The Legend of the Spagthorpe
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From: Carl Paukstis <carlp@frigg.isc-br.com>
Speedy> Who is/was Spagthorpe and why is he so despised? (flame at 11:00)

Here's the spagthorpe lore (LONG, BIG, LOTS O STUFF follows):
===============================================================================
>From sasmjw  29 Jul 92 22:39:37 GMT
From: sasmjw@unx.sas.com    (Martyn Wheeler)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 1)
Summary: It was hidden behind the Aerostar
Date: 29 Jul 92 22:39:37 GMT


    What, me cage to the RCR?  Surely you must be mistaken, Ed!  I
know that a Ford Aerostar seemed to follow me around, and somehow my
Spagthorpe was always parked the other side where you couldn't see,
but *ME* drive a *VAN* to a *MOTORCYCLE* campground?  Obviously you
need to know The Rest Of The Story:

The Scene: It is Friday, in a garage in Raleigh, NC.  Someone
be-decked in a neon green Aerostich suit with hot pink accent panels
is bungying a six-pack of Newcastle Brown Ale to a piece of furniture.
As we come closer, we see that it is not in fact furniture, but a
motorcycle.  The mistake is understandable: it is a Spagthorpe
Wolfhound.

    I have always regretted that my father sold his old bike.  The
Spagthorpe Whippet is legendary among enthusiasts, of course, for its
innovative engineering and inestimable character.  I have been looking
for another one ever since I was old enough to spell "bike" and have
yet to see such a beast, although I have heard of several in various
stages of restoration.  I am blessed, however, with a stable of not
one but several modern-era Spagthorpes, on one of which I would be
attending the Right Coast Ride.
    Not many people are aware that the famous British marque was
revived in 1981 when Julian, Lord Spagthorpe, inherited his title at
the age of 24.  A keen motorcyclist himself, he saw an opportunity to
inject some character into what was becoming a rather bland industry,
and started a manufacturing operation in Peter Tavy, Devonshire.  His
bikes have certainly been distinctive, from the first model of the
Greyhound sportbike up until the present day.
    For the ride, I had selected the 1985 Spagthorpe Wolfhound.  Aimed
at the American market, it failed miserably owing to the lack of
dealerships, although I understand from my friend "Bulldog" that it
was fairly succesful in Zimbabwe.
    The concept was to build a long-distance cruiser, and the emphasis
would be on low-end grunt and endurance rather than top speed.  The
obvious engine configuration was a V-twin, so it was decided to take
the 347cc single from the Beagle, and join four of them on two meshed
crakshafts to produce what would be known as the 1400 W-4, although
the actual configuration was more like _|o|_, with the engine mounted
longitudinally in the frame.  The desmodromic valves only required
adjustment every 3000 miles, but for all but the front cylinder even
checking clearances involved removing the engine from the frame, along
with the primary shaft which ran alongside the rear cylinder and drove
the separate transmission.  This complexity may have been what
discouraged potential American dealers -- I can imagine Joe-Bob The
Motorcycle Mechanic's reaction to such a task! -- but for the owners
who persevered it was outweighed by the benefits of the machine.  It
had shaft drive, liquid cooling, disc brakes operated solely by the
foot pedal with an ingenious "hydraulic computer" to handle balance,
four-speed automatic overdrive transmission, and many luxuries not
seen on bikes even today.

    Anyway, enough of the bike...on to the ride.  Well, sort of ... in
fact we had to start by going to Charlotte, where my wife Susan would
be overseeing the operation of the Timing and Scoring computers.  The
computers would travel down in our Aerostar (oh! *that* must be where
you heard "Aerostar," Ed!), and Susan would stay in Charlotte for the
weekend while I trogged off into the Blue Ridge.
    The trip from Raleigh to Charlotte was uneventful, so I'll spare
you that.  We unloaded the computers at the speedway, and toodled off
to the motel where we collapsed for the night after a couple of beers.

    On Saturday, we woke bright and early (well, early, anyway) only
to find that the van had lost 15psi in the left rear overnight.  We'd
seen this failure mode before, on the front then, where a tyre just
lost pressure quickly with no visible damage.  Anyway, the solution
would be to buy two new tyres.  Ugh.
    Susan *had* to be at the track, so we went anyway, hoping the
20psi would hold for long enough to get there at the 30-40mph we felt
was about as fast as we could take it safely.
    It held.  We got there.  Both of us started work right away on
entering the data on the cars and drivers, and as soon as that was
complete I took on the unenviable task of finding tyres in an
unfamiliar town.  I pulled the van over to the Bridgestone truck,
topped up the air, and left the speedway for a tour of the Queen City.
    Western Auto: no Michelin XH4's in stock in that size, but the
computer shows two of their other locations do.  Call them: they
don't, not in that size, sir.
    Pep Boys: XA4's but no XH4's.  Make mental note and go on.
    Into Charlotte: pass Goodyear, Bridgestone, Yokohama, Firestone,
General.  No Michelin.
    Discover am leaving Charlotte.  Turn round.  Return to Charlotte.
    By a weird streak of luck, I find I am in the real downtown area
at the intersection of Independence Blvd and 3rd Street.  This is
lucky, because here is Kirby-Kale Tires.  They don't have what I want,
either, but one phone call later the nice lady has found them at
another place and her husband is off in his car to collect them.
Marvellous place -- the sort of place that has the owners' home phone
numbers on the door in case you need them when they're closed.
    To make a long (and hot) story short, I get the tyres (at a much
more reasonable price then I expected for a small business), and
return to the track.  Say "Hi" to Susan, tell her I'm off to the
mountains, a mere 3-4 hours behind my schedule.
    Oh well, at least I'm on the way now, and this is where the tale
of the RCR begins in earnest...

    The Spagthorpe, of course, had been sitting in the sun since early
morning, but fortunately the seat is not black but tan, and was still
tolerable even though it was now well into the heat of the day.
    I thumbed the starter, and was greeted with the unique rumble of
the W4 as it sprang into life at the first try -- fortunately good old
Julian didn't believe in Lucas electronics, and had gone to Bosch for
the wiring for his bikes, and for electronic ignition.  I certainly
was glad I didn't have to try to kick-start the beast in this heat.
    I retracted the electric/hydraulic centrestand, hooked the
selector into Reverse, and eased the bike around carefully.  The
Wolfhound is well known for it's tendency to drop suddenly and
unpredictably while reversing, and it is best to keep one's left foot
on the ground through the manoeuvre -- the right foot, of course, is
operating the only brake lever.  If you've never tried to keep a
Wolfhound upright while backing uphill, well, let me just say it's an
interesting experience.
    The time had come to leave.  Slipping the selector into Drive, I
eased on the throttle and rumbled out of the speedway onto NC-49.

    The plan was to take 49 to I-85, then pick up Route 16 going north
through Newton, Conover, Taylorsville, and thence North Wilkesboro to
pick up 421, from which I had directions to the campground already
tucked into the map pocket of the fairing.
    49 is boring.  I-85 is boring.  Fortunately, before long I had
turned off onto 16, which started out thoroughly unpromising but
improved rapidly.
    Route 16 is full of small towns with low speed limits, and there
was not much traffic but what there was crawled along and turned off
quickly.  At these speeds the Wolfhound loped along easily, always
ready for a quick roll-on to pass a recalcitrant cager.  The scenery
passed by with plenty of time to enjoy it, the fairing deflected the
air around me forming a quiet calm pocket, and when I switched on the
air conditioning I might almost have thought I was in an Aerostar or
something.  Eat your heart out, GoldWingers!
    After a short stop for fuel and a co-cola, I managed to follow 16
through Newton and Conover -- not a trivial matter -- and rolled into
Taylorsville.

    The road had been getting more interesting as I approached the
mountains, and the scenery had improved greatly by then -- but this is
where life in general started to get really exciting.  As I rode past
an Amoco station, I saw a Harley and a sidecar rig pulled over behind
a Geo Metro.  Not too unusual, but wait a minute!  That was a *Virago*
with the sidecar.  Aha!  That's a Denizen for sure!
    I made a quick U-turn and pulled into the parking lot.  Closer
examination of the bikes showed that they had Alabama plates, and the
combination even had a DoD licence plate frame!  Virago, sidecar, DoD
-- must be TheMoped!
    Just then the bikers emerged from the convenience store, and
started towards their rides.
    "Hi!" I said, "I only know one person with a Virago with a
sidecar."
    "And who's that?" asked one of the ladies, suspiciously.
    "Amy Swint."
    "Well, that's me," she said with a bright smile, "And this is my
husband Swane, and this is Hilary.  What are you riding?"
    "Oh just that thing," I said, waving my hand in the direction of
the Spagthorpe, but someone had parked a Ford Aerostar in the way and
so all they saw was the van.

    So, it was about 1:30 on Saturday, and four RCR people had met on
the road.  You know, it's really neat when you can just introduce
yourself to someone you've never met before, but you know they'll be
interesting fun people, with interesting opinions.  I like this.

    They had been following 18 from the west, but there had been a
detour onto 16.  Amy was planning to take 16 until they could pick up
on 18 again, then take that and follow the directions to the
campground from there.  She seemed confident, so it seemed reasonable
to let her lead.  She did warn me she was fairly slow, and that her
speedometer cable wasn't working, but I saw no problem with that.  The
worst that could happen is we get lost, and in this countryside and
these roads that would be no hardship.
    Amy started up TheMoped, Shane climbed on his Springer Softail,
and Hilary fired up the Geo convertible.  I walked over to the
Wolfhound, and took off after the three up the road.  My first group
ride with rec.motoists had begun.

[to be continued]

Martyn
--------------sasmjw@unx.sas.com----(Martyn Wheeler)----DoD #293--------------
SAS Institute, Inc: (919) 677-8000 ext.7954    H: (919) 839-0092 (Raleigh, NC)
            For sale: Autodynamics Formula Vee: $2500 obo
          "If you spin, you deserve to die" -- Mike Hawthorn

===============================================================================
>From sasmjw 3 Aug 92 18:53:34 GMT
From: sasmjw@unx.sas.com    (Martyn Wheeler)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Summary: We went slower, and slower, and slower...
Date: 3 Aug 92 18:53:34 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU


    By the end of part 1 we had merged two groups of Denizens into
one, and this group was heading north on Rt.16.  Amy Swint was leading
on TheMoped, her husband Swane was following on the Springer Softail,
Hilary Perkins was next in line in a Geo Metro Convertible, and I was
bringing up the rear on the Spagthorpe Wolfhound, except that some
idiot in a Ford Aerostar was right behind us and I'm sure every time
Hilary looked in her mirrors all she saw was the van.

    About half a mile out of the Amoco in Taylorsville, I realised
that Amy had been right.  She was slow.  Some of this could be
attributed to the lack of a speedometer (how I love it when a
Spagthorpe is more reliable than a Yamaha!), some of it to the scenery
and the interesting road, and some of it to Amy being slow. :-)
    The speed really didn't matter, though Swane was swinging from
side to side rather impatiently every time the road became twisty.
The further north we went, the twistier it became, and signs of
civilisation were left behind us to be replaced by fields, based
around small rivers gouging their way through steep valleys.
Frequently the road would be lined with tall banks of dirt with sparse
grass clinging to a bare existence, and we would lose sight of the
landscape for a while only to find it was even more spectacular when
the view cleared around the next corner.

    We arrived at the intersection with Route 18, and Amy swung onto
it, apparently ignoring the sign that said:

                ROAD CLOSED
                  MILES AHEAD

             LOCAL TRAFFIC ONLY

We all hoped that " miles ahead" meant "many miles ahead" and followed
her with only a little hesitation.  I saw Swane glance at the sign
with a some trepidation.

    Our progress slowed once we were on Rt.18.  The countryside was
magnificent, and the houses were more infrequent -- it was no longer
certain that the river valleys were indeed being farmed.  The road
itself twisted left and right, climbed hills, dived into valleys, and
became everything one could desire for a gentle cruise on a bike.
    The main reason we slowed was that our leader slowed.  The road
was winding enough now that TheMoped apparently wanted to take things
easy.  For left-hand turns, Amy Slowed, but having the chair to help
in cornering; Swane looked impatient.  For right-hand turns, Amy
*SLOWED*, not really wanting to lift the chair and be the first to
dump a bike on the RCR; Swane looked impatient but more sympathetic.
    I can understand Amy's caution: imagine the arrival at the
campground: "Hey folks," we would say, "someone dropped their bike
already!"  The assembled denizens would crowd around... Was that a
scratch on the perfect chrome of the Springer?  No.  Was the left
mirror on the Spagthorpe a little out of line?  Yes, but it came from
the factory that way (bikes for a drive-on-the-left country had them
asymmetrical the other way).  Perhaps, ha ha, the Geo Metro had blown
over?  NOT!  Hold on, Daughters of Democracy, what is this we see
here?  A bent footpeg, cracked mirror, dented tank -- but surely not?
A three-wheeled vehicle is the most stable of all, and Amy *dropped*
it?  The postings would rise to 400 a day, as she was berated on
rec.moto...

    Let add right now, so that Amy does not get a reputation like Tom
Barber, AMY IS THE PERSON WHO DID NOT DROP A SIDECAR RIG ON THE RCR!

    So we understood her slow progress.  Anyway, it gave us more time
to look at the scenery...

    I was beginning to regret my choice of the Wolfhound for these
roads.  Although a very fine motorcycle, I must admit that when
Julian, Lord Spagthorpe, visualised a bike for the American market he
did not have in mind small twisting goat-trails over steep hills.
Between first and second gears, the shift is somewhat jerky, and more
and more often the automatic was deciding to do this while leaned over
in a turn.  A much better choice for this section of the ride would
have been a late-model Doberman (not that any were imported into the
US, I believe) -- that particular model was test-ridden frequently on
the tight roads around the Peter Tavy facility, I gather; according to
Roger, an ex-neighbour of mine who was in the CID, the West Devon
Constabulary had become accustomed to the exhaust note, and made a
practice of looking somewhere else while the prototype, often with
Julian himself in the saddle, flew past them at quite unbelievable
speeds.
    Ah, well, back to reality.  I was not on a Spagthorpe Doberman,
and the Wolfhound beneath me was making it quite plain it Was Not
Built For This.  I switched off the air conditioning, which was not
really needed in the cooler mountain air, and that helped greatly as
without having to strain against the accessory drive, the beast would
now mostly stay in second, and the only real problem was manoeuvring
the sheer bulk around the tight spots.  I could still have gone faster
than Amy, though... :-)

    So, on and on and on we went, enjoying the scenery, occasionally
meeting a ratty-looking pickup coming the other way at high speed,
apparently happy to run two wheels in the dirt to avoid having to slow
down...strange, but courteous -- they always gave us plenty of room.
    Eventually, Beaver Creek Road appeared on our right.  Amy slowed
down, turned onto it, and pulled over, fumbling at the directions.
Having checked the next stage of the trip, she pulled back on the
tarmac, and we headed down what can only be described as an awesome
road.

