1962 Super Rocket ride

Think not that likely kids will warm to our old shoes. 70s jap bikes are a different story as they are fast enough and are more reliable. We bought the bikes of our youth or just before so too will they. It will
be the bikes of the 70s and 80s. Exotics will still find a market for the better off and discerning.
 
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I think the availability of parts will determine which 'classic' bikes stay on the road. It seems to me that parts for Nortons (and Triumphs) are easily available thanks to AN & RGM and other suppliers.
 
worntorn said:
I think the Trident is the top of the performance tree for him, although he did test an 850 Commando on one video.
It seems most of the bikes he works on and road tests appear to fairly low powered models, several 350 and 500 singles and some 500 -650 twins as well.
The overgeared 350 Goldstar was painful to watch on take off. It reminded me of a push lawnmower being forced into tall grass and almost choking.

Prior to the 40 mph speed limit he would give them a good thrash on that road.

Glen
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I reread the test that claimed 112mph top speed for the 62 Super Rocket.
They also claimed to have removed the silencers and managed 116 mph!
It's amazing how fast these slow old bikes were back in the day.

Old guys reminiscing keep the fibs alive
There is a youtube of a 50s Golden Flash being ridden. Now these are quite a nice old bike to sedately tour the countryside on, but they are no hotrod.

The comments by those who claim to have owned one back in the day are a chuckle.
They all seemed to be capable of running well over the ton but had to be slowed to 90 for only the sharpest corners, the handling was that good!
Thats a tall order for a bike that has about 20 rwhp or less and front fork action similar to wet spaghetti noodles!

Glen
 
worntorn said:
I reread the test that claimed 112mph top speed for the 62 Super Rocket.
They also claimed to have removed the silencers and managed 116 mph!
It's amazing how fast these slow old bikes were back in the day.

Old guys reminiscing keep the fibs alive
There is a youtube of a 50s Golden Flash being ridden. Now these are quite a nice old bike to sedately tour the countryside on, but they are no hotrod.

The comments by those who claim to have owned one back in the day are a chuckle.
They all seemed to be capable of running well over the ton but had to be slowed to 90 for only the sharpest corners, the handling was that good!
Thats a tall order for a bike that has about 20 rwhp or less and front fork action similar to wet spaghetti noodles!

Glen
Click to expand...
The very worst srory I've ever had from an old boy was a story of buying a brand new Paul Dunstal atlas
He reckoned the bikes top speed was 160mph 🤣🤣🤣and could cruise at 140 !!!!
I started to laugh and he got really annoyed
He said lots of people don't believe him but it's true and he walked off
another bloke was telling me about his 500 Daytona",it'd Wheely in first second and third if you weren't careful " he told me 🤣🤣🤣🤣
There's plenty of others
 
It's hard to keep a straight face with some of those stories.


When I was looking to buy a Vincent I was told that there was one for sale in a really remote part of BC.
I put a great deal of effort into tracking it down. Eventually I located a co- worker of the owner. He claimed he had ridden pillion on the Vincent. He told me that the bike was very beautiful and much faster than his bro in laws Fireblade. That would be a fast Vincent!

Eventually I talked to the owner.
I asked if he owned a Vincent.
"Yes", he said "I did,.... but it's a Norton Commando."
I guess I sounded a bit let down after all of the searching.
He then started in with his speed story.
" It was a very special model they call the Interstate, extra fast, made for going State to State really fast.
The thing just
flew. I was riding with the wife on the back and was stopped by Police in Nova Scotia. They clocked me with radar at a hundred and fifty two miles an hour with the wife asleep on the back."

I couldn't get off the phone fast enough!

Glen
 
worntorn said:
It's hard to keep a straight face with some of those stories.


When I was looking to buy a Vincent I was told that there was one for sale in a really remote part of BC.
I put a great deal of effort into tracking it down. Eventually I located a co- worker of the owner. He claimed he had ridden pillion on the Vincent. He told me that the bike was very beautiful and much faster than his bro in laws Fireblade. That would be a fast Vincent!

Eventually I talked to the owner.
I asked if he owned a Vincent.
"Yes", he said "I did,.... but it's a Norton Commando."
I guess I sounded a bit let down after all of the searching.
He then started in with his speed story.
" It was a very special model they call the Interstate, extra fast, made for going State to State really fast.
The thing just
flew. I was riding with the wife on the back and was stopped by Police in Nova Scotia. They clocked me with radar at a hundred and fifty two miles an hour with the wife asleep on the back."

I couldn't get off the phone fast enough!

Glen
Click to expand...
One bloke told me he used to have a 'triumph bluebird ' 🤣🤣🤣
 
I was at a bike night some years ago and heard this old boy looking at a group of modern Japanese sports bikes and loudly declaring ‘these modern Jap bikes can’t keep up with my Gold Star, they try, but they just fall off trying to catch me’.

I burst out laughing. The image of him leaving a load of GSXRs etc in hedge bottoms in his wake was hilarious !
 
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Fast Eddie said:
I was at a bike night some years ago and heard this old boy looking at a group of modern Japanese sports bikes and loudly declaring ‘these modern Jap bikes can’t keep up with my Gold Star, they try, but the just fall off trying to catch me’.

I burst out laughing. The image of him leaving a load of GSXRs etc in hedge bottoms in his wake was hilarious !
Click to expand...
I remember being up high beech one Sunday
There was a Goldie parked up
Two old boys came walking past
When they saw it one said to the other "that Goldie could come through here at 70mph ,none of these Jap bikes could do that"
The other bloke nodded in agreement and they wandered off muttering 🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
I had a cafe racer/lashup AJS 500 single for a while, in the late 1980s. It was a Model 20 with a Model 18 engine.

It attracted attention from the usual old farts with their old fartisms. They were desperate for me to agree with them that it would do the ton. It was a good running bike, but of course it wouldn’t do any ton!

I’d truthfully say that it would just squeeze past 80 mph on a flat road and they either wouldn’t believe me, or start ranting about what a bad rider or bad mechanic I was!
 
When I brought the Super Rocket home it needed a bit of tuning. After that was done and it was running crisp I tried the top end.
Big disappointment after reading the 112 mph road tests etc. All she would manage was a touch over 80 mph speedo.
I posted about this on the A10 forum and they all assured me that the 112 mph was the normal top end for a Super Rocket A10. The RGS is supposed to go 122 mph with the same engine and frame and a Goldstar tank and seat. There's a lot of speed in that Goldstar tank and seat!
One poster asked what cable ratio was shown on the speedo. He determined that it was the wrong cable ratio for the bike and that it would result in a low reading.
He was spot on.
Just over 80 on the speedo was 92 mph GPS!
I reported back that the machine was actually managing 92 mph in top and then was chastised for abusing such a precious old bike!

The thing to do is to ride it at 55 -60 mph max but tell folks that it will do 112, or 122 like the RGS.

Glen
 
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worntorn said:
When I brought the Super Rocket home it needed a bit of tuning. After that was done and it was running crisp I tried the top end.
Big disappointment after reading the 112 mph road tests etc. All she would manage was a touch over 80 mph speedo.
I posted about this on the A10 forum and they all assured me that the 112 mph was the normal top end for a Super Rocket A10. The RGS is supposed to go 122 mph with the same engine and frame and a Goldstar tank and seat. There's a lot of speed in that Goldstar tank and seat!
One poster asked what cable ratio was shown on the speedo. He determined that it was the wrong cable ratio for the bike and that it would result in a low reading.
He was spot on.
Just over 80 on the speedo was 92 mph GPS!
I reported back that the machine was actually managing 92 mph in top and then was chastised for abusing such a precious old bike!

The thing to do is to ride it at 55 -60 mph max but tell folks that it will do 112, or 122 like the RGS.

Glen
Click to expand...
I've owned plenty of Brit twins over the years
None of them have done the speeds the manufacturer claims
 
worntorn said:
Sounds very similar to my experience Baz. This bike is all original with the 357 cam, slightly bigger valves and 9 to 1 cr that the late West Coast SRs came with. This is exactly the same spec engine as used in the RGS.
I used a 23 tooth to reduce the buzz. I have thought about pulling the engine apart for dynamic crank balancing. That might help or it might make zero difference. I hate to pull apart a nice running oil tight engine.

Glen
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I also have the 357 cam, 9 to 1 pistons and had it dynamic balanced. It moved the vibrations to a different rev range but still there. Balance factor never came into the discussion when I had it done, he asked how I rode it and average RPMs in top gear. Before I had it balanced I had it up in the mid 80s MPH and it was like riding a paint shaker. Not as bad now but still a much nicer 55/60 MPH backroad tourer than a highway burner
 
MikeG said:
I also have the 357 cam, 9 to 1 pistons and had it dynamic balanced. It moved the vibrations to a different rev range but still there. Balance factor never came into the discussion when I had it done, he asked how I rode it and average RPMs in top gear. Before I had it balanced I had it up in the mid 80s MPH and it was like riding a paint shaker. Not as bad now but still a much nicer 55/60 MPH backroad tourer than a highway burner
Click to expand...
From your info I'm thinking it's probably not worth tearing down a good running oil tight bike for dynamic balancing.
On the other hand, it would definitely be worthwhile if the cases needed to come apart for some other reason.

Glen
 
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