Author Topic: WANTED two classic motorcycles  (Read 22598 times)

Offline mini-me

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #15 on: July 19, 2015, 07:27:04 PM »
I hope, I come over as pragmatic  and practical rather than anything else?

The poor sods in these countries need hard cash and practical expertise  on the ground, not good intentions however genuine.

The rape statistics in South Africa for example are terrifying,  for women and men I would not want to go there, and even less would I like my female relatives to venture to   such a disease and a AIDS ridden place as S.L which is predominantley muslim with that cults attitudes to women.
Brave, well meaning women these, but in my view foolish.

Just reading about that place on the net is worrying enough.

Now who is going to donate two knackered Enfields? I had a rummage around ebay and so on and can't see any givaways,  quite surprised at the price of them , in fact the older ones seem to be a favourite of the, "I wanna build a cheap chopper " crew. :'(



Offline murdo

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #16 on: July 19, 2015, 11:13:41 PM »
"I wanna build a cheap chopper"  Ha ha ha.
That is what American bikes are for (or Japanese).

Offline mini-me

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #17 on: July 20, 2015, 08:24:36 AM »
Have you seen some of the Enfield horrors that appear on bay?

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2015, 09:57:49 PM »
Hi all, thanks for your comments. We have both been away from an internet connection for a while. Despite everything, we're still as enthusiastic as ever. We have probably decided to make our bikes from scratch, getting most bits from suppliers as donations, the rest will be paid for by ourselves. All donations will go direct to the Street Child Charity (not sure if you've checked out what they do?) We might not know lots about these wonderful machines now, but we sure will after making two to our own specifications. With lots of help from very experienced friends, who have worked on similar bikes and done similar trips. (We will be going on lots of runs to get used to the bikes before we go in 2017) My father used to sell bikes so its in the blood as they say. Jenny has already spent time in Sierra Leone so knows the score and we are about to visit another guy who has just come back from doing exactly the same trip (we don't mind if it has been done before, in fact it's reassuring) It would be great if you had some positive feed back, but if not, I'm not being rude, but I probably won't reply. Thank you Jane

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #19 on: July 20, 2015, 10:22:44 PM »

I have read your website and the bit re the bikes at Castle Coombe, I am sorry to say, leads me to believe , while enthusiastic your  knowledge of 'classic' machines is sadly lacking, that is not a G45, and a genuine G45, of which I once had one, is certainly not a 'cafe racer',


Hi, if you get a chance, please could you give me the correct info for this bike, I will update the caption. I'm not even going to pretend to know all about classic bikes, but I'm very keen to learn. Thank you, Jane

Offline mini-me

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #20 on: July 21, 2015, 04:25:57 AM »
The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made. The one I had,202, died in the Museum fire. As for the Arrow, I expect its owner loves it.
If you google Matchless G45 images you can check for yourself, and if you cannot spot the differences right away...................................................................mmm?

The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.

Thank you for  coming back and for taking my comments in the spirit they were given.[I hope]

I still think you are going about it the wrong way, even more so now you have come up with the idea of building out of donated bits. Any owner of a classic bike will tell you the biggest headache is the widely varying quality of parts, frankly most of it is rubbish, and if its given away it will not be first quality.
Anyone here will tell you the most expensive and long drawn out way of getting a bike is to build it from bits.
Another hurdle is your mindset "these wonderful machines" aren't so "wonderful"  Personally I wouldn't have an Indian Enfield as a gift, I had British made ones and they weren't that hot back then.

I love my old bikes,[incidentally Indian enfields are certainly NOT classic, merely an obselete machine made today] but 51 years on older bikes has taught me to be realistic.
Enthusiasm is difficult to turn into 1000s of miles of reliability.

You would be better off with a couple of 250 trail Hondas. probably cheaper too.  One thing that will destroy you before the bike is the sheer weight of the things especially when loaded with the gear you'll need, they are a heavy old lump at the start. Lighter is better, just try pushing one with a load of gear on along a dirt road.

Good luck with your idea, I hope it goes safely and well for you. Yes I did read the Street Child bit, my attitude is still charity begins at home, and they need birth control not pencils; missionarys  and the like of all kinds have been dishing out pencils and education for a 100yrs or more and made no difference.
There are more than enough children of African descent here in the UK who could do with the  same help.

Africa will always  be Africa, not even time will change it.

As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects;  It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you, and you get an idea of how happy those blokes with lots of tat will be to give it away to you.
 If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?
« Last Edit: July 21, 2015, 11:02:08 AM by mini-me »

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #21 on: July 21, 2015, 08:05:47 PM »
The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made.

