Motorcycle General Discussion

Thinking about this further - something has to be done by the rider to disturb the bike from its straight path before they can go into a turn.

JA

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I agree.

It's only when I became aware and started thinking about counter steering that I realised I was already doing it.

Nick

When I'm not fixing a BSA....

Hi Wolfie

I used to have a baby one, not many places in Wales I didn't get to on it...

Cheers

Garry

Finally peripheral neuropathy forced me to quit riding. When I stopped and put and foot a down my ankle gave way. It became too embarrassing when bystanders had to keep lifting the bike off me.

The wife was upset when I sold the Royal Enfield, she loved being the tottie on the back……..

I keep thinking that I should try for something with training wheels.

Ian

Here's me rotary...

Lathejack..the 1971 Triumphs and BSA were pretty rare in these parts too. Mine was the only Blazer SS that I ever saw or heard of on the road. (in a small country like this you tend to hear about things.) I did see one of the 1971 BSA street scrambler 250's (with the small front brake) years later and talked to the guy, but his had been brought in from the States. They weren't actually in production all that long as they were dropped when the factory went broke. I'm pretty sure that mine did have the cast iron oil pump.

One interesting thing.. I went to a bike show sometime in 1971 or so, and the BSA Triumph stand had the entire range of new models for that year on display. As well as the Gold Star labeled 250 and 500 single BSAs, the Triumph Blazer and so on, they had the Bandit and the Fury. For those who don't know them, these were the Triumph and BSA versions of a 350 twin that they were developing. Nice looking engine. They were never released and were dropped when they went broke. So what were the bikes I saw? Were they actual prototypes, or just mock up dummies with empty cases? Did they get shipped back to England or are they still out here somewhere? They looked complete and ready to go, but of course I never saw them run one. It is nice to imagine that maybe in a shed somewhere someone has these tucked away.

I do still wonder if the Blazer that I bought a few years later was the one that I saw at that show. There certainly never were many of them out here. It's good that you know about some of the weaknesses of that motor, I learnt about most of them the hard way. Actually, this is probably heresy, but the whole time I had that bike I was keeping my eye open for a suitable Japanese motor to transplant in. I would have liked one of the SL350 single engines from Honda, or maybe one of the Yamaha 500 four stroke singles, although the latter might have been a bit tall to fit in. The combination of the good handling from the British frame and running gear and the reliable Japanese engine would have been unbeatable. (Most Japanese bikes up to about that time were pretty mediocre around corners.) However that was a few years before the idea of motorcycle wreckers caught on here, and I never did see anything suitable. As it was, it certainly had its moments. There were times it would just decide not to start...then after maybe half an hour of messing around, checking spark etc, it would suddenly burst into life as if nothing had happened.

Although it was supposedly a street scrambler, with the high "breadbox" exhaust pipe, it was really more street than scrambler, and I put a Dunstall Decibel pipe on mine. It had the big front brake with the airscoop, same as the triples had that year. I know they found it a bit inadequate on the big bikes, but on a 250 it was just great. I do have some photos in an album somewhere. It was narrow enough that if you touched down the riders foot pegs in a corner, you were already sliding. I did that three times in the 25000 or so miles that I rode the bike. It had tapered roller bearings in the steering head, and needle rollers in the swingarm. A bike with a lot of potential, pity they hadn't developed a more up to date motor for it.

John

Applies to pushbikes too..

Now if you want to go left really fast, should you initially steer left in order to initiate the countersteer even faster?

It is interesting to ride no hands on pushbike or motorbike and just push the handlebar with a fingertip, if you fall off trying this don't blame me but the effect can be clearly demonstrated.

Mike

I recently rode a Centre Hub Steered bike down our lane, with no handle bars, (I might add not under power) it was just to prove to myself it could be done if the bike is setup correctly, and it worked a treat, I just have to get it finished now and test it under power....

Shaun

My Ridiculous

My sublime

Last Project bike during WIP

Next project currently being sought.

John.. Now I have the B25ss engine I might buy an OIF chassis and cycle parts to build a complete bike, I have my eye on one that is for sale at the moment.

