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Mike H
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#31

Post by Mike H »

Interesting story Steve, reminds me when I was trying to verify the year of manufacture of my Guzzi, I knew it had been modified by a bloke who worked at the factory, but assumed it originally started as a standard production one.

Asked Moto Guzzi direct to get the date from the frame number (cue long delays due to translation plus every e-mail I send 'em is bounced so have to keep using their contact web form)

Anyway they said "that frame number isn't one of ours", so in other words the guy built it from scratch from the frame up presumably by "rummaging through the parts bins" :D

It then turns out I discover the year is stamped on the VIN plate! :roll: Can't normally see it because of the fairing.

 
 
"No matter how fast light travels it finds that the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
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floppybootstomp
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#32

Post by floppybootstomp »

Nick wrote:
Seems geoff has touched on a nerve here
I can't see any sign of that, I think we are all (sadly) old enough to have outgrown those tribal habits.

As its turned into a what we had thread. my list of shame is:

Yamaha FS1E, (we were all young once)
BSA B25 Starfire
Ducati 500 Pantah
Kawasaki K750 Twin
Um, just in case their was any misunderstanding, I did mean that comment in the nicest possible way :)

Straight up guv, would I tell you porkies? :?
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Mike H
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#33

Post by Mike H »

Oh I get it as in the almost throwaway mention of 'Lambretta' in the same sentence as 'my first ride' ? :D

Thereby implying, 'same as motorcycle'

(and that funny noise you can hear is the sound of old rocker's hackles rising on the North Circular Road. Or elsewhere for that matter LOL :lol: )

Interesting though how many here have or have had mo-sickles.

 
 
"No matter how fast light travels it finds that the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
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Dave the bass
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#34

Post by Dave the bass »

List! OK.

Illegally on the fields during the 70's where the Littlebrook 'D' Powerstation is now built...
Honda C90
Summat made by Fantic i think (?)

Legally....
Mum's P-reg Puch Maxi-N (Silver, fast)
Mum's S-reg Puch Maxi-S (Red, slow)

^^^Both to get me to part time jobs and through College.

Bit of a Gap then...

Suzuki GT125 ('79 thus unrestricted, fun and passed test on).
RD350 YPVS (owned for 2 months and 26 days before smashing it and myself into the side of a Portuguese mountain. Bike written off, me rebuild-able).

Gap...
Yamaha RXS100 (to work and back for ever, eventually did 62K miles)
Suzuki RG500 in 'Pepsi colours' (bonkers weekend bike, avoided repeat of RD350 incidents then sold it and bought a....)
Indian Enfield Bullet 500 ('93, still have it. Loved it more than any other bike, Wore it out, needs new cylinder and barrel, retirement project....)
BSA Tiger Cub (gone)
Kawasaki W650 (bought in 2000, owned from new, presently 98K, still going...)

Next up will probably be either a CBF125 or a YBR 125.

(...or a Sunbeam S8)

:-)

DTB
"The fat bourgeois and his doppelganger"
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Nick
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#35

Post by Nick »

(...or a Sunbeam S8)
Ahh, well, you should talk to Kaye (my better half) She used to have a S8 (or was it a S7, can't remember).
Whenever an honest man discovers that he's mistaken, he will either cease to be mistaken or he will cease to be honest.
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Dave the bass
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#36

Post by Dave the bass »

Nick wrote:
(...or a Sunbeam S8)
Ahh, well, you should talk to Kaye (my better half) She used to have a S8 (or was it a S7, can't remember).
S8 = thinner tyres and yummy 'sporty cast silencer. Phwwoooaaaarrrr...
Image

S7 = Big daft fat tyres, sorta overweight American bike look. Meh! Yucky....
Image

I've got the service manual and some books already.

Just need the bike.

And lots of money to buy the spares.

Lots of spares.

DTB
"The fat bourgeois and his doppelganger"
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Nick
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#37

Post by Nick »

Having ridden both, the sporty/non sporty is best taken with a pinch of salt. I think the S8 also had a slightly larger sump so it could hold a little more oil (it was a wet sump in line twin that thought it was a car engine and took great delight it overheating the rear cylinder).

I remember a old chap at the sunbeam owners club events who solved the lack of oil problem by adding a set of pipes that pumped the oil via the handlebars and so cooled the oil and warmed the fingers at the same time.
Whenever an honest man discovers that he's mistaken, he will either cease to be mistaken or he will cease to be honest.
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shane
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#38

Post by shane »

Nick wrote:I remember a old chap at the sunbeam owners club events who solved the lack of oil problem by adding a set of pipes that pumped the oil via the handlebars and so cooled the oil and warmed the fingers at the same time.
The thing I love about bikes is the innovative engineering, both at an individual and a corporate level (elliptical cylinders? Thank-you, Yamaha. Brilliant.)

