My grandfather had a Brough Superior, apparently financed by his second job playing in a dance band. There is a picture somewhere of him astride it looking very cool with his flat cap backwards and a pair of goggles round his neck; my grandmother was wearing a dress!
Very enjoyable video! The old bikes are just beautiful. I rode a Daytona 1200 once. It was the bike that made me realize that my Suzuki SV1000S has a slipper clutch! I test rode it for a local bike shop I helped out at for a couple of years. When I backed off of the throttle too fast it went totally sideways. Not difficult to recover from but quite different than I was used to. I like your moniker "onwards". My philosophy is "onwards and upwards" as I am a 30+ year aircraft tech with a 46 year motorcycle habit. I started riding at 7!
I am amazed at Britain's industrial past and their capabilities back then, one would never know today that once Britain made these incredible machines and there were local companies that made every single component, because today Britain is a deindustrialized service economy that manufactures virtually nothing.
Another banger, my friend. My dad and I have historically ridden Hondas (mostly due to availability and cost reasons) but we often bench race and daydream about British bikes. If I could ever do something to show how much I appreciate all my dad has done for me, it would be giving him a Norton Commando. This isn't a question about a 1000cc bike, but I do have something to ask. A little story first. When I was in high school in the mid 90s, my buddies and I went to the airport hangar of a local hot rudder to look at a Hemi Cuda he had. While my buddies were drooling over the Cuda, out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 bikes covered with carpets. The owner took the carpets off and one was a 79 Ducati 900ss and the other was what he claimed was a 750 Norton twin in a late 60s Matchless frame. This was pre internet and I was just a kid that daydreamed about British bikes so I didn't know if that was a thing to do like Tritons. I've looked it up and found a little info on it but is it possible such a creation could find its way to an airport hangar in South Mississippi? Keep up the great work.
The Norton may well have been a P11 Ranger I think was the name they gave it. Nortons feather bed frame was no good off road but the matchless frame was so as they were both made by that time at the AMC Plumstead works in London it seemed logical. There were a few mix and match bikes in the mid 70s, an ES2 single with a Matchless engine and a Matchless badged bike with the Norton 750 motor
Another great collection, thanks. In the early 80´ies, a friend and I had a Squariel from the early 50´ies for one summer. we could not get the propper carbourator, so it ran with a BMW one, and did that quite well. I am still dreaming of the Vincent, although all I can handle nowadays is a mobillity-scooter. But dream I can...
Between the wars, the South Australian police used the Coventry Eagle Flying 8. I'll bet the boys had fun on them! Vincent's legendary designer Phil Irving lived in Warrandyte, Victoria, about 15 minutes from where I was living; I was fortunate enough to meet and talk with his widow at a Winton Raceway meeting, back in the 90's. In Jurien Bay, about 2.5 hours drive north of Perth, West Australia there is a guy with a private collection of motorcycles. He has around 80, plus a couple of cars, including an E-type. It is the also the largest collection of Vincent motorcycles in the world; he has, when I was there in 2021, at least one of every Vincent model produced, with the exception of the exceptionally-rare White Shadow, of which just 15 were built. He has two Black Shadows (78-built); he also has two Black Lightnings (24-built); another example of the Black Lightning sold in 2019 in the US for $922,000 (AUD1.2 Million)... His collection includes the Philip Island Lap Record holder for the Pre-War Unlimited (Vintage) class; it's a 1938 Vincent A Series 1260 cc Road Race Special, ridden by Tony Hynes on 24/1/2015 and his record (1:58.611) still stands. That time is around the same as I used to do there in my Formula Vee 1200-Class open wheeler in the mid 90's.
Another idea for a video is "Bikes using the legendary Suzuki TL1000 V-twin engine". This includes the Suzuki TL1000S, Suzuki SV1000, Cagiva Raptor 1000, V-Raptor & Xtra Raptor (my favourite bike) and the Bimota SB8K.
My dad in the 60s had a Vincent. Black Prince I think it was. Was very small at the time so can’t remember it too well tbh but seen photos of him on it.
As you covered the Brough in a previous video I thought you might have left it out of this one. The BSA G14 sidevalve would have been a good bike for sidecar hauling.
I saw one being loaded onto a trailer last week, for what looked like its new owner. An older relative had one, the only Square 4s I saw as a nipper had sidecars attached. With a double adult or 2 adult + child Watsonian, they were the forerunner of the family car and it was cars like the Morris Minor that saw their demise.
