My grandfather had a Brough Superior, apparently financed by his second job playing in a dance band. There is a picture somewhere of him astride it looking very cool with his flat cap backwards and a pair of goggles round his neck; my grandmother was wearing a dress!

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Dam That dance band business must have paid

@robertkelly-jh9zu

11 ай бұрын

Just think if he still had lt wow

Very enjoyable video! The old bikes are just beautiful. I rode a Daytona 1200 once. It was the bike that made me realize that my Suzuki SV1000S has a slipper clutch! I test rode it for a local bike shop I helped out at for a couple of years. When I backed off of the throttle too fast it went totally sideways. Not difficult to recover from but quite different than I was used to. I like your moniker "onwards". My philosophy is "onwards and upwards" as I am a 30+ year aircraft tech with a 46 year motorcycle habit. I started riding at 7!

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Seems appropriate 👍🏻

I am amazed at Britain's industrial past and their capabilities back then, one would never know today that once Britain made these incredible machines and there were local companies that made every single component, because today Britain is a deindustrialized service economy that manufactures virtually nothing.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Well we have the 80s to blame for that We still Make thinks of course An awful lot of it military unfortunately

Another banger, my friend. My dad and I have historically ridden Hondas (mostly due to availability and cost reasons) but we often bench race and daydream about British bikes. If I could ever do something to show how much I appreciate all my dad has done for me, it would be giving him a Norton Commando. This isn't a question about a 1000cc bike, but I do have something to ask. A little story first. When I was in high school in the mid 90s, my buddies and I went to the airport hangar of a local hot rudder to look at a Hemi Cuda he had. While my buddies were drooling over the Cuda, out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 bikes covered with carpets. The owner took the carpets off and one was a 79 Ducati 900ss and the other was what he claimed was a 750 Norton twin in a late 60s Matchless frame. This was pre internet and I was just a kid that daydreamed about British bikes so I didn't know if that was a thing to do like Tritons. I've looked it up and found a little info on it but is it possible such a creation could find its way to an airport hangar in South Mississippi? Keep up the great work.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

The Norton may well have been a P11 Ranger I think was the name they gave it. Nortons feather bed frame was no good off road but the matchless frame was so as they were both made by that time at the AMC Plumstead works in London it seemed logical. There were a few mix and match bikes in the mid 70s, an ES2 single with a Matchless engine and a Matchless badged bike with the Norton 750 motor

@matthewcochran3325

11 ай бұрын

@@bikerdood1100 very cool. Thanks for the info brother. Gives me a jumping off place to do my nerdy motorcycle research.

Between the wars, the South Australian police used the Coventry Eagle Flying 8. I'll bet the boys had fun on them! Vincent's legendary designer Phil Irving lived in Warrandyte, Victoria, about 15 minutes from where I was living; I was fortunate enough to meet and talk with his widow at a Winton Raceway meeting, back in the 90's. In Jurien Bay, about 2.5 hours drive north of Perth, West Australia there is a guy with a private collection of motorcycles. He has around 80, plus a couple of cars, including an E-type. It is the also the largest collection of Vincent motorcycles in the world; he has, when I was there in 2021, at least one of every Vincent model produced, with the exception of the exceptionally-rare White Shadow, of which just 15 were built. He has two Black Shadows (78-built); he also has two Black Lightnings (24-built); another example of the Black Lightning sold in 2019 in the US for $922,000 (AUD1.2 Million)... His collection includes the Philip Island Lap Record holder for the Pre-War Unlimited (Vintage) class; it's a 1938 Vincent A Series 1260 cc Road Race Special, ridden by Tony Hynes on 24/1/2015 and his record (1:58.611) still stands. That time is around the same as I used to do there in my Formula Vee 1200-Class open wheeler in the mid 90's.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Quite a collection We have just the 10 between us, no Vincent’s of course, NHS pay doesn’t stretch that far 😂

@chrisweeks6973

11 ай бұрын

Neither does Centrelink here; that's why my sole bike is a 2011 Suzuki 250 Invader. Still, two wheels are a lot better than none! 😀

Brilliant video, mate. Some absolutely fantastic machinery there. Brings a tear to the eye.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Was hoping you'd feature the AJS 1000 V twin which held speed records for some time. Great vid. The Coventry Eagle was a new one for me - just lovely.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

I was trying to keep to road bikes for this video but there is always another time

Another great collection, thanks. In the early 80´ies, a friend and I had a Squariel from the early 50´ies for one summer. we could not get the propper carbourator, so it ran with a BMW one, and did that quite well. I am still dreaming of the Vincent, although all I can handle nowadays is a mobillity-scooter. But dream I can...

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Probably better off than the original carb Ironically it’s easy to get them now

The Royal Enfield KX1140 is very worthy of note. And very rare.

@bikerdood1100

8 ай бұрын

Cheating though as it’s over a litre But worthy nonetheless

Great vid. thanks

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

Blimey - You pulled this one out of the hat!!! 👍😂

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Great thing is there is probably enough bikes out there for a follow up too

Another idea for a video is "Bikes using the legendary Suzuki TL1000 V-twin engine". This includes the Suzuki TL1000S, Suzuki SV1000, Cagiva Raptor 1000, V-Raptor & Xtra Raptor (my favourite bike) and the Bimota SB8K.

@bikerdood1100

10 ай бұрын

Like the general concept Nice one

Style then was light years ahead of today.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Well a lot less plastic 😂

Really good video one of your best i think.hi from New Zealand 🇳🇿

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it

The Coventry Eagle is a lovely bike have seen one at Sammy Millers, but your video has put it in a higher and well deserved place .

