Interesting Article from MPH
The World's Longest Roadtest: Tony Rose - Part 16 - March 2010
Relayed by Jacqueline Bickerstaff - The World's Longest Roadtest. Originally printed in MPH 51, March 1953.
Black Shadow MKB 465 now reaches 100,000 Miles!!
And now it's over, now it's done; But I remember ev'ry one; Of those moments spent with you; Each one bringing pleasures new. Yes, Tony Rose might well address these words to Rumple for the World's Longest Road Test is over, a complete success and Tony may well be proud of his grimy old friend.
But we wonder if you really realise just what he has done? We have seen the monthly reports
coming in and have perhaps got used to the test to a certain extent, but stop to think for a bit -
one hundred thousand miles since October 1951 - and about three-quarters of it with a sidecar.
How many do you usually do each year? He has motored on and on almost day and night for all
these months, never once losing interest, never losing his cheery outlook and never doubting that
he would win through, right up to the almost unbelievable last 1,000 miles when he and Jim
Regan battled through the worst storm to hit Britain for 100 years, cutting their way through
fallen trees, over ice, through snow, from Liverpool, via Glasgow and Inverness to Banff and then
off south again to Stevenage, the pair of them laughing their way through all difficulties - Tony
knowing all the time that both his wife and small son were seriously ill. Truly are such people
worth knowing.
There is more to it than this though - how about the personal sacrifice angle! It is true that
Tony normally covers a big mileage as part of his work, but nothing like the amount he has done
during the test and especially near the end when he and Jim were working shifts on the outfit,
running it almost continuously and clocking up 2,000 miles every five days. Who has paid for all
this extra petrol? Those tyres, inner tubes and so on? Why, Tony of course. And do you imagine
he has received any salary for the times be has had to leave his work for the sake of the test? No
sirs, and the same of course applies to Jim Regan this last week. We know for a fact that Tony
has almost run his bankbook flat - he has had to sell his two-stroke, his ancient car as well and
now he is left with a Black Shadow which would hardly sell if advertised as 'Only done 100,000
miles and never been decarbonised.'
And what does this have to do with us, you ask? A lot. We all benefit from this test. In the
first place, we have gleaned a very good idea of what to expect from our own mounts as they
grow older. Then many things have been learned about the design - let us hope they will be
acted upon. And lastly, the Club will derive huge benefit from the publicity given to the test by
advertisers and the technical press. Doesn't this performance by an ordinary Member, absolutely
unconnected with the Works, make a few of you squirm uneasily as you read? You who renew
your subscriptions three months late, who never attend Section meetings; never give information
even when we more or less plead for it. Truly our Club is divided into two camps-those who do
and those who watch!
The Last Lap:
Wednesday 28th January: The telephone at 57 High Street keeps ringing - where the heck
is Rumple? Apart from the fact that he and Jim Regan are out on the outfit on shifts churning in
mile after mile, nobody knows: but everybody wants to know for arrangements have to be made
for a few Club types to witness the machine stripping, and we must have people from the Blue
'Un, the Green 'Un, the Pink 'Un and the Tartan 'Un there too..oh where, oh where?
Thursday 29th January: Stroke of luck. Ron M'Lachlan, down south for a Monaco Rally meeting
meets our wandering boys on the East Lancs. Road and writes to say that they are staying with
him at Glasgow overnight on Friday previous to setting sail for Banff. But we still can't contact the
man and so spend a small fortune out of Club funds in telephoning all sorts of people and telling
them to go to Stevenage at 1100hrs on Tuesday - we hope Tony can fit things in to suit.
Friday 30th January: Little word during the day but at 0915hrs we phone up Ron's house, and
the happy pair have just arrived, They have had a tough run through very heavy rain and will be
in Banff at 1500hrs on the morrow. Rumple is still doing fine and the 100,000 is nearly up - a
few hundred miles have been lost due to broken speedo cables and it is reckoned that by the time won't
do any harm anyhow.
Saturday 31st January: Ye Gods! The world has gone mad. Large lumps of air have decided
to travel south at, we learn later, up to 113mph. Large parts of lower Banff and Macduff are
wrecked by the sea - gaping holes in roads, floods, garages vanish, slates come off roofs like
autumn leaves, chimneys crash all around, pedestrians are blown all over the roads and crash
against walls and some of them cannot get home on foot. All electricity ceases, the telephone
wires are down, trees block all roads and shortly the sea undermines the local gasworks so that
most of the machinery topples into the sea - the 'gas enthusiasts' who have long sneered at we
'all-electric' types have been vanquished, for the electricity will be back by Monday but when will
the gas works be refloated!
