2nd I C of the Kawa' stroker tribe the demonic 500 .. and as much as I love the aesthetics of front drum brakes this one thankfully has a disc up front .. 

 

13 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

2nd I C of the Kawa' stroker tribe the demonic 500 .. and as much as I love the aesthetics of front drum brakes this one thankfully has a disc up front .. 

 

God, that is one beautiful motorcycle.

Love the tank, seat and paint job.

 

15 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

this one thankfully has a disc up front .. 

... and a steering damper....

2 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

God, that is one beautiful motorcycle.

Love the tank, seat and paint job.

 

... and a steering damper....

Hahaha yeah and if ever a bike needed one t'was these .. 

Doesn't look to have original clocks either but I'll go back and look for some more pic's of it ..

12 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Hahaha yeah and if ever a bike needed one t'was these .. 

Doesn't look to have original clocks either but I'll go back and look for some more pic's of it ..

Nitpick.

Just noticed.

And if you are going to use a twin disc front end, but only use a single disc, "shave" the lugs off of the fork slider not having a caliper bolted to it.

 

Like my FZR1000 Yamaha forks below;

Little details add up....

 

 

16 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

God, that is one beautiful motorcycle.

Love the tank, seat and paint job.

 

... and a steering damper....

That steering damper - oh boy, did you need that.......... Riding one of these without one felt very much like have a hinge somewhere between the front and the rear. Terrible roadholding.

The hinge was right under your cojones - just behind the tank.

Hang on and twist the throttle - your only chance, as it is with most bikes.

Rookies make the mistake of chopping the throttle - or hitting the brakes. Instant wreck.

Been saved more than once by twist 'er open and steer !

Kawa' korner .. 

S1 based flat tracker .. 

Nice H2 going all swervy with the expansion chambers .. Needs clear lens indy's if ye'z gonna keep them ..

Bit of Kawa tank art with the mighty engine chucked in .. 

The quiet one probably the most civilised of the lot was KH400 .. and in one of the coolest colours .. 

 

Another shot of 500 above .. 

Nice early , early 350 S2 ..

 

No words.....

Nice early S1 complete with guillotine front number plate .. 

 

Super dinky 150cc Capriolo flat twin .. 

Moto Guzzi Cardellino 65 from 50's .. dig the horizontal rear spring .. 

 

 

Big old cruiser XJ1300 cooled out a bit .. 

 

An old friend of mine who I converse with over email just reminded me of a place in our old home town in NZ, the Southward Car Museum:

 

Along with all the cars, it also has a pretty good line in bikes:

 

Including this 1932 Brough Superior "Austin 4" three wheeler, one of only 10 built, and (apparently) 8 surviving:

 

The museum was originally the private collection of a guy called Len Southward, who I had the pleasure of knowing in my younger days.  Amongst other achievements, he was the first person in Australasia to travel over 100mph on water, in 1953:

And was a keen trials rider, here in 1921, aged 16.  "Safety gear?  We don't need no stinkin' safety gear!":

 I salute one of the last true "gentleman adventurers".

 

 

 

Suzook's TL1000 and the later and better SV .. Superb engine this ..

 

2 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Suzook's TL1000

Max Bygraves - i'll tell you a stooory....

 

The scariest motorcycle i have ever ridden was a ........... TL1000.

 

Back in the day when i had my shop, i was the official Goodridge hose dealer for Norfolk & Suffolk.

I stocked no ready made line kits, everything was made on the premises to your spec with choice of ends etc - cheapo BZP via CHR to anodized alloy & S/S.

Generally whilst you wait.

I made a lot of brake, oil and fuel lines in 15 years. A lot.

The odd occasion i'd get a customer that would want me to make them, fit them and bleed the brakes ($$ -nice $$)...

Along rolls a chap one day with a street fighter converted TL1000, leaves it with me for 24 hrs to do the above work.

Aha, i thought, test ride a bike that all the journos are raving about - widowmaker, deathtrap etc.

Stock i think they made 120-130hp, but this one had been crashed, de-plasticified, no fairings, straight up right bars, usual twin headlights, gaudy paint job and ........ tuned.

I took it out of my industrial estate, turned right onto the main drag, kept it to the 30 & 40 mph speed limit, got to the outskirts of town and gave it some...

I dropped 1 or 2 gears, can't remember, so i was in either 3rd or 4th, 60mph, and wacked the throttle.

