycle. The layout of motorcycle engines is like all things a compromise, however, and one that includes lowering the centre of gravity as much as providing the maximum ground-clearance, and radial engines basically leave the exam-room quietly at this stage:
Turning to mopeds with a front-wheel drive, France's inestimable Solex survived in production between 1946 and 1988 and that first date is key. After WW2 the entire nation was skint, and barely able to afford a loaf of bread or half-dozen eggs, and thus no surprise there were few Honda CBRs to be seen at the time. Fledgling cars had been wiped out along with any number of civilian and military casualties, and so the next best thing was to fit a motor to your front-wheel.
It started out by bearing upon the front tyre, tho' this tended to drive previously-harmless punctures home, so that a chain would eventually be included along the way. You'd think that electrical motors would revive at least the former means if only for its simplicity, but then the motor-in-hub came along to prove even better.
Writing of means of transmission, however, we cannot depart the museum without a look at this constantly-variable means of gearing. It's like an LP record set vertical and with the outside running altogether faster, picking up power from thereabouts is going to be like seamlessly shifting into a higher gear. Only DAF would persist in the development with their 'Variomatic' cars that nobody wanted to be seen in, for at the end of the day a conventional toothed gear transmits power with fewer losses due to friction altogether.
Nonetheless we like a good foray into the mechanical unknowns, as we do our days out at the museum:
