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sandman

Small Bikes

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I may be wrong on this, but who was it back in the seventies who made a few minature speedway bikes, say 1/24 scale the size of a model. They were fabricated out of metal and actually ran. I want to say Howard Cole? They were perfect copies of a JAP and Jawa. Anyone help?

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Seem to recall that Alan Molyneux's (former bees rider) dad at Cov in the late 70's early 80's made a minature speedway bike, damn fine piece of machinery it was too.

 

Used to have a photo of it, but alas I have no longer, can't help anymore than that I'm afraid

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I may have been wrong on the scale but these bikes were a foot in length? Had running engines and if I remember there were two completed. I have an engineer friend who saw photos in maybe Motorcycle news on them and he said to me the skill was unbelievable. They are I am quite sure still out there. One was a JAP and the other a Jawa. Even the carbs were scaled down , working and accurate. I believe it was an older man named Cole, maybe his son rode in the 60's or 70's. Yes I am a bit sketchy on this and that is why I started this thread, to find out. :roll:

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I am hoping someone will know where they are. When I looked on another thread and saw Howard Coles name mentioned the memory came back. In the photos I saw back in the late 70s or early 80s the man who fabricated these was a bit elderly. Still, it was so typical of the time when there were so many engineers working from their workshops doing beautiful restorations etc, maybe skills learned from WW2? My engineer friend decided to try it himself and built a complete set of forks and front wheel,(was going to be a Weslake) and quit because of the demands and time involved. After viewing the pictures and article, he was extremely impressed to say the least...Oh well, ..... :? When you think of the engineering required on the little 50cc roadracing twins from the 60s, with piston size etc, done by Suzuki, etc, it just boggles the mind at least to me, that someone could build something so small that runs. :) Of course the litle model plane engines show it can be done....

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I read an article in Classic Racer on the 50cc bikes and the twins had pistons the size of largish thimbles? :?

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