Panther on the loose (video+ cold start video added)

[nick949]

I know some of you like Stone Age machinery - heck, you like Guzzis - so here's a little celebratory tide on my 1960 Panther M120.

I've been fighting oil leaks for ages (not just that standard Brit-bike kind) and think I have finally got them beaten into submission.

Nick

https://youtu.be/d33ZDVN4YCE

[JJ]

"SLOPER-Mania!!!"   

[john fish]

You may want to check out:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/405556470089050/permalink/723318861646141/?comment_id=723486624962698

FB thumper lovers. 

[ohiorider]

Nick, what a beautiful machine!

Bob

[oldbike54]

 

 Dusty

[fotoguzzi]

I see you have so much gravel up there they spread it on pavement 

[Canuck750]

What a great noise, it sounds like it’s hardly working. Any Panther is rare but you have the exclusive Enduro model! Gravel and dirt doesn’t seem to bother the Panther or you at all.
I have long admired the big sloper engine with the full length U bolts that support the cases through the head to the frame, brilliant!

[nick949]

What a great noise, it sounds like it’s hardly working. Any Panther is rare but you have the exclusive Enduro model! Gravel and dirt doesn’t seem to bother the Panther or you at all.
I have long admired the big sloper engine with the full length U bolts that support the cases through the head to the frame, brilliant!

All bikes are ADV bikes  .  After reading Des Molloy's adventures of riding from China to Holland (The Last Hurrah) and in South America (No one said it would be easy) on his Panther 'Penelope', a little bit of easy trail seemed like nothing. 

FYI Jim, Only the big singles up to and including the M100 had the U bolts. The M120, like mine has engine studs which thread into the crankcase.  It's a weak spot.  I had to have one which was pulling its threads get fixed with a bronze insert.

[Wildroamer]

What a company l bike, it really purrs! Cool videos, just subscribed!

[Sasquatch Jim]

Thump-----------------Thump---------------Thump------------------Thump , Sound of a Panther at high RPM near valve float.

[Jim Rich]

Cool bike Nick.  I've only seen one once before - at a Retreads Motorcycle Club meetup in Houston.  The guy was in the military stationed in England and brought it back with him.  Said they were commonly used with sidecars.  Any desire to put a hack on it?

[nick949]

Cool bike Nick.  I've only seen one once before - at a Retreads Motorcycle Club meetup in Houston.  The guy was in the military stationed in England and brought it back with him.  Said they were commonly used with sidecars.  Any desire to put a hack on it?

With modern road speeds it would become a dangerous tool Jim.  I've ridden Panthers with sidecars in the distant past and 40-45 mph is their happy zone - just fine for English roads during the 1950s and 1960s but not for now.  Anyway, it makes a surprisingly lovely solo bike as long as you remember that the basic engine design is from the nineteen-thirties and not much changed since.  It handles and brakes perfectly well and can cruise at 55mph with ease.

Nick

[Roebling3]

I've a Guzzi friend in NH who has iirc, 3 Panthers'.  He's clever enough to get them running, but I seldom see him. Nudge, nudge. I thought the first one I saw, from a distance, was a steamer. The barrel was brass.  R3~

[tazio]

Thump-----------------Thump---------------Thump------------------Thump , Sound of a Panther at high RPM near valve float.

 
Love that bike!

[nick949]

Well since some of you liked that, here's some more (with Guzzi content too)

https://youtu.be/EGKtqfCX790

Nick

[JukeboxGothic]

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Back in the day when motorcycle idle was Called tick over.  One of my friends owned a panther.  I asked to ride it and he said," only if you can start it."  I went for a short ride and later that day when Tried to start it again it sprained my ankle buckling the steel plate in the bottom of my boot.

[Chuck in Indiana]

There were two of them in the Larry Klein auction. As much as I love thumpers, I had a seriously hard time keeping my wallet closed. Pete actually talked me out of it. 

[80CX100]

     That's lovely Nick, it doesn't get much simpler than that.

     Glad you're the one kicking it over, I could see a roller starter in my future if I owned it,lol

     Tks for sharing

     Kelly

[CalVin2007]

 I love to listen to a well-tuned Panther at tickover. Underway, I've heard them described as firing "every second lamp post". 

  Terry

[Frenchfrog]

Panthers are quite easy to start in fact...they are the only bike of that era I have  come across that have a half compression lever on the timing chest. Basically that lifts up the exhaust pushrod by a few thou and lowers the compression considerably. On top of that you have the usual decompressor lever too. Mine did not that when I first got it so I spent a couple of years with only the half compression lever and it worked fine...in winter it was not an easy starter  but that had little to do with this and more with the fact that i weighed 65kg at the most then.
.

[nick949]

Agreed    They are easy. I almost never use the half-compression lever.  With the ignition off (mine has coil and Thorspark) I just get the piston near TDC, use the decompression lever on the handle bar to ease it past the top. Turn on the ignition and kick. 

Of course, if you've forgotten to move the advance/retard lever to the right position, you're dicing with snapped tendons, broken ankles and flight trajectories.

Nick

This is the half-compression lever.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 I know about the half compression lever.  The engine started and chuffed over a few times.  I was about to lift my foot from the kick starter when it fired backwards and the kick lever slammed hard into the bottom of my boot.  It hurt like hell and when I took the boot off it hurt less.  When I tried to put the boot back on it wouldn't go on.  That's when I saw the steel plate in the boot had been bent upwards like a horse shoe.  I never tried to start the Panther again.
 I have since owned many 500 and 650 singles one of which I bored out to 700cc.  But I have never started a single as mean as the Panther.

[nick949]

Ouch Jim! 

But the first rule of Brit single ownership is: NEVER leave your foot on the kickstart.......... .

Nick

[Muzz]

All bikes are ADV bikes  .  After reading Des Molloy's adventures of riding from China to Holland (The Last Hurrah) and in South America (No one said it would be easy) on his Panther 'Penelope', a little bit of easy trail seemed like nothing. 

Des was one of my customers Nick back when I worked in the retail side of an engineering firm there.

Never saw Penelope; he always arrived on an old B31.  I could pick the sound way before I could see him arrive at the shop.  He actually had a heart attack while I was still there.  His family wanted him off bikes after that but he dug his toes in and carried on.

[SED]

Nick, your videos are so nice to watch because of your relaxed pace, beautiful scenery, multiple camera angles, ride bys (time consuming!) and calm narration.  At the risk of hijacking here is a video of a friend's 650 Panther from the perspective of trying to keep up on the old bacon slicer.  There's a Panther footpeg moment about 5:20 in.  It was a 150 mile day for the bikes. 
https://youtu.be/UapNHMz1ibg

[nick949]

Nick, your videos are so nice to watch because of your relaxed pace, beautiful scenery, multiple camera angles, ride bys (time consuming!) and calm narration.  At the risk of hijacking here is a video of a friend's 650 Panther from the perspective of trying to keep up on the old bacon slicer.  There's a Panther footpeg moment about 5:20 in.  It was a 150 mile day for the bikes. 
https://youtu.be/UapNHMz1ibg

Wow!  I really enjoyed that SED. The sound of a big single is intoxicating and the GTV sounds great. I know it always looks faster on the video but you two were really skipping along.  And the scenery!  Fabulous road with just the right amount of traffic.  150 miles?  You know those old bikes are only suitable for a half-mile jaunt down to the coffee shop.  As for the footpeg - they're adjustable on the Panther. You'll have to tell your friend to raise them a notch (but I'm unlikely to be scraping mine).  Thanks - that was fun.

Nick