Although the DOHC 350 Twin Triumph Bandit & BSA Fury mentioned by John Olsen never made it to full production, they did build some running examples. In fact there is a BSA Fury being offered for sale at the moment in the West Midlands. Been in a private collection for forty years and is a runner, although not started for a number of years. It is believed to be a factory test bike. So if you fancy one John then why not make them an offer.

Roger Williams Norton Rotary brings back a few memories. A local bike shop used to buy ex police Norton Interpol Rotaries and civilianise them, sometimes using fuel tanks, side panels and seat units from Honda CB900's. I took one of them for a test ride once, what a revelation, especially as I rode a Triumph T140 Bonneville at the time.

Edited By Lathejack on 31/10/2015 23:25:22

I was supposed to start as a graduate apprentice with BSA Triumph in September 1971. I was made redundant before I started! However when I went on the 3 day interview I found that they had solved the problem of new bikes leaking oil all over the showroom floor, they drained it out before shipping from the factory! The Bandit/Fury was only an updated 3TA, still a 2 bearing twin, granted very fast, but as the Honda twins of the time had a four bearing crank built like a brick outhouse (got to be polite on this forum!) it's not dificult to see why the Japanese wiped out our motorcycle industry, we gave it away. Pre war designs still being made in the 1960s. Yes they had gone unit construction, but basically the same, and still spending money tinkering with 2 designs which competed against each other. I reckon the BSA twins were actually better than the Triumphs, but I'll now go away and wash my mouth out.

And a very nice hanger at that! I like the little air scoop on the front brake. Is that an aftermarket accessory or did they come standard like that some years?.

The Germans, French and I think the Italians all had unit construction well before WW2 so even that was not much of a great leap forward in the early 1960s when Tri/BSA finally made the switch.

(And I always liked the BSA twins too. Shorter stroke made them a smoother bike than the other makes and the lack of external pushrod tubes etc made them more oil-tight. Except the 69 Thunderbolt I had that came standard with porous head casting!)

No, I don't really want one for myself, it is just intriguing to think that there might be one lying around somewhere. Of course they might have sent them on to Australia, or even back to England, although the latter seems unlikely.

They did miss a lot of opportunities in those last years, mostly by failing to put in the capital needed to update.They tended to pooh-pooh small bikes as being unprofitable compared to big ones, obviously not realising that you can sell a lot more small ones, and that if you can make a profit on small bikes you are well placed to make an even bigger profit on big ones. I have seen it claimed that Honda spent more developing the disc brake for the 750 four than BSA Triumph did developing their triples, although I don't know if that is true or not. But making a triple as multiple slices of vertically split crankcase does not seem very smart to me.

It is funny but on those 250 single engines, the crank seems to have been one thing they got pretty right. A one piece shaft with a plain big end bearing and a proper oil filter. Mind you, if I remember correctly that was the third design they had tried since the C15.

I must have a look through the albums, see if I can dig out the pictures of my Blazer.

I see there is one for sale in Australia, but that only has the small front brake:

http://www.bikepoint.com.au/dealer/OAG-AD-567829/1971-Triumph-Blazer-SS-T25-SS/?cr=0&psq=%28%28%28Make%3D[Triumph]%26Model%3D[Blazer%20SS%20T25%20SS]%29%26%28%28%28%28SiloType%3D[Brand%20new%20bikes%20available]|SiloType%3D[Brand%20new%20bikes%20in%20stock]%29|SiloType%3D[Demo%20%26%20near%20new%20bikes]%29|SiloType%3D[Dealer%20used%20bikes]%29|SiloType%3D[Private%20used%20bikes]%29%29%26Service%3D[Bikesales]%29&pso=0&pss=Premium

John

Edited By John Olsen on 01/11/2015 05:35:54

The Bandit/Fury was a great deal more than an updated 3TA!! Sure it had a two bearing crank, it was a motorbike engine, and Turner designed (Turner, design??, almost an oxymoron) the engine that was developed into the Bandit/Fury and the layout of the 3T. That's about it. When it was originally announced, I ordered one, fortunately they never made it that far down the development path.

It's a whole bitter subject, the collapse of the British motorcycle industry.

cheers

Bill