That Certain Magic
That Certain Magic
RUDGE:
This Elder Champion Goes From Scrap Heap to Salon
WHEN BUZZ WALNECK wanted money to buy a home, he sold his Bridgestone Sport 50, Yamaha Big Bear Scrambler, Suzuki X-6 Hustler, and 750-cc Royal Enfield Interceptor. But he kept his 1939 Rudge Ulster.
From the day he bought the rigid-framed, 500-cc Single seven years ago, Walneck has been drawn ever more deeply into a bygone age when Velocettes, Nortons, and supercharged BMWs battled for world road racing supremacy, and mighty Brough-Superiors and JAPs shattered speed records.
Walneck has dedicated his spare time to restoration of his English-made Rudge to its original condition. The Rudge was more scrap heap than motorcycle when he bought it. Now, after a continual process of strip-down and re-assembly, it glistens like a 1968 showroom model.
Walneck is 24, but has been riding motorcycles for 15 years, and has owned 30 machines. He says: “The Rudge stands head and shoulders above the others.”
What kind of magic does the Rudge possess, that it can so completely capture the interest of a young man who was born four years after the manufacturing company ceased to exist?
Certainly, the Rudge was a pace-setter in its time. Its advanced design included such features as an aluminum four-valve cylinder head, a notched piston with three oil rings and a floating wrist pin, and positive lubrication to the cylinder wall.
The engine produced 32 bhp at 5500 rpm using a low compression ratio and the inferior gasoline of those days. However, 40 bhp at 6800 rpm was readily available if the machine were tuned.
The Ulster weighed 329 lb., so its performance was well in Une with its advanced design. Another attraction on the bike was a coupled braking system, whereby depression of the rear brake pedal automaticaUy operated the front brake, giving it a 30 percent share of the total braking effort to perform. Fiercer stopping was achieved by using a conventional front brake lever.
The rider’s muscles were saved from strain when he parked an Ulster, by a long lever on the left side of the machine. Pulhng it simply swiveUed the center stand into the ground, and levered the back wheel into the ah'.
Rudge-Whit worth Ltd., to give the company its fuü name, gained many competition successes. For example, Rudge machines were the last pushrod bikes to win at the Isle of Man TT races, when, in 1930, they were first in both the Junior and Senior events.
Even today, EngUsh drag racer BiU Orriss uses a much-modified, but basicaUy 1934 four-valve 350-cc Rudge to set quarter-mile times in the 11-sec. bracket. His machine also has streaked through the flying quarter at an average speed of nearly 125 mph.
Few people are lured by the magic of the Rudge. In England, the Rudge Enthusiasts Club is a thriving, but smaU body. The American and Canadian section has 10 members, only one Uving in Canada. Buzz Walneck invites would-be cultists to contact him at 7923 Janes Ave., Woodridge, IL 60515.
Rudge-Whit worth Ltd.
