1 hour ago, canthai55 said:

^^^^^

Off topic, but speaking of supercharged ...

Merlin had over 11,000 parts prior to fitting the blower behind the engine.

Oh yeah? What happened to them after they fitted the blower then? 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist ????

https://pgmv8.com.au/

49 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

Oh yeah? What happened to them after they fitted the blower then?  ...

Poof!

 

I am in awe of various mechanical marvels from the great steam engines to things like the Merlin engine that were made from around the turn of the century for 50 years.  Design, machining, fit and finish were superb. Every single soul on the team had to do their finest.  No slackers.

 

4 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Poof!

 

I am in awe of various mechanical marvels from the great steam engines to things like the Merlin engine that were made from around the turn of the century for 50 years.  Design, machining, fit and finish were superb. Every single soul on the team had to do their finest.  No slackers.

 

You can't talk about a Merlin engine without letting the Merlin have a word as well.  Finest sounding voice ever:

(To get back on the bike topic, for those who haven't see Jay's garage, check out some of the videos of the bikes he owns, including a 1930 Brough Superior, 1939 Vincent HRD series A Rapide, 1959 Black Shadow and 1964 Bonneville.  Jealous?  Me?  Not a bit of it! (Cough, cough)).

5 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Design, machining, fit and finish were superb. Every single soul on the team had to do their finest.  No slackers.

 

During WW2 mainly women doing the assembly.

Sold them to the Yanks too as the Allison in the Mustangs were gutless. Not with the Merlin !

Pocket rocket Benelli .. 10,000 rpm in 1940 .. That maroon paint is class ..  

9 hours ago, canthai55 said:

^^^^^

Off topic, but speaking of supercharged ...

Merlin had over 11,000 parts prior to fitting the blower behind the engine.

An Icon of Brit' engineering with just over a 1000 hp in earliest versions finishing up over 2000 hp towards end of WW2 .. Licensed to Packard whose version went in the beautiful P51 which finished as fastest piston engined fighter of the war .. A low flying Spit' has probably one of the best soundtracks of any engine ever .. In the years following WW2 with the rush to Jet engines the Merlin became obsolete almost overnight and many were broken down for the scrap value of their components ( magnesium in some ) .. £250k now for a historic ready to use one .. If you can find one .. 

 

Only one I'll put up as it ain't strictly bike .. As good as the Merlin was it's a lightweight next to the monsterous Napier Sabre fitted to the Typhoon fighter bombers used in WW2 .. 24 Cyl's , 36 litre , 2 stage supercharger with 2300 upto 3500 hp by the end of the War .. As it strafed the **** outta them the retreating Germans are said to have nicknamed the Typhoon " whistling death " because of the noise the engine made .. 

Harley-Davidson at Thailand International Auto Expo, Imact Challenger

 

Bummer it’s at Impact...

24 minutes ago, camble said:

Harley-Davidson at Thailand International Auto Expo, Imact Challenger

 

I cannot help it, and it’s just an opinion: I wouldn’t buy a HD even it was the last bike available on this earth. 

Jones supercharged flat4 2 stroke from late 40's ( think though info on it is not in abundance ) said to have a unique induction setup and looking at the those 'zorsts exhausts ports on both side of the barrel's .. Love to hear this running .. 

I cannot help it, and it’s just an opinion: I wouldn’t buy a HD even it was the last bike available on this earth. 

Fortunately you won’t have to.

I never liked Harleys, but the Buell was half decent.  

 

13 hours ago, canthai55 said:

^^^^^

Off topic, but speaking of supercharged ...

Merlin had over 11,000 parts prior to fitting the blower behind the engine.

Couldn't leave it without a mention of BRM's V16 of the late 40's which was in part designed by the same people behind the Merlin hence the aero engine style 2 speed supercharger built in to the front of the engine .. Only 1500 cc it was said to shunt out 600+ bhp at 12000 rev though RR reckoned it was safe to 14000 .. This makes a noise unlike anything else but was afflicted by ign problems right throughout its life so most clips of it being opened up you will hear it missing and running rough at high revs .. 

I wouldn't buy a Harley either, can't afford it.  But they're the only bikes I photograph because the others look so boring.  I'd expect if I rode them it would be the same.

