6 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Couple of cute Jawa's ..

Just look at these two motorcycles - Jawa!

Beautiful motorcycles with gorgeous details, colour schemes & paintwork.

And classy.

The top one almost looks like an expensive to produce bevel drive OHC.

You know, back then, post war, IMHO, the Golden Years of motorcycles, and motorcycling manufacture, everything had style and each brand had their own unique look. You know you could spot a Triumph or BSA from 50 paces, or whatever.

Even in the 70's i could tell the differences between the big Jap 4.

These days, everything just looks a bit of a muchness, a bit of the sameness. Beige.

These days, not being a full fairing, plastic, sports bike fan, take all the decals & stickers of 'em, and a lot of people, me included would not, could not tell the difference between any of the Big 4 or a BMW in line 4.

From 20 paces.

3 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

You know, back then, post war, IMHO, the Golden Years of motorcycles, and motorcycling manufacture, everything had style and each brand had their own unique look. 

Wholeheartedly concur there Guzz' I appreciate the sophisticated engineering that goes into modern bikes and what they are capable of but they all look so samey , samey nowadays ditto modern cars .. 

 

Russian PMZ 750 late 30's with a definite whiff of Indian about it .. You wanna see the military version of it .. Like a tank t'is .. 

Beautiful CZ 175 and a dinky little DKW .. 

 

10 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

... These days, everything just looks a bit of a muchness, a bit of the sameness. ...

... and a lot of people, me included would not, could not tell the difference between any ...

I say the same about all the crossover/SUV automobiles these days.  Look like they were designed by someone who does anime cartoons. 

OK not strictly porn at 100cc but check out how cutting edge this Riedel Imme was for a late 40's bike .. 

Stop! It's too much.

 

I looked for a 'jealous' emoji, this is the closest I could get:

 

Fantastic bikes gentlemen, I am in awe.

7 minutes ago, ParadiseLost said:

Stop! It's too much.

 

I looked for a 'jealous' emoji, this is the closest I could get:

 

Fantastic bikes gentlemen, I am in awe.

Feel free mate .. Put some up yourself , always good to see other contributors takes .. 

On 11/11/2018 at 9:36 AM, thaiguzzi said:

These days, not being a full fairing, plastic, sports bike fan, take all the decals & stickers of 'em, and a lot of people, me included would not, could not tell the difference between any of the Big 4 or a BMW in line 4.

From 20 paces.

There is a great TV show called "Iron Resurrection" which I highly recommend. More cars than bikes, sorry but really high quality work..

 

The reason I mention this is in one of the episodes they took a Honda Goldwing and made a nasty naked bike out of it. Amazing what lays beneath all that plastic...

A rather good-looking Triumph a T150.

Read somewhere Rickman are still making frames.

On 11/11/2018 at 3:36 AM, thaiguzzi said:

Just look at these two motorcycles - Jawa!

Beautiful motorcycles with gorgeous details, colour schemes & paintwork.

And classy.

The top one almost looks like an expensive to produce bevel drive OHC.

You know, back then, post war, IMHO, the Golden Years of motorcycles, and motorcycling manufacture, everything had style and each brand had their own unique look. You know you could spot a Triumph or BSA from 50 paces, or whatever.

Even in the 70's i could tell the differences between the big Jap 4.

These days, everything just looks a bit of a muchness, a bit of the sameness. Beige.

These days, not being a full fairing, plastic, sports bike fan, take all the decals & stickers of 'em, and a lot of people, me included would not, could not tell the difference between any of the Big 4 or a BMW in line 4.

From 20 paces.

 

On 11/11/2018 at 3:36 AM, thaiguzzi said:

Just look at these two motorcycles - Jawa!

Beautiful motorcycles with gorgeous details, colour schemes & paintwork.

And classy.

The top one almost looks like an expensive to produce bevel drive OHC.

You know, back then, post war, IMHO, the Golden Years of motorcycles, and motorcycling manufacture, everything had style and each brand had their own unique look. You know you could spot a Triumph or BSA from 50 paces, or whatever.

Even in the 70's i could tell the differences between the big Jap 4.

