How many of you started your moto life on a Brit Bike?

[yamafitter]

My first experience with a bike was with my brother's Bultaco Matador. I haven't been right since. Maybe if I had started with a proper Brit Bike I might have turned out better.

 

[airboss]

My first experience with a bike was with my brother's Bultaco Matador. I haven't been right since. Maybe if I had started with a proper Brit Bike I might have turned out better.

You would at least have a much better understanding of motorcycle electrical systems (think Lucas here ).

 

[Panman]

I never had many problems with the Lucas electrics, I'd throw the battery away buy a capacitor and choper wire it and go for ever.

I had a good shop teacher that told me 99% of all automotive electrical problems were ground and found that to be real true with the Brit bikes.

My 72 Trident the real problem with it's electrics was the three sets of points I couldn't keep it in tune, found out about the Boyer system and never looked back.

 

[gumba]

Had a 71 Trident. Blew a hole in a piston at 6800 mi.. Never been back. Never will.

 

[Bungie]

Below is my current '74 Norton 850 that I purchased used in '79 for $850.

I spent a night at John's place on our way down to SE Ohio a little while ago. I damn near crapped when I parked my bike in his garage and saw his Norton sitting there. That bitch just oozes cool. Get it back on the road!

I've never owned a brit bike, but my very first ride ever was on the back of my brothers 650 BSA (not sure the model, chrome tank, dual Amals). That bitch would vibrate so bad at idle the front tire would bounce off the ground. It was primal and just spoke to me, here it is, nearly 4 decades later and I'm still on bikes.

Little story, the very first bike I ever bought brand new was a 78 Yam DT250. My 365 (learners permit) had just expired and I couldn't ride it home. So my brother borrowed the van from work. We get the bike home and unloaded and realize I don't have my helmet with me. So I run inside to get it only to come out and see my brother running up and down the parking lot pulling wheelies on my brand new bike that I've never ridden a single foot on!

Payback was swift and severe. The next day he made the mistake of leaving the key in his BSA while he went inside for a piss. When he came out the air was thick with tire smoke and his back tire had just enough tread left on it to get him to McBrides in Toronto for a new tire.

He STILL brings that up.

 

[beemerdons]

And here's my all time favorite Family Member, my Uncle Drew Skinner, I grew up loving my Uncle Drew so much!  Twas "The Wild One" and always was taking his Nephew Don for rides.

When Pearl Harbor hit, my Uncle Drew was at his gun station aboard the USS Maryland rafted up across the estuary from the USS Arizona in Hawaii.  He was writing a letter home to his Mom, my Nana (Grandmother) when the first Japanese torpedo bomber launched its "fish".

Drew remained on the USS Maryland for the rest of the war.  RIP, Godspeed, My Uncle Drew.

Uncle Drew was a Triumph man all the way.  Here he is on a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird and the picture was taken in 1952.  When the Korean War struck, he went back into the US Navy.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Going back a while to 1969....... My two high school buddies had some bikes I rode, and they imported a 1958 Norton 600, Dunstallized and fitted out with fiberglass road racing tank and seat. Sprockets geared for 98 mph stop speed and getting there fast. I bought it from the brothers and rode it for a while, blew a hole in a piston due to bad exhaust valve. Great old machine.

 

[YummYam]

I never had many problems with the Lucas electrics, I'd throw the battery away buy a capacitor and choper wire it and go for ever.

I had a good shop teacher that told me 99% of all automotive electrical problems were ground and found that to be real true with the Brit bikes.

My 72 Trident the real problem with it's electrics was the three sets of points I couldn't keep it in tune, found out about the Boyer system and never looked back.

Memories. My good pal Eddie had a Trident back in England around '73, not sure how old it was, maybe around 1970? He had it rebuilt by Boyer in Bromley where we lived and afterwards had trouble with the clutch adjustment.

What I do remember is the fantastic sound from the exhaust when he wound it up, and me trying to keep up with him on my TR6, or maybe it was the XS650!!

 

[beemerdons]

A BMW Friend from Montreal, Quebec, Canuckistan sent me this, I should have never have started this damn thread because I'm now terminally afflicted with a serious case of "Norton Fever"!

 

[beemerdons]

Photo from Dave "gypsytech" Alquist, Owner of BMW Independent Shop - Quality Cycle Service in Mesa, Arizona:

Photo of '65 Triumph Mountain Cub I restored recently for the original owner. It's a family heirloom. My 12-year-old friends lusted over this bike in the day!

ay!