Quiz time again

Just for the hell of it I thought I would post a few more questions,
books are allowed I used them to set the questions.

Firsts

The earliest known illustration of a motorcycle
Date (I will settle for the year here)
Name


First Motorcycles just the builder and year and this one refers to
prototypes. 2pts each.

UK
France
Germany
US

These are the countries I have references for, there is a bonus for
coming up with verifiable firsts for other countries.

Manufacturers

Several started by producing something else. Ignoring bicycle
manufacturers name them and what they were noted for before getting into
motorcycles.

Some unexpected people produced prototypes which never made it to
production. Which razor blade manufacturer did?


Up to WW2 a lot of firms made wide use of bought in engines. One point
for each engine supplier you can come up with. This one includes
tricycles.

Miscellaneous

The sidecar replaced what?
What system was used to indicate engine size in the UK prior to WW2?
What was a Snowden?
How did the Gold Star get it's name?

Racing

What was unusual about the early TT races?
Last sidevalve to win a senior TT?
Which firm took 1,2,3 in a TT race with new bikes?
Which firm produced a V8 racing engine for the TT?

I will leave this for a while, though I will respond to requests for
clarification if any questions are ambiguous.

Ken Young

 

The Village Idiot - there being a terrible shortage of them post WW1.

The TBLM Systeme International... Tiddler, Boys, Ladies, Mens,

A type of motorised igloo used in Wales. Not seen since the Great
Warming of 1922.

It was an award given to the first manufacturer to successfully take
part in the TT races without every gearbox stripping its teeth.

They were run underwater in the Irish Sea.

Spagthorpe Italia. Single cylinder - 3500cc of pure torque.

Spagthorpe. 1940. Because of a communication breakdown nobody informed
the factory the race was cancelled that year. The bikes were unloaded
from the ferry and Jeremy Spagthorpe declared his factory team winners
by default without doing a single lap.

The Spagthorpe JouleMeister motorcycle used a scaled down version of
their WaveShagger powerboat engine. Only 50 of these engines were
available, largely because that's how many were made until it was
realised that the drawings were at the wrong scale.

 

^^^^
Substantially correct.

Although Sir appears to have misspelt "Gentleman's" as indicated above

Tsk, tsk tsk.

 

I used the traditional nomenclature employed by members of the retailing
classes involved in the preparation and sale of two-wheeled conveyances
to the General Public. Apostrophes and grammar were more of an art in
such an application. Indeed, the TBLM Systeme had little or nothing to
say on the matter, leaving it largely to the preferences of the
individual proprietor. Oddly, the use of "Gentleman's" would be more
found in the establishments catering to the lower orders than ones more
used to dealing with the moneyed classes.

 

A gentleman's conveyance such as that made by Messrs Spagthorpe is never
retailed, it is purveyed.

 

Japan, N.S., 1909

I reckon you should exclude guns too, 'cos there were loads of them:
BSA, Enfield, Manufrance, FN, Jawa... and that's just a few I can
remember without having to look things up.

Trailer, I suppose... though you could also include the Forecar.

I'd guess that was one of the small bikes produced to take advantage of
the tax concession in the Snowden Budget of 1930-something (1931?) but
I've never heard them called that before. I though 'Pip-squeak' was the
common nickname (and, hence, the name 'Wilfred' being applied to
autocycles).

 

Yamaha: reed organs, hence the tuning-fork logo.

Sunbeam: loads of domestic stuff.

Kawasaki: I *think* that Kawasaki Heavy Engineering produced bikes as
a a sideline to open up their presence in wider markets, but ICBW.

BMW: aircraft engines.

Latter-day Triumph: Bloor was in construction or something, wasn't he?
Dunno if there was a more direct link than that, though.

Villiers, JAP, Minerva

Dunno: trikes?

Something to do with someone earning a Brooklands Gold star for speed
round the track, I think.

Moto Guzzi.

 

wrote

They went round the other way?

 

Nothing much changed then?

T.

 

<VVBG>

 

And priced in Guineas, of course.

 

ABC, made by Sopwith (aircraft)
Obviously BSA...

J.A.P.
Villiers
De Dion (?)

H.P. using, I imagine, the R.A.C. formula.

Moto Guzzi

 

Is that the full name?

Probably a good idea.

Ken Young

 

Champ wrote

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they instituted a road race in the Forest of
Dean. Lots of fabulous bits of road and many sheep to provide a soft
landing (and also post-race R&R for the riders).

Thinking (inexpertly) about the tyres they might have used, and the road
surface they used them on, makes my bowels loosen.

 

AAAaaarrgh! It'a 'averse', you language-mangler!

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing)
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Champ

I wonder if the OP's thinking of the fact that they had to dismount and
open the gates onto and off the mountain?

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Podium Placed Ducati Race Engineer as featured in
Performance Bikes and Fast Bikes

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (Falling apart) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha Vmax Honda ST1100 wiv trailer

 

Champ wrote

What a shame...
Good job many people here give several fingers to the caring, sharing,
do-gooders ....
.... however, bad job that so many young car drivers get killed around
here too - another one two days ago on a notorious rat-run of a road
(A48, Minsterworth).

 

Ace wrote

Really? Cor fancy that.

 

That's the name on the tank. I know the S stood for Shimazu, but don't
know about the N.

 

They had to achieve a certain mpg figure as well as going as fast as
possible.

Steve