Vintage motorbike

The age of Jap two strokes was a golden age IMHO. The likes of the KH250/400, RD250/400, RD350LC etc. It's a real shame we don't have such machines like that these days. Full of character, highly dangerous and tons of fun. I'm rebuilding a 1992 Honda Fireblade at the moment, the "Urban Tiger" as it was known. Another mental bike but the one that started it all for what we now accept as the modern super bike. Although I have found a 1981 750 Bonnerville US Spec in Florida for $2000. All complete and has been stored in an air conditioned garage for 30 years. This was the bike I wanted when I was a little chap but could never afford it, so I have to have it really. Going to see it in a few weeks time.

I'm very excited to see your 750 Kettle project progress, please post pictures as you go.

Would someone please take pity and explain how to insert 'Smilies' where I want then to be, when using an iPad.

Right now they all end up at the beginning of the post, no matter what I do.

Geoff - Can't think of anything to put here

Hi Geoff,

Is that what they call a non sequiteur?

Neil

Not forgetting of course the water-cooled two-stroke Scott motorcycles of the 1920s/30s and the watercooled LE Velocette "Noddy bike" of the 60s. But not many of them still around in the 70s.

Here in Oz, the Suzi 750 was also known as the Water Bucket, and the Water Buffalo, the latter maybe because of its handling and limited cornering clearance.

Anyone else sad with the spiralling prices of old british motorcycles ? They used to be something an enthusiast could pick up out of someones shed or from under a tarp in a back garden , for a small amount of money , fixed up and ridden around in all weathers and swapped, sold or traded with out recourse to a second mortgage. Obviously there were exceptions like brough superiors or vincents , but look at the prices of some pretty plain old bsa's , triumph's etc , they have gone crazy, putting them beyond the pockets of the genuine enthusiast and into the realm of investors.

Edited By ronan walsh on 22/10/2014 14:42:21

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Smilies have zero place on a model engineering forum.

Nick

HI guy's,

yep tough out there now for bikes at a fair prices…….I'd luv a Velo Thruxton or a G8 Match, even a Goldie…..

for info, when the 750 Suzuki came out we called it a "KETTLE" here………nice bike….

I always wanted a 4cyl Indian to go with my Scout……. (highest price is now $90,000)…..a wreck is around

£20-25,000 and more than 10,000 to fix it…….

so am in the middle of building my own……

4cyl NSuU1000 eng, Bmw R60 g/box and trans…..

will fabricate my own frame and wheels / hubs etc and it'll still cost around £8 - 10,000, excluding my time…..but it'll be fun, have the look and go around the world……can't say to much…er indoors…hahaha…...

part of my bucket list is to DHL it to NY, ride it to Sturgis via Daytona Beach and then on to S/ Calif where I used to live…..then back to Crete……

have already driven back from Calif via the southern route in a 1950's Morris J pick-up…that was fun…..

who said retirement was boring…..hahaha…….working harder now than ever….....

Cheers Frank in France…...

I agree prices over the last few years have gone a bit nuts, I own a few classic bikes, and my mates all have either Norton's, Triumph's or other similar bikes, most also have a modern bike as well, my own personal view on classics as listed above is it wont last much longer, I think my generation I'm 53 are the last that will want to own 60's 70's and 80's bikes, I came to this conclusion from listening to my son and his mates chatting about what they call classics, CBR 600s, and early 90's Fireblades etc. don't get me wrong they like the look of the older bikes but they want lecky start and no points etc. as for tickling a carb as my lad say's F*&^ that, the real early bikes, Broughs, Vincent's, Rudge, and perhaps Velocette may hold there price due to rarity but will be collected by accountants etc. not bikers!, although I do hope I'm wrong.......


Shaun

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Geoff,

1. Because it's Gold
2. Because it fits ... and I don't want to go through the moulding & casting process all over again.

Please be assured ... My intention is to avoid swallowing it.

MichaelG.

... I see you've found out how to put smileys at the end of the line.

Both my late dad and I were avid bikers. In 1939 my dad was 15 years old and very mechanically inclined. His first bike was a 1925 Harley Davidson. He saw the advert in a national weekly magazine (Saturday Evening Post). The ad stated that the bike was running rough and the asking price was $50 CAD. The gentleman who owned it lived in Toronto which was 1500 miles from my dad's home at the time. Dad called the man and spoke to him at length with regard to the the bike and the rough running condition mentioned in the ad. The man was so impressed by my father's honesty and sincerity over the phone that he agreed to dad's proposed terms and sold it to him under the following conditions. The following day, dad wired $5 to the man. The balance was to be paid at the rate of $5 per month for 9 months (paid in full). When he received the $5 deposit, the man sent the bike by rail, freight collect to the local train station. A few days later, my grandfather and dad picked up the bike with granddads' horse and wagon. The freight bill was $4.97. Turned out to have a burnt valve which dad promptly fixed. Amazing but true story of the mutual honesty and trustworthiness that was prevalent in those days. Not so today. Here is a photo of my dad's brother sitting on the bike shortly after it arrived.

