My WM20 is being delivered next week :grin:. With it being my first British single I've been looking for a drivers handbook to find out the starting procedure etc but had no luck .I've e mailed Rob Van Meel but not had a response as yet , I'm not sure which manuals are the ones I need .

I'm wondering what are the best oils to use and is it wise to add a lead replacement additive to the fuel ?

Thanks

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

Hi Dave I've only had mine 4 monthes so I'll give you my thoughts from a rookie point of view.I'll stritght 40 engine.50 gear .20 chain case.Tickle not to much will tend to drip from mixing chamber at the bottom but dries once ridden no choke starts by 3rd kick at most.start retarded then I just advance and leave it there. Never kick over sitting on it the stand won't take it.

email (option): andrewbell12@hotmail.co.uk

I didn't finish Dave I gave you my opinion from a person like you im new to it but must of what I know I've leant from the guys on this forum who have know more then I ever will so .ps if it won't start when hot the magnetos knackered I've just sent mine off .Enjoy it Dave

email (option): andrewbell12@hotmail.co.uk

Thanks Andrew , that's given me some idea . I've always been a 2 stroke man . Raced them for 18 year and my 2 lads raced and the eldest is still racing 14 year down the road, so total novice with British 4 strokers .Aye can't wait to get out and about , think it will going over to
Arnhem with the Jeep in September for the race to the bridge .

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

Hi Dave

The advance and retard lever is quite important.

You only really need to retard the ignition to assist kicking the bike over and going up steep hills to avoid pinking.

I find it best to fully advance the ignition once the bike has started and for normal riding conditions. Don't ride the bike for long periods with retarded ignition. The bike will overheat quite quickly and get damaged.

How I start mine is tickle the carb. I have the advance/retard lever roughly half way between advance and retard. Using the decompressor, take the piston just over top dead centre on the compression stoke and kick it off. After a few seconds, advance the ignition (you should hear a slight increase in engine revs).

If your carb, mag, compression, spark plug and ignition are good, your bike should start within three kicks (it can be longer if it has wet sumped as the flywheel is slowed down by oil in the bottom of the crank).

With regards to the mag, I have a what is called a slack wire advance mag (which is not standard). This means that for me, I push the adv/retard lever away from me to advance the ignition. If yours is a standard tight wire wartime mag, then you would pull this lever towards the handle bars to advance the ignition.

You shouldn't be able to kick the bike over like a two stroke, you have to get the piston just over TDC on the compression stoke.

Best of luck with your new purchase!

Regards

Pat

email (option): sacombsashtrees@hotmail.com

Just thought I'd mention one more thing.As I said I've only ever had modern bikes 40 years old, Take your time when changing gear leave a pause between gears and feel your way through the box you may also find a false natural between 3rd and 4th and putting her in 1st will grind alittle .It will feel abit diffrent from the quick gear changes your use to .
Cheers Andrew

email (option): andrewbell12@hotmail.co.uk

With an M20, you tickle the carb' until it laughs (which it does because it knows you wont be able to start the thing), then kick it over until impending heart failure, at which point you look for a friend who is rather more retarded than advanced and who is therefore willing to kick it over for you. After dropping your friend off at A&E and the M20 in the canal, you then buy a Matchless WD3GL and start that! :blush: As to additives, I go along with the theory that unless you are using your bike as a daily hack, valve recession is unlikely to ever be a problem. Avoiding high ethanol content fuel is good as a general principle......I tend to fill with "Super" grades and I have now started dosing that with one of the supposedly good anti-ethanol additives (eg Frosts) as I am lazy or forgetful and tend not to drain down my carb or tank.......ever!

email (option): fergusanckorn@icloud.com

Hi Dave,

I have a Rob vermeel production Drivers handbook, Maintenance book and an instruction book. All for the BSA 500SV (M20). They are brand new and unused.

You can have the 3 booklets all together for 10,- GBP + actual postage.

I am located in Holland and will sort out the postage if you are interested.

Please, contact me off forum.


Regards, Ramon:sunglasses:

email (option): noahlevi6@hotmail.com

Please forgive Ferg! His clan made it past the Roman's at Hadrian wall, I guess whilst they were busy looking at their new sewer system. Mind you he still remains the Queens right arm man Ron

:blush:

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

I think my blue cotton outfit looks quite fetching in that photo. I find wool kilts too itchy......

email (option): fergusanckorn@icloud.com

Looks like the boys are out the barracks

email (option): andrewbell12@hotmail.co.uk

Hi Ramon

Sent an e mail:+1:

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

Hi Pat

Thanks for the run down , that's exactly what I needed .Not like the 2 strokes I've been around for the last 40 yrs , petrol on , choke on , kick and away you go :relaxed: . Yes a little more too it .I can picture it now , skinned shins , sweating brow , curse , shut the garage curse and walk away :sweat_smile: .