The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.

As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects;  It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you. If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?

Thanks for this, I'll update the caption under the Matchless and have a look at some images of the G45 so that I know the difference. It sounds like a nice bike you had there!
It's a really good idea to do a stall, I'm going to look into that.
Here is a bigger version of the bike that I couldn't identify:

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #22 on: July 21, 2015, 08:22:38 PM »
[img]
The "G45" is just a road bike,probably 650 or 500 Matchless dressed up to look like a G45, so many things give it away. frame brakes engine, poor fit of the fuel tank. Only a handful left out of the 200 made.

The Triumphs look to be nice bikes, need a better pic to ID the one that you like the sound of.

As an after thought I suggest you start searching auto jumbles for projects;  It'll give you an idea of expense. A good start would be Netley marsh in September, the Bath and West showground do after, and the Kempton park events, all reasonably easy to get to for you. If nothing else a good place to set up a stall explaining what you want? cast your net wider so to speak?

Thanks for this, I'll update the caption under the Matchless and have a look at some images of the G45 so that I know the difference. It sounds like a nice bike you had there!
It's a really good idea to do a stall, I'm going to look into that.
Here is a bigger version of the bike that I couldn't identify:
http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015

Offline mini-me

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #23 on: July 22, 2015, 08:45:12 AM »
 still a bit fuzzy, My guess is its Rudge.

Everything on a G45 is different, frame, tanks, engine,gearbox, brakes. two huge GP carbs,open  megas and slam open, slam shut cams which made it one of the noisiest bikes I ever had.
Vey fast till they went bang, probably just a couple dozen left.

What you showed was what we used to call a 'cafe racer' back in the 1960s when we all tried to make our bikes look like race bikes rather than the current fad for pseudo american easy rider stuff.

That one as I said is a road bike with a passing resemblance to a G45.

You need a wider audience base for your idea,so glad you like the idea of a stall, why not float the idea to the bike mags run by [spit spit] Mortonsmedia group? Or local Bristol radio/TV?


Offline cardan

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #24 on: July 22, 2015, 09:58:08 AM »

And speaking of "fakes", the mystery bike is a 1937-1939 Rudge. No doubt the ride could tell us stories about its race pedigree, but most likely it started life as a road bike - a "Special" or the hotter "Ulster" - and rather than collecting the very elaborate parts require to restore it, it has been turned into a "classic racer". The Rudge race shop was closed down in January 1933; a 1939 Ulster would make a respectable Clubman Racer, but would be seriously uncompetitive against a proper race bike.

Leon

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #25 on: July 23, 2015, 10:34:12 AM »

You need a wider audience base for your idea,so glad you like the idea of a stall, why not float the idea to the bike mags run by [spit spit] Mortonsmedia group? Or local Bristol radio/TV?

These mags look great, they publish loads! Thank you

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #26 on: July 23, 2015, 10:41:55 AM »

And speaking of "fakes", the mystery bike is a 1937-1939 Rudge. No doubt the ride could tell us stories about its race pedigree, but most likely it started life as a road bike - a "Special" or the hotter "Ulster" - and rather than collecting the very elaborate parts require to restore it, it has been turned into a "classic racer". The Rudge race shop was closed down in January 1933; a 1939 Ulster would make a respectable Clubman Racer, but would be seriously uncompetitive against a proper race bike.

Leon
Thanks Leon, Ive quoted you on our website, hope that's ok?
http://www.jjbristol.uk/post/122854703067/a-day-at-the-races-sunday-28th-june-2015

Offline cardan

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #27 on: July 23, 2015, 01:13:09 PM »

Hi Jane,

Probably not the bit about fakes! We don't want to sound rude. I'll leave it to your clever editing.

(I'm restoring a real works Rudge racer, so it's funny to look at so many Rudge racers which are, in fact, no such thing.)

Leon

Offline mini-me

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #28 on: July 23, 2015, 01:25:51 PM »
"Classic racer."
any old bike  chasing other old bikes around a circular track hoping to beat at least one of them to the finish, can't see any problem with fake.

bit like a trials bike.

=a road bike fitted with knobbly tyres  and alloy guards because the owner couldn't find the missing bits.

Offline Jane Wolf

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Re: WANTED two classic motorcycles
« Reply #29 on: July 23, 2015, 05:24:36 PM »
Thanks guys, the quote works just as well without using the word 'fake'. Can't wait to get working on some bikes, hope something turns up soon. Cheers, JJ