Motorcycle General Discussion

John, I ride vintage bikes that are pretty much too slow on busy roads. I used to live in Northumberland and the roads there were ideal for low powered slow machines, however I now live on the south side of Manchester and there is only one road that is suitable for me to get out of the area up into the Derbyshire Peak District. As a result I tend to ride my trusty BSA A-10 or the Velo locally and save the vintage bikes for special occasions like the VMCC's Northumbrian Gathering.

At last years event I noticed one of the Stalwarts of the South Durham Branch wearing a black jacket with the words

" I Do Not Do Fast

Or Faster"

In big white letters on his back. One thing I have learned riding my old Vintage bikes is to keep well out from the Kerb and do not be intimidated into pulling into the kerb to let impatient drivers past. I will only pull into the side of the road if I can see that the cars behind me can get past with sufficient room to spare to enabler me to return to my normal position on the road. If yo pull over to let one past you can bet your bottom dollar there will be some pillock who will try to squeeze past and nip in quickly forcing you to stay in close to the kerb of worse.

I think a 98cc villiers engine might be tuneable but I doubt the level of tuning that some of the go karts were tuned to in the 50's would do much for reliability. Just fit a 2T engine in the frame, that'l give it plenty of go.

"live life at a moderate pace. Die in middle age".

Neil

No ideas to improve performance, plenty enough for me. Talking of Villiers 98cc engines, I have a power saw in shed powered by same, used it to cut through firewood trees simply by laying chain on trunk and releasing clutch, taking engine above idle and gravity did the rest - used to think me knuckles were nearer the ground after a session on that thing.

Must get it going again to enjoy the sound of straight out 2 stroke exhaust port at arms length.

I had a 98cc villiers "autobike" with pedals and no gears ! These old villiers motors are easy to tune and are quite strong. Higher comp. ratio, pack the crankcase with a horse-shoe shaped ally spacer are starters ,done with moderation should not affect reliability to much. There must be lots on the net about this. PS -a mate of mine used an early chainsaw with a 197 villiers motor.

A mate of mine has an Indian built Royal Enfield side car combination, with a diesel engine, with a passenger in the sidecar it has atop speed of 45K ph, last time he took it to a show he displayed it as a stationary engine!!

Ian S C

A past club member who restores old vehicles really confused the old bike experts he put an ancient Jap industrial engine in an home made chassi it looked 1930ish.

Lot of head scratching by onlookers deciding what bike it was.

He has a sense of humor

Yesterday after going to PEEMS club workshop in the morning went to Elvington to see the fast lads and lasses speed testing for UK speed week later in the year.

Was talking to Mick husband of a fast biking lady Becky 264mph hoping after they sort her new machine after her high speed crash last year to set a record at 270mph then maybe retire.

Wind was across the runway so speeds were a bit down one did 217mph while I was there.

There's a good write up of the bike's history here **LINK**

Went to see a acquaintance from the speed record scene who used to watch me when he was a kid on his push bike at Elvington now he is a leading light on top speed machines.

I picked up some 5" thick 2014 plate also an overdrive unit converted to air shifting for my latest project and was shown some of his creations to name a few a v8 motor cycle now converted to 3 wheels for stability 180 plus mph.

Parts for a gas turbine record attempt motorcycle and then an interesting alcohol 2 wheeler plus an Allchin model another unusual job was a mould for a turkey artificial insemination also a piece of lightweight aluminium.

Got there at 9-30am did not leave till mid afternoon there is another machine that would literally blow your mind heard a test firing but sworn to secrecy until it's running when allowed will let you all know about it.

His quality of engineering makes my hammer and chisel modeling look so amateur but he is also self taught.

Will see him again next Tuesday at Elvington top speed when the fastest women 264mph Becci will be testing her latest bike after last years was wrote of in a high speed crash.

Went to a wet Elvington today a few brave souls had some high-speed runs but was a bit dodgy at times.

Met some very interesting friends who are preparing for a land speed record motorcycle attempt Face book viewers have a look at https://www.facebook.com/The52Express/ 

I've put an order in to one of the team for more materials for my own slow speed project their enthusiasm is an addiction that's infectious these enthusiasts take years for dreams that eventually become reality.  

A few pictures from today unfortunately the UK fastest lady could not test her latest machine because of wet conditions also pictures of two 100+ Lambretta scooters and 52 express power plant.

Edited By Windy on 12/04/2016 17:03:23

Hi Gents

Ditto as Neil says:

(+1 to what Paul says - if a bike unsticks, it goes forwards in a straight line, it doesn't fly outwards.

Nei

However the real question is acts in relation to what !!!!!!!

If Gravity, the curvature of the earth and how start is a straight line.

Having had gravel rash a couple of times i have discovered that oh! shit is no fix to angular seperation.

Rufus

4 cylinder 50cc racer. A great attempt to do something different.

**LINK**

One of the greats of sidecar racing with his own design of engine **LINK**

Yes Windy, so much better than the TZ Yamaha engine outfits of the era.

Although Sir John didn't like our circuit in NE Yorkshire, the chariot battles between Max, Fritz, Florian, and Helmut still bring back fond sixties memories.

Regards Ian.

Windy, keep your posts coming, so interesting .

Hows this for a monocycle?

Note the 100mph claim by the Italian inventor...

.

I take it that was in reverse.?

Nick