    Almost any road in rural North Carolina that has a body of water
in the name is interesting.  So we have Johnson Pond Road, West Lake
Road, Sunset Lake Road, and now to add to these, the finest of them
all: Beaver Creek Road.
    Many of those who came from the North and East did not travel this
way, and missed out on the experience.  I just can't do justice to it
in words.  Even Amy sped up around the left handers, especially the
high-bank 270 degree downhill sweeper.  We did our best to keep up --
although Swane was a master of the Springer and stayed close on
TheMoped's tail, Hilary's Geo and my Wolfhound were a little farther
behind.  (I was, to be honest, finding the Spagthorpe's long wheelbase
a real pain.)  Fortunately the right-handers were followed almost
invariably by left-handers, and for these it seemed that the method
for cornering TheMoped was to stop, look around, ease gently around in
first gear, then accelerate slowly.  It was at this point that Amy did
not drop a sidecar rig on the RCR.  Over the course of the road, it
must be said that the two largest vehicles did not exactly fall
behind.

    All too soon Beaver Creek Road ended (although later Amy was to
say on several occasions that the road was sheer hell) and we took a
short mile hop on Rt.268 to Mount Pleasant Road.  This was again full
of twisties, although not as fun as Beaver Creek, but was also full of
gravel in strange and unexpected places -- one of the beauties of
Beaver Creek Road had been the cleanliness of the surface.
    Swane was quite clearly bored.  Once we turned, he passed TheMoped
and sped off to enjoy the bends.  We followed at TheMoped's pace, and
would always find the Springer Softail waiting another half-mile or so
down the road.
    At the intersection with Mount Zion Road, we found Swane waiting
again.  As soon as he saw we had made the turning, he took off into
the distance, using enough throttle for me to hear the pounding of the
Big Twin over the rumble of the W4 beneath me (a full 48cc larger than
the Harley!).  We followed on as before.
    Mt Zion Rd was quite different from the previous roads, it seemed
to me.  A lot of the time it followed the floor of a river valley,
although rising and falling across promontaries.  There was a more
personal feeling to the landscape, as if we were more part of it than
the sight-seers we had been before.  The pace no longer seemed slow,
as we took time to feel the land around us.
    Finally, Swane waited for us as Mt Zion Rd changed from paved to
dirt.  We all took it easy at this point, and with a great deal of
caution (and a sense of relief) arrived at the High Country Cycle
camp at about 3 o'clock or so.

[to be continued...I would guess part 3 will be the last]

Martyn
--------------sasmjw@unx.sas.com----(Martyn Wheeler)----DoD #293--------------
SAS Institute, Inc: (919) 677-8000 ext.7954    H: (919) 839-0092 (Raleigh, NC)
            For sale: Autodynamics Formula Vee: $2500 obo
                      Guzzisti without a Goose.

===============================================================================
>From dab 5 Aug 92 02:43:42 GMT
From: dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu   (The Nashville Flash)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Summary: Long-lost land-speed record-attempter found at last...
Date: 5 Aug 92 02:43:42 GMT
Sender: news@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (News Manager)

For those who have forgotten, or never knew, in the weeks that followed the
ill-famed Bonneville disaster, things did not go well for Lord Julian
Spagthorpe.  Edmond Fitzgerald, Peer of the Realm, Duke of Dunderwood, and
Jule's best mate resigned from the effort shortly after the Chronometer
Controversy stating simply, "They don't pay me enough to ride that thing,
Old Chap."  The bike was to be returned to England via shipboard.  But
through some as-yet-undetermined means, the Werewolf, the ONLY Werewolf,
fell overboard while traversing Lake Superior.  It was thought to be lost
forever.

Coincident with the discovery of the Edmund Fitzgerald (no relation), as
chronicled on a National Geographic teevee special, the crate containing the
Werewolf was salvaged.  Through a rather circuitous route, it has come into
the possession of a friend of mine (who MAY have traded some of his
Argentine Vincents for it, but can't pass up a "deal" when he sees one).

At any rate, the Werewolf, Land Speed Record Attempter, was the high
performance version of the Wolfhound.  Few photographs remain.  Needed are:
the chronometer (of course), right footpeg assembly parts #RFP14 - #RFP29,
and ALL of the nuts and bolts for the left side of the bike (Whitworth left
hand thread).  It seems that the chronometer was destroyed in the original
"incident,"  the footpeg assembly damaged by the grappling hook during
recovery from the lakebed (see the PBS special), and the hardware by some
chowderhead that can't tell Whitworth from Woolworth intoning, "Lefty
loosey, righty tighty," as he destroyed all of the "wrong side of the
Atlantic, wrong side of the road, wrong side of the bike" hardware with
standard and metric wrenches.

Some Spagthorpe Poodle bolts and peg assembly pieces will also fit, I am
told.  Email replies only, please.  We wouldn't want this to get out.  For
those interested, most of the engine internals are interchangable with early
AMC Nash Metropolitan parts, and much of the gearbox is Wilson pre-select.
--
 "No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle." - Julian Spagthorpe
    The Nashville Flash    -   dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu   -   DoD # 412


===============================================================================
>From brad 5 Aug 92 15:11:41 GMT
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Message-ID: <l7vrtdINNg3r@thunderbird.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 5 Aug 92 15:11:41 GMT

 dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (The Nashville Flash) writes:
>Spagthorpe.  Edmond Fitzgerald, Peer of the Realm, Duke of Dunderwood, and
>Jule's best mate resigned from the effort shortly after the Chronometer
>Controversy stating simply, "They don't pay me enough to ride that thing,

There's a lot of myth surrounding Sir Fitzgerald's departure, but the
real story is the sort of thing that could only happen when European
aristocracy has a mind to take decisions on modern technology.
The problem, as I understand it, stems from the use of a pre-war
attempt to rationalize the Whitworth measurment scheme by decimalizing
in terms of furlongs.  When Lord Julian attempted to adopt this after
the war for the UK market (hence the differnece between the various
Terriers), the Chronometer, for compatibility, was to be similarly
decimalized in terms of fortnights.  Speed would then be determined by
how many bolts fell out per unit time and would be measured (of course)
in furlongs per fortnight.

One of Lord Julian's top engineers, however, was a Jewish refugee from
Germany.  Chiam Pishtah, while a brilliant designer in his own right,
was really too much of a prima-donna to work on an international design
team and insisted, for religious reasons, on using cubits per moon.  The
chronometer he fabricated for the Werewolf, while a marvel of engineering
at the time (it had, among other innovations, an unlimited-slip, bevel-gear
differential linkage), was an offense to British sensibilities and was
also virtually impossible to calibrate against existing speed records.

I discovered some of Pishtah's notes lining a hamster cage in Currey Mallet,
Somerset (and thereby hangs a tale as well).  Subsequent searching at
the pub where these notes were found revealed quite a few design documents
on much of the Spagthorpe line.  I would be happy to share these with
any other enthusiasts; send me email.

>through some as-yet-undetermined means, the Werewolf, the ONLY Werewolf,
>fell overboard while traversing Lake Superior.  It was thought to be lost

The circumstances surrounding this incident are extremely mysterious, but
apparently had something to do with a storm warning, a bottle of Alsatian
wine, and a near-mutiny during the dog-watch.  Does anyone know the real
story?

>and ALL of the nuts and bolts for the left side of the bike (Whitworth left
>hand thread).  It seems that the chronometer was destroyed in the original

Right.  This was part of the rationalization attempt.  One experimental
version had a dual-die, dual-tapping system where bolts could actually
be tightened in either direction.

>Some Spagthorpe Poodle bolts and peg assembly pieces will also fit, I am

Careful on that.  The later Poodles alternated right and left hand threads
on both sides of the bike.  By the way, I have a line on a restorable
Poodle.  Does anyone know where I can get the water guards for the front
fork and rear suspension?  It's sort of a steel wool assembly that's
meant to trap water without increasing wind resistance.

Take care,
brad

"No hour of life spent riding to the hounds is ever wasted."  -- Lord Julian

===============================================================================

>From markk 6 Aug 92 00:50:42 GMT
From: markk@tcs.com
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 6 Aug 92 00:50:42 GMT
Sender: news@tcsi.com
brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal) writes:
>dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (The Nashville Flash) writes:
>>and ALL of the nuts and bolts for the left side of the bike (Whitworth left
>>hand thread).  It seems that the chronometer was destroyed in the original

>Right.  This was part of the rationalization attempt.  One experimental
>version had a dual-die, dual-tapping system where bolts could actually
>be tightened in either direction.

Neither the dual-die, dual-tapping system and Chiam Pishtah's patented
"Constant Torque Fastener" made it into production.

The "Constant Torque Fastener" consisted of a bolt with a hole drilled
through it.  The outer threads were left hand thread while the hole
was threaded right hand.  The mating nut and the bolt would be both
loosened and tightened with a turn of either in any direction
maintaining a constant preload.  This system was intended for use on
axles and other bearings eliminating the need for cotter pins and the
like.

Both ideas were scrapped when it was realized that the oxy/acetylene
"spanner" used to remove these bolts would not fit in the tool bag.


- )V(ark)<       [markk@tcs.com       TCSI, Berkeley, CA USA]


===============================================================================
>From jsloan 5 Aug 92 13:46:38 GMT
From: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re:  Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 5 Aug 92 13:46:38 GMT
Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu (USENET Maintenance)

>From article <1992Aug5.024342.26969@vuse.vanderbilt.edu>,
               by dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu
(The Nashville Flash):
> Some Spagthorpe Poodle bolts and peg assembly pieces will also fit

It is only vaguely possible that my late Uncle Crighton's Spagthorpe
"Terrier" has parts still usable condition. (This was the model, if you
recall, without the sidecar). I doubt that the Terrier and the Werewolf
have interchangable parts -- Uncle Crighton used to always say that you
couldn't even depend upon interchanging parts between Terriers of the
same model year -- but I can write my cousin Poindexter and find out.

I'm afraid all I have to go by is my Uncle's handwritten notes and some
old yellowed Spagthorpe ads he saved in a scrapbook. The owners manual
and the shop manual (if there ever was one) have been lost somewhere
at Uncle Crighton's farm (I've always suspected that they joined the
Sears catalog, before Poindexter had indoor plumbing installed;
Poindexter, that heathen, never appreciated motorcycling the way
Crighton and I did; still, Poindexter inherited the farm).

Sorry I can't be of more help.

--
John Sloan              "Since I've given up hope,       +1 303 497 1243
NCAR/SCD                   I feel much better."      Fax +1 303 497 1137
Boulder CO 80307-3000 USA                           jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.
>From brad  5 Aug 92 15:19:51 GMT
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re:  Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 5 Aug 92 15:19:51 GMT

jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
>It is only vaguely possible that my late Uncle Crighton's Spagthorpe
>"Terrier" has parts still usable condition. (This was the model, if you
>recall, without the sidecar). I doubt that the Terrier and the Werewolf

That would be the early version of the UK delivered Terrier (the "Jack
Russel").

>have interchangable parts -- Uncle Crighton used to always say that you
>couldn't even depend upon interchanging parts between Terriers of the
>same model year -- but I can write my cousin Poindexter and find out.

Interchangability of the parts was not really that much of a problem.
Your uncle probably was struggling with different models. The one imported
to the US (the "F" designation, for Fox Terrier) used the unrationalized
Whitworth scheme.  The sidecar model ("B" for Bull) was ultimately outlawed
unless fitted with a rev limiter.

The problem with finding parts is that the product line was so diversified,
the production runs tended to be very small.  Quality control usually
involved canabalizing most of the run.

Take care,
brad

"Bugger that for a lark."  -- Lord Julian, in _Dog Tyred_

===============================================================================
>From matthews 5 Aug 92 16:46:46 GMT
From: matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu (Alex Matthews)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re:  Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 5 Aug 92 16:46:46 GMT
Sender: news@colorado.edu (The Daily Planet)

Thanks to all the people who sent me cordial email pointing out the error
in my previous post.  The 1623cc Spagthorpe I mentioned was of course
the Mastiff, not the Great Dane as I so embarassingly said the first
time around.  The Great Dane was a prototype that collapsed under its
own weight during centerstand testing at the Dunraven Proving Grounds,
with the loss of all hands.  The project was abandoned soon after, and
the engineering records destroyed when the administrative offices were
burned during the labor unrest that marked the venture's final years.

Like pieces of the True Cross, parts of that Great Dane surface in
estate auctions and bankruptcy proceedings all over the civilized
world;  but, like their religious counterpart, they are too large
and too numerous to be parts of the original bike.  And the lack
of engineering drawings has been a thorn in the side of motorcycle
historians for years.  Those of us who eagerly await a "second coming"
of the Spagthorpe will probably never know the rapture of laying
eyes on Julian's one missing creation.
--
-Alex Matthews (matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu)
DoD #0010
"It's too pure, too unrefined."  - Lance Holst, August '91

===============================================================================
>From datasbld 5 Aug 92 15:44:19 GMT
From: datasbld@bnr.ca (Datasbuild)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 5 Aug 92 15:44:19 GMT
Sender: news@bnr.uk (News Administrator)

It's funny that you should ask.  My late Grandfather's Sister-in-law was one
of the factory testers for dear old Julian Spagthorpe's Father.  She and him
had quite a crush on one another, so I am told by my Uncle Bob.  Of course,
they were both married and in those days you just didn't do _that_ sort of
thing, and nobody knew about it but my Uncle came across some old love-letters
hidden in an old Wilchester portmanteau that he had inherited from her which
gave away their guilty secret.

