Post 72 Bonny for Chief Tiff

[tongleh]

Glad you asked Chief Tiff, any excuse to pull out some pics of past exploits. A new post though, rather than drag the other off track. Some background first: This was my 2nd oil in frame, the first being a 72 650cc trophy with Mikunis and a highly modified engine, the bike weighed 362 lb wringing wet. This one did have a few internal mods though: re-shaped and polished gearbox camplate, port and polish, lightened rockers, modified cam timing, electronic ignition and electronically balanced crank. Some of the external mods: the mirror polished crankcase halfs of course (took 2-3 days), hand beaten alloy tail light bracket, seat base, side covers, battery box and air filter. Re-designed electrical system using Tandy and other parts (zenner, rectifier, etc), as stated before, lots of polished alloy, S/S fasteners and spokes. S/S master cylinders, alloy reservoirs, alloy foot pegs and positive stop alloy grommet nuts on all mountings (turned up on an AL50 Hafco). Very loud 2" shotgun pipes, oil cooler and external oil filter. Phew, the list goes on. I did all paint, upholstery, polishing and mechanicals (except the crank) myself and won the 'Best Triumph' in the 99 Darwin European bike show. First pic is as bought in Katherine NT. Second is the first incarnation in dark gray metallic with shotguns, some internal mods and not much shiny stuff. The last pic is the second incarnation in black with lots of shiny stuff, not quite finished though, had a little tidying up to do on the back end. Nice to revisit the old days!!!

[tongleh]

Sorry, that should read 'Post 1971 oil in frame Triumph'. My 1972 OIF Triumph Trophy was the last of the 'Proper Triumphs', with right foot gear lever, 4 speeds and 650cc displacement.

[Chief Tiff]

Wow. I miss not having a bike again; I haven't had one since I came to Oz nearly ten years ago, probably due to the incompatabilities between Oz speed limits and my preferred riding style!

I've always liked Triumphs and used to own a Tiger Cub; a '65 Bonnie is on my Lotto wishlist!

I never really liked the look of the stock 750 bonnies as they were predominantly designed for the Amarican market. To me they were one bike that were always improved by customising with the notable exception of the "77 Jubilee model- so much as change change one bolt and I'll come round and fill your socks with jelly :p.

Gloss black, polished ally and chrome never goes out of fashion, yours certainly looked the biz :2tsup:



Boring pedantic note, to be spoken with a highly nasal accent:

Did you know that in 1988 when the last Bonnie was produced by Les Harris the most powerfull 750 at the time was the Suzuki GSX750. A four-pot 16 valve DOHC monoshocked ally framed fully race-faired beast putting out almost a hundred ponies. The Bonnie with it's steel frame and agricultural engine still had a better power to weight ratio. This actually got better with every mile travelled as weight reduced even further due to fuel consumption, oil leaking and unimportant parts vibrating off......:-

[tongleh]

Yes unfortunately the English bike manufacturers didn't seem to have a quality control system in place, they all leaked. I stopped mine from leaking by grinding the surfaces together with valve grinding paste; unfortunately, I couldn't stop the oil dripping out of the breather tube, always left a couple of drips after parking. It never leaked from the joints and thanks to the grommets and positive stop nuts no bits ever fell off. Simple fixes the factory could have done but chose to ignore, then along came the Japanese bikes, with built in reliability and performance, and they didn't leak, the rest is history.

[tongleh]

I bought a 1976 GS750 Suzuki in the early 80s, best bike, Japanese or British, I ever owned.

[Chief Tiff]

My last three bikes were a "77 Honda 400/4 supersports, an '80 Suzi GSX1100ET and an '86 BMW K100RT.

The Suzuki was a beast; I junked the "ugly as sin" headlamp nacelle and put on a 7" round, fitted drag racing bars and painted it gloss black. Blisteringly fast from A to B- providing no turning required. Went round corners slightly slower than a Boral cement mixer. Loaded.

The Honda was beautiful. She had been sort of restored when I bought her but the quick-rot chrome guards had been replaced with GRP, the wheels were alloy rims with stainless spokes and the exhaust was stainless too. The engine side casings and wheel hubs had all been polished as well. I finished the job off by completely re-wiring the bike and fitting electronic ignition, then spent the next 12 years and a small fortune on Solvol and Auto Glym.

The Beemer was my last bike and just bought as a winter "hack" for my last year back in the old dart, it was the only bike I have ever owned that had a fairing. Crikey, she was a revelation! I used to regard BMW riders as part of the carpet slipper brigade but when I actually rode one my opinion somewhat altered. The COG is so low down you can do full lock to lock figure 8's at idle. The drivetrain is so smooth when you tweak the throttle leaned hard over it's like having an hydraulic strut directly connected to the throttle raising or lowering you. I mean absolutely no snatch, hesitation or backlash whatsoever. I rode a mate's Honda ST1300 a couple of years ago, she was also a shaft drive but it was like comparing a tractor to a Porsche.
The fairing removed the sense of what speed I was doing. I'd sit on the motorway doing 150kph for a while.....then glance at the speedo to see that I'd somehow crept up to 200 without actually noticing. Considering it weighed more than a small country and the wheelbase was measured in astronomical units, it was a piece of wee-wee to manouver around when parking and just rolled onto the centre stand. She was an ex-police bike with a lot of miles on her but well maintained.

Must get around to converting my photo negatives to digital someday...! These sort of posts are a bit crap without photos.....:rolleyes:

[Anorak Bob]

When I was a kid of 17, a bloke up the road bought a brand new 1970 American Factory Bonneville. Scarlet and silver tank. I used to watch him polish that tank. I was in love with that bike. I still reckon they are beautiful. I'm getting misty.

