Motorcycle 'blipping'...

The new Amal carburettors made by Burlen's are made from decent material and the slides are anodised/plated. Something Amal should have done!

It should be remembered that Amal had to give their customers (the motorcycle manufactures) what they wanted. When BSA wanted carburettor costs reduced Amal needed to react. What we got was the "concentric" replacing the "monobloc". A inferior device but much cheaper to manufacture.

As for "blipping" the throttle, worn carb., incorrectly set, poor maintenance, habit, macho?

John

Probably just blipping their throttle to revel in the joy of being young and enthusiastic and full of life and promise and joie de vivre. You know?

Paul Kemp, I must agree there is an element of irresponsible riders who give the majority a bad name. It is avoiding their type of riding that has given me the pleasure over 50 plus years. Chris.

I have a 1960 Matchless G3 (ex AFS) that has covered 56000 miles on the original Amal 375 Monobloc carburettor. No air filter was fitted on this model. It starts easily & runs well. It does require a rebore, new valves and guides. Doing that now.

Unfortunately, there is a continuing supply of chimps that fit loud exhausts & blip throttles, Darwin keeps their numbers in check, at least to some extent.

We were all young once. I know that I used to wind up my bike at times. Lots of times. What the youngsters do not comprehend is that when they regularly wind the throttle full bore and blast up the road on their way home from work, they can be heard for some considerable distance. It is easy for plod to site their speed traps at the appropriate time and place, if there are complaints.

In the 'good' old days, many motorcycles were not inclined to tick-over reliably even when new. Especially the cheap two-strokes preferred by beginners. And re-starting the engine was a pain, too. The situation was not improved when amatuer tuning took place, often requiring such sophisticated tools as a coal hammer and a mole wrench. Then the beginner went to a race meeting, and noticed that all the racers did not tick-over at all, but kept blipping their throttles as they warmed up etc (as they had too little flywheel and too much valve overlap). So, a habit turned into a culture.

Cheers, Tim

If only that were true. We have bikers blasting up and down a nearby dual carriageway, normally late at night. It’s not nice for the many thousands of households that have to put up with this selfish behaviour. One of them didn’t make it though last year, he didn’t stop in time and hit a road sign at the roundabout. They reckon he was doing well over double the speed limit. The local Police really aren’t interested in the problem judging by their attitude. Hopefully ICE bikes will be banned in the future like cars and these idiots can kill themselves quietly on electric bikes.

Yes, one wonders why some of these powerful motorcycles are limited to 188mph (300km/h) Even with that sort of gearing they need the traction control electronics to reduce the tyre scrubbing at any legal speeds, in several of their gears, if they are wound up too sharply. Isle of Man TT On now so a good few will be racing round the mountain circuit instead of getting frustrated with ‘normal’ roads, but those that have not managed to go will be trying to emulate their heros.

Yes John, and the british motorcycle industry did exactly the same thing with Lucas. Forever looking for reductions in price and of course that was to reflect on quality. Leading to British Motorcycles becoming a joke in reliability terms.

The infamous BSA goldstars were fitted with carbs that had no provision for a throttle or slide stop, that and the tuned engine, they were never going to tick over. Still wished i had one in the shed though.

Blipping for those who enjoy a bit of throttle blipping.

Mike

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I reckon a lot of born again motorcyclists don't cop the fact that modern bikes have multiples of the power of the old stuff. Old bonnevilles, commandos, 60 hp if you were lucky, a bit more for the japanese bikes of the 70's and 80's, but now they are crazy, up to 200 hp in a road bike

Up to 217hp for Ducati Panigale, I think it is only the speedo that stops at 300kph the bikes can exceed that speed.

Mike

Yes, A superbike in those days. They also sent SMB out on virtually the same machine in the 350cc class. They simply increased the stroke to get near 300cc - enough to be tremendously competitive with other marques.

Amazing, in the 50's, 60's the manx nortons and bsa goldstars, were the top of the heap and they made about 50 hp.

It is the law that they are electronically limited to 188mph. For safety reasons, would you believe?

It is the law that they are electronically limited to 188mph. For safety reasons, would you believe?

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My (standard) Yamaha MT10 has an electronic quick shifter (for clutchless up changes) electronic absolute speed limiting, (max of something I've not seen yet, but starts to kill the power at 155mph, I fly so have access to an airfield, probably 186 mph, which is the basis of the "gentelmans agreement" between the Japanese bike companies, BMW have limits on their cars at 155mph)
Has cruise control, selectable speed limiting, traction control, variable electronic power output limits, the traction control electronically limits "wheelies" (in some modes) the electronics vary the output power available in each gear individually. ABS on both wheels under braking.

And no "Anti Stall" (as fitted to my Ford) so you do have to manually give it a bit when pulling away.

Limiting factor still being the nut between the seat and the handlebars . .