more bike porn

[ballpoint]

Give me an original one any day though.  A 1934 SS100.

[ballpoint]

Looking at the price of some of the Broughs posted above led me to a site showing the most expensive bikes in the world.

Top of the list, a 1951 Vincent Black Lightning, sold in Jan 2018 for $929,000

Second, a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer, sold in 2015 for $852,500

 

And third, a 1907 Harley Davidson 'Strap Tank', sold in 2015 for $715,000

Best of the bunch, for the mechanical enthusiast, a 1926 Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sports "project", sold for $400,000 in 2015

 

The whole list is here. Warning, clicking on this link will expose you to bike porn of the strongest nature.  I accept no responsibility for the weak hearted, and the anguished howls from anyone who was offered any of these bikes for a tenner back in the 60's:

https://thevintagent.com/2017/04/26/the-worlds-most-expensive-motorcycles/

 

[ballpoint]

2 hours ago, ballpoint said:

...the anguished howls from anyone who was offered any of these bikes for a tenner back in the 60's:

Here's one that didn't get away:

 

"(In the early 60's) As it happened, a friend of Knight's was selling the contents of a garage. Along with a plethora of parts, tools, spares, bits, and bobs, the garage was home to a 1933 Brough Superior SS100 sidecar rig. Her fiance bought the contents of the garage, bike and all, for £45 and sold her the Brough for £33 (the equivalent of about $900 today). Now, that wasn't chump change at the time—especially for a young working woman with a wedding coming up—but still, that buy ranks up there among the best barn find bargains of the 20th century.

 

One day in the early 70s, the old Brough was put away in the shed and didn't come out again until early in 2018. 

"I was surprised when we took it out of the shed again, it seemed smaller than I remember," said Knight.

Now Mrs. Knight's trusty old Brough is off to a new life. It's going for auction at Bonhams where, despite its current dilapidated state, it's expected to go for somewhere between $185,000 to $240,000."

 

https://www.rideapart.com/articles/269547/1933-brough-superior-bonhams-auction/

[VocalNeal]

My uncle who died before I was born was killed riding a Brough Superior.

[Justgrazing]

Top bike is by all account's one of only four in line 4 banger Brough's made and was one of the 8 bikes and bits 'n pieces found in that barn in Cornwall 4 or 5 yrs back .. As I understand they were all basket cases having been there 50 odd yrs but even then the whole lot sold at Bonham's for nearly £750k with the bike in the pic' pulling in £330k .. 

Bottom machine is SS100 based Pendine Sands racer " Baby Pendine " .. 

 

[Justgrazing]

1920's lovely James V Twin .. 

30's James competition bike ..

 

[Justgrazing]

Couple of 70's stroker superstars .. Though you won't be getting too far on the Kawa' with those 'zorsts and filter's on it .. 12/14 mpg anyone .. And probably not much further on the Suzook either .. 

 

Yamaha's fuel injected GL750 4 banger stroker from early 70's .. Like the RZ201 rotary bike Yam' backed away from putting the GL into production .. Shame ..

Injection system was further developed turning up on 2 stroke snowmobiles .. 

 

Edited February 14, 2019 by Justgrazing
Edit

[ktm jeff]

Ive always felt  Yamaha was ten years ahead of Honda in road and race bike development back then. Politics and money then played an ever increasing part. Suzuki werent far behind with the multi cylinder strokers.  5 cylinder 125 anyone ?.

[Justgrazing]

20 hours ago, ktm jeff said:

Ive always felt  Yamaha was ten years ahead of Honda in road and race bike development back then. Politics and money then played an ever increasing part. Suzuki werent far behind with the multi cylinder strokers.  5 cylinder 125 anyone ?.

As far as I'm aware only Honda built a 5 cyl 125 and that was a 4 stroke but both Yamaha and Suzuki made 125 V4 stroker's back in the 60's .. 

 

[Justgrazing]

A & S Plod have got to have one of these for pulling bikers in their manor ..

 

[Yellowtail]

3 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

As far as I'm aware only Honda built a 5 cyl 125 and that was a 4 stroke but both Yamaha and Suzuki made 125 V4 stroker's back in the 60's .. 

 

 

I believe 4-stroke technology is what gave Honda a jump on the competition way back.

 

I saw a graph 10-15 years ago of motorcycle sales in Thailand. It spanned about 10 years, and it started with Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha all having about equal marker shares. Honda introduced a 4-strock and in a couple years they had 80-90% of the market. Each of the other companies introduced 4-strokes soon after and started regaining sales, but I'm not sure where it's at now. 

 

[Justgrazing]

2 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

I believe 4-stroke technology is what gave Honda a jump on the competition way back.

 

I saw a graph 10-15 years ago of motorcycle sales in Thailand. It spanned about 10 years, and it started with Kawasaki, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha all having about equal marker shares. Honda introduced a 4-strock and in a couple years they had 80-90% of the market. Each of the other companies introduced 4-strokes soon after and started regaining sales, but I'm not sure where it's at now. 

 

Yes sure ultimately 4 strokes have prevailed even though they are more complicated and expensive to build than stroker brethren but the emissions issue is what downed the 2S concept as the technology wasn't commercially available to clean them up in the same way 4 strokes have been .. But Yamaha continue to fly the 2 stroke flag looking at numerous ways of trying to get them to meet ever tighter emissions reg's .. 

From racing perspective Honda chucked in Grand Prix 4-stroke racers late 60's to dabble in F1 leaving MV to soldier on against the Yamaha's in the 70's before chucking the towel in with Agostini jumping ship to race for Yamaha .. 

Honda did attempt a comeback 10 yrs later with the disasterous NR500 against the 2 strokes but that ended in tears ..

[mogandave]

Yes sure ultimately 4 strokes have prevailed even though they are more complicated and expensive to build than stroker brethren but the emissions issue is what downed the 2S concept as the technology wasn't commercially available to clean them up in the same way 4 strokes have been .. But Yamaha continue to fly the 2 stroke flag looking at numerous ways of trying to get them to meet ever tighter emissions reg's .. 
From racing perspective Honda chucked in Grand Prix 4-stroke racers late 60's to dabble in F1 leaving MV to soldier on against the Yamaha's in the 70's before chucking the towel in with Agostini jumping ship to race for Yamaha .. 
Honda did attempt a comeback 10 yrs later with the disasterous NR500 against the 2 strokes but that ended in tears ..

Personally, I think fouled plugs had more to do with the move to 4S than anything, at least for daily rides.

It’s almost like the bike knows when the absolute worst time is to stall out...

Remember plug sand-blasters?

Cleaning baffles?

[Justgrazing]

Supercharged Norton .. Don't know what the label hanging off the tank is about .. 

And who'd have thunk it .. Plain Jane XJ900 Yam' with a refreshed look ..

 

[mogandave]

Supercharged Norton .. Don't know what the label hanging off the tank is about .. 
And who'd have thunk it .. Plain Jane XJ900 Yam' with a refreshed look ..
 

Is it hanging from the tank or clutch lever?

Maybe it’s for sale...

[Justgrazing]

33 minutes ago, mogandave said:

 

Is it hanging from the tank or clutch lever?

Maybe it’s for sale...

 

Well spotted .. 

[ktm jeff]

On 2/15/2019 at 11:12 AM, Justgrazing said:

As far as I'm aware only Honda built a 5 cyl 125 and that was a 4 stroke but both Yamaha and Suzuki made 125 V4 stroker's back in the 60's .. 

 

You are correct , thanks.  I love these multi-cylinder 2-strokes.

[melvinmelvin]

friend of mine just bought

a 1967 T Bonneville, mint condition - can't wait for my next trip back to Norway and testing it out

 

he paid 40 000 NOK for it, about 140 000 baht - ok price

 

Edited February 16, 2019 by melvinmelvin
add

[Yellowtail]

20 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

friend of mine just bought

a 1967 T Bonneville, mint condition - can't wait for my next trip back to Norway and testing it out

 

he paid 40 000 NOK for it, about 140 000 baht - ok price

 

Mint, original? Seems like a great price.

[melvinmelvin]

18 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Mint, original? Seems like a great price.

yes, guess he was more than lucky, Norway ain't no cheap country

 

[Justgrazing]

Nearly 40 yrs ago and just when everyone thought it was safe to go back in the water with the death of the performance 2 stroke along came Yamaha with probably the nuttiest of the lot .. Elsie 350 ..

