Engine Punk

While looking through some old photographs I found this shot of a dirt track Douglas at Wiscombe Park hill climb back in 1998 (I think). This shot reminded me why I like this design so much - for such an old bike, it looks like it's doing a 100mph even propped up against a Transit. The bike wheels and low slung engine all shout speed to me and although it's a hard tail and I prefer sprung frames any attempt to give it springing would alter the simple lines of the bike. The handle bars look like a bit too practical. I'd like to see this machine with drop handlebars like a racing push bike. And the gearchange on the tank and the shape of the tank itself make you realise this is an old bike. But the concept of the dirt track Douglas seems so modern to me. Because it has a front brake this is probably the road going version of the dirt track Duggie - the SW5. The speedway biked lacked any sort of front brake and the gearchange was usually locked in one position. Me? I ...

Following on from VT17 , John Deacon was telling me of Bill Martin a legendary grasstrack racer and Douglas rider from Cornwall who rode his bike around the wall of Redruth railway station. Nothing very special in that - except that he was on top of the wall! This triggered an old memory of mine. I'd seen an elderly and fairly rotund gentleman being helped onto a dirt track Duggie at the West of England Traction Engine Rally back in the eighties. I had a vague idea I had photographed his machine. Searching for something else in the Anarchadia photo archives, I turned up a photo of a dirt track Douglas. And - very rare for me - I'd written down some details on the back. It was indeed Bill Martin's 1928 500cc dirt track Douglas. I remember the knobbly rear tyre. I think the cover was very old. I doubt you can get that tread pattern any more. To me, this bike looks fantastic. Even the hand change and rudimentary springing don't put me off. Hossack double...