British bikes

[findlay13]

25 minutes ago, Spidey said:

Went to the dealership in Pattaya, just after it opened. Went with a mate who is a Triumph nut, has a Bonneville, which he's restoring and a Tiger. He'd been looking at new Triumphs in the UK as he wanted a new one. His opinion was that there was very little difference in their price in the UK and the price in Pattaya. Slightly dearer here but that's not surprising with the current exchange rate.

They are all 5K pius more in Thailand  than Australia [and more now the Aussie Dollar is dropping] .I picked up a 650 Kawasaki Vulcan last trip for about 10K which was only about 500 more at the time.A new speedmaster iis 632,000 baht and is 21K

here which was about 505,000 Bht [now 475,000 bht approximately]

[Enoon]

 

MCs not included (as I recall) in this series, but it is of interest to anyone wishing to understand the fate of several British industries post-WW2:

 

BBC Four - All Our Working Lives

 

I watched it first time around in 1984.

 

At that time I had not yet come to understand what the loss of the Empire really meant for the future of Britain.

 

 

[kickstart]

7 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

My 1064cc Triumph twin.......

 

 

How did you get 1064 cc out of a Triumph a bit more than a Morgo kit, that head, and barrel, looks far from standard, running on dope?

I can remember "Bike " magazine, my bible at the time, sponsored 2 lads with a drag bike, they linked 2 850 cc Noton Commandos engines together, they had some success, and some blow up's.  

[thaiguzzi]

3 hours ago, kickstart said:

How did you get 1064 cc out of a Triumph a bit more than a Morgo kit, that head, and barrel, looks far from standard, running on dope?

I can remember "Bike " magazine, my bible at the time, sponsored 2 lads with a drag bike, they linked 2 850 cc Noton Commandos engines together, they had some success, and some blow up's.  

One off crank cases. 1" thick wall, sand cast. Puma based.

One off iron barrels with offset bores. Puma based.

Weslake S/H 850 cylinder head with offset combustion chambers and mounting holes welded up & re-positioned.

Offset bigger valve guide holes for bigger valves.

One off billet steel 360 degree (none of this gay 180 or 270 modern stuff) Nourish crankshaft with the biggest 93mm stroke available to physically machine.

PAC steel 6.5" centres conrods machined to fit off centre, so left would not fit right and vise versa.

Ran on methanol, about 130 bhp which was well undertuned.

The bottom end was designed to comfortably handle more than double that ie nitrous or a blower.

 

[taninthai]

Way before my time oulton Park uk

https://www.facebook.com/Silodrome/videos/1783442868390983/

[damascase]

4 minutes ago, taninthai said:

Way before my time oulton Park uk

 

Great! Bob McIntyre on a Manx Norton. Those were the days!

[how241]

Good bikes , for the era,  but always leaking some oil.  

[damascase]

21 minutes ago, how241 said:

Good bikes , for the era,  but always leaking some oil.  

 

21 minutes ago, how241 said:

Good bikes , for the era,  but always leaking some oil.  

Well, ‘some oil’ is a good euphemism. Those Manxes did not have valve covers, so the oil spray to cool/lubricate that area ended up on your boots - or sometimes at the rear tyre. Quite apart from all other leaks, of course........

[how241]

16 minutes ago, damascase said:

 

Well, ‘some oil’ is a good euphemism. Those Manxes did not have valve covers, so the oil spray to cool/lubricate that area ended on your boots - or sometimes at the rear tyre. Quite apart from all other leaks, of course........

I got tires of the oil leaking and switched to Honda's in the 1970's.

[AllanB]

26 minutes ago, how241 said:

I got tires of the oil leaking and switched to Honda's in the 1970's.

I bit like buying a blow up doll...you don't get any wet leaks!! Not quite the same as the real thing...so I am told.????

[NonthaburiBear]

for all Petrolhead on Thai Visa

 

[thaiguzzi]

1 hour ago, NonthaburiBear said:

for all Petrolhead on Thai Visa

 

Thank you for that.

Absolutely stunning!

Without a doubt, the best video i have ever seen on this forum.

The greatest motorcycle marque of all time.

Thank you sir, again.

[findlay13]

 

[damascase]

13 minutes ago, findlay13 said:

 

@findlay13: I can’t help associating your nickname with Jack Findlay, that great Australian rider active in the Continental Circus in the sixties and early seventies.........

[findlay13]

No relation I'm afraid.But I just read Wikipedia about him .Impressive.

 

 

[jackdd]

On 10/16/2018 at 11:14 AM, damascase said:

Oh, and by the way: it wasn’t possible to get a testride. Do they really expect people to lay out something like 600k baht without a testride?