BT

[nearnexus]

Used to be a guy riding a Triumph Bonnie around Adelaide years ago with a Union Jack painted on each full side of the fuel tank.

Looked very cool. Together with a hot cam, it was the only Pommie bike that ever made an impression on me.

I was riding a 75 860 Ducati bevel at the time.

Still got it over 30 years later.

Rob

[tongleh]

Personally I'd like a mid 70s 750SS Ducati; or maybe a 69 Bonny; or maybe even a pre unit Bonny; no wait, a Z900 Kawasaki; or perhaps a Triton would be nice, yes definately a Triton, any Triton would do; no wait, an Aerial Square Four; oh hang on, a Vincent would be excellent or even better, a Black Shadow; Norvin, now that would be excellent, how about a Morini 500 V twin, now that's sweet. Where do you stop, so many bikes - so little cash!

[nearnexus]

You forgot the 1100 Guzzi Sport.

And the Ducati 748SP and the MV Agusta M3 and and and ................................................

Apart from the previously mention Union Jack Bonnie, one other British Iron machine of note in Adelaide was one I spotted while walking up Gawler Place in the 1980's.

Everyone knows that British Iron is not exactly oil tight, but this fine example of a BSA twin was truly in a class of it's own. Without exaggeration I recon at least a third of the sump oil was laying in big pool under the bike and running down the gutter. Never seen anything like it before or since.

It was black gold as well - looked like the owner used the flow through method to replace it. Just keep topping it up Fred.

Rob

[Ueee]

"Total Loss" Oil system they call it.
Wife has a 89 Jag.....I've given up trying to fix the leaks and just try to keep the garage floor pool free......

[nearnexus]

[QUOTE=Ueee;1531454]"Total Loss" Oil system they call it.

Ha Ha.

Guy I work with flew on a DC3 a long while back and saw heaps of oil running out the back of the engine nacelle, so he went up front to tell the pilot.

Pilot looks out the window and says "Oh, yeah. That's nothing to worry about. It's when it stops comming out it's a problem, it means we've run out.

Rob

[tongleh]

Bob Lepan built a world speed record back in the early 60s, using two 650cc Triumph engines one behind the other. One of his earlier creations was another twin engined Triumph with the engines side by side, due to the short wheelbase it was a little twitchy so he stuck some lights on it and registered it for the road. I remember reading an article on it, the tester said it was unbelievably fast, but also very scary, and he was pulling power wheelies at over 100mph. Back in the mid 90s there was a bike shop in by the city Adelaide), he had on display a road registered twin engine Triumph with two 500cc Daytona engines side by side, I'd like to know where that is now, very collectable.

[morrisman]

Anyone heard of Sammy Miller ? I had one of his books years ago . He was a trials champion during the 1960's , riding those pommy trials bikes , makes like Greaves . I'm not a biker at all , I reckon bikers are totally mad :)

[Anorak Bob]

Anyone heard of Sammy Miller ? I had one of his books years ago . He was a trials champion during the 1960's , riding those pommy trials bikes , makes like Greaves . I'm not a biker at all , I reckon bikers are totally mad :)


Sammy became famous through his association with Bultaco and the little Sherpa T. I had three OSSAs as a kid. Made in Barcelona, they along with Montesas, were Bultacos main competitors. Sammy was a hero when I was a youngster.

[tongleh]

Early 60s those were the days, Sammy Miller riding trials, Jeff Smith riding MX and Agostini, Hailwood, Read, Sheene, etc, all riding those technical masterpieces. Shame they don't make and race bikes like them anymore.

[morrisman]

This is the book I had , cannot believe the price that guy wants for it , I got my copy for free .

SAMMY MILLER ON TRIALS by Miller, Sammy: Parkhurst Publishing Company, Long Beach, California Brown Cloth Hardcover, Not Stated, Presumed First Edition - BEACON BOOKS (http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=831390807&searchurl=sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dsammy%2Bmiller%2Bon%2Btrials)

I don't think the British trials fraternity ever forgave Sammy for going over to the other side and riding Spanish bikes . His famous early trialler was a British make . The book is a good read , even for a non biker person like me . He came out here to OZ and did the trials scene here too, winning everything of course .

[Chief Tiff]

Anyone heard of Sammy Miller ?

One of the last things to tick off on my "To Do" list before leaving Pomgolia was to ride down to new Milton and visit his museum. TheMuseum itself was incrediblw; many many one-offs and specials like the V8 Norton, V4 Villiers and his own prototype Miller Honda. I was fortunate to meet the man himself whilst I was there, the most striking thing about him was that he is actually really tiny!

A year or so previously I'd been to Bikeworld, an annual bike fest at Beaulieu where a stunt rider called Gary Rothwell was performing for the crowd, doing huge wheelies and stoppies etc. Sammy was one of the guest presenters and Gary got him to ride pillion while he was doing some of these tricks. I'll never forget the sitght of gary roaring up to the crowd barriers almost directly in front of me and slamming on the front brake. As the back wheel got to about 4 feet in the air, Sammy actually stood up on the rear pegs and waved to the crowd!

After dropping Sammy off, he then picked up another presenter called Steve Berry, who used to be a presenter on "Old Top Gear" when it featured motorbikes. Once again he treated us to a selection of tricks with Steve on the back; however at this point we realised that he'd been taking it easy with sammy out of respect for his age. On several monster stoppies I could have sworn that he'd gone well over the point of no return; Steve's terrified face showed that the thought had crossed his mind also. To this day I truly believe that the only reason he stayed atttched to the bike was due to the vaccuum generated when his clacker valve contracted like a black hole singularity....:D