I had a 250cc BSA C11 with a plunger back suspension, when l was a young teenager. It was a miracle how l stayed on the thing as l negotiated and went around traffic islands. I later on put it in for a bright red twin carb 600cc Norton 99. This was like throwing your leg over a pneumatic road drill, the vibration l suffered driving it, made more than my teeth chatter. I was glad to get rid of it, for a 650 cc Triumph TR6 Trophy, which gave me years of pleasurable motoring. Happy days.
Another very nice video , Well done. In 1964 I passed my test on an Golden Arrow lent to me for the day by a friend after my BSA Bantam was struck by a car a few days before.
wonderful, thankyou. I myself aged 17 had a BSA A10 650cc 1959 model. That was back in 1970. It was fitted with a huge double adult sidecar that I hated. But it was the only way I could ride a 650 on L plates. Those were the days. I wonder if you could one day cover that model A10? You would make at least one old man really happy thank you.
My uncle ran an A10 with a double adult in the early 60s which I thin’ is one of the reasons I think I run an A10 today So I have indeed covered the A10 because it’s my favourite twin I will cover it again in the future no doubt although it shows up in many of our videos
I was blessed to grow up in a motorcycle family. Four girls and three boys and all road except one. In my late teens at one point, there were 14 motorcycles parked in the carport, Mx to road bikes. From The folks BMW 750 toursers with Vetter fairings To the Z 50 for the youngest. Pops ( God rest his soul) had several British bikes. In my 20,s we both belonged to the local BSA club in the CA Bay Area. One of his bikes at the time was a Triumph 750 Jubilee . I found a beautiful white an Crome 1977 Triumph 750 T 140V in cafe trim with Vance and Hinds rear sets, fork brace, clipons, gutted dunstall pea shooters and a matching quarter fairing. It was fun but miserable after more than 30 minutes to ride. So I converted it back to proper except for the pea shooters because they just sounded so cool. At one point I even had a Norton 650 Atlas in black with gold pin striping with the classic upright barrels and low exhaust. Pops and I with my wife as passenger would go for rides up Hwy 1 through into the wine and gold county, such great memories. My younger brother still has the Triumph Jubilee and Pop’s Beautiful red 500 Gold Star Mx. 😊
Nice 👍🏻 Got to respect a biking family, similar story here with my Grandfather riding in the 1920s and the as a despatch rider during the war. My uncles all rode and know I, my wife and son all ride today and put the videos together. Great to hear from you
My first ever bike was a 1953 A7 Plunger, which I bought for £15 in 1971 when I was 16 and still a schoolboy. It had pulled a sidecar for most of its life. A review of a Royal Enfield Interceptor mk2 would be good, with its factory dynamically balanced crankshaft and great styling.
BSA A7 was license-built by Meguro in Japan and Edward Turner said they were better made than the home-built versions. Kawasaki's Meguro K3 is available in Japan now; a direct descendent of the BSA. I hope it comes to the US relatively soon. Your videos are terrific.
Well Edward Turner was a bit of an ass at times I think Still doesn’t sound like something he’d say But who knows Covered the megura previously I think
Great video,three of us had AJS Sportstwin 31csr in 59-62 ..None of us had crank failures (not Conrod) despite not having the later stronger ones .The AJS won the 1960 Thruxton 500 mile race,the Oulton Park 1000km and also Silverstone!! It beat Bonnevilles Constelations, Super Rockets Goldstars Venoms even Phil Read on a Norton 650ss !!. No one remembers any of this except the haters who always refer the so called crank issues.Richard Cottingham
Thank you another cracking video, so nice to go beyond the Goldies and trumpets, still know some people riding the 350 and 500 matchless, used them myself occasionally, but I do have a preference for 350 maybe it’s the knobbly ties alloy mudguard, love a jam pot just need a bigger garage 😢
Another great collection of old iron. I really liked the BSA A7 in that green. Also the Matchless with the high rise exhaust pipes looked amazing. Ride safe guys and take care. Cheers.
Such beautiful bikes and some of those seats look like they were designed by an artist, not an engineer; perhaps they were. The A7 will do nicely for me thank you. Interesting vid as usual; thanks.
There are some British bikes that you haven't covered in your videos like the Panthers which I believe were made in Yorkshire, and there are some other hardly known British bike manufacturers, some of whom only made frames or tuned engines. I would love to see you cover some of those if you can
I have covered P&M A few times as a matter of fact Peeling and more (p&M) Manufactured bikes in Cleakheaton until folding in 1966 Seem to remember Panther in at least 3 videos
Id love to see a full analysis of as standard as possible a really good BSA RGS… one with the RRT2 box. Should be pretty close to unridable through a town with those very close ratios - so open road it’d need to be. Possible? - or too tall an order? (I think just finding ANY one you could actually borrow would be quite a challenge.) Not many made, but no shortage of replicas around by all accounts.