Depends on the dealer, making a testride on a Tiger 800 XCA was no problem in Khon Kaen

 

On 10/16/2018 at 11:22 AM, Spidey said:

His opinion was that there was very little difference in their price in the UK and the price in Pattaya.

A Tiger 800 XCA in Thailand costs about 100k thb more than in the UK and they don't pay import tax here, so the price is higher just because they can

[Hank Gunn]

7 hours ago, NonthaburiBear said:

for all Petrolhead on Thai Visa

 

Great video but holy hell, doing 141.5 mph on that bike must have felt more like 200 mph!

[Hank Gunn]

On 10/16/2018 at 5:44 AM, dddave said:

Ohh, absolutely.  Especially those with lucas electrics.

Granted, they still do look great, as long as they are standing still.

 

On 10/16/2018 at 6:48 AM, damascase said:

I will never forget Lucas abruptly leaving me in the dark at 100+ km/h with my Matchless 650 twin on a winding country road in a moonless night.

Lucas - the King of darkness.......

I remember two t-shirts from the 70s and 80s. The first one said, “Lucas, Prince of Darkness.” 

 

The second one was written in the same font/typeface as the Triumph logo and said, “Trust Me.” ????

Having said that, there was a time in my late teens where my dream bike was a Norton 850 Commando.

[thaiguzzi]

11 minutes ago, Hank Gunn said:

Great video but holy hell, doing 141.5 mph on that bike must have felt more like 200 mph!

What are you on about man?

It's got suspension front AND rear - what more do you want? ????

At 141 miles per hour i doubt it was revving more than a relaxed 6,500 rpm...

[findlay13]

On 10/16/2018 at 2:40 PM, thaiguzzi said:

Only slightly...

You and the previous 10 owners (& bodgers).

One of the upsides as well as pitfalls to Brit bikes is the ease of which they can be worked on. So, often you have to repair previous owners repairs, bodges et al.....

If done right they don't leak. Recquires patience & knowledge & mechanical skill & good tools.  A proper blueprinted engine should be better than when it left the factory, and be as leak free as any other old design engine made by Italians, Germans, Americans or Japanese.

 

Below is my owned from new T140, 830cc, bored & stroked, highly non-original, and does NOT LEAK oil. Back in the day, we'd ride from Norwich in Norfolk to Munich in Bavaria & back (and Italy etc) on a variety of Brit bikes & old Harleys. The Triumphs owned and ridden by me & my staff, arrived back in the UK with NO OIL LEAKS. And we did'nt hang about....

 

 

Yes the 140V I had was oil tight.The first one, the T110 was about 17-18 yrs old when I got it.Hardly two screws or bolts on it were the same. Whitworth,BSF,Phillips head screws, allen key bolts etc etc

 

[DILLIGAD]

Yes the 140V I had was oil tight.The first one, the T110 was about 17-18 yrs old when I got it.Hardly two screws or bolts on it were the same. Whitworth,BSF,Phillips head screws, allen key bolts etc etc
 

My ‘76 T140v was oil-tight but wired up (bodged) with telephone wire. My next Bonnie, an ‘81 T140e was a wonderful bike and never let me down. That was also the year that model won the MCN ‘best bike in the world’ award!!!!


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[AllanB]

Going back a little further and after a little research, I think this was my dad's first bike, the Norton WD16H. He rode this bike in north Africa for about 4 years during WW2, after a full 5 minutes of verbal instruction. 1/2 hour after that they gave him a full licence, up to HGV. .....After that he taught me to drive...er... I didn't pass that first test...... Dear old Pop..

 

Would love to get hold of one of these, it will come in handy when WW3 starts. 

 

[DILLIGAD]

Going back a little further and after a little research, I think this was my dad's first bike, the Norton WD16H. He rode this bike in north Africa for about 4 years during WW2, after a full 5 minutes of verbal instruction. 1/2 hour after that they gave him a full licence, up to HGV. .....After that he taught me to drive...er... I didn't pass that first test...... Dear old Pop..
 
Would love to get hold of one of these, it will come in handy when WW3 starts. 
 

Purely by chance, my uncle was a motorcycle despatch rider in North Africa during WW11 also!!!
Dad was a Blacksmith there too. Great career change for a Saville Row tailor!!! Doh!!!


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[canthai55]

19 hours ago, findlay13 said:

 Whitworth,BSF,Phillips head screws, allen key bolts etc etc

My BSA was the same. Thankfully my Dad showed me how to do Helicoil so that cured most of them. The ones with no meat left for the insert he welded up and tapped them new. Studs installed where we could to protect the aluminum.