@@borderlands6606 that’s true of the side car not the Square four You can extend that augment to say brat small cars killed the British motorcycle industry, many people will tell you it was the Japanese but this isn’t really the case because by the time the Japanese arrived many British companies had ever already gone busy or were in financial trouble. Profits disappear almost overnight in 1960 with barely a Japanese bike insight. It was the mini and the Ford pop that did the real damage not Honda
@@bikerdood1100 There was still enough of a bike market for the Japanese to make pound sterling from UK riders, unfortunately British manufacturers couldn't service it. Excepting the utility motorcycle sector which Japanese manufacturers totally dominated, 1960s Japanese bikes were mostly copies of British twins without their foibles. By the 70s BSA and Triumph were hanging on with subsidies and the in-line 4 was the bike to have. Britain was great at men-in-shed bespoke operations like Brough and Vincent but hadn't shown a profit on production motorcycles since the mid-50s. The desire was there, marketing and mass production techniques were pre-war.
I am planning another video🙄 5 per video not 25 and the Hesketh May be next time focus on what’s in a video instead of what isn’t Oh the C90 shall I put that in too 😂
That is not a good thing at all A bike is for riding it ain’t for rich Wankers to speculate with That’s what’s wrong with motorcycling today No wonder we can’t get young people interested in old bikes Criminal
What about em? There are number of bikes I could have included if you want a 2 hour video Can’t put everything in now There’s always time for other videos Would it not be better to focus on what a video includes rather than what it doesn’t 🙄
@@danweyant4909 just weren’t properly financed money ran out long before the bike was ready The lord was a bit of an idiot really Could have worked out, he did approach Triumph but they were in no state to retool for a project like that, he even have shots taken of the prototype with Triumph badges in an effort to woo them but he knew bugger all about bikes Or F1 for that matter,he got lucky when he met Hunt
One reviewer described the engine as sounding like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin. I used to see a Hesketh being driven around the West End of London in the 1980s.
Ah yes,the 'modular concept'! If the BSA top brass (ahem) had listened to Bert Hopwood,such machines may have become available by the early '70s-culminating in a 1250cc V5! What a prospect!
Don’t think it’s a concept we would have seen in its entirety. Too ambitious for the company finances. As a general idea he was correct of course as Hinckley can later testify
@@bikerdood1100 This was in the early 60's.+ but even then Square Fours were considered collectors machines. This particular man was the proverbial idiot. Regrettably there was no shortage of his type in the military.
@@fredholmes6284 Motor Cycling and Motor Cycle Weekly were huge British publications. Did anyone ever ask the newsagent what these publications were about?
My grandfather had a Brough Superior, apparently financed by his second job playing in a dance band. There is a picture somewhere of him astride it looking very cool with his flat cap backwards and a pair of goggles round his neck; my grandmother was wearing a dress!
Dam
That dance band business must have paid
Just think if he still had lt wow
Very enjoyable video! The old bikes are just beautiful. I rode a Daytona 1200 once. It was the bike that made me realize that my Suzuki SV1000S has a slipper clutch! I test rode it for a local bike shop I helped out at for a couple of years. When I backed off of the throttle too fast it went totally sideways. Not difficult to recover from but quite different than I was used to. I like your moniker "onwards". My philosophy is "onwards and upwards" as I am a 30+ year aircraft tech with a 46 year motorcycle habit. I started riding at 7!
Seems appropriate 👍🏻
I am amazed at Britain's industrial past and their capabilities back then, one would never know today that once Britain made these incredible machines and there were local companies that made every single component, because today Britain is a deindustrialized service economy that manufactures virtually nothing.
Well we have the 80s to blame for that
We still
Make thinks of course
An awful lot of it military unfortunately
Brilliant video, mate. Some absolutely fantastic machinery there. Brings a tear to the eye.
Glad you enjoyed it
Another banger, my friend. My dad and I have historically ridden Hondas (mostly due to availability and cost reasons) but we often bench race and daydream about British bikes. If I could ever do something to show how much I appreciate all my dad has done for me, it would be giving him a Norton Commando. This isn't a question about a 1000cc bike, but I do have something to ask. A little story first. When I was in high school in the mid 90s, my buddies and I went to the airport hangar of a local hot rudder to look at a Hemi Cuda he had. While my buddies were drooling over the Cuda, out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 bikes covered with carpets. The owner took the carpets off and one was a 79 Ducati 900ss and the other was what he claimed was a 750 Norton twin in a late 60s Matchless frame. This was pre internet and I was just a kid that daydreamed about British bikes so I didn't know if that was a thing to do like Tritons. I've looked it up and found a little info on it but is it possible such a creation could find its way to an airport hangar in South Mississippi? Keep up the great work.
