Hand signals

[Ixion]

I'm fairly sure the long skinny candlesticks were the first, about 1948. Then they switched to jampots about 50 ir 51. Later AMCs had "normal" looking shocks, which I always assumed were Girlings, but maybe they were AMC own make. Received wisdom was that the "girlingish" ones were a big improvement over the jampots

[kiwifruit]

hand signals are often more visible than the bike's indicators

i use them daily

[xwhatsit]

i use them daily

So did a tall bloke on a 250cc Hyosung going through Newmarket a few months ago. Big waving hands with pointing fingers (no, not that sort of pointing fingers) when changing lanes. Very noticeable.

I thought Velocette brought out the swingarm?

Been doing a little bit of reading up about the bike since riding it. I'm told it's a 59; this would mean it did have jampots. Fat they were. I think the owner was a little confused, according to what I've read the first bikes had those candlesticks (which were crap and quickly phased out).

This was the `short stroke' model, which is apparently 86x86mm. May be a square engine but still did the one-bang-every-lamp-post thing.

I'd be happy riding it every day on a commute. Not the best bike to put heaps of mileage on, but it seemed like it'd be amenable to such work.

[Motu]

They were used for commuting through the '50's.'60's and '70's....has commuting changed to make them unsuitable in some way?

I was never a Matchless fan - my G9 was definatley the worse bike I have ever owned,the 350 (possibly a 1948 as it was really old,but swingarm) was sort of a communal hack,but I did all the work on it and rode it most.The best thing about Matchies was the beautiful megas on the twins and the DA chain guard.

The last of the big singles were points ignition and had no timing cover....I wanted one of those.

[Ixion]

I thought Velocette brought out the swingarm?

I'd be happy riding it every day on a commute. Not the best bike to put heaps of mileage on, but it seemed like it'd be amenable to such work.

I think (like most such things, this is one of those claims where noone agrees with anyone) that Velo were the first to introduce the swingarm, but on their racers. AFAIR noone had swingarm suspension before the war. And after the war, AMC were quicker to get out their post war models than Velo, with swingarms. After the war , as all the manufacturers returned to peacetime production, and stopped making parts for bombers, the first post war production was , in almost every case, just the 1939 models rehashed a bit. While the designers worked on the new models. AMC got their new models to market a year or so before Velo.

AMC and Velo were about the only two who didnt wander down the dead end paths of plungers and sprung hubs and such like.

Big thumpers are excellent for commuting. Maybe not quite as good in heavy traffic as small thumpers, but good if there's open road or motorway in the commute. Only downside to the old ones is that it's a bit of a drama if you stall at the front of the lights !

[xwhatsit]

They were used for commuting through the '50's.'60's and '70's....has commuting changed to make them unsuitable in some way?

No, it'd be great, but the value and status of the bike has changed. New pistons and rings aren't cheap, I imagine.

Big thumpers are excellent for commuting. Maybe not quite as good in heavy traffic as small thumpers, but good if there's open road or motorway in the commute. Only downside to the old ones is that it's a bit of a drama if you stall at the front of the lights !

Been-there-done-that with my little bike. G80 was far easier to start (hot or cold) once the correct technique was copied. Seemed a very user-friendly bike, not at all what my father led me to believe about old Brits; `Break-yer-ankle; leak-oillalloverthashop; wiring-loom-catchafire'.

[Ixion]

Been-there-done-that with my little bike. G80 was far easier to start (hot or cold) once the correct technique was copied. Seemed a very user-friendly bike, not at all what my father led me to believe about old Brits; `Break-yer-ankle; leak-oillalloverthashop; wiring-loom-catchafire'.

Wait till you try a Goldie. With a GP carb. You'll learn.