Are Replicas really Classics?

Haven't you heard about the autonomous motor car? The term means 'under it's own control'. The advance in auto suspension control, cruise control, non-skid braking, and self-parking have been touted as the forerunners of the autonomous car. There was a radio talk-back on it a few weeks ago, and it was met with scepticism. I rang in and suggested it could be done by having a sensor equivalent to the human eye, and motion sensors. Then set the car up as a learning machine using multivariate regression analysis so the you end up with two data sets - one the stimuli, the other the responses of various good drivers . With a bit of smart programming the car could drive itself. It would be fantastic if it is done with bikes, we could get Rossi to ride it while it is self-programming, and let it loose on the IOM with someone on it who was not chicken.
 
acotrel said:
....... we could get Rossi to ride it while it is self-programming, and let it loose on the IOM with someone on it who was not chicken.

That lets me out then!!

Talking about autonomous, in the late 70s I used to have to travel between London and Glasgow on the BA (Bloody Awful) shuttle. Heading back to Heathrow the pilot came on and said, words to the effect, "...because of bad weather Heathrow has three stacks of aircraft awaiting permission to land. However we are able to go straight in with no delay. The weather at Heathrow...blah, blah, blah", it would have been cold and wet, probably windy as well, with visibility measured in fractions of an arm. So we landed, as the aircraft was taxiing in the pilot come on and said, " Ladies and gentlemen, you may be interested to know that that landing was the first fully automatic landing of a passenger aircraft in regular service anywhere in the world". So hows about that!!
Sorry for going OT, I just couldn't help myself.
cheers
wakeup
 
Indeed, Heathrow (as have many airports) has had fully automated landings numbering in the tens of thousands per year for quite some decades.
Good job they didn't tell you it was the 1st before they tried it with passengers though ?!

It can't however, cope with something simple - like another plane already on the runway.

acotrel said:
Haven't you heard about the autonomous motor car? .

Not as you spelled it we haven't !
Which may be being a bit picky, but generally if you can't even spell it then being an expert on it seems a little unlikely.

Cars in the US have had auto throttle control for quite some time now.
Apparently there are legal hurdles to cars fully driving themselves though.
Even the best computer programmer can't foresee EVERYTHING in advance.
Merc have had cars that are capable of this, for quite a while now.
And they consider them good enough to use.
But that approval, if anything should go wrong, is just not there.

Getting motorcycles to ride themselves seems a little unlikely - ever ?
The balance required is just too complex.
And again, there is that legal hurdle.

But we diverge....
 
Getting motorcycles to ride themselves seems a little unlikely - ever ?
The balance required is just too complex.
And again, there is that legal hurdle.

And completely pointless? If you are that bored on a bike, surely you should stay home?

But we diverge....
Hope not!!!
 
nickguzzi said:
And completely pointless? If you are that bored on a bike, surely you should stay home?

We can't also help thinking that Mr Rossi may be somewhat miffed at being 'chosen' to help develop a bike that requires no riding skills whatsoever.
Career highlights entry - noddy bike development rider.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.... ?

As I said
And your train of thought eludes us....
 
There was a radio talk-back on it a few weeks ago

Talk back radio....can't beat the opinions of the unemployed and retired on the modern world.

oh and home made bikes can be classics.
 
Does the Britten qualify as 'homebuilt'.
And Burts streamliner ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britten_V1000
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burt_Munro

Are Replicas really Classics?

Are Replicas really Classics?
 
The Britten is obviously a classic, it has a place in motorcycling history.
The autonomous car will obviously suit many drivers who have minimal skills and no desire to learn. An autonomous bike would be a nonsense. I don't even believe in antiskid brakes, assisted gear changes or slipper clutches which release on back - off so the rear wheel doesn't stop due to engine braking. You have to ask yourself why people like riding motorcycles in preference to driving cars - I suggest it has to do with the level of control. Most motorcyclists have much better skills than most car drivers with perhaps the exception of rally drivers. The biggest joke is when car racing guys try to race motorcycles. That has never been successful, however the reverse has been highly successful - Nuvolari, Rosemeyer, Hailwood, Surtees, Behra, Brabham, - all extremely successful. Name one racing car driver who has made it big in motorcycle racing after starting in cars ?
 
