1938 Rudge Race Bike

[Nulli Secundus]

I am so sorry to hear that about Merv, when I was a young apprentice of 16 riding to work on my Norman B3 along White lion road Amersham a young Merv would flash by in the traffic on that same 250 Rudge!. I have seen him blow Yammaha stink wheels in the dust in a straight 250 race and win. You speak on alignment I remember telling him that his wheels on one of his 250 Rudges were out of line, his reply was 'thats my cadwell club circuit bike there is only one lefthander'. Merve was never a guy to take silly risks, years ago when Ben stated racing on his BSA C15 his ambition was to beat Merve in the upto 58 250 class. Finaly in his last year on the BSA he did come first in a race and Merve was second, Ben was over the moon! I saw Merve later in the day and he said (and I belive him) 'I could have overtaken him but he looked a bit to hairy and unstable'.

Here are a few pictures of the damage to Merv's 250cc Rudge.

 

[Bill Thomas]

Here are a few pictures of the damage to Merv's 250cc Rudge.

View attachment 16333 View attachment 16334 View attachment 16335

How old is Merv ?, He's got to be over 70 ?. Cheers Bill.

 

[Nulli Secundus]

How old is Merv ?, He's got to be over 70 ?. Cheers Bill.

I do not think that would be far out Bill, or late sixties.

Cheers

Dave

 

[Michael Vane-Hunt]

Those forks look like they need a visit to Jake Robbins in Hastings.

 

[Nulli Secundus]

Those forks look like they need a visit to Jake Robbins in Hastings.

Or let Uri Geller have a go with them.......

 

[BigEd]

As we are talking really old race bikes here are a few pictures of my '26 Sunbeam mentioned in an earlier post.

 

[Nulli Secundus]

I remember watching that bike at Brands Hatch and marvelled as to how well it went.

 

[nkt267]

As we are talking really old race bikes here are a few pictures of my '26 Sunbeam mentioned in an earlier post.

I like the double sided brakes on your 'Beam. Were they home made or a 'factory special'..John

 

[BigEd]

I like the double sided brakes on your 'Beam. Were they home made or a 'factory special'..John

Two 6" Sunbeam drums back to back. Not that effective but it did mean that my brother was always fast into corners ... as he couldn't stop. The Vintage racing rules allowed the use of two brake drums to be used in that way for the their oldest race class.

 

[Nulli Secundus]

I hope to be racing the 1938 Rudge Special at Darley Moor this weekend and with quite a fiddle managed to fit a Norvil Commando hydraulic steering damper. Perhaps not the most elegant of installations, but it has been done without modifying any Rudge parts.

I will report back on how it goes.