What does 'Pre-unit' mean?

Have come across this term a few time recently. Can anynoe tell me what it
means?

Gordon

 

Separate engine & gearbox i.e. before they were merged together in a
single unit.


--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

Thus spake Krusty () unto the assembled multitudes:

It also means that there were two sets of badly-fitting engine-case mating
surfaces through which to piss oil, rather than just the one, though the
later 'unit' machines somehow overcame this problem and managed to piss
just as much oil on the floor as the older designs.

 

came up with the following;:

British design at it's best ... improved engine oil throughput ...

 

a little unfair - my unit bonneville leaked just as much oil as the
pre-unit one i had.

oh and harleys are also pre-unit - but i'm sure you knoew that.

 

Mine isn't.

 

ok sportster owning pedant................. ;-)

 

Gyp says...

I've just a bought a Hinckley Triumph and the first genuine accessory I
bought was the fake oil puddle to go on the garage floor. I wanted that
real Brit bike experience.

 

If it's any consolation it feels like it's going to become pre-unit
every time I ride it...

 

The only bike I have possessed, and I have had a few, not as many as your
good self granted, which pissed oil was my RD400. Not that I particularly
blamed it for it, best 300 quid I ever spent that was

Regards, Ian

 

AHEM! excuse me but if you put them together PROPERLY then they don't leak!
I get a bit sick of people who whine about old Brits leaking oil and when
you question them you get this.
"O.k. so how old was this bike then?" reply "Oh about 30 years old" "And how
many owners had it had?" "Twenty" "And what was the sum total of their
toolkit, a lump hammer and a cold chisel?" "Er, well yeah" "And the thing is
STILL FUCKIN" RUNNING!!??" "ERm well when you put it like that......"
They were fine in their day, the BEST in the world if fact, so just look at
the things in perspective, when they were new they were just as good as
anything else.
End of rant. (Calm blue Ocean)

 

Much like if you put a usenet post together properly by posting beneath
the text to which you are replying, you won't cause a leakage of anger
from the other contributors.


--
Krusty
www.MuddyStuff.co.uk
Off-Road Classifieds

'02 MV Senna '03 Tiger 955i '96 Tiger '79 Fantic Hiro 250

 

mine was the same - thats why it had to go.............

i ride a new dyna this summer while in the states - still agricultural
but ok even after 200+ miles - god bless rubber mounting and balance shafts

 

snip

note posting at the bottom..........

With all due respect - I'm old enough to know what they were like when <
10 years old - they always leaked - to be fair not always from the same
place.

The triumph leaked from the primary chaincase - always - my A10RGS
didn't but leaked from the rocker case - always - design, engineering
and gasket technology left a lot to be desired. Thats why japanese bikes
won the lions share of the market (oops i may have opened an old cans of
worms here - please disregard the last statement).

 

Thus spake chrisu () unto the assembled multitudes:

My unit Tiger 650 somehow managed to leak as much oil as a pre-unit and
unit put together. How it managed to do that at the same time as dropping
bits off along the road was a never-ending source of wonderment which
stimulated hours of conversation over our pints of Young's Old down at The
Fountain in Plumpton Green.

 

Thus spake Wonko the Angry () unto the assembled multitudes:

My Tiger 650 leaked even when it was new, so you'd think the manufacturer
would have set a decent example.

 

<lie>
Amazing - I have nearly finished building a Triumph 650 from parts
salvaged from the gutter in SE England.

 

Thus spake Roger Hunt () unto the assembled multitudes:

They're all mine, I tell 'ee! Give 'em back immediately. ;-)

Mined ewe, I did once lose a few bits (indicators, lamp covers) when I
parked it outside where I lived in Portslade. Later saw same bits in the
window of a Brit spares shop called Imola 500 down the road. I could never
prove that they were mine (and no, I didn't buy them back), but a hairy
toerag who worked there used to walk past my place on the way to work.

 

There were leaky unreliable American, German and Italian bikes then too,
you know.

It is a nice thing to see a properly put together old Brit bike -
something the factories didn't manage all that often - with careful
assembly and modern gasket materials the oil doesn't leak, much.

 

I think a lot of the problem was caused by piss-poor crankcase
breathers. I mean, the earlier 350/500 unit Tri twins were supposed to
be able to breathe through a ¼" dia tube. Hopeless design!

I remember admiring a Commando Interstate with about 120 miles on the
clock and it was pissing oil from around the cylinder head, and
apparently through it, due to a batch of porous castings, I heard.