It seems that she donated five of her own personal machines (gifts from
Julian's Father, of course) to the Home Guard who had them painted in
camoufluage greens and installed MG mounts and headlight filters because of
the blackouts.  Two of them were fitted with Swallow sidecars and short-wave
radios and and were used usually for the rapid transport of senior defence
coordination staff from bunker to bunker.

One of these machines was hit by a stray bomb from a Messerschmitt 110
returning from a strafing run over the nearby RADAR development works in
Pudleby-On-The-Marsh.  The bike, rider and CDR Finchley GC, VC+bar, carrying
the details and one of the latest watercooled Klystron valves  were all blown
apart by the blast.  (A small stone cross by the side of the B403 marks the
site still.  The Klystron, wrapped first in leather, coddled tightly between
two well-worn cricketing boxes and placed inside a metal case fashioned from
a Panther Sloper's Piston, managed to survive the blast and helped to save the
war.  (Winston Churchill later gave it to the Americans when the secret of
RADAR was handed over to them so that they could give us a hand or two.))
The other three were ridden by the Home Guard Dispatch Corps.  A hardy
collection of mainly ex-works racers who were all over the age of sixty.  They
used to race back and forth with army despatches even in the thickest of air
raids.  Often they were sent on long journeys, to Scotland, North Wales etc.
It was quite normal for them to run out of petrol and have to substitute any
suitable substance in order to get them to the nearest army camp: whisky,
paraffin, diesel/meths being a few of these.  Thank goodness we're riding
Spagthorpes they would exhort.  No other marque could take the kind of
punishment that these blokes could give them in the name of King and Country.
The automatic gearbox meant that they could ride along holding a rifle at the
same time and the heating (no air conditioning in those days) kept the riders
warm on those long lonely rides across bleak moors, lonely hills, deserted
dales, isolated Scottish and Welsh mountains and the ghostly flatlands towards
the east coast.

Three of these machines survived the war and now form part of my twice
removed cousin Adrian's collection at Trent Hall in Long Eaton.  I know that
he has a large collection of spares as he is a fan of Spagthorpes and other W4
motorcycles such as the Drake-Severn and the Malvern Tug4W series.  (Some of
the parts ARE interchangeable as the Vintage restorers at the hall often have
to swap and match in order to get the machines ready for various rallies
around The Isles.  I think that they have displayed at Beaulieu as of late.)
Lord Adrian has about seven of the latest Spagthorpes along with about five
crates of spares so that he can pass on the machines to his heirs as working
and maintainable motorcycles.  (Along with the Heskeths and Silks).  He also is
able to get spare parts made as he has a small but serviceable machine-shop in
one of the unused stables - recently they produced a con-rod for the little-
known 1932 Rolls-Royce Flat-four 1800cc motorcycle tourer.  Rolls produced
eighteen of these magnificent, albeit a trifle unweildly, machines as a bit of
an experiment in the early thirties when motorcycling was particularly
fashionable amongst the upper echelons of the Empire.  Their downfall was that
they were too quiet and motorists could not hear them; after the Princess
Tattia of India was killed by an army lorry in Bombay, Rolls withdrew them and
because of various management changes never went back to producing motorcycles
again.

Anyway, I digress, I think I might be able to help you out with some of the
spares and certainly with the Whitworth left-habded thread nuts and bolts.
Also the spanners.  Over here, we mainly use Whitworth threads, we get imported
machinery converted in special sheds at the dockside.  This is one of the
reasons why foreign spare parts such as BMW and Harley parts are so expensive
over here, they all have to be converted.

Lord Adrian takes part in some rallies and runs, often within the auspices of
the All Party Parliamentary Motorcycle Club of which he was Technical
Secretary.  I have a photograph with him on a Spagthorpe (a Wolfhound, I
believe) at the front of a large number of machines ridden by the afore-
mentioned APPMC with the Lord Chief Justice as his pillion wearing cricketing
leg shields and with a Harrods Picnic Hamper strapped to the rear carrier;
quite a sight!  I will send him a telegraph, if you like, with your request
for the spare parts you require.


Nick (the Biker)          DoD 1069

M'lud.

===============================================================================
>From cdw2t 5 Aug 92 19:18:05 GMT
From: cdw2t@dayhoff.med.Virginia.EDU (Clifford David Weston)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 5 Aug 92 19:18:05 GMT
Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU

 datasbld@bnr.ca (Datasbuild) writes:

>I have a photograph with him on a Spagthorpe (a Wolfhound, I
>believe) at the front of a large number of machines ridden by the afore-
>mentioned APPMC

i waited eagerly for this photograph to return from the developers, but for
naught: early prototype testing of the ford (of europe) aerostar minivan
was apparently in progress at this time, for one of the testpilots chanced
to drive by milord and his venerable Wolfhound just as the frame was snapped.

eerily, the disembodied head of julian, lord spagthorpe, appears through the
window of the van, giving the impression -- by the photo, at any rate -- that
he is driving an automobile.  in the distant background, the hazy outline of
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|       Cliff Weston                     '92 Seca II (Tem)                 |
|       DoD# 0598                         [insert witty disclaimer here]   |
|                                                                          |
|        "I love your post.  Please don't stop."      -- Lissa Shoun       |
|                                                                          |
|  it is by far the best (apart from this fine organ, of course)  -- Nick  |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================================
>From warren 5 Aug 92 23:44:41 GMT
From: warren
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: 5 Aug 92 23:44:41 GMT

>>in a turn.  A much better choice for this section of the ride would
>>have been a late-model Doberman (not that any were imported into the
>>US, I believe) -- that particular model was test-ridden frequently on
>
>Um, according to Lord Julian Spagthorpe's autobiography, _Dog Tyred_,
>I believe 13 Spagthorpe Dobermans were actually imported between 1953
>and 1947.  They were marketed in the US as the Spagthorpe Poodle which
>may have had something to do with their obscurity.
>
>Take care,
>brad

Um, Brad,  I can't believe you made this error.  Martyn was not refering
to the original Doberman, but to the latter-day Doberman produced by the
Spagthorpe after Julian revived the marque in 1981.

These late model Dobermans were powered by a supercharged two-stroke
inline triple of 412 cm^3 displacement, and as you might imagine, they
did have a rather extraodinary engine note.  Spagthorpe had plans
for a "street scrambler" dual-purpose version of the Doberman, but
these were shelved during a factory reorganization ca. 1984.

- Warren

===============================================================================
>From shafer 6 Aug 92 03:17:26 GMT
From: shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: 6 Aug 92 03:17:26 GMT
Sender: news@news.dfrf.nasa.gov (Usenet news)

On 05 Aug 92 23:44:41 GMT, warrenma@microsoft.com (Warren Marts) said:

WM> Um, Brad,  I can't believe you made this error.  Martyn was not refering
WM> to the original Doberman, but to the latter-day Doberman produced by the
WM> Spagthorpe after Julian revived the marque in 1981.

WM> These late model Dobermans were powered by a supercharged two-stroke
WM> inline triple of 412 cm^3 displacement, and as you might imagine, they
WM> did have a rather extraodinary engine note.  Spagthorpe had plans
WM> for a "street scrambler" dual-purpose version of the Doberman, but
WM> these were shelved during a factory reorganization ca. 1984.
I believe that there was another dual-purpose version of the Doberman
that seems to have escaped everyone's notice.  Perhaps no one else is
as interested in aircraft as am I?

Anyway, it's none the less interesting for being obscure.  This
version had a airplane conversion kit.  I believe it was known as the
Bird Dog, but that book is packed in a carton at the absolute bottom
of the stack off 44 cartons and I'm not going to look for it.  As I
remember, this Bird Dog was a canard airplane.  It had winglets and
twin verticals (on booms, of course).  It had a very high aspect ratio
and was quite a nice-looking plane.

The aerodynamic surfaces were attached by a special system that the
book describes, succinctly, as indescribable.  (Obviously the author
had not done as much research as wreck.moto posters have.)  The
propellor was a rubberbandfan, with belt drive.

I believe that the first high speed taxi test ended badly when the
test pilot, Julian, leaned a little too far and dragged a wing tip.
In his surprise, he overcontrolled and slammed the other tip down,
managing to hook the winglet under the chase bike, an unmodified
Doberman.  The Bird Dog then rotated up and around, ending up on its
back.  The chase Doberman was also badly damaged.  A truly sad day
in the annals of aviation.

Gravely disappointed by this setback, Julian scrapped the Bird Dog.
The chase Doberman was rebuilt as the dual-purpose street-scrambler
that you mention above.

Oh, yes, for you reggie-spotters, the tail number of the Bird Dog
was G-WOOF.

--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR NASA Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov                    Of course I don't speak for NASA
 "A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."  Unknown US fighter pilot

===============================================================================
>From carlp Thu, 6 Aug 1992 20:48:20 GMT
From: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com (Carl Paukstis)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1992 20:48:20 GMT

 shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
>On 05 Aug 92 23:44:41 GMT, warrenma@microsoft.com (Warren Marts) said:
>
>WM> did have a rather extraodinary engine note.  Spagthorpe had plans
>WM> for a "street scrambler" dual-purpose version of the Doberman, but
>WM> these were shelved during a factory reorganization ca. 1984.
>
>I believe that there was another dual-purpose version of the Doberman
>that seems to have escaped everyone's notice.  Perhaps no one else is
>as interested in aircraft as am I?

With deference to the Doberman and Mary's well-founded knowledge of
aircraft, the only _genuine_ dual-purpose wheels in the extensive
Spagthorpe kennel were from the two off-road bike series (Terriers
and Spaniels).  While the Cocker was a genuine off-road-only machine,
the Brittany was a dual-purpose bike establishing traditions later
followed by lesser manufacturers.  Despite the name and the obvious
quality, this machine never achieved much popularity within the Empire.
Although some found the W4 to be a bit heavy and unwieldly, the Brittany
saw great success as a messenger and dispatch machine with the
Lithuanian Army between the wars (some 12 units were in use, according
to my great-uncle Casmir, though any surviving examples were "lost".
Uncle Casmir believes the Russians stole them and reverse-engineered
the technology for use in the Zil limousines).

Of course, the Spaniel line's acme was the awe-inspiring "Springer",
which retrocatively inspired Mr. Wm. Davidson and partners on this
side of the pond.  The front suspension was a Byzantine arrangement
which could only have sprung from the mind of Sir Julian himself, with
his well-known penchant for Turkish hashih.  The friction from this
creative leaf-spring-and-94-links front suspension design, when used
in off-road riding and particularly competition, of course, generated
all the heat necessary for the early integrated heaters which debuted
in the Springer Spaniel's second year of production.

This heat-generation capability was discovered by original Team
Spagthorpe enduro rider, one Reginald deCodswollop, during the
fourth annual Pudleby-On-The-Marsh To Currey Mallet Endurance Race.
Reggie was mounted on a very early-production Springer, and while
negotiating a particularly rough bit of forest corduroy, his genuine
Spag-line chaps burst into flame at the shins, inspiring the
catch-phrase "flaming Codswollop".  This was curiously linked
with the sensibility of anyone who would ride a 764-pound enduro
machine through the infamous Pudleby Marshes, but that's  Reggie's
tale, and another story.
--
Carl Paukstis, RRR&RSG           | "Good men must not obey the laws too well"
 ISC-Bunker Ramo / Spokane, WA   |    -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Phone: +1 509 927-5439          |
 Mail: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com    |  My employer accepts no responsibility...

===============================================================================
>From sasmjw 6 Aug 92 20:48:30 GMT
From: sasmjw@unx.sas.com    (Martyn Wheeler)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Wanted: Parts for Spagthorpe Werewolf (yes, THAT, Werewolf)
Date: 6 Aug 92 20:48:30 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU

I'm afraid Brad is probably correct.  It would be most unlikely that
Poodle parts would fit your friend's machine.  Although the Terrier
that was, indirectly, the downfall of John's Uncle Crighton, was
presumably a UK model, the inconsistency of parts did I believe carry
over to the bikes produced for the US.  If you really get desperate,
you should try contacting someone in New Zealand (where it was also
called the Poodle), as I understand from a school friend of mine
(whose father was a dentist from that country) that an entire
production run was exported there en masse and it is believed that
these particular bikes were of a quality well above that of the US
models.

I am not too clear on the part interchangability of the older
Spagthorpes with the more modern bikes -- I am more knowledgeable
about the post-'81 machines -- but you may want to search out Arthur
Treluggan's book _A Marque Reborn_ (translated from the Cornish by
Marion Russell, whose books are also well worth finding).  According
to the landlord at the Fox & Hound, the book describes how Julian
started up the lines using some of the previous inventory and I think
you may find some clues as to alternate part numbers that may fit.

I also suspect that any parts in the Wolfhound would be too heavy.
What I would suggest is that if you can deduce the dimensions, you
could get Steve Andersen to make the part from carbon fibre, which I'm
sure would be in the spirit of the original.

So, is your friend going to let you attempt the Land Speed Record on
it? :-)

Martyn
--------------sasmjw@unx.sas.com----(Martyn Wheeler)----DoD #293--------------
SAS Institute, Inc: (919) 677-8000 ext.7954    H: (919) 839-0092 (Raleigh, NC)
            For sale: Autodynamics Formula Vee: $1800 obo
          "If you spin, you deserve to die" -- Mike Hawthorn

===============================================================================
>From jsloan 7 Aug 92 03:24:55 GMT
From: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe odyssey
Date: 7 Aug 92 03:24:55 GMT
Sender: news@ncar.ucar.edu (USENET Maintenance)

>From article <1992Aug7.022357.9407@sifon.cc.mcgill.ca>,
 loki@nazgul.physics.mcgill.ca (Loki Jorgenson):
>    I hope to hell that someone is getting all this Spagthorpe
> trivia written down!!

Indeed, this is the kind of material that my late Uncle Crighton would
have, ur, died for. I can only guess what lore was lost when the
infamous Poindexter, that weasel, inherited Uncle Crighton's farm
following the his untimely demise in the Combine Incident, as it's known
in those parts. Only a single scrapbook remains.

