Vintage motorbike

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Many things built by model engineers are full size, many petrol engines and hot air engines are not scale copies of anything.Mike

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

That V6 ticks all the right boxes for me!

It's the kind of OTT thinking and application I just love and dream of being able to do myself.

Would love to see how the builder went about it, and especially the techniques used.

Some time ago was thinking of doing a quad-rotary, but things got in the way as usual.

Geoff – Some dreams just (should?) remain dreams.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Unfortunately Geoff the builder wasn't on the stand when I was looking at it and the info I got was secondhand.

As regards it nor being on here I have just done a quick glance through the post views list and it seems that anything NOT connected with models gets far more hits than anything that is.

There are exceptions but this thread is hitting around 4400, the favourite old tools thread is about 7400.

The ME show thread is about 2300 but has moved off topic a bit and high up the recent list the ball hopper engine and Cherry's models are both around the same at 2200 / 2400 hits

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

I don't really believe anyone needs to justify this, or indeed any, thread on here but I would invite Bert from Ashton-under-Lyne to justify his comment. I would be fascinated to read that.

graham.

[norm nortonParticipant @normnorton75434]

Well, I'm intrigued by just how many ME people on this forum have motorcycles in their past or current blood.

I know some motorcyclists, and perhaps 30% would be interested in a lathe. I know the people from my local SME and perhaps 30% had a motorcycle at some time.

What causes some of us to progress from motorcycles to proper machines with coal and steam in them?

Norm

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Posted by norm norton on 20/10/2014 10:27:32:

What causes some of us to progress from motorcycles to proper machines with coal and steam in them?

Norm

.

You mean a kettle ?

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

JS,

That stat is an eye opener, and should put to rest once and for all that this Forum is a melange of different interests, and not solely on miniatures.

So it should be, as it just mirrors the diverse subjects we talk about when with friends and even with like minded.

I for one, have picked up many useful methods of doing something I would never have thought of by myself.

I love reading all those threads that go off at a tangent, as also happens on the AustinSevenFriends Forum.

May it continue to be thus.

Geoff – Woohoo, 500 posts! Still a youngster!

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I also see that the Bodgers thread is at 17,000 views even though its been a bit slack at teh lodge lately, and don't mention the bee keeping what did you do thread at 195,000.

Funny enough one of my clients sons has recently set up a small business making bikes as well as servicing, I happened to be in the workshop and saw he had an old Colchester and he asked me when the ME exhibition was so he could go and look at some tooling. So even if its not medels it keeps our suppliers in business.

J

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Norm,

For me it was picking up a copy of Model Engineer, and something inside me was awakened

That was during the first oil crisis, when circuit racing was banned in South Africa on purely political grounds to sent a message, and I, having read all the motoring magazines then on display at my local magazine agent, was looking for something else to do in the meantime, and just happened to look at a row of magazines I'd never looked at beforehand.

The final 'push' was visiting the Johannesburg Live Steam (JLS) track one Sunday afternoon, and that first whiff of the steam, oil, and smoke mixture switched a gene on. Been hooked ever since.

Mom told me later that Great Great Grandad worked on the LMS, something I didn't know at the time, and she was surprised at my new interest to say the least.

That eventually led me to opening my own hobby shop, dealing with model engineering stuff, naturally.

Geoff – Surprising how things unfold for us.

Edited By OuBallie on 20/10/2014 11:00:43

[MadMikeParticipant @madmike]

Presumably if discussion about motorcycles etc was to be excluded from this great forum then people like me would not be allowed to register and join in, albeit fairly infrequently.

I have no real interest in actually making model trains and boats and planes (hmmmm that sounds like a good title for a song) or other 2models", however I do have an interest in "things engineering". This forum and others like it are a great source of ideas, information, inspiration and pleasure simply because of the great diversity of abilities, skills and knowledge. Remember that one mans facing off a chuck back plate without concavity is another mans cylinder head.

Indeed on a classic bike site (http://www.ikba.co.uk) yesterday there was a discussion about the use of copper cylinder head gaskets and how to anneal them. Should they have been banned from that discussion on the grounds that it was really an engineering, model or otherwise, topic? Of course not. Share, learn from and enjoy each others passions and experience especially if it includes engineering practices.

Before anybody asks about the name IKBA in the forum mentioned above, it is merely an acronym for "I Know Bugger All". Can I say that here? Oops I already did.

