What’s the best none Norton Norton ?

Fast Eddie said:
Where’s the Ohlins going, front or rear ?

I put longer Ohlins on the rear of my Dyna S and they’re great! The thing was way too low as stock, then of course there’s the infinitely superior performance. Haven’t done the forks as they seem quite good, for my riding at least.

You‘re a bad man. Got me looking at 117” kits again…!
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Ohlins front and rear.
can’t decide between the screaming seagulls 131 or the 128 S&S.
 
speirmoor said:
I'm hoping this will be produced in mass numbers eventually. The only fully balanced large capacity 360° parallel twin in the world and made by a tiny crew as their passion. Looks like a proper bike !
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This reminds me of a Hinckley Triumph .
 
I reckon the best non Norton and it is the best bike I`ve ever ridden is the Aprilia Tuono 1000 V twin . Buy one new and it has everything ................... , braided hoses , hugger etc , unlike some ...........Triumph . I bought a gen 1 factory first (2007 ) but all the tech is wasted on me . I bought a gen 2 and then sold the factory , i still have it and a second one .
 
Fast Eddie said:
Why ?
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The screaming Eagle 131 is a big bore kit. From what I see and read, the cylinders are thin. I know tons of people use the 131 SE kit and Harley warranties it. But with the S&S 128 the cylinders are thicker. S&S uses a stroker crank that’s modified and improved over stock to get the 131.

Both 128 and 131 are capable of 150hp / 150tq. That’s more than enough.
Even a simple cam swap provides 45-48 rear wheel hp and up to 32 lb/tq.
I’ve seen where they did a cam dyno test on the same bike, same dyno, same exhaust on a stock 114.
between 5 different cams from different manufacturers, the numbers were so close you can’t go wrong.
a stock 114 at the tire dynoed at 79hp at 109tq.
with a cam and slip ons mufflers it made 124hp / 129tq. Some cams made 1-3 more tq
 
That’s good info Scott, thanks.

Funnily enough, I got to that same question about mine, how much would a cam and head work get if set up properly without going for the bigger bore. Think I might look deeper into that question now.
 
piper 600 said:
I reckon the best non Norton and it is the best bike I`ve ever ridden is the Aprilia Tuono 1000 V twin . Buy one new and it has everything ................... , braided hoses , hugger etc , unlike some ...........Triumph . I bought a gen 1 factory first (2007 ) but all the tech is wasted on me . I bought a gen 2 and then sold the factory , i still have it and a second one .
Click to expand...
 
Fast Eddie said:
That’s good info Scott, thanks.

Funnily enough, I got to that same question about mine, how much would a cam and head work get if set up properly without going for the bigger bore. Think I might look deeper into that question now.
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On the M8 a cam only swap makes huge gains. And honestly for myself that’s probably all I should really do. Part of me wants to go deep and do a big bore kit (S&S 128) with ported heads, cam, etc.
But the other part of me says just do a cam, and exhaust and be happy. It’s a cruiser Harley, not a sport bike. 45 Hp and 30+ additional tq is nothing to sneeze at for little money and a couple hours of work. Decision- decisions. Lol
 
Obviously you should just do the cam and a bit of head work etc.

Obviously you will build a 128” tarmac shreader!!
 
Fast Eddie said:
Obviously you should just do the cam and a bit of head work etc.

Obviously you will build a 128” tarmac shreader!!
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Lol. If I pull the heads off, I may as well do the bore kit.
With a cam swap I don’t need to pull the heads off.
If I do a bore kit, I’m going in deep.
 
Fast Eddie said:
Yeah… for about the next 5 minutes
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Going by the adage, a change is as good as a rest and spurred on by the middle grandkid, the 7 is back on the road and what a blast! All youngans carefully taken for a spin, literally, after a shakedown, all is well. Ok it has 4 wheels but not much else, most fun dressed for years!
 
Just to revive the thread. My next bike could be an adventure bike. I am a fair weather rider and only cover around 1500 miles a year at most between two bikes. But believing I will have more time and planning retirement, I am looking towards the future. A few mini-tours around different parts of the UK, visiting my kids down in London, parking up at the bike shed and then back home.

