certified quarter-mile time.

Steered a green 750 with pipes in the wet & on a twisty road . And it in the LC yam frame , which felt better than the LC .

The ' Twich ' was regarded as the norm . Bike or Pilot ?? . With new rear shocks , longer for clearance , heavier fork oil ,
& better tyres you were on to a start . IF you could stand the noise .
The 750 Oner was exiteable , with 5 Gendarme trailing ( how unussual ) The oveladden four ( obviously a new one )
that latched on his date used all the road weaveing at 20 mph less , on the straights. Otherwise even with a mid 80s Honda .

Not my idea of ' Fun ' . :wink:
 
gory said:
And the award for this years most ironic quote goes to...

Carbonfibre said:
From the content of your posts it seems you have never........and are simply repeating what you have read.

pot calling the kettle?


As I was a bike mechanic in the 70s, unlike a lot of posters on here I have ridden nearly all of the bikes discussed on this thread on a regular basis, and was able to compare them directly, with no need to rely on nonsense published in magazines....................
 
Ran em at full throttle , Did you ? , The customers Bikes ? :wink: .

The recall to the ' School Days ' triggered with the 70's ' Issues ' .

generall term was ' Kamkazies . Thankfully I wasnt on first name terms with half the people on ' The Shore ' .
Allmost no traffic lights , roads more twisty and hilly than straight , only flat in the odd alluvial plain .

Was the bike shop at Browns Bay then , one of those Blue 500s with the dotty paint scheme .
Kwaker riders were generally regarded as nutters , The one I went to Meremere with on the back of a A7 350
met the criteria . Waits on the way home for a hump back bridge with S on/off with a car coming the other way,
to Overtake a car . after minutes with nothing comeing the other way . Though he did wear Glasses . :shock: :lol: .
Plurry Irriot .Most Reasureing . His brother later put it into a parked truck . Note ' reputation ' again .

Was a Commando at the strip that day , talking to him and the BSA rider , the bloke on the Trident was all intent " were just here for a bit of fun , weve gotta ride em to work tomorrow , we dont wanna take any chances . You lok at him , HE's the one thatll be intresting "
Was a combined ' bracket race ' open street meeting . Turn up , ten bucks , scrutineering , and run .
Ladst run of the day , after the cars were done , as the Bike Finals , four classes . Last run of the meeting
was the 750 Trident with the ' confidant ' rider Vs the Shin tight leathers , full face lid , bikini white & blue GS 1000 ' S '
Think it wa around half a second at the light . Maybe the GS was a bit tight. he was trying hard enough
but nevr got a inch on the Triple .

The Older ( 17 / 18 + ) school leavers earlier , got their Job and hunting a vehical , in the 20 % Deposit Era ,
were know to have the odd beer and hit the odd party off a weekend . How Unusual .

Recall standing outside the post office , so mustve been 74 or earlier , a mate yarning motorcycles with the older lads.
One off ems trying to figure whats best . They get onto Kwaker 500s , the conversations allong the lines off . . .
" Yea; but the drink the Juice . ( the odd bloke'd get out of suberbia and get out to the better surf beaches )
prattling on , it turns out theres five of the 500s on the Shore . Two of them are dead . One hit a Car , one
hit sveral things avoiding one . The other candidates , one was straight. Hed stood it up a few times , and
figured not to throttle it in the wet . Fitted a carrier and knee shields . ( commutor bike ) and sold it after
paying it off over two years . and the Fuel .Left two ' candidates ', Talk was of if theyd get stupid & what next.
Wether they would throttle it up.Theyd go straight past a ton ( with enough road - On the motorway )
In suberbia , with a few beers and the testosterone , there were too many obsticals , and you could get about 80
without going off the road, theyd start weaveing ( noticeably ) about 60-70 .Not that they really steered straight .
Though in straight roads / intersections it wouldnt be as evedent .
The other bloke they knew was dead within a few moths . Bounced off through some trees onto the Taka Golf Course .
Would explain the weird entity there I NOW realise !? ( thanks for the recall ? ) ALSO now recall the 4th lunatic excited he'd manadged to get rid of it later , and blasting around in like style on a Black Roadster hed traded it in on , joyous at its
relative compatance while at full throttle . He headed of out of town to work in other regions now he had something tat wouldnt kill him, if treated half way sensable .
think he'd actually been the fifth , was tossing up weather to get the one for sale at Highbury , around Christmass .

