Hairy Bikers and Other Petrol Heads

simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Thanks Susie,

I’d seen that…. You’d guess :).

seriously, it looks lovely IMO. I prefer the red version…

I have my old Guzzi (which has just been apart again, I got it back together this afternoon, will fire it up tomorrow - I’m getting better, engine out, split gearbox, remove clutch & flywheel, replace crank main seal, reassemble and a few other bits - about 12 hours), and the BMW 1250GS, which is a far more capable bike than I am rider.

The trouble is, despite its excellence, the BMW has never quite captured my heart. You can see where this is going, can’t you?

atb
Simon
 
GrahameH

GrahameH

Western Thunderer
Not sure whether this is suitable for the thread, but I will ask nevertheless.

Are there any motorbike chaps / ladies who know of my cousin Philip ( Phil ) Hitchen or Pete ( Fred ) Clarke on the racing circuit ?

I have lost touch with both of them over the years and often wondered of their whereabouts.

Phil used to commentate alongside Fred at various events and in later years when I worked with Fred it was during a random conversation that he realised that Phil was my cousin. I know Fred is a well respected chap in the motorbike world and wondered if anyone had come across either of them ?

It's probably a wild stab in the dark but thought I would ask.

G
 
Focalplane

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Photographed this morning on the way back from the boulangerie.

9D677804-4999-47D7-A718-9A3D93838575.jpeg

I am sure someone can fill in the details! (Queue Simond?). I have seen it before but have not seen the owner. When I do I will interrogate! Another rare vehicle in France these days is also parked close by:

64BF0E3E-AE9E-4164-AAC3-A658307DEB58.jpeg

this Lightweight has a Burgundy registration and is LHD. The owner, who told me he is deaf, says he won’t sell. Needs work but runs every day.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
Thanks Paul,

well, it’s a Tonti-framed Guzzi, or was, the frame appears to have been pruned at the rear, where the two white bits are either side of the mudguard. I’d bet a small sum that the tank came from a T3 Cali, and it might well be the whole bike was one, at some point, but the seat has obviously been replaced, the bars don’t look original. (but the Cali did have braced bars, so they might be) If it was a Cali, it would have had heel & toe gear change, and footboards, which have clearly gone..

The 2-into-1 exhaust is interesting, I wonder if it’s like those drinking straws you could get that you could bend the concertina bit and it stayed…. The right pot seems to have a 90 degree bend under the gearbox and it joins the balance pipe - probably sounds… interesting.

The choke lever is not supposed to be dangling behind the left pot, it’s supposed to be held by a little bracket and secured by the rear inner cylinder head cover screw. Under the cr4p the alternator cover appears to be an ally one, not quite hens teeth, but certainly worth more than a fiver. (And rather nice with the eagle cast in).

I'm much taken with the alternative, chain sprocket battery tray, which is just visible behind the satchel - the battery tray is normally a key stressed frame member (tbh, I doubt it’s very stressed, I’m sure it’s much stronger & heavier than required!) that holds the rear of the frame to the gearbox. There should be 4 x M8 screws holding it to the gearbox (one hole is visible) and three more connecting to the frame. A very curious modification, I wonder if it was a case of “this”ll fit”…. He certainly didn’t need the sprocket for the Guzzi!

I know nothing about sidecars, other than the effortlessly combine the worst characteristics of cars and motorbikes, they’re big, cumbersome & heavy, and you get cold & wet. I know why they existed, I can’t understand why anyone would still want one, but there are some enthusiasts out there. I’ll put my lid on before the bricks start raining!

so, I’m going for a T3 California (850), from 1975 or maybe 76.

The engine number will be on the crankcase below the left spark plug, that’ll fix it for sure, though how Ogri will react if he finds some English bloke photographing his engine number is anyone’s guess :)
 
Focalplane

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Thanks, Simon! If I ever see him I will ask for the engine number. I too noticed the drinking straw tailpipes. I could also ask for him to start it up and record the sound.

Quite a few classics to be seen here, including several 2cvs in immaculate condition. Not so many bikes though quite a few Harleys to be seen around Perpignan.
 
