more bike porn

[thaiguzzi]

11 hours ago, Isaanbiker said:

Babe

 

 

 

 

No.

Vomit.

Please stop defiling this wonderful thread with stock garbage.

If you have'nt got anything of historical, classic or customized classy interest to contribute, F##k off.

 

Oh and the red mystery Italian?

Lambretta.

And very tasteful too.

Edited May 16, 2019 by thaiguzzi

[Justgrazing]

2 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Oh and the red mystery Italian?

Lambretta.

And very tasteful too.

Hahahaha .. Straight in with the upper part there Guzz' I couldn't stop laughing when I read that .. 

Correct Sir the little red V twin is indeed a Lambretta .. Here's the doubloons as promised .. 

 

[Justgrazing]

No 53 , 500 4 banger Nougier from the 50's .. Never see polished up Noug's they're always functional but the level of design and engineering that went into some of them was quite radical .. 

50's 250 twin .. Hemispherical comb' chamber yep' but take a look at how wide the angle of the valve seats are from the vertical .. That wide will promote to a degree better airflow into a hemi' chamber but will result in a wide cyl head casting to accommodate the valve gear .. Which is no prob' so long as you got the space for it like the 250 has .. The 500 lesser so but still hemi' and radical for the time .. 

 

[thaiguzzi]

33 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Hemispherical comb' chamber yep' but take a look at how wide the angle of the valve seats are from the vertical .. That wide will promote to a degree better airflow into a hemi' chamber but will result in a wide cyl head casting to accommodate the valve gear ..

 

Wot?

A bit like my Triumph then, based on the iron heads of the 1937 Speed Twin, and later the first 50's 650 alloy heads.....

You wanna see hemi heads on a bike?

Check out late BMW R series air heads from the 70's and post war Harleys - very very poor combustion unless running stupid octane and stupid compression ratios.

Hence why i have pinking/detonation probs on the T140 in extreme heat here - solution don't ride it when temps are hitting or approaching 40C....

 

 

[Justgrazing]

1 hour ago, thaiguzzi said:

A bit like my Triumph then, based on the iron heads of the 1937 Speed Twin, and later the first 50's 650 alloy heads.....

You wanna see hemi heads on a bike?

Check out late BMW R series air heads from the 70's and post war Harleys -

Yea sure I'm not saying the Noug' was pioneering but it was doing it with DOHC's which is why that head on the 250 is so wide .. Wide angle valves without a widehead usually requires rockers , rocker-shafts and gubbins if you stay with pushrods which adds friction , weight and ultimately less than accurate valve opening and closing .. if you go single OHC it usually has to be centrally located between the valves and then operate rockers ( a lot of 80's mundane Japanese 4 cyl cars used this setup to keep the head fairly narrow ) but again needs rocker's and shaft's .. Purest and most accurate valve opening and closing ( desmodromic aside ) in OHC is the lobe operating directly onto the top of the valve via a bucket or shim holder as it does away with the need for any other components which increases accuracy of operation but if the valves are wide angle then a wide head is required .. This is one of the reasons the Jaguar V12 was not fitted with DOHC heads modelled on the XK 6 banger hemi' design .. with the cams operating directly on the top of the valves the hemi design of the heads on a 60 degree angle wide block was too wide to allow induction from the inner faces of the heads which is why the prototype engine in the pic has the abomination of the inlet manifold entering thru the other side of inlet cams .. That the induction was compromised by that idea is an understatement as heat soak rises directly to the carbs and inlet manifold's .. The decision then was taken to keep it a single chain driven OHC operating directly onto the top of the valve which kept it all very neat and narrow but ruled out the use of a hemi' combustion chamber which is why the early production engine ( upto 1981 ) was a flat Heron head with the chamber in the top of the piston .. 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[VocalNeal]

5 hours ago, Justgrazing said:

Hahahaha .. Straight in with the upper part there Guzz' I couldn't stop laughing when I read that .. 

Correct Sir the little red V twin is indeed a Lambretta .. Here's the doubloons as promised .. 

