Chimay and ukrm feckwits (longish)

They rusted out and just about everything mechanical wore out.
Easier to ask what problems they did NOT have.

If the LE could reliably do over 100,000 miles I would expect a Jap
bike to do at least half that before becoming a basket case.
There are very good reasons why none of the early Jap bikes are still
around in quantities commensurate with the number sold, in many cases
none survive.

 

Who is this idiot?
He missed out "with 10 engine rebuilds"

 

Was that one racing at Chimay with a CB200 tank?

 

Aha
*plonk*

 

We've done this before. Basically, the Brits built bikes that were
unreliable for decades.

 

Actually, the original CB72/77 were about the same price as Brit 500
when launched. Way more expensive than a Brit 250.

You doubt wrong.

So, having proved you know sweet FA, what are you going to do for an
encore?

 

About as many as I see Britbikes of the same age with original chrome.

 

Rubbish.

Mine had its first rebuild last year and got bored to +30 from STD.
The eciloP sold them off at 100,000 on principle _before_ they needed
any serious attention.
I have documents to show that it left Hertfordshire Constabulary at
12 years old in 1978 at 96500 and did another 24000 with 2 more
owners before being stored in 1991.

You might not like them, but Velocette reliability was legendary and
the LE was one of their best efforts. The police loved them because
they never gave problems and were quiet enough for urban night patrols.

 

Indeed, the clutch usually needed replacement at around 50,000 and
the police usually sold them off at around 100,000 because the engines
would start needing work after that. Regular servicing was, as always,
important. The only serious defect was a tendency for the body to
crack around the rear spring top mount slots when used by excessively
heavy plods. Most were fitted with modified reinforced slot plates
as a precaution.

 

There are two ways of reading that. Many bikes *lasted* for decades but
were consistently unreliable through their entire lives

 

<Considers shite old bonneville in the garage> seems about right.

 

Exactly what I meant.

 

What you seem to forget is that there are many, many modern Japanese
(and German, and Brit and even Italian) bikes that will do 100k with
proper maintenace. And they'll develop at least thee times the specific
power output of a ShiteOldLE, meaning they are, in fact, three times as
reliable.

 

Ignorant fool, it was the entire Honda range. But not just Honda and
not just bikes. At that time British manufacturing was suffering from
the effects of the nation still paying for it's own rebuilding programme
after winning WWII with cash borrowed from the merkin bankers and we
still had a huge a standing army whereas the losers had zillions of
dollars given to them to spend on rebuilding their shattered industrial
infrastructure and no bombs to buy. Unsurprising that all their
manufactures were better given they were doing it on new machinery
bought with generous gummint subsidies.

 

What you say is true but the Germans and Japs had new people with new ideas
coming to the fore. The Brit bike industry was moribund. No imagination or
enthusiasm. They were also missing the huge shift in bike usage from daily
transport to luxury recreation/fashion.

 

Did they buggery. British innovation is, was and will forever be a
world leader, it is built in to the way we think, wogs are just makers
and copiers. Just ask yourself this, who invented strikes, seaside rock,
the novelty condom, the swinging sixties, Her Gracious Majesty Queen
Elizabeth of England and Empress of all India, outrageous bank charges,
political correctness, H block, the Beatles and a whole host of other
stuff? It was us Brits who did all that but it was lack of money and
machines caused by our indebtedness to merkin bankers to do the
development that fucked us up.

 

....and although British scientists and engineers innovate UK businesses did
not implement. The Japs took the ideas and put them into production.

 

One problem, though, was that there wasn't enough money in the economy
to fund innovation - new models cost money, which means putting prices
up, which in such austere times would have hit sales big time. This
was equally true of other manufacturing industry with the noticeable
exception of the aero industry, whose customers were not, in the main,
the british public.


--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ DS#8 BOTAFOT#3 SbS#2 UKRMMA#13 DFV#8 SKA#2 IBB#10
`\\ | //'
`\|/`
`

 

Nah: the problems were mediocre management, shortsighted government
and a class-ridden and complacent education system.

A really top class book which explains a lot of this (and is an
excellent read) is `Austerity Britain', not long out and deserving
every good review it's got.

 

writes

You'd do well to get, read and inwardly digest a copy of Whatever
Happened to the British Motorcycle Industry? by Bert Hopwood before
you start spouting any more half-arsed-a-man-in-the-pub-told-me
nonsense.

My favourite quote which sums up so much of what went wrong:

"Most motorcyclists love to spend their Sunday mornings taking off the
cylinder head and re-seating the valves." (Donald Heather, director of
Norton, 1957.)