 

Edited February 18, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[melvinmelvin]

On 2/16/2019 at 2:37 PM, melvinmelvin said:

friend of mine just bought

a 1967 T Bonneville, mint condition - can't wait for my next trip back to Norway and testing it out

 

he paid 40 000 NOK for it, about 140 000 baht - ok price

 

 

my friend's bike,

 

 

 

[damascase]

29 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

my friend's bike,

 

 

 

Looks great! Not sure about the front brake drum: is that an original? Looks a bit at the Grimeca drum, but I don’t know whether Triumph ever fitted these. Just wondering..........

[melvinmelvin]

45 minutes ago, damascase said:

Looks great! Not sure about the front brake drum: is that an original? Looks a bit at the Grimeca drum, but I don’t know whether Triumph ever fitted these. Just wondering..........

Couldn't tell you man

I am in Thailand

My friend is on holiday in Thailand now

He bought the bike 2 days before flying to Thailand

He hasn't even moved the bike from the seller's place to his own precinct

 

 

[thaiguzzi]

1 hour ago, damascase said:

Looks great! Not sure about the front brake drum: is that an original? Looks a bit at the Grimeca drum, but I don’t know whether Triumph ever fitted these.

It's a stock BSA - Triumph 68-70 TLS front brake.

Possibly the best production front drum brake ever made, anywhere, by anyone.

Of course, BSA liked to improve stuff, (f##k things up) so in 71 they replaced this one and made one of the WORST TLS front drum brakes ever, the infamous conical hub.

On 2/16/2019 at 8:37 PM, melvinmelvin said:

friend of mine just bought

a 1967 T Bonneville, mint condition - can't wait for my next trip back to Norway and testing it out

 

he paid 40 000 NOK for it, about 140 000 baht - ok price

 

Could be a 67 with a 68 front brake, but i reckon it is a 68.

The price is outstanding.

A complete non runner would fetch that price in the UK.

A mint, 100% original 68-70 (the most sought after unit twins) T120 will fetch 10k.

The Skan countries love their Brit bikes, so if it runs as well as it looks, it's a great deal.

 

6 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

along came Yamaha with probably the nuttiest of the lot .. Elsie 350 ..

Nuttiest is prolly the wrong description.

The LC350 was fast, but it was also tractable, torquey, and you could ride to work on it in traffic.

As well as do track days with it.

Nutty i would describe as the early narrow powerband, evil handling, Kawasaki KH triple series.

[melvinmelvin]

42 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

It's a stock BSA - Triumph 68-70 TLS front brake.

Possibly the best production front drum brake ever made, anywhere, by anyone.

Of course, BSA liked to improve stuff, (f##k things up) so in 71 they replaced this one and made one of the WORST TLS front drum brakes ever, the infamous conical hub.

Could be a 67 with a 68 front brake, but i reckon it is a 68.

The price is outstanding.

A complete non runner would fetch that price in the UK.

A mint, 100% original 68-70 (the most sought after unit twins) T120 will fetch 10k.

The Skan countries love their Brit bikes, so if it runs as well as it looks, it's a great deal.

 

Nuttiest is prolly the wrong description.

The LC350 was fast, but it was also tractable, torquey, and you could ride to work on it in traffic.

As well as do track days with it.

Nutty i would describe as the early narrow powerband, evil handling, Kawasaki KH triple series.

Re Bonneville,

just exchanged a few emails with my friend.

He says, maybe 68, but the owner said 67. He will check the registration leaflet when he gets back home.

 

However, he said the bike is an import from the US.

Might be the cause of slight differences from European models.

(front wheel brake and also details on the tank)

 

 

[Yellowtail]

Is that an original color?

[melvinmelvin]

4 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Is that an original color?

If you refer to the Bonneville, haven't the foggiest, sorry.

 

 

 

[Yellowtail]

6 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

If you refer to the Bonneville, haven't the foggiest, sorry.

 

 

 

Yes, I was referring to the Bonny 

[thaiguzzi]

12 hours ago, melvinmelvin said:

He says, maybe 68, but the owner said 67. He will check the registration leaflet when he gets back home.

 

However, he said the bike is an import from the US.

Might be the cause of slight differences from European models.

(front wheel brake and also details on the tank)

The brake was fitted worldwide on 68 models onwards.

If it is a 67 (rear light looks 68 as well), then it has a 68 front end.

12 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Is that an original color?

No.

Triumph 650 twins worldwide wore two tone paintwork.