 

2 hours ago, damascase said:

I cannot help it, and it’s just an opinion: I wouldn’t buy a HD even it was the last bike available on this earth. 

"would'nt buy a NEW HD even if"............

 There - fixed it for you.

The older ones were pretty good bikes, up until the end of the last century.

And the vintage & classic stuff was, well, like all classic bikes, wonderful.

Pretty damn good feel good engines, i'd have an older one or Evo in a heartbeat.

6 hours ago, camble said:

Harley-Davidson at Thailand International Auto Expo, Imact Challenger

Just when I thought it was safe...............lots of decent bikes then someone posts the Christmas trees..................still, it is nearly Christmas I suppose ????

Couple of Ceccato 75 cc racers an' a couple of Parilla's .. Some of those engine cases are works of art .. 

Couple of supercharged Guzzi singles .. The top one is a 500 road bike and described as early 60's but I can't discover if that was a factory machine or one off hand built by owner job .. Check out the dark red inlay and gold outline on the tank of the 250 racer .. 

Late 20's Italian Galbusera 500 V8 supercharged 2 stroke .. Very little detailed info on this even decent colour photo's are few .. But I'd love to hear that running or better give it a blast .. 

I like this...Rémy Vivien’s 1946 Terrot RGAS

 

https://www.pipeburn.com/home/2017/05/27/trials-tribulations-remy-viviens-1946-terrot-rgas.html

 

 

Some Italian tank art .. And check out how delicate the forks are on the Delle Ferrera ...

And some classic Brit' tank art .. 

How ' kin cool are the tank caps and instruments on the Brough .. 

 

 

 

 

The Italians know how to do style ..  All under 200cc from the 50/60's a

MV , Maserati , Ducati and a Bianchi .. and all good enuff to eat .. ( and they do love red in Italy ) .. 

AJS 500 4 cylinder supercharged water cooled, built in 1939 55 BHP top speed 216 km/hour, not bad considering it was at the start of the war.

11 hours ago, kickstart said:

AJS 500 4 cylinder supercharged water cooled, built in 1939 55 BHP top speed 216 km/hour, not bad considering it was at the start of the war.

Yabbut, that's not any more power nor speed than what JAP were getting out of 1100cc air cooled much simpler pushrod v twins of the time, put in other peoples bikes.

And i think those AJS over complicated bikes were the start of their financial downfall post war.

Did this bike actually win anything or did the war stop stop it?

AJS Porcupine anyone?

An AJS Porcupine as you said AJS did complicate things, 500cc DOHC engine only won one world championship race, only 4 built, Bonhams back in 2011 where try to sell one for an estimated 750 000$.

The 7R was a better bike and a lot more porn than this Porcupine.

Indeed the water cooled A-J over egged the mix abit .. On paper the spec' looked good but was fraught with design shortcomings when put into practice .. The lube system being one so they would put oil in the petrol just to make sure which is OK on 2 strokes but on a 4 one full rotation is done without any intake charge so bore wear will increase .. And also make 'em smoke some which is what the A-J used to do .. when it wasn't blowing head gaskets .. In all not one of our finest efforts .. Especially when BMW made something a lot simpler and faster ..

1938 500 kompressor on which George Meier become first foreign bod' to win the TT .. 

Super rare 1920's 750 kompressor .. Don't know if this ever raced or was just a development machine .. 

Aermacchi 1968 ALA Verda a 250 ccOHV engine Aermacchi made a lot of small 2 strokes have seen the racing bikes being raced, nice looking bikes.

This one was built after Harley Davidson invested in the company.

What I remember  Aermacchi were those awful 2 strokes trial style bikes of the '70s with an HD badge on.

14 minutes ago, kickstart said:

Aermacchi 1968 ALA Verda a 250 ccOHV engine Aermacchi made a lot of small 2 strokes have seen the racing bikes being raced, nice looking bikes.

This one was built after Harley Davidson invested in the company.

What I remember  Aermacchi were those awful 2 strokes trial style bikes of the '70s with an HD badge on.

Look at that motor!

It's a 250/350 Honda Wave on steroids.

Lovely!

Pretty sure they were pushrod motors as well.

 

I actually liked those 2 stroke HD trail bikes of the 70's......