There was certainly no offence meant. Sorry if it came across that way. My remark referred more the wide boys of the motor trade in England about a decade ago, scaring people into expensive top end work that actually mounted to no more than retarding the fully advanced ignition figure by two or three degrees. Several hundred quid to turn a distributor or trigger plate!
Yes, now that les flics have to satisfy weekly quotas for traffic penalties, the days of winding the twistgrip back against the stop are numbered here in France! LOL! Mind you, most of the guys around Paris who actually use their British iron, Vincents included, are pretty fast riders, although there are a few who ride like funeral escorts.
I'd say that 3500 rpm leaves plenty in hand, not just for overtaking but for arriving at your destination sooner. These motors were never meant to be treated like long strokers. They're high cam layouts and they were always meant to be revved quite freely, within certain parameters. They're alright up to about 5500 rpm, which is more than enough to take you well past most maximum speed limits in force in the EU and the US.
As for the question of the quality of pump petrol in Britain and France, the discussion depends on how one defines "better", doesn't it? Like British petrol, French petrol hasn't wrecked any of my engines or, so far, caused my valves and valve seats to erode and I am quite a fast touring rider. However, French petrol is cheaper, which makes it better, in my view.
However, if you asked me to choose between unleaded and leaded petrol, I would unconditionally vote for any political party that promised the reintroduction of the latter, as it is clearly superior to unleaded petrol in a number of ways: you can wash your hands in it, your motor doesn't run as hot, the plugs are a nice toasty brown colour, the smell is better, it doesn't kill or chase away city sparrows and, getting serious now, it isn't as carcinogenic. Unleaded petrol and the pseudo-ecological arguments for it are just a way of selling a much less refined product to us mugs, that's all.
Fortunately, our favourite motorbikes can cope with quite inferior petrol, designed as they were for the pool petrol of the 1940s and early 1950s as long as one avoids ridiculously high compression ratios, which can provoke pinking. Even then, a 9.5:1 motor can run happily on 98 unleaded as long one retards the ignition slightly, which brings us back to the motor trade wide boys...
PK
Yes, now that les flics have to satisfy weekly quotas for traffic penalties, the days of winding the twistgrip back against the stop are numbered here in France! LOL! Mind you, most of the guys around Paris who actually use their British iron, Vincents included, are pretty fast riders, although there are a few who ride like funeral escorts.
I'd say that 3500 rpm leaves plenty in hand, not just for overtaking but for arriving at your destination sooner. These motors were never meant to be treated like long strokers. They're high cam layouts and they were always meant to be revved quite freely, within certain parameters. They're alright up to about 5500 rpm, which is more than enough to take you well past most maximum speed limits in force in the EU and the US.
As for the question of the quality of pump petrol in Britain and France, the discussion depends on how one defines "better", doesn't it? Like British petrol, French petrol hasn't wrecked any of my engines or, so far, caused my valves and valve seats to erode and I am quite a fast touring rider. However, French petrol is cheaper, which makes it better, in my view.
However, if you asked me to choose between unleaded and leaded petrol, I would unconditionally vote for any political party that promised the reintroduction of the latter, as it is clearly superior to unleaded petrol in a number of ways: you can wash your hands in it, your motor doesn't run as hot, the plugs are a nice toasty brown colour, the smell is better, it doesn't kill or chase away city sparrows and, getting serious now, it isn't as carcinogenic. Unleaded petrol and the pseudo-ecological arguments for it are just a way of selling a much less refined product to us mugs, that's all.
Fortunately, our favourite motorbikes can cope with quite inferior petrol, designed as they were for the pool petrol of the 1940s and early 1950s as long as one avoids ridiculously high compression ratios, which can provoke pinking. Even then, a 9.5:1 motor can run happily on 98 unleaded as long one retards the ignition slightly, which brings us back to the motor trade wide boys...
PK
Last edited: