Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Monday Smiles

Thanks Keith, your wry observation is probably true

The only "broken" bits on my T140V Keith, were the oil seals,...

My only experience of a Harley was short, it was a heavy lump of a 70`s Sportster with twin discs that were outperformed by the little drum brakes on BSA B40 I owned at the time, the engine had torque a plenty but with that weight and such poor brakes a sporting machine it was not.. Though being such a slow revving engine I can well believe it would cruise on and on and on...Whereas in my yoof we revved the nuts of everything.

I was interested in all m/cycles and in my teens wrote to Fred Warr in London as at the time he was the only person that seemed to have dealings with Harley in the UK and he had quite a few ex military Harleys that he restored in the sixties...

My pal was a Triumph/Honda dealer, and I remember the first unit construction oil in frame Trumpets (72 ?) arriving in his workshop leaking like sieves from the base of the barrels, Triumph sent up this new orange goo to resolve the issue and that was the first time I came across silicone sealant, which was a cut above the Hermatite red and green that one would see slobbered all over old Trumpet rocker cases etc. etc. etc... Happy days right enough..

My favourite Norton was an 850 electric start with continental foot controls, gear lever and foot brake crossed over for the USA market. Great smooth bike, that was pretty quick but not that much quicker than my friends Honda 450 bomber twin with uprated shocks and tyres, couldn't quite match me for acceleration and top end speed, but it would go flat out all day long, where the Norton would let you know when pushing too hard for too long. I could never understand how the Japanese managed to achieve quite tight tolerances with little oil lost or burnt.

Not sure this is totally correct but it’s the story told to me when I first bought a Honda CB450 (Black Bomber), the salesman at the dealership was commenting on how oil tight the engines all were, of course, he said, when Mr Honda looked at the British bikes he noted that the crankcase is split vertically so of course it leaks from the joint. He designed his engine split horizontally so it didn’t.

It makes sense even if it’s not accurate. My CD175, CB250, CB450 and CB750 were all totally oil tight. Every BSA and Velocette I owned were incontinent!

BR
Colin

Pretty sure I read that same story somewhere Colin, and it seems kinda logical too..?

I guess after WWII the Japanese were in the process of rebuilding their industries and incorporated new ideas and machine tools, perhaps a bit like the Germans may have done too..? I remember my Triumph/Honda dealership pal telling me of a visit to Meriden in the seventies and seeing a woman using an old screw press to press bearings into wheel hubs, the press looked as if it came from Victorian times. My pal also visited Honda in Japan around a similar time which blew his socks off by comparison, as one might imagine..

Last Norton I rode was a kick start 850 Commando, a very nice machine I lapped the island a few times on that though it`s handling became a little squirrelly near the top end. I suspect the isolastic engine mounts may have played a part in that, dunno for sure..?

How about this for a 2 stroke bruiser

Are the pedals for the uphill sections…… 🤣

BR
Colin

What a monster John, is that an Atlas on the right ?

From memory yes. I was a bit overwhelmed today by the range of what we saw