Motorized Bicycles in the News
- Thread starter Dave31
- Start date
Lud, don't hold back. Say what ya really mean. lol
(sorry Buddy. Didn't know this was a sore point)
But man, I would love to have that just as a pc in a showroom that is my imaginary palatial living room. Or great hall.
(sorry Buddy. Didn't know this was a sore point)
But man, I would love to have that just as a pc in a showroom that is my imaginary palatial living room. Or great hall.
This story sums up the vanity and short sightedness of Turner.
In the 60s, one of the works scrambles riders saw how much traction the 4 stroke singles were getting with their 720 degree firing intervals, especially in slippery (normal for Britain) conditions. He had the competition shop make a pair of camshafts to operate the valves at the same time, instead of the 360 degree firing intervals of the standard engine.
The 500 Triumph then behaved as a 4 valve short stroke single, and the wins started coming; then one day a note arrives From On High: "this company makes twins". Instead of using the publicity, instead of marketing the cams at a good price, the bike was returned to an uncompetitive state and no advantage was gained.
Before Turner, we made 4 cylinder bikes, V twins, flat twins, we had proper engineering; following the marketing success of the Speed Twin, all was swept aside as the lemmings all jumped off the same cliff.
Did you know Ariel designed, in the early 60s, a belt driven ohc 200 far, far better than the Tiger Cub? The Cub was a pumped up 150cc Terrier, and was subsequently remodelled as the C15 BSA and all it's derivatives. The basic 150 ended up at 500 with BSA, and then after the collapse, it went on to a final 640cc with CCM.
Ariel also had a modern 70cc 2 stroke engine for the Pixie step through, which had a 50cc version of the 65cc BSA Beagle 4 stroke inflicted upon it, and it was no more reliable than the Beagle, which had several methods of suicide.
The Damagement decided that the entire BSA Triumph group would be 4 stroke oriented, and dropped the Adler derived Arrow and Leader twins, which were capable of great development. They retained their Son Of DKW, the Bantam though, since that was made at Armoury Road, instead of Selly Oak.
There was so much pettiness, shortsightedness, arrogance and plain downright stupidity, and I lay much of the blame at the door of Turner.
Here endeth the sermon. I'm going out now for a breath of fresh air. I won't take the broadsword though, I'm feeling just a bit touchy at the moment.
In the 60s, one of the works scrambles riders saw how much traction the 4 stroke singles were getting with their 720 degree firing intervals, especially in slippery (normal for Britain) conditions. He had the competition shop make a pair of camshafts to operate the valves at the same time, instead of the 360 degree firing intervals of the standard engine.
The 500 Triumph then behaved as a 4 valve short stroke single, and the wins started coming; then one day a note arrives From On High: "this company makes twins". Instead of using the publicity, instead of marketing the cams at a good price, the bike was returned to an uncompetitive state and no advantage was gained.
Before Turner, we made 4 cylinder bikes, V twins, flat twins, we had proper engineering; following the marketing success of the Speed Twin, all was swept aside as the lemmings all jumped off the same cliff.
Did you know Ariel designed, in the early 60s, a belt driven ohc 200 far, far better than the Tiger Cub? The Cub was a pumped up 150cc Terrier, and was subsequently remodelled as the C15 BSA and all it's derivatives. The basic 150 ended up at 500 with BSA, and then after the collapse, it went on to a final 640cc with CCM.
Ariel also had a modern 70cc 2 stroke engine for the Pixie step through, which had a 50cc version of the 65cc BSA Beagle 4 stroke inflicted upon it, and it was no more reliable than the Beagle, which had several methods of suicide.
The Damagement decided that the entire BSA Triumph group would be 4 stroke oriented, and dropped the Adler derived Arrow and Leader twins, which were capable of great development. They retained their Son Of DKW, the Bantam though, since that was made at Armoury Road, instead of Selly Oak.
There was so much pettiness, shortsightedness, arrogance and plain downright stupidity, and I lay much of the blame at the door of Turner.
Here endeth the sermon. I'm going out now for a breath of fresh air. I won't take the broadsword though, I'm feeling just a bit touchy at the moment.
Just funny. In the last 12 hrs, swords, chainmail, canons and trebuchets came up.
"To m.b. or not to MB. That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous legislation
Or to take arms against a sea of litigators. (And buy lights and a horn.....)"
"To m.b. or not to MB. That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous legislation
Or to take arms against a sea of litigators. (And buy lights and a horn.....)"
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I recall (back in the day) that we'd take the pre-unit cranks & bolt them together with the journals 180degrees off, then cut the cams to weld back together 90degrees off. This gave us a twin that fired just as the 305 honda fired, with similarly increased torque.
Oh, and now I guess battery powered scooters are a hot item. The "Tesla of scooters" I believe they called them on the news. Cool... ish.
There is however a slight problem with 3 wheeled cars.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh56geU0X8
Jeremy Clarkson was deliberately trying to make that Reliant Robin tip over. Having ridden tricycles for many years it was easy to see that everytime he tipped it over he'd purposely gone into the corner much too fast as well as turning the front wheel hard over to the steering stops. I could fall off my tricycle all day if I went around riding it like that.
I think those wee Spira4u cars are pretty darn cool
I think those wee Spira4u cars are pretty darn cool
The TG team also gave it 3 wrong and oversized wheels and strapped a weight high and to one side in the bodyshell.
Having owned one and repeatedly left "proper" cars behind on twisty roads, I can say there's not a lot wrong with the handling. An 850 long stroke ohv lump in a superlight body also doesn't hurt.
Having owned one and repeatedly left "proper" cars behind on twisty roads, I can say there's not a lot wrong with the handling. An 850 long stroke ohv lump in a superlight body also doesn't hurt.
With out a doubt, over the top and meant as humor. (really was funny)
Still worries me.
I want the buoyant one.
There was an American company that was doing some thing similar. Wonder what happened to them?
Still worries me.
I want the buoyant one.
There was an American company that was doing some thing similar. Wonder what happened to them?
Toured http://www.ccat.us/ CCAT helps manufacturers develope production methodoligy. (I was there on MB related work) But they gave me a tour. Awesome stuff! They have a 3D printer that can mix materials. No kidding.
Think it is the company I was talking about earlier. 3wheeler and MB.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...14a690-9a91-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html
Think it is the company I was talking about earlier. 3wheeler and MB.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...14a690-9a91-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html
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Food truck bikes. They really need motors.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...lane-food-bikes-are-merging-into-the-business
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...lane-food-bikes-are-merging-into-the-business
The Dutch are still in love with delivery trikes
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b...tAI&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1066&bih=606&dpr=0.75
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=b...tAI&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1066&bih=606&dpr=0.75