[John] Okay so we're at the Sunbeam stand here at Stafford and we've
come across, it we definitely caught our eye, this gorgeous Henderson inline four which
belongs here to Steve who's going to talk us through this fantastic looking bike.
So Steve, what year and what model is this? [Steve] This is a 1920 Model K Henderson. They only made
the Model K for 1920 and '21, and then moved on to an improved version of it that they called the DeLuxe.
But as far as I'm aware this is the only Model K in the UK. [John] Oh wow, so very rare and even more rare
in this country then, to see one of these. Is it a bike that you've had very long? [Steve] I bought this in 1993
as a project that needed quite a bit of work doing to it, and it was a kit of parts. Some of the parts
weren't for the Henderson at all, they were just included in the pile to make it look more complete
than it really was. And it was only once I got it all home and started looking at things, that
I realised that some of the bits were wrong. At the time I knew nothing at all about Hendersons,
so it really wasn't, I'd never even heard about them or a make called the Henderson. So it really was a case of
research, and find bits and pieces. They're rare. It's an American bike, so
bits and pieces had to be made, because you just can't get hold of them. But I was
lucky enough to pick up various bits from different countries around the world, literally.
[John] So it's a four-cylinder, is it side valve? [Steve] It's a four-cylinder side valve engine, 1301cc. The first
production motorcycle that was fitted with pressure fed lubrication to the mains and big
end on the crankshaft. The oil pump is external on the front down the bottom there.
[John] It's quite a refined machine. [Steve] The oil pump down the bottom. [John] So it's a pressure gauge. [Steve] Oil pressure gauge. Interestingly
not a very high pressure. The book actually says, if it reads five to ten psi
it's good, if it drops to zero when you stop or are at standstill, don't worry as long as it picks up
again when you open throttle. [John] Okay, if that's what it says in the book, go with that.
In terms of the controls then, what have we got going on here? [Steve] Some of them are conventional.
We've got a right hand throttle, and on this bike, a right hand front brake. The original
Model K Hendersons didn't have any front brake at all, but what we'd also have is a foot clutch.
[John] Foot clutch, okay. [Steve] So if you've got a foot clutch this side, and a foot brake that side, how
do you do a hill start with no front brake? [John] Ah, good point. [Steve] So right from day one I decided it was going
to be a bike I wanted to ride on the road, and even what brakes there are are not brilliant,
so I definitely wanted a front brake. So that's something I've added which the purists will say
shouldn't be there. [John] But a safety feature, practical feature that you need. [Steve] Yeah, throttle front brake. This
side we've got the ignition advance and retard, which is used quite a bit actually.
Most more modern vintage bikes, you'd use the advanced and retard to retard it a bit
with the starting, and then leave it alone. But on these, once you get it into top gear, you can ride on the
throttle and the advance and retard, and you just leave it in top until you come to a standstill.
[John] Yeah, oh that's good. [Steve] It'll pull away from less than walking pace in top gear if you retard the
ignition. As I said, foot clutch, that's the bit that takes a bit of getting used to,
because when you put your foot on the clutch, it's obviously underneath the handlebar, if
you're turning left at a T-junction, the handlebar's are round there, as you start to lift your foot off
the clutch and move away, your knee jams on the handlebar. Your natural
reaction then, because you're wobbling, your natural reaction is to quickly put your foot on the ground,
and this bike will not stall. When you do that, you're on your way.
That takes a bit of getting used to. We've got a couple of hand levers here.
This one is the clutch lever. That is your foot clutch, and you can put that on the ratchet
to hold the clutch, [John] Hold in neutral. [Steve] Now this is where I admit to a failing, because the people that did
the plating on these brackets here, polished it so much that they rounded off the ratchet,
and it's not unusual for that to suddenly fling back. But to be honest, all the time
I've ridden it, I've never used that anyway, so it's not an issue. But eventually I'll get round to it.
This is the gear change. Forward for one, neutral where it is now, second back here, third gear. Three
gears in total. [John] Three speed. [Steve] This one is the reverse gear. [John] Oh wow, okay. [Steve] An awful lot of these were fitted
to sidecars, so reverse gear with a side car is a big bonus. So that's reverse gear. This
is what is termed in the book, the emergency brake, which you use your heel on.
And it's actually got a ratchet on it so it holds it on. So it's ideal for sidecars
because it's parkable. [John] To hold it like a parking brake, yeah, yeah, okay. [Steve] That brake operates internally
on the rear brake drum, and that brake operates externally on the same brake drum.
So the brake drum gets a bit warm trying to stop in in a hurry. [John] Yeah, wow. And it's kickstart?
[Steve] It's kickstart, no electric starts I'm afraid, kickstart. [John] But on the opposite side to
where you'd see it on a Brit bike. [Steve] A lot of bikes are on the right, and some people don't like
it on the left, but it's just one of those things you get used to. [John] And do you ride this bike? [Steve] I bought
it in '93, took 14 years to get it on the road, rode it everywhere. I've used it on the Welsh week
with the Sunbeam club a few times. I've done the Coventry to Brighton run on it,
rode all the way up to Coventry from the South Coast, and then back down to Brighton the following day.
I've taken it on the continent, literally from home, front door to door. Across to Dover and across,
did about 8,000 odd miles on it. Was doing a little bit of work at home on the carburettor
and running it up down the road to see whether it had made any difference to the way it was
running, and about 100 yards from home, got knocked off it by a lady who was driving around the corner
not really looking where she was going. [John] Oh no. [Steve] And completely wrecked the whole thing. So this is
the second incarnation. [John] The second rebuild. [Steve] The second rebuild, yeah.
[John] Well that's an absolute credit to your
devotion and ability, because it looks an incredible machine, and a real pleasure to see
it here at the show today, and thanks for taking the time to talk to us. [Steve] Thank you for your interest.
Starting the Henderson. Not too many controls. This one is the throttle.
Open it that way to go faster, down that way to slow down. On this side we've got another
twist grip. This is the advance and retard for the ignition. Wind it inwards for fully advanced,
push it outwards for retard. So we'll start with that on retard. Turn on the petrol.
That's the petrol on.
On the carburettor we have a sleeve which closes off some of the air so that it pulls it in
past the hot exhaust once it's been running for a while. But I don't tend to use that very
much at all, certainly not in warm weather, and I don't ride it much in cold weather.
This is the choke, butterfly valve. So we'll push that round to there.
And round this side,
all we need to worry about on this side is the kickstart. So push that down, turn it round.
A little bit of throttle, a little bit of retard. Give it a kick.