Leo Cordingley has put this teaser on Facebook. Now comes the questions.....Do any of our esteemed senior members have any info on why they were such a disaster at the ISDT. From what is wrote in various good books, they suffered from probable siezures and the story also recalls parts being sent to the Isle of Man to try to rectify them. Leo reacted to my story by saying that he and his father had used the bike with no problems over a number of years. I'd have it myself but for the fact that if I got on it, my lack of talent would be only too obvious!
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Griffon ISDT possibly for sale.
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It was rereg from the Army and I am told it has a "J" plate.....Who knows why or where that came from, but that is what I'm told. When I referred to it as 1975, that was the ISDT date not it's build date.Last edited by Brian Catt; 12/11/2015, 12:41 AM.
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Originally posted by Brian Catt View PostIt was rereg from the Army and I am told it has a "J" plate.....Who knows why or where that came from, but that is what I'm told. When I referred to it as 1975, that was the ISDT date not it's build date.
Out of these. Belton finished (Bronze I think but not shown in results), Walker excluded for change of rider, Ablewhite finished on Bronze, Shipley & Haverson retired, Richardson was a non starter.
The Royal Signals also had Griffons in their display team, so some of the ISDT bikes may have been rebuilt for use with them. I think anyone buying the bike being offered for sale needs to do a bit of home work on it.
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Originally posted by John Wakefield View PostThe Royal Signals also had Griffons in their display team, so some of the ISDT bikes may have been rebuilt for use with them.
Neither survived past day two. Greeves' last ISDT appearance.Colin Sparrow
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Originally posted by Andy Z View PostI wonder why they seized? That engine has such a huge fin area, it's unlikely to overheat! Maybe someone forgot the oil...
Also they were subjected to long periods of running, over harsh terrain.
I was at the Isle of Man for the 1975 ISDT and saw Ablewight & Belton on these bikes. They did sound rough.
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Originally posted by Andy Z View PostI wonder why they seized? That engine has such a huge fin area, it's unlikely to overheat! Maybe someone forgot the oil...
One of the side effects of this, was that the engine actually ran cooler, i can verify this, as i have tested it against another qub after one race.
With a thermal gun, the standard qub was several degrees hotter & had a much higher temp around the exhaust port, as you would expect, but the deffined barrel was much coolera in the same region......
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Griffon ISDT
While I wasn't privy to the autopsy of the failed Griffons I may be able to offer some clues.
The QUBs were out and out MX models with a CR of about 12:1. These were fine for 45 minute scrambles when the throttle position tended to be either full open or closed.
When used for long periods between these extremes they suffered from a phenomenon known as part throttle detonation mainly because the incomplete scavenging at those throttle openings left the engine running on a highly contaminated mixture.
This happened to the Gauntlet army prototype which was only cured when the CR was dropped dramatically.
Druid
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Thanks for that explanation Druid, it certainly seems to be an answer to this question. I did a similar job on my rather fierce OSSA 6-Days replica to make it more friendly for Trail Riding.
The current owner is Leo Cordingly, whose father, Stan, is now in a home with a rather bad case of Dementia. If anyone out there knows Stan, it would be nice to get some more support locally for Leo and his Mum.
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