lever ,not afoot clutch as ubiquitous on
Americanfours of the same eraand similar
architecture, but larger capacity, like the
Henderson,AceorI ndian.
Thedrive is thentaken by splined shaftto
the gearbox, whencebevel gears turnitat
rightanglestowards the gearboxsprocket,
forthe chainfinal driv e. Thegearchange is
by ahand lever on therightside of the fuel
tank,working through alongitudinal gate.
Around 20bhp is producedat 4500rpmby the
four-cylinder engine–alittl emorethan the
equivalent747ccAustinSevenmotor –with
maximumtorque on tap around 2800rpm,
according to BobStanley.
Iwas invitedto ride the result around
SammyMiller’s localtest trackat an ex-
WW2airfield,whose rough concrete
runwayswouldn’t have been sovery
differen tfromthe ruggedroad condit ions
of the late ’20s,then again on the smoother
surfaces of theMuseum’s access roads.
These showedwhatarelatively luxurious
model theAJSFour iscomparedto other
bikes of the same era–including thefirm’s
ownV-twins,whichweremuch less smooth
and sophisticatedbycomparison.The
bike feels quitelow-slu ng in spiteofthe
relatively tall ohvmotor with the oil tank
parked beneath it,and the broad,well-
sprungLycett-type seatgives acomfortable
ride over theworst of anybumps,despite
the lack of anyrear suspension.
Thewheel base isreasonablycontainedat
55½”even with the lengthwaysmotor, and
while notexactly agile,the Ajay Four does
flip very easily from sideto side,and steers
quitewell foramulti-cylinder bike of its era.
Icertainlywouldn’t accuse it ofwanting to
‘lay on its side’, as that1950 MotorCycle
road test accused it of doing,presumably
owing to the lengthwayscrank.The girder
forksare of AJS’sown design, thefirst time
I’deverused aset, andthey surprised me
by proving surprisingly effectiv eoverthe
brokenconcrete surface. They’renot quite
up to the standardofthe slightly later
Castle forksint he Brough SuperiorIonce
owned, which aremypersonal benchmark
in termsofcompliancefor such frontends,
but prettyclose.
‘The bike wascompletewhenwegot it ,but
it had the wrong wheels on it,’ says Sammy
Miller.‘They were Enfields,the sameas whatwerefitted to Broughs,sot heywereactually
very useful bartering forbits forthe Broughs
we have here!But we managed to locate
some genuineAJSwheel hubs,and we’ve
built the wheels up with them. However,
some of thefeatures on theFour ar equite
unique,like therear brake cable which runs
through the frame,and also the brake pedal
operatesthe switch forarear brake light,
whichwasnot at allcommonplacein1928.
We couldn’t wo rk out whyasecond cablewas
going from therear brake pedal,but it goes
up onto the tankto astoplightswitch, which
is quiteadvancedforthe time.’
Both brakes aresingle leading-shoe items,
but while the slightly larger seven-inchrear
worksadequately well in slowing theFour
down, the 6½in frontisp rettydisappointing,
especially with not so much engine braking
on tap,thanksto the smallcylinders and
lowcompressionratio.Soyou needto plan
ahead in slowing from anything closeto
the bike’s 65mphtopspeed.Anyway, cruise
alongat 45-5 0mph, and theAJSwillbein
its element, but much morethanthatand it
startsto get stressed.
However, the engine isagem, withalazyThe right side of the engine includes the
gearchange,the generator,thekickstart
andthe oil sump’s dipstick,lurkingbehind
Likethefront,the rearbrakeis cable operated.Inthiscase,thecable runs from the footpedal tothe the generator
operatingarmthrough the lowerframerail
1928 AJS632CCFOUR
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