Continue the good work everybody.

[Anonymous]

Posted by John Stevenson on 20/10/2014 10:32:33:

Posted by norm norton on 20/10/2014 10:27:32:

What causes some of us to progress from motorcycles to proper machines with coal and steam in them?

Norm

.

 

You mean a kettle ?

I've got one of them, well a lot of bits of one . Winter project, plenty of shed time looming making/repairing parts for it.

!975 Suzuki GT750 aka a "Kettle"

Edited By Mick Berrisford on 20/10/2014 11:46:03

Edited By Mick Berrisford on 20/10/2014 11:48:03

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

I have a 4ls drum brake off a kettle or "water buffalo" as the yanks call them, for my triton project mick. Very heavy , but nicely made and engineered.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Looking back at past issues MEW, it fascinates me that there's been so much concern expressed about motorcycles, but no-one made a negative comment about a review of a Revell plastic kit of the USSS Enterprise…

Neil

[Anonymous]

Bikes and model/home engineering hobbies go together in a lot of ways for a lot of people, particularly over 50s as they were brought up in the era of DIY repairs and mechanics. From spotty youths bodging things up to keep on the road or trying to make it go faster evolving into an older and hopefully wiser adult who decides try and do bigger and better things and joins the ranks of the amateur engineering types. What was initially just a one track bike hobby then evolves into a wider engineering one.

They are both mainly "loner" hobbies and fit well together, I reckon most people on here enjoy a club meet or show but are most at home out alone on their bike or in their workshop.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Jason,

Purposely didn't mention the "What did you do " thread as it's so interspersed with everything. I suppose this thread in it's own right answers all the question.

Likewise didn't do the bodgers thread as TBH I just kept to the first couple of pages. Didn't realise it was so high.

Need to put the micrometers away and get the BFH out again

I know it was popular as even got a request to move it to another forum.

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

Posted by Mick Berrisford on 20/10/2014 12:58:46:

Bikes and model/home engineering hobbies go together in a lot of ways for a lot of people, particularly over 50s as they were brought up in the era of DIY repairs and mechanics. From spotty youths bodging things up to keep on the road or trying to make it go faster evolving into an older and hopefully wiser adult who decides try and do bigger and better things and joins the ranks of the amateur engineering types. What was initially just a one track bike hobby then evolves into a wider engineering one.

They are both mainly "loner" hobbies and fit well together, I reckon most people on here enjoy a club meet or show but are most at home out alone on their bike or in their workshop.

Exactly mick, classic british bikes required a lot of maintenance and pennyless youths had to do it themselves. These days these bikes are being restored, often in the home workshop with parts, especially fasteners being machined up on small lathes and mills. This is home engineering , not model making i know, but imho perfectly acceptable for inclusion here.

[Michael HornerParticipant @michaelhorner54327]

Posted by ronan walsh on 19/10/2014 14:21:24:

Posted by John Stevenson on 19/10/2014 12:28:20:

Couple of shots of that V6 from the timing side.

Which was a much more interesting side. Crankcase was welded up for about 4 set's a cut and shunt standard cases.

"Not only a v6, but converted to overhead cams AND fuel injection. Amazing work by someone".

Not only the above but he has moved the end spark plug holes to the top of the head. Not convinced he has gone to 4 valves per pot because I think the heads are original, That would be a lot of work!

Cheers Michael

[Marcus BowmanParticipant @marcusbowman28936]

I don't much care if its a model or a real thing; it's about the engineering and the making. And the bikes have always hit the spot. But then so has almost anything else where someone has tackled the challenge of making something which appeals to them. It could be a custom car, or a toaster (petrol or steam), I don't discriminate.

That tank is a thing of beauty, with its folds and compound bend at the top rear corner. I'd like to see an article showing how that was done. Lovely.

Marcus

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

The central spark plug mod is a reasonably common mod and is often done on racing bikes because the flame path in the cylinder/head is much better than on the side plugs. There was talk a few years back about a factory prototype four valves per pot head, from the 60's/70's being found somewhere. A few of the specialist parts suppliers were talking about reproducing it.

To be honest, the standard three pot triumph can be made to move very quickly indeed, especially if you buy a 930cc kit from norman hyde etc, that and a pair of race cams and it will be very sprightly

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

Overhead camshafts were tried by the works but gave no power advantage,the standard valve gear on the Trident wears out at a an alarming speed, modern replacments improve things a bit. With the size of the valves on the trident there is not much space to put a central plug but it has been done many times but I suspect one of the smaller format plugs are used.

