National Motorcycle Museum

Went up to the nationanal motorcycle museum in Birmingham last monday
to celebrate turning "firty two" and what a truly great shrine to
british motorcycling and engineering it is.

I was surprised how many bikes there were in there from the real
humble beginnings of strapping an engine into a bicycle frame to the
v8 norton nemesis.

There were loads of bikes from James, Brough, Royal Enfield, BSA,
Triumph, Velocette (spelling?) etc etc - it is amazing what a great
industry we once championed - there were even bikes made by Rover and
Raleigh, Rover....bikes...!!!

The 60s and 70s race bikes were great to see too, it was mad to see
how skinny the tyres were, about the same width you would expect to
see on a modern 125 and all the fairings were made of sheet metal
instead of plastics and the brake discs were massive thick solid metal
things about 1cm wide, tou forget that back then there was no such
thing as vented discs/wavy discs/x-drilled discs.

There were also some of the old-school AA bikes there complete with
sidecars and some WW2 bikes too - in the main hall area there is a
bike and sidecar fitted with a heavy duty machine gun - the perfect
anti SMIDSY device.

There is even a collection of the old police road bikes to see too,
funny to see how back then a fairing consisted of a huge screen on the
front of the bike the height of the riders head when sitting upright.

All in all it was a great day and I would highly recommend it. The
only thing that slightly saddened me was that of all a manufacturers,
(afaik) only Triumph is still going in the UK, it is sad to see such a
decline.

 

Triumph isn't STILL going, it's going AGAIN after a rich man who made
it elsewhere bought the name and, for the sheer hell of it, built
himself a factory that doesn't need to turn a profit.

 

So you missed;

AJS - http://www.ajsmotorcycles.co.uk/
CCM - http://www.ccmmotorcyclesuk.com/
BSA - http://www.bsa-regal.co.uk/
Dresda - http://www.dresda.co.uk/
Greeves - http://www.greevesmotorcyclesltd.com/
Wasp - http://wasp-motorcycles.tripod.com/

 

snip

Cool, I didnt realise AJS are still going - fair play to them.

It is a shame BSA aren't making bikes anymore - their logo on the tank
looked cool - ho hum.

 

Not sure it's "still". Like the occasional efforts using the BSA name,
it's just an attemnpt to trade on an old name with shite low-level
machines, usually on a par with the cheap chinese ones.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

AJS are cheap Chinese shit.

--
Lozzo
Suzuki SV650S K5
Honda CBR600 FW trackbike
Yamaha SR250 Spazz-Trakka
Suzuki GSXR750 L
Suzuki TS50X
Suzuki TS50X

 

Ah, well I guessed as much, but CBA to check. Certainly the website's
not been put together by a proficient English speaker.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com)
\`\ | /`/
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10
`\|/`
`

 

This is genius:

http://wasp-motorcycles.tripod.com/id5.html

 

Ignorant twat. Have a look at The Times' current Rich List at see what
it says.

 

We visited the NMM for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

I was also amazed by the size of the place and the variety of machines,
including many I'd never heard of, despite riding since the late sixties and
always having an interest in bikes.

It makes you feel old when you see machines that you remember being
launched, featured on the front page of Bike, such as the Triumph Hurricane,
and now museum pieces.

It was fun getting photos of every British bike my Dad has owned over the
years, and it's a long list. They only failed with the Ariel 3 - a very
dodgy 3-wheeled scooter that was officially Dad's but used by Mum. I seem
to recall seeing one at Duxford a few years ago.

The only problem at the NNM was the crowds, as there was at least one other
couple going 'round while we were there around lunchtime on a Friday - I
assume it does get busy at some point! They must make their money from
renting out the conference centre, which then pays for the hobby.

 

Envy

 

I guessed as much.

 

I agree.

This degree of daftness *must* be genetical.

 

What a coincidence: that is *exactly* what those three hardbody
college hussies from upstairs just told me.

So, off to waterbed now, love to chat, cheee-heers.

 

You tell him, Mr T

--
Lozzo
Suzuki SV650S K5
Honda CBR600 FW trackbike
Yamaha SR250 Spazz-Trakka
Suzuki GSXR750 L
Suzuki TS50X
Suzuki TS50X

 

They turn up quite regularly on ebay and usually make a few hundred at most.

 

Unfortunately the racism he was fighting lives on. eh?

 

I hope he enjoys it.

Go and buy him a copy of Bomber Boys by Patrick Bishop because that
book opened my eyes to how many aircrew died when the RAF were
bombing the **** out of nothing in particular. The book's on release
and available in most supermarkets for under a fiver and it's worth
reading.

Don't judge him too harshly, he probably believed that bombing those
dams would end the war within months.

 

Not to mention the 2000-odd unsuspecting civilians he killed in their
sleep.

 

Rural Germans, eh?