That an ignition from a Honda Dream 305 with a new wiring harness we made and it was good to go

[AllanB]

16 hours ago, canthai55 said:

My BSA was the same. Thankfully my Dad showed me how to do Helicoil so that cured most of them. The ones with no meat left for the insert he welded up and tapped them new. Studs installed where we could to protect the aluminum.

That an ignition from a Honda Dream 305 with a new wiring harness we made and it was good to go

Helicoils are brilliant and stronger than the originals, very easy, you just buy a kit and then just need a black and decker.

 

Never seen them in Thailand, in fact if anyone knows a place where they have that sort of thing I would be interested to go there.

[thaiguzzi]

57 minutes ago, AllanB said:

Helicoils are brilliant and stronger than the originals, very easy, you just buy a kit and then just need a black and decker.

 

Never seen them in Thailand, in fact if anyone knows a place where they have that sort of thing I would be interested to go there.

Not a B&D hand held drill. No.

You want a pillar drill or bench top drill or mill to drill & tap the hole square.

Very very important to have a drilled hole 90 degrees (and not that'll do 80 degrees- ish) to the gasket face.

These days, Helicoils (and their generic copies such as Re-coil et al - the patents ran out a long time ago) still have their place and are relatively cheap and sometimes the only solution, but if practicable there are better (and more expensive) solutions to thread repairs such as Time-serts, especially for spark plugs etc....

If you want some individual kits why not buy them in the UK? Or order off Ebay - an individual one size thread kit could even be sent cheaply by post - nothing to it in weight.

In Thailand they will be sold in any store (such as Tool Pro) that is a Cromwells UK distributor.

I still have all my kits, here in TH, to buy new now prolly in excess of 3-4k GBP.....

 

 

[canthai55]

4 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Very very important to have a drilled hole 90 degrees (and not that'll do 80 degrees- ish) to the gasket face.

Dad had a lathe, so he sorted that problem.

Wish I would have spent more time lerning to use it, but chasing tail and party my ass off took priority !

Say to him ' Good Enuf ' and earn a slap.  He hated that saying ...

" It is either done properly or it is not, nothing in between "

[dinga]

On 10/21/2018 at 9:15 PM, AllanB said:

Going back a little further and after a little research, I think this was my dad's first bike, the Norton WD16H. He rode this bike in north Africa for about 4 years during WW2, after a full 5 minutes of verbal instruction. 1/2 hour after that they gave him a full licence, up to HGV. .....After that he taught me to drive...er... I didn't pass that first test...... Dear old Pop..

 

Would love to get hold of one of these, it will come in handy when WW3 starts. 

 

A question (pardon the ignorance, if that's what it is....), but this bike is a badged "Norton" but a couple of parts clearly bear the name 'Royal Enfield'????  What gives?

 

 

[thaiguzzi]

31 minutes ago, dinga said:

A question (pardon the ignorance, if that's what it is....), but this bike is a badged "Norton" but a couple of parts clearly bear the name 'Royal Enfield'????  What gives?

 

 

2 different bikes. Well spotted.

Until you asked this, i had'nt even bothered watching the "video", thinking it was just a boring War Dept 16H.

Not very clear from the guy who made the montage of photos.

Probably not very knowledgable on British motorcycles.

Here's a nicer 16H (side valve 500 - they also made a 600cc version called a Big 4) in a later twin shock trials rolling chassis;

 

 

 

[AllanB]

20 hours ago, thaiguzzi said:

Not a B&D hand held drill. No.

You want a pillar drill or bench top drill or mill to drill & tap the hole square.

Very very important to have a drilled hole 90 degrees (and not that'll do 80 degrees- ish) to the gasket face.

These days, Helicoils (and their generic copies such as Re-coil et al - the patents ran out a long time ago) still have their place and are relatively cheap and sometimes the only solution, but if practicable there are better (and more expensive) solutions to thread repairs such as Time-serts, especially for spark plugs etc....

If you want some individual kits why not buy them in the UK? Or order off Ebay - an individual one size thread kit could even be sent cheaply by post - nothing to it in weight.

In Thailand they will be sold in any store (such as Tool Pro) that is a Cromwells UK distributor.

I still have all my kits, here in TH, to buy new now prolly in excess of 3-4k GBP.....

 

 

Yes, I should have qualified that. "If your skills are sufficient", I must have done hundreds.

 

A pillar drill is best, sure, but many times it cannot be employed.....and that's assuming you have one. I know you do, but you are in a minority on this forum.

 

What I would say to others, is to get an observer.

 

...and do the thread tapping by hand, again using an observer.