Was thinking the Ducati street fighter, then the KTM superduke but now I am liking the mixture of sports and travel and having one of these would encourage me out on damp roads, hell, even wet roads.

I am not over keen on the looks, too much plastic, but my word, the specs are impressive and the price ok.

 
KTMs can be a bit full on though, a bit all or nothing, kinda like giant crossers! Cool,when you want that. But not when you don’t.

I recently got into the adventure bike thing too (after years of sneering at them). The upright riding position, weather protection (ish), and superb comfort from the huge suspension make for a really good road bike.

My first was a CCM GP450 (I still had off road aspirations then, I’m over that now). But it was a full on enduro race engine with a 6 speed close box (all standard) and unless I was really in the mood for ‘going for it’ it was just horrid!

So I now have a Honda Africa Twin 1100. Great torque, great linear delivery, just over 100bhp. It’s one of the lightest ‘big‘ adventure bikes. It’s a really nice bike to ride.

And, cos it’s a Honda, it doesn’t need cleaning !
 
Adventure sports bike is the hot area so they say at the moment. The Africa Twin is one of the daddies isn't it. I was up in the yorkshire dales a month or two ago and saw loads of this catagory of bike. But between eight to nine out of ten were BWM GS's. I tend to always want to have something different, not necessarily to stand out but just something that is different from the crowd but still decent. That's why I drive an Alfa I suppose

Norton should be looking at the sector, they must be but that's a three year wait then
 
mdt-son said:
Nice bike. I wonder what the price tag is - 150K USD?
Not a twin, but equally situated in the luxury bike segment and probably just as smooth is the Horex VR6. It's price tag is a "mere" 38.500 Euro upwards for the classic line model. Of course there are more expensive versions, including cafe racers.

-Knut
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I missed this post.

The engine is a 1200 cc parallel twin with a third piston made of tungsten to balance it. The motor is super smooth as proved by putting a cup of water on it and reving it out.

The engine is an ART.

A is John Appel. I have known him some 40 years and he exactly designed and built this engine to be a modern replacement for a Commando engine.

Johnny owned and raced Commandos back in the day and also worked on race bikes in Europe etc. Especially Kawasakis. He was a good rider racing in the NZ Castrol six hour etc.

He is unusual in that he has a Batchelor of Mechanical Engineering from Canturbury University but also is a tradesman pattern maker and very good practical engineer.

I was in his home workshop last week and he was working on a one piece crank for a classic race bike. He has done a bit of work on my bikes over the years. He straightened my Commando frame and swinging arm when I rebuilt it a couple of years ago.

His bother Jerry is also an engineer and worked in the Physics and Engineering Labs of the NZ DSIR for many years. He is really good with metallurgy.

Both brothers have a long term interest in old bikes and still own Velos and 1910s and 20s machines.
 
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Welshrugby said:
Adventure sports bike is the hot area so they say at the moment. The Africa Twin is one of the daddies isn't it. I was up in the yorkshire dales a month or two ago and saw loads of this catagory of bike. But between eight to nine out of ten were BWM GS's. I tend to always want to have something different, not necessarily to stand out but just something that is different from the crowd but still decent. That's why I drive an Alfa I suppose

Norton should be looking at the sector, they must be but that's a three year wait then
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I was told recently that the BMW GS is THE best selling bike in the U.K ?! So, not a good choice if you want to be a bit different from the madding crowds.

I like them to a degree, but they do seem to get uglier with each re design, and heavier. With panniers etc an Adventure version is heavier than my Harley FFS !

And… they’re freakin’ HUGE. shed space is a limiting factor for me (not necessarily a bad thing, it keeps me in check) but a GS would take up the the space of two ‘normal bikes’.

And finally… have you checked out the price tag of a top spec fully loaded model…:oops:

I went for the base level AT, rather than the Adventure Sport or the DCT, which saved 50lbs… and a few £k too.

The AT really does sit in the middle, it has power closer to the bigger bikes, with a weight closer to the smaller bikes (700 Tenere et al) . A pretty ideal balance IMHO.
 
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