Classic Dirt Bike — Autumn 2017

Girlingoildampedrearunitsweresoon

tobeoutclassedintheSeventies,big

alloyrearhubworkedokaybutforthe

ISDTTriumphusedtheBSAqdtype.

Exhaustsystem

couldperhapsbea

bitvulnerableand

originalsystems

arerarethesedays.

to be agreat one forfire trails ratherthan

seriousoff-road workwhere it wasfelt to be in

needof afirm and bold hand if anything like

difficultterrain wastobeencountered.

TheMotorCycle’stesterin 1972foundthe

Adventurerwouldperformaswell with apillion

as it did solo, nor did it matterall that much

if the rider were stoodor seated.Criticism

wasaimedat the brakes and electricsthough

as hittingthefirs twater splashbroughtthe

comment“...afterthe ford, or indeedafter

heavy rain, the enginestoppedbut the brakes

wouldn’t...” Thesepointswere addressed

whenafew of the machineswere converted

into amore seriouscompetitionspec for the

1973 ISDT.CDBcoveredjust such amachine

in issue37, whenwe followed ChrisOliver’s

interpretationof the 1973ISDT teambikes.

WhatwasspecialaboutChris’sbikewas

he had beenin the USA as partofthe UK

organisingteamand hadfirs t-handknowledge

of thosesuperbmachinesbuilt from standard

TR5Tsat Duarte in California.

However,that wasstill to comewhenThe

MotorCycleclaimedthe bikewas, at 3cwt on

the road,arelativelylight machine.Three

hundredweight equatesto 336lbor 152.4kg

and that wassupposedto be light...it was

still 40lb heavier than the squarebarrelled

Trophyof1949.

The presspraisedthe moretraditional

feel of the power deliverywhile suggesting

atheoretical topspeedof perhaps 82mph,

though hinted the rider’steethmay have

vibratedslack by then. Theissueofweight

came up again anditisone ofthose

paradoxes where aheavy motorcycle canfeel

lighterthanalight motorcycle depending on

the weightdistribution. The tester of the day

felt the weighttobeaminor issue as once

on the go it wasalmost unnoticeable.

Typicallyof the time though,in an 800

mile test therewaspraisefor minimaloil

consumptionand surpriseat the level of

“Pah,alltheydidwasstickaTriumphmotorinaBeezerframethenstuckafewleftoverbits

onit togetridofthembeforetheindustrywenttoesup...”snortedtheknowledgeable.

Hmmmyes,theframeontheAdventurer/TrophyTrailissimilartotheBSAB50OIFversion,

butit’snotexactlythesame,asaTriumphmotorwon’tquiteslipintotheBSAframe

withoutalittlerelievingofthefrontcasting.WhateverthereasonformarryingtheTriumph

enginetotheBSAframe–andit hadbeentriedintheSixties–thepackageworked.

Popular misconception

Trophy

trail

78

075 Test_044.indd 78 01/08/201714:45:08