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Thread: Thoughts on this bike

  1. #1
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    Thoughts on this bike


  2. #2
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    13th July 2008 - 20:48
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    Gorgeous bike. Not really a learners bike though. It's be a steep learning curve.

    Unless you are handy with tools.

    Cheap rego. Hard to get parts if you have a learners lie down.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by rastuscat View Post
    Gorgeous bike. Not really a learners bike though. It's be a steep learning curve.

    Unless you are handy with tools.

    Cheap rego. Hard to get parts if you have a learners lie down.
    Thanks for the response .I thought maybe if I learnt on it , I wouldn’t know any different. But I’m also trying to find an excuse to buy it ! My husband is great with tools - I’m ok . But the parts thing would be a massive issue.

  4. #4
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    Looking at that it's a Matchless, I don't know which part is supposed to be Norton. It really isn't an everyday bike. As someone once told me, to own things like that you either need to a brilliant mechanic or independently wealthy.

    Oh, and there is no electric start.
    There is a grey blur, and a green blur. I try to stay on the grey one. - Joey Dunlop

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wifebetty View Post
    Absolutely no way is this ever the right bike for a learner.

    Unless you are old enough and already an experienced rider (whose licence has lapsed or just never got one), this would be a nightmare. Decompression switch, heavy kick start, manual choke, needs to warm up before riding off. Also, you need to understand marrying up bike speed and engine speed, to get the most out of it. Super heavy clutch too and not the easiest gear change to work with.

    I'm actually quite interested in it myself, as these make the most fantastic deep thudding sound
    “PHEW.....JUST MADE IT............................. UP"

  6. #6
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    evermind the naysayers. if you go into it with your eyes open.
    more people need steep learning curves, too many are content not learning a fkn thing.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by pritch View Post
    Looking at that it's a Matchless, I don't know which part is supposed to be Norton.
    They're hanging on the fact that Associated Motorcycles Ltd who had ended up with the brand amongst others carried Norton too and the last throw of the dice with Dennis Poore holding on to the AJS & Norton marques.

    Definitely not a learners bike though, it's an exercise in discipline & respect learning to understand the eccentricities of such a machine; not the place where a novice mind should be concentrating at the beginning.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wifebetty View Post
    Hey Betty, if you are after the classic look, without the huge maintenance costs and unreliability, what about one of these: https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/mot...be38dfd56218fa
    “PHEW.....JUST MADE IT............................. UP"

  9. #9
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    Actually they are an awesome bike and very easy to ride. They were well regarded in the period and are reassuringly heavy and the power feeds in gently. Assembled properly they are reliable and spares are OK as the AJS and Matchless owners club has a great spares scheme in the UK. The local club is active http://www.jampot.co.nz/

    That one is top of the price range as they don’t attract the prices that Triumphs do and they are not as rare as a Norton. Brakes are only average - but like I said the power is gentle so it will not really go very fast. It will cruise happily at 85 to 90kph and handle 100kph but not for a long time in my experience. You can do it but.... Remember there were NO motorways when this bike was built.

    The big drawback for a learner is no electric start, no indicators and it will require some mechanical sympathy to keep it running as you come up to the lights. It will also leak oil… Possibly quite a lot of it… Those tin primary chain cases distorted on day one and rarely got better. I’ve seen oil tight ones but it usually involved a lot of time and a blood sacrifice.

    Other issues are the gear change is on the right side and they don’t go around corners in a modern fashion as the weight is carried very low.

    If you like this style you would be better served by a Kawasaki W650..

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by YellowDog View Post
    Hey Betty, if you are after the classic look, without the huge maintenance costs and unreliability, what about one of these: https://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/mot...be38dfd56218fa
    Shudder....

    SOME of them go very well.... Some of them not so well...

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul in NZ View Post
    Actually they are an awesome bike and very easy to ride. They were well regarded in the period and are reassuringly heavy and the power feeds in gently. Assembled properly they are reliable and spares are OK as the AJS and Matchless owners club has a great spares scheme in the UK. The local club is active http://www.jampot.co.nz/

    That one is top of the price range as they don’t attract the prices that Triumphs do and they are not as rare as a Norton. Brakes are only average - but like I said the power is gentle so it will not really go very fast. It will cruise happily at 85 to 90kph and handle 100kph but not for a long time in my experience. You can do it but.... Remember there were NO motorways when this bike was built.