Be that as it may, in that one remaining scrapbook there are some very
yellowed Spagthrope advertisements. I was thinking of trying to analyze
the heraldic symbols on the Spagthrope coat of arms that was the firm's
logo in the ads. Can anyone recommend a good reference book? I'm
particularly puzzled by what appears to be a codpiece. Thanks.

--
John Sloan              "Since I've given up hope,       +1 303 497 1243
NCAR/SCD                   I feel much better."      Fax +1 303 497 1137
Boulder CO 80307-3000 USA                           jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.

===============================================================================
>From matthews 7 Aug 92 17:44:50 GMT
From: matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu (Alex Matthews)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe odyssey
Date: 7 Aug 92 17:44:50 GMT
Sender: news@colorado.edu (The Daily Planet)

 jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
>
>Be that as it may, in that one remaining scrapbook there are some very
>yellowed Spagthrope advertisements. I was thinking of trying to analyze
>the heraldic symbols on the Spagthrope coat of arms that was the firm's
>logo in the ads. Can anyone recommend a good reference book? I'm
>particularly puzzled by what appears to be a codpiece. Thanks.

By George, I think you've got it!  I had heard that some of the adverts
were cocked-up in the printing, and if I'm right, what you have is
one of the rare existing examples of this error.  What appears to be
a codpiece is, in fact, an upside-down rendition of Julian's pride
and joy, a moustache bra of his own invention.  The hirsute lord
devised this appliance with nostril protection in mind, which indeed
makes it look like a more private accessory when you view it inverted.
(Unkind stories spread among the factory workers joke about a mishap
with this bra that allegedly sent the lord to the hospital with
minor brain damage from oxygen starvation, but there may be a grain
of truth in this - it may explain Julian's obsession with developing
a fully-submersible motorcycle for the Royal Navy).

So you might want to mount those yellowed pages with care, perhaps
sealing them in nitrogen gas and putting them in a mildew-free
environment.  It might be amusing to mount a photo of a Spagthorpe
upside-down next to it, and see if people make the connection between
the "codpiece" and the stylized moustachios that comprise part of
the pinstripe detailing on every Spagthorpe motorcycle.

--
-Alex Matthews (matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu)
DoD #0010
"It's too pure, too unrefined."  - Lance Holst, August '91

===============================================================================
>From bob 9 Aug 92 06:59:49 GMT
From: bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us (bob pasker)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: <None>
Date: 9 Aug 92 06:59:49 GMT

, warkenti@CAE.Mitel.Com (BJ Warkentin) writes:
> While I'm sure that you and perhaps others find this a fascinating
> topic, worthy of detailed analysis and much thought, I fail to see its
> relevance in any way, shape, or form to motorcycles...

my good sir, have you never heard of the spaglethorpe apostrophe?  it was
manufactured at spaglethorp bristol between july 1948 and september 1951.  the
reason it was called an "apostrophe" is becuase it was a 350cc thumper.  you
see, the apostrophe was a metaphor for the single piston.  the 2 cylender 750
cc machine was christened the "quotation mark."  it was the ad campaigns that
got everyone excited about it:

     forget apostasy, the apothacary, and the appogiatura.  feel yourself
     riding right up there with the ascenders. you, leading the phrase, and
     the  little lady riding behind, perched just past the trailing
     puncutation for a literal (or should we say "literary") blast

anyway, it was the pride and joy of many an anal-retentive english
schoolmaster until it was renamed the "comma," because so many of them
crashed.  after that, it
                         was
                             all
                                 down
                                      hill.

--
-- bob pasker
-- bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us
--
===============================================================================
>From brad 10 Aug 92 23:09:21 GMT
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: 10 Aug 92 23:09:21 GMT

warrenma@microsoft.com (Warren Marts) writes:
>Um, Brad,  I can't believe you made this error.  Martyn was not refering
>to the original Doberman, but to the latter-day Doberman produced by the
>Spagthorpe after Julian revived the marque in 1981.

Look, I really don't want to start this flame war up again; we just went
through it a few months ago.  Perhaps this should go in the FAQ.  There
are a lot of people out there who swear that the only true Spagthorpes
are those made after Pishtah's untimely death in the mid 70's in a freak
chain lubing incident.  There are also those who believe that anything
made after Lord Julian gave up hash is about as much a Spagthorpe as
a riding crop is a Brogue Superior fork brace.  I really don't care;
they're all fine bikes and I'll wave at anyone who rides one, OK?

Either Dobie would've been superior in the twisties to the Wolfhound,
as fine a mount as that is.  Let's just let that sleeping thread lie.

Take care,
brad

===============================================================================
>From rich 11 Aug 92 03:12:33 GMT
From: rich@halluc.com (Rich Lawrence)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Right Coast Ride on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: 11 Aug 92 03:12:33 GMT

 brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal) writes:
>warrenma@microsoft.com (Warren Marts) writes:
>>Um, Brad,  I can't believe you made this error.  Martyn was not refering
>>to the original Doberman, but to the latter-day Doberman produced by the
>>Spagthorpe after Julian revived the marque in 1981.
>
>Look, I really don't want to start this flame war up again; we just went
>through it a few months ago.  Perhaps this should go in the FAQ.  There
>are a lot of people out there who swear that the only true Spagthorpes
>are those made after Pishtah's untimely death in the mid 70's in a freak

What about the '72 Electric Blue Spag?  Pish was involved in that one,
and it was the only bike of its kind, barring cheap American imitations.
You have to admit that 105hp at the wheel is a hell of an accomplishment
in a 300lb production bike, even if it did require flourine cooling and
handled like the lamentable limited Skye Terrier line of the late 60's
(which of course most of the fork and suspension technology came from).
Too bad most of these are wrapped around fire hydrants nowadays.

>a riding crop is a Brogue Superior fork brace.  I really don't care;
>they're all fine bikes and I'll wave at anyone who rides one, OK?

Well, except for the late models after Spagthorpe's were REALLY
repackaged Italian brands. Remember the Canine? "Best of the breed", my
ass. Whoever thought of that ad should be shot.
>
--
Rich Lawrence - "Stinger" - DoD#9630 '92 Seca II - Buckaroo Banzai lives!
Sysop/Hallucination: Full UseNet,Fido,Relay, 2GB+ IBM/Amiga  1-703-425-5824
  rich@halluc.com   CI$:71101,2272   Fido:1:109/345   GEnie: R.LAWRENCE14
                      "I'm fine" - Data, in DataLore

===============================================================================
>From brad 10 Aug 92 23:28:37 GMT
From: brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe odyssey
Date: 10 Aug 92 23:28:37 GMT

loki@nazgul.physics.mcgill.ca (Loki Jorgenson) writes:
>trivia written down!!  It will be a chilly day in Tiajuana when so
>much significant history is exchanged under one banner.  It should

My goddess!  This one of the most amazing instances of synchronicity
I've seen in a long time.  I was down in Nuevo Laredo last weekend,
looking for a good price on a bottle of Tres Generaciones, and I still
can't believe what I found.

Coming up the steps after crossing the bridge, I was accosted by the usual
offers of diet pills and doctor's perscriptions.  And then I heard a soft
voice say, "Spagthorpe."  I couldn't believe my ears.  He repeated it,
and against my better instincts, I followed.  In a ramshackle, well, shack
out back of the Cadillac Bar, covered in straw, stood what has to be the
only surviving bike from the ill-fated production run of the Spagthorpe
Motor Compania Mexico, N.A.

This is the bike built on the lines of the old line Cocker Spaniel, but
with the modified, infamous 3/1-stoke, "Hammerhead" engine.  The piston
is a double headed affair, with a combustion chamber at each horiazontally
opposed end.  This was the two piston, four cylinder, 357 cc, dirt machine
that was so popular with bootleggers during prohibition and later with
drug runners.  Dubbed the "Chiuaua," legend has it that the vibration on
this thing was so sever that it could actually shimmy over water, making
Rio Grande crossings ridiculously easy.  In addition, it was rumored
to run on tequilla, allowing 'leggers to trade profit for distance when
being pursued.

We began negotiations over a bottle of Hornitos Reposada.  I couldn't
believe the bugger was trying to negotiate in centavos, but we kept at
it, shot after shot, lime after lime.  Despite knowing that I would
wake up the next morning with a hangover, almost assuredly in the
gutter, probably naked, and possibly with a headless Barbie doll with a
phone number scratched in the back, I managed to conclude the deal.
The bike is in terrible shape, and customs will no doubt dog me for a
long time, but I'm making this a project bike.  Anyone know where I
can lay my hands on a T-joint piston rod and an ambidexterous wrist pin?

Take care,
brad

===============================================================================
>From kpm 11 Aug 92 22:58:20 GMT
From: kpm@druhi.ATT.COM (Kevin Malloy (DoD #106))
Subject: Re: RCR on a Spagthorpe (Part 2)
Date: 11 Aug 92 22:58:20 GMT

All this talk about the Spagthorpes reminded me of a tale my great aunt
Alexis N. Matthews(*) told me when I was but a young pup.

(*) Curiously, my family seems to be no relation to Alex Matthews, even
    though my mother's maiden name is Matthews and we were both raised
    in Maryland.

My Aunt was (I believe the story can be told now in the post-Cold War
era) an arms merchant in central Asia just after The Great War (WWII).
She showed me a faded black-and-white snap of the little-known
Apso-Spag, manufactured by the Tibetians in Lhasa.  This 600lb monster
(including side-car) was based on a design that competed with the early
Cocker (code-named Collie) but canceled by Spagthorpe himself during a
corporate budget exercise.  I believe the snapshot was taken during the
Lhasa-Katmandu Endurance race as Mt. K-2 is in the background.

The model pictured was itself a prototype, according to my great-aunt.
The production model was scheduled to begin manufacture the following
year, but, because of the Communist Chinese invasion, the factory was
retooled to build tri-wheeled tanks.  The Chinese completely destroyed
the factory during the siege of Lhasa.  One can still occasionally find
a set of vintage Whitworth tools for sale in the Lhasa central bazaar,
speculation is that they are occasionally unearthed by the nomads who
have established a llama farm collective on the site of the old A-S
factory.

This single-cylinder on/off road monster was a unique machine.  The
Tibetians took the original (discarded) design and re-engineered it to
run on diesel fuels, more specifically cottonseed oil, of which was
plentiful at the time in Tibet.  It is thought that the engine was
turbo-charged, because it performed well at altitudes of over 20k ft.
Also, because of the dramatic altitude changes in Tibet, the Apso-Spag
came equipped with an air-compressor to automatically adjust tire
pressure to changes in external air pressure (due to extreme changes in
altitude or temperature).  [Experiments with non-pneumatic tires proved
unsatisfactory -- they tended to crack in extreme cold, melt in extreme
heat, and the test riders liked to mark up Lhasa's concrete streets
during stopping exercises.]  Bamboo was heavily used in the manufacture
of the bike, as double-leaf springs in the seat, as tubing (for fuel
and for the coolant recirculation), as the shaft (this _was_ a shafty,
you know), and even as brake and clutch levers on the handle bars (one
had to wear gloves while riding, according to Auntie Alexis, the levers
wheren't highly polished and one could get splinters under one's
nails if one wasn't careful).

Too bad there are no remaining prototypes of the Apso-Spag.  Perhaps,
if history had been just a bit different, the A-S would have proven to
be an inspiration to the Japanese bike manufactures, just as the
original Spagthorpe line tended to heavily influence the American
builders.  We'll never know.

Geez, I'd forgotten about this story.  Thanks to this thread, I've been
reminded.  I'll be sure to share this story with my nephews (I have no
nieces) as Auntie Alexis shared it with me.

                         Cheers,
                             Kevin

Kevin Malloy  kpm@druhi.att.com  AT&T Bell Labs, Denver  (303) 538-3511
633 E. 11th Ave.                         1991 BMW K75RT
Denver, CO  80203   I'm voting _NO_ on Colorado          DoD #106
(303) 830-2937    Constitutional Amendment #2, Nov 3rd!

===============================================================================
>From jsloan 11 Aug 92 18:53:32 GMT
From: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe
Date: 11 Aug 92 18:53:32 GMT

I've kept silent over the rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe flame war
currently errupting in the rec.motorcycles.secret.password.required
newsgroup, but this latest post forces me to respond.

>From car0xFF@druid.tpc.com:
]Sounds like you're saying that "Most spagthorpe types" don't have anything
]in common with the entire rest of the motorcycling community.  Is that
]really true?  If it is, how did we ever manage to create the "old ways"
]that made rec.moto so enjoyable and addicting in the past?

It has been claimed, with some legitimacy I think, that the "spagthorpe
types" (your term) really _don't_ have anything to do with the rest
of the motorcycling community. Even you must admit that Spagthorpes much
be judged by a different set of standards that those of any other
motorcycle marque. The usual metrics just don't apply.

]I also fall into the category of readers who "are not interested in
]the huge volume of stuff" in rec.moto.  After seeing all the popular
]threads repeatedly for 7 years, I find that 99% of the postings are
]now "noise".  The thing that has kept me hanging around this long is
]diversity.  Every once in a while, we get the sort of article that only
]appears when many perspectives and topics are actively present.  Those
]few have made my continued participation worth the effort.

Never the less, there is a substantial group of rec.moto readers that
now only read those articles that have "Spagthorpe" in the subject line.
I admit, I'm not quite there yet, but I'm finding that as time goes
by, I read less and less of the non-Spagthorpe related articles.
Having a spagthorpe group isn't exclusionary... anyone can participate.
It's merely a convenience for those interested in a particularly
legendary marque.

]Then those of us interested in both Spagthorpe and non-Spagthorpe topics
]and perspectives in the same forum won't have a "home".  At this
]point, it looks pretty grim for those of us who fit this description.
]If the new group forms, it will serve as the forum for "Spagthorpe topics"
]and will further diminish those topics and perspectives in r.m. as
]the other two subgroups and the Spagthorpe list have done for their respective
]topics and perspectives.  If it doesn't form, the self-imposed exile of
]"Spagthorpe types" from r.m will continue (with ad infinitum 6-month RFD
]replays) and will have the same net effect on r.m.

