It seems like the bulletin board "search" function (the little box with the magnifying glass) doesn't work with old posts - perhaps those before the bb software was upgraded during 2008?
I was looking for an old post (1 year old) with the word "connaught". The bb search wouldn't find it (but did find a recent post), but the Google search (from the "search" tab on the main red site menu, then select to search just the vintagebike site) found it fine.
Moral: for searching for info in old bulletin board posts, use the Google search rather than the bb search.
Leon