Mike

[John OlsenParticipant @johnolsen79199]

Someone back in the seventies was building a V8 using Honda parts, I think from the 65cc single, giving about 500cc capacity. I don't recall seeing how it all worked out in the finish. Not to be confused with the Guzzi V8, which was a factory racer.

The Britten should not have been too bad, I think they were a 90 degree engine…However that still leaves the secondary forces from both cylinders unbalanced, and being at a higher frequency they can sometimes be more annoying. A friend had a Honda 200 twin at the same time as I had a Triumph 250 single. (Rebadged BSA single, 1971 model that was only produced that year.) Anyway, the Triumph had very noticeable vibration, the Honda seemed quite smooth. But on a long trip, the Honda would make your feet go numb from an annoying high frequency vibration, while the lower frequency vibration from the Triumph was not nearly as annoying.

As far as "off topic" posts goes, the one I started four years back for aircraft general discussion is still going strong with over 400 posts. Telling people what they may not talk about seems like a waste of breath to me…if you don't like the topic go away and get on with your own life.

John

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by John Olsen on 21/10/2014 08:29:25:

. Telling people what they may not talk about seems like a waste of breath to me…if you don't like the topic go away and get on with your own life.

It has lots of names John but we have all seen this type of behavior. I am in company I will reserve my comments. So, the bike is impressive, I had a 380GT "Ram Air" – remember those? Well I aspired to a "Water Bottle" but I just couldn't get the 380 to handle and bought a Kawasaki instead.

But just getting back on track, this is the only photograph I have of one of my best Pinto engines I built. The fuel rail was a piece of office chair leg and the trumpet extensions are scaffold pole. The porting and polishing was all done in my shed and I built the injection system from bits I could scrounge, beg, borrow and steal!

I had access to a Superflo 110 flow bench and still have the glass measuring kit I used to make sure the combustion chambers were equal. You can't see the block but that was a bit special too. I had friends who could get me access to TiG welders and another who worked in the tank factory on the Tyne so the Rods were sent off for Shot Peening. – amazing what you can achieve with absolutely no money!

graham.

[OuBallieParticipant @ouballie]

Graham,

"Water Bottle" – what the heck are you on about ?

Nice head, and reminds me of the hours I spent on improving the Kent engines I used in my racing 105E, and the black dust in my nostrils from porting and chamber work. H&S unheard of in the '70s

Talking about Pinto engines, I spent a Sunday afternoon with my tuning friend, who was wielding his hand held exhaust gas analyser, driving around in my 1972 'Coke bottle' Cortina 2000 GT Pinto engined car, sorting out jets in the replacement carb I'd just fitted.

Being the first Pinto engined car, and having inlet ports that where way way to big and Ford carb, it had zero guts below 2000rpm in top gear. (4th)

It was being used as my tow car for my racing 105E, and the lack of guts was getting to me!

So I replaced the carb with a straight swop Webber twin-choke, modified the air filter unit and linkage, and we, or rather he, spent the afternoon experimenting with jets and taking readings from the analyser, until he finally said he was happy, drove the car, and pronounced it as good as his BMW2002.

Well the transformation was amazing, now being able to tootle along in top at 1000rpm and accelerate to boot, all without having to drop down a cog.

I was a happy bunny with that level of improvement.

Geoff – How can a manufacturer get it so wrong?!

Edited By OuBallie on 21/10/2014 12:31:04

[ronan walshParticipant @ronanwalsh98054]

The metalworking trades have been in decline in western countries for decades now, modern technology has made a lot of trades and professions obsolete, or vastly reduced the amount of staff needed to make things (i read recently only 2 people are needed in the machine shop of the triumph motorcycle factory per shift, everything is automated and cnc). Young people leaving school think any job that involves getting your hands dirty is for losers and would rather do a degree in something useless, or do nothing at all.

my point being that people interested in metalwork as either a hobby or trade/profession is declining and so everything should be fair game for this forum.

[Anonymous]

Posted by OuBallie on 21/10/2014 12:12:56:

Graham,

"Water Bottle" – what the heck are you on about .?

It's just one of the less common nicknames for the Suzuk GT750 "Kettle" mentioned earlier

[Author]

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