Bomber,
I think its true a lot of motorcycle people have a natural aversion to specials, I rather run something like this or yours, than a authentic piece of old "shite", that is kept original so as to keep its inflated value, people forget that many standard machines were built to a price and this often meant under-engineering certain parts & not correcting known weaknesses.
Even supposedly, well engineered parts have to be modified, for instance owners of Norton Roadholder forks often choose to modify them to compensate for the hydraulic lock system not working & consequently bottoming out on rough road surfaces & yet I have no memories of BSA Bantam forks bottoming out or the shuttle-valve forks on my other BSA 441 single ever giving me trouble in this way, in fact they performed better than the Sachs forks on my BMW, OK so the weight is a bit more, 150lb!
Incidentally, were Teledraulics better than Roadholders?
If diligent owners could make things perform better. Why, couldn't the factories do so? ANSWER there wasn't the WILL to do it right!
And that's why when I was 17, there was so many "HonKawa SuziYama" 125s,175s, 250s & 350s 400s were on the road & why Rickman, Dunstall, Norman Hyde, Dresda, e.t.c all flourished for a time, OK so some firms modified Japanese bikes in the 70s & 80s, but by then our industry had committed hari-kiri.
A few British bikes deserved only to be changed in subtle ways, but most do not, I remember in 1972 @ a tender age going to look @ a new Kawasaki dealership & looking @ a white S1 250 with 2 spearmint stripes on it , a shiny alloy engine & 3 cylinders....now think of a C15 Star or even the brasher C25 Barracuda/B25 Starfire series, the learner limit was 250cc, where were their heads in the 60s, our Captains of industry, in the sand, my friends?
The fun of restoration riding & enjoyment is rapidly disappearing from motorcycling for three reasons, commercial auction hype, greed & stifling legislation, contrary opinions will be rubbished, c'mon I dare you the Forum, to say these reasons aren't true...
Popularity is not fixed its fickle, if you do not want to publish your thoughts on the Forum send me a private email, try not to make it too abusive, but wake up to the fact that a fairly innocent hobby & activity is being manipulated into the realms of elitist, this judgement is not based on the intelligence of the participants, controlling manipulators, just like another ordinary man's sport, football & then grass-roots racing, once you can't afford to take part, then it will be at an end, my friends.
PS, I am not a Communist, before anyone accuses me of being a rabid lefty!
Cheers
JBW
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