These days, everything just looks a bit of a muchness, a bit of the sameness. Beige.

These days, not being a full fairing, plastic, sports bike fan, take all the decals & stickers of 'em, and a lot of people, me included would not, could not tell the difference between any of the Big 4 or a BMW in line 4.

From 20 paces.

 

Jawa, pretty good stuff. Not among the fastest ones but reliable sturdy stuff- still slick looking.

 

However, CZ engines, wow wow, used in other frames - high power stuff

 

I used CZ engines in my high street/highway carts, faster than double shait.

 

 

2 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

but check out how cutting edge this Riedel Imme was for a late 40's bike ..

Neat.

Ducati SSSA? Single sided swing arms?

Pah!

Riedel not only has a SSSA but a single sided front fork! Proper!

50 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

Neat.

Ducati SSSA? Single sided swing arms?

Pah!

Riedel not only has a SSSA but a single sided front fork! Proper!

Oh yes it was radical alrite .. the swingarm doubles up as an exhaust and it has some sort of auto clutch ( centrifugal possibly ? ) with 3 speed gearbox but no neutral .! Only a 100cc it was said to be as powerful as 125 bikes of the day but they never made enough money on each one then got hit by a load of warranty claims for engine issues that forced 'em out of business early 50's .. 

The Riedel Imme is pretty amazing.  Biggest problem seems to be the single-sided crank bearing.  It eventually got bearings on both sides, but it was too late. 

Some late 20's Germans ..

NSU 750 part OHV Twin .. The paintwork suits this to a Tee ..

Windhoff 750/4 OHC .. Said to be the Maybach of German bikes of the time .. 

Extra rare Schütoff 500 .. 

Bump.

Coupla takes on the new "unit" Enfields...

 

An Aussie built bobber, based on a 1965 T120, that I like the look of.  Nicely composed photo too.

Who'd have thunk it .. The French trying to nick abit of Kawasaki's market share early 70's .. but try they did though just at the wrong time with the 70's oil crises's .. 779 units in total with only 4 being the green 500 model .. The 350 was known as both Motoconfort early days and Motobecane as it popped & banged into the history books 1976 .. No word on reliability or performance though if the Kawa's were anything to go by frequent rebores and crank rebuilds would have been likely .. You cant help think the Kawa's were better looking bikes also .. 350 was available initially with carbs though later apparently also with EFI while the 500 was only EFI .. Which was brave when just about every other 2 stroke maker including Yamaha gave up on the concept during the 70's .. Rare as hens teeth these and the only 350 found in a classic bike publication fur sale was € 18000 .. 

Badboy H1R racer version of KH750 .. Like it needed any encouragement ..

Late 70's Malanca 150 twin .. 

30's Belgian Gillet competition bike 

30's Ariel with suberb aluminium  mudguard's .. 

And another very late 20's Schütoff .. complete with oil leak 

..

 

Very sweet Tribsa.

 

One of the Japanese bikes of the 70's .. Not as schizo' or scary as the Kawa's .. A softer old hector was the GT but still 20 mpg if you caned it a bit .. Prefer the purity of the first of them but the later models did have better brakes .. 

4 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Very sweet Tribsa.

 

Yeah but Guzz' what was he thinking with that exhaust .. 

33 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Yeah but Guzz' what was he thinking with that exhaust .. 

I really like it. High level 2:1.

Heat shroud over the last bit of the twin pipes before it goes into the silencer proper. May be used in a deecibel tested race, i dunno, but as i said, i like it. In fact there's nothing i don't like on this, alloy barrels, nicely done primary cover over a belt drive, 4LS front brake, well chosen classy paint scheme.

I 'd be proud to own it or say i built it.

42 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

One of the Japanese bikes of the 70's .. Not as schizo' or scary as the Kawa's .. A softer old hector was the GT but still 20 mpg if you caned it a bit .. Prefer the purity of the first of them but the later models did have better brakes .. 

Big fan of the 70's Suzukis.

All the GT 2 strokes. 185-250-380-550 and the 750 kettles pictured. And the first 4 stroke replacements, GS 750's.

I grew up as a teenager in a market town that was a Suzuki town. All the lads had GT 250's till they binned their L plates and moved onto 550 triples etc.

