AJS Motorcycles R2 V Twin And Box Sidecar
A very good example of a ‘working’ motorcycle combination.
Shown here with ‘box’ sidecar, this bike would have earned its keep back in the 1930s but would not have sported such a splendid box if it had been owned by the local chimney sweep. Built by AJS as a practical motorcycle its side valve engine would not have provided high performance but would carry quite heavy loads uphill and down with relative ease.
AJS did prepare one of these V-twins for an attack on the motorcycle land speed record with a machine they thought would do 150mph (240 km/h). The attempt, at Arpajon in France, ended in failure when the engine seized at about 130mph (208km/h).
This bike was purchased in New Zealand from well-known collectors and suppliers of Vintage Motorcycle parts in 2008.
Below is the account of how the previous owner came across the bike.
“In 1984 I came back from Australia and couldn’t get a teaching job immediately so went to “fill in” at the local Jeep and Land Rover Agency in Auckland running the parts Dept. An elderly customer was my ‘go for’ and it turned out he purchased the AJS and sidecar in 1931 to take his eggs down to the Henderson rail station every day as he was an egg farmer running some 600 chickens. As time went on he purchased a Ford Model A to do the run and the AJS was relegated to the shed. In 1967 his son was stationed in the Navy and they threw the sidecar over the bank out of the way and the son used the R2 for daily transport.”
The previous owner went back to the old timer’s farm and found the side car assembly (or what was left of it) under a hedge and manage to resurrect it and reattach it after the rebuild.
