Talisman Trouble from Tyseley – Ed Broadbridge
It
was her fault!
“You
should stop riding now you have babies,” she said. “If you get killed then I
will have to bring the children up on my own.”
Being at the relatively young of 32 and wishing to keep on the right side of my Mrs, I succumbed. The Velo was pushed into the shed not to resurface until the birth of our third child in 1989.
Then the voice said, “ If you sold that heap of rust, we could begin building the new bedroom.”
Well, that was it. To be honest, I hadn’t had enough spare cash to do anything to the bike and as a self-employed ceramist/pattern-maker, I didn’t have time to play with my favourite toy. The extension was built.
People would come and say, “Where’s your Velo then?” and I would reply “Under that lot” What, you buried it?” “No…” Then I would explain.
Then I stopped being self-employed and got a job as a tea boy. Suddenly, I had some spare time. Well, being bike-less is one thing, but being without a mechanical toy is another. One night, I was in my neighbours garden when I was introduced to a strange object parked behind the garage. “Fantastic device!” The neighbours son said. “Bought it in 1970 to do racing, but never got round to it.”
It was a Berkeley 328 S.E.
My enthusiasm was whetted but hang on, I had never seen such a wreck in my life. You could stand at the back and see right through it. It had no rear suspension or wheels. Then I saw the engine, a bike engine - a 328 Excelsior Talisman Twin with Albion gearbox. I was hooked. A price was stated. Too much for me, still self-employed. Never mind, forget about it.
A week later, the neighbour appeared at my door. “My mother is very keen to re-possess the area of her washing line, where the Berkeley stands” he said. If you still want it you can have it for 60% of the asking price. We shook hands and a few days later four strange people were seen carrying a wheel-less car between the houses.
The rebuild was total and took several years. It was sold and a T60 followed. This eventually found a new home in a private collection in Milan.
Then some weeks after selling the T60, I was tidying the workshop, when I found a crate containing a spare engine bought for ‘cannibalising.’ It was very mucky, but having nothing better to do at the time, I started stripping it. Was it a car engine? No, it was the 250cc bike engine, without the reverse gear in the Albion box and without the Dynastart.
Inside, it was in remarkably good condition, although some of the gearbox cover components were missing. On several occasions in the ensuing weeks, I was to be found pondering in the workshop.
By now, my oldest child was 13. The T60 cash had been converted into a new chest freezer, plastic fascia and soffit boards on the house and some double-glazing. So it was time to put an advert in OBM. Wanted, Excelsior Talisman Rolling Chassis.
Then another advertisement. No joy. Are these Talismans that rare?
I wrote a long letter to Nigel Halliday of the Berkeley Enthusiasts Club. “Yes”, he wrote back,” they are quite rare, but here is the number of a man who may have a frame for sale.”
A few days later, I met Colin Powell for the first time and soon became the owner of a 1957 duplex frame. Other parts were eventually acquired, all in disgusting, damaged or defiled condition. Messrs Thomas, Bayliss and Slaughter would have turned in their graves to this project.
Worst of all was the frame which was sent to be straightened professionally. Fit Forx in the Midlands did the same for the front forks. Their service was second to none. Very quick and their courier picked the parts up from my place of work and brought them back.
A local paint manufacturer, that sells brushing automotive enamel, mixed the colour to match an area of virgin paint discovered under the fork shrouds. Progress was made.
The petrol tank didn’t look too bad on the outside, but was very rusty inside. I spent several evenings in the workshop shaking the tank full of old nuts and bolts. The noise was terrible. A bit like a cross between a steel band and a dustbin being dragged down the street by an errant dog. This operation dislodged all of the scale and the inside was then treated with petseal. Panel beating and filling were followed with twenty coats of enamel. Transfers were bought from Bob and Marcia Derrick of Classic Transfers - also an excellent service. I did the gold lining myself.
The front wheel had a bad case of rustus perforatis fragilis so I soaked the whole hub and wheel in oil for a month. At the end of this time I was able to undo every spoke. These were cleaned and sent for CAD plating. The hub meanwhile was treated to new bearings (from Revolution Bearings) a first class service from someone who is a biker. I have ordered by post in the morning and received the parts first post the following morning. The hub and spokes were then laced into a new Radaelli chrome rim supplied by Central Wheel.
The engine was sent to Chris Ellison and he rebuilt the bottom end and added a needle roller bearing to the crankshaft. “With these engines, you need better support at the end of your shaft!”
Engine assembled into frame. Poverty set in and a family wedding in America meant that no financial progress was possible in 2001.
Meanwhile, I visited many autojumbles and prayed that I would find those illusive pieces but without success. It was down to self-help and ingenuity. The lathe ran late into winter evenings.
No seat or seat pan had been located. What to do? Make a pattern. Make mould in GRP then mould a seat. Brackets fabricated from mild steel strip. Covered by retired upholsterer in red vyanide. Total cost about £40. To be critical, the foam that I used was too thick. I thought that the upholsterer would trim it down, but he just put all of it in.
Ditto for the instrument nacelle. Took measurements from a bike at Quainton Road Railway Show. Then made a pattern from thin ply and P38 filler. This was then given three coats of wax and polished. Mould was made. Then a moulding taken from the mould. Finally hand paint with primer and three coats of enamel.
Then, last December I made sufficient financial recovery to order the silencers from Armours. My father sent me a few quid for Christmas and that clinched it. These were fitted to the bike at the end of March.
The rear sprocket has been adapted from one meant for a different hub. It has the step on it but the diameters are wrong. An hour or so machining produced one adaptor, now fitted to the machine.
A recent trip to Kempton Park yielded the missing brake plate lever. The only problem was that the square hole was in the wrong position. The hole was welded up and then 30 minutes of careful filing produced a tight fit on the spindle.
So what am I waiting for? Only the wiring of the ignition coils. Now the machine looks like a complete and proud product from Kings Road, Tyseley.
And it was all her fault
Ed Broadbridge.