What should I get?

mind, it's still got to be 2/10 when new...

 

Bob Scott said: That's interesting - you're only a couple of years
older than me & when
I was 17-21 all my mates rode LCs, Z1000s & GSXs. >>>>

Well, I must've found myself in strange company. This was south
Birmingham 1980-85ish. Most of the lads I knocked around with in my
area were all into Brits.
I had at various points: D14 Bantam, C15, Tiger 90, A65 Lightning, A10
Super Rocket, T120 Bonnie. At one point I knew 3 people within 1/2 mile
with Tritons and among my mates there was also a Triumph Speed Twin
chop and a couple more Bonnies. There were lots of Jap bikes but they
were nowhere near dominant. I guess this was less than 10 years after
the factory closed so there were still plenty about. Another factor was
there was a peg-leg Irish guy locally who used to buy, get running and
sell Brits cheap. So, apart from the interest factor we had a ready
source of cheap bikes, parts and expertise.

 

I believe you'll find this group is more representative of those who
run
'classic' machines than you think.>>>> Maybe, maybe not. This
discussion (17 posters) isn't very representative of anything except
those few posters particular predelictions.

 

It's inevitable and Classic Bike isn't justa "few pages of Jap" as was
suggested; the mag has had a complete overhaul under ed Hugo Wilson
(whose personal fleet is a 56 Triumph T'bird, a Morini, a Bros650 and a

Cyclemaster which should give a clue about the mag's direction).
You've
only got to look at this month's issue to see how things have changed.
Along with an article about restoring a Thunderbird, there's something
on a record braking Norton streamliner and a weirdo who'd ridden 300000

miles all over Europe on a truely horrid Bantam, and something about
instant gaskets. But there's also a dossier file on the Honda 400 Four

(14 pages, say no more), an article about grey import 400s and a record

breaking Kawasaki streamliner. It's not giving a few pages over to Jap

stuff grudgingly but an acknowledgement that the classic "movement" has

changed its dynamic. >>>>>> I accept that there is more Jap stuff in
CB now and that things are likely to change in that direction. But I
think you're overstating your case and the percentages taken over
recent months will come out mostly Brit - when I get time I'll go and
do a page count and check the proportions.

Our pet Brit enthusiast here is quite atypical for
a 40-something in being surrounded by Brit riding mates (unless he was
in the TOMCC or somthing from an early age, I'd guess). >>>> See
earlier post

And I
guess why there's little greasy spanner talk here is easy to work out.
Jap bikes don't go wrong anything like as much as old Brit
stuff.....you're more likely to find chatter about where to get 400
four
mudguards than 400 four gearbox repairs. >>>> Come on! Surely even 20
year old Japs need a rebuild, for peace of mind's sake at least

 

I suspect you were the exception rather than the norm.

Certainly not my experience in Norfolk, Sussex, London, Gwynedd and
Dyfed; all places I lived 82-88.

 

Indeed - I've had Brit bike owners try to get us (the Laverda club)
kicked out of classic shows because "they can't be classic bikes -
they're not British". >>>>> Well, that's shit behaviour IMO. But having
seen the anti-Brit prejudice that goes back the other way here I'm not
surprised the 'classic movement' is so divided.

 

Eh? So if you're 41, when you were 17-21 that would have been
1981-1985,
right? I don't know what kind of time warp you were in, and I really
don't want to imply that you're a liar, but A65s and suchlike were
pretty
thin on the ground by that time, unless of course your circle of mates
were
specifically into old British bikes. >>> see other post for my
Bikeography

Most circles of mates around that
time were definitely into big Jap fours and suchlike; definitely the
kinds
of bikes that are most often discussed in this NG. I'm 49 and
although I
had a Triumph twin when I was 20 in 1976, Japanese bikes were taking
over by then and almost all my mates and contemporaries had them.

 

They don't. Honestly.

Mechanical failure is rare and usually down to other events rather than
simply component wear.

Not even 26 y/o Italians need it, mine's 100K+ still on the original
cylinders, pistons and bearings.

<aside> I know google groups is Satan's own posting method but that last
post was very difficult to follow.

 

To all those who replied without launching straight into insultathon
mode I must say I'm gald we had this discussion. I've learnt from it.
Ta

Antony
1969 BSA B44 Victor Special "World champion 1964-65"

 

Shame you still haven't learnt how to post properly. Or how to get
along with a braod bunch of people.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Little Dunham, Nr. Swaffham. I went to NORCAT in Kings Lynn.

 

I don't think many here are specifically anti-brit. Fact of the matter is,
I ride a BMW as there's no way on god's earth that I could afford a brit in
the same condition, as the "classic brit" scene has them going for stupid
money - even basically shite stuff like C15s goes for many hundreds, and
decent[1] things like velo venoms, norton commandos, BSA twins, Triumph
twins which perform in about the same bracket as my BM are well into 4
figures for anything worth having.

There's also the fact that it's reliable, for the most part: It was
standing in the shed all last winter, and come about May when I was solvent
enough to buy a new tyre and fire it up to go for an MOT to get it back on
the road, it took about half an hour on the battery charge to top it up
enough to fire on the electric boot, with the same petrol that was in the
tank last year, which I reckoned wasn't bad.

[1] for brit values of decent

 

On or around 5 Aug 2005 06:54:40 -0700, enlightened
us thusly:

(stuff)

I don't suppose you could sort out your quoting, could you? your responses
are very difficult to read.

 

Happy days, drinking in the Lattice House and Wenns.

Which goes some way in explaining my early departure from further
education.

 

Thus spake sweller unto the assembled multitudes:

Antony may have a point. Perhaps in South Brum it didn't do to be seen
riding Japanese iron in such close proximity to Meriden, Selly Oak etc.

 

Thus spake unto the assembled multitudes:

[rest snipped]

I think your news posting program must be made from old British bikes,
because it's broken. Took me quite a while to figure out from your reply
which was quoted text and which was your own. Take a look at this one;
that's the established way to do it. You might like to take a bit of time
to configure your news poster so that it conforms to established standards.
Just don't go using any Instant Gasket, that's all.

 

Small Heath was 3 miles away and I'd had 2 relatives work there

 

How's that?

 

Better, but you could also remove the first attribute line, as you've
snipped everything from that post.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Anyway after all that, you'll gather Brits and particularly BSAs are my
bike of choice and I don't agree that they all have to be oil spewing
shell-big-ended monstrosities. If they were I'd be on a
Beemer/Duc/Honda or something too. I just recently got a 1969 B44
Victor Special, which was in the last generation of BSA singles and by
then had become pretty solid, largely due to its sporting heritage.
There's a wealth of expertise and uprated parts out there for them
because it was (and is on the pre-65 scene) a popular machine for
scrambles etc.

There's plenty of aftermaket upgrade stuff for A10, A65s etc too,
everything from bottom ends to fork springs. I'm rebuilding the B44 and
If I wanted to I could bore out to 500cc+, fit high lift cams,
lightweight clutch and add another 50% to my BHP. But the actual plan
is to just incorporate what I need to make a reliable thumper with a
higher capacity oil pump, electronic ignition, better oil filtration
and a bit of port polishing and a larger carb. OK, so I'm not gonna go
to work on it every day, but I should be able to make it a reliable,
fun bit of kit.

For the record, I also had a few japs in my time - KH250, CB250, GT380
and an RD200, all of mid-70ish vintage.

Ant