 

I believe Damrongsak and myself deserve a share? 555

[Damrongsak]

Douglas RA, with disc brakes, from the early 1920s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_(motorcycles)

 

 

1928 Douglas DT500 dirt track model.

 

[ballpoint]

The last Meriden Triumph, a T140W TSS.  Only 338 produced, in 82 and 83.

 

For comparison, here's a pair of Bonneville T120s, from 1967...

 

… and 2019:

 

 

 

 

[DILLIGAD]

Wow, I dreamed of getting a TSS or TSX!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[Justgrazing]

Couple of other takes on wide valve angles .. 

Be-eM HP2 boxer head with DOHC on wide'ish angle valves using rockers on the outside of the cams .. 

Rudge Python 350 with wide radial angle valves but as motion comes from pushrods it has to have a number of rockers to transfer that motion .. Primary rocker that takes the motion from the pushrod also has to operate the secondary rocker ( yellow ) to open the other valve .. this all allows loss of motion , increased friction and given the angles they are working at wear on the rocker tips and top of the valve stem .. But this is a 1930's engine and the use of OHC's to drive wide angle radial valves was still not popular among many engine makers .. 

And engine in bike .. What a neat looking machine .. 

 

Edited May 16, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[ballpoint]

In 1948, Rollie Free tore his leathers at 147 mph while attempting to break the US motorcycle speed record on the very first Vincent HRD Black Lightning, and decided to make one more run without them.  Or jacket, pants, gloves, boots and helmet.  Instead, donning a bathing cap and shorts, and slippers.  This final run was recorded in the photo below - the famous "bathing suit bike".  He set a new record, and was the first to break 150 mph, when he achieved a speed of 150.313 mph.  Wouldn't look out of place on some of the roads here.

 

Mr Free passed away in 1984 at the ripe old age of 83 (who says riding a motorbike is dangerous?), but the bike is still in excellent condition:

[Justgrazing]

Bristol Centaur radial Aero engine .. Me thinks you'd want Tippex in every colour of the rainbow to time that little lot up .. 

 

[VocalNeal]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Douglas RA, with disc brakes, from the early 1920s.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_(motorcycles)

 

 

1928 Douglas DT500 dirt track model.

 

Ah Irony, Douglas used to manufacture Vespas.

[ballpoint]

Looking back at all those long lost manufacturers and their magnificent machines posted over the pages of this thread, whether they be automobiles, aeroplanes, trains or motorcycles, I doubt if there was, or will be, any other country to have such a sheer magnitude of mechanical genius as England (for, as thaiguzzi pointed out some time ago, although British is the usual term, 99% of them were English) in the first half of the 20th century.  It seems you could walk into any garage at random and find someone building a car or motorcycle or aircraft engine.    

 

Curious about the volume, I made a search for British motorcycle manufacturers, which came up with over 1,200 of them.

https://cybermotorcycle.com/euro/britain.htm  far too many to post, but this is the 'A' section:

 

A. Barnett  A and A Autocarrier  Abbotsford  ABC  Aberdale  Abingdon  ABJ  Abrahams  A.C. Sociable (Auto-Carrier)  Ackland  Acme  Addison  Advance  AEB  AEC  AEL  Aeolus  AER  Aero Special  AGA  Airolite 1921-1923  Ajax  AJR  AJS  AJW  AKD  Akkens  Albion  Alecto  Alert  All Speed Gear Syndicate  Allard  Alldays  Allen  Allen-Bennett 1922-24  Allon  ALP  Alpha  Alta  Alvis  Alwin  Ambassador  AMC  Andrews  Anglian  Ansel  Antelope   Antig  Aolus  Arab  Arden  Argson Engineering Co  Argyle  Ariel  Armis  Armstrong  Armstrong 1902  Arno 1906-1915  Arrow  Ascot  Ascot-Pullin  Ashburn  Ashford  ASL  ASP  Aster  Aston  Atlanta-Duo  Atlas  Atom  Atomette  Aurora IoM  Aurora (Coventry)  Austel 1985-91  Austen  Auto Repairs Co  Auto Sidecar  Auto Wheel  Autoglider  Autoped  Autosco  Auxiliary Wheel Sidecar  Avon  Avonvale  Avro Motorcycles  AWJ  Ayres-Hayman

 

Randomly clicking one of them brought up this beauty from 1922, a 142.5cc two stroke that does 240 mpg, for £31 10s.  Take that, Honda!

