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Messages - john.k

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166
British Bikes / Re: girder forks of unusual type
« on: September 07, 2020, 03:12:31 AM »
Some oligarchs collect football teams ,some collect bikes.......This place also has a Brough or two .

167
British Bikes / girder forks of unusual type
« on: September 06, 2020, 04:17:30 AM »
Has anyone noticed a tube video on F book of a Russian museum Matchless X3 /1931 ,...the bike has a set of uncommon girder forks ...not Matchless ,IMHO ,but maybe some continental type.........four straight tubes ,with a bridge across the top for top pivot and also headlight mount.............Im sure Ive seen similar on one of the 1930s tiddlers ,maybe a Wolf 250? imported to UK from Germany?

168
Damn right about the five Vins........vice pres holds up a letter.."Heres a letter from a young enthusiast ,cant afford a bike ,I think maybe if some of "us" might give the lad something to start with...Not me ,obviously , but some of you who have a large surplus of stuff."......Yeah ,right......and then ...."look ,youve got too much on your plate".....I say ,mate ,coupla old bikes ,you joking ?........Ive had three D9Hs in pieces,thats when youve got too much ,and I mean in pieces ,stripped down to the bare frames to get the housings and track frames repaired.

169
British Bikes / Re: Norton Electra
« on: September 03, 2020, 10:07:53 PM »
The front forks and wheel are in fact ,Short Roadholders,with the internal rod damping and the Electra was a good source of front end spares for the bigger twins ......the many points of disaster built in to the small twins meant they more often broke unrepairably ,rather than crashed at terminal velocity ,as a Dominator or a  650SS might be expected to do.............Incidentally ,I suspect Herby Hopwood cribbed the unusual head design from the abortive Indian 249 model ,very similar IMHO............The gearbox is prone to seizure if an owner is careless in checking the oil ,seized bushes turning in the case and often cracking it.

170
European and Other Bikes / Re: Cito KG
« on: August 08, 2020, 12:17:16 PM »
Appears to be a Bosch starter /generator  above the gearbox .....quite common on early cars ,never seen one before on a bike .......not quite,many years ago I fitted a Lucas starter generator on a WW2 Norton 16H sidecar outfit for a boss at work.....the unit was quite large ,and had to be mounted in the sidecar frame ,with a direct drive to the engine sprocket....it was off a big pommy car ,and certainly whizzed the Norton over .

171
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 05, 2020, 09:26:09 PM »
I also note the aim of using a single carb per cylinder is air resonance in the intake ,and the overall length of the intake would need to be 15-20 inches long .......this is easily seen in the elaborate intakes of high performance US V8s of the 70s.

172
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 05, 2020, 08:08:26 AM »
Yes ,agreed ,the carbs on the fabricated manifold are postwar......prewar carbs quite clearly have four large holes .two in either side ......postwar 2 series(289) have only the front internal intake .........The other pic with the Holley also has a 4/71 blower mounted beneath the carb.......now while the 4/71 came out in 1937,the blowers were so expensive as a part  that no one in England would have used one........However ,now they are worth diddly,as the GMs are just scrap (except to a few one percenters who think everyone likes noise).......I have several 4/71 blowers I saved off compressors when the sandblasters sold out.....also one off a 6v71............The favoured one is of course the straight 6 blower off a late 6/71.,next the blower from an 8v71.

173
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 05, 2020, 07:56:24 AM »
Behind that is a through hole in the jet block that is listed as small primary air/fuel drain to prevent the engine filling with petrol when parked and the tap left on......Obviously this only works as a drain when the carb is conventionally mounted .......and furthermore ,this feature is absent on the prewar carbs .....which are somewhat different in the jet block as well ......This is because the  jet block  air comes in through four holes in the carb body ,and corresponding holes in the jet block ......this air is unfiltered ,and the system was changed in WW2 ,when engines were wearing out in 3000 miles in the choking dust of the Libyan desert.................Consequently ,I suspect this is the reason post war 2 prefix carbs wont work in odd positions............More to follow.

174
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 04, 2020, 09:26:29 AM »
Shoulda looked a bit closer ......not horizontal as in Triumph ,but downdraft with a horizontal slide ........Oddly enough ,in an old car book somewhere I have details of an Amal slide carb mounted downdraft,I know Douglas used one mounted updraft inside an airbox.........Instead of a Bugatti straight 8 ,he s got an old Ford flattie boat anchor...........Id certainly suggest 8 Strombergs ,just the same as my beach buggy of the 70s ,a Ford 292 Customline engine with 8 Strommies from sideplate Holdens.........and a small Blitz diff with aeroplane tyres.

175
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 04, 2020, 07:30:31 AM »
I believe the late Freddie Dixon ,of Douglas fame had a Bugatti with eight Amal RN dirt track carbies mounted on it ........but not on their sides,I suspect.......Ive never been able to figure out how the idle circuit would work for starting with the carb horizontal,without spilling fuel all over the magneto mounted underneath.....but Triumph were an adherent of the sideways Amal all through the 30s.....so it must have worked .......Ive never found anyone who could say if the horizontal was different internally ,and how they were different.......Unfortunately ,most millenials who own 1930s Triumph singles paid a large sum for them ,and consequently dont ride them ......fearing sudden devaluation of the investment on contact with an immovable object........or meeting another millenial playing with a device while driving......They will tell you how cool they think their cycle is,and thats about it.

176
British Bikes / Re: Coventry Eagle
« on: August 03, 2020, 09:15:45 PM »
More own them than will admit to it.........I finally managed to swap away the earthly remains of one a little while ago ......thought I did pretty well getting a rotary hoe JAP engine in exchange for the Villiers /3 speed Diecut/Allparts gearbox copy of the Albion EJ.......although I notice ,the fellow didnt bother taking the primary cases.....maybe he will return .Or not.

177
British Bikes / Re: AMAL 289 questions
« on: August 03, 2020, 09:09:19 PM »
Funny you should ask,Ive been trying to figure this out for some years ,off and on.....Incidentally ,I think the hole you refer to is the air bleed for the idle system...as you should know ,idle adjustments do not adjust fuel ,but bleed air ,fuel is metered by the internal passages in the jetblock............Working out the fuel level is easy enough ,and I did that quite easily by comparison with a bike with a horizontal carb,of which there were quite a few in the 30s ....Triumph ,New Imperial ,Excelsior.etc...........I also found out virtually no one living today can amswer these questions..........Those that have these bikes ,generally bought them restored ,and so are clueless,as are the majority of prewar bike owners now .......cheque book restorations.

178
American Bikes / Re: 1914 two speed American X
« on: July 31, 2020, 12:31:41 PM »
I seem to recall the Excelsior came from the Milledge collection.....when it was auctioned ,there was some surprise at the prices some machines fetched at that time .

179
American Bikes / Re: 1914 two speed American X
« on: July 30, 2020, 04:50:09 AM »
Same remarks as Stanger.......Wonder if the Oz govt would ever put an export order on a bike?

180
British Bikes / Re: Warren's Shed
« on: July 30, 2020, 04:45:21 AM »
The pics come out the right way up when you click them.......Very original rare bike.....as the older owners drop off the twig ,lots of stuff squirrelled away in the 60s comes to light . .....good windfall for the beneficiaries too ,no estate/inheritance tax in Oz......Unfortunately ,in non viral times ,its just packed into a container and sent to the US or England for the big bucks ....so ,as they say ...its a crook flood doesnt bring any firewood.

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