The bike came up so hard, the handlebar clamps and top yoke hit me hard in the face (open face helmet).

I slammed the back brake on, brought the front end down, pulled over, turned round, and pootled back to the workshop at legal speeds.

Got in, lit a cigarette with my shaking hands, whilst my employees said <deleted> happened to you?

I said shaddap, roll me a spliff.

True story.

 

 

Back on topic...

A much, much saner v twin, and also much prettier, although nowhere near as scary...

 

Edit,

if Suzuki still made an SV1000 i might buy i one.

Not the hideous V Strom they still make.

Just a 1000cc version of their, nice, simple, plain SV 650.

100hp, plenty of torque (75-80 Ib ft) and one of the MOST reliable engines ever made.

A guy in the States allowed Suzuki to use his bike as an advert for SV longevity.

An SV 1000 with 440,000 miles on the clock, and the c/heads had NEVER been off.

That's over 600k odd kms i believe..

Still running i believe...

3 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

The scariest motorcycle i have ever ridden was a ........... TL1000.

Hahaha yea I have read and heard they were a bit scary .. Loads of theories abounded as to why they were so wayward .. Too short a wheelbase , positioning of engine , rear shock arrangment .. If I ain't mistaken weren't they subject to a recall by Suzy to try and calm them down abit .? 

Late 90's there was a dude down the road from me who had one with aftermarket cans on it .. It was my early morning alarm clock as he regularly fired it up at 6:30 to go to work but the noise it made you could hear t'other end of road so when I heard it start i knew t'was time to get up myself .. The lump itself though is an absolute peach of a V twin and one of the great engines to come out of Japan .. 

Another good Suzy engine from the 90's was the 1200 Bandit .. 

And a Spondon framed one with a bit of carbon fibre chucked on it ..

 

Magni's tribute to 70's MV 750S utilising the engine from one of the new breed MV's .. Nice 

Early 70's MV 350 sport twin .. 

 

14 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Max Bygraves - i'll tell you a stooory....

 

The scariest motorcycle i have ever ridden was a ........... TL1000.

Sounds like my GPz ...

Steve McQueens 1942 Indian Scout as featured in H Cole's tribute prog' to him .. Foot operated clutch which isnt easily mastered sez' Henry boy .. Love the full on front mudguard though .. 

 

Try riding a Knuck uphill from a stop.

No front brake, foot clutch, rear foot brake.

NSU 2 ltr single banger .. And you would not want a kick back from that trying to start it .. 

 

Fugly

2 hours ago, canthai55 said:

Fugly

Agreed.

But considerably better than stock...

7 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

NSU 2 ltr single banger

Had to google that.

And read up about it.

Ridiculous.

The guy who beat his previous 1000cc single record with his 1400cc Steam Punk bike - equally ridiculous.

3" or 75mm ex pipe diameter !!!

 

Here is some sanity.

500cc sanity.

Note the HD V Rod front wheels, and swing arm used as part of the girder forks.

 

 

4 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Had to google that.

And read up about it.

Ridiculous.

The only other single cyl production bike I can think of that gets anywhere near the capacity of the NSU is the hideous Dr Big 800 Suzy from the 90's .. 

 

Biggest working motorcycle in the world by all account's .. The aero-engine based 410 cu-in Gunbus .. 

 

13 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

NSU 2 ltr single banger .. And you would not want a kick back from that trying to start it .. 

 

Can’t see the other side of the bike, but it must have a big flywheel there for any sort of ‘smooth’ running............

23 minutes ago, damascase said:

Can’t see the other side of the bike, but it must have a big flywheel there for any sort of ‘smooth’ running............

Oh for sure it'll have a weighty flywheel .. The only other engine I can think of that bears comparison to it is the single cyl Lister diesel that is fitted in small Thwaites dumper truck's .. that has a flywheel weighing in at 20lbs .! is quite large and you know it when trying to start it with a starting handle .. On the other side the NSU when running will pull a house down I would imagine .. 

4 hours ago, damascase said:

Can’t see the other side of the bike, but it must have a big flywheel there for any sort of ‘smooth’ running............

The other side...

 

Take a Suzuki Bandit engine, add wheels and bars, and you get its little brother.  This bike takes balls to ride, as they're required to assist the air filters:

 

 

Continuing with the kinky side of porn, a 48 cylinder Whitelock Tinker Toy.  4,200cc, 16 Kawasaki KH250 2-stroke triples, plus a separate 50cc 2-stroke as a starter engine: