BSA is back

[Rough Edge racing]

My point almost exactly. In the '50s riders put up with things-and didn't complain- because the technology of bikes at the time was pretty close to blacksmith tech. Though there was some serious crap being produced, even then, and even by the standards of the day.

 You said this 

Nice example, the Norton Commando, thought by many to be the best of the oily breed. Just look at the list of "must-do" items that were outlined here during a recent auction-almost every original bit has to be upgraded to be considered acceptable for daily, or even occasional use.

 All the Brit 650-750's can be ridden daily and certainly occasionally with no upgrades.. They crude and have shorter engine lives...But you can ride them as they were built...

[Lannis]

Guys crack me up. Brit bike guys more than most.

Well, we're ALL having a good time then!   I get cracked up by people who don't know anything about Brit bikes except what they've heard and what they think they remember from 19-ought-18 ..... !

Some of us actually ride and rally and tour on them, and we have a sneaking suspicion of what a Bajaj or Mahindra interpretation of those would be ....

Yep, a good day all 'round ....

Lannis

[Shorty]

I ride a non-authentic Triumph built in England. 2 of them, actually.  I then grin "Illegal Smiles."

[drums4money]

I had a '72 A65T - 650 Thunderbolt.
I have fond memories of that bike.
But then most tend to look back on things in a more favorable light.

[oldbike54]

I ride a non-authentic Triumph built in England. 2 of them, actually.  I then grin "Illegal Smiles."

 Good to be retired , eh Larry 

 Dusty

[Shorty]

Good to be retired , eh Larry 

 Dusty

Will let you know if and when that blessed day arrives....

I will admit that I am (to use an aerospace reference) "spooling down" a little.....

[Aaron D.]

Well, we're ALL having a good time then!   I get cracked up by people who don't know anything about Brit bikes except what they've heard and what they think they remember from 19-ought-18 ..... !

Some of us actually ride and rally and tour on them, and we have a sneaking suspicion of what a Bajaj or Mahindra interpretation of those would be ....

Yep, a good day all 'round ....

Lannis

In my heart I will always love British bikes. Especially the singles. I wanted a Velocette Thruxton so badly when I was in school I could hardly stand it. Still love them..but I've ridden a few Thruxtons and a Venom Clubman, and my urge to own diminished a bit. Even more when the Venom developed a habit of launching pistons..

I like Commandos a lot too. The one my friend recently sold is a beautiful bike, I considered buying one just to satisfy my high school lust, but I knew I wouldn't ride it more than 200 miles/year. And it does nothing that my current bike doesn't do better. Maybe I need a side valve single!

Now, Indian manufacture-I have owned an Indian built Vespa PX150 for nearly 14 years, dead reliable and inexpensive. The Italian built Vespa ET4 in the same period is OK, but not as sturdy as the Indian built 2 stroke. Seems better put tgether than a buddy's '78 Bonneville was when IT was new!

[Aaron D.]

You said this 
 All the Brit 650-750's can be ridden daily and certainly occasionally with no upgrades.. They crude and have shorter engine lives...But you can ride them as they were built...

Sure they can, and they can be really sweet too. I just get weirded out when people "take umbrage" at a name revival, especially when the name originally went defunct for good reason.

[Lannis]

Sure they can, and they can be really sweet too. I just get weirded out when people "take umbrage" at a name revival, especially when the name originally went defunct for good reason.

The level of Umbrage generated in the motorcycle world if Mahindra brings out a BSA that looks like a Bajaj won't hold a candle to the torches and pitchforks that came out when BSA brought out the 250 and 500 oil frame unit singles in 1971 ...

... and badged them as "Gold Stars"       .   As bad as John Deere going to a four-cylinder tractor in the 50's ....

[ohiorider]

Well, we're ALL having a good time then!   I get cracked up by people who don't know anything about Brit bikes except what they've heard and what they think they remember from 19-ought-18 ..... !

Some of us actually ride and rally and tour on them, and we have a sneaking suspicion of what a Bajaj or Mahindra interpretation of those would be ....

Yep, a good day all 'round ....

Lannis

Lannis, don't be so tough on some of us old(er) guys!  All I knew when I bought my first bike, a BSA Spitfire Scrambler, was that I wanted a BSA.  I'd visited the local BSA dealer's showroom at least once or twice a month thru my last couple of years in high school.  So, I was definitely addicted to the brand.  This was 1958- 1960.

No, I don't tour on a BSA anymore, but I do have fond memories of the good and bad of bike travel in the mid 1960s.

Think about it for a moment ..... It's August 1966.  You'd never made a bike trip in your life.  You didn't know there was such a thing as wet weather gear.  Nobody wore a helmet.  Didn't own one.  Your dear mother took a look at your tires before you left, and made you have the back tire replaced before you left, and demanded to see the new tire before you left.  Your directions from Charleston WV to McAllen, Texas came from a good guy in the shop where you worked part time while going to college that said ' yep, I drove to Texas once ..... think I went through Chattanooga, then Birmingham .... etc.'  That was it.  No map until I hit Meridian, Mississippi.  Slept overnight in an ENCO station in Lake Charles LA when the generator drive chain broke.  Slept in the back of a wrecked 18 wheeler tractor in Olive Hill KY on the way home (I was broke.)

So, yep ...... I feel like I 'gave at the office' when it came to my Brit bike experience. It was short but it was certainly exciting.
 I'll always remember it:

- No BSA forum to tell me right from wrong.  Ohhhh .... what'll happen if I break down??  Who do I call ..who will help me?
- WRGAS?
- No GPS.
- No hard or soft luggage ... simply a gym bag strapped to the 'passenger' area of a Spitfire Scrambler.
- Is this bike really capable of touring?  Who know what a touring bike was?

From an earlier generation of BSA rider to you newer newbies who are now riding our older iron.  I'm sure you're tougher than we were, only because you know what you may be up against.  We were too damned stupid to know, and just took off on a 650cc BSA to get where we wanted to go, because it was what we had.  Mine got me from Charleston WV to McAllen Texas (and then to Padre Island) and back, and it was one hell of an adventure.

Bob

[JJ]

Hi Lannis -

What was the story behind this one - - BSA "Tempest" (??) or "Regal" (??) 

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Hi Lannis -

What was the story behind this one - - BSA "Tempest" (??) or "Regal" (??) 

http://www.bsa.asn.au/html/gallery/tempest/

[lrutt]

You said this 
 All the Brit 650-750's can be ridden daily and certainly occasionally with no upgrades.. They crude and have shorter engine lives...But you can ride them as they were built...

This is true. I have a 70 and 71 Triumph 650, all stock including points etc. and a 73 850 Commando, all stock with points etc.

The ONLY thing I've done to alter the stock bikes was add an oil filter to the 2 Triumphs and put the new Amal Premier anodized slides in the stock original Amal concentrics. Otherwise, all original. They work perfectly. The triumphs always start first kick no matter how long they sit. The Norton might take 2 kicks but usually one. So I have to call BS on the statement that you have to do all kinds of upgrading to an old brit bike to make it rideable.

The problem usually is not the bike but the idiot PO that is likely the root cause of the problems. Same can be said for any bike really.

[rocker59]

the 'New" Triumph...nothing in common with the old company... 

John Bloor owned "the old Triumph".  He owns "the new Triumph".

So "nothing in common" is a little strong.  Bloor bought the defunct Triumph in Meridan, allowed Bonnevilles to be built under license (Racing Spares/Les Harris in Devon) while he tooled up the new company, then released "new Triumphs" in Hinckley.

[Rough Edge racing]

John Bloor owned "the old Triumph".  He owns "the new Triumph".

So "nothing in common" is a little strong.  Bloor bought the defunct Triumph in Meridan, allowed Bonnevilles to be built under license (Racing Spares/Les Harris in Devon) while he tooled up the new company, then released "new Triumphs" in Hinckley.

 Nothing in common as in a new manufacturing company from the ground up building bikes with no connection to the old bikes. And look at the company logo, it's different...Les Harris still makes spare parts for the vintage Triumphs...

[swooshdave]

I like Commandos a lot too. The one my friend recently sold is a beautiful bike, I considered buying one just to satisfy my high school lust, but I knew I wouldn't ride it more than 200 miles/year. And it does nothing that my current bike doesn't do better.

The Commando would put a grin on your face every time you looked at and doubly so when you rode it.

[swooshdave]

Nothing in common as in a new manufacturing company from the ground up building bikes with no connection to the old bikes. And look at the company logo, it's different...Les Harris still makes spare parts for the vintage Triumphs...

How many different logos has Moto Guzzi had? Doesn't make the bikes different.

[rocker59]

  And look at the company logo, it's different... .

Jeebus H. Christie, you olde fahrts can be pedantic.

You said "nothing in common".  I say Bloor and some staff were at the Olde Triumph and were also at the New Triumph.  THAT is "something in common".