We decide to have a run up the coast towards Inverness in the Consul, never expecting to see
Rumple, but 'just in case'. Fallen trees are carefully edged round and eight miles out we enter
a hotel and ask for five gallons of petrol from the pump outside. The barman tells us 'Sorry, no
electricity - nothing to get the petrol up.' This is something we haven't thought about and say
'Well, give me a Youngers instead.' The barman agrees that this is a very good idea indeed and we
sit talking about the damage - outside, a large lamp standard is seen to be snapped right over.
Home again then under difficulties, for the wind is blowing wet mud from the fields and both
screen wiper blades have long since been blown off the car. The car is thankfully parked, but
not before a garage with a manually operated pump is found. As an experiment, the solo Black
Shadow is taken out and found to be a treat to drive after the car and we have a nice run, looking
at twenty ton lumps of concrete sea wall thrown ten yards into the middle of a roadway, trying
not to laugh when an unfortunate motorist has to wade through 40 yards of knee-deep water
to get from his stranded car - he has seen the other cars stranded but thinks his one different
maybe..then back home again. Five o'clock comes and we take a last circuit before shutting
all the transport up for the night - this time we can't see the road ahead for snow which isn't
stopping at Banff but merely passing through horizontally. 'Poor old Rumple' we mutter, but what
we actually mean is 'Poor old Rab,' having in mind all these arrangements and thinking that Tony
and Jim are probably in some hotel by now. Home it is then, finally - shoes off at 1800hrs, and
slippers on for he will never appear now - we know that his dynamo is u/s and he is running on a
car battery in the chair. But comes 1830hrs and - what's that - it can't be - it ruddy well is and
we charge from the house to the garage to fight the door open, Rumple, as usual, has made it!
We're writing this on Sunday afternoon, Tony and Jim have been and gone and here is the
tale they had to tell. They left Glasgow early on Saturday morning as arranged and soon found
that Glencoe was a sheet of ice all the way. There was a much shorter route to Banff but the
desire to get those miles in came before everything else. The wind got stronger and stronger, but
they battled on, driving in shifts. The nose of the Jet 80 was filled with sawdust and thus the
'chairman' was able to keep his feet warm - an excellent scheme. Twice the gusts nearly drove
them into lochs and fallen trees were everywhere - often they borrowed hatchets and saws and
cut their own way through, One time, after cutting through three lots of trees they came on a
fourth which was beyond them and had to turn back. Another time they were labouring at a
block when that warning cree-ee-eak started and only a mad dash saved the outfit from being
squashed by the falling timber. Or again, at a place where the road ran along the bottom of a
steep pine-studded slope, a fallen tree was seen to be sliding down the slope towards them like a
sword-fish...then south of Inverness it was discovered that the electric petrol pumps were out of
action but petrol was found and the journey carried on. Some 30 miles from Banff, a huge road
block was encountered - right ho then, back and try another road - it was blocked - another -
blocked - another..five roads in all were tried before they got through. Then the snow - goggles
up - sore eyes - goggles down snowed over. The screen was a help but too high for driving in
the darkness, but on and on - came Portsoy where we had earlier found there to be no petrol and
the spare tank had to be tapped - eight miles to Banff...they did it, but next morning we found
the tank to be dry and barely enough existed to drive to the nearest pump some 200 yards away.
The speedo read 99,538 - 462 miles to go on the clock but in actual fact, the test was over. And
because of the blocked roads and detours, the 280 mile trip was turned into 390 - 40-odd per
cent more!
It was quite a pleasant evening on Saturday at 9 Wood Street - candlelight soothes the mind
and a glass of you-know-what brings a pleasant drowsiness. The evening was spent in nattering
and reminiscing and nothing untoward happened except when one of the cats set its tail alight
on a candle and Tony beat it out with such vigor that the cat didn't know whether to be pleased
or annoyed. And so to bed at midnight.
Sunday 1st February: We got the outfit started (the exhaust lifter mech. had become unstuck
inside the casing) and marvelled at the compression which, helped, it is true, by cold Filtrate, held
our weight quite easily, Then down the street for a drop of 80 octane and off again for a spin.
Previous to this, the tappets had been adjusted, gearbox filled up with oil and nothing else done.
Now, there will be few, if any, amongst you who have driven a Black Shadow which has done
100,000 miles, and we will say just this - we have driven and listened to Black Shadows which
have done only half this mileage and had their motors in a far worse state! The ONLY unusual thing
one noticed was when moving off and a deep metallic 'clunk, clunk' came from somewhere on
each power stroke and apart from that, just as we said at 50,000 miles, it is just another part-used
Black Shadow. In our carefully considered opinion, Tony Rose, the Black Shadow and Filtrate share
the credit in equal proportions. Tony has driven violently but wisely, the Black Shadow has been
a good 'un, and Filtrate is responsible for the fact that the bearings continue to rotate, the bores
show little signs of wear and the gearbox is as smooth as can be. It will be interesting to see what
the wear is when the thing is stripped and measured up. There are little things of course - the
kickstarter bush has a lot of wear although the gearchange one is as original. The steering damper
plate is fractured yet again, both dampers are leaking, the third set of pipes are - well, you know,
but given a few new balls and rollers in places one feels that it could do it all over again.
