NorVin . Norton Vincent .

acotrel said:
My Indian 500 was as fast as a G80 Matchless. How 'fast' is that in top speed ? .
Click to expand...

If a low compression sidevalve twin could keep up with a Matchless G80 ( a hemi-head ohv), then either the Indian had been heavily worked, or the G80 was awful slow. !

In the Indian world, now, folks are tweaking the 741 Indian (military ww2 sidevalve 500) with 600cc pistons, just to get a 60 mph road potential out of them....
 
A bloke turned up at the first classic meet ( CRMRR ) back 80 / 81 . Development over the next years gained 10 mph a season , ported , polished ,
700 cc . add. INDIAN 741 B
At the stage it became competitive in the works racer 350 class , :? 8) ( upset the pukka blather brigade ) the creation became slightly overstressed .
Rumour was ' the Explosion ' left not one engine part in seviceable condition . :lol: :shock: :(
 
When someone got 100+ mph out of a BSA M20 in Classic Racing, it made the front page of the english mags... !

Indian didn't get a US Army contract for the 500cc 741 - it was said to be underpowered, and the 750cc WLA got the military contract instead. And the WLA was no speedster, stock. What does that tell us ?
 
Vincents are worlds apart from indians and harleys. Back in the early 60s we had the Clarex Harley, and Clarex Indian sidecars. They never saw which way Frank Sinclair's vincent went. And when Orrie Salter brought the works Rennsport 500cc BMW home from europe, he made them all go backwards.
 
If you hold the throttle open long enough on a 750 WLA, an Indian 741B, and a matchless g80, as stock bike they will all do about the same speed - fast enough to get you booked, but not scary in any sense unless the pivot bolt through the front forks breaks while you are doing it on the indian .
Rohan, have you ever actually ridden a heavy rigid framed bike ? An experience none should be without.
 
I own an old rigid framed Enfield. OHV though (not hemi head though)
I'd say it was about on a par with a 741 - flat out it might creep past 60 mph, which its been out on club rides with.

Hey, a Norton International in the late 40s /early very 1950s was good for about 90 mph, along with heavy old plunger-framed Goldies etc. That truly was performance motoring then. Nortons claimed 90 mph out of the Dommie twin - but that was down a (steep) hill with a tailwind on test ! You truly think a mild-tuned sidevalve 741 would be up there with them. ?? A 1200cc Chief would find that tough getting there, they were said to be all done if they managed 85mph....
 
rohan, did you also read the gross weight and payload of the 750 WLA ? A 741B indian could not have weighed over 450 lbs ? What are you trying to prove - that an Inter was a better bike ? If you got stuck into even a single OHC manx, you could get decent performance. You would never get that with as side valve engined brick. I knew a bloke years ago who worked a chief motor in a norton frame, cams. set down valves , ported , high comp. - all the bullshit. A good 350 velocette was a much better thing.
 
You seem to have done a big about-turn - a few posts ago you were telling us that a 15hp 741B would do 90mph !!!?
Musta had the rose-colored specs on that day....
 
They say Valintines had enough parts to keep the Indians in N.Z. going for a few centuries , if it hadnt burnt down nobody would have had to buy a new motorcycle for centuries .


quote
"I remember when I started work in Hamilton in 1965, the local Valentine's army surplus store was selling brand new crated Indian's for about 50 pounds!! Aint hindsight wonderful!!" "

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53591907@N00/2280689051/

Picture wont come up , youll have to click above . Ah well , it has two cylinders , anyway . :?
 
Rohan, did you know that the claimed top speed f or a standard 1963 350cc G3 Matchless single is 80 mph ? A 500cc sidevalve indian is still fast enough to get you into trouble, and you would never try to ride a wla harley that fast. We had both of those bikes as kids, the harley was simply dangerous if you wound it up. It is all pretty irrelevant when the blow-up speed for a 650 triumph is about 80 mph in first gear. But comparing harleys and indians with vincents is just bloody stupid unless the indian is 1000cc and has four valve heads , like a repro I've seen racing here.
 
There is something familiar about these arguments now, even though I left school playgrounds behind me more than 40 years ago.
 
Yes, And have you noticed the goalposts seem to keep shifting.

Nail the lid down on the coffin of one nonsense, and more spring up.
Rather like someone who was on here recently. Very like......
 
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