I admit that I have not voted one way or the other in the prior twenty
or so RFDs on rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe, but when the next one rolls
around I will feel compelled to make my vote for the creation of the
newsgroup.

--
John Sloan              "Since I've given up hope,       +1 303 497 1243
NCAR/SCD                   I feel much better."      Fax +1 303 497 1137
Boulder CO 80307-3000 USA                           jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.

===============================================================================
>From brady_p 11 Aug 92 19:56:16 GMT
From: brady_p@apollo.hp.com
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe
Date: 11 Aug 92 19:56:16 GMT

jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
>
>of the motorcycling community. Even you must admit that Spagthorpes much
>be judged by a different set of standards that those of any other
>motorcycle marque. The usual metrics just don't apply.
                              ^^^^^^^
Right. Spagthorpes used Whitworth spanners not metric ones... :-)


ObMotoBits: I just put a deposit down on a '92 CBR600F2. Now all I have to
do is find the cash in one of my accounts to pay for it...

--pete

===============================================================================
>From bob 11 Aug 92 20:29:28 GMT
From: bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us (bob pasker)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe
Date: 11 Aug 92 20:29:28 GMT

, jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
> I admit that I have not voted one way or the other in the prior twenty
> or so RFDs on rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe, but when the next one rolls
> around I will feel compelled to make my vote for the creation of the
> newsgroup.

its is my opinion that mr. sloan's decision to end his era of fence sitting is
directly attributable to his recent acquisition of none other than the biggest
dog in the spagthorpe kennel: the Husky-Doberman.

--
-- bob pasker
-- bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us
--
===============================================================================

>From davewi 12 Aug 92 20:21:40 GMT
From: davewi@orca.wv.tek.com (David Wise)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: rec.motorcycles.spagthorpe
Date: 12 Aug 92 20:21:40 GMT
Reply-To: davewi@soccer.wv.tek.com

 bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us (Bob Pasker) writes:

>its is my opinion that mr. sloan's decision to end his era of fence sitting is
>directly attributable to his recent acquisition of none other than the biggest
>dog in the spagthorpe kennel: the Husky-Doberman.
>

I thought that this honor went to the Wolfhound, which after all is
approximately the size and shape of a Ford Aerostar :-)

--
David Wise     davewi@orca.wv.tek.com
DoD#427        1980 CX500C (Packy) Guzzi T3: coming soon to a DW near you

===============================================================================
>From tcox 14 Aug 92 15:40:10 GMT
From: tcox@netcom.netcom.com (Tom Cox)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Spagthorpe Pug, the original minimalist motorcycle
Date: 14 Aug 92 15:40:10 GMT

Pug - The original Spagthorpe

With all the recent talk about the various Spagthorpe models, I
am surprised that no one has mentioned the original Spagthorpe,
the Pug.  It is a relatively little-known motorcycle, so perhaps
it should not be surprising that no one else has heard of it.
It is, to be sure, one of the most fascinating episodes in the
history of motorcycling, both because of the remarkable design
of the machine itself, and of the incredible sequence of events
that took place that one fateful Sunday afternoon.



To truly understand the Pug, it is first necessary to understand
the men that built her.  One must understand that in those days,
minimalism wasn't simply the right thing to do -- it wasn't even
a word.  Nonetheless, it was a philosophy that the designers
understood all too well, particularly the chief designer, Hairy
Rasterhead.  Minimalism was, for Hairy, an obsession.  So much
so, in fact, that he could see no point in having different
names for his two main assistants, and so hired two very capable
engineers, both named Chuck.  Although on some occasions, such
as when going into town on Saturday nights, he was heard to
introduce himself and his assistants thus: "Hi, I'm Hairy.  This
is my helper, Chuck, and this is my other helper, Chuck.", he
generally just referred to the pair collectively as "Chuck".
But I digress.


Although there are no known remaining photographs of the Pug, if
indeed any were ever any taken, much about its design has since
been pieced together from several first hand descriptions that
were written at the time.  The engine was apparently taken from
one of the early airplane engines, both having been built
sometime in the 1890's (the exact year is not known).  The most
unique aspect of these engines was that, rather than the
cylinders being fixed to the frame, and the crank free to
rotate, the crank was attached to the frame, with the cylinders
free to rotate about the crank.  The beauty of this system, as
it was applied to the Pug, is the way in which it facilitated
the most singularly simple drive mechanism that has ever been
conceived, before or since.  The crank was attached to the frame
at the location where today the rear axle is found, at the end
of the rear fork, except there was no swing arm as such, it
being a rigid mount.  (The frame itself was, however,
handcrafted of seasoned hickory, which offered some measure of
absorption of bumps.)

The two halves of the fork were set fairly wide apart, as was
necessary since the cylinders rotated in the space between them,
just as the rear wheel does in a modern motorcycle.  The crank
had a single "throw", to which two pistons were connected via a
pair of very unique and ingenious connecting rods.  It has been
reported that the rods were, curiously, manufactured from
military-spec eating utensils, with one forked and straddling
the other, permitting the two pistons to orbit in the same
plane, centered in the space between the rear forks.  This
arrangement has variously been referred to as the "one forked
and straddling the other, permitting the pistons to orbit in the
same plane" arrangement, or the "missionary" arrangement, or,
more simply, the "humping-couple" arrangement.  But I digress.

The two cylinders were opposed (180 degree offset) to one
another, and connected to each other via a rigid cast-iron
block, which rotated on two bearings on the crank, located at
either side of the crank throw, and each just inside the fork.
As the pressure in the combustion chamber increased, the pressure
against the head caused the cylinders to rotate as they pushed
away from the pistons, which rotated along with the cylinders,
but pulled away from the heads in doing so since the center of
their circle of rotation, the crank throw, was offset from the
center of rotation of the cylinders, the crank itself.  On one
side of the cylinders a single magneto winding was attached, the
pulse being generated by a permanent magnet attached to the
crank.  On the other side of the cylinders a small cam shaft was
connected to the crank via some gearing arrangement that caused
the cam to turn at precisely half the rate of the cylinders.  It
is not known exactly how this was done, but it is believed that
this was the only toothed gear arrangement to be found anywhere
on the machine.  A pair of exposed rods for each cylinder were
driven by this cam; these rods actuated the valves via a set of
rocker arms, also exposed.  It is not known how the fuel tanks
were connected.  There may have been a single tank attached to
the cylinders, but since this problem was also solved in the
airplane application, it can be assumed that it was solved here
in a similar fashion.
The wheel consisted of a forged iron ring bolted to the ends of
the cylinders, with two additional supports running from the
ring to the block, each centered between the two cylinders where
they connected to the inner surface of the ring.  A solid layer
of hard rubber was then riveted to the metal ring.  Here, then,
was the beauty and the elegance of the Pug design: neither chain
drive nor shaft drive, but *direct* drive.  Simplicity defined,
pure and, well, simple.  There was no shaft effect, and no chain
to rattle around, stretch, and generally make a nuisance of
itself.  Neither before nor since has there been another design
so elegant and so, well, simple.

The diameter of the wheel was about half a meter; the
circumference about 1.6 meter.  At about 400 rpm, the machine
reached its top speed of about 640 meters/minute, or 24 mph.
Due to the large moment of inertia of the rotating part of the
engine, it idled at 200 rpm.  To start the bike, one simply ran
along side until the speed reached about 12 mph, at which it
point it would start and you simply jumped on.  It was, to be
sure, the very of essence of simplicity.

Sadly, though, this was a machine well ahead of its time, and
did suffer from several minor technical difficulties.  First of
all, there was the difficulty climbing hills.  The engine itself
was actually capable of more power than could be used (on level
ground).  The work required increased more rapidly with velocity
and rpm than did the power generated, so that above 400 rpm, the
incremental power required was greater than the incremental
power generated.  It was consequently unable to climb hills with
slope greater than about 5 degrees, requiring the rider to
frequently dismount, run along with the bike for so long as it
would continue under its own power, and eventually push the bike
when it died as the slope became too steep.  More serious than
this drawback, though, was the torque reaction problem.  The
moment of inertia of the bike, about the crank, was very small,
due to the fact that most of the mass of the bike was contained
in the rear wheel.  Even the feeble amount of torque generated
was enough to cause the front end of the bike to come off the
ground during modest acceleration.  It was generally necessary
to build the speed up very slowly, taking it from 12 mph to 24
mph over a period of several minutes.  Even without the weight
transfer of acceleration, the reaction to the engine torque
alone was sufficient to cause the weight on the front wheel to
be too small to generate sufficient steering force and stability.

The person who discovered the solution to this problem was,
remarkably enough, the test rider, Scratchin' Itches-Fetching
Ping Pong Balls (who was referred to by Hairy as simply
"Scratch").  Scratch took one look at the situation and
proclaimed, "If you turn that there wheel around the other way,
the torque reaction will reverse, transferring the weight to the
front wheel.  Turn that there wheel around the other way."  The
only problem with this was, of course, that the machine would
now run backwards, with the steered wheel following the power
wheel.  This required the rider to turn around and face the
other direction, and steer the bike by reaching around his back.
This was a lot like steering a small boat with an outboard
motor; you had to move the steering arm in the direction
opposite to the direction that you wanted it to go, thus the
term "counter-steering" was born, although it is still generally
misunderstood even to this day.

The steering problem was partly solved by extending the
handlebars further, so that they came up along either side of
the rider.  This limited the extent of the steering rotation,
though, but Scratch, being the resourceful dude that he was,
soon learned to increase the extent of the steering rotation by
leaning off to one side of the bike, a technique that he
referred to as "hanging off", and that is still practiced to
this very day by many of his modern disciples.  The
reversed-direction solution worked fairly well, with only a
minimal amount of traction loss at the power wheel, which was
referred to as "torque steer".  The only remaining significant
problem was that the trail of the steering wheel was now in the
wrong direction.  This was solved by merely using a
near-vertical rake angle and a large amount of negative-positive
(positive-negative?) offset in the front (make that rear)
triple clamps.

And thus was the Spagthorpe Pug born.  A truly remarkable
motorcycle, to be sure.  Test runs went pretty well for the
first few weeks, consisting primarily of low-speed runs back
and forth to determine the handling characteristics.  Scratch,
however, grew increasingly impatient to attempt to set a new
land speed record.  Hairy and Chuck did some calculations and
were convinced that the engine would actually generate greater
power if only there were some way to get the rpm up higher.

Exactly what happened next is not clear.  The few surviving
accounts of what happened that fateful Sunday afternoon disagree
to various degrees, but it seems that what happened went
something as follows.  Once again, it was Scratch who had the
breakthrough idea.  He realized that if the bike was ridden down
hill, the force of gravity would add to the acceleration
generated by the bike, causing it to go faster, which would
increase the rpm, and permit the engine to come into its power
band.  So they pushed it to the top of a dirt road that wound up
the side of a mountain.  And then they started to push it down,
and Scratch jumped on, and Hairy and Chuck stood and watched in
amazement at what happened next.  The bike took off like nothing
they had ever seen before, accelerating even harder with every
incremental increase in speed.  Faster and faster, reaching 30,
40, 50 mph and beyond, still accelerating.  60, 70, 80 even 90
mph, now shaking violently.  The acceleration began slowing,
though, and gradually it hit 95 mph, and then slowly 100, 101,
and 102 mph.  Chuck realized that Scratch was rapidly
approaching Dead Man's Curve, and they yelled at the top of
their lungs, while Hairy simply stood and watched in amazement,
completely dumbfounded.  Scratch reached 103 mph, and then,
barely, 104.
Exactly why Scratch didn't make the curve isn't clear.  Some
speculate that the excessive inertia in the wheel made it
impossible for the lean angle to be increased sufficiently fast.
Regardless, Scratch did miss the curve, and at the same instant
he went flying over the edge of the cliff, the Pug hit, yes, 105
mph, *ludicrous speed*.  Nobody had ever reached ludicrous speed
before, much less stopped from ludicrous speed.  The wheel and
crankshaft broke away from the bike frame, which went with
Scratch over the cliff.


The wheel and crank landed, amazingly enough, back in the road
further down the side of the mountain.  Without the inertia and
weight of the frame and rider to resist rotation of the crank,
something totally unexpected happened.  The rotation of the
wheel slowed down, and the crank began rotating furiously.
Hairy, Chuck, and Chuck had run as fast as they could down the
road, and when they caught up with the wheel, they found it
wedged between two large rocks, stationary, with the crankshaft
rotating furiously inside.  Hairy took one look at it and
proclaimed, "Eureka!  I have discovered the answer!  The
cylinders can be attached to the frame, allowing the crank to
rotate, and the rotational motion of the crank then transmitted
to the wheel by ... something!"

As for Scratch, the last words that he was heard to utter as he
went flying over the cliff were largely incomprehensible; the
only word that Hairy and Chuck could recognize was "champion",
but they never figured out exactly what it meant.  He was never
seen again, and no body was ever found.  Curiously, his jacket
was found, even more curiously, with not a single scratch on it.
Many speculated that since no one had ever stopped from
ludicrous speed before, that it might be physically impossible
to stop.  In retrospect, this logic seems questionable, since in
fact no one had ever even reached ludicrous speed before.

Hairy spent the last years of his life trying to perfect his new
invention, "shaft drive", as he called it.  He was largely
confounded by the same basic problems of the direct drive
system.  His oldest son Chian, however, after watching his
father lift his prototype frames countless times with a rope and
pulley, hit upon the idea of a flexible drive mechanism, where
the rope would be made from metal plates linked together with
pivoting pins running across to the opposite plate.  Although
the proper spelling somehow got lost over the years, there can
be no doubt as to the origin of our modern "chain" drive.