The other two nearby towns, one was the last remnants of the Brit bike Greasers, and this town's bikers got on with Suzuki town's bikers.

And the other town (where most of my early teenage friends were) was Yamaha Town, all RD's, which i would later go on to own, and the odd Z900 amongst the older bigger wealthier boys. This town did not get on with Suzuki nor Brit bike Town.

Funny old world innit...

5 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Big fan of the 70's Suzukis.

All the GT 2 strokes. 185-250-380-550 and the 750 kettles pictured. And the first 4 stroke replacements, GS 750's.

I grew up as a teenager in a market town that was a Suzuki town. All the lads had GT 250's till they binned their L plates and moved onto 550 triples etc.

Yes mate across the range they were good bikes .. Always a bit more polished and refined than the Kawa's and not as lary .. And some of my hombres back in the day went same route GT250 on Hell plates then onto bigger models .. A guy from my home village had a new 750 back in '77 in that mid'ish crystal blue colour they came in .. Absolutely cosseted it , if it rained he'd head off back home and spends hours in the garage towelling it off .. Any way he was into bird nesting alot and went down the south coast on it looking for nests and promptly fell off the cliff he was searching and was killed .. His parents had to arrange to have the Suzook brought back home where it stayed in the garage for yrs the parents refusing point blank any enquiries if they wanted to sell it .. I moved from the area early 80's and the guys parents have long since departed also in that time with the house long sold and though I stay in touch with some of my old mates no one there knows what happened to the bike .. 

Yea the GS750 that took over from the GT was one of THE late 70's bikes .. The Honda had got fat and ugly .. The Zed's were getting watered down after original Boss Z1 and though Zed 650 was good it didn't have the out and out oomph of the bigger bikes and Yamaha weren't quite sure with the XS750 .. 

 

GT550 and 380 .. The black 380 is a 76 with just 1600 miles up and was for sale around 8k .. The green 550 looks nice .. Shame really that these bikes are no longer practical to use other than the weekends now with the price of fuel and the anti 2 stroke smoke nutters .. 

 

Edit .. And first model GS750 .. 

 

Ring dinging 200 cc Fruin 4cyl built early 60's in Herts I believe .. NSU barrels n' heads , custom made crankcase and crankshaft , Dellorto carbs , MV frame , Gilera brakes 'n brakes , Lucas electrics and homemade exhausts .. A real pick 'n mix but what a good job they made of it .. 

7 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Yeah but Guzz' what was he thinking with that exhaust .. 

great looking bike, including the "to ai sia"

50's and 60's 150 & 200cc Mondial's .. Love the small slicer disc on the front brake of the grey one .. 

Coupla road going Nortons converted to racers by the American shop NYC.

 

18 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

I grew up as a teenager in a market town that was a Suzuki town. All the lads had GT 250's till they binned their L plates and moved onto 550 triples etc.

Pretty much mirrors me in the mid 70's...except I went from my GT250 to an RD350B...most of my friends went the GT380, GT500 and GT750 route, but a few went the Yamaha way as well. 

 

The town I grew up in had both Yamaha and Suzuki dealerships owned by two different families, and it quite often came down to who your father went to school with as to whether you stated out on a RD250 or an GT250

14 minutes ago, Neilly said:

Pretty much mirrors me in the mid 70's...except I went from my GT250 to an RD350B...most of my friends went the GT380, GT500 and GT750 route, but a few went the Yamaha way as well. 

 

The town I grew up in had both Yamaha and Suzuki dealerships owned by two different families, and it quite often came down to who your father went to school with as to whether you stated out on a RD250 or an GT250

I went;

Yamaha FS1E (metallic gold Fizzy)

Fantic GT50 in Italian Red

Honda CD (not CB)175 that was my Dad's old commuter, given to me on my 17th birthday, very, very uncool bike for a teenager, and hence had to get rid of the L plates ASAP, which was about 2 months after said birthday.

Sold it immediately and bought a.......

Yamaha RD350B (metallic blue, disc brake front), to this day, one of my fave bikes i ever owned, and far better than the RD400 that replaced it.