Jacks Hill Cafe Ton-Up Day top six bikes
Jacks Hill Cafe is an unremarkable-looking transport cafe on the outskirts of Towcester. But in the 1960s it was the meeting place for youngsters racing along the A5 on their hot-rodded British bikes.
Five years ago the first Jacks Hill Cafe Ton-Up Day was run and it has become the annual place of pilgrimage for the hardcore rocker – a chance for old timers to relive their memories and for the younger generation to discover how it was ‘back then’.
It’s also become one of Britain’s best one-day bike meets.
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1971 BSA Renault, Huib van Audel “My father built this bike in 1971. It took him seven years to finish it and I have restored it. The engine is a four-cylinder, 850cc Renault Dauphine. The frame is from a BSA B31 (350cc single-cylinder). The forks are Yamaha RD250 and the front brake is from a Laverda. The rear wheel is Norton Commando. I’m in England just for this event. Eleven of us rode here from Holland in pouring rain.” |
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1965 Norvin, Mark “My Dad bought this as a box of bits in 1972. It took him 11 years to finish it. I was 11 at the time and he told me that they day I could start the thing, it was mine. I fired it up when I was 15 and my first go on it was around a grass field. It’s a 1951 engine in a 1954 Norton Featherbed frame. Apart from a few brackets which I’ve had to make, there’s nothing on the bike post ’65.” |
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Suzuki/Featherbed, Martyn Roberts “I call this Manki – it’s a Suzuki Savage engine in a Norton Featherbed frame. The Savage is a belt-drive and, initially the chain ran outside the frame, so I had to do some machining to take conventional sprockets for a chain drive. The rear hub had to be modified to take a different wheel bearing after I’d machined so much of the hub away it revealed the original bearing casing!” |
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1975 Trident Rickman Metisse, Mick Delaney “I love café racers. This is ’75 Trident engine in a Rickman Metisse frame but I’m not sure what year the bike was originally built. Since I bought it, I’ve fitted an 850 Norman Hyde conversion. It’s also got a half-race camshaft, 30mm carbs and is something of an on-going restoration project. This winter I’m going to get it repainted.” |
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Shaun Toms, 1946 Triumph 3T “It’s mostly a 1946 350cc 3T Triumph – standard frame, engine and gearbox. I stripped the old mudguards off and my son made the seat at college. Fuel tank is a rusty Wassell thing I bought for £15 at an autojumble. The way I see it, it’s been on the road four years now and it’s not going to rust anymore because of the oil all over it! I ride it every weekend, all year round.” |
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Triton Featherbed, Andre Hnylycia “I’d only ever had modern bikes before but decided it was time to get shot of them. It’s a Norton Featherbed wideline frame from the ‘50s and still has the pump brackets on the frame rails. The engine is 1961 650cc Bonnie but I added a 750cc conversion. The café racer thing appealed to me because it’s what I started on. I’ve been all through the modern bikes and back to where it all began.” |
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