The 5 most important people

Infinitely better than pulling blokes...so I'm told.

 

The story I read had them spending 4 years trying to get it to handle...
before giving up


Geoff and Jodie

 

I hope that joke is not directed at the mighty K?
Yeah, they did wallow a wee bit
Heres mine. I loved that bloody bike ........sniff
http://au.msnusers.com/JohnsFiles/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=8

Red

 

>

Nice! I actually owned a 74 model... I don't have a scanned photo of it
though *sigh*


Geoff and Jodie

 

"Pat Heslewood" wrote

That doesn't make sense. Pat's my brother but Mike's not.

Does he deliver?

Theo

 

Pat's my father, Pete's my brother (and so's Mike).
We must be related!

 

And Clem is Theo's neighbour, so it must be true.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R
'02 CBR1100XX

 

"Knobdoodle" wrote

Theo's my father. I have six brothers, two of them called John. Two
sisters, neither called John though Johanna is pretty damn close.

Theo

 

....snip

I've got to respectfully disagree about Barry's place in history. I think you're
right that you are being coloured by what you are most familiar with. Many of
the generation younger than yourself would think of him as "the race commentator
who was a world champion once, Doohan, now there's a racer who was important and
let's not forget Rossi". And a generation older would say Hailwood Read and
Agostini were far more important. History will always be subjective but I think
you need some objective criteria for measuring influence and long term impact.
The Italian guy in charge of FIM for the last 20 odd years has had more
influence on the course and development of racing motorcycles just by the way he
negotiated rules changes (moto GP, death of F750, removal of the 350s etc) than
Barry did. And is racing what motorcycling is about anyway ? The guys who
popularised telescopic forks and rear suspension (norton featherbed ?) probably
had more impact on the general population than any racer.

What's the criteria ?

JL

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 26 Oct 2003 12:18:27 +1100

Guzzi were the first ones to race with rear suspension I believe, not
sure about teles. The Gambalunga and DuoCylindrici had them in '46,
but I have a vague feeling that Velo had them pre war. Guzzi were also
the pioneers of streamlined fairings for racers.

The Featherbed was the Brits finally realising what the Italians had
known for ages about how to make a bike handle...

If the criteria is "made non-riders aware of riders" then you have to add
Marlon Brando into that, the character of "The Wild One" had a massive
effect. Sonny Barger too, the whole bikie thing that started with Brando
was really catapulted into a very visible subculture by Barger and the
Hells Angels. (with a lot of help from the various gay biker S&M groups,
but you won't find too many patch clubs who will agree with that...)

If the criteria is "technical innovation that others followed and is now
the norm" then the guy who invented the atomising carby, the gearbox
man, I suspect whoever at Velocette worked out foot gearchanging, Walter
Kaaden for his work on the theory and practice of 2 strokes,
Lockheed-Girling fordisk brakes, whoever it was who nutted out the
oildamped rear suspension (guzzi's first efforts were friction damped).

If it's "who inspired people to take up biking" then it's Brando again,
role model for a generation of disaffected youth (even though a lot of
them in England weren't allowed to see the film for some years),
possibly some racers, although I'd argue that, unless it was Hailwood
and Surtees who raced both bikes and cars with success. Especially
Hailwood, given that George Cross.

"important" is not enough, is Carlo Guzzi "more important" than Ago?

Zebee

 

The 1938 BMW Compressor (supercharged) racer had rear plunger suspension and
won the European championship in 1938 and the 1939 Senior TT being ridden by
Herman Meier.

The Norton International of 1938 also had plunger rear suspension.

The 1935 Vincent HRD 500cc single had a sprung frame rear suspension.

The Brough Superior SS100 of 1930 had a pivoted fork rear end.

Boxer

 

Sorry it was first introduced in 1937.

http://www.a2z-motopaedia.com/Bikes/bmw_500_kompressor.htm

Boxer

 

Its the same bike still, isn't it?

big (tho I hear they changed the graphics in '79 or '80...)

 

Twice????

I'm reminded of a Marist Brother you may have met (Oliver, I think) who
announced that "The first time I read 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' I thought it
was unadulterated pornography. But the second time........"

Moike

 

I heard Theo's son just gone one of those kompressors

Nev..
'03 ZX12R
'02 CBR1100XX

 

Yeah, read it the first time on somebody's recommendation because it
was allegedly about motorcycles. Read it again ten years later and it
was still dribble.

Mike, Lady Chatterley's Lover hadn't been written when I went to
school. We got off on Peyton Place.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 27 Oct 2003 10:34:46 GMT

You live your life backwards?

Would explain a lot....

Zebee

 

"Zebee Johnstone" wrote

Ouch! OK. We hadn't even heard of LCL in high school but there was a
very well worn copy of PP.

Theo

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 27 Oct 2003 12:27:34 GMT

I think the ban on LCL wasn't lifted in Oz till the 60s.

"The Catcher in the Rye" was banned for some years, causing a bit of a
diplomatic incident when the new American ambassador presented some
volumes to a school library as an example of the best in American
literature....

Zebee

 

That honour clearly belongs to the Phantom Comic.

Boxer