Bill Buckley

[nadroj]

Good to see he is finally opening up to allow others to see what he is about.
Also to see it is he who is behind the speedway solo bike round coming to Western Springs next march 31st.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...t-track-genius

[NordieBoy]

Good read.

[F5 Dave]

yeah it was. bit confused by this bit though;
"He invented a new type of 500cc motorbike, which looked like a winner until organisers changed the engine rules. The bike was actually a way of breaking into the closed Japanese market, and by the time he had finished it, the Japanese were already offering him contracts. "


uh huh.

[jasonu]

yeah it was. bit confused by this bit though;
"He invented a new type of 500cc motorbike, which looked like a winner until organisers changed the engine rules. The bike was actually a way of breaking into the closed Japanese market, and by the time he had finished it, the Japanese were already offering him contracts. "


uh huh.

plus one to that

[merv]

plus one to that

It was slightly exaggerated to say the bike was looking like a winner - it might have been if he'd built a V4, but the Japanese contract stuff presumably refers to orders for silicon chip making equipment that the building of the bike had made him noticed by the Japs.

[Motu]

The 3 cyl 2 stroke - it's possible it could've been a contender, but the times I saw it out at Puke it was only as fast as a 1,000cc sports bike. The 4 stroke MotoGP rules killed it dead...a case of bad timing. Bill Buckley was a bit of a legend in my day - I used to watch him riding his Vincent (or was it an HRD?) sidecar at Western Springs...used to see him at races on his Vincent and at the old Cold Kiwi. The midget they talk about was the V8 Yamaha with TZ750 top ends - that was one hell of a sight and sound to see at Western Springs, with 8 expansion chambers.

[F5 Dave]

It was slightly exaggerated to say the bike was looking like a winner - it might have been if he'd built a V4, but the Japanese contract stuff presumably refers to orders for silicon chip making equipment that the building of the bike had made him noticed by the Japs.

Yeah it just sounds like typical sloppy journalism. I doubt he ever said anything like that. I mean to look at the thing was beautiful. But a new type? triple 2 strokes have littered the GP track for years. And they were always going to be on a hiding to nothing without some serious money, even if to attract a world class rider. And you're right, it left the bit about contracts open to some interpretation to what he is talking about.

Journalists just seem to be getting ranker each year.

[SS90]

The 3 cyl 2 stroke - it's possible it could've been a contender, but the times I saw it out at Puke it was only as fast as a 1,000cc sports bike. The 4 stroke MotoGP rules killed it dead...a case of bad timing. Bill Buckley was a bit of a legend in my day - I used to watch him riding his Vincent (or was it an HRD?) sidecar at Western Springs...used to see him at races on his Vincent and at the old Cold Kiwi. The midget they talk about was the V8 Yamaha with TZ750 top ends - that was one hell of a sight and sound to see at Western Springs, with 8 expansion chambers.

Depends on who you talk to, a close friend of mine used to work with Wobbly at BSL for quite some time, and last time I saw him (Saturday night) he maintains that, due to several factors, it was never a contender in any way, 4 stroke rule change or not.

I also raced against it when Tony Rees rode at the LK500, and it couldn't pull away from a GSXR1000 down Ruapuna's straight, and that was before it dropped down into third gear in the infield sweeper, high siding him (just as it was lapping me may I add )

Saw it break 2 cranks in Teratonga too......

Apparently (Not my words) It could be said that Bill handicapped development (appartently wanting to use rack and pinion power valves (cos that's what Honda did)) was one of the issues, plenty of people in Europe have scoffed at the BSL, but I recon no matter what the outcome, some hard working guys put their best into that bike, not a race winner, but so much passion went into it.

If they had gone the Swissauto route and simply bolted 4 A kit RS125 cylinders onto a set of bespoke cases, I am certain the result would be different, but then again, everyone would have said "you just bolted 4 A Kit RS125 cylinders onto a set of bespoke cases", and there is nothing clever about that (well, when have a budget that is)

A cool bike, just not a winner, that doesn't stop it being cool.

[Brian d marge]

I also heard that it suffered from crankshaft problems, though what was causing the problems I never found out ..
anyone who strings to a bike let alone the engine and the bike , I one hell of a fella in anyone's books..
we need more of these people .......
stephen