How things change eh?

Discussion in 'Classic Motorcycles' started by mark, May 1, 2009.

  1. mark

    mark Guest

    You know, I have an old bike in the shed that is oily and needs
    repairing, always going out of tune, bits break on it, its slow powered,
    doesn't stop so well and you wouldn't entirely trust it to get it where
    you're going. If you stop certain people stop and talk about the old
    days and you find yourself forced to look for spares in auto jumbles and
    from some bloke you heard about in the pub.
    Tomorrow I will be picking up a brand new state of the art motorbike
    with great brakes, chrome bits and a stonking great engine.
    Now here's the thing; ones built by a Japanese firm called Honda.
    The other is made here in Britain by a firm called
    Triumph....................
    I'm grinning like a cheshire cat me.
     
    mark, May 1, 2009
    #1
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  2. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    The message <>
    And quite rightly too.

    I only ever had one Triumph (Trophy) and wished I hadn't.
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 1, 2009
    #2
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  3. mark

    mark Guest

    /chastened
    Bah. Enthusiasm; always got me in trouble.............
     
    mark, May 2, 2009
    #3
  4. mark

    A.Clews Guest

    Thus spake mark () unto the assembled multitudes:
    I'll assume the new one's the Triumph, so your grin will stay I am sure.
    I still love riding my Trident 900 which is now early 16 years old, even
    though I've been thinking of getting a Tiger 1050.

    Enjoy!
     
    A.Clews, May 2, 2009
    #4
  5. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    The message <>
    Can't think why I got one?
    Can't think why I regretted it?
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 2, 2009
    #5
  6. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    Oh, had LOADS of other SOBs, only one of which I *REALLY* hated, and
    that was the Old Man's choice for me, against my better judgement,
    because I wasn't 21...

    (BSA Dandy, if anyone's curious. At the time, it was a SNB bike.)
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 2, 2009
    #6
  7. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    I rather think I wouldn't mind one of the new Triumphs though.

    Mine was a 650cc vibro-massage machine - after any sort of run
    stretching into a couple of miles or more, my fingers would be
    vibrating/buzzing/numb for quite a while.

    Sold it, and bought a Clubman's Venom.
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 2, 2009
    #7
  8. mark

    crn Guest

    Probably only the valve stem seals. They are a favourite cause of smoke
    on older engines..
     
    crn, May 2, 2009
    #8
  9. Now, that was a nice bike.

    I quite fancied the 900RS triumph they did a bit back. There was a shiney
    one at the Ally Pally show, I remember sitting on it and thinking "yeah,
    this fits nicely".
     
    Austin Shackles, May 2, 2009
    #9
  10. mark

    mark Guest

    It is very lovely. I find the irony hugely amusing :)
    Leaky old jap iron in the shed and a shiny new bike made in the land of
    the falling rain to annoy the rice boys :)
    Tee hee..
     
    mark, May 3, 2009
    #10
  11. mark

    crn Guest

    Glad to see that you are helping to pull the country out of recession
    by spending loadsamoney buying british.

    Enjoy.
     
    crn, May 3, 2009
    #11
  12. mark

    Peter Guest

    ....
    You didn't!

    I couldn't find a cheap enough Bantam, so I got a Dandy. £9 reduced from
    £11 for a sale by the weekend.

    And another for the front forks...

    A Dandy cylinder-head still graces one corner of the She<<<garage.
     
    Peter, May 3, 2009
    #12
  13. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 3, 2009
    #13
  14. mark

    Mark Guest

    LOL
    Relive your youth
    http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1957-BSA-GREY_W0QQitemZ140318472974

    -
     
    Mark, May 3, 2009
    #14
  15. mark

    SteveH Guest

    SteveH, May 3, 2009
    #15
  16. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    That's an early one, and it seems to be missing some cowlybits round the
    engine, IIRC.

    The prototypes were tested amongst other places, at the Boy Scouts'
    Jubilee Jamboree at Sutton Coldfield in 1956, where I saw one in
    motion³¾. Prototypes were started with a lever rather than a kickstart,
    as per some aggro-cultural plant.

    ³¾ If anyone else attended, they will appreciate that I use the words
    'in motion' advisedly.
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 4, 2009
    #16
  17. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    The bike I wanted was a very tidy secondhand Excelsior Talisman twin. £10.
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 4, 2009
    #17
  18. mark

    Peter Guest

    Looks like the thing I had. Maybe they added those later.
    And early production versions. Maybe they sold the proto-types to the
    public? Seemed to work OK, just felt a bit cheated not having a proper
    kick-start. But then again...
    Yup. Two-speed pre-selector gear-box. Speeds - slow and very slow.
    Indicated maximum of 25 m.p.h. IIRC

    Therefore wasn't going that fast when a right-hander tightened and
    dropped away shortly after looming up faster than a cyclist expected.

    It was probably the braking on the way in that lightly cast the front
    wheel aside and bent the forks. The man cutting his hedge there barely
    paused, shears still poised, to check the result of yet another
    falling-off.

    The handling was never quite the same with replacement forks. And it
    would run for about a quarter of a mile at a time. Damage to carb or
    something else?
     
    Peter, May 4, 2009
    #18
  19. mark

    Rusty_Hinge Guest

    The message <p1iQyQKajr$>
    from Peter <> contains these words:

    /snip/
    Mine, bought in August 1959, had a kickstart.
    Not that - I was referring to the mud - with thousands of happy campers
    and even more visitors, the dandy wasn't the best choice. Something like
    a Trials Cotton might have been better.

    My Dandy managed IIRC, an indicated 51 MPH. I was not impressed - a
    colleague's NSU Quickly topped sixty...
    Pass.

    I couldn't wait to pay off the hire purchase and find something more
    like a motorbike. I really *HATED* the thing, and I guess it knew it,
    and that's why it never obliged me by being remotely reliable.

    Anthropomorphism reigns!

    The only scooterly machine I've ever respected is a Rumi.
     
    Rusty_Hinge, May 4, 2009
    #19
  20. It's always a problem when misty-eyed old gimmers wax all nostalgic
    about their fucking C50 fucking stepthrough, isn't it?
    I hope you like your Hinkley.
     
    Grimly Curmudgeon, May 4, 2009
    #20
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