The Bloke with the Green H2 and his nutter mate with the Brown one , in the mid 90s , when you could gettem for Nix and havem sorted inside of $ 1500 , I think they Ea had two to get a minter , formed a mutiual admiration society .
They enjoyed scareing themselves ( and all other road users ) and revelled in discussing ? the idiosycracys and handling characteristics .Befitting for phychiatric nurses . An apt profession . Dr Tar & Professor Feather . :lol: :oops: :cry:

As a machine for anyone without 50.000iles under his belt , and a degree off restraint and / or Abstinance , the title
kamakazee was apt .There were a few unbent ones about .But pretty much only good for belting round and showing off .
There were better forms of transport with more ammenable natures The later ones wernt as spontaeneous,though the
touring range and cost were still prohibitive . Of out the coast , the gas cost a bomb . If they were open . Or you were
stuck for the night . Four fill ups aweekend , cutting any miles . . . :lol: :lol:

The bloke who got the roadster couldnt believe how good it was ( he knew what a spaner was ) and couldnt believe theyed taken the thrasshed 500 in trade . ( a Honda shop over the city )
The Silver Fastback on the Shore had set a standard others aspired to . He'd got that as the 750 Honda would be a truck on the gravle coastal roads , and the bird would think him a peasant for going with a refrigerator clone . :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o90YWFlXdk

GS 750 was a pig compared to Decent 72 Commando 750 . :lol:
 
As I said the H1 and H2 were certainly not bikes for inexperienced riders, and the antics of those who simply couldnt handle what was in effect a race bike on the road, resulted in the generation of an awful lot of complete nonsense about the bikes! However buyers didnt seem that interested in the stupid scare stories, and sales of H1/H2 were very healthy and greatly contributed to the demise of the Brit bikes on sale at the time, which were heavier, slower, more unreliable, and cost more money.
 
Unlike most others posting in relation to this, I have actually ridden the bikes being discussed and have no need to rely on magazine "tests"! Which in the case of Norton Commando's involved bikes fitted with race motors running on alcohol fuels, which made the test results here seem pretty meaningless.

Anyone who has actually ridden an H1/H2 and was able to compare them directly to Brit competitors around at the time, will know exactly why the Brits manufacturers went out of business, and Kawasaki are still going strong!

Maybe rather than endless argument it would be worth bearing in mind that if even half the claims about performance, reliability, handling, of the Jurassic bikes were correct, then Norton, Truimph, BSA, Vincent, Velocette etc etc would all still be in business today, and would not have gone out of business in the face of competition from the Japanese, who were able to build much better bikes for less money!
 
You keep on posting the same old 'alcohol fuel' nonsense with no evidence whatsoever ?

The reality is more that the newcomers into the Euro market targeted first time and new buyers, not the enthusiast market that the brits were building bikes for. And it was attention to detail that won buyers over, although cheapness certainly counts.

However, thats part of the charm of riding old motorcycles - of any variety theses days really - you have conquered all the inbuilt foibles !!! Notice that tests of oriental offerings often mention the word boring ??

Lets not forget either that Nortons were quite profitable until politics interfered.
And may still be, if Mr Garner et al can get their act together.
 
You haven't given any 1/4 mile times of anything you have ridden.
If can't quote those, then you are no more informed . ?

The quoted 1/4 mile time for the earliest Norton Dommie, all iron engine, single little carb, stock, is 17.4 seconds. Sounds about right, a week behind the bigger bangers....
 
Not entirely sure the fact that Brit manufacturers provided test bikes fitted with race motors and running on alcohol fuels, for magazine performance "tests" is something thats likely to have been widely publicised? Heard about this from someone who used to work for Norton, and its pretty obvious when you take into account that no bike bought over the counter from a dealer got anywhere near the numbers published in the magazine "tests"!

At this moment in time the Brit manufacturers were facing greatly reduced sales in the face of competition from Jap bikes, which were faster more reliable, and cost less money, and the Brits were prepared to try any trick in the book to claw back a few sales. The ridiculous test figures did certainly work to some extent, and even today there are people around who believe a Norton will run a 12 second 1/4 and go to 130mph..............lol

I used to work as a bike mechanic, so no timing gear on hand...........but never rode any Brit bike which felt anywhere near as quick as an H1 or H2, or seemed like it would cruise at 120mph without falling apart, which was easily achieved if you had a Z1. However magazine "test" results have always been linked more to the commercial interests of advertisers, than anything to do with fact, hence test bikes fitted with full race motors being quite acceptable, and not being mentioned in "test" results.
 
I have seen it quoted that the Mini Minor, and even the Morris Minor before it, was the end of the british motorcycle industry..... ?

Family men stopped buying bikes (and sidecars) and bought a cheap car.
Sales figures for bikes were way down before the japanese export bikes even appeared.
But picked up a whole new market when a new generation of youth wanted transport.

Its been said the same thing happened to HD and Indian, a generation earlier though.
With politics also playing a part. (The UK devalued the pound).

??
 
Carbonfibre said:
Not entirely sure the fact that Brit manufacturers provided test bikes fitted with race motors and running on alcohol fuels, for magazine performance "tests" is something thats likely to have been widely publicised? Heard about this from someone who used to work for Norton,

Care to name your source ?
 
