Basic economics may frustrate many , but there are worse examples out there !! Imagine being an art lover !! Actually , I am , and would dearly love to have a Damien Hurst original but that is NEVER going to happen short of winning euro millions !! So I have to be content with gallery visits.
Fuel Tanks
- Thread starter ah_sprite
- Start date
Grab yourself a dried cow-pat, next time the suns shining. Then you can have an equivalent, and no-one would know.
John,
You are right, of course. I chased a Rudge Special for 30 years after the rider fell off and slung it in the back of the garage. He never would sell but his executors did and they knew the current market. You have to grab anything in any condition when you can. A cautionary tale. My brother and I (He is the Scottist in our clan) went to buy a Bugatti 40 years ago. It was at a knock-down price. Still expensive but just within our grasp at the time. My brother looked it over and then said "It's useless. Some idiot has fitted a Wilson pre-selector gearbox. We could spend the rest of our lives looking for the correct Bugatti box." and so we did not buy it. 35 years later I was reading an authoritative Bugatti tome which said Count Someoneorother had ordered from the works a special Bugatti fitted with a Wilson pre-selector gearbox.
You are right, of course. I chased a Rudge Special for 30 years after the rider fell off and slung it in the back of the garage. He never would sell but his executors did and they knew the current market. You have to grab anything in any condition when you can. A cautionary tale. My brother and I (He is the Scottist in our clan) went to buy a Bugatti 40 years ago. It was at a knock-down price. Still expensive but just within our grasp at the time. My brother looked it over and then said "It's useless. Some idiot has fitted a Wilson pre-selector gearbox. We could spend the rest of our lives looking for the correct Bugatti box." and so we did not buy it. 35 years later I was reading an authoritative Bugatti tome which said Count Someoneorother had ordered from the works a special Bugatti fitted with a Wilson pre-selector gearbox.
Last edited:
Experts, what can you say ?
Experts
Definition of an Expert;
Ex-Spurt
A former has been under pressure
Definition of an Expert;
Ex-Spurt
A former has been under pressure
Bugatti , another of my fetishes !!
if you're looking for tomorrows classics dont put on the 'British blinkers' - the real classics of the future are Japanese, German, Italian, even Spanish.
Vincents set standards of engineering in the 40's and 50's. In the 60's the Japanese blew motorcycle engineering out of the water. - if you want a classic 60's bike get a Honda !!
Vincents set standards of engineering in the 40's and 50's. In the 60's the Japanese blew motorcycle engineering out of the water. - if you want a classic 60's bike get a Honda !!
They have their virtues but they also have their failings !! The Japanese advantage is production engineering. The product is built to do the job , no more , no less. This maximises efficiency and profit but the consumer pays the price with potentially restricted life span. Things like cam shaft's running direct in the head etc. Bearing fails , head is s****. Try buying a new head when the model is out of production !! Some of the materials and finishes are poor , again , only intended to survive the models planned production life. They can survive well , but if a poor example is aquired they are just a money pit. Trying to restore a rough one is like mission impossible.
If you want an affordable bike you make go lots faster, aquire "tuning for speed" & a Ariel Arrow. the work you can do with a file to the ports & to the pistons with a ball pein hammer is wonderfull, but the brakes are a different matter, but the bike is so light you probably dont need brakes, (the last one I built was a proper "sport" Arrow,flyscreen, red cables, white & gold-not a golden arrow-200cc) the heavy mod was 2 1"/16 wal philips injectors, padded flywheels and hacksawed pistons! and knifepointing all the ports. The standard arrow speedo went to 80 mph so eveything else was guesswork but friends on T100s used to say their clutches were slipping!