They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .

Matt Spencer

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They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


trundling through ' J.A.P. ' stuff , tripped over this ' MOTOR Cycle ' more motor than cycle , by weight .

They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


" W. E. Cook. In 1909, he set a speed record of 90 m.p.h. (144 km/h) on the Brooklands track in England aboard the behemoth, which carried a huge 165.62 c.i. (2714 c.c.) engine. - See more at: http://theoldmotor.com/?p=75561#sthash.nTQdBk6r.dpuf "

They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


" The North London Garage Motorcycle, hits 90 M.P.H. at Brooklands in 1909 "

http://crondump.com/2014/02/18/replicat ... r-part-ix/ New Build . :lol: :D

http://theoldmotor.com/?tag=north-londo ... ord-holder

The Wonders of Modern Tecnology . :p
They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


750 S. V. ?
will leave this Drawing on . its stated to be a smaller engine of similar design . NOT the Actual 165 cu. in . wonder .
They Dont Build Them Like They Used To .


KTOR ?
 
You have been googling !
The french built some of those big old engines at 5 litres per cylinder !
Cycle pacing was a common use for them.

How did Pavel get his name all over those pics, we wonder ??

That last engine is the hallowed JAP 90 bore.
Pirated drawing straight from Ronald H. Clark we'd say.
Not a 90 degree like the earlier efforts though, note.
 
There was a friend of mine who once said 'if I was born in the 15th century with what I know now, I would be a genius'. If you ever get the opportunity to ride a pre-30s bike - don't. You might find out that the guys who rode that old garbage had abilities that you do not have.
 
Since I own a few prewar projects, I better reply to this too.
I'm quite looking forward to juggling all those levers and things.
All this modern automatic everything (fuel/air ratio, ignition timing, return sprung gearlevers, suspension etc) is boring.
Biggles could do it, so it must be easy....

With your description of your riding abilities though, we are not surprised you should avoid them !
 
Not "pre 30s" but I did a lot of road riding on a 1936ish 500 Rudge Special. At the time, in the early 70s it was fine. Most traffic could be dropped behind, it had pretty good 8" brakes, 4 speed gearbox, and would do about 90mph. The hardest thing about it was getting away from the "nice bike young'un, I used to have one like that" crowd. I ran it on open pipes (2 pipes ending at the rear wheel spindle) and got stopped once, not because of the noise, but because it didn't have any means of silencing,....it was a bit loud!
cheers
wakeup
 
You forgot to mention that magic ingredient - it had a 4 valve head.

Shame that Rudge were the typical brit motorcycle making outfit - underfunded and running on a shoestring.
With a bigger effort, Rudges were streets ahead of anything else, and could whip a Norton in a fair fight.
But the Norton Inter and then Manx went on to rule the roost - more sheer luck and being in the right place than anything else...

But yes we diverge.
(It has nearly automatic everything already, even by the 1930s.)
 
When I was a kid (mid-1950s), I had a Rudge bicycle. It was one of the brands made by Raleigh. I often wondered whether the Raleigh group bought the old motorcycle company or whether they just used the name.
 
Raleigh made very nice, high quality motorcycles in the 20s and 30s apart from all the bicycles and other stuff
cheers
wakeup
 
wakeup said:
Raleigh made very nice, high quality motorcycles
Click to expand...

And also supplied these engines and gearboxes to other makers, under the Sturmey Archer brand name.
As well as all the Sturmer Archer bicycle stuff.

Nortons being just one of many many makers using SA gearboxes.
Until manufacture ceased in the early 1930s....
 
The difference betweem a two valve Jawa Speedway engine and the 70s 4 valve motors was about 10% in BHP, and that seems to be consistent even in bikes such as the GS1000 Suzuki and the GSX1100. I believe the Rudge Ulster was exceptional, and I once saw a 1000cc Excelsior JAP with two Rudge bronze heads. I don't know what it had been used for - looked like a sprint bike, however it was in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton and I don't believe we had many sprints pre WW2.
It is interesting that most of the modern XR69 Suzuki replicas use the 4 valve Katana engine and 5 speed box. The original was two valve, race cams and 6 speed close box. One thing though, the 650 Triumph with the Weslake 4 valve head did not seem to go faster than the one with the ordinary two valve head. The Indian with the 4 valve heads is interesting - they really get up and march.
 
acotrel said:
The Indian with the 4 valve heads is interesting - they really get up and march.
Click to expand...

That Indian (singular) with the 4 valve heads is interesting.
The guy wot built it knows his racing engines though, and used every trick in the book to get it to really fly.
It did 160 mph+ 2 way average on the salt somewhere recently - naked.
If Indian had known all that back then, motorcycle history would be different...

Suzuki knew a thing or 2 with those 4 valve GSX1100 4 cylinder too - thats one of the few engines that has been dynoed
with more horsepower low down in the rev range than the equivalent year Harley big twin.
AND, it revs to twice the revs of the HD. And with a one piece crank, is near unburstable., and can get them out to 1500cc...
Speedway guys luv em.
 
Talking about Suzukis, pretty much the only Japanese make I don't like. For the following reasons....
1/ Following a 750 3 cylinder thing, two up, he accelerated hard away from a roundabout, and the back wheel collapsed. Most of the spokes had pulled out of the hub.
2/ The only manufacturer to introduce 3 (that's THREE) brand new, and different models of 250 all within a 12 month period. One was that horrible thing with the ducting over the cylinder head, the others have faded away.
3/ When they introduced four strokes in the late 70s, with shaft drive. A friend who worked for the local Suzuki agent showed me the shaft from a GS750 (??) with all the teeth missing. It had done less than 1,000 miles.

They clearly can do it when they try, but they should have tried harder back then.
cheers
wakeup
 
I built a T250 Suzuki two stroke racer on methanol. It was quicker and much easier to ride than my 500cc Triton, however I never liked it much. It was easy to win a race with it, however - so what ? That didn't prove much. I absolutely love my Seeley 850, it is a really great ride if you want to feel the hairs growing on your chest.
 
I've never raced a really modern bike. A few years ago we had a very competitive race class for RGV250 Suzukis, and VFR400 Hondas. The VFR 400 was a magic bike in my opinion.
 
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