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Messages - R

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1546
British Bikes / Re: Auction House Blues
« on: August 03, 2011, 12:56:50 AM »
If you google David Dickinson, the very first result is something fantasy website related, so this says it all.

It does seem odd that some old classics are becoming way way way beyond the price of a brand new bike off the show-room floor. Not sure what this says about the modern buying psyche, but nostalgia sure ain't what it used to be....

1547
Identify these bikes! / Re: Strange Bike II - What is it?!?
« on: August 03, 2011, 12:43:13 AM »
Quote from: cardan on August 03, 2011, 12:03:09 AM
I'm not sure what killed off the design so quickly,

It looks like one large bump would seriously bend the whole lot upwards, so I'm guessing this somewhat undesirable outcome may limit further sales somewhat ? !!

1548
Identify these bikes! / Re: help needed with villlers super sport engine
« on: August 01, 2011, 12:29:37 AM »
http://www.vinandvet.co.uk/images/20110018.jpg

What is said to be a 1935 SOS.

1549
Identify these bikes! / Re: Trying to find the owner of this bike please - anything will help please
« on: July 31, 2011, 12:24:38 AM »
I'm not sure that this shouldn't just be handed over to the police, since they are the handlers of lost property. And he may well have reported the loss.

Bike is a Matchless, a mid 1950s trials model, G3L or G3LC, a Jampot 'green laner'.
 (note the no headlight, so daylight use only).

Opethiselps.

1550
British Bikes / Re: Beaded Edge Tyres
« on: July 25, 2011, 08:45:23 AM »
Time to build a display model using those tyres, and get some new ones. ?

Tyres with fine cracks like that will not pass a roadworthy, so are not legal.
I've had a vehicle roadworthy rejected for that reason  ( I knew that, but wasn't going to fit new tyres unless the rest of it passed)(later tyres, not even beaded edge type).

Having a tyre blow and come off a rim is not pleasant with a beaded edge, since the tyre can escape and jam up the front wheel = a good reason why well-base safety rims became popular ?

Someone was commenting that tyres with long lasting nylon sidewalls may be the go, or are what is needed to be manufactured,  since the tyres 'wear out' just sitting around.  Not entirely sure if this is possible...

Opethiselps.

1551
British Bikes / Re: 350 Enfield info please
« on: July 13, 2011, 12:27:06 AM »
Sounds good. Post a pic when you are done, I'm sure we'd like to see it come back to life.  Somehow seems appropriate to source parts from a "Classic' model to restore an original....

1552
British Bikes / Re: 1929 norton es2 maintenance manual ?
« on: July 10, 2011, 11:57:09 PM »
There will also be the little Pittmans Book of the Norton that will cover about these years. They usually offer a better decription of the bits glossed over in the manual.
Appear on ebay now and then, usually at inflated prices - but the supply must be getting a bit thin by now.

Pilgrims would have their own publication to cover the pump ?

HTH.

1553
British Bikes / Re: 350 Enfield info please
« on: July 10, 2011, 01:03:48 AM »
Hitchcocks in the UK are the source of all things old Royal Enfield - mostly new stock though, andf the postage is a bit savage. There are other UK suppliers, on ebay too if you watch and are not in a hurry.
Lotta new stuff coming out of India too, some will suit older Enfields and the prices are lowish, but climbing. Only a few of the suppliers are good quality though. Someone in Newcastle NSW has older Bullet stuff, changed hands a few times, should be easy enough to track down.

For the paint match, you need to find someone with an Enfield for a paint sample. The paint colour is polychromatic silvergrey. 
Scan from the brochure, for 1955.
http://www.hitchcocksmotorcycles.com/pictures/partsbooks/1955_350CC_BULLET.jpg
While some use metallic paint to match this, poly paints are actually pre-metallic paint era. The paint has extremely fine aluminium powder in it, not metal flakes, and has a silver sheen to it that metalflake doesn't.  Modern "pearl' paint is similar in character, if you can find the right shade (VW or Audi ?).

You probably need to figure out the year of your bike too, since the features change with the year. That curved muffler only covered a few years, is that your bike ?

Hopethishelps, Havefun.

1554
British Bikes / Re: 350 Enfield info please
« on: July 09, 2011, 02:08:00 AM »
For daytime rides only, a battery will last a long time only doing rear brake light and a few horn beeps.

So no magdyno required.  Unless you plan to ride a lot, or far, at night.

1555
British Bikes / Re: 350 Enfield info please
« on: July 08, 2011, 02:37:39 AM »
Road based bikes are more all-round fun than the trials bikes, which are rather specialised. And you get better brakes, although there is still room for improvement.
Plus, you've got the best looking tank ever on an Enfield ?

