The 5 most important people

Bort is not a number at all.

Boxer

 

?!!?
How many tails do they have?

 

Three...... allows more ruskies to push start it.

 

My wife, cause she didn't make me take it back after I brought it home.

 

Who's idea was it to add a second wheel to a unicycle.... presumably so a
motor could be added.

 

I know that. Was just having a go at his spelling. And wether it's bort or
bork, it still smacks of

I am not a swedish chefffff

 

Mr Honda.(bike Div)
Mr Kawasaki (bike div)
Mr Suzuki (bike Div)
Mr Yamaha (bike Div)

 

Mr Kawasaki (Hideo) used to ride a works NSR Honda.

 

he wanted to ride the best, same with Mcrap, he wants to as well!

 

Mr Honda - natch.

Mr Kawasaki was a ship-builder.
Mr Yamaha was a Piano maker
Mr Suzuki was a sewing machine maker.

Manning

 

Mr.Harley&Davidson (job lot count as 1)
Mr.Aprilia,Ivano
Count Mv Agusta
Cluadio Cagiva Castiglione
Fratelli Guzzi e Ducati (job lot too)

[1]sorry i cheated and have actual increased the numbers somewhat

CDIHL

 

wasn't it "nork nork nork"?
or is that just my dirty mind?

 

And what a fine, sturdy vessel he built for me!

Bless his heart! ;-)


BTH

 

"Dale Porter" wrote

It's a mutton dish?

I think it's more likely Berk.

Theo

 

They were just the noisiest.

Theo

 

"Knobdoodle" wrote

Hideous!

Theo

 

That took 5 reads! (Worth it though!)

 

Well if anyone is interested, here were my five selections:

1 - Soichiro Honda. At the age of 40 he started the most important
motorcycle company in the world. He revolutionized Japanese manufacturing at
a time when Japan was suffering from a deep crisis of pride and identity,
taking it's reputation from 'crude, inefficient and derivative' (as it was
in 1950) to the being the benchmark against which all else were (are)
measured. He was intolerant of weakness in his designs, encouraged
innovation in all of his workers and had a long range vision which could
take a 10 or 15 year focus towards achieving an engineering goal. And of
course his swansong, the CB750 of 1968 is arguably the most important bike
in history.

2 - Barry Sheene. Barry was neither the most talented nor the most
successful rider of his generation, let alone of all time. However he was,
and probably still remains, the most loved and revered. A motorcyclist in
1970 was generally perceived to be either a trouble-making rebel, or a
working class joe who couldn't afford a car. Barry turned motorcycling into
something glamorous and sophisticated, all the more remarkable an
achievement given his working-class background. There are millions of people
who regard motorcyclists as respectable citizens, and it is purely because
of Barry that they do so. Kenny Roberts probably had more of an impact on
modern race riding techniques than Sheene ever did, but can you imagine
Rossi dedicating a race to Kenny?

3 - The DRs of WW1 (and to a lesser extent, WWII). Millions of men (and
women) rode primitive machines on both sides of the fence, serving crucial
wartime roles in supply, communications and even combat. Their needs drove
all of the motorcycle manufacturers to seek to improve their designs. The
conclusion of the war meant that a new world was emerging, and it was
accustomed to mechanical transport and had seen the usefulness and
desirability of the motorcycle as a means of transport. Hence, demand was
high and this ushered in the 'golden age' of the 1920's, when motorcycling
was to achieve a vogue not seen since.

4 - Edward Turner - His patenting of the superbly balanced Ariel square-4 in
1929 indicated that a major innovating force had arrived. Conveniently,
Triumph sold its motorcycling marque in 1936 to Jack Sangster, own of Ariel,
as they were not interested in building motorcycles anymore, and Sangster
appointed his Ariel employee Turner as GM and chief designer for the reborn
Triumph marque. In 1937 the legendary Speed Twin emerged, followed in later
years by the Tiger, Thunderbird and the Bonneville, names that live on today
(though perhaps in dramatically modified form). In the 1950's the Triumph
slogan was 'The Best Motorcycle in the World' and it was probably a
legitimate claim. Turner retired in 1967, but not before he issued a fateful
memo which suggested that the Japanese would only focus on building small
commuter motorcycles and represented no real threat to the British 'big'
motorcycle industry. As it was the from the pen of Edward Turner, it got
heeded...

5 - Robert Pirsig - author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, he
was responsible for elevating motorycling to a religious act of eastern
mysticism. Possibly one of the most brilliant books of the 20th century,
possibly the biggest pile of wank ever written, possibly both. It certainly
made people think about motorcycling a lot more, and a LOT of people ride
today because of it.

Just my opinion, and subject to change in 10 minutes time.

Manning

 

"Manning" wrote

Huh, I've read his book twice. Nothing to do with motorcycles or
motorcycling and yes, a huge load of wank written by a certified nutter.

Theo

 

A wonder he didn't get an award in that case.

Boxer