The Norton may well have been a P11 Ranger I think was the name they gave it.
Nortons feather bed frame was no good off road but the matchless frame was so as they were both made by that time at the AMC Plumstead works in London it seemed logical.
There were a few mix and match bikes in the mid 70s, an ES2 single with a Matchless engine and a Matchless badged bike with the Norton 750 motor
@@bikerdood1100 very cool. Thanks for the info brother. Gives me a jumping off place to do my nerdy motorcycle research.
Great vid. thanks
Glad you enjoyed it
The Royal Enfield KX1140 is very worthy of note. And very rare.
Cheating though as it’s over a litre
But worthy nonetheless
Another great collection, thanks. In the early 80´ies, a friend and I had a Squariel from the early 50´ies for one summer. we could not get the propper carbourator, so it ran with a BMW one, and did that quite well. I am still dreaming of the Vincent, although all I can handle nowadays is a mobillity-scooter. But dream I can...
Probably better off than the original carb
Ironically it’s easy to get them now
Was hoping you'd feature the AJS 1000 V twin which held speed records for some time. Great vid. The Coventry Eagle was a new one for me - just lovely.
I was trying to keep to road bikes for this video but there is always another time
Between the wars, the South Australian police used the Coventry Eagle Flying 8. I'll bet the boys had fun on them! Vincent's legendary designer Phil Irving lived in Warrandyte, Victoria, about 15 minutes from where I was living; I was fortunate enough to meet and talk with his widow at a Winton Raceway meeting, back in the 90's.
In Jurien Bay, about 2.5 hours drive north of Perth, West Australia there is a guy with a private collection of motorcycles. He has around 80, plus a couple of cars, including an E-type. It is the also the largest collection of Vincent motorcycles in the world; he has, when I was there in 2021, at least one of every Vincent model produced, with the exception of the exceptionally-rare White Shadow, of which just 15 were built. He has two Black Shadows (78-built); he also has two Black Lightnings (24-built); another example of the Black Lightning sold in 2019 in the US for $922,000 (AUD1.2 Million)... His collection includes the Philip Island Lap Record holder for the Pre-War Unlimited (Vintage) class; it's a 1938 Vincent A Series 1260 cc Road Race Special, ridden by Tony Hynes on 24/1/2015 and his record (1:58.611) still stands. That time is around the same as I used to do there in my Formula Vee 1200-Class open wheeler in the mid 90's.
Quite a collection
We have just the 10 between us, no Vincent’s of course, NHS pay doesn’t stretch that far 😂
Neither does Centrelink here; that's why my sole bike is a 2011 Suzuki 250 Invader. Still, two wheels are a lot better than none! 😀
Blimey - You pulled this one out of the hat!!! 👍😂
Great thing is there is probably enough bikes out there for a follow up too
Really good video one of your best i think.hi from New Zealand 🇳🇿
Glad you enjoyed it
Another idea for a video is "Bikes using the legendary Suzuki TL1000 V-twin engine". This includes the Suzuki TL1000S, Suzuki SV1000, Cagiva Raptor 1000, V-Raptor & Xtra Raptor (my favourite bike) and the Bimota SB8K.
Like the general concept
Nice one
The Coventry Eagle is a lovely bike have seen one at Sammy Millers, but your video has put it in a higher and well deserved place .
I love the paint scheme and they did bikes of all sizes too
Good video 👍
Thanks
Style then was light years ahead of today.
Well a lot less plastic 😂
What about the Hesketh V1000? I know it is quite rare, but I think already worth mentioning it😊
Nope
Nice vid. Thanks for that. A 1000 cc was a rare bike, it’s not long ago that a 750 was a big bike!
Very true
My dad had an arial square 4 1000cc in the 1950s, mum made him get rid of it and buy a car when I was born in 1955
Kids
Who’d ave em 😂
My dad in the 60s had a Vincent. Black Prince I think it was. Was very small at the time so can’t remember it too well tbh but seen photos of him on it.
Nice 👍
As you covered the Brough in a previous video I thought you might have left it out of this one. The BSA G14 sidevalve would have been a good bike for sidecar hauling.