Well at the Auckland Classic Bike show a Manx " Norton" won best competition bike. Thats Bollocks.
Talking to one long time racer its starting to become a sore point.

Might be off to see a Britten getting some work done on its engine in the next week or two....if I'm selected.
 
We should all be racing Molnar Manxes and Walmsley G50s. Guys who race genuine manxes in historic races need a good kick up the ort. Have a look at their bikes - nearly all have 18 inch wheels, monobloc carbs and Japanese levers. If anyone actually wants to experience what the guys rode in the olden days, it is almost impossible to find a manx which has not been 'improved'. It is all bullshit, the trouble is that we bikies don't know the value of our old bikes, and that it depends on originality. - Might be good to race an original manx or G50, however what are we losing ? The blokes who critics the replicas need to do a rethink - replicas protect our heritage.
 
I have a friend who owns an original manx as well as a Molnar plus two engines. The original manx stands in his lounge room and is never raced. The replica is regularly raced with a top A grader on board. I suggest that is how it should be. Taking an original manx to an historic meeting other than Goodwood is like hanging the Mona Lisa in the dunny.
 
Yes but I don't expect to go to the Louvre and see prints of paintings either.
Either all the bikes are replicas or original, not mixed.
Anyway the demograph who even give a toss about Norton manx's and the like are fading. Two stokes are what everyone under 60 wants to see now.
I don't recall British bikes in daily use other than Gangs so they are not of great interest to me other than curios.
I'm more into 70's bikes and the Commando despite being a relic from the 50's just makes it in.
 
72Combat said:
Two stokes are what everyone under 60 wants to see now.

I'm not so sure of this ?
Superbikes and MotoGP lookalikes are what I see out on the streets.
Desmosedici and R1's and Fireblades and ZXR1000s, - although the Fireblade name is fading
And (much) smaller versions in colourful schemes of plastics ....

Great Commando pics, thanks.
 
P.S. How is it that folks can even tell what is Manx and what is Manx replica. ??

Ken McIntosh manx replica stuff is so like the real thing he'd have trouble telling - if it wasn't new from the foundry/factory/workshop ?
The average punter wouldn't have a clue ??

Would anyone know if the Mona Lisa hanging there wasn't the real thing ??
And hasn't been for decades.....
 
Rohan said:
P.S. How is it that folks can even tell what is Manx and what is Manx replica. ??

Ken McIntosh manx replica stuff is so like the real thing he'd have trouble telling - if it wasn't new from the foundry/factory/workshop ?
The average punter wouldn't have a clue ??

Would anyone know if the Mona Lisa hanging there wasn't the real thing ??
And hasn't been for decades.....

LOL.
I'd say most of the punters would have no idea, I'd have no idea other than I know.
There is one here of a Morgan 3 wheeler, where one guy has the body and the other the running gear, both intend to make running cars, which is the original?
 
In our historic car racing there are two guys with Type 35C Bugattis - one original, the other a replica from Brazil. Impossible to tell which is genuine by just looking. Which one would you consider to be the most valuable ?
We have one guy in particular in a position of importance, who claims that replicas devalue the genuine item - does a print devalue the Mona Lisa ? Which Bugatti should be raced ? Which one should be on display ? I suggest that in some things which we do with historic bikes, our thinking is wrong.
 
Just for once, I am at least partly with Alan here.
Although his ramblings off topic are legion.
And his example was poor.

There is though definitely something of a work of art in most classic motorcycles.
The hand of the sculptor, as it were.

Although if replicas are of the same lines, does that make them as much a classic....
 
I used to buy records back in the day, then CD's, my kids just do downloads. Is my mono copy of Revolver any different to they downloaded MP3 they have?
My mates son races an ES2 and he's 15, not really from the Classic Era either.
I helped unload a bike at the show and it was a NCR Ducati 900 with a layer of dust on it. I gather its never started or run, turns out to be one of about 8 made in 77/78 ish, Google said the last one sold for $200K.....eek, will probably never see the track again...... the owner on the other hand has a Brittan that does.
I'm catching on to this rambling thing... :lol:
 
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