Questions? Looking for parts? Parts for sale? or just for a chat,

The WD Motorcycle forum

WD Motorcycle forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

What can I say , steve has just about said it all, we must ask henk if we are keeping up with the funding, come on henk speak up , kind regards to all andrew

email (option): warbikes@gmail.com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Oh Peter Stowe,


"even Ken who thinks I am a tosser because I wear a DR helmet when I'm on the WD bike."

I thought of so many naughty riposts to that comment, but decided to say, "No I don't, I really don't"

Thicken up that skin a little

I have been known to ride a 1928 bike round our lanes [thankfully cop free] wearing a flat cap back to front and goggles just to get to feel what it maust have felt like back them.

email (option): deadsheds[at]yahoo[dot]com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Thank you for your kind words Steve.

This hobby has certainly moved on from the Early days, it stated for me with a small book called "The First Military Machine Scene" by Bruce Main-Smith followed by another by Roy Bacon but it was you and Chris's book "British Forces Motorcycles 1939-45" which started to answer my questions and drove me on to need more.

We probably all have our own list of influential people to thank for doing what we do and I think I should add another name to the aforementioned at this point, Rob van Meel whose reprint spares list and other wartime books made it possible to research this subject in fine detail and of course count rivets long before it was possible to share info on the interweb in a nanosecond.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Ken, never any offence taken or intended.
I am to dim to know when I am being insulted ;-/
You me and one of the other men on here ( Sir Ewark ?) are all gas fitters..So we know how to have the piss ripped out of us.

For a while, we all had a joke telling thread going-- that was so funny--amongst the knowledge and advice---- for me one of the things that makes site this best that site I visit.

Proper manly banter with proper men.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

As a newcomer to military motorcycles (last winter) I can only say I have learnt 90% of what I know now, having spent the year renovating a wng from this forum and Steve's book.
Thanks

email (option): gh@hibbo.eclipse.co.uk

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Wow, thanks for including me on your list Steve Although I've always had Norton's, I'm relatively new to the WD scene compared to the others mentioned. The same people have helped me on many occasions along with Lex and Rob Van Den Brink. But one thing this forum has that others don't is the friendly attitude of the people that use it. I've gone on other forums and most people seem to be there for an argument and blow there own trumpet, not really help anyone. All the people here are genuinely helpful and will go out of there way to help someone they've never met. So a big thanks from me too

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

The level of knowledge at this site always amazes and inspires me. Thank you all! This reminds me that it's been over a year since I've donated to Henk to maintain this site. Tonight I'll donate again.

Again, thanks to all, those named and those not!

Scott D.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Thanks for the mention Steve. This forum is all part of my hobby and I've met some great guys because of it. I've also learnt a lot and still do! Not least through 'British Forces Motorcycles' And I'm really looking forward to the 3rd addition (especially since the spine on my 2nd addition is about to give out).

There's something exceptional amongst motorcyclists that is often missing in other activities and I've made some real good friends. Cheers all! Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Really good post Steve. Without the Forum I would still be of the mindset that "its only an M20".

I appreciate the bike a lot more now.

Regards

Pat

email (option): sacombsashtrees@hotmail.com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

"You me and one of the other men on here ( Sir Ewark ?) are all gas fitters..So we know how to have the piss ripped out of us."

Yes, I learnt that when I got my NTGB wages packet

email (option): deadsheds[at]yahoo[dot]com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

I can only agree with the sentiments expressed above. The degree of knowledge and openness of Forum members is exceptional. I feel lucky to have met some great people via this forum and enjoyed even more being able to ride with some of them in Normandy. When trying to put my 1940 WM20 back to as close as original spec as possible, I would have had no idea of what parts I should look for, if not for the advice given so openly on this forum. Long may it continue! Thank you Henk.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Morning

Without a shadow of a doubt the contribution this site and its main 'protagonists' have, and continue to contribute to our hobby cannot be stated in a few words. From a personal perspective I would like to thank them(mostly named above) and all the ad hoc contributors who make the WDBSA website such a fantastic font of knowledge!

A huge thank you one and all - we salute you!

Andy T

email (option): a.tizzard@btopenworld.com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Hi All
As bit of a low profile, non military, user of the forum I should like to re-iterate some of the comments above. I've had bikes on and off for some 50 years now but the impulse purchase of the Orchard & Madden book in May 2006set me off into a new world of military bikes and vehicles generally, starting with a box of bits described as a G3l, next a wm20 and now a TRW. I don't do club meets much and I don't have the bottle to expose my creations at shows/runs but the combination of the book, Henk's forum and the help and advice given therein has been terrific.
It would be divisive to name names but I must thank all contributors for what has now become essential daily reading. I am in ore of the knowledge out there.
Thanks to all
John

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

The forum is a wonderful thing run by a group of nice very knowledgeable people. I could never had done this by myself and I am proud to be part of it. I am a bit of a lame duck at the moment as my laptop is send away for repair just before we went to Netley Marsh nearly a month ago and I still don't have it back. I have to borrow one now to be able to get on line. They said that my laptop problems will be sorted out soon, probably with a new replacement laptop. I hope to be back in the laptop saddle again soon.

Thanks you all very much. Henk

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Hi All,

I have to agree with all the sentiments expressed,I've lurked on the forum for a number of years,It's a great resource of knowledge freely given,I've owned a R.E.WD/CO for a fair few years and am so tempted to get an M20 to keep the Enfield company.

Mike

email (option): mike_yockney@yahoo.com

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Sorry chaps.........I'm feeling a tad guilty here........missed so many out from my list......so sorry.......but there again, if I listed everyone the post would still be unfinished today ! ALL, repeat ALL Forum members are equally invaluable........I STILL LEARN ON HERE !!!!!

You know, apart from the knowledge, the main thing that I have personally gained on the Forum is many friends for life............I know several of the old farts long before the Forum but have made many friends on here since........thank you for accepting me........:-)

I wrote a book with Chris years ago now, long before computers, etc, but perhaps the most valuable part of this was the listing of frame and contract numbers, etc,........this took from memory no end of effort and sleepless nights from memory............it will always be a work-in-progress and probably raises as many questions as it does answers, but at the end of the day it will probably never be fully completed..................but it was a start.......and thanks for the support.......humbled to be honest.......thank you all.........

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Steve, You're dead right. Everyone who posts on here contibutes and answering questions is as much a part of the learning process as asking them.

There have only been a couple on here over the years who didn't fit in and oddly enough they were both from the same geographical location.

The WD motorcycle forum truly is equal to more than the sum of its parts.

Trev and Nig's technical posts are fascinating and I very much value Ken's knowledge of the scene and ability to ensure that we whippersnappers keep things in perspective when we appear to think that we have re-invented the wheel.

Oddly enough, I don't think that there are many 'Old Farts' on here. My impression when they're together in a group is more of a collection of perennial teenagers.

Having somewhat followed in your archival footsteps, in addition to exploring a few (sometimes blind) allies of our own, Jan and I have long since come to the conclusion that every correct answer should give rise to at least two new questions. If not then it's probably wrong !

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Rik, my friend of many years, you are spot on.........

Summary of the Forum, in my humble opinion, is if you can't find the answer on here among the wealth of talent and experience on here world-wide, then the answer still probably hasn't been established yet.............

But I'd still like to think that we had combined in giving it all our best shot....

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Many thanks for the compliments Steve,
maybe the bible from O&M was a start for me!!don't forget it!! I found it on a swap meet in France, before internet was here, and now on this forum ( the link), i found lot of very sympathic persons,a great and lovely family, who motivate me in making parts,just because we help each others,and make the WD motorcycles world Better,it could be funny to read this, but near me since the 90' the old cars or civilian motorcycles world , and the most "cool" VW aircooled world loose this spirit!!! and also many thanks to all the "rivets counter" here!! maybe it's contagious!!!
and many thanks again to this forum and his 2CV driver ( Thanks, Henk) , i'm a little alone with my wd bikes in France and no one understand that there are difference in each contract motorcycles around me ( a WD/CO is kaki, a BSA is kaki, and a Norton is kaki, too complex for Ariel and matchless) and a little too far to see you lot of time, maybe normandy 2017..
hope story continue for a very long time again....
we have lot of things to learn again.

very best regards too all
Arnaud
ps: lot of many thanks i know, but i was very bad in english at school and i learn it in parts list and technicals books,so, not easy for me to explain a sentiment...

email (option): leger-arnaud@wanadoo.fr

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

And let's not forget the other Steve, for all his wonderfull picteres.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Rik wrote:
..... Oddly enough, I don't think that there are many 'Old Farts' on here. My impression when they're together in a group is more of a collection of perennial teenagers.....

I fear that at 83 I belong to the ‘Old Farts’ category... But at the same time, when working on my WDM20, or discussing things-BSA with other enthusiasts I still feel like the ‘perennial’ teenager’ ....
When I got my bike - it came in a container loaded with ‘scrap’ from an Egyptian army museum- I only knew that I REALLY wanted it, because it remembered me about our Liberation, May 1945, when I was a 12 year old boy, and saw those Canadians riding in that particular way sitting on the tank; the bike would most probably have been a WLA, but that I learned much later.

At the time there was no ‘Henk’-site, and I had only some reprints from Bruce Main-Smith about the pre-war BSA’s , and nothing about the WDM20.
But all that changed when Henk appeared on the scene, with an ever increasing number of inputs from knowledgeable people and much important info; as a result I succeeded in getting the wreck running again, and I could participate in numerous historic events, and most important, visit Normandy on several occasions.
I have to admit that of the original bike from the container only the petrol and oil tank, front mudguard, webbfork and speedo metre remain; the rest has been successively replaced in the last 12 years by NOS, or better quality parts, resulting in a hotchpotch rivet-counters delight .... Only the “Polar Bear” on the tank, honouring the 49th West Riding Division is there from the beginning.
Unfortunately my riding days are over , but the M20 remains in my garage, well cared for, in the hope that 5 years from now, my grandson will be the next custodian of this piece of history.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Hans, I think canadians had WLC's - C standing for Canada.
A is for America. That is, if I am well informed.

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Yes, how could I have missed that, sorry...
And I forgot to add that of many of the entries in the forum that might be of interest for future generations I make an abstract and file it on a USB-stick. Without all the combined knowledge there I could never have finished my bike; thanks to all contributors

Re: Not Naming Names but Credit Due Where Credit Due !!

Well I've been after a copy of 'British Forces Motorcycles 1925 - 1945'for a good while and at last I've got me grubby hands on a copy

Nieuwe pagina 1