Neil,

You will have to elaborate if you do not mind, those words are too high falutin for me :-;

MichaelG,

Ah, I take your point, and expensive to replace.

Just be careful if it lets go whilst chewing.

Happened to me with a filling, and that disappeared South before I had time to register.

The only way I can think of putting those yellow things where I want them to end up, is to use the keys ala : - ) but that only allows a few.

Geoff - More progress made with FeedRodMotor, photos tomorrow.

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Geoff,

Here I am, using an original iPad with iOS 5.1.1

Cursor is positioned, Smiley icon selected from the menu bar; pop-up window appears with a selection of Smiley things, select one and job's a good-un.

Sorry but I can't understand the problem you are having.

Note: There are a couple of behavioural oddities

• sometimes the menu icons need tapping twice
• sometimes the editor "freezes" ... hiding the keyboard, and then going back into the editor seems to fix this.

Can you describe how it's not working for you

MichaelG.

A right impressive bit of work.

http://youtu.be/iJA7lSx4E2M

After years of triumphs and a BMW I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Norton.

A Norton Mk3 Interstate, delivered by a factory van to Ernie Pages shop in Edinburgh, quick going over by factory mechanics 2 off, "take it round the block mate and tell us what you think"

First left hand turn and wha hey we were off like the clappers, reason throttle cable too short and that was just the beginning, a month later they dropped the price by £200, then breaking while entering a motorway service station the bike felt if it was going to fall apart, on investigation the 'chromed' front disk was losing its chrome.

The list goes on leaking rev cable that had been 'fixed' since the 2c model, exhausts that came loose at 80mph, after they had been 'fixed' Isolastic suspension that used to make the Edinburgh taxi drivers laugh.

The front forks developed black smudge marks that never went away; Ernie Page replaced them with a set off his window 2C model as Norton wanted me to send the forks to them. Reply was that the castings were porous!

Its finally trick was late at night travelling across the M8 heading back to barracks it developed a loud clatter, a quick neutral and engine switched off and coasted to the side of the motorway. Kicking it over, yes it did have an electric starter, aptly named 'prestolite' it sounded if a tappet had come loose. On inspection the right hand exhaust had developed about a quarter of an inch play. Abandoned for the night and picked up the next day with a land rover we took it to Ernie's shop, a valve spring (Japanese) had lost it spring sending the exhaust valve through the piston.. A week out of its guarantee Norton didn't want to know, Ernie paid for its repair and said sell it.

Edgar Brothers, Leith Walk had a customer looking for a interstate so a deal was done and I became the owner of a Honda 750F1 straight out of its crate, 500 miles over the weekend a service and off to Berlin by road, the first UK soldier to ride his bike through East Germany, in the winter.

The Honda tramped along at over 100mph on continental roadsfrom for four years doing over 120,000 miles and apart normal service replacements and a turn of the key and it purred into life, never missing a beat.

Norton certainly ended my boyhood dream!

Cyril , i have to agree with your appraisal of the norton or other british bikes of the early 70's until the bitter end. They were in the main, overstretched 1930's designs that were overtuned to try and keep up with the power and speed of the latest japanese stuff. I find british bikes pleasant and reliable if they are softly tuned and not ridden at 90mph everywhere. Bikes like the bsa golden flash , or the b-series singles , the triumph thunderbird.

Edited By ronan walsh on 26/10/2014 21:23:34

I had a Matchless 350cc single in the sixties, never had a problem with it. I replaced it with a Matchless twin. It wasn't an improvement, it vibrated horribly and bits often fell off, usually quite important bits. I then bought a Honda 750/4. I never did get the Matchless back on the road, it finished up in a skip.

LOL, Cyril, porous fork leg castings -- that's nowt. I had a 1969 BSA Thunderbolt twin that had a porous cylinder head casting that never could be cured of leaking oil. Found out later there was a whole batch of them made like that.

Shame, It was a beautiful. looking bike and lovely to ride.

Here are some bikes I'm working on at the moment

MichaelG,

I do exactly as you describe and it works on all other Forums, except on this one.

It make absolutely no difference whereabouts I position the curser, ALL smilies end up as in this reply.

Geoff - Good progress made fitting the electric motors on the milling machines.

I've started reading my collection of Model Engineer again at last, and enjoy the 'Motor Cycle News' articles by 'Phoenix', busy with Volume 37, but need to dive into my dictionary every so often as he uses words that went out of fashion a long time ago ie 'averring' and 'assaying' amongst others.

Riding old 'bikes must be akin to driving old cars, where brain needs to be 'in gear' all the time, unlike with 'moderns'.

Geoff - I love driving my oldies.