Love the British approach to Vehicles

[Frosty]

This reminds me of getting the spanners out and spending the weekend tightening the fasteners on the MG.

I got the Centre Stand kit for the new Triumph 900. The instructions say to put the bike on a paddock stand and remove the side stand and left foot peg assembly. OK, I made a front wheel chock and installed bobbins on the swing arm. The Centre Stand attaches with circlips after lubrication with a bit of grease. All fairly straight forward, but several steps.

The following at the end of the instructions made me laugh:

"Centre Stand Maintenance
1. Every year or 6,000 miles (10,000 km) (whichever
is sooner):
• Detach the spring and remove the spring
bracket.
• Remove the centre stand assembly (reverse of
the fitting procedure).
• Lubricate the left and right hand pivot pins of
the centre stand and the spring pin pivot area
with grease to NLGI 2 specification
• Refit the centre stand assembly following
steps 6 to 18 of this instruction."

 

[Phil Tarman]

LOL! Truly a British vehicle!

 

[DirtFlier]

I never actually saw a hard copy but according to many, in one of the earliest Honda owner's manuals was the warning:

"Beware of the oil slick for therein lives the skid demon," or something along those lines.

 

[mikesim]

I too laughed at the recommended maintenance in the owner's manual of my Triumph. After spending a considerable amount of time with the Deauville folks in the UK forum, I now see why. I have seen pix of aluminum engine cases perforated due to corrosion. Also swing arms that rust into pieces. The salt they use to mitigate icy roads plays hell with anything automotive. Also, there is no place in England that is more than 75 miles from the ocean, thus a corrosive environment. Electrical problems are much more common due to corroded connections.

Mike

 

[Reniram]

Electrical problems are much more common due to corroded connections.

And all this time I have been blaming Joseph Lucas...and bad Earth..along with rust in the petrol tank..hmmm

 

[mikesim]

And all this time I have been blaming Joseph Lucas...and bad Earth..along with rust in the petrol tank..hmmm

Don't let the Prince of Darkness off that easy. In our relatively benign environment vis a vis the Brit's, Joe's handiwork still showed up with alarming regularity thus proving his culpability in all woes electrical.

Mike

 

[suvcw04]

I never actually saw a hard copy but according to many, in one of the earliest Honda owner's manuals was the warning:

"Beware of the oil slick for therein lives the skin demon," or something along those lines.

My favorite was "When approaching a walker, tootle him briskly."

Also, "The purpose of the sparking plug is for to ignite the mixture."

 

[junglejim]

And I had to loosen my silencer to fit my pannier brackets.

 

[Reniram]

A gudgeon pin connects the con rod to the piston Wow ! gotta be difficult to maintain a conversation, but tea and crumpets help a lot...hehe....

 

[suvcw04]

A gudgeon pin connects the con rod to the piston Wow ! gotta be difficult to maintain a conversation, but tea and crumpets help a lot...hehe....

A pint of STOUT would be better.

 

[mikesim]

Working at the Honda dealer in the sixties, the service manuals were sometimes difficult to decipher. The British manuals were somewhat better but the Brit idioms were sometimes perplexing..... earth..... spanner....fortnight... etc. Who was it that said, "two countries separated by a common language"?

Mike

 

[Bear]

I love Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons, and Velocettes. Would love to own an Ariel Square Four,

 

[Macka]

Stay with the Honda, Bear. That way you don't have to wipe up the oil puddle every morning.
In the case of the Norton, when I was young, I lusted after a Commando.
The price and the vibration (bits falling off) put an end to that dream.

Macka

 

[mikesim]

I love Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons, and Velocettes. Would love to own an Ariel Square Four,

I have to admit, there was a certain panache about Brit bikes. When they were running properly they were a joy to ride and the sound of a British parallel twin was unmistakable. In the end however after many a roadside repair I elected to choose reliability as my top priority and haven't looked back.

Mike

 

[KazooST]

Although I have seen reports of Triumph's new liquid-cooled twins having gearbox issues, the triples are pretty darn good. My 2011 Sprint GT has had exactly one problem in 53,000 miles - a bad rear brake light switch. The bike has been rock solid reliable, doesn't leak or burn a drop of oil and if my doc hadn't taken an artery out of my left arm I would keep it for another 50,000.

I have actually had a lot more problems with the NT than the Sprint.

 

[Frosty]

I like it so far ... stay tuned.

 

[DirtFlier]

oops, a typo on my part and I meant to type skid demon and not skin demon. :-(

The Brit bikes of the 50s-70s had a lot going for them but they never seemed to improve much. Company management were skin-flints when it came to improvements on the bike and also improvements to their archaic factories often dating from the turn of the century. And each year they seemed to gather more and more brands under one corporate umbrella which only bled more money since many of them had products aimed at the same market segment.

I am glad that John Bloor saved the Triumph name and also glad the locals in India who originally only sold the Royal Enfield eventually bought the factory and the name.

 

[mikesim]

[QUOTE="
I am glad that John Bloor saved the Triumph name and also glad the locals in India who originally only sold the Royal Enfield eventually bought the factory and the name.
[/QUOTE]

Amen! Bloor should be knighted (or whatever they do over there) for his efforts in saving/resurrecting a storied name in motorcycling. It remains to be seen whether the Norton marque can do likewise. The preservation of RE by the Indians is also noteworthy. Although to me the Bullet was an anachronism what they have done with the Himalayan and the Interceptor is remarkable. The Interceptor is probably the best looking retro bike out there IMHO and from all reports, quite reliable.

Mike

 

[Warren]

I really like the Kawasaki W800. Very retro looking and the gear driven overhead cam is kind of cool.

 

[Bear]

I was part owner of a Norton, Jawa, Benelli dealership in the early 70s. When Berliner stopped importing the machines, we went belly-up. I had a 750JPS which I loved. It was also quite reliable. One of my favorite bikes of that era was the Jawa Californian 350cc 2 Stroke with a sidecar. That was the greatest rig for tooling around town.