Great video 'Dood. Back in the early 60's my Dad fitted a 197 Villiers 8E engine to his Bantam, making the engine plates at work and eventually fitting a lightweight sidecar and chassis, both of his own design. Love your 'Flash, had one "back in the day!" Great bikes.
Whilst growing up in 50/60s regional NSW there will still old blokes riding around on those old pedal to start bikes from the twenties (or earlier). I still remember that pop pop sound and the ever present cloud of blue smoke.
My first ever motorbike was a Triumph Tiger Cub in 1974 when I was 17yrs old..had it for a couple of years untill I passed my test and then moved onto a BSA A65 Thunderbolt..I'm now 67yrs old and have had numerous motorcycles over the years..but have never forgotten the old Cub that started it all off.....
@bikerdood1100 Have only recently had your videos come up in my recommendations and am slowly going through them...thoroughly enjoying them and thank you for putting them out there....
I am young at 53 and started reading about bikes at 10 years old. I have read about these bikes but have never seen any of them anywhere but Barber's museum. You are giving me visual cues to things I read 40+ years ago! Ammeters were important with Lucas, the prince of darkness!
Hands down the Brits had the nicest style & quality build small bikes.As much as i don't like noisey vibration of 2 strokes, these are quite nice and quiet too & look very rider friendly. The Triumph mountain Cub was my first small bike other than a early 60's Honda 50cc cub, & The Triumph Cub in all its incarnations is still the favorite bike i've ever owned out of dozens in my 60+ years riding,including old Harley Knuck & Panhead and modern Hondas & Hayabusa. That Ariel looks like a premium bike too..Great selection.
I had a D7 around 1964. It was bright red with chrome panels on the tank. It took me from Woking to Guildford and back to work for a couple of years. I rode it to scrambles meetings at Bigging Hill and Twesledown, also to Brands Hatch a few times.
I had a Cub in 1974, my brother-in-law had tuned it extensively, it went like the clappers but broke down almost every trip out. It was a love hate relationship and hate soon won. I’ve kicked myself ever since for giving it away.
Back in the late 1950's my neighbour's lad - a contemporary of mine - had a Tiger Cub as his first bike, though it was quickly replaced by a 3TA; the T20 was always a bit fragile in the bottom end. I went to school on the Francis-Barnett test route, so saw many of their bikes in the late 1950's. To my mind the later Fulmar was an attractive machine that needed a larger engine, though personally I liked their Cruiser 84, though I'm in a minority about the styling! In 1970 I had a Bantam D14/4, which served well and was surprisingly competent around town.
I've never seen the Francis Barnett model before. It's a nice looking bike, nicer than the arrow from which it is obviously styled, (In my opinion at least).
Not on the road they didn’t Guzzi made a v8 500 in the 50s which to me makes the Honda seem tame Then Yamaha v4 250s too, in that sense the Honda isn’t all that amazing
@@bikerdood1100 wow Thanks I wasn't aware. I am into Motocross Enduro off road racing mainly. I had a Triumph Trident 1970s and Norton long ago. Cheers 🥂
Ah the Ariel Colt, my first motorcycle... Basic Burman gearbox and leaky chain case but it got me through my test. Just! That plunger frame bottomed out very easily. Enjoyable to see a nice example though. Many thanks Bikerdood.
you dont need a massive motorcycle to travel, we used to have a neighbour, who after national service purchased a Bantam ( 3 speed I think) and rode across Europe and right around Italy
I had a Tiger Cub when I was 16. It taught me a lot about stripping and rebuilding engines over the next 2 years, until it finally died with big end failure. It also taught me not to take the crankshaft back to the shop who replaced the big end the first time.
Great vid! I remember reading about a fascinating Triumph prototype from the mid '50s. 200cc two stroke twin engine,giving 20bhp at a giddy 8500rpm! Beating the Japanese to the punch by a good decade! Only one in existence,at the Sammy Miller museum,housed in a (I think) Bantam chassis. Ah,what might have been!
