• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

I Thought There Weren't Any Classics Left...

humor_me

New member
I had no idea that Triumph still made a Classic style of motorcycle. Just air-cooled, spokes and plain, cheap chain drive. (sign me up):thumb:

http://www.triumph.co.uk/usa/3336.aspx

Even Moto-Guzzi offers one, though not chain drive.

http://www.motoguzzi-us.com/Nuovi_modelli/nevada/specifiche.asp?modello=nevada&%20pagina=spec

I love the retro style of these Urals, too. ( I'll bet they are quite possibly terrible motorcycles though)

http://www.imz-ural.com/

The usual Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, Suzuki crotch rockets to me are boring and extremely uncomfortable to ride. I can't believe that none of these guys still make a plain, simple, cheap motorcycle for the old fart in most of us. No, we got to turn to Ebay, I guess.

And scooters, I love the classic Cushmans and the old Vespas. To me they are much cooler than those modern-looking Honda Elite-style scooters.

I had a Honda Trail 90 until it rusted to pieces, then I bought a Trail 110, which got stolen, then I found out that we can't get them here anymore (new).:( Those things were bullitproof, and cheap; they always started as long as good clean fuel was in the tank.
(Honda - Austrailia still has them in their line.)

I had my motorcycle bug bite again (I doubt if my wife would allow me the use of my testicles though to grab one these days though) while shopping in Ebay looking at those classic bikes. I found a couple of really cherry 2 stroke Yamahas from the 70's. Those were awesome fun to ride.

What type of motorcycles do you like? The modern stuff or the classics? To Harley or not? Why? Do you like the biggest and best? or mid-size or scooter?
 

OkeeDon

New member
I loved the classic old British bikes -- Triumph, Beeza, etc. I was lucky. In 1956, when I was 16 years old, a fellow opened a new business in the store next door to our house (one of the old fashioned mixed zoning neighborhoods near Pittsburgh). It was a BMW dealership, one of the first in the US. The owner, Kelly, had been a test rider for Harley Davidson and had a huge reputation amoung serious bikers in our area. He sold lots of Bimmers and took all kinds of bikes in on trade. I got to ride most of them. The biggest was an Ariel Square 4. One of the most sophisticated, next to the Bimmers, was a Ducatti. The most fun were the little British scramblers.

Those original BMWs, with the direct-opposed cylinders sticking out to scorch your legs, had real character. Most riders had an additional set of pegs mounted on the forks so they could cruise with their legs above the hit cylinders instead of behind them. I saw a new BMW at a fast food restaurant the other day, and it looked like some futuristic Corvette of a motorcycle instead of the brutal force of the originals.

In my early days, after I moved away from Kelly's shop, I couldn't afford a bike. Then, in 1972 when I first moved to Florida, I had an outside job for a land developer and got around on a Suzuki 185 dirt bike. That was the only motorcycle I ever owned; I fell off it twice and nearly got badly hurt the second time, so I never got another one.

I'd like to have a scooter, even one of the Chinese ones, but it's not high enough on my priority list right now. That could change if I got a good deal on something around 200cc. I'd love to have an Aprilia, but they're very dear.
 

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Yeah!!!

I owned a BSA 650 for a couple of years, my only vehicle so it was out in all sorts of weather. Then a BSA 350 single. Along the way an AJS 500 single and more recently, a Yamaha 175 for offroad.

I loved the big BSA, it had torque like a rototiller from 0 mph. And the 350 and 500cc thumpers weren't bad in urban traffic.

I recently looked over a BMW 650 single, the new one with belt drive. I think they captured that unlimited torque feeling along with much smoother operation. First time in years I've seen a new bike I liked.

The classic Royal Enfields are still built, unchanged, in India if you really want retro.
 

humor_me

New member
California said:
The classic Royal Enfields are still built, unchanged, in India if you really want retro.

I knew I forgot some.

Yep, the modern motorcycle (cars too - the modern stuff tends to trun me off) has, to me, been lost for about a decade or more. And they keep making Harley clones or cafe racers for the adrenaline junkies out there. But nothing for the regular guy.

Those big BMW singles are water-cooled now. The engines are Rotax, not true BMWs.
 

OkeeDon

New member
A B MW with a belt drive? You've got to be kidding. They changed the world with a driveshaft; how can you improve on that? A belt drive improves on a chain but it's lke a halfway measure compared to a shaft. Belts might not vibrate like a chain, but they can still break...
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
One of my all time favorites (2 stroke engine) as it was extremely FAST.....Kawasaki 750 H2. Much faster than anything around in its time for a production consumer bike, but not real reliable since it was a 3 cylinder 2 stroke engine. Could wheelie for an unbelievable distance..... through all the gears.

H2-76.jpg

The wife decided I needed to quit the big bikes about 5 years ago. She was probably right, but I can still dream about them. Started riding when I was 12 and quit at 51. Owned and rode everything from a Honda 50 to a Harley.
 

humor_me

New member
mtntopper said:
Could wheelie for an unbelievable distance..... through all the gears.

Yep, those were excellent motorcycles. I had a buddy with one of those Kaws do the wheelie though the gears - and he was ok until he hit a patch of loose gravel. He ended up tearing up his collar bone - bad (first time I ever saw bone exposed:puke1: ). His accident sort of made those of us who witnessed him crash and burn real pussy riders after that.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I know this is an old thread but I just found it. You guys have taken me on a journey down memory lane. Thank you. :applause::applause::applause:

I was brought (dragged) up in the UK. My first wheeled transport was a 50cc Phillips moped. Then came a 200cc Triumph Tiger Cub, to be followed by a 250cc Royal Enfield. Lastly, I had a 500cc Triumph Tiger but sadly I never did graduate to the 650cc Triumph Bonneville. A friend had the BSA 650 Rocket and another had the 750cc Royal Enfield. Man, those were good days that I had all but forgotten about.

I had a 400cc Suzuki in the States for a short while but my wife put her foot down. It seems that she didn't want to be a rich widow after all. I almost have her convinced now, after a touring vacation through the Smokies, that a Honda Goldwing trike would be just the thing for future expeditions. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

:biker::biker::biker: Man, I'd look so good on one of those ... and so would she.
 

Ross 650

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Howdy,
Well, there are still some old bikes out there and running real well. At the present time my only transportation is an 82 Harley FLH. I rubuilt it last winter. It even has a kick start lever on it. It is great to re-live my younger days every time that I hear it run. I once had a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird. I believe that was the first 650 that was available here. It was a strange suspension on that one. It had a rigid frame and the rear wheel hub had a vertical slot in it that the axle went through. There was a spring on top and bottom of the axle and it could move up an down inside the hub. I remember that it wasnt very efficient. The engine was the 650 with a single carb. No choke, instead it had the tickler button on the carb. Have a goodun!!
 

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Yeah! BTDT. A plunger-frame BSA 650, about 1952-53, was my only transportation for a year and a half when I lived in the SF Bay area.

I wish I could find a better picture. Mine had the long, double seat.
BSAa10spec51r.jpg
 

xsinawl

New member
Just bought a Suzuki 200 dirt bike/ now called dual purpose. Pretty muich the same as yesteryear except for a few improvements and being EPA'd.
 

EastTexFrank

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
I love it when someone bumps one of these old threads that I posted in (2008) and see what I said back then. Nope, I never did get the trike because SWMBO put her foot down.

When we were down in Fredericksburg in May I found a Triumph Bonneville with a sidecar that was just neater than sh**. I almost had her talked in to bringing it home but common sense kicked in, darn it.
 
Top