Another very special M18; 1930, as identified by the engine with the enclosed rockers and the Mk V B&L oilpump. Someone converted the frame to 'cradle specification', fitting engine plates underneath the engine and extra frame tubes to connect these engine plates to the lugs originally meant to fit the rear stand; nice!
Hi John -nice to see a photo of this bike on your recent blog. I have come across this before - in New Zealand, at the Pukekohe Classic meeting a few years ago. It looks extremely scruffy and goes like a scalded cat. Despite its fairly orthodox appearance (apart from the torque stays) Christian Engelhardt is a very clever bloke and the engine containes his own home made flywheels and cams. As I remember, he had made a vernier arrangement for each cam and arrived thereby at optimum timing figures from the performance point of view. He shipped it out to New Zealand for the meeting and there was a certain amount of merriment by the locals at its appearance and even doubt that it would pass scrutineering. However the merriment faded when he got it going in practise: it was miles faster than any of the Vintage bikes running and I well recall it thrashing down the finishing straight about 100 yards ahead of Ken McIntosh on his '37 Model 30!- Cheers Simon
