A picture a day....biker banter (Vol 4)
Discussion
Merch131 said:
Some pics from Santa Pod this weekend, old bikes and old riders..
Twin Supercharged Norton, now ridden by the son of the original builder, who I had a chat with, he's now in his 90's. Amazing he build it in a shed back in the 60's
I see this alot when I did Ramsey sprint at IOM TT. I think it's brilliant and goes to show alot of us stay 'big kids' even if our bodies tell us otherwise. I raced mx from 11 right upto 32, if I don't crash bad I'd like to think road and track will be what I do now for the next 25-35 years but when I'm too old and have too much metal in me to do much else... I'll be doing this Twin Supercharged Norton, now ridden by the son of the original builder, who I had a chat with, he's now in his 90's. Amazing he build it in a shed back in the 60's
Birky_41 said:
I see this alot when I did Ramsey sprint at IOM TT. I think it's brilliant and goes to show alot of us stay 'big kids' even if our bodies tell us otherwise. I raced mx from 11 right upto 32, if I don't crash bad I'd like to think road and track will be what I do now for the next 25-35 years but when I'm too old and have too much metal in me to do much else... I'll be doing this
I'm not sure what vintage the rider is, but the bike is a 1926 Sunbeam... both still going well...
podman said:
What did the RX make then?
B'stard Child said:
105 bhp so 15 lost - I'm sure they were originally 120 bhp.
Claimed 125 at the crank, IIRC, so 105 at the wheel would not be too bad.I still have mine at the back of the garage (leaky tank then 12 years of being neglected at the back of the garage). Hated the 16 inch front wheel and the anti-dive, so always have half an eye looking out for a ZX10 ("Tomcat", not ZX10R) front end.
Edited by gareth_r on Wednesday 19th July 23:32
Merch131 said:
I'm not sure what vintage the rider is, but the bike is a 1926 Sunbeam... both still going well...
I'll get in before SRob - isn't that a Douglas with the fore & aft boxer motor?Merch131 said:
The mighty twin engine, twin supercharged Weslake Triumph.. The Hobbit, once the fastest bike in the world.
Fixed that for you too - quite a famous bike in it's day.
graham22 said:
Merch131 said:
The mighty twin engine, twin supercharged Weslake Triumph.. The Hobbit, once the fastest bike in the world.
Fixed that for you too - quite a famous bike in it's day.But I remember when the bike first saw the light of day there was a big feature in 'Motor Cycle' (weekly newspaper competitor to Motor Cycle News - I had a subscription in the 70s and preferred it to MCN) including a centre-spread of the bike that I pinned on my bedroom wall. I remember the accompanying article said something along the lines of 'named after the Hobbit, some big snarling beast from mythology'. Having read Lord of the Rings at school I did think someone had got it wrong. But clearly in the mid 70s not everyone had read the Tolkien books, and of course it pre-dated the films by about 40 years so not everyone had heard of a Hobbit, and so describing one in dragon-like terms clearly seemed reasonable enough.
Sure enough though, next week 'Motor Cycle' had a follow-up article confirming a Hobbit was in fact a small big-footed creature. There was then a quote (I think from John Hobbs himself) along the lines of 'OK so it turns out it's a small furry-footed creature, but it will be the fastest furry-footed creature in history'; which it turned out to be.
Wasn't it in the National Motorcycle Museum for a while - is it still there and just taken out for events?
...although personally I preferred the looks of the twin-Norton Pegasus; I was a Norton guy and Triumphs were second-class in my eyes
Didn't see Pegasus this year, but it was running last year.... got to say it was immaculate, amazing to think these bikes were built in sheds up and down the country often by one man with very little cash... btw there's a great site called Acceleration Archive that's worth checking out if your into old drag bikes, along with a book called 'Drag Bike Racing in Britain from the mid 60's to the mid 80's'' by Veloce Books, ot mine from Amazon..
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|https://thumbsnap.com/hQKmFyWc[/url
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|https://thumbsnap.com/hQKmFyWc[/urlPraiseKek said:
Just picked this R1200R yesterday straight after passing my test, I rode a 125 previously. Bit of a jump but its got very good handling. Came with panniers, heated grips, abs, satnav and even GS handguards.
Unfortunately it is pissing it down with rain today.
Really nice bike, I like those Unfortunately it is pissing it down with rain today.
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