Kawaski Heavy Industries capital may well have funded the pisspotical motorised bicyles as a tax dodge . At least in the tool & machinary side of it .

If anyones tried to set the land speed record on a irregular chipseal surface , theyd trust British Suspension then . Though the Earls forks BM 500 / 600 wasnt hopeless .

The bloke that tried it in the 911 ended up swapping ends and wrapping it up , due to inferior weight distribution in relation to the adhesion and aerodynamic centre .
A Dodge with 500 Lbs of cast iron in the front wouldve run true whilst the wheels are playing hop skip and jump .
The Kwakers had insuficent chassis and suspesion ridgidity to deal satisfactorilly with most New Zealand roads , at speed . Mostof em even weaved on flat smooth roads.
And could alter course with throttle variation due to chassis twist . It was standard practise to weld a few extra braces / tubes here and there on the H2s and Z1s .

Crosby was one of the few to atempt tameing a h2 circuit raceing , Throw it in , hang on , and hold it open . Fighting it all the way . Some people enjoy this sort of thing.
Usually the ones watching it . :D

http://www.graemecrosby.com/kawasaki-H2 ... triple.php

http://www.graemecrosby.com/history-the-early-days.php

Young Grame was thought by many to be a ' Temporary Citizen ' in those times .
 
P.S. If you read the brit magazine tests of Nortons, some of the test bikes sound like real dogs.
Back for major clutch repairs, in one case. And other mentions of similar.
No special prep there, thats for sure....

Didn't I see TopGear destroy the clutch in a Konigsegg, was it. ?
Tell it like it is....
 
Rohan said:
I have seen it quoted that the Mini Minor, and even the Morris Minor before it, was the end of the british motorcycle industry..... ?

Family men stopped buying bikes (and sidecars) and bought a cheap car.
Sales figures for bikes were way down before the japanese export bikes even appeared.
But picked up a whole new market when a new generation of youth wanted transport.

Its been said the same thing happened to HD and Indian, a generation earlier though.
With politics also playing a part. (The UK devalued the pound).

??


In the early 70s the introduction of Jap bikes which were fast, reliable, and didnt like oil or fall apart, meant that people who were simply not interested in Jurassic type machines, took up motorcycling, which resulted in far more sales for the Japs.
 
Rohan said:
P.S. If you read the brit magazine tests of Nortons, some of the test bikes sound like real dogs.
Back for major clutch repairs, in one case. And other mentions of similar.
No special prep there, thats for sure....

Didn't I see TopGear destroy the clutch in a Konigsegg, was it. ?
Tell it like it is....


I seem to remember reading a "Cycle" test which clearly stated the Norton "tested" had been specially prepared by Brian Slark? Seems strange that any manufacturer who was facing competition from the Japanese (who had faster, more reliable bikes, which cost less than the Brits), would provide machinery which was anything less than perfect, and had not been fitted with race prepared motors running on alcohol fuel?
 
Rohan said:
Carbonfibre said:
Not entirely sure the fact that Brit manufacturers provided test bikes fitted with race motors and running on alcohol fuels, for magazine performance "tests" is something thats likely to have been widely publicised? Heard about this from someone who used to work for Norton,

Care to name your source ?


Suffice to say its first hand information from someone who in the 1970s was trying very hard to sell Nortons against almost impossible competition from the Japanese, and not something I read in a ridiculous magazine "test" feature.................
 
Matt Spencer said:
Kawaski Heavy Industries capital may well have funded the pisspotical motorised bicyles as a tax dodge . At least in the tool & machinary side of it .

If anyones tried to set the land speed record on a irregular chipseal surface , theyd trust British Suspension then . Though the Earls forks BM 500 / 600 wasnt hopeless .

The bloke that tried it in the 911 ended up swapping ends and wrapping it up , due to inferior weight distribution in relation to the adhesion and aerodynamic centre .
A Dodge with 500 Lbs of cast iron in the front wouldve run true whilst the wheels are playing hop skip and jump .
The Kwakers had insuficent chassis and suspesion ridgidity to deal satisfactorilly with most New Zealand roads , at speed . Mostof em even weaved on flat smooth roads.
And could alter course with throttle variation due to chassis twist . It was standard practise to weld a few extra braces / tubes here and there on the H2s and Z1s .

Crosby was one of the few to atempt tameing a h2 circuit raceing , Throw it in , hang on , and hold it open . Fighting it all the way . Some people enjoy this sort of thing.
Usually the ones watching it . :D

http://www.graemecrosby.com/kawasaki-H2 ... triple.php

http://www.graemecrosby.com/history-the-early-days.php

Young Grame was thought by many to be a ' Temporary Citizen ' in those times .

Hey Kawasaki is still in business, and Norton isnt................does that not tell you something?
 
Norton stayed in business of engines just not any more road going craft. Could and has happened with other long famous makes. BSA for one.
 
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