Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms TMers motorcycles

Being of relatively recent membership here I have to say I searched a bit but didn't find a topic about "our motorcycles", so I decided to open this one. If I'm in the wrong please may the powers that be merge this with an existing thread, thank you.

I keep reading here that there's an high prevalence of motorcyclists among Morgan owners. I wouldn't know how true that might be within the whole of TM members, but it sure is true in my case.

I won't show pictures of bikes I owned in the past, but I'll show my two current ones:

1 - YAMAHA FJ 1200 '87

Bought this bike from a cousin in 1990, it was 3 years old and 3.000 kms made, busy guy, had no time to ride bikes (yeah, right) and decided to sell. I had a CBR 600F at the time, but my heart was firmly set on long voyages, so this was clearly my deal.

After a few more years and many kms of ownership, she wasn't worth the tyres she had fitted so I kept her. In 2012, for her 25th anniversary, I took her to the Autodromo do Estoril so she could breathe. That she did, here's a pic of that day:





2 - YAMAHA XJR 1300 '06

My current daily ride. I live in Lisbon and as any big city, it's insane to try to use a car to and back from work. It's been almost 30 years now that I gave up on tin tops to do my day-to-day living (after one year of being stupid) and I'm a city biker ever since. She does the job, lots of grunt at low revs (no need to keep changing gears) and if I need to get outside Lisbon she can also do the job wonderfully. Not to use at illegal speeds though, no wind protection. The wife likes it

Amazingly I just found out I don't have a picture in my computer with this one, so the bike pictured isn't mine, but it is exactly like mine.




So as you see I'm not a collector, just a keeper of my old bike, and a new one to do the daily tasks.

Ayone else to want share their beauties pics and story?

Here's mine...

Thanks Mike, you've had some beauties yourself mind.

Some bikes just look right don't they, just look fast standing still.. I had a Ducati 916 that's the same, lovely bike but way too fast for my needs.

the bike I took my test on was a 1939 Panther.. In those days you didn't need to do much other than ride it in a straight line and stop. From then on I tried Hondas and a Yamaha but quickly went back to Brits. Had 2 Bonneviles that were awful quality really and then I bought a brand new Norton Commando in 1978, must have been one of the last off the line with discs front and rear and electric start that you could only use when hot.
Then a big pause while I got married and did the kids thing... Later on bought a. Velo Venom, then another, then a 1939 Velo Mac, a 1947 KSS, the 916 and some Harley's.

Didn't like the whole tassel and village people look preferring the stripped back style, a sportster,then a softail, then another sportster.. Always wanted a Thruxton though so sold up, bought the Thruxton and my Morgan.

I've always done my own work and enjoyed the fettling bit... Biking now is bloody dangerous, no getting away from it... I'll be taking the Thruxton to the Manx GP this year with a pal on his Norton Inter..

All good fun and probably wouldn't change much if I could do it all again.

Steve.... .....

I ride a rather boring bike these days, a BMW R1200GS so I won't bother posting a photo as they've become rather ubiquitous. At least I was into GSs well before Charlie and Ewan made them popular, with a well loved '89 80GS as my first. Has a variety of bikes from Hondas, Triumphs etc and always a BMW or two in the collection....which was cleared out to give room for my first Morgan! The one bike which I have very find memories of was my first restoration from a wreck shipped from Italy....a Moto Morini 3 1/2. Why I ever sold it I have no idea!

+1 - gorgeous

Here's another shot before I made up the longer bell mouth, I was about to go on a run up to the Craven Arms show. By the time I reached Ross on Wye the heavens had opened and I didn't dry out until some 5 hrs later on the run back!

Enjoy the build Mike!

Well Mike, looks like you have most of the necessary bits.. Can't wait to see it even as work in progress.

What's the eng number? Looks like it might be an earlier one than mine.

Great stuff!

That's good, Ray will no doubt be able to find most bits but if he's ever stuck let me know..

Still be good to see progress and get first dabs on it, I'm sure you won't be able to resist it!

I'm another one that hasn't been on a bike for a fair old while. Pictures of my bikes are few and far between but here's a scan of an old print of me on my RGV back when the whole world was in black and white!
On a side note, I can remember a friend racing his FJ1100 for a laugh. As I remember it he removed the panniers but wore out two sets of footpegs in one weekend. Finished ahead of many more appropriate bikes though.