Veterans. We have seen them a lot on the media recently. The men who have ensured that we are not all now driving around in Mercedes and Porsches. All respect for those men.
But in our 'field', veterans are just very old motorcycles
And how old is that? We've thought about that. In England of course. Just as about what should be vintage, antique and classic. A veteran motorcycle is from before 1915. And that was the time when 'transport concepts' did not yet exist and technology was still in its infancy. The current combustion engines are all indebted to that time. Because just about 'everything' was already invented then. The brilliant ideas only got stuck on machining methods and metallurgy (Girlfriend Isabelle-Louise is French and learns Dutch curiously. When the word metallurgy fell in a conversation, she asked, "What is a lurg?").
Unique solutions
This technique in its infancy often resulted in (rightly) forgotten solutions. Nowadays, this requires a large frame of mind and a solid empathy plus genuinely technical genes to understand some things. Certainly with box projects including missing parts'.
To bring such a veteran back to life, you need a serious metalworking workshop, or you need to know like-minded people who have it. Fortunately there are many people in this branch who know each other and who often know everything together. Veteran enthusiasts may be the friendliest people in the world.
Veteran motorcycles are surprisingly still found unrestored
And there is little documentation of many of those machines. And parts are also not easy to find. The advantage is that many manufacturers at the time bought their engine blocks from only a few 'large' suppliers. This also applies to magnetic ignition and other items. But it is mainly about technical insight. And patience.
There have been hundreds of manufacturers in the early days of motorcycling. In England, in France, in Germany. Not together. But often per country
Parts can of course be found on the Internet and at trade shows
But many traders in classic motorcycles also have many separate parts as 'by-catch'. Think of Yesterdays, Dutch Lion and all-timers. Those 'spare parts' are often nicely worn out ... RECOVERY: they have plenty of patina. But they can be restored or serve as an example.
When such a project is finished, the RDW is generally very friendly to it.
You then have a motorcycle on which you are more a driver than a driver. A motorcycle where you are always happy with the time of ignition, lubrication, belt transmission, every slope… A motorcycle that is best suited for secondary and tertiary roads. Wherever speed is concerned, they will structurally miss the boat when it comes to braking power. And an emergency stop of a few hundred meters does not really fit in the current traffic anymore.
But owning and riding such a machine from the primeval times of motorcycling? That actually gives a whole new dimension to the concept of 'motorcycling'.
And like-minded souls can be found at the VMW or in Flanders at Veteran Motors Houtland. But there are more in our language area.