Eastsidepilot

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
simond said:
I know nothing about sidecars, other than the effortlessly combine the worst characteristics of cars and motorbikes, they’re big, cumbersome & heavy, and you get cold & wet. I know why they existed, I can’t understand why anyone would still want one, but there are some enthusiasts out there. I’ll put my lid on before the bricks start raining!

:)
Click to expand...

I had several mates who had sidecars or outfits ? as we called them.
One stands out in my memory more than the others, he had an old '47 B33 bolted to a sidecar chassis which just had a wooden tool box on it. His party trick was to undertake cars on the A127, on our way up to the smoke, whilst laying down prone on the tool box with his right hand on the left hand grip and the throttle locked at about 50mph. The looks from the car drivers amused us more than what he was doing as they saw this empty outfit going passed them :)).
On another occasion he turned up one night at our local late night haunt, the burger bar at Rayleigh weir roundabout about '74 ish, with a brand new galvanised dustbin bolted in place of the toolbox. After about ten minutes standing around chatting and drinking hot coffee the lid of the dustbin suddenly blew up in the air with a bang and his little brother jumped out making one of the girls jump so much that she threw her coffee over him:D.

There were other attempts to annoy the old bill with a very sharp pointed canoe bolted on it, but he finally settled on a kiddies fairground ride aeroplane with the inboard wing cut short :)).....just wish I taken photo's back then ! but when your 19 and having a laugh at life you don't always think about it.

Col.
 
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A

Allen M

Western Thunderer
Then the other thing that was common, but virtually gone by the late 1950s was to have the work/tool box body on the sidecar chassis in the week then swap it for the family version for the weekend.

Allen Morgan
 
Susie

Susie

Western Thunderer
Poor, poor Guzzi. What ever did it do to deserve some cretin do that to it? So many good bikes have been lost due this idiotic 'bobber-chop' craze.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
When I was a stoodent at the Poly in Liverpool, one of the guys was an absolute nutter for Brit bikes. He commuted in, from out Crosby way. One morning he gets to college very breathless and tells the tale…

he’s following a very nice example of a classic Brit, with an older rider, the lights change, the bike slows stops and falls over. Rider on the floor. Neil is behind, puts his hazards on, parks his Mini, rushes to help the rider, turn off the bike, doesn’t know what to do first. There’s a copper, sees the commotion, blues on, blocks the junction, helps the old boy up, as Beil picks up the bike. The copper and the old boy are laughing their heads off. The copper says, “you tell him”.

“I’ve had this bike 40 years, got it new, I’ve looked after it, serviced it, took my girl out on it, got married, we had kids, got a sidecar, serviced it, looked after it, then my missus got ill, didn’t go out so much, she died a year ago, sorted myself out slowly, eventually I wanted to go out again, so I got the bike going & started riding again.

Yesterday, I took the sidecar off…”
 
Focalplane

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
Susie said:
Poor, poor Guzzi. What ever did it do to deserve some cretin do that to it? So many good bikes have been lost due this idiotic 'bobber-chop' craze.
Click to expand...

I take a different view. I enjoy seeing such machines on the road and in use. The past three days the bike has been parked on a different street in the village. I have also seen it on the move, so I know it runs. This bike is not perfect by any means but it works. It has not been lost at all.

This community is not wealthy, in fact the department rates second poorest in France, so ownership of something a little different can be thought of as special, regardless of its condition.
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
I guess there’s two sides to most arguments, but I do take Susie’s point, this one runs, but how many decent machines have gone to the scrapper because some numpty thought he (inevitably a “he”) was going to be the next all-star Orange County custom bike designer, and did something irreversible to it, like cutting frame rails and presumably throwing away the bits?

OTOH the good ones wouldn’t be rare if the others didn’t get scrapped, and this one may live some years yet.

(and the Cali T3 had a very comfortable seat!)
 
A

Allen M

Western Thunderer
One I did earlier.
Picture 1.jpg Picture 3.jpg


An old Arial or BSA side valve, possible ex MOD would have been better but it was different

1:18 scale, the side car chassis originally had an open single seat and fitted to a BMW.

Regards
Allen
 
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