AJS & Matchless Owners Club

shelly walsh factory machines,any body know much about these bikes

Shelly Walsh? A lot of history here if you meant Shelsey Walsh........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelsley_ ... Hill_Climb

It gives one of the winners in 1906 as riding an Alldays. Info here, including some pics/illustrations of the machines.......

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Alldays_a ... otorcycles

I drive past Shelsey Walsh on the way to and from my step mother in law at Leominster. Never had time to take a gander.

Johnny B

shelsey walsh,sounds like a heap of history tied up there,cheers

I'll try to make this as short as possible. In 1947 the factory Comp Shop made a special engine code E92 for Les Graham to race at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire. He turned up at the meeting and on this standard looking pushrod 500 AJS won the races against Norton Inters, Vincent Twins etc. This bike became known as the Cadwell Special. Les Graham took it to The IOM for the TT to use as his practice bike but he had a bad accident and it was written off. Another bike was then made as a 500cc Matchless, which he raced in 1948 at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb in Worcestershire where he won the all out hill record for motorcycles. This bike then became known as the Shelsley Special. He returned in 1949 and reduced his time further. The engines were a comp shop special and included lightened flywheels, radiused cam followers. radical cam timing, ported and polished head etc. A number of replica engines were made and I am aware that at least 3 of these were sent to Australia. I have the Comp Shop build sheet for these engines and can supply more information if wanted. Cheers, John Tinley (Dating Officer)

gday biggles thanks for that,a good mate has 2 motors ,have seen the internals of one ,a work for sure,machined fly wheels and those cam followers are a thing to behold,high profile cams,theres another 1 at least in new zealand i believe,would love to see the comp shop sheet for sure,cheers dave

Dave, you can contact me at tinley@btinternet.com I wrote an article about the Shelsley and Cadwell bikes that was printed in the Jampot and would be happy to send you a copy. I am also interested to hear more about the engines that your friend has. Cheers, John Tinlery