2 superficial questions

That's assuming she ever regains consciousness enough to prepare one.

 

... or those dolly-birds in the adverts.

 

The message <>

Yes, several firms tried it to a greater or lesser extent: New Hudson;
OEC; Royal Enfield; New Imperial; Wolf; Fanny B; Excelsior; HRD (and not
just the big-uns - they with the 1933 247cc Model L); Whitwood even
built something like a sidecar on an OEC duplex frame. It had a steering
wheel rather than bars, and retractable outrigger wheels.
Unsurprisingly, only half a dozen were sold; Velocette; Ariel, and ISTR
Scott did something a bit enclosed too.

I'm sure there are countless others which had the same idea, only to
find the blatter boys of their time stripping them down to basics - the
fate of most Ariel Leaders, for starters.

 

Thus spake Roger Hunt () unto the assembled multitudes:

She might charge extra for difficult circumstances (or do you for grievous
bodily harm

 

The message <>

They were making enclosed models in the 1920s.

 

Oh, come on. If you're going to slag Brit bikes off, you could at least
draw on your own experiences rather than reel off a few spurious "my
boss told me this, my boss told me that" stories. And you'd be a little
bit more convincing if you didn't try to claim all Brits are shit and
all Japs/Itals are marvellous. It makes you sound as desparate as
certain other folk round here.

Ant

 

Ant - 441cc said...

My experiences of British bikes is watching the older guys around our
village pushing the buggers along the side of the road, drinking in the
pub while they tinkered with them at home, Seeing the joy on their faces
when they started after the umpteenth rebuild, then watching the look of
dismay as they blew up again. I'm no young kid who started riding bikes
last week. I'm of that age where the guys a few years older than me had
no choice but to buy the horrors that passed as British bikes. I've seen
the shite build quality, the terrible engineering, the massive oil leaks
on new bikes.

Not all Jap or Italian bikes are marvellous, but they both did build a
hell of a lot of good ones, the British didn't until John Bloor opened
his factory in Hinckley.

I will never own a non-Hinckley British bike, I've ridden a lot of them
and I hate them all with a passion. They do nothing well, in fact they
do nothing at all half the time.

 

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That's all right then, mon Général.

 

The message <>

While I have pretty nearly the opposite experience. My first real bike
was a 'new' 1941 G3 Matchless which i rode twice round the clock and
then some, wit no more major replacement of bits than a barrel and
piston - cheaper from Nelson and Ford in Barkingside than a rebore and
piston. (30/- as opposed to three quid at Airport Engineering in Harold
Wood...)

The only bike I ever had which kept breaking down wasn't chosen by me,
but inflicted on me by the Ole Man - a new BSA Dandy. This was followed
by the Matchless, and it toured Scotland several times with a Swallow
Chair hung on it, and as a solo, once in midwinter.

Velocette, Greeves, Silk, and whatever happened to H--- er - Hosk - - Hesketh?

I don't keep up with modern stuff - I like something which fires every
other lamp-post. Something like a nice longstroke MSS.

 

Does this explain why I drink so much more than my Dad? Even when he was
in the forces he only used to have the occasional shandy, now it's a glass
of wine with dinner if there's company. As for me.. Are Japanese bikes to
blame? Even if one of my current bikes happens to be Italian? Dad only had
Brits, all mine have been Japanese, German or Italian. Unless you count
the Raleigh Runabout that is. That certainly was unreliable but it didn't
keep me out of the pub, I used the pushbike instead, it was nearly as fast.

Regards, Ian

 

I get the occasional desire to acquire a Panther.

The first one I ever saw close-up had broken down (just outside the
Earl's Court motorcycle show), and shared attributes with its owner,
who had recently lost a finger while adjusting the chain.

 

*shudder*

Just the mention of 'Panther' brings memories of the shite old car my
uncle owns:

It's one of these:

http://users.arczip.com/zntech1/panther_2.jpg

 

I didn't say I didn't like them - they're just out of the reach of my means.

I have to make do with an ex-dibble R80

 

He should have fed it better innit.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Roger Hunt

Desire is a funny thing.

I keep lusting after a Dougie Dragonfly. I've never ridden one, know
next to ****-all about them, but they just look *lovely*.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - There are few things in life more sinister than a
public toilet with the lid closed.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 OMF#6 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

They have their own little habits. Bloke who used to own the local Merc
shop had one on show.

 

Now, now, he could be an expert on Lancasters too!

 

He'd get shot down if he tried that.

 

***INCOMING***

 

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Yes. They do. But don't be misled by appearances.

Much as I love Douggies, I have to admit that the max speed was around
70mph, and IMO it handled like a camel.

I took the Earls forks off mine and replaced them with the earlier short
leading link ones, and they transformed it. It was outstandingly the
best-handling bike I've ever ridden.

Indeed, I held off a friend in the Essex lanes - he was riding the
Dominator he raced semi-seriously. On the straight bits, he was
breathing up my exhausts, but on the bends I could lay it over much
further - while he had to hold back because his silencers were
grounding.

When we got to Dumph's place he said he was never going to sneer at
Douggies again. (And up to then he hardly let up on sneering.)

The drawback of the forks change was that the lock was severely reduced
- but not unrideably.

Then. with my intention of changing the oil, a friend gave me some
flushing oil and I used it.

It was vegetable oil...

That was the end (to all intents and purposes) of that engine, and the
bike went a lot better with a lightly-fettled Mk5 engine and gearbox in
the frame.

So, what had been a Dragonfly virtually became a Mk5 with a standard
swinging arm (instead of torsion bars).

If they'd continued with the 500cc engine and put it in the Dragonfly
frame with short leading link forks, and with better inspiration, a
better oil delivery system and brakes that worked, it might have gone
somewhere. Douglas never did get the hang of carbs big enough for a
mouse to crawl down - the Mk5 had ¾" Amals, and the Plus 90s weren't
that much bigger.

Dragonfly had a small (Can't remember the size) Monobloc.