For those who like old Motorcycles.

[Northmoor]

1 hour ago, Kickstart said:

 

Hasn't been in Bike magazine for quite a few years.

Unfortunately Practical Sports Bikes, one of the few magazines left that covered actual spannering, has just stopped publication.

 

All the best

 

Katy

Ooh, thanks I wondered why it wasn't on the shelves any more.  As PSB incorporated Performance Bikes - which then ceased - that's at least two bike mags ending within about a year of each other.  I had the star letter published in it about a year ago and was promised a free subscription which never arrived; trying to get the subscription helpline to understand the problem was like trying to explain nuclear fission to a dog.  The sub-editor was brilliant, really apologetic and sent me three free copies as an apology.  Hope she at least keeps a job somewhere. 

 

It's a shame but is perhaps a clear indicator of where motorcycling is going, returning to the dark days of the early 90s when the industry was declining rapidly, new bike sales were rock bottom and young riders were almost non-existent; the market is dominated by older middle-age men riding full-dress adventure bikes ten miles to a tea shop on Sunday.  As an example, I live on an estate of several thousand people and since my neighbour's 19 y.o. son graduated to a (nearly new!) car, I rarely hear the sound of small motorbikes around here now.

[spikey]

14 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

 

Hmmmm.  Enough of the reminders already!  The 1968 Bonneville I bought new was a bloody awful bike.  Maybe it was a Friday afternoon one, but it was never trouble-free at any point in the short time I kept the thing. It was one of the three major mistakes I made in my life that year, the other two being selling the Vincent and marrying the wrong woman.  The only redeeming feature in that year was the subsequent acquisition at a silly price from Sport Motorcycles of a BSA Spitfire (which had a double-adult Busmar on the side but that's another story).  That and some really good gigs, including the only time I saw Sandy Denny, and the first(?) Isle of Wight festival ...

[spikey]

And by way of this week's caption competition, 'er on t'New Imperial is thinking - what exactly?

 

 

[Northmoor]

21 minutes ago, spikey said:

And by way of this week's caption competition, 'er on t'New Imperial is thinking - what exactly?

 

 

"Ooh our Albert never said they did that, I twist this and Oooh-errr-ah-ha.  That's it, he can do his own bl00dy cookin' an' washin' from now on".

[Kickstart]

2 hours ago, Northmoor said:

Ooh, thanks I wondered why it wasn't on the shelves any more.  As PSB incorporated Performance Bikes - which then ceased - that's at least two bike mags ending within about a year of each other.  I had the star letter published in it about a year ago and was promised a free subscription which never arrived; trying to get the subscription helpline to understand the problem was like trying to explain nuclear fission to a dog.  The sub-editor was brilliant, really apologetic and sent me three free copies as an apology.  Hope she at least keeps a job somewhere. 

 

It's a shame but is perhaps a clear indicator of where motorcycling is going, returning to the dark days of the early 90s when the industry was declining rapidly, new bike sales were rock bottom and young riders were almost non-existent; the market is dominated by older middle-age men riding full-dress adventure bikes ten miles to a tea shop on Sunday.  As an example, I live on an estate of several thousand people and since my neighbour's 19 y.o. son graduated to a (nearly new!) car, I rarely hear the sound of small motorbikes around here now.

 

I used to like PB, but at some point in the mid 1990s it seemed to become more proud of how many bikes they could crash. It did improve again, but never really to the same level. PSB took up a lot of what it missed.

 

Unfortunately we now seem to be left with a few classic bike magazines, Classic Motorcycle Mechanics, Bike (which seems to have become "adventure bikes are us") and Ride (basically reviews). Classic Motorcycke Mechanics is the best of what it left.

 

Not surprised younger riders are pushed away. Current test system is a nightmare, and too many of the available learner bikes are either hideously expensive (a YZFR125 is £5300), or quick rot cheapies. Further, bike theft seems to have become regular again. One friends bike had about a dozen attempts made on it, and only a few weeks back a friends bike was stolen from a supposedly secure car park in Nottingham (only news on it after that was them getting a ticket when the theives rode it down a bus lane).