I’m planning more than one video is the simple answer
Matchless
Hesketh etc
The Squariel. Chap at the end of the road had one. Very interesting thing.
A gentleman’s bike if ever there was
I saw one being loaded onto a trailer last week, for what looked like its new owner. An older relative had one, the only Square 4s I saw as a nipper had sidecars attached. With a double adult or 2 adult + child Watsonian, they were the forerunner of the family car and it was cars like the Morris Minor that saw their demise.
@@borderlands6606 that’s true of the side car not the Square four
You can extend that augment to say brat small cars killed the British motorcycle industry, many people will tell you it was the Japanese but this isn’t really the case because by the time the Japanese arrived many British companies had ever already gone busy or were in financial trouble.
Profits disappear almost overnight in 1960 with barely a Japanese bike insight.
It was the mini and the Ford pop that did the real damage not Honda
@@bikerdood1100 There was still enough of a bike market for the Japanese to make pound sterling from UK riders, unfortunately British manufacturers couldn't service it. Excepting the utility motorcycle sector which Japanese manufacturers totally dominated, 1960s Japanese bikes were mostly copies of British twins without their foibles. By the 70s BSA and Triumph were hanging on with subsidies and the in-line 4 was the bike to have. Britain was great at men-in-shed bespoke operations like Brough and Vincent but hadn't shown a profit on production motorcycles since the mid-50s. The desire was there, marketing and mass production techniques were pre-war.
i road tested a daytona and wasnt as good as my 1985 gpz 900 but was prettier. keep up the good videos
Thanks
Had a Coventry Eagle push bike
😅😅
You see quite a few for sale still
Matchless Model X anyone? And no mention of the 1930's BSA V-twin beasts?
I am planning another video🙄
5 per video not 25 and the Hesketh
May be next time focus on what’s in a video instead of what isn’t
Oh the C90 shall I put that in too 😂
@@bikerdood1100 Fair enough.
Brough was £185 new, Bonhams recently sold one for £425,500. 8.77% annual return, better than the stock market.
That is not a good thing at all
A bike is for riding it ain’t for rich Wankers to speculate with
That’s what’s wrong with motorcycling today
No wonder we can’t get young people interested in old bikes
Criminal
Hesketh?
Next time
Perhaps
Or matchless model X
Perhaps focus on what’s in rather than what is not 🙄
What happened to the Hesketh???
What about em?
There are number of bikes I could have included if you want a 2 hour video
Can’t put everything in now
There’s always time for other videos
Would it not be better to focus on what a video includes rather than what it doesn’t 🙄
They went Bust after a couple of months
😂😂
I’m here all week
Unlike Hesketh
Must admit that I rather expected them too.
@@danweyant4909 just weren’t properly financed money ran out long before the bike was ready
The lord was a bit of an idiot really
Could have worked out, he did approach Triumph but they were in no state to retool for a project like that, he even have shots taken of the prototype with Triumph badges in an effort to woo them but he knew bugger all about bikes
Or F1 for that matter,he got lucky when he met Hunt
One reviewer described the engine as sounding like two skeletons copulating in a dustbin. I used to see a Hesketh being driven around the West End of London in the 1980s.
Would Tom be very envious if I said that one of my wife's cousins is married to gentleman who owns 2 Vincents which he personally restored ?
Who wouldn’t be is the question 😂
Ah yes,the 'modular concept'! If the BSA top brass (ahem) had listened to Bert Hopwood,such machines may have become available by the early '70s-culminating in a 1250cc V5! What a prospect!
Don’t think it’s a concept we would have seen in its entirety. Too ambitious for the company finances. As a general idea he was correct of course as Hinckley can later testify
A bloke in Gib had one of the Square fours, took it apart, lost some of the bits, and it ended up on a scrapheap!
Terrible waste!
Very silly given current prices
@@bikerdood1100
This was in the early 60's.+ but even then Square Fours were considered collectors machines.
This particular man was the proverbial idiot.
Regrettably there was no shortage of his type in the military.
A hate that term motorcycle..it's a motorbike 👍
Does it mater
A bike is a bike by any name 🙄🙄
A was riding bikes in the sixties & seventies..we never called it a motorcycle
@@fredholmes6284 Motor Cycling and Motor Cycle Weekly were huge British publications. Did anyone ever ask the newsagent what these publications were about?