MAGNIFICENT OBSESSIONS

THE CLASSIC MOTORCYCLES AT THE 2019 KNYSNA MOTOR SHOW

Passion. That will be the over-riding energy in the classic motorcycle section at the 2019 Knysna Motor Show on Sunday, April 28. Over 60 motorcycles ranging from the early 1900s to the classic superbike era of the 1970s and 1980s will be on display, and all of them will be presented with a degree of love and devotion that borders on the obsessive.

Neville Fisher is a Ducati fanatic that hails from East London, and he will be showing two special examples of the smaller Ducatis that created such a stir in this country in the early 1980s, the Pantah series. The 500 cc and 600 cc Ducati Pantahs claimed Superbike race track glory here in the 1980s, notably in the hands of the famous Petersen brothers, and today the small V-twin machines are hugely prized collector’s items.

Gavin Venter is a Knysna-based motorcycle specialist builder who has a national reputation for the amazing machines he creates. This year his display will include six motorcycles, and heading up the list is a bike known as War Bird!

“This is the first so-called “art-bike” that I have built, as it was especially commissioned by a lady customer who wanted to display it in her living room as an art object,” says Gavin. “It is based on a 1957 Triumph Thunderbird 650 cc machine and includes all sorts of interesting items such as early-period girder front forks. The War Bird name is a play on the Thunderbird name.

The honour of displaying the oldest motorcycle this year goes to Brian Wallace, with his 1911 singe-cylinder FN. This motorcycle was built by the same Belgian company that produced the famous FN rifle, used here by our military. FN (standing for Fabrique Nationale) was famous for developing the use of shaft drive for motorcycles from 1903, and the Wallace machine has a shaft drive, as well as pedal operation to get the motorcycle mobile before starting the engine. This machine has a two-speed gearbox and a clutch. FN actually built motorcycles right up until 1967.

The second-oldest motorcycle on display was also restored by Brian Wallace, but is now owned by Adrian Denness. This is a 1912 Bat. It was named after the founder of the British company, Samuel Robert Batson. Extremely rare, this single-cylinder machine uses a belt drive with a gigantic rear pulley, and is a single-speed machine. Being a 500 cc model, it has tremendous low-speed torque.

All these very old bikes feature “total loss” lubrication systems, which means that there is a separate oil tank, but no sump, and the oil that is fed to the engine either burns away or drops earthwards, once it has done its lube job. So if there are oil droplets beneath them, rest assured that that is the way they are supposed to be!

Apart from the 70-plus classic motorcycles on display, there will be over 300 invitation-only classic and vintage cars including over 20 Bentleys from the early 1920s onwards, 11 Mercedes 190SL and 300 SL models from the late 1950s, supercars from the likes of Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Ferrari and Pagani, a special electric vehicle display featuring the latest BMW electric cars and tributes to many classics.