Margate less than 10 British Bikes pre 1991

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Guys,
Its good to let it all go.....the point is and I know I was being Devil's advocate but, British bikes are disappearing off the road, the second point I would make is how unfriendly its all getting too, it probably always has been a little of the one-upmanship... but  people complain about the same things, how judgemental & how uptight its all becoming, when I  was a member of the BSA Owners Club it didn't matter what you had, you usually progressed through various mounts to approval from the club.
Interestingly enough on a prog' "The Bike Show" before the TT Highlights, the guy presenting it said about all the Custom firms going bust in the USA, some of them previously turning over huge sums of money, surely in the 60s there was resentment to Cafe Racers, for me handling was paramount so a customised bike was a no-no, if it had extended forks or a rigid frame.

Actually, at said event, two Bonneville's were parked together, one a Hinkley version & the other a Meriden and the Meriden version looks sweetn'light in comparison to the  cumbersome & ugly pretender, why couldn't they have cast the engine casings in a more aesthetically pleasing shape?

Keep riding, keep smiling take it easy.....I will post some shots when I have downloaded them!


Cheers


JBW
Sometimes @ slightly different events, it makes someone's day to see an old Brit bike, just remember what happiness you can give to others as you tootle round & park up something with a Made in England sticker on it, or should I say "Hand-made" , you really are a lucky bunch, its not the same seeing things in museums

[wetdog]

how true , but really the best handeling bikes in the 60s where custom home built , some good some bad , the triumphs i have from the 60s are not good handeling bikes (or brakes) this includes the TLS 68/70 models , the best handeling standard triumphs i have ever rode are the OIF tigers bonnys etc but some classic bike members look down on these models , why? managed to load a pic of me bb34 not to many miles away from standard but rough enough to use and abuse with out worry

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Wetdog,
I suppose each one of us, thinks about Custom bikes differently, Custom bikes to me were Choppers and the like,  more arty-farty straight line "look at me stuff", Triton's e.t.c. were were customised specials for hard riding twisty roads, however, an American once informed me, that in Aussieland, South Africa and the USA you could ride hundreds of miles, with only a few corners, so I guess clip-ons & rear-sets would be a little stupid in these circumstances, so that's why the Harley cruiser thing developed, laid back & comfy sort of thing! 

My BMW K75 has Sport/ace type bars as standard, sometimes a little uncomfortable, but it made it look or so more mean & purposeful so I never changed them!
Oh & I was once just accelerating through the 80s and a Jap' rocketship whizzed past me like I was standing still, he was so close and it sounded like a mad chainsaw, it made me jump I nearly abandoned ship, I bet he loved it and by the time I hit the roundabout a mile up the road he was gone & I was supposed to have 75 little horses running under me somewhere, I guess some of them must have been out grazing, having said that the K75 was a bulky beast, it did piss me off for a few minutes though * I wondered whether a change of underwear was called for,  I consoled myself that my engine was still running sweet @ 15 years old & his who knows, but I can safely bet......it won't last that long!


Cheers

JBW

[wetdog]

i agree and as it just so happens a K100 is my everyday bike , has done well over 160,000 miles and going strong , i have only ever changed the oil ? make so you wonder why ive so many british (about 40) , but the truth is i like working on them more than riding them , i veiw them as almost works of art ,  as all trips over 100 miles im on the BM . PS ive cut the rear of the frame off (now single seat) and fitted it with T bars and it looks the Bol****cks in matt green , cost me £300 over 12 years ago and still worth about the same today so not a good investment but a very very good bike , id say a modern day Panther 

[rosko]

I don't think British bikes are disappearing off the road, I think they are just keeping out the way. Lets face it todays A roads are not a nice place for an older machine, so maybe like me they sneak around the side roads. Especially on high days and holidays when its quiet.

As for the K100's I am envious you all can afford to run one of them. how much for a rear tyre? 35 mpg?

I can't even pick one of them up, I once had a job delivering  contract hire Police BMWs and Pan Euros to various police forces, the weight of them is staggering.

[wetdog]

mine does more than 35mpg ( just i ride it slow i guess ) tyres are cheap and the last trye i bought came with the wheel £30 , and mines stripped to the bare bones so not that heavy , as standard they are heavy ugly bike i think , but the engine is very nice , mine is a ex police machine it lives outside 24/7 so is always there to jump on and to my amazment just keeps on going , smokes if left on its side stand but thats all i can fault

[Rex]

Here fishy fishy....