As every story must have a moral, so must this one, although you
would never have guessed it.  Since there is no way that you
could possibly have deduced it, I am obligated to spell it out:
in the end, what really matters is not *what* you ride; it's the
ride itself.
Cheers,

Tom

===============================================================================
>From Tanner 17 Aug 92 02:46:22 GMT
From: Tanner@Cerritos.EDU (Bruce Tanner)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles,rec.motorcycles.harley.spagthorpe
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe odyssey
Date: 17 Aug 92 02:46:22 GMT

, brad@cs.utexas.edu (Brad Blumenthal) writes:
>    This was the two piston, four cylinder, 357 cc, dirt machine
> that was so popular with bootleggers during prohibition and later with
> drug runners.  Dubbed the "Chiuaua," legend has it that the vibration on

I'm confused.  Is this a local nickname, or is it another case of them
reusing a model name?  The only Spagthorpe Chihuahua I know about was built
about 25 years ago under license in Italy (by Motoveta di Travitori? one of
those little manufacturers no longer in business) using most of the
original Chihuahua design, but never sold under the Spagthorpe or Chihuahua
name.

I say 'most' of the design because they could never get the original
3-cycle engine to work right, eventually devolving it to a 2-cycle plus
pedals for production purposes.  The engine design is also why it was never
produced in England as part of the marque.

Anyway, it was never sold in Italy either.  The Italians were the OEM for
what was sold in the USA as the (AMF) Harley Davidson M-50 Leggero.  Over
4,000 of the 50cc (and later 65cc) machines were sold before Harley
Davidson got out of the moped business.  And never a mention of Lord
Spagthorpe was made in any of the H-D literature.

-Bruce
--
Bruce Tanner        (310) 860-2451 x 596    Tanner@Cerritos.EDU
Cerritos College    Norwalk, CA             DoD #0161  NOMAD #007

===============================================================================
>From dab 18 Aug 92 18:29:43 GMT
From: dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu   (The Nashville Flash)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Spagthorpe Werewolf, Mudvalve Problems
Date: 18 Aug 92 18:29:43 GMT

Whilst visiting my friend with the Werewolf the other night, he presented me
with a conundrum.  The time that the bike spent at the bottom of the lake
has apparently caused some corrosion *inside* the mudvalve.  As such, it
cannot be removed without first disassembling it.  Conversely, it cannot be
disassembled without first removing it.  Setting all Harley Davidson tools
aside, how does one go about approaching the cleaning and renewing of a
seized mudvalve?

Beyond that... does anyone have access to the factory literature or know
where copies can be had?  Are there any NOS mudvalve kits or (God forbid)
complete mudvalve assemblies "out there?"

Please note that we DO have the necessary double-helix spanners as well as
the MV1 holder-fixture-jig assembly for when we get the damn thing loose.
Can anyone suggest a source for pootane gas?
--
 "No hour of life is lost that is spent in the garage." - Julian Spagthorpe
    The Nashville Flash    -   dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu   -   DoD # 412

===============================================================================
>From terry 12 Aug 92 21:37:16 GMT
From: terry@rsi.prc.com (Terry Cunningham)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: political correctness (was: Re: rec.moto.harley)
Date: 12 Aug 92 21:37:16 GMT

I really think that all this recent drivel about an obscure british
marque (the Spagthorpe) really belongs in a separate forum, and should
not otherwise burden the owners of non-Spagthorpe marques who want to
use this otherwise exemplary newsgroup!

Cast them down into their own purgatory I say.  Let them bother us no
more with their w-4's and their air condintioning and their reverse
grear(s)!

--

 | Terry Cunningham terry@rsi.prc.com | "Let me take my chances on the wall  |
 | DoD# 541                           |  of death"       Richard Thompson    |


===============================================================================
>From terry 12 Aug 92 21:47:38 GMT
From: terry@rsi.prc.com (Terry Cunningham)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: political correctness (was: Re: rec.moto.harley)
Date: 12 Aug 92 21:47:38 GMT


You know, I really must protest the discussion of that oustanding triumph
of british engineering, Spagthorpe motorcycles, in this common and vulgar
forum, rec.motorcycles.

Such a prestigious marque is certainly worthy if its' own newsgroup, and
I hereby propose a rec.apotheosis.Spagthorpe.  Those individuals worthy
of the honor would be granted permission to peruse the newsgroup and
to submit articles in praise of said marque.

Sir Fortescue Stukehorn, CBE DoD DoReMi

--
 | Terry Cunningham terry@rsi.prc.com | "Let me take my chances on the wall  |
 | DoD# 541                           |  of death"       Richard Thompson    |

===============================================================================
>From jsloan 17 Aug 92 22:20:45 GMT
From: jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: GPNDG: Thoughts
Date: 17 Aug 92 22:20:45 GMT

From: article <1992Aug17.200511.23293@serval.net.wsu.edu>,
 by johnsw@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu (William E. Johns):
> I want to thank all who helped, including Jeff Earls, Carl Paukstis, and
> my spy in Seattle.  Carl deserved special thanks.  His Spagthorpe St.
> Bernard (I had never seen one before, a real treat for me--he even took
     :

I cannot believe that I've heard on the e-grapevine: that no one had
the presence of mind to take a photograph of the St. Bernard for Bruce
Tanner's digitized photo archives at cerritos.edu. Please tell me that
it's not true. I've very close to scrounging up an old photograph of my
Uncle Crighton roostering on his Spagthorpe Terrier out in one of his
fields. (I may have to twist cousin Poindexter's little slimey head off
to get it, though.)

--
John Sloan              "Since I've given up hope,       +1 303 497 1243
NCAR/SCD                   I feel much better."      Fax +1 303 497 1137
Boulder CO 80307-3000 USA                           jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu
Logical Disclaimer: belong(opinions,jsloan). belong(opinions,_):-!,fail.


===============================================================================

>From carlp Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:12:27 GMT
From: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com (Carl Paukstis)
Subject: Re: GPNDG: Thoughts
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 18:12:27 GMT

 jsloan@ncar.ucar.edu (John Sloan) writes:
>From article <1992Aug17.200511.23293@serval.net.wsu.edu>,
              by johnsw@wsuvm1.csc.wsu.edu
(William E. Johns):
>    :
>> I want to thank all who helped, including Jeff Earls, Carl Paukstis, and
>> my spy in Seattle.  Carl deserved special thanks.  His Spagthorpe St.
>> Bernard (I had never seen one before, a real treat for me--he even took
>
>I cannot believe that I've heard on the e-grapevine: that no one had
>the presence of mind to take a photograph of the St. Bernard for Bruce
>Tanner's digitized photo archives at cerritos.edu. Please tell me that

Well, I just got my photos back.  Unfortunately, when I was taking a
picture of the St. Bernard (emphasis on the FIRST syllable, y'know),
somebody seems to have driven a Plymouth Voyager in between the camera
and the Spagthorpe...

--
Carl Paukstis, RRR&RSG           | "Good men must not obey the laws too well"
 ISC-Bunker Ramo / Spokane, WA   |    -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Phone: +1 509 927-5439          |
 Mail: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com    |  My employer accepts no responsibility...

===============================================================================
>From jeq 19 Aug 92 21:27:04 GMT
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Popping them
Date: 19 Aug 92 21:27:04 GMT

 datasbld@bnr.ca (Datasbuild) writes:
>Yeah, but countersteering is almost impossible with the front wheel in the air,
>especially when you're trying to force yourself around another psychotically
>slow right-hander being pursued by a tailgating ex-Harley rider in a Porsche!
>I threw my steel-toe capped full length boot full of ball-bearings, sparking
>plugs and stones at him but, because he was drunk and using his car-phone he
>totally ignored me.  Thank goodness I was riding a Spagthorpe WarDog, I just
>fired the multi-grenade launcher up and blew the bugger away!!   :)

You can countersteer as long as the front wheel is still turning.  (provided,
of course, that you are willing to acknowledge that gyroscopic precession
has some contribution to countersteering.)  Of course, if you're
riding with the front wheel continously in the air, you need to keep it
spinning; hence the need for two wheel drive.  (That's one of the reasons
that the Spagthorpe Desert Fox was such a hit after the war.  The two wheel
drive was originally designed to handle the rigors of a desert battlefield.
The Desert Fox was essentially a modified WarDog, and can be easily
distinguished by the bodywork around the steering head that houses and protects
the complex train of gears, sprockets, and idlers that connect the
Desert Fox's front wheel to its forward gearbox.  Knowing the inherent
efficiency loss in a shaft drive system, the Spagthorpe designers boldly
asserted that the Desert Fox would be an all chain drive machine.
The other distinguishing feature is the 18 gallon fuel tank; they reasoned
that a military vehicle with a desert mission would need an extensive range,
and the Desert Fox was said to be capable of 600 miles between refuelings.
Postwar, when ex-Royal Marines demonstrated the manueverability of the
Desert Fox with one wheel in the air, everybody wanted one.  It's kind
of hard to resist a bike that can turn a doughnut and shower spectators
with gravel while reared back like a stallion.  [One unconfirmed story
claims that Ferarri's famous rampant stallion logo came about when one
of the firms partners saw Enzo Ferrari demonstrating a standing 360 on
his Desert Fox.  It went on to say that they had trouble convincing him
to spend time in cars after that...]  It should also be noted that
a factory team of 4 Spagthorpe Desert Foxes were the only entrants to
complete the first (and last) annual Boulton-Dakar rally.  Amidst complaints
from the other factory teams (there were no private entries; the equipment
requirements were just too costly), the origination point was moved to
Paris the following year.  While several entries did make some distance
in the attempted channel crossing (most notably a Ducati which was estimated,
based on channel currents and the recovery site, to have travelled 300 meters
over water before floundering), the Desert Foxes were the only to complete
the crossing.  (In fact, the team stopped to assist in rescue operations
for the other rally entrants before continuing on.  The remainder of
the course is uncertain; some checkpoints were missed, and the team spent
some 45 days crossing the Italian Alps; as one of the team members was
stationed in Italy as a Marine during the war, it is theorized that the
time was spent reestablishing old relationships with the natives.)
But international racing is, like all international contests, a political
game; the Spagthorpes were far too technically advanced for the others to
compete, so by "unanimous agreement", the route of the race was
permanently changed.  Since the Desert Fox's range and amphibious ability
were among it's main advantages, the removal of the channel crossing
and enforcement of checkpoint stops at regular (short) intervals lessened
the Fox's competetive edge, and when the original team all died of
syphillus in the span of a few months, thus ending the "Dream Team",
Lord Spagthorpe lost enthusiasm in the rally, and declared a moratorium
on competetive use of the Fox.  He attempted to repurchase all the
civilian Foxes, and destroyed as many as he could get.  Unconfirmed
rumours claim the tooling and design was sold to a small mideastern
government.  The few remaining examples are highly prized by collectors,
and unfortunately are rarely available for inspection.)

--
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
George Bush claims to have neglected domestic issues in favor of foreign policy.
    Looking at Iraqi civilians, I'm glad we didn't have his full attention.

===============================================================================
>From jeq 19 Aug 92 17:57:15 GMT
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe Werewolf, Mudvalve Problems
Date: 19 Aug 92 17:57:15 GMT

 dab@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (The Nashville Flash) writes:
>Whilst visiting my friend with the Werewolf the other night, he presented me
>with a conundrum.  The time that the bike spent at the bottom of the lake

Was that a latex, or natural skin conundrum?

>has apparently caused some corrosion *inside* the mudvalve.  As such, it
>cannot be removed without first disassembling it.  Conversely, it cannot be
>disassembled without first removing it.  Setting all Harley Davidson tools
>aside, how does one go about approaching the cleaning and renewing of a
>seized mudvalve?

Depending upon the position of the valve parts, it may be relatively
simple.  First, call in a local large animal veterinarian - he or she
will have portable X-ray equipment.  You should be able to determine
the position of the valve from the picture.  If it's partially open,
you may be in luck.  Drill a 3/45" Whitworth hole on the side of the
valve housing, slightly above the valve flapper.  Fish a hose in
the side, and drip a little oxalic acid on the bushing flange.  Wait
a few minutes, then rinse with a high-pressure water stream.  The
valve should now be free enough to remove it as per normal procedures.
Once you have disassembled the valve, you can patch the hole with
a MIG welder.  (If you don't have one, you can order one from
the Mikoyan factory.)

Caution:  This procedure is safe on most Werewolves.  Unfortunately,
the first 5 production models had investment cast bronze bushing flange
attachment fittings.  (When the Scottish machinist in charge of making
the flange attachment fittings discovered that "investment casting" did
_not_ mean more pay, a general strike ensued, nearly ending Lord
Spagthorpe's dream.  The engineering staff was ordered to find a solution.
Realizing that the flange attachment fittings in the prototype were, in
fact, stepper switch insulators from an automated telephone switch,
an agreement was reached with the manufacturers, and subsequent production
models had flange attachment fittings made of Bakelite.  The strike was
quelled when the machinist was promoted to senior accounting officer.
Being a Scot, he insisted that the first five bronze fittings be installed
on production bikes, rather than wastefully discard them.)  At any rate,
if you happen to have one of the first 5, the acid treatment will permanently
fuse the mudvalve, and you'll be left with a non-running museum piece.
To determine if this is in fact the case, open the valve and inspect
the fittings.  Since you have the unenviable position of having a frozen
valve, take the bike to your local gynecologist's, after drilling two more
holes in the valve housing, and have the doctor perform a laproscopic
examination of the valve.  If you have the Bakelite fittings, proceed
as above.  If you have the cast fittings, measure the housing as carefully
as possible, and produce a replica.  The X-ray photos should help in this.
Then get a large slide hammer, and a cutting torch, and have at it.
Whatever you do, _don't_ damage the cast fittings!  If you do, the machine
will lose much of its collector value.  In fact, if you must, cut away
everything but the fittings, have them mounted on tie-tack posts, and take
them to the Spagthorpe Enthusiast's tent at the Isle of Man, and sell them.
They're worth much more alone than with the complete Werewolf.  Sad but true.

>Beyond that... does anyone have access to the factory literature or know
>where copies can be had?  Are there any NOS mudvalve kits or (God forbid)
>complete mudvalve assemblies "out there?"

I haven't heard of any Nitrous-Oxide-Semiconductor parts for any Spagthorpes.

>Please note that we DO have the necessary double-helix spanners as well as
>the MV1 holder-fixture-jig assembly for when we get the damn thing loose.
>Can anyone suggest a source for pootane gas?