It does exist and was viewed as a possible multi purpose engine, out board motorcycle etc. Turner shut the project down as he often did, to be fair to him though given the state of the market he perhaps didn’t see much value. Was he wrong, we shall never know
The bantam pre war DKW engine never replaced just fiddled with until the whole British bike industry disappeared under a Japanese sumami of vastly superior machines
Check you history Not exactly what happened at all that’s just the easy in a nutshell version that is quite incorrect. There’s a very interesting book called what happened to to British motorcycle industry which pretty much puts that myth to bed The industry actually hit trouble in 1960 before the Japanese arrived in the UK and most companies were ever dead or dying by the time they did. In the 50s there were more bikes than cars on British roads and most companies sold pretty much exclusively to that market. The market itself collapsed taking the industry with it before the Japanese arrived. Today bikes are only 1% of all road users in the UK, the Japanese rule a dead market place and number of new bike registrations is pathetic by the standards of the past. The same is true all over Europe, you didn’t think BMW was the only German motorcycle in the 50s ? Really need to put this idea to sword and do a video series on it A B175 has 3 x the power, is 20mph faster has a proper chassis and a 4 speed box, true it doesn’t have automatic oiling but then not all Japanese bikes did in 69. So pretty effective tinkering all things considered.
The brits could not produce the schnurle loop combustion chamber that DKW designed,so had to add 25cc to the capacity We already had the design pre war,as the company directors were Jewish, and knew the nazis would steal everything Royal Enfield produced the flying flea using those drawings
I had a Terrier 150 and took it on some pretty long tours sometimes 400 miles or more around Wales and even as far as Manchester to Brighton - it was a surprisingly capable machine ideal for b roads pootling along at 45/50 - I put a sports cub cam in it and 9:1 polite piston and it lost a lot of its charm though was perhaps 5-10 mph faster
Never saw a Fanny Barnett Fulmar! Bet they didn't sell many even though it looks quite cool (for a 60s bike). The Ariel Arrow should have done better - why didn't it (and the excellent Leader) catch on? A four-stroke parallel twin power unit would have been brilliant IMHO.
The four lives in the National motorcycle museum It looks like a leader but has twin headlights and the four cylinder engine is a 600cc OHC unit mounted just like the old BMW k100 And you thought BMW invented the layout There was also a four stroke unit developed to fit in the leader chassis but of smaller capacity
Ahhh.... The days before the 125cc learner limit, ridiculous insurance prices, stupid CBT laws, crazy, massively expensive training rules etc. etc. No wonder today's testosterone fuelled young men just say - "bollocks to it. I'll just nick one and rag it around like a lunatic with my balaclava on.."
They rarely do that to be fair, most young people hang around in crap cars in local shopping centre but never going anywhere, very little testosterone fuelled anything. All very dull I blame the parents 😂
Interesting as it clearly showed the demise of our motorcycle industry. Finishing up with that horrid star burst engine. Ironically, from what I have read, AMC went back to Villiers to get them to build them because they could not ! I suppose the ultimate insult, having removed sales from both FB & James, so virtually removing their market in one stroke. It shows just how bad our management was in those terrible days. AMC was dictatorial & being led by the wrong ideals. You can see it as they got their hands on Norton & Villiers. It was Plumstead they were thinking of, not the company. Being near the bright lights of the City of London. The Commando was the correct bike for the time, but they did not care to keep it up to date.
It is true that villiers did assemble the engines for them Only way to make them consistently reliable A sad waste of money which did neither company any favours AMC wastes effort on a poor end product and Villiers lost a massive income ftp the AMC brands
Another nice video! Here's a suggestion (I don't think you've done so already); how about a feature on large capacity V-Twins? I.e. over 750cc. There are plenty of good examples to choose from so it should make for a good video (or short series of videos...say, sport, touring, and cruiser styles). 😀
Great video 'Dood. Back in the early 60's my Dad fitted a 197 Villiers 8E engine to his Bantam, making the engine plates at work and eventually fitting a lightweight sidecar and chassis, both of his own design. Love your 'Flash, had one "back in the day!" Great bikes.
Thanks
Bet you dads side car combination was steady
Whilst growing up in 50/60s regional NSW there will still old blokes riding around on those old pedal to start bikes from the twenties (or earlier). I still remember that pop pop sound and the ever present cloud of blue smoke.
Only every ridden a couple that age, not easy at all
Must cover them at some point
My first ever motorbike was a Triumph Tiger Cub in 1974 when I was 17yrs old..had it for a couple of years untill I passed my test and then moved onto a BSA A65 Thunderbolt..I'm now 67yrs old and have had numerous motorcycles over the years..but have never forgotten the old Cub that started it all off.....
Well you always even have fond memories of you first bike
Mine was a Suzuki
Not a great bike but I loved itn
@bikerdood1100 Have only recently had your videos come up in my recommendations and am slowly going through them...thoroughly enjoying them and thank you for putting them out there....
@@gordy4459 nice
Glad your enjoying them
@@bikerdood1100 👍👍...
I am young at 53 and started reading about bikes at 10 years old. I have read about these bikes but have never seen any of them anywhere but Barber's museum. You are giving me visual cues to things I read 40+ years ago! Ammeters were important with Lucas, the prince of darkness!
Some people like to use them as a guide when starting
I often wondered if they are fitted ironically 😂
Hands down the Brits had the nicest style & quality build small bikes.As much as i don't like noisey vibration of 2 strokes, these are quite nice and quiet too & look very rider friendly. The Triumph mountain Cub was my first small bike other than a early 60's Honda 50cc cub, & The Triumph Cub in all its incarnations is still the favorite bike i've ever owned out of dozens in my 60+ years riding,including old Harley Knuck & Panhead and modern Hondas & Hayabusa. That Ariel looks like a premium bike too..Great selection.
Glad you enjoyed it
I had a D7 around 1964. It was bright red with chrome panels on the tank. It took me from Woking to Guildford and back to work for a couple of years. I rode it to scrambles meetings at Bigging Hill and Twesledown, also to Brands Hatch a few times.
Just proves you don’t need 100hp to cover a lot of ground
Fine selection there. Thank you for enlightening us about the provenance of the cub, I’d not heard of the Terrier before 👍👏👌
Well the6 didn’t make em for long and they look identical
I had a Cub in 1974, my brother-in-law had tuned it extensively, it went like the clappers but broke down almost every trip out. It was a love hate relationship and hate soon won. I’ve kicked myself ever since for giving it away.
That’s what happens when you tune old bikes I expect
We all have those wish I’d kept it bikes unfortunately
Back in the late 1950's my neighbour's lad - a contemporary of mine - had a Tiger Cub as his first bike, though it was quickly replaced by a 3TA; the T20 was always a bit fragile in the bottom end. I went to school on the Francis-Barnett test route, so saw many of their bikes in the late 1950's. To my mind the later Fulmar was an attractive machine that needed a larger engine, though personally I liked their Cruiser 84, though I'm in a minority about the styling! In 1970 I had a Bantam D14/4, which served well and was surprisingly competent around town.
It is strange that they designed a pretty machine like the fulmar but only gave it a 150cc engine
I've never seen the Francis Barnett model before. It's a nice looking bike, nicer than the arrow from which it is obviously styled, (In my opinion at least).
It does look pretty cool
A Lot slower than an arrow though
Amazing Honda made a 250 Six cylinder four stroke GP bike in 60s..
Beautiful British bikes .
Cheers
Not on the road they didn’t
Guzzi made a v8 500 in the 50s which to me makes the Honda seem tame
Then Yamaha v4 250s too, in that sense the Honda isn’t all that amazing
@@bikerdood1100 wow Thanks I wasn't aware.
I am into Motocross Enduro off road racing mainly.
I had a Triumph Trident 1970s and Norton long ago.
Cheers 🥂
Ah the Ariel Colt, my first motorcycle... Basic Burman gearbox and leaky chain case but it got me through my test. Just! That plunger frame bottomed out very easily.
Enjoyable to see a nice example though. Many thanks Bikerdood.
👍🏻
Always nice to hear from owners . A neighbour had one for a while, not fast but sounded good
you dont need a massive motorcycle to travel, we used to have a neighbour, who after national service purchased a Bantam ( 3 speed I think) and rode across Europe and right around Italy
That is true even today. My son touring the Netherlands two up on a 125 Scooter last year
He had a full license incidentally
BSA Beagle, 75cc engine looked like a miniature tiger cub had an immaculate one, very hard to start, but a lovley looking little bike back in the day
Was similar but different, was fitted to a very stylish Ariel called the Pixy
Must do a video on them some point
I had a Tiger Cub when I was 16. It taught me a lot about stripping and rebuilding engines over the next 2 years, until it finally died with big end failure. It also taught me not to take the crankshaft back to the shop who replaced the big end the first time.
One thing that’s never changed
Crappy dealers 😂
Great vid! I remember reading about a fascinating Triumph prototype from the mid '50s. 200cc two stroke twin engine,giving 20bhp at a giddy 8500rpm! Beating the Japanese to the punch by a good decade! Only one in existence,at the Sammy Miller museum,housed in a (I think) Bantam chassis. Ah,what might have been!