Tony and Jim had planned to leave Banff at 1100hrs on Sunday but it was noon before we
started the Kink and led them through the town to the Aberdeen Road - through the debris, past
the football pitch, now a four-foot deep loch, over the bridge - and they were away. 'Somewhere
In Scotland' was the destination then Leeds on Monday and Stevenage by 1100hrs on Tuesday.
Then it will be all over. A fantastic performance which reflects the enormous credit on everyone
concerned. We wonder what the Club will do next - there are all those T.T. wins in the bag, Bob
Chaplin's epic 24-hour Banff-London-Banff ride, and now Rumplecrankshaft's 100,000 mile test.
Has anybody any inexpensive ideas for winning the Maudes Trophy?
Monday 2nd February: The first news of the day was a telegram reading 'Test completed,
motorcycling all night, Aberdeen Road blocked, over top Inverness, got lost, heading Leeds. Tony.'
This was sent from Rockliffe which is near Carlisle, and handed in at 0800hrs and here we have
even more sensational news, for with the test completed, they must have covered 460 miles from
Banff to Carlisle - normally a run of about 280 miles. With the Aberdeen Road blocked with
those damned trees, they had cut back over the Grampian Mountains on to the Inverness road
at Fort Augustus and motored on the whole night, depending on the car battery in the sidecar,
getting lost but yet reaching Carlisle after 20 hours on those awful roads, amid the debris of
trees, buildings, hay ricks, hen houses...can't you just imagine the two weary figures motoring
through the cold dawn, watching that speedo and then cheering their heads off out there in
the wilds as the magic five nothings come up, for although we have no word to say that they
DID cheer, we can be certain that they did and can share their feelings. Wonderful! And then
rumbling into Rockcliffe, sending wires, stoking up with food and petrol and then Penrith, Scotch
Corner, Leeds, and Tony Warner running out to greet them, Ah - the New Elizabethans! And on
the morrow - Stevenage - the end of the test - cameras, reporters, congratulations from Club
Members gathered there to witness the machine stripping, P.C.V. beaming with delight, all the
others we know so well crowding round - Old Rab up in Banff here working himself into a lather
on this typewriter. Oh, great stuff, great stuff. Yippee and similar expressions of delight - and
how about Dorothy Rose lying in bed with a temperature - won't the news make her feel so very
much better? You bet it will!
As a postscript to the reports on Saturday's weather, we learned to-day that a local motor
cyclist had been killed when a tree landed on him, poor chap.
Tuesday 3rd February: It seems that we made a slight botch of the arrangements over having
Club witnesses on the job, having said that we would wire confirmation and at the same time
having got the idea that we were to wire only if there was an alteration in plans. Humble
apologies. However, over to Stevenage where the crowd was waiting, and the report from 'our
man' on the spot.
Accompanied by Ken Dangerfield I was the first of the outsiders to arrive at the Works at the
appointed time of 1000hrs. It was bitterly cold and the welcome we received from Paul with
lashings of hot tea and a warm fire was indeed well received. After a trip of barely 120 miles on
that morning we were well and truly frozen but when one thinks of Tony and Jim covering nearly
2,000 miles during the weekend one can then begin to realise the tremendous effort involved
in completing the test. There was a definite air of expectancy about the Works; telephones
were ringing to pass on the latest E.T.A. and Geoff Manning dashed in to say that Tony was due
about 1100hrs. Alan Baker of The Motor Cycle arrived on his elaborately windscreened 5T closely
followed by Cyril Quantrill of Motor Cycling and a photographer. At just 1100hrs, there was a
clatter and a roar and Tony, Jim and Rumple fairly flew into the yard. Offices on all sides burst
into life and disgorged a flock of bods all wanting to be the first to congratulate and shake hands
with them. One minute the yard was empty - the next there was an excited party consisting
of Ken Mainwaring, Paul, Geoff, 'Mac' M'Nally, Cyril Quantrill and his aide Alan Baker, Ken and
yours truly. Tony was obviously thrilled to bits at reaching his target, but oh dear, those boys were
t-i-r-e-d. Over 2,000 miles in three days had left its mark on Tony and Jim and the atrocious
weather had made the Black Shadow seem a little sorry for itself too. The next job was photographs,
and the whole party piled into transport and tore up the main road after Rumple to get pictures
for the Works and press. An amusing incident came to light when we learned that unknown to
either party, the Works photographer and Tony had been dicing with each other on the last few
miles to Stevenage, Tony on Rumple and the photographer in a 30hp V8. Tony arrived first! Paul
and Ken Dangerfield next tried the outfit, then it was driven back to the Works by Geoff and Mac.