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

I love the paint scheme and they did bikes of all sizes too

What about the Hesketh V1000? I know it is quite rare, but I think already worth mentioning it😊

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Nope

Good video 👍

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Thanks

Nice vid. Thanks for that. A 1000 cc was a rare bike, it’s not long ago that a 750 was a big bike!

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Very true

My dad in the 60s had a Vincent. Black Prince I think it was. Was very small at the time so can’t remember it too well tbh but seen photos of him on it.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Nice 👍

My dad had an arial square 4 1000cc in the 1950s, mum made him get rid of it and buy a car when I was born in 1955

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Kids Who’d ave em 😂

Brough was £185 new, Bonhams recently sold one for £425,500. 8.77% annual return, better than the stock market.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

That is not a good thing at all A bike is for riding it ain’t for rich Wankers to speculate with That’s what’s wrong with motorcycling today No wonder we can’t get young people interested in old bikes Criminal

As you covered the Brough in a previous video I thought you might have left it out of this one. The BSA G14 sidevalve would have been a good bike for sidecar hauling.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

I’m planning more than one video is the simple answer Matchless Hesketh etc

The Squariel. Chap at the end of the road had one. Very interesting thing.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

A gentleman’s bike if ever there was

@borderlands6606

11 ай бұрын

I saw one being loaded onto a trailer last week, for what looked like its new owner. An older relative had one, the only Square 4s I saw as a nipper had sidecars attached. With a double adult or 2 adult + child Watsonian, they were the forerunner of the family car and it was cars like the Morris Minor that saw their demise.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

@@borderlands6606 that’s true of the side car not the Square four You can extend that augment to say brat small cars killed the British motorcycle industry, many people will tell you it was the Japanese but this isn’t really the case because by the time the Japanese arrived many British companies had ever already gone busy or were in financial trouble. Profits disappear almost overnight in 1960 with barely a Japanese bike insight. It was the mini and the Ford pop that did the real damage not Honda

@borderlands6606

11 ай бұрын

@@bikerdood1100 There was still enough of a bike market for the Japanese to make pound sterling from UK riders, unfortunately British manufacturers couldn't service it. Excepting the utility motorcycle sector which Japanese manufacturers totally dominated, 1960s Japanese bikes were mostly copies of British twins without their foibles. By the 70s BSA and Triumph were hanging on with subsidies and the in-line 4 was the bike to have. Britain was great at men-in-shed bespoke operations like Brough and Vincent but hadn't shown a profit on production motorcycles since the mid-50s. The desire was there, marketing and mass production techniques were pre-war.

i road tested a daytona and wasnt as good as my 1985 gpz 900 but was prettier. keep up the good videos

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Thanks

Had a Coventry Eagle push bike 😅😅

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

You see quite a few for sale still

Matchless Model X anyone? And no mention of the 1930's BSA V-twin beasts?

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

I am planning another video🙄 5 per video not 25 and the Hesketh May be next time focus on what’s in a video instead of what isn’t Oh the C90 shall I put that in too 😂

@minimoog4236

11 ай бұрын

@@bikerdood1100 Fair enough.

Hesketh?

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Next time Perhaps Or matchless model X Perhaps focus on what’s in rather than what is not 🙄

What happened to the Hesketh???

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

What about em? There are number of bikes I could have included if you want a 2 hour video Can’t put everything in now There’s always time for other videos Would it not be better to focus on what a video includes rather than what it doesn’t 🙄

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

They went Bust after a couple of months 😂😂 I’m here all week Unlike Hesketh

@danweyant4909

11 ай бұрын

Must admit that I rather expected them too.

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

@@danweyant4909 just weren’t properly financed money ran out long before the bike was ready The lord was a bit of an idiot really Could have worked out, he did approach Triumph but they were in no state to retool for a project like that, he even have shots taken of the prototype with Triumph badges in an effort to woo them but he knew bugger all about bikes Or F1 for that matter,he got lucky when he met Hunt

@borderlands6606

11 ай бұрын

One reviewer described the engine as sounding like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin. I used to see a Hesketh being driven around the West End of London in the 1980s.

Would Tom be very envious if I said that one of my wife's cousins is married to gentleman who owns 2 Vincents which he personally restored ?

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Who wouldn’t be is the question 😂

Ah yes,the 'modular concept'! If the BSA top brass (ahem) had listened to Bert Hopwood,such machines may have become available by the early '70s-culminating in a 1250cc V5! What a prospect!

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Don’t think it’s a concept we would have seen in its entirety. Too ambitious for the company finances. As a general idea he was correct of course as Hinckley can later testify

A bloke in Gib had one of the Square fours, took it apart, lost some of the bits, and it ended up on a scrapheap! Terrible waste!

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Very silly given current prices

@niklar55

11 ай бұрын

@@bikerdood1100 This was in the early 60's.+ but even then Square Fours were considered collectors machines. This particular man was the proverbial idiot. Regrettably there was no shortage of his type in the military.

A hate that term motorcycle..it's a motorbike 👍

@bikerdood1100

11 ай бұрын

Does it mater A bike is a bike by any name 🙄🙄

@fredholmes6284

11 ай бұрын

A was riding bikes in the sixties & seventies..we never called it a motorcycle

@borderlands6606

11 ай бұрын

@@fredholmes6284 Motor Cycling and Motor Cycle Weekly were huge British publications. Did anyone ever ask the newsagent what these publications were about?