old man emu Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I think I'll try this in reverse one day. Twenty-buck says you can't start my bike. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 You'll never get it started that way. Fuel on Select neutral Engage clutch Full choke Open throttle Two priming kicks Close choke Full retard of spark TURN ON THE IGNITION Close down the throttle One caressing push down on the kick starter Once it fires, fully advance the spark Disengage clutch Select 1st gear Put you bum on the sprung seat Slowly open the throttle while engaging the clutch 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 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetrack Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_Atrick Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 1 hour ago, facthunter said: It won't sell for Harley prices. I appreciate my Walla, and it just sits there, appreciating. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marty_d Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_Atrick Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_Atrick Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tuncks Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yenn Posted January 14, 2023 Share Posted January 14, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tuncks Posted April 25, 2023 Share Posted April 25, 2023 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? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted April 25, 2023 Author Share Posted April 25, 2023 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. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 Look Up Zundapp KS 750 also. Nev 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man emu Posted April 26, 2023 Author Share Posted April 26, 2023 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. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willedoo Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacesailor Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 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 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 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. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgwilson Posted April 26, 2023 Share Posted April 26, 2023 (edited) 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 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
facthunter Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 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$#!t from people.(even when I was riding my 1916 model) who should know better. Sorry KG but I get lots of this. Nev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry_Atrick Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 When i did my motorcycle learners permit at Laverton the instructors described Harleys as yesterday's technology at tomorrow's prices 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Koreelah Posted April 27, 2023 Share Posted April 27, 2023 5 hours ago, facthunter said: Don't follow the Mob and bash them. The market is the best measure and they retain their Value well The finish is way better than most by a mile and you don't have to goat breakneck speed to enjoy them. Downs side is you have to put up with a lot of$#!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. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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