Are you a collector and if so what type? If not, what are you?

Vince said:
Sounds a bit like the Pixxx, I forget the name but they were Vincent built with a Vincent engine flying machines they used for Aerial Target Practice. I get the one bike thing, it's like those people who ride up and down the same bit of road all day, I just cannot do that. To me, it's one pass only, one pass on a road, one bike at a time.
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Picador.....Sorry ...you beat me to it...just realised...!....( I`m sure #41 wasn`t there just now , is there a time delay between a post from Australia arriving here or is it just me ? )...
 
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Dellortoman said:
Every day is a school day. I had to delve into Google to figure out what an "A squared P squared" Triumph was.

For the other uneducated plebs like me:
During WW2, Triumph was building auxiliary generator motors for the army and the Royal Air Force (RAF), the airborne auxiliary power plant or AAPP (“A squared, P squared”).
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Yes that`s right....the barrels had squared off fins so a cowling could be fitted over it so it could be directly air cooled.....which sounds like you would need another generator to keep the first generator cool.....this could go on forever......
Some were fitted to Lancaster bombers and it seems on more than one occasion the aircraft had to return to base about ten minutes after taking off as the AAPP had caught fire....
Triumph had some surplus AAPP`s left over after the war and some of these found their way into the Trophy , and also Triumph`s over the counter GP racer.....easily identified due to the square fins .
 
rocketonarail said:
This is purely a personal thing , and many would dismiss this as rubbish , but I believe that if you own just the one motorcycle for a particular purpose , then you start to build a relationship with that bike .....you ride it in all weathers , use it day in and day out , perform your own maintenance , get to know it inside out , accept it`s good points and put up with the bad......all this on a Laverda , not several Laverdas , just the one Laverda .

How could you build up that sort of relationship with several Laverdas , how could you build up that sort of relationship by constantly moving from one machine to the other ?
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You can build that relationship with several bikes, if you use them.
I have several Laverda, all rebuilt and maintained by me, and I put several thousand km a year on each of them.
When I pass from one to the other, it's like meeting an old friend again.

It's one of the reasons I'm still considering selling my SFC, I cannot build that sort of relationship with it, it isn't and won't be used enough.

Paul
 
Ride em because I liked them sort of collector. Got to 11, 6 guzzis, 3 Ducati, Laverda + Aprillia. minor changes oger time. Rego costs killed and Maintenance time mean't all were never on the road at once. Started thinning and then a business crunch led to a firesale retaining, 3 favourites. now have 5. Laverda ducati guzzi suzuki honda.
 
rocketonarail said:
Back in 2005 a friend of mine decided he needed a Laverda Jota.......He already owned a Dominator 600 and a Darmah SD ( a Darmah that thinks it`s a 900SS ) .
As I already owned one I tagged along to provide "expert opinion" ( ha ha )....
We looked at a " Jota " which was actually a half tidy 3C , except under the seat was a rats nest of wiring passing for an ignition system...It started and ran ok but you would be on your own if it suddenly stopped , and of course it wasn`t a Jota , so that was that .

We then looked at a `78 Jota with gold paintwork and black frame which seemed nice so he bought that for £3 grand .
( This seller also had a nice ex Jim Alves works Triumph A squared P squared Trophy , but he wasn`t selling that ) .....

Sadly this friend then became ill with two brain tumours plus one in his neck , so he offered the Jota to me , but I decided it was enough hard work keeping one Laverda taxed and running and on the road , never mind two , so I said no .

I advertised it for sale on his behalf and it sold to a guy down in Plymouth for £3800 - 800 quid profit which we both thought was rather good........of course you could stick another £10 grand on top of that now .

So should I have snapped up that Jota when I had the chance ? ....

Maybe I should have , but I already had a Laverda didn`t I ?......

This is purely a personal thing , and many would dismiss this as rubbish , but I believe that if you own just the one motorcycle for a particular purpose , then you start to build a relationship with that bike .....you ride it in all weathers , use it day in and day out , perform your own maintenance , get to know it inside out , accept it`s good points and put up with the bad......all this on a Laverda , not several Laverdas , just the one Laverda .

How could you build up that sort of relationship with several Laverdas , how could you build up that sort of relationship by constantly moving from one machine to the other ?

As I said , purely a personal thing , but probably the real reason I turned the offer of that Jota down.....
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Beware the one gun man! It’s great to jump on a different bike when the need arrises but getting on my old Guzz is like meeting an old mate, when I ride it I’m twenty two until i get off. If you’ve got a bike like that, your lucky.
 
Exmoor beast said:
Beware the one gun man! It’s great to jump on a different bike when the need arrises but getting on my old Guzz is like meeting an old mate, when I ride it I’m twenty two until i get off. If you’ve got a bike like that, your lucky.
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I'm a one bike guy.
Back in the '80s, I had two Laverdas, a Porsche, an Alfa and a Mooney 4-seater single-engined aeroplane.
It was mid-afternoon by the time I'd figured which toy to play with. So, I thinned the herd. It suits me better.
 
Incidentally, Picador engines have the gearbox lugs cut off. Knocks the value right out of a Vincent twin.
Having recently contacted the Vincent Owners Club GB, it looks like anything knocks the value off a Vincent twin. Which is good news for motorcyclists.

Paul
 
Paul Marx said:
You can build that relationship with several bikes, if you use them.
I have several Laverda, all rebuilt and maintained by me, and I put several thousand km a year on each of them.
When I pass from one to the other, it's like meeting an old friend again.

It's one of the reasons I'm still considering selling my SFC, I cannot build that sort of relationship with it, it isn't and won't be used enough.

Paul
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Agreed, I also find that riding the same road on a different bike is a completely different day out so I enjoy taking all of the bikes on some routes in and around my local and not so local areas. 😊
 
I think collecting is something rather in-explainable, for me I don't really collect for the sake of collecting but re-living dreams I had when I was a child / teenager.
I remember the bikes I used to dream of and the bikes I used to read about etc and all the ideas I had, now in my later years I can afford some of them and love it just to have like we used to have Dinky toys for the same reason.
I also chose to invest in my pension, rather than pay monthly for some idiot behind a desk who does not give a flying fuck about me and simply want's to use my money for his/her own gain without taking any accountability if they loose it all. I would rather take the risks myself and enjoy looking at my investments, trying to improve them, adding to them and using them for some added fun while I have them. One day when maybe I need to sell them that work will pay off. Maybe not, but at least I will have had some fun in the process.
I also find the looking and buying process super interesting, and the pleasure of buying something nice and taking it home to look at is a real buzz for me. More so than actually owning it.
We spend small amounts as often as we can and one day we find we have a lot of valuable stuff.
As I say, collecting is not really explainable, it is just something we do.
Someone once asked me this question.
"Do you not wish that you could have all the money you had spent on cars and motorcycles etc during your lifetime?"
Fuck!! of course not, cos all I would do is spend it again on cars and motorcycles, but not as wisely or as carefully.
Idiot!! (him or me)

Jules
 
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