Yes.  Get a disposable butane lighter, and stick it up...
--

Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
     So just where did George Bush get the idea that he gets to
               decide policy for the U.N.?

===============================================================================
>From shoun 20 Aug 92 06:43:29 GMT
From: shoun@netcom.com (Lissa Shoun)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Warning! "Fuck" and "Shit" appear in this article
Date: 20 Aug 92 06:43:29 GMT

I almost forgot to ask my question. I'm trying to decide what horn to get.
Everyone seems to have Fiamms but I was wondering about Spagthorpe
Electronics. The two most suitable horns for a bike are the Spagthorpe
Conure and the Cockatoo. Does anyone know which is louder? And is there
any mail order supply for these horns? Road Rider is out of stock and
they don't know when they will be getting any.

"Nothing is as overrated as a bad ride, or as underrated as a good post."


--
Lissa
shoun@netcom.com     (408) 926-0812

===============================================================================
>From cdw2t 20 Aug 92 16:29:52 GMT
From: cdw2t@dayhoff.med.Virginia.EDU (Clifford David Weston)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Warning! "Fuck" and "Shit" appear in this article
Date: 20 Aug 92 16:29:52 GMT

 shoun@netcom.com (Lissa Shoun) writes:
>I'm trying to decide what horn to get.
>Everyone seems to have Fiamms but I was wondering about Spagthorpe
>Electronics. The two most suitable horns for a bike are the Spagthorpe
>Conure and the Cockatoo.

i wanted the spagthorpe kennel-cough, but repeated inquiries to the venerable
spagthorpt 900 number left me unsatisfied.  i compromised and got the fiamms.

>they don't know when they will be getting any.
i think that also applies to many of us, especially the married ones.

cliff weston
dod# 0598

i love the fiamms.
the fiamms are my friends.


===============================================================================
>From datasbld 20 Aug 92 15:51:30 GMT
From: datasbld@bnr.ca (Datasbuild)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Warning! "Fuck" and "Shit" appear in this article
Date: 20 Aug 92 15:51:30 GMT

Lissa Shoun (shoun@netcom.com) wrote:
: I almost forgot to ask my question. I'm trying to decide what horn to get.
: Everyone seems to have Fiamms but I was wondering about Spagthorpe
: Electronics. The two most suitable horns for a bike are the Spagthorpe
: Conure and the Cockatoo. Does anyone know which is louder? And is there
: any mail order supply for these horns? Road Rider is out of stock and
: they don't know when they will be getting any.
:
: "Nothing is as overrated as a bad ride, or as underrated as a good post."
:
:
: --
: Lissa
: shoun@netcom.com     (408) 926-0812

Lisa, Liza, Lease her or whatever....

Spagthorpe Empire Electronics Company Ltd., Cambridge, England manufacture a
range of horns, but only a few of them are suitable for fitment onto today's
lightweight low capacity low voltage motorcycles.  The Cockatoo, with the
pink noise filter attachment and optional NOS cylinder is indeed the loudest
of the smaller motorcycle-friendly horns but the best one, by far, is the
Spagthorpe Harbinger.  It does have a few drawbacks though, mainly the 8kV at
66A required to get the thing into it's excited state and the 1/11 perch
diameter horn mouth.  Only one attempt was ever made to mount one of these
awesome behemoths onto a motorcycle, a much modified Ariel Square 4 S8.  The
engine was supercharged to provide enough power for the Lucas RT/3J8 generator
(taken from a WWII Pathfinder Lancaster) but still limited the top speed to
55MPH (not a problem for you Colonials, I hear).  The machine was taken to
it's top speed by Tommy Cooper, (part-time magician/comedian) the respected
pioneering ex-jet plane test-pilot who then activated the main circuit breaker
to 'sound the horn'.  Unfortunately, the power of the horn was such that the
Ariel was brought to a complete halt - unlike it's rider, poor Tommy, who was
flung violently over the bars and onto the concrete.  For long afterwards, he
bore the scars on his head, finding that only by wearing an Egyptian Fez could
he hope to hide them.  Oh, and all his magic tricks went wrong too.

The Spagthorpe Harbinger was rescued from the machine and now is used by Dundee
City Ciuncil to announce the arrival of haars.


Nick (the Historically Correct Biker    DoD 1069   MAG 73516

No wife, no girl friend but TWO bikes!!!!   I keep smiling!  :)
===============================================================================
>From pms 20 Aug 92 20:15:16 GMT
From: pms@druhi.ATT.COM (Paul M. Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Warning! "Fuck" and "Shit" appear in this article
Date: 20 Aug 92 20:15:16 GMT

 shoun@netcom.com (Lissa Shoun) writes:
>I almost forgot to ask my question. I'm trying to decide what horn to get.
>Everyone seems to have Fiamms but I was wondering about Spagthorpe
>Electronics. The two most suitable horns for a bike are the Spagthorpe
>Conure and the Cockatoo. Does anyone know which is louder? And is there
>any mail order supply for these horns? Road Rider is out of stock and
>they don't know when they will be getting any.

I would think that the Spagthorpes' unique 19 VAC electrics, and weird
3-wire horn circuit would make this more hassle than it's worth to adapt
to another bike.  The yelping of the horns on my old Spagthorpe Whippet
was most impressive though.
--

P.M. Smith


===============================================================================
>From jld 21 Aug 92 14:35:20 GMT
From: jld@hpfcla.fc.hp.com (Jeff Deeney)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe Pug, the original minimalist motorcycle
Date: 21 Aug 92 14:35:20 GMT

In rec.motorcycles, tomb@drutx.ATT.COM (BarberTB) writes:

> With all the recent talk about the various Spagthorpe models, I
> am surprised that no one has mentioned the original Spagthorpe,
> the Pug.  It is a relatively little-known motorcycle, so perhaps

<much excellent history deleted>

Thanks Tom.  I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the Spagthorpe
Hyperbole.  In it's day, it was the fastest production motorycle available.
Some even went so far as to claim it was faster than a speeding bullet.

-Jeff Deeney-  KotD #0000  DoD#0498    NCTR    '88 XR600-Shamu
jld@hpfcla.fc.hp.com       AMA#540813  COHVCO  '81 CB750F-Llamaha
I'm OK, you're inflatable.


===============================================================================
>From jeq 26 Aug 92 15:09:24 GMT
From: jeq@i88.isc.com (Jonathan E. Quist)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Helmets and Motorcycle Fatalities
Date: 26 Aug 92 15:09:24 GMT

 keith@balrog.dseg.ti.com (Keith A. Schauer) writes:
> egreen@East.Sun.COM writes:
>>
>>I *only* ride the truck once a year, and *only* to carry beer to the
>>Ed Green, DoD #111
>>
>Ed,  if you can afford to only drive your pickup once a year, you can afford
>to sell it and buy yourself a nice little scooter or something.  I hear the
>Honda Elite is a nice machine.  I read it on the net.
>
>Keith Schauer, DoD #0901

You would presume to suggest to a Denizen, with a number nearly an order
of magnitude below yours, to buy a non-DoD approved scooter?

I guess you really are a newbie.  Anyone who's been around a while knows
the only scooter a Denizen would be caught dead on is a true classic;
a Vespa Turbo-250 comes to mind, but the scoot of choice is of course
none other than the Spagthorpe Yorkie.  (To my mind, the only scooter
offering two wheel torsion spring monolever suspension _and_ a monocoque
chassis.)
--
Jonathan E. Quist                              INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation
jeq@i88.isc.com  '71 CL450-K4 "Gleep", DoD #094        Naperville, IL
        There are many things a person should experience in a lifetime.
       Among them are an infant's first cry, and an infant's first laugh.


===============================================================================
>From edh 26 Aug 92 22:42:08 GMT
From: edh@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu ()
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe Werewolf, Mudvalve Problems
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:42:08 GMT

David A. Braun (The Nashville Flash) inquires:

>Beyond that... does anyone have access to the factory literature or know
>where copies can be had?  Are there any NOS mudvalve kits or (God forbid)
>complete mudvalve assemblies "out there?"

Just by coincidence, I was in the local Ducati shop Monday getting
a spare clutch cable for the 900SS.  We were pawing through piles
of parts when we came upon a couple of boxes with that distinctive
"JS" logo on them, right next to the orange and white Lucas stuff
(these guys support(ed) all the Italian and British marques).  Well, to
make a long story short, yes they have a mudvalve (!), but no they
won't sell it for any price.  Neither Ed or Joe have ever had one
apart, so they couldn't help with the repair of yours.  You can
contact them at (702) 323-8846.  I have found that lots of begging
and waving green under their noses sometimes changes their minds.

>Can anyone suggest a source for pootane gas?

As you well know, the UN put the clamps on using pootane in motor
vehicles.  I can still get nanogram quantities from Matheson to use
as an internal standard in one of our Alpha counters.  The cost would
be astronomical for enough to run the Spagthorpe.

The good news is that it is not too difficult to make.  I went to
the books and came up with the following:

Pootane or pooch, PoOCHCH2CH3, is technically more a metal substituted
ketone rather than an alkane. Common useage is -ane because of it's use
in gaseous form as a fuel, as are methane, propane, and butane.
***Note***  the phrase "Screwing the pooch" is rumored to have
started with Spagthorpe owners who inadvertently overpressurized
their tanks.  The resulting reaction was quite spectacular.

The reaction to form pootane is to reduce Polonium oxide with
Sodium borohydride in the presence of propane.  Polonium can be
recovered in sufficient quantities from Radium sources that are at
least 30 years old.  Good sources would be old watches or the
dashboards of '47-'53 Studebakers.

Here are the basic reactions:

          250C
Po + O2 --------> PoO2


  H H H              NaBH4        H H H
H-C-C-C-H  + PoO2  ---------->  H-C-C-C=Po=O + H2O
  H H H                           H H

It's really too bad that Spagthorpe didn't get the Po recovery
system in the exaust up to propsed efficiency before the World
Courts pulled the plug on pootane.  All that uproar over a few
stray Helium nuclei.  Sheesh... A little Nukie never hurt anybody.

I hope this helps you get a rare and wonderful motorcycle back on
the road.  I grew up in a small Nevada town, so never had the
opportunity to see a Spagthorpe.  I had heard stories, and there
were a lot of wannabe Spagthorpe owners around, but the most
exotic thing around those parts was a CZ.  Seeing a Werewolf on the
road would be a real treat.

 Ed Hackett   edh@wheeler.wrc.unr.edu     The Desert Research Institute
 DoD #0200  WMTC  BMWRA  DIOC             Reno, Nevada   (702) 673-7380
 KotLS  KtoLE  KotD #0003            I'm not really a chemist, I'm just one of
 DUCATI 900SS  BMW K100RS            them motorsicle sonsabitches.   __=o&o>__


===============================================================================
>From matthews 28 Aug 92 16:37:27 GMT
From: matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu (Alex Matthews)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Winter Storage in Boston Area
Date: 28 Aug 92 16:37:27 GMT

 bob@halfdome.sf.ca.us (bob pasker) writes:
>
>winter...winter...winter... sorta rings a bell, but i still can't
>place it.  could you please define these technical terms when you
>use them in a post?

Reminds me of a story, perhaps apocryphal, involving the first water-cooled
Spagthorpes to be exported.  Many engine seizures were reported before
an astute owner noticed that the cooling system relied on an external
supply of (rain) water.  The factory issued an accessory water tank for use
in the abnormal weather found over the rest of the globe, a feature
quickly dubbed the "St. Bernard Option" by the motorcycling press.
--
-Alex Matthews (matthews@ajsh.colorado.edu)
DoD #0010
"It's too pure, too unrefined."  - Lance Holst, August '91
===============================================================================
>From terry 28 Aug 92 18:24:57 GMT
From: terry@rsi.prc.com (Terry Cunningham)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Re: Spagthorpe Bulldog
Date: 28 Aug 92 18:24:57 GMT

My wife had managed to talk me into driving her down into the Shenandoah
Valley so that she could do some 'antiqueing',  and in anticipation of the
goodies she expected to purchase and carry home we took the truck.  We were
poking around this one guys' yard, he had some tables of junk and some beat
up old furniture next to them,  when something caught my eye.

What at first seemed to be an old metal milk can appeared to have emblazoned
on the side a heraldic shield and crest.  My excitement mounted as I wiped
off the dust and grime and realized that the shield neatly framed what I
soon realized was a leather codpiece!  My God!, I muttered to myself, this
is the petrol tank for a Spagthorpe!     The guy, noticing my interest, came
over and asked if I wanted to buy it.  He said that it had been lying around
in that old shed out back when he bought the place, and thought that he
might get a few bucks for it.  I looked it over, what a trophy! and was ready
to give him the money when I noticed a curious thing.  It was beat up and
timeworn everywhere but where the mounting brackets had it bolted to the
frame.  Here the metal was shiny and uncorroded.  My mind raced.  This
petrol tank had only recently been removed from its' frame;  the frame must
be nearby,  possibly in the guys' shed.   By sheer hulking will I feigned
disinterest, paid the guy 5 bucks for the tank, gathered the wife and drove
off.

What could I do?  I had to know if that shed contained a Spagthorpe, jewel
of the British Empire.  I told my wife that I was having a great time
shoppping (a special hell will be reserved for me), and that we should spend
the night in a motel around here and make a weekend of it.  We went out for
dinner,  and I made sure that the wine was flowing (for her).  After dinner
we went back to the motel,  and soon enough she was sleeping soundly.  I had
a plan.  I would drive back to the guys' house,  sneak into the shed,  and
find out whether a Spagthorpe lay within. I would also take the petrol tank
with me in case I needed to make up a story if by chance I were caught. Once
inside I would also photograph anything interesting.

The moon was full as I parked up the street and ran through the yard and
back behind the shed.  The anticipation, and sheer excitement of what I
was doing caused me to tremble, but I was resolute; I am a Denizen!

The old oak door proved suprisingly resilient to my attempts to pry it open
so I instead decided to enter through the window.  It was not locked, and
soon I had it open and was crawling through.  I glanced around the dirty
old shed; I could make out some old tables and chairs, old tools, machine
parts, and something else over in the corner.  I went over to look, and
gasped as I realized what I was seeing in that pale white moonlight.

