Featherbed frame Handling Qualities:

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Wetdog,
Mines a 1991 K75s, the front Fairing is crap for rattling apart over poorly maintained roads & when I put it back on the road I will have to find an after-market, replacement front fairing for it!  I have had trouble with a newly fitted Continental keep going down on the front, which I haven't been able to cure.

However, the bike is rock solid on motorways, but has never liked twisty bits that much, I played with oil in the forks and rode it round Ramsgate town, early one Sunday morning, 3 circuits each time, it was like having my own TT, in the end it handled better with 20/50s in the forks.  The forks were the only bit I didn't rebuild when I got the machine!


Wink, has Reg Dearden's gone now as a Dealership?  I think he may have been the first dealer who created the  Imp-engined Norton'.  I grew up in Chorley & occasionally wondered into Manchester.  I have in a book, "Built For Speed", in it there is an article about a  Black Lightening sprint  bike,  he built for  Bonneville, after a rider's, tragic accident, who was meant to ride it,  it was never run & consequently sold off!


Cheers

John

[wetdog]

fairing etc went when i throw it down the road as did the rear of the frame ,bent , i almost scraped the bike but insted bought it back of the insurance for £100 , its been a great bike and i also run 20/50 in the front forks , i use it far more than any british i own and it has never let me down , makes me wonder why i bother with any other bikes at all .

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Wetdog, et al,
It looks like many people have Feather-beds & either do not ride them, or do not have any opinions on their handling & riding characteristics, or  can't type or be bothered to comment!

So many people with absolutely nothing to say, Yes folks, welcome to Modern Britain!

Or should I be asking, what does it push like, when it glides over the spare bedroom carpet, in a vacuum packed bag, can you feel the nature of the beast?

I remember a campaign some years ago, " Ride it don't Hide it", but as bike values go up & people get older,  criminal interests have heightened,  it was probably on a loser, plus traffic conditions have got more challenging from avoiding penalty points to avoiding idiots on the road.  I also  remember in the 1970s,  when bikes jumped up in price, weight, capacity, power & kudos, suddenly  the death rate of riders shot up & Bike magazine reckoned it was because many rider's wouldn't let their machines go in the event of an accident, clinging on, often with fatal results , instead of kicking away their precious  steed & having a better chance of survival!

Cheers


JBW

[wetdog]

what would be a minimum cost for say a 18 year old to get into british bikes now ? which model ? lets say he has a full bike licence

[Bomber]

£600 for a Bantam?

[Rex]

So many people with absolutely nothing to say, Yes folks, welcome to Modern Britain!

Strange comment. I find too many people these days (not limited to "Modern Britain") have too much to say, and it's nearly all total bollix.

Never rode a Feathererbed, never owned a Featherbed so no comment to make, although if you like I can rehash all the various tales and  myths regarding the Featherbed and pass it off as considered opinion?

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Rex,
Please Do!
"So many people with absolutely nothing to say,(constructively, about important issues say individual freedoms)".

Cheers

JBW

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Rex,

I'm waiting for Tales of a Featherbed to start!

JBW

[Rex]

OK then, as everyone knows, it was designed by Tommy MiCandles on the back of a Guinness beer mat in Dublin, he took the design to Pa Norton who had one built and first time out it won every race it could. Poor old Geoff Minter tried riding it but his legs were too fat so they had the Slimline frame designed and then he won the Paris-Dakar on it.
You can now buy new ones and fit your own engine, everything from Harley to Jap-crap has been tried and it will then out-handle and out-brake anything up to 200MPH.
This is resume of facts told to me by a bloke down the pub and various Classic Bike articles over the years, and now it's on the Internet so it must be true.

[wetdog]

they where good in there day , but dont handle the power from monsters like hinkley triumph triple engines

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

But there has been a Hinkley Triumph 3(90bhp?) in a Featherbed, for sale, I think on Evilbay last year, people also put Vincent & JAP engines in Featherbeds!

Bob Berry's J.A.P 8-80,  Modified 1930s O.E.C framed, Record Breaker clocked 150mph @ Pendine sands & had a claimed output of 104bhp @ 6,800rpm, compression ratio was 14.6 front, 14.2 rear cylinder on alcohol fuel!

I never heard of a V- twin having different compression ratios before, would this be intentional, or was one cylinder weaker in performance than the other?

Another J.A.P Sprinter,  built by Francis Williams put out 95bhp @6,500-7,000rpm, fitted were more studier crankcases from a 1,100cc racing car engine, Frame & cycle parts were from a 1952/3/4 Long-stroke 350 Manx Norton!

Was the J.A.P engine, superior to the Brough and Mighty Vincent I wonder, could the engine be used in a Road burner as a Hayabusa eater?

Imagine the faces of riders on modern Super-Sports machines, being caught up by an antique looking beast from the 1930s/50s

Cheers

JBW

[wetdog]

a Hayabusa eater?......................... no ...............ive rode a hinkley featherbed triple , only good in straight lines , on slow bends power on set up a weave a bit like a 59 bonnie , useless
here we are death trap http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150986755329?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

That's not the bike I saw, there must be 2 or more, I agree  absolute power  isn't everything, it where it comes in & how you can use it!  The chassis must be faster than the engine so the theory goes!

I meant a J.A.P engine beast.........burbling along.....

Cheers

JBW

[wetdog]

jap engine Hayabusa eater no sorry .............. have you any bikes ? apart from the k75 ( which is a good bike ) or just dreaming

[johnnyboy-wonder57]

Yes!
What you inferring...

You & Rex are not going to gang up on me are you?

Cheers

JBW