Turn the key and start it up - NOT!

[old man emu]

I think I'll try this in reverse one day. Twenty-buck says you can't start my bike.

 

 

[facthunter]

Anyone familiar with one would start it with 2 priming kicks with throttle 1/2 open and choke on and the ONE kick with throttle just above idle. Ignition about 1/4 advanced. The oomph you put into the kick is wasted as it's coil ignition  and the spark is strong at any cranking speed.. The motor is only about 4'5/1 compression ratio as it's a FLAThead. (sidevalve).  Nev

[old man emu]

You'll never get it started that way.

1. Fuel on
2. Select neutral
3. Engage clutch
4. Full choke
5. Open throttle
6. Two priming kicks
7. Close choke
8. Full retard of spark
9. TURN ON THE IGNITION
10. Close down the throttle
11. One caressing push down on the kick starter
12. Once it fires, fully advance the spark
13. Disengage clutch
14. Select 1st gear
15. Put you bum on the sprung seat
16. Slowly open the throttle while engaging the clutch
17. ENJOY the wind in your face and the smells of Nature as you ride through the countryside.

Side valve engine with L-shaped combustion chamber.

Bore: 2.745 in (69.67 mm)

Stroke: 3.8125 in ( 96.8 mm)

Displacement: 45.28 cu in (742 cc)

Compression ration  4.75:1

Torque: 30 lb-ft @ 2400 RPM

Horsepower: 21 HP @ 4400 RPM

3rd Gear Final Drive ratio: 4.59:1

Ignition: Wasted spark electric coil

Fuel Capacity: 3.4 US gal (12.8 litres = 10 litres main + 2.8 litres reserve)

Oil Capacity: 3-1/2 US Qts (3.3 litres)

Oil Grade: SAE 50 mineral

Gearbox Oil Capacity: 3/4 US pint (350 ml)

Gearbox Oil: SAE 80 above 40F (5C)

Fuel: Leaded 78 octane minimum. 

Range: Approx 100 miles (160 Kms)

Top Speed: 64 MpH (103 KpH)

Weight:  Approx 550 lbs (250 kg) in civilian 

[facthunter]

I  tried to keep mine simple. ignition ON. I prefer to do this after priming to lessen the chance of a fire/ That Ignition system has a dead spark on the cylinder not on compression. Check side stand UP.. IF it's cold you may need to leave the choke on 1/2 till it warms a bit.. I also never leave the clutch disengaged or the bike in gear.. FULL advance is rarely used and is needed at higher revs only.. The rest of the time it's about 3/4 advanced and idle at about  1/4 advanced. .  Nev

[onetrack]

On my Honda. Turn on the ignition. Twist the throttle grip a little. Press the starter button. Enjoy the sound of a quietly humming beautifully-balanced, smooth-running upright twin - not an early 1900's agricultural, unbalanced V-twin, rattling the fillings loose in your teeth. And my Honda even looks like a Harley.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

It won't sell for Harley prices.  . 45 degree twins balance ok. The modern person with cars or Motorbikes knows F/A about any of it. It's different  era. One of my Harleys had 340,000 miles on the clock and a commercial sidecar on it all that time. The BOX was steel framed and would require two STRONG people to lift it empty A 1947 "U" model used as a service vehicle by 3 different companies and ridden by anyone and everyone.. It's still going well after 74 years. Harleys were built under Licence in Japan. (Called RIKUO).in the 30's on..   Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

I had an '86 VFR750 - they still go strong, and they command not great money, but haven't dropped prices for a while. The RC24 race version goes for £30K+ these days. 

 

All of the palava would probably turn me right off bikes. The VFR750 is the oldest bike I have owned. That sweet V4 with direct drive for the cams was sweet to listen to, and a wonderful ride. 

 

My last buke was a Kawasaki ER6F, which was as dull as dishwater... 

 

[old man emu]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

It won't sell for Harley prices. 

I appreciate my Walla, and it just sits there, appreciating.

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, Jerry_Atrick said:

I had an '86 VFR750 - they still go strong, and they command not great money, but haven't dropped prices for a while. The RC24 race version goes for £30K+ these days. 

 

All of the palava would probably turn me right off bikes. The VFR750 is the oldest bike I have owned. That sweet V4 with direct drive for the cams was sweet to listen to, and a wonderful ride. 

 

My last buke was a Kawasaki ER6F, which was as dull as dishwater... 