Back at the yard, Cyril Quantrill took the outfit away for his official road test while Tony and Jim
resorted to soap and water in an effort to remove four black shadows from below their eyes and
while the bike was treated to a wash down, the whole party retired to the Cromwell for lunch.
This was a very gay affair with many cracks at Tony for only having 602 miles on the speedo and
it was then that we heard the details of the ordeal of crossing Scotland - the wind even stopped
them once, in bottom gear.
After lunch, we were treated to the spectacle of Rumple being torn apart by two of the 'world's
fastest..' From starting the job to parting the flywheels, Jack Godfrey and Bill Bruce took exactly
42 minutes! (Piece work rates?) The technical details are given elsewhere in MPH but it amazed
even the boffins of Stevenage to see how little wear Filtrate had allowed to take place. The one
man who was confident all through that the Black Shadow would do it was missing. I refer of
course to P.C.V. himself, who was at that moment steaming at a temperature of 104 in bed with
'flu. All the bits were then taken to the inspection department for measuring against standard
parts and during this process Baker and Quantrill took copious notes for their journals. A party
was to be thrown in the evening in honour of Rumplecrankshaft and, of course, Tony and Jim but
very much against our wishes Ken and I had to depart homewards.
The Vincent has succeeded against long odds, but before closing I must say that a major share
of the honours must go to Tony himself and to Jim Regan for the tremendous effort involved in
finishing the test in such a short time and also to Filtrate oil for keeping the wheels turning so
efficiently. There must be some truth in the saying that Filtrate makes decarbonising obsolete,
going by the coke in Rumples boilers.
Rumple Round-Up:
Now we can go ahead with the wear figures and various other items outstanding. Wear first:
G9 Layshaft - First Gear, Bore Wear................ 0.0006"
G8/1 Layshaft - Second Gear, Bore Wear ..... 0.00025"
G5 Layshaft - Journal Wear............................... 0.0005"
Cylinder Barrels - Bore Wear, Front................. 0.0035" to 0.004"
Cylinder Barrels - Bore Wear, Rear................... 0.0025" to 0.0035"
Crankpin - Roller Tracks Wear........................... 0.0003"
Big-End Liner........................................................... 0.0004"
Wear on rocker pins and rocker bearing bores was about 0.003" but these were the third set since
the test started. All these measurements were of course witnessed by the people present, and
plus items mentioned in preliminary reports.
Cyril Quantrill did a wonderful job of the write-up in Motor Cycling - three pages too! We
right away sent him a p.c. of congratulations. After a slight rebuild of the model he is taking it
over again to run for a while - damn it, the man should be an Hon. Member! The photographs
taken by 'Flash' Long were also very good and in the first one of Paul we could just hear him
saying, 'Now then, here we have a component which exhibits remarkably little wear, hey?' A small
disc of polished skin surrounded by hair seemed to indicate that Mac had got his head in front
of the camera too. Altogether a grand job which should do the Club an awful lot of good. Also
read was another journal.
Tony would like to express grateful thanks to the many people who were so encouraging and
helpful throughout the test, including of course, Vincents, Filtrates and Economic Tyres and not
forgetting Mr Blaise of Smiths, for without his unbreakable speedo, the test would have been a
farce - or more likely, impossible. He was never let down by an Avon tyre and the same goes for
the KLG plugs. The Barbour suit kept him 100 per cent weather proof.
Let us hope that Members won't think these reports in MPH take things too much for granted,
but we get in so many reports of Vincent motors PROPERLY USED doing huge mileage that we are
past being surprised. You want to make your Vincent last the same eh? Right then - go easy for
a few miles after a cold start, change up in good time, use Filtrate oil and change it every l,000
miles, add graphite all round plus their anti-sludge compound in the chaincase, use 'Petroyle'
U.C.L. to keep the carbon soft and to have graphite above the piston where it matters - do all
these and the magic formula is yours. But if you are a mutt with the twistgrip and gearchange,
nothing will save ANY motorcycle from premature wear. We speak here with some authority,
having done many a one to death! We seem to remember Vincents once saying, 'If it runs, leave
it alone,' and with this we heartily agree - but this doesn’t mean you should let adjustments
get sloppy!
Probably we didn't have a Member who doubted for a minute that Rumple would get through
the test, but just imagine the impact of the news on riders of other makes, especially those who
knew nothing of the test! No doubt there will be sceptical people, but Ken Bushnell has a heap
of tyre invoices a mile high and Tony's employers have provided a certificate to prove that he
averaged 200 miles each day - Jim Regan regularly put in 1,000 in a weekend too. Ah well, it's
all over, and anyone who ever had doubts about the number of pennies he paid for his Vincent
will now surely consider it cheap at the price.