 

All the best

 

Katy

[New Haven Neil]

A pal (ex TT sidecar racer) has a unit T100 (I think, not my era)....looks for photo.... looks nice, sounds nice but doesn't actually handle all that well, front forks are dire despite loving attention.  Not a great bike at all, but his Dommie 88 is a slower but so much nicer ride.  Like that Beezer BTW, nice stylee.

 

 

I agree Frank's 'Tales From the Shed' is the best part of Real Classic, but its noticeable he rides a modern for a daily!

 

Oh, as for Gordon's 88....it may, well, leak a bit.....'character'.

 

 

 

[spikey]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

A pal (ex TT sidecar racer) has a unit T100 (I think, not my era)....looks for photo.... looks nice, sounds nice but doesn't actually handle all that well, front forks are dire despite loving attention. 

 

 

Interesting you say that.  I had a 1965 T90 (same dog, different spots) from new for a couple of years and put well over 40K miles on it with no complaints whatsoever, and a later (1967?) T100, and AFAIC they both  handled well enough both solo and two-up, although I do seem to think they were a bit fussy about tyre make and pressures ...

[New Haven Neil]

Gordon's never been quite happy with it, maybe something's awry somewhere.  He has 'several' other bikes #cough# but while the T100 is the prettyest, it is far from a fave.  We've tried changing fork oil grades, put Hagon shocks on, but it still feels a little wayward at times.  Must look at the tyres and see what they are.  Not particularly modern looking at that photo that is only a year or two old.

[rockershovel]

I always thought the T100 was the best of the later Meriden Triumphs. I had a green and cream one and rode it all over...

[MrWolf]

6 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Gordon's never been quite happy with it, maybe something's awry somewhere.  He has 'several' other bikes #cough# but while the T100 is the prettyest, it is far from a fave.  We've tried changing fork oil grades, put Hagon shocks on, but it still feels a little wayward at times.  Must look at the tyres and see what they are.  Not particularly modern looking at that photo that is only a year or two old.

 

Those tyres look like Dunlop K70s, which are generally very good. But there's K70 lookalikes out there which can be a little twitchy on bends with undulating surfaces. It's also worth checking that both rear dampers are behaving equally with and without the springs fitted. Had that on an S/A A10 of all things.

[spikey]

 

Note how the one on the left has almost perfected Traffic Officer's Glare, with which in due course he will hope to slow down speeding motorists.  But whatever, those gauntlets remind me to ask if anyone knows why so many of them had such a generous funnel-shaped "cuff".  I get that it made it so much easier to tuck the cuffs of your jacket into them, but why on earth were they so cavernous?

[MrWolf]

IIRC they were a visual aid for directing traffic in an emergency. No point in the whole glove being white on a motorcycle!

 

This is Birmingham, the bikes are BSA A10s, c1952

 

Wikipedia.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by MrWolf

[spikey]

Gosh, I do believe you're right.  That would make sense.  Incidentally, Traffic Officer's Glare is a kosher plod term which I picked up from the bike cops in Brighton when I got sent by Superbike to write a story about them.  This was early 80s, when Sussex Police had fallen out bigtime with BMW on account of them blaming the boxer's handling for throwing coppers off them.  I took great pleasure in turning up at the Brighton HQ on my R80/7 and parking it next to the police Guzzis. 

 

Security was really tight, and the fact that Sussex had a squad of unmarked bikes ridden by unmarked coppers was supposed to be Secret.  However, the copper on the gate checked my paperwork then asked who I was there to see, and as instructed I replied "the bike team".  To which he said "Marked or unmarked"?

 

Best part of the day though was tailing two police bikers around the town, then being tailed by them back to base the pretty way.  I must have passed, because after lunch in the canteen we went up round Devils Dyke, and they both had a go on the 80/7 while I got a go on one of the Guzzis, which I must say went surprisingly well.  They were fitted with an interesting bit of kit called the Police Pilot, but I'm buggered if i can remember how it worked.

 

Happy days ... 🙂

Edited March 11, 2023 by spikey
the inevitable typo

[New Haven Neil]

On 08/03/2023 at 23:51, MrWolf said:

 

Those tyres look like Dunlop K70s, which are generally very good. But there's K70 lookalikes out there which can be a little twitchy on bends with undulating surfaces. It's also worth checking that both rear dampers are behaving equally with and without the springs fitted. Had that on an S/A A10 of all things.

