Interesting movie - British Bikes

[Voitus_imp]

Hi,

Just watched this [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNNUYHhoDiU]movie. Quite interesting. And one sentence at the end - "they had character, which is an euphemism for not being reliable". I guess taking away time, one had to spend with his bike repairing or modifying it, crippled the relationship in some way. Internet forum, even an interesting one, is not a substitute :-).

Voitus

Warsaw, Poland.

[flynrider]

Hi,

Just watched this [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNNUYHhoDiU]movie. Quite interesting. And one sentence at the end - "they had character, which is an euphemism for not being reliable". I guess taking away time, one had to spend with his bike repairing or modifying it, crippled the relationship in some way. Internet forum, even an interesting one, is not a substitute :-).

Voitus

Warsaw, Poland.

That was a great show. Thanks for the link!

Brit bike "character" taught me more about fixing motorcycles than anything else. I also learned to get home before dark (insert your favorite Lucas Electric joke here).

[Cormanus]

Hey, Voitus, thanks for that link. It's a fascinating movie.

Two great quotes from it.

"On a motorbike you can put the world to rights." (Mike Jackson)

"They're [scooters] like little hair dryers. How can you get pleasure from it?" (Len Peterson, former Rocker)

Perhaps I'm wrong, but it seems to me the UJM took the basic British design and then built in some reliability. If the early Honda twins didn;t get their inspiration from the British tradition, where did it come from? So this quote from the script of the film that Japanese motorbikes were "... humdrum practical machines designed for commuters" seems hardly fair. The idea of "humdrum practical machines" seems to me to be inspired by frustrated riders forced to become wrenchers by the need to get their machine to run reliably. My mates in the early 70s used to call my Honda 'Jap crap', but it was me who had to ride to their places to watch them try to figure out which bits of their allegedly superior Brit cuss went where.

Of course every cloud has a silver lining and the aforesaid mates have a much greater knowledge of fixing motorcycles than I will ever have. Thanks Flynrider for pointing that out.

[the Ferret]

I think prior to the 1965 450 Honda twin which would legitimately run 100 mph and best a lot of big British bikes in the quarter mile, the Japanese bikes were considered by many to be small commuter bikes, because most of what they sold was 50 to 125 cc machines. Once the performance was equal though, serious riders started to look at Japanese bikes as an alternative, and as a real motorcycle. It helped that the 450 also had electric start, and in 68 a 5 speed trans and in 1970 a disc front brake. It also was reliable and didn't leak oil. Triumph didn't get a 5 speed gearbox until 1972, a disc fr brake until 73, and an electric start (optional) until 1980 which is really hard to fathom considering what Honda had out by 1980 (including the CBX in 1979)

[Rocky_imp]

Thanks for the link to the movie
Back in the day British bikes were considered unreliable, and for the most part, are still considered unreliable by many.
I own two British bikes that I ride about 1000 miles each every summer. They were restored with much care and I don't consider them unreliable at all. I've owned the Triumph for 19 years and the BSA for 14 years. They are mainly Sunday riders with a vintage bike club, but many of those day rides are 200 miles or more. We cruise in the 50-55 mph range on back roads and both bikes purr like kittens and have never given me a moments concern.
If you continually thrash the beejeebers out of them and don't maintain them, then I suppose they would be less reliable.
So far, so good

[GoldOxide_imp]

Absolutely agree: Every rider should experience the history of motorcycling and British bikes is a standard place to begin.

[Southwend]

It reminds me of when the CB 1100 is reviewed as boring. I love boring. I don't miss the excitement of having my shifter vibrate off the bike so often I carry a vice grip in my pocket. Or the simple joy of running the bike and it's dead battery down the gravel road at 7 in the morning trying to drag that bike tire enough to start, not to mention the ongoing thrill of wondering just where that oil puddle came from. Yeah I like boring...a lot.

[GoldOxide_imp]

I don't miss trying to bump start the Yamaha RD400 when the engine flooded. When it came alive, it usually kicked like a mule. Sometimes I got lucky and had an incline or hill to leverage.

[Nortoon_imp]

I owned two BSA Lightnings. Bought a used 1996 model in 1967 for $700. Rode it for a year and then took it all apart to convert it into a Paul Dunstall style café racer. Had fun leaving the Bonneville and Commando riders behind in traffic light drag races. Sold it in 1972 to buy a the Kawasaki H2 Mach 4.

Bought a 1971 BSA Lightning in the late 70s for $700. It had been made into a quasi chopper. Took it all apart and restored it with genuine BSA parts. The factory paint scheme for that year was really UGLY, so I painted mine black.



One Sunday morning I ran into a touring club group at a local donut shop. None of them knew what it was. Went for an all day ride with them. They were surprized that I had no trouble keeping up. Joined the touring club the following year and sold the BSA for $1000 so I could buy a 1980 Yamaha XS1100G.

Learned a lot about motorcycle mechanics overhauling those two BSAs. Still have fond memories of riding them and listening to the exhaust note of those beautiful sounding twins.
Another movie you might like is [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpyy8EIU8hg]ONE WEEK. It is about a young man in Toronto diagnosed with cancer that buys a Norton Commando and has heads out on the road west.

[the Ferret]

One Week is one of my favorite motorcycle movies. Very poignant.