 

 

 

[Justgrazing]

3 hours ago, ballpoint said:

doubt if there was, or will be, any other country to have such a sheer magnitude of mechanical genius as England (for, as thaiguzzi pointed out some time ago, although British is the usual term, 99% of them were English) in the first half of the 20th century.  It seems you could walk into any garage at random and find someone building a car or motorcycle or aircraft engine.    

Germany are not bad either when you look back at that era though a lot of it like the first operational jet powered planes with the ME262 fighter and Arado 234 bomber ( never used in anger as it arrived WW2 too late .. this plane is believed to be the last operational Luftwaffe aircraft to fly over Blighty early in '45 on a reconnaissance flight ) along with projects like the V rockets were all for the wrong reasons .. 

But hey we won and after we got over the hangover and surveying the new order there was only one thing for it .. Jets .. and lots of 'em .. The 50's Brit' aero industry was arguably the best in the world with loads of manufacturers .. Even the A-mericans were reg' visitors to airshows in Britain to watch kit being put thru' it paces with a view to purchase ( and plagiarising ) .. Even the Russian top brass would be cordially invited to Farnborough in stage managed visits to watch our latest military planes doing barrel rolls and full throttle ascents and dives .. 

And one such bit of kit that could not have failed to get their attention was the 50's English Electric Lighting .. Primary task was to intercept Soviet bombers in the event of Armageddon arriving for real .. And intercept it could .. only British made plane of the era capable of Mach 2 and described by many pilots as like getting strapped into a rocket and watching the world go backwards .. Its speed though was matched by its thirst for Avgas limiting early versions operational range but the Russian's had no answer to it .. remained with some squadrons until the mid 80's though not as No1 front line .. 

If bikes are planes then for its consumption alone the Lightning is a Kawa H2 with spannies and no filter .. 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[papa al]

29 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Its speed though was matched by its thirst for Avgas limiting early versions operational

Jets don't use Avgas; only internal combustion engines do.

[ballpoint]

4 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

Germany are not bad either when you look back at that era though a lot of it like the first operational jet powered planes with the ME262 fighter and Arado 234 bomber ( never used in anger as it arrived WW2 too late .. this plane is believed to be the last operational Luftwaffe aircraft to fly over Blighty early in '45 on a reconnaissance flight ) along with projects like the V rockets were all for the wrong reasons .. 

Yes, but the German manufacturers were more industrial, whereas my point is that England was full of single (probably in more ways than one) engineers, working away in sheds producing motorcycles and cars.  Sadly though, if there is one word that to me sums up the British political class of the 20th century (and more so in the 21st), it is ineptitude.  All these engineers coming up with ground breaking inventions and world class solutions to technical problems, and getting sold out one by one.

 

12 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

And one such bit of kit that could not have failed to get their attention was the 50's English Electric Lighting

One of my favourite planes.  I even bought the t-shirt that James May used to wear, or rather, one like it.

 

Up to 2010 you could have gone for a ride in one at Thunder City in South Africa, for a wee bit of money, but they stopped flight operations following a 2009 airshow crash, and the owner, Mike Beachy Head, died in 2017.  Not much info on what happened to the remaining ones after that, with conflicting reports that they were sold, or they are still there in storage.

Professor Brian Cox went up in the one that crashed (shortly before it did so) in order to show the curvature of the earth, and the thin blue line that is the Earth's atmosphere, in the BBC series "Wonders of the solar system".  Best lines: "This was when England built the best aircraft in the world" and "This piece of magnificently overpowered engineering..."