It does exist and was viewed as a possible multi purpose engine, out board motorcycle etc.
Turner shut the project down as he often did, to be fair to him though given the state of the market he perhaps didn’t see much value. Was he wrong, we shall never know
only motorbikes i like really. cool
Cool
I would love to see a collection of autocycleshort.
Would be interesting 🤔
The bantam pre war DKW engine never replaced just fiddled with until the whole British bike industry disappeared under a Japanese sumami of vastly superior machines
Check you history
Not exactly what happened at all that’s just the easy in a nutshell version that is quite incorrect. There’s a very interesting book called what happened to to British motorcycle industry which pretty much puts that myth to bed
The industry actually hit trouble in 1960 before the Japanese arrived in the UK and most companies were ever dead or dying by the time they did.
In the 50s there were more bikes than cars on British roads and most companies sold pretty much exclusively to that market. The market itself collapsed taking the industry with it before the Japanese arrived. Today bikes are only 1% of all road users in the UK, the Japanese rule a dead market place and number of new bike registrations is pathetic by the standards of the past. The same is true all over Europe, you didn’t think BMW was the only German motorcycle in the 50s ?
Really need to put this idea to sword and do a video series on it
A B175 has 3 x the power, is 20mph faster has a proper chassis and a 4 speed box, true it doesn’t have automatic oiling but then not all Japanese bikes did in 69. So pretty effective tinkering all things considered.
The brits could not produce the schnurle loop combustion chamber that DKW designed,so had to add 25cc to the capacity
We already had the design pre war,as the company directors were Jewish, and knew the nazis would steal everything
Royal Enfield produced the flying flea using those drawings
I had a Terrier 150 and took it on some pretty long tours sometimes 400 miles or more around Wales and even as far as Manchester to Brighton - it was a surprisingly capable machine ideal for b roads pootling along at 45/50 - I put a sports cub cam in it and 9:1 polite piston and it lost a lot of its charm though was perhaps 5-10 mph faster
Well 8hp was only a couple down of the base cub, engine did well to survive your heaven use I must say. I’m guessing regular oil changes
I remember the Bantam D7 as a field bike many years ago ,it was ok until first gear went ,(too many wheelies )😂👍
Tut tut younger you 😂
Never saw a Fanny Barnett Fulmar! Bet they didn't sell many even though it looks quite cool (for a 60s bike). The Ariel Arrow should have done better - why didn't it (and the excellent Leader) catch on? A four-stroke parallel twin power unit would have been brilliant IMHO.
There was an in-line four cylinder prototype built I believe.
The four lives in the National motorcycle museum
It looks like a leader but has twin headlights and the four cylinder engine is a 600cc OHC unit mounted just like the old BMW k100
And you thought BMW invented the layout
There was also a four stroke unit developed to fit in the leader chassis but of smaller capacity
Ahhh.... The days before the 125cc learner limit, ridiculous insurance prices, stupid CBT laws, crazy, massively expensive training rules etc. etc.
No wonder today's testosterone fuelled young men just say - "bollocks to it. I'll just nick one and rag it around like a lunatic with my balaclava on.."
They rarely do that to be fair, most young people hang around in crap cars in local shopping centre but never going anywhere, very little testosterone fuelled anything. All very dull
I blame the parents 😂
Interesting as it clearly showed the demise of our motorcycle industry. Finishing up with that horrid star burst engine. Ironically, from what I have read, AMC went back to Villiers to get them to build them because they could not ! I suppose the ultimate insult, having removed sales from both FB & James, so virtually removing their market in one stroke. It shows just how bad our management was in those terrible days. AMC was dictatorial & being led by the wrong ideals. You can see it as they got their hands on Norton & Villiers. It was Plumstead they were thinking of, not the company. Being near the bright lights of the City of London. The Commando was the correct bike for the time, but they did not care to keep it up to date.
It is true that villiers did assemble the engines for them
Only way to make them consistently reliable
A sad waste of money which did neither company any favours
AMC wastes effort on a poor end product and Villiers lost a massive income ftp the AMC brands
Another nice video! Here's a suggestion (I don't think you've done so already); how about a feature on large capacity V-Twins? I.e. over 750cc. There are plenty of good examples to choose from so it should make for a good video (or short series of videos...say, sport, touring, and cruiser styles). 😀
Nice suggestions