Atthe frontoftheengine isaBosch twinoutput
magneto and amazingly, after all theseyears, this
precious itemwasstill inaclean condition and
workingwell.Soto protectitfromtheweather,and as
Paul intends to usethis bike,hedesignedandmade a
brasscover forit. Ithinkcardboardprobablycamein
useful hereaswell.Thesingleseat wasstrippedand
professionally coveredbyLeighton’sofBirmingham.
Thegirderforks and framewere all preparedand
then sprayedwith nice,shinyblackstuff.Thefinish
is authentic for theperiod.Theold rimshavebeen
replacedbynewplatedones–but the originalswould
probablyhavejust beenpaintedblack.
Thepresent speedometer,madebyCoweyand driven
byatoothedcog on the frontwheel, is of theperiod.
Originally, itseems itwouldhavebeenfittedinto a
mountingbracket onthe fuel tank,but it nowtakes the
place ofaPilgrim oilregulator drivenbytheengine
timingpinion,butagain it isareplacementofanearlier
glass-domedBestandLloyditem.
Nolights were seemingly everfittedto theECW–so
theracing storymight possiblybetrue.TheBrown
andBarlowcarburettormight notbethe original one,
butitisanearly type. It hadits movingparts properly
refurbishedbyMartin Bradbury, the salesmanager
at TrevorPopemotorcycles.Thesinglecarb feeds the
V-twinbyasimple branchedtubularmanifold, which
replacedanearlier brassitem.Avalveliftercable is
luggedto it.Ontop of thehandsome deep blue fuel tank
for instance aretwoattractivefillercaps,oneforpetrol
and the other for engine oil, the oil feedstothe engine
viaasingle metaltubeand it is of the total losstype.
Theenginewas completelystrippedand taken along
to Pete Lovell Developments in Smethwick.Here the
knife and forkconrodarrangement, common inV-twins,
waschecked, while new and slightlyoutsizemainroller
bearingswerefittedin partnershipwith ChrisWilliams
AutocycleEngineeringofNetherton, who alsorun Alpha
1:Theclutch
mechanismand
amanualclaxon
horn in mid-frame
–itmightnotbe
original, butit
fillsagap nicely.
2:Frontbrakemay
look small –but
it’sbetterthan not
havingoneat all.
Below:The
newly-completed
ECWclaiming
aprizeat the
StaffordClassic
MotorcycleShow.
Itslongwheelbase
doesn’t makeit the
easiestofbikes
tocontrol,even
when wheeling itin
crowdedshowhalls!
42 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
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