 

 

[ballpoint]

Back on the ground, I'd love to get one of these for the farm, but not seen any in Thailand.  A Crayford Argo Cat with removable rubber caterpillar tracks.

[VocalNeal]

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

And intercept it could .. only British made plane of the era capable of Mach 2

OT. Cold War Hot Jets.

 

The only fighter to have caught up to Concorde. Out of service about 1987-ish.

 

Lightning starts at 35mins.

 

 

[Justgrazing]

21 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

Back on the ground, I'd love to get one of these for the farm, but not seen any in Thailand.  A Crayford Argo Cat with removable rubber caterpillar tracks.

Hahaha yea .. Superb bit of go anywhere kit is the argo' and from what I remember were used by the military also weren't they .. One on E*ay this morn' for 3 bags of sand ..

Keeping with a bit more Jingo'ism .. 

Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird V from 30's .. Look at the size of the thing .. Nearly 5 ton in weight ( loved the original spec that said 95 cwt ) and over 300 mph in the 30's .. Even the photo is so of the time with the riff-raff having to stay the other side of the fence from the trilby wearing Chumley Warner types .. 

 

[VocalNeal]

1950 Rover Jet-1 saw it as a lad in The Science Museum

 

 

and to keep us on track MTT Y2K

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by VocalNeal

[Justgrazing]

6 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

1950 Rover Jet-1 saw it as a lad in The Science Museum

Superb V N .. the turbine Rover .. Glad you reminded us of that .. Good call man .. 

[DILLIGAD]

Yep, I remember seeing that too!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Justgrazing]

9 hours ago, ballpoint said:

Looking back at all those long lost manufacturers and their magnificent machines

From you're list above BP .. 

The last Arab Villiers ever made so they say .. 

And starting with a B but long since lost also .. a couple of Blackbournes .. Gorgeous paint on both of 'em .. 

 

[Justgrazing]

Aah them was the days when men ( an' wimmin' ) were men and you had to have a big coat on to be one ( an' a tab' ) .. Check out the number of eyelets on the rider's boots .. You'd be half hour lacing those up .. 

One more bang of the nations drum ..

The Vulcan bomber .. Angel of Death if it was ever to be used in proper anger .. Said during the critical days of the Cuban Missile crisis they were sat on the runway locked and loaded , Pilot's in cockpit ready for the off if the call came .. Used to bomb the runway on the Falklands in a raid that has gone down in RAF history for its sheer audacity .. there's a book called Operation Black Buck which was the name given to the mission in which they detail the problems that were overcome flying ageing bombers that distance including the refuelling arrangements which were quite extraordinary .. Not since planning to go more than 50 miles without stopping for gas on a Kawa 500 has fuel planning been so critical .. ????????

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Justgrazing
Sp

[Tagged]

A trip south!

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Tagged

[ballpoint]

For curiosity value, a couple more Lambrettas, from the 100 mph Lambretta Club.  Best quarter mile 12.71 sec at 105 mph.  Just what I need for getting about the village.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by ballpoint

[Damrongsak]

49 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

... One more bang of the nations drum ..

The Vulcan bomber .. Angel of Death if it was ever to be used in proper anger ..

 

I worked with a former RAF pilot who used to fly them.

[ballpoint]

1 hour ago, Justgrazing said:

The Vulcan bomber ..

… and friends, 1968.  This photo is cooler than McQueen, Brando and Dean sitting in an ice truck.

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by ballpoint

[Damrongsak]

Regarding mechanical genius in England, they made some marvelous steam engines and later diesel engines.  The craftsmanship, fit and finish was superb, even where it didn't matter.  At practicalmachinist.com, there's a forum for old/antique stuff.  One member, "Asquith", travels all over England and posts pics of some of these marvels.

 

Some later pics of the William Doxford & Sons works where they made big ship engines:

 http://www.dieselduck.info/historical/01 diesel engine/Doxford/works.htm

https://retronaut.com/content/1957-1958-doxford-engine-works

 

Making crankshaft parts: