AJS & Matchless Owners Club

Hi. If you have not done so already, thought you would like to see the following public information film on youtube from 1965, starring a very nice G5 Matchless and a Tiger Cub:

Hi. Sorry it is infact a G2 CSR with lots of black paint instead of chrome.

Good bit of period film, love the bit trying to knock granny over at the crossing

nvmat1 wrote:Hi. Sorry it is infact a G2 CSR with lots of black paint instead of chrome.

Yep, remember he has L plates so would have been restricted to a 250cc in those days as I was as a learner, a G5 is a 350cc. And the wrong silencer?? Plus his new "friend" is riding far too close!!

Don't forget the Triumph Tigress Scooter at the end, or was it a BSA Sunbeam?

Yes, nice period film. Funny that they didn't mention that he went through a zebra crossing while a lady was waiting to cross at 5:31...

Learned to ride on a maroon G5 we found round abandoned in a shed at the back of a house in Amington, and remember it being well mannered very easy to start, with plenty of torque for a 350. Raced it round the fields till it dropped, and once my brother sliced the end of his finger when the outer clutch plate came adrift and cut a hole in the chaincase! He saw oil and touched it to see what is was, and nearly fainted when he saw the blood, heehee. Happy days!

A very enjoyable film, but it has been around on YouTube for several years now...I also passed my motorbike test on a G2.It had been left in someone's front garden for sometime. I knocked on the door during my paper round and the owner wanted £15 for it and told me it had the big end renewed (a weak point on those machines) I bought it and my good friend Martin's dad got it all sprayed up for me. (Martin also had one coincidently but was killed two years later on a BSA 650). It looked very nice with a deep red tank and side panels and was a very nice bike to ride. What really brings back memories is the grey misty weather in the film, it always seemed to be like that then whatever time of year, having to wear plastic leggings over two pairs of trousers quite often and always breathing out clouds of mist in the cold air. Any ride over 30 miles would need two days of defrosting to really feel warm again, not knowing at the time that I was suffering hypothermia. The sound of the two bikes is lovely too, it emphasises the relative quiet in those days, but I suppose it was filmed early on a Sunday morning which always a very quiet day. It's also a great reminder of how austere Britain was then, everything looked grey and dilapidated whatever the weather....Les

Les P H wrote: What really brings back memories is the grey misty weather in the film, it always seemed to be like that then whatever time of year, having to wear plastic leggings over two pairs of trousers quite often and always breathing out clouds of mist in the cold air. Any ride over 30 miles would need two days of defrosting to really feel warm again, not knowing at the time that I was suffering hypothermia. The sound of the two bikes is lovely too, it emphasis's the relative quiet in those days, but I suppose it was filmed early on a Sunday morning which always a very quiet day. It's also a great reminder of how austere Britain was then, everything looked grey and dilapidated whatever the weather....Les

Probably the smog from all the coal fires!! I often walking to school in the late 50's on auto pilot as I couldn't see my hand in front of my face some days !!!! looking back it's a wonder how we even breathed back then when out in this stuff let alone drove or rode a bike!!!' And as for the cold. Later when I left school and got a bike me and my mate used to load our bikes up with all our fishing gear, I had a D10 Bantam and he had a 1963 BSAC15, and we would leave home about 2 am to go fishing 20 miles away did that summer and winter and often we couldn't see a thing and it was so cold we stopped after 10 miles for a break (gloves stuffed on the engine, fag in the mouth!!) ha ha...

paul

Ah the cold Oz..the cold....it was always cold. I forgot to mention the peculiar "White Finger" syndrome, which manifested itself when I rode my Norton Dominator 99. (bought for £30!) The engine vibes coupled with the cold caused it, strange the fingers became pure white but it was painless UNTILL they warmed up again!....Oh the absolute agony of what we called Hot Ache or was it Cold ache?...You knew it would come and feared it immensely. Every time you had frozen fingers you had to go through the excruciating torture of the Hot Ache lasting for about half an hour after you got in doors. Oh yes, many times I remember having to soak in a luke warm bath to warm up gradually adding more and more hot water to thaw out, it would take well over an hour before I felt a normal body warmth. 'Twas hypothermia for sure....never knew about it then....Les