[rosko]

Bad Rex

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

K75S,
I never got below 54mpg, plus rear tyre Continental around £75 , its only a 130/90 V17, having said that big whopping rear wheels are out, thankfully the thinner stuff is making a comeback, I always thought big rear tyres looked crap anyway!

Rural Kent  & I still see almost no British bikes!

Cheers

JBW

[Rex]

I have to agree about the A roads comment. My BSA Empire Star (a pre-war sporty/enthusiasts bike) appears  painfully slow on any decent road, so I can only pity those on 250s or side valves.
Don't think there's any shortage of British bikes either, just that those who have them choose carefully the events they attend; I know I do, and that's to (hopefully) escape the hordes of Jap-riding wannabes who now seem to clog up so many events. I fully appreciate that the little Jap 125 can run rings around my bikes, but I don't wish to see him and his mates parked up diluting the experience for those on older bikes.

[rosko]

I agree about the more modern bikes clogging up events, my biggest complaint is the riders of brand new Harleys,usually full dress who bring their bikes along to our local shows, then park them amongst the real vintage era stuff and stand there next to the bike preening themselves, and never moving away from the bike all day.

It gets worse when they insist on riding around the arena along with the vintage bikes, I keep trying to edge them onto a big cowpat to see if they'll fall off, no luck yet.

Its only the H-D crew that do it, never the Jap lookalikes, or big Jap or german cruisers, just that type of H-D.

I wonder why?

Probably to avoid the  gate entry fee.

[wetdog]

had some HOG members trying to enter there harlys in a custom show we had , custom because they had bought every item that had "live to ride , ride to live " cast in it , what a bunch of Tos***rs they where to .

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Hmm,
Surely a modern Harley V twin is a  modern classic because of its long line of heritage? OK, it doesn't fit in to the classic definition of a "Classic", but its on two wheels and is help keeping motorcycling alive!
Are you telling me after riding German, Japanese & British stuff that if I buy a Harley, I would suddenly get a 16 penis, somewhere!
Seems to me we should have "Live & Let Live" fixed to our machines! People are proud of their machines,  sometimes for the right and sometime the wrong reasons.  Vincent's were more go than show, hand-built,  but it didn't keep them in business, Harley's are the opposite, generally, so of course they are going to turn up @ stated show events.

Having said that there's a boom @ the moment putting Harley "suped up" Sportster engines in Featherbed frames, wonder where this fits in the scheme of things?

Harley learned from Honda, before they went under....maybe our industry didn't...a fellow put forward a theory that it was our Victorian heritage that caused our industries to collapse, we just couldn't move into the 20th century when we needed too!

Cheers

JBW

[Bomber]

Its quite funny I agree with both points of view to a certain degree, my love of motorbikes is very ecclectic. I can fully understand the point of Harleys and classic bike shows, why enter your cat in a dog show? but then again I have been to small shows and they have only been too happy to let the 'tarts handbag' fraternity stand their bikes in the line up. I have seen street fighters as they are known entered into the 'special' catagory at classic bike shows too... but that depends on your definition of "Special".

What I don't like is eliteism... you know the type of behaviour occasionally exhibited by rare marque owners... or more to the point expensive model owners. Quite a few of these are not really bikers and only have their machine to show what wealth they have. To me this is totally pointless.

Its quite funny that at large bike meetings modern bikes are falling into a few separate catagories, the Harley and Harley wannabe group is one, the Power Rangers are another, the 'stop me and buy one' crew (Goldwing owners club) are another and more recently the tourers who want to look like off roaders are an ever growing group. The groups rarely interact and look down on the other groups like they shouldn't be allowed on the road - Madness!

I must admit to a degree of dislike to all types of scooter, but my excuse is this is not nature but nurture, I have never riden one, nor do I have the urge to, but I understand the importance of them in modern motorcycling and their role in recruiting the all too few youngsters into the biking world at the moment.

We are all bikers... what ever your taste and the crucial thing is that we stick together as the rest of the world seems to be on a downer about us and want to change things they don't really understand about the culture of motorbikes and motorbikers!

[rosko]

We are all bikers

I'm not I'm a motorcyclist.

cue same old discussion, well, its foul outside