An earlier trials model.. Not sure they got that green shade correct !?
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqR,!jYE2Gy)-+8lBNpNNN829g~~_12.JPG

There is nothing to stop you making your bike more like this, or a later model of - as owners did back then - afterall, thats all the factory did.
Cheers.

1556
British Bikes / Re: 350 Enfield info please
« on: July 07, 2011, 10:36:42 AM »
Nice find, should be a lot of fun.

Its parentage is not quite as obvious as you may like though !
It looks to have more bits of roadbike on it than you would expect for a comp bike.
The Trials Rep had an alloy cylinder, Lucas wader maggie, lightweight hubs and lotsa trials bits.  Most singles of the era were stopped by the decompression release, the singles mag didn't have provision for an electric 'off' button. What maggie is that on it, looks Matchless ?

That gearbox was last used for 1954 (mostly) and 1953-55 was also the years a lot of Enfields were painted what is described as "Polychromatic copper beach" which is (presumeably) a bronzy colour. (not any 350 Bullets though).  The compy/trials 350 models were a silvergrey colour. Tank seems to be a few years later, and the rear mudguard setup is roadbike, as is the rhs toolbox. Wheels/hubs are roadbikes too, and the Concentric Amal is 1966 at least.

Not uncommon to see bikes stripped down or converted for competition / scrambling / trials use - and then ridden home afterwards in that era.
Someone probably had good use from their Bullet, a very versatile bike.

The Enfield Owners Club can search their records, for a fee, and give you more details. If the engine has been fitted into another frame though (because of that bronze colour) then probably none too helpful.

Have fun !

1557
British Bikes / Re: Ariel Charging
« on: July 06, 2011, 12:11:52 AM »
With the 12v coming out of it when revved, have you checked that the polarity of that 12v is the same as the battery is wired up for. ??


1558
British Bikes / Re: Norton ES2 pillion seat
« on: July 05, 2011, 10:45:28 AM »
Ebay and various UK bike shops etc all stock this item.
Is there no-one local that can supply one ? 
Having one made is likely to be more $$ than just importing one ? (if that is possible ?)

Burton Bike Bits in the UK have
http://www.burtonbikebits.net/images/WW78243A.JPG

And the Indian suppliers have these on ebay. With some useful measurements.
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/vintageexports/RE-K00059N.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/vintageexports/RE-K00059D.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/vintageexports/RE-K00059H.JPG
http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/vintageexports/RE-K00059F.JPG

P.S. It is immediately obvious that the rider gets a better deal than the passenger with these style seats......

Opethiselpsabit.

1559
Identify these bikes! / Re: Help to identify my Grandpa's bike please
« on: July 04, 2011, 03:23:37 AM »
Quite an expensive and upmarket motorcycle and sidecar for its time - the Model 55 bits means it has twin exhausts on a single cylinder motor, all the rage at the time, and it also has factory fitted newfangled electric lighting. Electric lighting wasn't new by then, but lights were still an optional extra, you paid more for them. Nortons were famous for their racing successes, so this was a decidely dashing outfit for the times, a real sports model.

Looks fairly new in the second pic. And that Imperial Confectionary Packing Works in the background should be findable. Bigger libraries in your area may have copies of Sands Directories for the early 1930s - these have directories of commercial premises. Its likely to be in Melbourne, or perhaps (maybe) a bigger country town, and should be listed. Perhaps in the phone books of the time too, also in bigger libraries.  May even still exist, if its not on prime industrial land (which is likely to have been redeveloped).

Great pics.

1560
Identify these bikes! / Re: Australian Acme...how old am I?
« on: July 02, 2011, 11:07:09 PM »
Quote from: rogerwilko on July 02, 2011, 09:50:25 PM
Was there really anything Aussie about this bike, or was it just a bunch of imported parts with am Aussie tank transfer like all the local bicycles?

The histories of ACME and Bennett and Wood all refer to them building these in Sydney.  And Bennett and Wood were building bicycles for the local market, so frame building etc was a skill not unknown to them. Tanks and mudguards though may be a different matter. ?   Earlier on in this thread, no comparable English bike could be found that matched it - although there was mention of some earlier ? B&W tie-up with Norman (was it ?).

The motorcycle industry in Melbourne in prewar WW1 times up to the depression era  had them building complete motorcycles, including engines and copy gearboxes in some cases, so motorcycle building in Oz is a not unknown industry. 

The trouble the local industry had was keeping up with developments from overseas ?  Motorcycles were constantly evolving and improving designs - and stagnating designs were the death of many a small maker.  If they bought in enough parts to keep the unit costs down, they didn't sell enough quickly enough to not get caught with excess inventory of now obsolete stock ... ?

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