It was a huge machine, with 2 rear wheels and 1 in front.  "A trike?"

I seemed to remember some tales about the early days of the Spagthorpe
dynasty, when Lord Beamish Spagthorpe, the current Lord Julians'
grandfather, was a young ne'er-do-well peer of the realm.  His interest
in motorcycles was the stuff of legend, his racing exploits having already
placed him among the top daredevils of the era.  He and his mechanically
inclined friend, Sir Reginald Hotspur-Smythe, were also in the forefront
of motorcycle design and manufacture, with the early Spagthorpe Boxer to
their credit.
Lord Beamish and 'Reggie' counted among their freinds the wild and
irrepressible Quentin Hogsley-Dervishson.  Quentin was an hasheesh smoker and
absinthe drinker, whos' short yet eventful life need not be recounted here.
He was also a motorcycle enthusiast of the first order, but due to his often
debauched state could not muster the werewithall, let alone the balance, to
ride the motorcycles of that or any other era.  It was with their friend in
mind that Lord Beamish and Reggie decided to build a bike for their besotted
friend.  A bike of unusual stability and simplicity of use,  thus was the
Spagthorpe Bulldog, the first trike, conceived.

I pulled myself together from my reverie, and appraised the machine before
me.  It was a Bulldog allright! Even in that dusty shed, with the years of
neglect and abuse bearing down on it,  the trike still bore the noble
bloodlines, the impeccable craftmanship, and the fiery demeanor of a
thoroughbred.   In that eerie moonlight it stood there proud, strong, and I
wondered what tales could it tell, how did it find itself here?.

I inspected the trike, and noted the counterbalance steering seat (whereby
if the drunken Quentin were to collapse to one side or the other, hydraulic
sensors would not only him back to the upright position, but would also
decelerate the bike while maintaining a straight line), the burled walnut
wardrobe on the left of the seat, and the sink (with hot and cold water
faucets) to the right of the seat.  I looked for the silver champagne bucket
that I had remembered from photographs, but it had not survived the ravages
of time and the depradations of the current owner.  I closely inspected the
chamber in front of the seat, behind the now missing petrol tank, but the
turkish hookah was also missing.   I moved forward to the motor, and what a
behemoth it was.   The 2000cc single cylinder MkII/B  borrowed from the
Mastiff was still in position, the great dual flywheels that it drove almost
obscuring it on both sides.  affixed to each flywheel was the rod that ran
back to a similar yet smaller arrangement in the rear.  The flywheel
arrangement served 2 purposes: the first was to drive the rods that drove
the rear wheel shafts,  the second being to provide a counter motion to the
tremendous reciprocating motion of the single cylinder engine. I smiled as I
remebered the stories of the first Bulldog, the connecting rods had been
mounted to the same spot on each flywheel instead of being set up for an
opposing stroke,  the resulting motion literally tearing the prototype apart.
As I moved toward the front of the trike I was especially fascinated by the
belt driven warning siren that alerted all other travellers that Quentin was
abroad in the land.

I excitedly placed the petrol tank back into position in order to photograph
the beast.  "What a coup for the Denizen archives!" I thought to myself. As
the tank slipped into its' collar on the frame, I felt the satisfying click
as the pressure seal engaged, and realized that the tank was now reunited
with the trike (the petrol tank was designed to disengage easily due to
the enebriated Quentins' proclivity for running out of gas, the idea being
that is was easier to carry the tank than push the trike). I set the camera
onto a nearby table, focussed in on the trike, set the timer, and climbed
into the Bulldog seat.  To my satisfaction the flash engaged and the picture
was taken.

It was then that the thought struck me!   The Spagthorpe Bulldog stored
tremenduos energy into a helical spring arrangement that provided the force
necessary to turn over the engine.  Each time the trike was run, the spring
was slowly wound up ready for the next start.  Could there be enough force
still stored in the spring?   Could I turn the beast over, would she run?
I looked around the shed and found some kerosene in an old lamp, some paint
thinner, and what appeared to be some very hard cider in a jug.  The
Spagthorpe was legendary for being able to run on anything,  this was to be
the ultimate test, and I quickly poured everything into the ancient tank. A
rubber bulb below the tank seemed to be connected to the petrol line so I
gave a good hard squeeze.  Climbing back into the seat I looked around for
the lever that released the spring and engaged the centrifugal clutch. There
was a brass and wood knob to one side of of a brass plate with several dials
embedded into the face.  I pulled on the knob as hard as I could!

The events that transpired next are still somewhat fuzzy in my memory, but to
the best of my recollection, here is what occured.

A tremendous whirring sound came from a round case bolted behind the engine, I
realized that the spring was indeed releasing its energy and the clutch plates
were spinning.  The next noise that came from the beast was a grinding sound
that I took to be all the clutch discs engaging and the engine starting to
turn over, I could only hope that the ancient magneto was still up to snuff.
After several revolutions my heart almost expolded when that old MKII/B
suddenly roared to life.  The entire trike was shuddering around me and I felt
the hydraulic seat sensors adjust to my weight.  It was then that it happened!

I must have engaged the automatic transmission foot pedal, because the trike
lurched forward andmoved rapidly across the shed.  In horror I realized that
had no idea where the brakes were, and could only sit there stunned as the
trike burst through the previuously impervious oak doors and lunged into the
yard.  It was then that I noticed for the first time that there were no
handlebars, merely a lever comming up through the floor in front of the seat.
I grabbed the lever and tried to lean it to the left or right, but nothing
happened.  At this point the trike crossed a ditch at the edge of the yard
and we were in the street.  The lurch as we traversed the ditch caused me to
lean heavily against the lever, at which point the trike turned to the right.
As I pulled back on the lever the wheel the trike straightened itself out
and we were moving down the road.  I could now steer the trike with this
joystick lever with some ease.

The road was moonlit, the breeze was cool in my face, and I was starting to
enjoy the ride as we moved through the Virginia countryside, the Spagthorpe
and I.  She felt eager to run and was moving at a good 40 to 45 mph.  I still
had no idea where the brake lever was, but I found that by disengaging the
the clutch lever I could induce a free roll at which point she would slow
down rapidly, re-engaging the clutch lever when power was necessary. The only
problems I experienced where with those blasted seat sensors, their constant
probing and adjusting of the plane of the seat as I tried to inspect the
trike  were a constant nuisance.  The pathetic headlamp was also a problem
if a car would approach, but except for a few honks, nobody seemed too
concerned as I passed.  I sensed the twin spirits of Lord Beamish on my
left side and Geeky the Daemon on my right as we rode through that moonlit
night.

Again, my reverie was broken by a strange wail starting from the trike, a
mournful dirgelike howl that grew louder with each passing moment. "Good Lord,
the siren!" I said as the banshee wailing grew louder and louder.  I reached
forward to see if I could disconnect the sirens drive belt somehow, but the
effect on both the steering and the seat sensors immediately caused me to
abandon that attempt.   It was while I was otherwise preoccupied with the
siren that we rounded the next curve and found ourselves travelling into the
same town where my wife and I were staying.  I did not want to attract any
more attention than was necessary, therefore I pulled into the nearest
parking lot to turn around and return back to the guys' shed.  Unfortunately
I had selected the local 24 hour donut shop to execute my maneuver, and I
realized with horror that my excursion through the lot was being viewed by
several members of the local constabulary.  My only regret was that I did
not exhibit the presence of mind to photograph the look on their faces as a
fully featured Spagthorpe Bulldog executed a precision figure 8, while wailing
like a demon from hell, in front of their donut gorged faces.

Needless to say, I decided that this evening jaunt was over, and that I should
return the Bulldog posthaste to its' owner. I let the trike build up to its'
maximum speed, around 60 mph I would estimate, and concentrated on steering
the beast down that silvery ribbon of road.  Behind me I could hear the first
undulating wails of the police sirens over the steadier drone of the trikes',
and knew that I needed to find the right house and return the trike before
they caught up to me.

It was while I was thus preoccupied with the exhilaration of the chase that
I failed to negotiate a sharply banked curve and I found myself running off
the road and into a field.  The resulting jerking and bouncing caused me to
lose all control of the machine and we raced across the field and into a
thicket on the far side.  Branches and twigs raked my face, but still we sped
on, emerging from the thicket and onto what appeared to be an old fire trail
going accross the mountain.  We crossed the fire trail, burst through what
seemed to be a chain stretched along several posts, hit an embankment, and
hurtled into the air.  The resulting strain on the seat sensors must have
caused them to go haywire as I was hurtled from the seat in a manner
reminicent of jet fighter ejection seats. I hit the ground with a thud, and
lay there, waiting for the sound of the Spagthorpe to hit the ground.

After several moments, I realized that I wasn't going to hear that sound! If
it was going to land, it should have done so by now.  I cautiously stood up
and checked for breaks and bruises; everything seemed to be in place, and
nothing felt broken.   Peering ahead and over the enbakment, I could see no
sign of the Spagthorpe.  I wondered around, and finally came across the chain
that had acted as a barrier on the one side of the trail. As I followed it
along I came to a wooden sign hanging from a link.  In the moonlight I read:

                 C A U T I O N            C A U T I O N

                 HIDDEN POTHOLES AND CAVES IN THE AREA!

                 It is extremely hazardous to leaves the
                 trail in this area as there are many
                 caves, holes, and subterranean hazards.

Well, that must be the answer.  The Bulldog must have flown directly into
one of these caves, and is now deep underground someplace.  There would be no
way for me to find it, and it could be dangerous to be looking. I figured that
I had had enough adventure for one evening, that I should go find the truck,
make up a story for the old lady, and beat feat out of this burg.

Well, we made it out of there ok.  My wife bought the story,  and the cops
never came looking, so I figure nobody linked me to the event.   The local
papers talked about how the local cops had to drive one of those outlaw
biker gangs out of town,  and a report of a guy who had his shed broken into
and some antique stuff stolen.

I still wonder about the Bulldog,  they say there are underground rivers that
run through those caves and that travel for miles before emerging someplace
else.  Who knows,  maybe it will surface in another town, where another
Denizen can fire it up and do us all proud.  I look forward to that day!

Terry
Oh yeah, about the photograph.  When I had the picture developed, it seems
that the camera must have moved, because all that you can see is what looks
like an old Ford tractor.


--
 | Terry Cunningham terry@rsi.prc.com | "Let me take my chances on the wall  |
 | DoD# 541   'Debaucher of Donuts'   |  of death"       Richard Thompson    |

===============================================================================
>From david 2 Sep 92 15:45:50 GMT
From: david@ctr.columbia.edu  (David J. djinn Ifversen)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Spagthorpe Bloodhound (long)
Date: 2 Sep 92 15:45:50 GMT

In message <4677@prcrs.prc.com>, Terry Cunningham talks about the Spagthorpe
Bulldog that possibly ended up underground.  This reminds me of a similar
incident.  First, some background...

   I went to college at Michigan Tech University, in Houghton Michigan.
Houghton is located in the heart of the Keewenaw penninsula, that little
"nubbin" of land that sticks out into Lake Superior from Michigan's Upper
Penninsula.  Very beautiful and rugged country, sometimes called "The Last
Frontier" by the residents.  This area is also known as the Copper Country.
The copper mining industry was very big there before WW2 -- there are something
like 2500 known mine openings in the Keewenaw, and countless unknown or "lost"
mineshafts, ventshafts, and sinkholes.  (I have been told that a person could
walk from one end of the Keewenaw to the other underground).  Winters in the
Keewenaw have to be experienced to be believed.  Temperatures can get down to
-40 degrees F, and snow accumulations of 400+ inches a year are not unheard of.

   A friend (he's a mining engineer) has the keys to the Quincy Mine Shaft
House.  A bunch of us "borrowed" his keys one night, and went exploring in
the old mine.  We were crawling around in a stope on one of the upper levels
(the mine has over 90 levels, anything below level 21 is flooded), and we
came upon the remains of an old rockslide.  Rockslides are common in the
mines, and if the copper had already been taken out, nobody bothered to
clean them up unless a main shaft or tunnel was blocked.  While climbing
over part of the slide, my foot slipped, dislodging a rock.  Things got
*real* interesting for a while, as rocks slid and bounced off of the pileup.
When the dust settled, we noticed that an old "drift" tunnel had been
partially uncovered.  The tunnel roof didn't look too bad (it didn't look
too good, either :-) ), so we entered the drift to see what was back there.
Our dim lights reflected off of a badly tarnished piece of metal -- the
Spagthorpe crest, located on the fuel tank of one of the most unusual
motorcycles we had ever seen - the legendary Spagthorpe Bloodhound.

   Only 4 Bloodhounds were ever built, to the specifications of the Quincy
Mining Company All Volunteer Fire Department and Amateur Detective Agency.
The Bloodhound was designed to run through the worst that Mother Nature could
dish out, and come back for more.  The engine was of the experimental "bent
pitchfork" design; 3 cylinders, 180 cubic inches, one cylinder angled forward
30 degrees, one cylinder straight up, and one angled back 30 degrees.  The
engine was said to produce tons of low end torque, and could burn gasoline,
kerosene, alcohol, or even, (in a pinch), coal dust.  The engine did have a
tendency to backfire if substandard fuel was used.  There was no fuel pump
for the fuel injection system.  Instead, the fuel tank was pressurized by a
bellows-type pump arrangement, driven from the saddle suspension.  Every time
the motorcycle went over a bump, more air was pumped into the tank.  Since
Houghton roads and trails were famous for ruts and potholes, excess air
pressure in the tank could be used to power the steam locomotive whistle that
the Bloodhound had in place of a horn.  The engine was coupled to a 7 speed
transmission (featuring low, super-low, and ultra-granny-low gears), which
transmitted power to the rear wheel through a 6 inch wide *leather* belt.
The standard rear wheel was equipped with a cleated rubber tire, and the front
wheel could be replaced by a single ski.  The *dual* carbide headlamps had an
experimental reflector and lens assembly that could throw a beam of light
almost one mile.  Waste heat from the headlamps was vented up behind the
windscreen to help keep the operator warm, and to serve as a windscreen
defroster (an important consideration for the Houghton winters).  There was no
electric or