 

When he next gets it out we'll go over it, but he is now working on the Dommie which has a gearbox leak.  He got his 900SS (Supersport, not a bevel) Duke out for a run on Friday with the group, only for it snow.  So the strumpet is in the back of the queue for now. 

 

We've also got a Golden arrow to debug for one the other members of the Old Farts Bike Club, it's really nicely restored but not shaken down, lots of silly little niggles, he's lost faith in it a bit.  That guy also has a Matchbox G9 he's going to sell, nice tidy oily rag sort of condition, original looking and more to my taste than over restored show queens.  Sounds very nice, but pees oil out of somewhere not yet detected, round the back of the barrels somewhere.  I would have it myself but Mrs NHN won't ride bikes with the gears on the 'wrong' side and we have a sort of agreement any bike we have can be ridden by both of us.  

[MrWolf]

I remember when the memsahib went for riding lessons, (after puttering around private land on various BSA, Ariel, a hand change Sunbeam and the Triumph she blew her savings on.) having been shown the basics of the 125 Yamaha she asked why the learner bikes had the gears on the wrong side?

Is that Dommy a late enough model to have the AMC gearbox? We went through replacing every seal on my mate's Norton Mercury, not a bad job but the kickstart mech is fiddly and prone to historic bodges.

A Golden Arrow isn't a bike I've ever worked on, although somewhere amongst the autojumble is a pair of those weird flat strip footrests which I cannot remember where I got them!

[New Haven Neil]

The Dommies an 88, so I presume not?  

 

The Arrer....oh my little Enfield sneaking in too.

 

[spikey]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 ... Mrs NHN won't ride bikes with the gears on the 'wrong' side ...

 

And quite right too. 

[rockershovel]

16 hours ago, spikey said:

 

Note how the one on the left has almost perfected Traffic Officer's Glare, with which in due course he will hope to slow down speeding motorists.  But whatever, those gauntlets remind me to ask if anyone knows why so many of them had such a generous funnel-shaped "cuff".  I get that it made it so much easier to tuck the cuffs of your jacket into them, but why on earth were they so cavernous?

... to fit over the cuffs of Stormgards...

 

https://thetailoredride.com/post/145922200969/12-the-dispatch-riders-coat-despatch-riders

Edited March 12, 2023 by rockershovel

[Sidecar Racer]

 

I don't drop in here often but just came across this .

 

 

 

[MrWolf]

That's a very impressive machine and a lucky find, thanks for sharing.

 

But hang on, he wants to what? Swap it for some big Honda Village People Limited Edition cruiser where all the shiny chrome is just plastic?

 

Someone's done too much acid, or maybe not enough?

 

 

[InTheTrainShed]

On 08/03/2023 at 15:00, New Haven Neil said:

A pal (ex TT sidecar racer) has a unit T100 (I think, not my era)....looks for photo.... looks nice, sounds nice but doesn't actually handle all that well, front forks are dire despite loving attention.  Not a great bike at all, but his Dommie 88 is a slower but so much nicer ride.  Like that Beezer BTW, nice stylee.

 

 

I agree Frank's 'Tales From the Shed' is the best part of Real Classic, but its noticeable he rides a modern for a daily!

 

Oh, as for Gordon's 88....it may, well, leak a bit.....'character'.

 

 

 

Neil that front tyre appears to be directional ? And fitted the wrong way round ?

[sandwich station]

29 minutes ago, InTheTrainShed said:

Neil that front tyre appears to be directional ? And fitted the wrong way round ?

 

If that is a directional arrow, then it is fitted the right way.

[spikey]

7 hours ago, MrWolf said:

... Someone's done too much acid, or maybe not enough?

 

Well one thing's for sure - that beard's certainly not right.

[MrWolf]

Probably has a jawline like Butthead without the beard....

[Sidecar Racer]

7 hours ago, sandwich station said:

 

If that is a directional arrow, then it is fitted the right way.

 The directional arrow looks to be just left of the yellow mark .

Edited March 17, 2023 by Sidecar Racer