QUARTER-LITRE CHARMER
I first encountered this 1939 AJS 250 more than a decade ago. It came to me to be checked over, to make sure it was safe and reliable for long distance riding. I expected the owner to drop it off by van. Cometh the hour, cometh the man... but I was surprised to hear the sound of an old British single pull up outside, rather than a Transit van. It turned out he ridden some 130 miles and didn’t consider that to be particularly ‘long distance’. Well!
‘It brought me here without any trouble, but it has used about half a pint of oil and I would like the clutch and gearbox checked,’I was informed. So began a long-term relationship with this little 250, one long enough to filI an entire set of bookshelves!
It first received a full engine and gearbox strip and rebuild, followed by tuning and development to suit the owner’s quest for more speed and power. Over time that included approximately two and a half engines, two gearboxes, half a dozen carburettors, ditto sets of camshafts, three pistons, three speedometers (to rule out error), a couple of exhaust systems and, for a short while towards the end, even a pre-WW2 Ariel 250 cylinder head which was remarkably easy to fit.
There were many more small adjustments and alterations, all attempting to meet the
