Late '67 G15CS questions

Information relating to the Matchless G15 or AJS Model 33 750cc twin. This also includes the G15 Mk II and the G15/45
BillTS3
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Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:14 pm
Location: South Florida

Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by BillTS3 »

John Donne wrote: I have four P11A Ranger 750's and i have researched them very extensively. 8-)
Sounds like you know quite a bit. When I got my Ranger, it was a basket case and I went on a crash course to find out as much as I could about the bike so I could do a proper job on the restoration.
My starting point:
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And now, about 3500 miles after putting it back together:
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I've since trimmed the seat with the plastic chrome edging. I did not know about the rear bracket - I just made one up out of flat stock. I also fit a loop to the seat pan at the front to slip on to the pin (looks like a bent nail) welded to the frame. There's a rubber grommet that fits between my loop and the pin.

My brake cable is an early Commando cable, shortened to fit, as Mike at Walridge didn't know Rangers came with a switch in the cable - something the earlier P11s did not have. He now stocks them!

I will chat with Mike this week and see if I can prise a tool box out of him.
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John Donne
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by John Donne »

The front brake cables for the P11A Ranger 750's came from me for Mike, as i supplied the maker of the cables with a pattern so that they could be made correctly for him. They also have the correct stop light switch fitted to the brake cable. The Ranger 750 used the Featherbed frames dual seats bush in a curved bracket that was welded to the under side front of the dual seat. The flat bracket was a purpose made part, and i had a some made for my own Ranger 750's dual seats. The part can break at the sides as the radius turn is two sharp. I had my ones made with a much more curved radius so the bracket did not break off from the base of the part that bolted to the dual seat. The pillion strap bolts to two studs with nuts and washers under the seat, and the bracket is attached with two bolts and washers. The Ranger also had a silver styling strip around the bottom edge of the dual seat. I was in a dealers in North London back in the early 1980's and there on a shelf there was three brand new P11A Ranger 750 dual seats. The dealer thought they were Triumph as he did not know what they were. I managed to get all of them for a good price at the time. There is also a piece of fome rubber that was glued between the dual seat base and the frame bracket.
The P11A series also had a small plastic cover over the ignition switch, and it also had allot of upgrades from the last of the P11A Rangers that ended at 126123. There were modifications to the chaincase that had an oil seal, as well as the many frame modifications.
There were also two sales brochures issued by the Berliner Motor Corporation for the P11A Ranger 750's. One in blue and white titled, Home, Hone on the Ranger, and one in colour titled Colour Me Fun. I have both of them. My own P11A Ranger 750 was road tested twice in Classic Bike, and also in Motorcycle Enthusiast. 8-)
BillTS3
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Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:14 pm
Location: South Florida

Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by BillTS3 »

Perhaps there should be a message board for the P11. After all, its more AMC than the N15/G15/33 series.

I took the 'Color Me Fun' brochure off the jampot site and cut and pasted it back into the original form. I then printed a dozen copies and laminated one that I hang on the hand grip of the bike at shows.
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I got that seat from Mike. The cover is wrong - it's in two pieces with piping on the seam, which starts at the bottom edge just forward of the pillion strap and wraps around the back of the seat at the top edge, no edging and no gold stencil.

I was comparing the seat to the one that came with the G15CS - they are almost the same size. Similar width, length and height, except the CS seat has a ridge in the middle and a metal tab off the center back to bolt to the mudguard.
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John Donne
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by John Donne »

I managed to obtain an original copy of both the Home, Home on the Ranger, and Colour me Fun brochures. If you look at the Colour me Fun brochure you will see a mistake with one of the pictures. The rider on the Ranger 750 in the second picture in the square in the bottom left hand corner, the picture is a reverse image. The oil tank shown is the very last one made that has an extra strengthening rib on the outside. This modification was also used on the later Commando oil tanks. My own P11A Ranger 750's are almost as per the brochure picture, but my one does not have that strengthened oil tank. One of mine is 54 from last made, and it has the original dual seat, exhaust and silencers, as well as all the original mudguards.
Some of the P11A Ranger 750's were dispatched with silver painted cylinder barrel's as an original feature of the engines. My own Ranger 750 had one of those silver barrels from new, as the dealer i bought it from back in the early 1980's, in Mass, told me this. He sold it new and it came with that barrel painted silver, when it originaly came out of the crate when delivered new from Berliner, in New York. My one one, who he sold from new, sat in his customer garage for over 15 years, and it still had most of its OEM parts still on it. The owner had painted it puke green, and fittted a pair of straight handle bars. I have had it since the early 1980's and it does every thing i want. It is really good off road and very sure footed on the road. The wail from those orginal silencers as my friend and i, he on my single seat P11, were going down the A22 to the Ardingly show was music to ones ears. As for a message board for the P11 series, there is a web site that is devoted just for the P11's. There were two but one of them but one closed a few years back. There is still allot of guys that ask me when i am going to by a real Norton, or Matchless. 8-)
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John Donne
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by John Donne »

The later G15CS type seat was also fitted to the later G80CS, and the later 1967street scrambler version of the G15CSR. It is basicaly the same dual seat but modified to fit different bikes. It is intersting that Hap Jones sold the Ranger 750's going by their logo attached to the Colour Me Fun brochure, as they also sold most of the Nomads imported in to America from 1958 to 1960. 8-)
BillTS3
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Location: South Florida

Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by BillTS3 »

Its funny that I hadn't noticed the reversed photo on the back page. I actually sourced that catalogue from two different places, printed it out, cut and taped it together to re-create the original look. Parts of the two brochure bits had different marks on them from the original posting sites, so I combined the bits to minimize the marks, and covered the remaining with 'Hap Jones' decals. I had actually tried to find period stickers from South Florida Norton dealers, or Ghost Motorcycles in Long Island, NY, but had no luck. I knew Hap Jones sold everything, so figured his was a good logo to use. Once all taped together with the 'Hap Jones' logos, I took the brochure over to the local print shop and had a few copies made, along with a pdf file.
The brochure you see above is a complete re-creation of the original, printed on card stock and folded into a four-page pamphlet.
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John Donne
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by John Donne »

I made many copies of that Colour me Fun brochure, as where i used to work we had a photo copier to die for, so i printed out allot of them, all in colour. They are of A3 size or the same size as the original Berliner released brochure. Sonny De Feo now runs his own motorcycle resotraton company, and he was the son of the owner, Sal De Feo of Ghost Motorcycles in Port Washington. There is a really good story behind the name of Ghost that Sal used for his motorcycle shop. Ghost also used to advertize in Cycle, and Cycle World back in the 1960's and 70's so you may be able to find one of their logo's from their adverts. There is guy in Wales that supplies allot of dealer transfers, and he has allot of American company ones that he has copied and now supplies. I also own the factory build book for the P11A and the P11A Ranger 750's. 8-)
BillTS3
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Joined: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:14 pm
Location: South Florida

Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by BillTS3 »

Technical problems kept me from posting for the past several months. In the meantime, I worked pretty diligently on the G15, starting it up on 28 September.

Still sorting the bike out. My work schedule has kept me down to a couple hours a week on the bike, but its coming along, with almost 60 miles on the clock.

Have had the past few days off for Thanksgiving, and I was able to ride the bike over to a local park for some pictures:
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les ward
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by les ward »

Wow !
Great restoration.
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iansoady
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Re: Late '67 G15CS questions

Post by iansoady »

Lovely looking bike.
Ian
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