Did a Kawasaki 500's really make widows? How does a flexi frame work? Are 70's disc brakes really made out of wood? Do BMW owners really wear slippers? Share your insights into the murky world of bike myths and legends....
Are Honda riders really...uh,y'know....
Did a Kawasaki 500's really make widows? I'm curious about that one myself I suspect it's been exaggerated considerably How does a flexi frame work? I've seen quite a lot of "frame flex" fixed by fitting decent rear shock absorbers Do British bikes always leak oil?
Do British bikes always leak oil? not when they run out of oil!
Was Lucas really the Prince of Darkness? Looking at the period in question - did anyone make a generator that was any better than Lucas? Bosch,and that's about it. Any better distributors than Lucas? Not any I remember...Delco were crap,Bosch were crap,Fomoco were crap,Magnetti Marelli were crap. Magnetos? BTH were better,but practically the same design. Alternators in the '50's and '60's for motorcycles? No one else was in the game. Switch gear? Solid as. Black for earth,red for live,brown for charging,green for switched...any dummy could follow it.
Do British bikes always leak oil? I prefer to think of it as total loss rather than a leak...
There again,we have to be relative to the times. Up until the late '60's there was never any intention for any engine to be oil tight. Breathers were just road tubes...in cars the breather pipe just went under the car,same on bikes...the breather pipe just went straight onto the road. Kalifornia brought in some tough emission rules for the time,and then we had PCV systems...and bikes were pretty crude in just running it back into the intake. Cork gaskets,leather or felt oil seals - there had never been any reason to move away from the Victorian steam technology. Oil leaks make HC emissions - that's the reason why engines are now oil tight.
6 volts is all you need for lighting. Dr Motu responds: " In the 1960's vehicles only went half as fast as todays so at night you only needed to see 1/2 as far.....it was the Japanese who could not see as well at night who developed the 12 volt system.
Professor Motu Waffled ...Magnetti Marelli were crap... Not in my experience, the Marelli dizzy fitted to Moto Guzzi have never, ever given me any trouble whatsoever regardless of milage. They are freakishly Bosch in their reliability. Dunno about the ones they fitted to cars, who cares.
Just for Dodgy Do BFTP ride once a month. With rides taking 3 - 5 hours including stops and are generally held rain or shine.
Records sound better than CD's Once a month fst, once a month, fst once a month, fst once a month
I always think the Lucas bad rep is rather unjustified. The K2F magneto is one of the most reliable things ever. And the little dizzy on Brit bikes was pretty reliable. And everyone agreed that Lucas coils were the best around. (the oil filled ones, anyway). In fact, the electrics that DID let the early Brit bikes down were the battery (on coil ignition models), which were notoriously crap; and light bulbs , which blew with an absurd frequency. But Lucas weren't responsible for either of those. And Brit vibration may have played a part in both. Another myth is that drum brakes "are no good". In my experience, a good TLS drum brake will stop you quicker than a disk of the same era, and quicker than even most modern disks. And you don't have the hassles of hydraulics, which are the vilest things ever fitted to bikes. Granted the drum brake suffers on the race track, because they can't shed heat quickly enough for multiple full on stops one after the other. But on the road you don't get that problem.
Another myth is that BMW ownership requires compulsory wearing of flatcap, pipe and slippers. Oh, wait . . . .
Another myth?.............. "If you don't stop playing with that, you'll go blind". Mind you, there's a lot wearing glasses these days!
Another myth is that BMW ownership requires compulsory wearing of flatcap, pipe and slippers. Oh, wait . . . . mmmmm slippers....