That's very informative thanks again Pat . Some one has told me you drain the oil tank if leaving for a period of time due to oil seepage ? and also what puzzled me was did I know about "dumping the 4 stroke " I think I heard it right .

Would Morris oils be the best make to use or a Castrol ?

Regards

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

Yes can imagine them been quite agricultural :smiley: , bit like my MW doubling of the clutch and coaxing it through the box

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

:joy: I've saved that response to my documents :sunglasses: .

I use std unleaded in my MW and Jeep but always use the Morris additive for the high ethanol content just as a precautionary measure ,I'll put some of that through the WM , would super or std be better in the WM ?

Thanks

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

After dropping your friend off at A&E and the M20 in the canal, you then buy a Matchless WD3GL and start that!

Once riding your easy to start Matchless WD3L you ride for a mile then the throttle cable snaps so out with a comprehensive toolkit to remove the petrol tank etc to replace said cable, once on your way again the bloody dynamo chain snaps and jams up the engine sprocket and
an snaps the primary chain as well! at this point you walk home and get out your old knackered Lawn rover and hoist the piece of crap into the back and cart the thing home, which is where most Matchless models spent their lives.I personally have no problem starting my WM20 or any M20 I have owned,roadside problems are a piece of piss to remedy only time I loaded the old gal home in back of van was due to tore up rear inner tube.One year I clocked up over 8000 miles with nothing more than routine maintenance ... try that on a easy to start Matchless:smile:

"Overland to Vietnam" by Gordon May (actually a v good read)

"A distance of over 11,500 miles from Manchester, UK, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
A challenge for most vehicles, but for an antiquated 1941 WWII British motorcycle...?
In 2008 Gordon May rode his 1953 Royal Enfield Bullet from Manchester, England, to the Royal Enfield factory in Chennai, Southern India. The 8,400 mile adventure resulted in the book, Overland To India.

His next trip was even more adventurous: Manchester to Egypt on a 1952 BSA Bantam. After a false start in 2009, Gordon achieved his goal, crossing Tunisia, Libya, Jordan and Syria before returning to the UK in 2010. Another book, Overland To Egypt, soon followed.

This latest project - UK to Vietnam - was Gordon's most challenging ride to date with a route that took him across Europe to the Black Sea, through the Caucasus and into Central Asia, including visits to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, then along Tajikistan;'s famed Pamir Highway and into China. After traversing high altitude passes and surviving a major earthquake in Pakistan, Gordon travelled through India, Nepal, Myanmar,Thailand and Laos. Upon reaching Vietnam, he rode the breathtaking coastal route from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

The bike, a 1941 ex British army 350cc Matchless G3L, has been civilianized - painted black! It was also modified for the rigors of unpaved roads and river crossings but remains, in essence, a simple 1940's British push-rod single. Details of modifications and preparation of the bike can be found on this website. "

email (option): fergusanckorn@icloud.com

Yebbut, Gordon's bonkers !

The tele-forked Matchless is an anomaly amongst WW2 WD motorcycles and with the tele forks, it's really just too modern for the full experience.

Anyone looking for smiles per mile should choose the motorcycle that the War Office decided upon before the exigencies of war forced them to purchase lesser makes. The rather wonderful, ever-so-slightly vintage Norton 16H :-)

email (option): 79x100@gmail.com

I wish I'd thought of that years ago! Making a living out of motorcycle holidays and coffee table books. Ron:smirk:

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

['should choose the motorcycle that the War Office decided upon before the exigencies of war forced them to purchase lesser makes...']

Or in other words Norton couldn't make enough of the old wheezers...(despite the fact they didn't have to do anything else much)....

I guess if you have the entire bike made from the final pattern 'improved' parts you might get some miles in on a Matchbox.....Just hope your bike isn't made from the Mk1 bits though...:laughing:....
BSA on the other hand produced a bike that was pretty well up to the job right off the drawing board with very few alterations needed throughout the war...Unexciting but tough...

And AMC couldn't even match Norton for production numbers....Probably because they spent most of the war redesigning bits of it so it would stay together...

Oh I forgot...London to Beijing rally...M21 and sidecar...9,000 miles in 6 weeks...Get on!...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Norton were R.T. Shelley and Tallboys as far as the Ministry of Supply were concerned and made all your pannier frame sets ! :-)

There is no doubt that it was a more old fashioned machine but in the world of old motorcycles, older and more obsolete should be desirable, otherwise we'd all be riding H*nd*s

email (option): 79x100@gmail.com

Hi Dave,

I haven't received your email yet. are you sure you sent it to the right email adress?

regards,

Ramon:sunglasses:

email (option): noahlevi6@hotmail.com

Hi Ramon

I sent it to the one that shows on the forum , resent it .

Regards

Dave

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com

HI Dave, never received an e-mail from you. But hey, I guess I can't beat Ramons offer undercutting my prices! So y
ou better go there?

Rob van Meel

email (option): rpa@robvanmeel.nl

email (option): davemb42@yahoo.com