# Matchless Silver Hawk 1934



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

OK, hopefully there are some motorcycles fans on this forun...even better if there are some _vintage_ motorcycle fans reading this because...

...this is truly a momentous day for me.









No, I really mean it. Ever since I started restoring vintage motorcycles in the early 1980's, I'd always gazed in wonder at pictures of the Matchless Silver Hawk --- you'd never see one in the flesh, far too rare for that, except in the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham --- and I could never afford one anyway.

Well twenty years later, I bought one in 2002 --- a dealer had re-imported it back into the UK from a closed museum in Australia. It was roughly assembled but all parts were shot to pieces







.

After 2 years of restoring this bike, and at huge expense







, I finally rolled it out of my garage this afternoon and rode it for the first time







. Nothing major, 1st gear only, and just a few hundred yards back-and-forth. *Fantastic*























Only 500 were made between 1930 and 1935; many survive because they are so unsual (and cost a significant amount of money at the time : Â£75) but mine will be one of only two or three that are restored and not stuck in some museum.









Here she is...after her first journey earlier this afternoon:










There are many things that make this bike unique for the period: it's a 4 cylinder bevel-gear driven OHC 600cc engine, it has coil ignition instead of usual magneto of the period, it has cantilever rear suspension which was unheard of in the 30's, front/back linked brakes, etc, etc

Cheers

Silver Hawk!


----------



## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

WELL DONE SILVERHAWK, 2 YEARS WELL SPENT!!

I'm more of a modern bike fan from my era onwards(70's) but can apreciate the work you have put in and the technology of your bike given it's age. I think most things the Japanese have given us in recent (relatively) years have all been done by the British motorcycle industry, years before like your cantilever suspension or shaft drive. I bet those few hundred yards were the best in your life, worth miles on other bikes!

Happy riding

MIKE.


----------



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Well done Silverhawk; I haven't ridden a bike since 1975 (a Kawasaki S1-250 enough said







) but I can still really appreciate your magnificent efforts.


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Paul I take my hat off to you, that is truely a wonderful machine. Gear driven Over head cam in 1930! WOW! Weren't most things still side valve back then?

how is the ignition ditributed? what sort of fuel system has it got (downdraught carb?) I could ask questions all night









Fantastic picture as well. Will you be getting an article on her in classic bike? (my dad get's it).


----------



## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Silverhawk, you have every right to be proud. Fantastic job.


----------



## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

I'm no bike expert or fan teally, but that, but that looks cool


----------



## namaste (May 8, 2003)

I know BA about bikes (well, even less than watches







), but a friend spent 5 years to get a Harley from the 30's up and running again. It worked fine after years of effort, but did not look half as good as this, SilverHawk! This thing is mint and belongs in a museum!!!









BTW is the gear lever supposed to be exposed or is there something missing on the side? (Don't bother telling me it's not the gear lever but something else, I know BA!!!!







)

Congratulations, you must have felt like a 5 year old on his first bike!


----------



## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

Fantastic,can I have it please









Please ride it more


----------



## sssammm (Oct 7, 2003)

nice resto man

sam


----------



## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

Thats something to be proud of. Do you take it to rallies or shows??


----------



## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

There was I thinking what a daft moniker Silver Hawk was, I never would have made the association









That bike is absolutely beautiful, please ride it! I went to recent exhibition of Vintage bikes up here (1910-1950) and was depressed to see how many were just shown rather than ridden, it does my head in, what's the point?









More pics please and then perhaps a sound file









I have a pic of a Velocette 1047 MSS 500 in my office, that was the most beautiful bike I HAD ever seen


----------



## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

I used to have loads of sound files of different bikes.A jota going flat out through a tunnel was the best









You have to ride it,It is a shame when you see all these nice restored bikes arriving at shows on trailers


----------



## Fred (Feb 23, 2003)

Well done Paul the bike looks great, i am in to the old bike scene as well as the newer ones,done a couple my self so know the trouble that the little bits can cause just trying to find them, with your's being more scarce the problem will be even greater, any way looks complete and very nice, keep us informed as to how she goes when you have a few more miles on her, fred.


----------



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

Thanks all for your kind comments...some of you asked for a few more pictures (I only needed the slightest excuse







), so at the risk of boring others, here they are:



pg tips said:


> Weren't most things still side valve back then?
> 
> how is the ignition ditributed? what sort of fuel system has it got (downdraught carb?) I could ask questions all night


PG, you are right; most motorcycles at this time , and cars as well, were side valve. OHV was a luxury but most bike manufactures had one or two in the top end of their range; OHC on the other hand was very rare. The Silver Hawk uses the same distributor cap and contact points etc as the Austin Seven car of the period. You can see this distributor mounted on top of, and driven by, the dynamo in the pic below. The dynamo on the other hand is unique to this bike (Lucas made it specially) and as a result are very hard to come by: I've seen just the dynamo fetch Â£1000+. Carb is convential Amal pre-monobloc; nothing special there (pic further down).

Note the large upper bevel box cover with "Matchless Silver Hawk"












namaste said:


> is the gear lever supposed to be exposed


you are correct! It is the gear lever but not missing anything; all hand gear change levers on all bikes of the period were like this; just a lever running in slotted gate to help select right gear; on the SH, this is attached to rod that goes down to a bellcrank and then another rod to the gear box (under the dynamo/distributor). You can just make this out in pic above.



raketakat said:


> Do you take it to rallies or shows??


 Rallies = yes; shows = no; not really into shows. Most of the bikes at these shows either have no engine internals or have never seen a drop of oil







. Bikes should be ridden.



MarkF said:


> There was I thinking what a daft moniker Silver Hawk was; I have a pic of a Velocette 1047 MSS 500 in my office


 It still is a daft moniker














Velocette MSS --- yum yum, very nice














fast bike but post-war; too late for me. Pic below from the saddle showing "clean" handlebars and instrument panel.










And from the other side showing oil tank right at front of bike, carb, primary chaincase, battery. All these copper pipes need to be plated but that can wait until next winter....










Cheers

Silver Hawk! (Paul)


----------



## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

Thank you for showing it to us Paul,it really looks superb.Maybe this has given me the incentive to start work on the MV Agusta tucked away in my garage


----------



## raketakat (Sep 24, 2003)

Thats better. The devil is in the detail, not to mention all the interesting bits







.


----------



## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Well done Paul, you must have sacrificed a lot of watches for that...worthit though!!

Jason M


----------



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

jasonm said:


> Well done Paul, you must have sacrificed a lot of watches for that...worthit though!!
> 
> Jason M


Hi Jason, it's actually the other way round...I could have finished it sooner if it hadn't been for the watches


----------



## AlexR (May 11, 2003)

Ah but without the watches,you might not be posting here







Deep eh?


----------



## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

AlexR said:


> Ah but without the watches,you might not be posting here
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Circular even?


----------



## pg tips (May 16, 2003)

Ah the old Austin 7 igniton eh! I love the way there are no rubber covers on the end of the plug leads! Great fun in the wet I bet! I see the front end has a disc shock absorber but can't see one for the rear?

I like the front mounted oil tank as well but I bet on 1930's roads they were a bit vunerable.

I still can't get over it being OHC! Fantastic Paul.


----------

