Starmaker engined roadster

[John Wakefield]

Saw this today, It started off as a 25DB supplied by Claude Scott, Cambridge. but very early on in its life the owner replaced the 2T lump (which had siezed) with a Starmaker lump bought from Pride & Clark brand new for around £35. At one stage in its early life it was returned to Thundersley for a new front beam after a crash, apparently Greeves also supplied cardboard templates for engine plates to be made to fit the Starmaker lump. Current owner is only second owner, it had been stored with first owner for a number of years. Engine does run. Current owner plans to tidy it up & use it as it is. IT IS NOT FOR SALE. Note the headlamp shroud & top plate were remade as an apprentice in alloy. Could this have been a bike that Greeves could have made? a STARDB maybe!!

[Colin Sparrow]

Hey, that's a bit special, isn't it? Definitely worth a rebuild as is.

[John Wakefield]

The owner told me that it goes like the proverbial s**t off a shovel up to about 60mph then tails off, probably needs gearing up a bit although it already has a very small rear sprocket & primary gear ratio is same as 3*A series, 20T engine 43 clutch. Maybe stifled by silencer

[John-Boy]

John, what size carburetor has it got, it looks small in the photograph?

Bearing in mind that the first Starmakers had twin Monoblocs, it may be strangled. My fluff-Brown Cotton has a 36mm Concentric.

Pride & Clarke, that brings back memories!

[John Wakefield]

Starmaker Carb

Its a large (single) Amal see pic

[John-Boy]

The original Greeves scrambler had two 1 1/8" bore 389 Monoblocs, but the road-going Cotton Conquest had one 1 3/16" 389 Monobloc.

If yours has an 1 3/16" bore carb, it should be adequate.

Another factor to bear in mind is that there were different porting arrangements (and I guess compression ratios) for trials, scrambles and road racing engines.

I guess you are not going to know how it performs until you get it running.

At least engine parts are readily available from AJS Motorcycles in Andover.

[John Wakefield]

Its not my bike! The owner is in no hurry to get it back on the road, it is in safe hands & dry stored, think it may be a retirement project. He did say that he would not do a full restoration but just clean it up as oily rag job. Recommision as the classic bike dealers say!

[Brian Catt]

May I mention the Brill scramble where Joe Johnson debuted his Cotton Starmaker, complete with twin carbs suspended on a bracket under the top tube. Well....they were suspended until after the jump....Loose carbs, tight cables!!!!!. He stopped where we were marshalling and ripped the plug cap off to stop the motor running it's head off and we then tied the carbs up with baling twine to get him back to the pits.

[pluscab]

Been there, done that which is why I posted an enquiry "Starmaker Trials" about changing the Villiers carb. This looks like a 131F, the Trials version, which would have an S25/6 carb fitted. Mine is good for 80 but its a sod in a 30mph limit as 3rd is too low and 4th too high, but it pulls it without snatching. My engine also came from Pryde and Clarke.

[pluscab]

I can also recommend a good exhaust fabricator, and I have just bought a new silencer from Sheffield Motorcycles which is spot on and a lot quieter than the 1963 original.