She's hot

[cardan]

Thanks Oggers. I live in hope that Billington will get some help to tune his BSA (hopefully incorporating the advice above) and report back on the transformed running of the bike.

Leon

[john.k]

heads warped badly by repeatedly tightening down on a knackered head gasket are pretty common on sidevalves too.......better to flatten the head ,discard the gasket,and apply silastic to seal the tiny gap left......works very well.

[33d6]

I wouldn't worry too much. He's over on another forum going through the same story. Nothing like forum hopping until you find an answer you like.

Of course I could be quite wrong. There could be two owners of  an early 30's 500 sidevalve BSA out there, both with the same story.

Cheers,

[cardan]

The Death of Expertise.

"... Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism..."

https://www.amazon.com.au/Death-Expertise-Campaign-Established-Knowledge/dp/0190469412

Leon

[Rex]

Someone I know well said that I ought to do some research before having the Covid jab, and then some more on why Russia had every reason to attack the Ukraine.
He couldn't see that "doing some research" doesn't really mean shouting into a Net echo chamber to reinforce the dumbarse opinions you already have, unlike the research carried out by gov'ts, drug firms, drug agencies etc etc to develop new products and drugs which starts on an unbiased baseline and is done by true experts in their field.
 As the post above says, so many self-styled experts now in every field of human endeavour.

[R]

I'm not saying I agree or disagree with any of this.

But we all know what an 'expert' is, right ?
X        = an unknown quantity.
spurt = a drip under pressure.
So an expert is the unknown quantity of a drip under pressure !
??

There certainly are varying levels of expertise though ....

[john.k]

Better on a forum than giving me GBH of the earhole with all the dumb details of how they are going to make their 1935 sidevalve do 80mph....being in a vintage bike club now you got the choice of millenials destroying old bikes,or old gits telling you about their most recent and most  gruesome bowel ailment.

[R]

And as someone unfamous once said, anything that goes wrong with
your pride and joy can be fixed, with a mere wad of $$$ ...

[Rex]

Better on a forum than giving me GBH of the earhole with all the dumb details of how they are going to make their 1935 sidevalve do 80mph....being in a vintage bike club now you got the choice of millenials destroying old bikes,or old gits telling you about their most recent and most  gruesome bowel ailment.

Very true, and then there's the third type, the one who has a 1932 Grindlay Big Balls, bought in bits in 1963 and untouched since, though he's going to get started on it "soon, before I get too old".
And he's 87 now...

[R]

Don't knock it, thats saved 97% * of old bikes from oblivion.
* figure plucked at random from the sky.

Motorcyclists tenacity in holding on to worn/knackered/obsolete/past it bikes is legendary.
Although a heck of a lot of 'collectors' of about nearly everything mechanical show this trait ?

[john.k]

here s something you wont believe...i recently sold some land...and the new owners didnt want the 50odd tons of mechanical collectables stored there......they could have had a head start on an awsome collection.

[R]

Ha !
I've been to enough farm clearing sales to know that the scrap man makes a tidy living from
snapping up old 'collectables' - about anything metal falls into this category.
And that was before the price of scrap steel skyrocketted.

We are getting well away from ailing old BSA's though.

[Oggers]

Leon

It is far more than the death of expertise. It is the death of rational, evidence-based thinking and a prevalence to melodramatic knee-jerk reaction based on nothing but the (a)moral inclinations of the individual. We have become a country of emotional incontinents. The British stiff upper lip has gone forever.     

[iansoady]

Much as I'd like to agree, I don't think rational evidence based thinking has ever been the norm. Sadly, most people have always relied on prejudice and received opinions. Which of course are much more readily available these days.

[R]

Beam me up Scotty ....