 

I agree.  I had 2 VFR750's (first one got nicked), brilliant bikes.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Sadly, London (and Bristol) now have Ultra Low Emission Zones.. Which means, to take a bike or car manufactured before about 2016 into them, will cost you £12.50 per day, as they won't meet the emissions standards required. Otherwise, I would be looking for another VFR750 - but the direct drive cam models.

 

[old man emu]

Does London still get fog, or has the extensive building of heat storing skyscrapers altered the micro environment so that the air is always moving and the temperature never gets down to Dew Point?

[Jerry_Atrick]

Oddly, when I arrived in the UK at the end of '96, I was surprised at how devoid of skyscrapers London was.. And, once I got used to it, when they started sprining up en masse, it really was disappointing. Most of them are centred around London Bridge, and heading north to Bishopsgate (one of the financial districts). In the below map, it is the red oblique ellipse. Note, they are almost all on thed East side of Bishopsgate; the west side is the old financial district (Bank, Cornhill, Draper street, etc - the birthplace of the various stock and commodities exchanges/marketplaces). So, it is a big no-no-no to skyscrapers there (there may be one or two 10 or so storey buildings, but not many. That banking district extends west to St. Pauls and a bit more, and is also the old financial and legal district.

 

The blue box to the west of Bishopsgate (and probably should be placed slightly west) has a few skyscrapers along the Thames where the big consultancies are, but not that many. There are a few just north of it too, as you are in the heart of the legal district, with the Royal Courts of Justice, the Old Bailey, various other courts (Chancery, Family, Employment, etc). But most of the building date older than ours - some to the 13th and 14th centuries. No one's developing them anytime soon. The odd 70's building gets knocked down, and they are building a new skyscraper on Fleet steet (no newspapers there anymore). Heading SW along the thames, those circles have new mainly residential developments that will qualify.. They are mainly on the south shores (MI5 and Mi^ are in there somewhere), but they aren't 40 storey monstrosities. The taller buildings continue west along the Thames to Battersea and Wandsworth, then it peeters out until Putney where there are taller apartment buildings, but I would be surprised if many are more than 15 Storeys.. and none above 20..

 

The green circle to the South of the Thames and west of Londing Brisge is Southwark, and there are a few taller buildings (I worked in one of three built, which were 8 storeys each,, but a couple of apartment buildings in the 25 dd storey size have been built along or near the Thames.

 

Canary Wharf (another financial district - East London and looks like a poor mans's American city.. I worked 12 months there and that was more than enough; Canada Water (much the same as Canary Wharf and both owned, developed, and operated by some Canadian conglomerate I was told); They, and the Isle of dogs, which ha the sort of Ghetto type apartments that Melbourne now hasare in the Red Box. Bow (not depicted but I think north or east of Canary Wharf was a Thatcher inspired development. Some amazing apartment complexes, but in a complete shiphole. They never took off. In fact, East London (apart from Greenwich)_ is a barren shiphole, that no amount of investment thanks to the Olympics could fix. Think crappy western suburbs of Melbourne or Sydney (or northern for Melbourne - such as Broadmeadows, Jacana, Dallas, et al), and they are gentrified compared to East London.

 

The rest of London has a smattering of them.. but probably more council housing than anything else in the skyscraper category. I am not too familiar with Syndey, but I know Melbourne CBD and it has skyscrapers in the east of the CBD and West, with lower buildings in between, but the odd tall one. London is much the same, but the proportion of skyscrapers is much smaller.

 

Does London get fog? It does, but not that much that I can recall. However, when I worked oin the 40th floor at Canary wharf we were often on top of it. Maybe it gets smog from the old days at Charing Cross.

 

 

[Bruce Tuncks]

I was there for 3 days one April . I loved the monopoly names and felt at home. On one day, the temp got to nearly 30 degrees and lots of the locals got sunburned. 

I especially liked the polite signs and the amount of greenery...  far more than we have here, and on much more expensive real estate I guess.

The awful habit we have here of " just this little bit of parkland must go" has not happened, so goodonyer pommys.

[Yenn]

I don't know if

London has fogs now, but November was the month for smogs when I was there. This was fog filled with coal smoke and I remember people falling into the Thames and drowning. I once walked down the Great West road and the No 91 I think bus followed me on my way home from school. I don't know what the bus did when I turned off at Lampton Crossing. It is a long walk from Chiswick to Heston.

