AJS 498cc O.H.V Model 3718 1937 – PDF Download

A Delightful Sports Model

Cyclops gave the AJS a hard week’s work during the Scottish Six day

As will undoubtedly be agreed by all who, knowing the circumstances referred to, read this report, the 1937 Model 37/18 498 c.c. AJS which recently passed through our hands has undergone a test of an unusually arduous and searching nature.

In addition to being road-tested in the ordinary way, the model was, with the maker’s permission, used for two most important but extremely difficult ” jobs of work.” The first was to pilot ” Cyclops ” round some of the choicest bits of the International Six Days’ route; the second task the AJS was called upon to carry out was to accompany our sporting contributor on the Scottish Six Days’ Trial.

What “Cyclops” Said

As a matter of fact the A.J.S had only been in our hands a day or two before “Cyclops ” decided to use it on his excursion into the Wilds of Wales exploring the proposed International route. Of that experience he writes as follows:-

“Several things decided me to take the A.J.S. to Wales. In the first place I was impressed with the thorough way in which the model was prepared. The neat way in which the control cables were- ‘trained’ along the handlebars and frame members with spring clips and the fact that every single detail was in perfect adjustment mean a lot when one has to select a mount to ride over unknown tracks miles from anywhere. The A.J .S. also possessed an extremely lively engine with bags of punch. It steered to perfection, held the road as a race-bred machine does, and generally gave the impression that it would be ideal for the job.

“And so it proved to be! That week-end the A.J.S. covered over 300 miles of very mixed going. It never faltered once and not even on its return was any adjustment called for.

“Those of you who read the article, in our issue of April 21 last, that was contributed by ‘Tornapress ‘ and myself on the proposed International route, will have a pretty good idea of the type of stuff over which we rode. Miles of mountain tracks with rocky outcrops and deep cross gullies here, there and everywhere; loose tracks in which the model slithered and slid in an attempt to get wheel grip, while the rain which favoured our visit did not help us much. In addition, of course, there were many miles of fairly good secondary roads and passable main roads, but the tit-bit was Ystum Tuen, the acclivity which the A.-C.U. has decided to cut out of the route.