Bloor saved Triumph.  And, I'm thankful he did.  And, I'm thankful he didn't continue building the shite that Hinckley had been building for decades.  Bloor saved the brand, and made it better.  He could've gone the Royal Enfield route, but he didn't.  And, look at what a wonderful thing Triumph is today !!!

[rocker59]

How many different logos has Moto Guzzi had? Doesn't make the bikes different.

Yeah, and every other Auto and Moto maker... 

[JJ]

http://www.bsa.asn.au/html/gallery/tempest/

Thanks Antietam Classic Cycle!!   

Never heard of a 1000cc Rhind-Tutt Wasp engine (??) 

[rocker59]

I can hardly wait to see the "BSA SuperTwin Gold Star" lined up at the bar next to the FLs and Chieftans and YamaStars.   

[JJ]

QUOTE:  Bloor saved Triumph.  And, I'm thankful he did.  And, I'm thankful he didn't continue building the shite that Hinckley had been building for decades.  Bloor saved the brand, and made it better.  He could've gone the Royal Enfield route, but he didn't.  And, look at what a wonderful thing Triumph is today !!!

Agree 100% - and hats off to John Bloor! :1: 

I have owned and ridden modern (Hinckley) Triumphs, and vintage (Meriden) Triumphs and I like them both.  This is the last cool one I owned and it was a LOT of fun to ride!  1970 Triumph T100C Trophy 500. :1:   I want another one...














private image sharing

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Thanks Antietam Classic Cycle!!   

Never heard of a 1000cc Rhind-Tutt Wasp engine (??) 

Popular sidecar racing engine at one time, I've always just heard it referred to as the Wasp engine.

From Wikipedia;

Wasp was founded in 1964 by engineer and off-road motorcyclist Robin 'Robbie' Rhind-Tutt, who was originally employed by the Ministry of Defence as an engineering apprentice at Boscombe Down. He designed and built a number of off-road motorcycle frames which he used in motocross competitions. Other competitors were interested in Rhind-Tutt's frames and commissioned him to build specialist frames, so he decided to form Wasp Motorcycles Ltd. The company changed its name to Wasp Engineering Ltd in 1997, but continues to trade under the name of Wasp Motorcycles.

[Rough Edge racing]

How many different logos has Moto Guzzi had? Doesn't make the bikes different.

 How many different engines other than the 90 degree V twin has Moto Guzzi manufactured since their first big road bikes were introduced in the 1960's? How any non shaft drive bikes?
  From 1938 until 1983 Triumph's most popular models were 500 -750 twins based on the original 1938 Speed twin..They made a few singles and the triples along the way but they were similar in design to the twins...In 1983 Triumph as it was known was gone...
 The Bloor "new" Triumphs are modern finely engineered machines with nothing in common to the old Triumph..

[swooshdave]

How many different engines other than the 90 degree V twin has Moto Guzzi manufactured since their first big road bikes were introduced in the 1960's? How any non shaft drive bikes?
  From 1938 until 1983 Triumph's most popular models were 500 -750 twins based on the original 1938 Speed twin..They made a few singles and the triples along the way but they were similar in design to the twins...In 1983 Triumph as it was known was gone...
 The Bloor "new" Triumphs are modern finely engineered machines with nothing in common to the old Triumph..

Parallel twins. Seems about the same.


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[Psychopasta]

Bloor saved Triumph.  And, I'm thankful he did.  And, I'm thankful he didn't continue building the shite that Hinckley had been building for decades.  Bloor saved the brand, and made it better.  He could've gone the Royal Enfield route, but he didn't.  And, look at what a wonderful thing Triumph is today !!!

:1:

Modern Triumphs are simply fantastic bikes, from the modern classics to the, erm, real modern ones  It's got a nod to the past but the design and manufacture is modern world class.

- Pasta

[Tusayan]

How many different engines other than the 90 degree V twin has Moto Guzzi manufactured since their first big road bikes were introduced in the 1960's? How any non shaft drive bikes?

Inline six chain drive (sold as a Benelli, engine manufactured by Guzzi at Mandello)
Inline four chain drive (sold as both a Guzzi and a Benelli, engine manufactured by Guzzi at Mandello)
Parallel twin four stroke chain drive (125 4T)
Two stroke single chain drive (Dingo)
Four stroke single chain drive (Nuovo Falcone)

Most all of those in the 1970s, some in the early 80s

Did I forget any?