[Bruce Tuncks]

On the subject of motorbikes,  I was surprised to read that the German army ww2 bikes had the side-car wheel powered from the main engine.

Is this true? Surely it would make for a too-complex transmission?

[old man emu]

40 minutes ago, Bruce Tuncks said:

On the subject of motorbikes

The BMW R75 is a World War II-era motorcycle and sidecar combination produced by the German company BMW. The BMW R75 stands out by its integral two-wheel drive design, with drive shafts to both its rear wheel and the third side-car wheel, from a locking differential, as well as a transfer case offering both road and off-road gear ratios, through which all four and reverse gears worked. This made the R75 highly manoeuvrable and capable of negotiating most surfaces. A few other motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, offered optional drive to sidecars.

[facthunter]

Look Up Zundapp KS 750 also.   Nev

[old man emu]

49 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Look Up Zundapp KS 750 also.   Nev

Yes, Zundapp was also a major supplier. The Army supply branch (OKH) decided that it was inefficient to have two vehicles that did the same job, but used parts that could not fit both. The OKH's call for the new motorcycle was also met by BMW, which produced their experimental BMW R75. After long test drives both with the BMW and Zündapp prototypes the OKH determined that the Zündapp KS 750 was superior to the BMW R75. Initially BMW was asked to build the Zündapp KS 750, but BMW refused. However, the OKH asked BMW to adopt the superior characteristics of the Zündapp KS 750, such as the rear wheel drive solution, the hydraulic brake system and wheels. Moreover, BMW and Zündapp also agreed, as demanded by the OKH, to standardize as many components as possible, in order to both streamline production, as well as logistics and (field) maintenance / repairs, through interchangeable spare parts, usable on both models.

[willedoo]

8 hours ago, old man emu said:

The BMW R75 is a World War II-era motorcycle and sidecar combination produced by the German company BMW. The BMW R75 stands out by its integral two-wheel drive design, with drive shafts to both its rear wheel and the third side-car wheel, from a locking differential, as well as a transfer case offering both road and off-road gear ratios, through which all four and reverse gears worked. This made the R75 highly manoeuvrable and capable of negotiating most surfaces. A few other motorcycle manufactures, like FN and Norton, offered optional drive to sidecars.

The design is used in the Ural as well. Only single wheel drive was available in Australia due to our sidecar being on the opposite side, but I think it was the 2021 model that first offered 2WD here as well. I'm not sure what the status is with Ural since the war and sanctions. A mate with a Ural told me they got around it by moving the business to Kazakhstan, but I can't verify that.

[spacesailor]

They also had a ' side car ' with an inboard engine & propeller . dismount the sidecar & drop it in the water to go for a ' sea cruise ' .

Smart !.

spacesailor

[Old Koreelah]

8 hours ago, old man emu said:

…Moreover, BMW and Zündapp also agreed, as demanded by the OKH, to standardize as many components as possible, in order to both streamline production, as well as logistics and (field) maintenance / repairs, through interchangeable spare parts, usable on both models.

Similar story in Amrica, When the US military standardised on the Jeep, Ford reluctantly agreed to build the Willies design under license, but Ford-built Jeeps used Ford engines and drive train.

[kgwilson]

I was told a long tome ago that 90% of Harley Davidsons ever made were still on the road. The rest made it home.

Edited April 26, 2023 by kgwilson

[facthunter]

Don't follow the Mob  and bash them. The market is the best measure and they retain their Value well The finish is way better than most by a mile and you don't have to goat breakneck speed to enjoy them.  Downs side is you have to put up with a lot of$#!t from people.(even when I was riding my 1916 model) who should know better. Sorry KG but I get lots of this.  Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

When i did my motorcycle learners permit at Laverton the instructors described Harleys as yesterday's technology at tomorrow's prices

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

5 hours ago, facthunter said:

Don't follow the Mob  and bash them. The market is the best measure and they retain their Value well The finish is way better than most by a mile and you don't have to goat breakneck speed to enjoy them.  Downs side is you have to put up with a lot of$#!t from people.(even when I was riding my 1916 model) who should know better. Sorry KG but I get lots of this.  Nev

Okey fellas, as a long-time HD basher it’s time to bury the hatchet; Nev may be misguided in his choice of steed, but at least he still rides, which is more than many of us do.