The thing I don't love about bikes is that they don't have enough wheels and fall over a lot.


(Runs and hides behind bike sheds)
The world looks so different after learning science. For example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are burned, they go back to air, and in their flaming heat is released the flaming heat of the Sun which was bound in to convert air into tree.
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Dave the bass
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#39

Post by Dave the bass »

Nick wrote:......... pumped the oil via the handlebars and so cooled the oil and warmed the fingers at the same time.
Track him down and give that man a Nobel Prize for biking brilliance :lol:

Re- 'sporty'-ness, Yep, I've read a lot on the history of the S7 and S8 over the years. 'Not very' was usually inserted before 'sporty' I believe...
shane wrote:
(Runs and hides behind bike sheds)
Still looking/hoping for a snog round there Shane.....? :-)

DTB
"The fat bourgeois and his doppelganger"
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floppybootstomp
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#40

Post by floppybootstomp »

Dave the bass wrote:List! OK.

Illegally on the fields during the 70's where the Littlebrook 'D' Powerstation is now built...
That was you was it?

I worked occasionally at Littlebrook D while it was being built in the late 70's, radiography/welding inspection. I've been up the top of both of dem chimneys.

Bikes. Safety. I must confess to coming off the Lambretta many times but never nothing more serious than a nasty bit of road rash sustained on the IOW.

Passed my motor cycle test first time early Summer '67, the so-called summer of lurve. Didn't have to wear a crash helmet then and it also means that right now I could jump on a huge Harley or something and legally ride it.

Which is perhaps silly, I'd take a refresher course or something before embarking on such a thing cos I am rusty.

Summer of lurve? passed me by at the time... :D

I still have the Lambretta workshop manual, brings back a few vibes looking through it sometimes, spent a lot of time stripping down and re-building that scooter.

Not completely sure why though :D
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shane
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#41

Post by shane »

I do remember a bloke with an LI175 who arrived about 15 minutes late at school one day.

Apparently it had seized on the way.


Three times....
The world looks so different after learning science. For example, trees are made of air, primarily. When they are burned, they go back to air, and in their flaming heat is released the flaming heat of the Sun which was bound in to convert air into tree.
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Mike H
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#42

Post by Mike H »

@ DTB had to be a Portuguese mountain, not just any old one? :D



 
 
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Mike H
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#43

Post by Mike H »

Came across this yesterday, might amuse y'all

Well it did me

Not sure but could be this guy used to edit Used Bike Guide


http://www.realclassic.co.uk/opinionfil ... 10200.html
 
"No matter how fast light travels it finds that the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it."
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Dave the bass
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#44

Post by Dave the bass »

Mike H wrote:@ DTB had to be a Portuguese mountain, not just any old one? :D
Well.......... call it controversial if ya like but I find Portuguese mountains are usually located in Portugal.............. :D

Yes, I was on a biking holiday there. Touring on a YPVS with Army surplus store canvas saddle bags holding all my worldly goods and a LOT of synthetic 2 stroke oil.

Other more seasoned riders had BMW's with full sets of Krauser paniers and fairings, others had Goldwings with likkle trailers.

They were sooooooooooooooooo slow and steady. I was sooooooooooooo fast and nimble.

I crashed far faster into the side of that mountain just outside Braga than any of them could :roll: :)

I got home home way faster than them too.... in a plane... with my arm and shoulder supported in a sling minus a YPVS and most of my belongings.

Live n learn.

I'm a steady-eddie ol' pop pop rider now.

DTB
"The fat bourgeois and his doppelganger"
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pre65
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#45

Post by pre65 »

My list of "road" bikes

Lambretta Li 125 (later to have 200 conversion)
Matchless G80s 500 single

LONG GAP

Suzuki GS750
Yamaha XS1100
Honda VF750F
Ariel Red Hunter 500
Honda VF500
BMW K100
Yamaha FJ1100
Triumph Trophy 900
TriBSA 500 (home built)
Yamaha TT500
BMW K100 (another one)
Triumph Sprint 900
Yamaha XT350
BMW R1100RS
Suzuki DR350
XJ550 engined trail bike project ,combination of KLR600 and XJ550(in shed for 8 years-uncompleted)
KTM450exc (Still got this)
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