In 1971 I read in my magazine 'Motor' printed on newspaper, about the motor that changed my life: De Paladijn, the creation of Ab van Ginhoven. Although Ab van Ginhoven was a thoroughbred techie, apparently romance was no stranger to him. After all, he called his new acquisition 'Paladijn'. And a paladin, that was a kind of mercenary for noble things. But why did that thing have those insanely long inlet chinks? In the archive of what was once Weekblad Motor I found some information. And then the Paladin was found.
The Paladin now
The Paladijn is now in The Hague. Ghisbert van Ginhoven inherited it from his father. Bolts and nuts and other unprotected steel things and things have an endearing layer of fly rust. The chrome has just started, but not really affected. In its creamy base color, the nose cone top tub has the real sixties of porn glitters. The way in which gas cables are connected to keep the controls of the gas valves as synchronous as possible is endearing 1.0, but well thought out and effective.
Organically grown
It is very clear to see that the motorcycle has grown traditionally and organically. The seat is slender and has a 'at the backTriumph'tank logo. Another subtle detail: free-hand painted 'Paladijn' on the inside of the obliquely sawn-off, enormously long inlet girders. And the rocker switch for the ignition on the left under the saddle? That has the clear indication 'on' and 'off' and seems to come directly from a desk lamp from the sixties. What stands out is the bizarre length of the intake routes. The distance between the head and the 32 mm Amal Concentrics is 42 centimeters.
Plus 6 pk
On the dynamometer, the extreme intake system yielded a gain of 6 hp. The exhaust system also looks like it has been heavily considered. At a time when the computers were not even steaming up, all that remembrance had to be substantiated with a lot of calculations with the slide rule, on graph paper and runs on the dynamometer. The Paladijn remained Ab's 'work in progress'. Tuning is now done with software. And Ab's son Ghisbert van Ginhoven earns a living a generation further with the same urge to research and crave perfectionism. He is also a tuner, but then an 2.0 tuner. His laptop is his tool. And then you involuntarily think about apples that do not fall far from their trees. And the plan to let the Paladin trot again? That is already in the pipeline.
The reality is sometimes disappointing
As a motorcycle puppet I was fascinated by the enormous long, diagonally sawn-off cones of the Paladijn. Much later, when I was lucky enough to meet Ab van Ginhoven, I asked him about the how and why of this magnificent construction. The shape had a very basic reason: The intake path had an optimally calculated length. The length was so great that the case asked for support at the end to prevent 'sagging'. By simply making the chalices 'very long' and sawing them obliquely from the beginning of their effective side, the large piece of diameter, the long, oblique lips provided mounting supports on the rear mounting brackets of the mufflers. How much simpler can it be?
The Paladijn is a piece of motor history. And soon the complete story about that Paladijn will come AutoMotorKlassiek. AMK is the largest classic magazine in the Dutch language area. And a subscription is very cheap!
Nice to hear that the Paladijn is still up to date. I read about it in the 70s in the magazine Motor. Even more fun was meeting Ab personally on a parking field of the TT Assen. I thought Ab had to be an expert in fluid mechanics. Wasn't he a student at TU Delft?
I am working on an article about engine torques where the max. torque occurs at the best fill level of the cylinder. That brought me to fluid dynamics and I remembered the article o/d Paladijn van Ab. Thanks to Google I found it.
I know Ab as my best friend from his military service until his (unfortunately much too early) death in 2014. I know the Paladin all too well. I experienced a lot with Ab and especially in the 70s I often visited him in 's Graveland and afterwards in Ankeveen. I still think about him very often.
Nice story it seems more fun to meet the owner and / or builder :-).
Nice to see paladin again, nice story!