    The big drawback for a learner is no electric start, no indicators and it will require some mechanical sympathy to keep it running as you come up to the lights. It will also leak oil… Possibly quite a lot of it… Those tin primary chain cases distorted on day one and rarely got better. I’ve seen oil tight ones but it usually involved a lot of time and a blood sacrifice.

    Other issues are the gear change is on the right side and they don’t go around corners in a modern fashion as the weight is carried very low.

    If you like this style you would be better served by a Kawasaki W650..
    The W650 is an excellent bike

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by YellowDog View Post
    The W650 is an excellent bike

    Correct, these bikes must be one of the most reliable parallel twin engines ever built, reading through the W650 forum I keep hearing of 75,000 -100,000k being reached with no issues.

    I love mine, has both electric and kick start, looks like an old Triumph and wont drip oil, has great electrics and most of all it starts every time.

    low HP but they pull better than an all boys school dormitory, they also make excellent tugs for sidecars.

  13. #13
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    It is a lovely old Matchless (no Norton at all there , the seller says there was no Matchless category so he used the nearest thing). And very nicely restored

    But not really suitable as a beginners bike, unless the beginner is a fat old bastard (like me) , with a very well equipped workshop, and some mechanical experience in long forgotten skills. Or has a hubby with ditto . Spanners and threads will be BSF/Whitworth (which are NOT the same as SAE on American vehicles) ; and CEI threads (long obsolete). And some BA just to make life fun. Probably be pretty hard to find a bike shop that would look at repairing it nowadays.

    There is no electric starter, so starting involves jumping up and down on the kick starter - jump hard, because it is a K2F magneto . A light weight lady will probably just bounce off.

    Gearbox is 'wrong' side and upside down , though that may not be a problem to someone who has no experience with the modern way

    As PiNZ says, performance is "lowish" by moderns standards and it does not do to push them too hard. But such old bikes are a pleasant "olde worlde" way of travel if not in a hurry - they are good on gravel roads too, you can get a 'back in time' sort of experience. Accept that there will be impromptu roadside repairs. Carry a good tool kit and some spare parts. Lights will be well nigh useless . 6Volt , dynamo, better to navigate by moonlight (seriously, that's how we did it back in the day - you can see further and better in the dark with the lights off.

    I wonder why the seller would buy it ten years ago, and never even start it ? One would think he would want to fire it up, just to check it out at least ?

    In essence, a bike like this is an experience, not transport. Don't let the quibbles put you off if that is what you are looking for, but do go in with your eyes open.
    Quote Originally Posted by skidmark
    This world has lost it's drive, everybody just wants to fit in the be the norm as it were.
    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Vincent
    The manufacturers go to a lot of trouble to find out what the average rider prefers, because the maker who guesses closest to the average preference gets the largest sales. But the average rider is mainly interested in silly (as opposed to useful) “goodies” to try to kid the public that he is riding a racer

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by YellowDog View Post
    Absolutely no way is this ever the right bike for a learner.

    Unless you are old enough and already an experienced rider (whose licence has lapsed or just never got one), this would be a nightmare. Decompression switch, heavy kick start, manual choke, needs to warm up before riding off. Also, you need to understand marrying up bike speed and engine speed, to get the most out of it. Super heavy clutch too and not the easiest gear change to work with.

    I'm actually quite interested in it myself, as these make the most fantastic deep thudding sound
    No decompressor, you're thinking of the single cylinder Matchy. Clutch as I recall wasn't that bad. I had one (a G9) as a spotty faced youf and sold it to by a japanese trail bike. Shit the things you do when you are young and ignorant.
    it's not a bad thing till you throw a KLR into the mix.
    those cheap ass bitches can do anything with ductape.
    (PostalDave on ADVrider)

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul in NZ View Post
    It will also leak oil… Possibly quite a lot of it…
    that's a feature... if there's no oil under it - there's no oil in it!

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