I have been collecting and riding 'frumpy' AJS and Matchless motorcycles for 20 years. I turn heads wherever I take them. Ride them in the manner for which they were intended and there are no problems other than can be expected for a 70 yr old motorcycle. I tell people if you want neck snapping acceleration and putting your knees down, go buy a new bike. I am currently well on my way to restoring a pair of very desirable twin exhaust pre-war 350cc and 500cc models. Patience and a piece found here or there has been the key, even down here in Australia. Nice to see all the posts saying how nice they looked. Prices are increasing across the AMC range as people discover how underrated they were or look at the values of other makers. Just a note: There was never a unit Matchless, they always had separate gearboxes, even the Commando used a separated system ( by the time the Commando was released the Norton factory was closed and all assembly was done at the Matchless factory at Plumbstead. So they're really a Matchless with a Norton badge. 'CSR' = Competition Sports Road. 'CS' = Competition Sports. 'C' = Competition. Examples being the G3LC, (L for teledraulic forls), the 30CS or the G12CSR (all of which I own). I think I need a bigger shed. 😅🇦🇺👍
Early in WW2 a BMW was captured and sent to Plumstead were AMC copied the telescopic front end which then became the teledraulic fork . best one on the market light years ahead of the roadholder.....the G11 /model 30 is considered the best of the matchless AJS motor, the early G12/model 33 had some issues with crank material, but was later improved with the nodular iron crank. G12 /Model 33 are good reliable bikes, most bikes now have been fitted with the later "noddy" cranks
Genuinely curious, as someone who was looking for a mid 70's CB750 and was told that spares outside of serviceable consumables were difficult to source, what chance of these niche bikes?
Well British bikes ain’t niche in Britain really even the Ariel sold at least as many as the Honda CBX 6 As with all things out of production some parts are harder than others but it’s much easier than it used to be Things like cranks can be hard to find for some machines but in general it’s probably easier in the UK to find parts for these than a Honda from the 70s Remember the UK bike market was Much bigger in the 50s than even the 70s so bikes like the A7 are definitely not Niche being extremely common and sold in the UK in much bigger numbers than modern bikes For a my A10 for things like crank cases it’s used parts but a lot of stuff is available New fuel tanks clutches chains all that kind of thing are out their new. For others there are a lot of specialist dealer( Hitchcock for RE) and for the more Rare machines the owners clubs are a very good source on new old parts We’ve have 6 British bikes and never had parts supply problems When my Starfire wheel crumbled I thought I’d be off the road for ages but got a complete wheel in under a week of EBay
All engines can do that To be far to them a lot of this stems from a very spectacular failure during development of the racers while in the work shop In Normal circumstances Not likely really
The problem was put down to the cast iron crankshafts and youthful riders who revved them until the 'bells rang'. AMC quickly solved the problem by manufacturing the crankshafts from 'nodular' cast iron. After that, no more broken crankshafts.
I remember an old friend saying he bought a Goldstar but it was not very practical so traded it in for a matchless 600 which was a much better machine for him and his spouse
I’d would never recommend something like a Goldstar for most people A twin is cheaper and does a better job for they type of riding the majority of classic riders actually do The Goldstar is awesome but like a modern sports bike is expensive and impractical
For me the Arrow was such an ugly bike. Even at the time myself and friends wouldn't be seen dead on it as well as the Le Velo. Being a lot younger then i guess the same applies to the Honda C50 another bike that your friends would laugh at you if you turned up to meet them on their Garelli's, Gilera's and Fizzie's. The ugly ducklings were never babe magnetics and when you're young that's high on your list of priorities 😂 Great video as usual 👍
Try Which is very much a double edge sword I quite like C90s incidentally I don’t care what girls think about my bike Like Mrs Bikerdood they can bloody get their own 😂😂
Interesting! One question that springs to mind; “underrated” presumes the existence of rated so, where can I find an official or high quality rating (sorting and ranking) of British Classic Motorcycles?
@@bikerdood1100 the 80cc and 100cc I view as different. I find the 100cc as a capacity that in some cases had a power level that could match the restricted power levels the 125cc were artificially held back to, but because of the lower capacity never were scene as popular as the 125cc bikes. The suzuki gp 100 as to the gp 125 etc. Interested in these bikes as its of my era when I was about to start my journey into this wonderful world of transport.
Well only mention as an example Of course I don’t see em as the same. In practice a lot of 100s tend to be more modest air cooled bikes. We had a Yamaha RXS for a while, which does turn up occasionally in some videos
@@bikerdood1100 I hope you then see to that the chain isn't that well greased, so it ends up inside the brake when getting hot! And if wanting to change the gearing, it becomes a little more expensive. 😄
? Feature them quite often Featured the meteor minor twice and the Intercepter 2 as one of the first super bikes Plus the bullet (mine at the time ) in my video on Sidecars and the Continent GT in a video on 250s Love good RE All very underrated in my book Any more and they’d call me RE bias 😂
I had an AJS as my only transport for a decade. Weak big end, stupidly small timing crankshaft bush, weedy brakes, pathetic clutch cover. Valve gear was tough and their rep is down to the excellent stove enameling.
