Frivolous- Maybe In Some Quarters....

1200ts said:
I forgot to mention, another reason I canceled the subscription, is the clueless writers of these magazines. They were not even born when most of the bikes they write about were made and the employees of these motorcycle companies are all dead. So no one to ask questions.

So they just read an old article or book that has incorrect information and believe it as fact. Twenty years from now another magazine editor is going to want an orange and silver Jota article. Anyone who worked at the factory is dead and most of the Laverda family is dead and so are most of us. The only option, read a Classic Bike magazine from 1992 which has alot of incorrect information and copy it.

According to every article I have read about the 180 triples written in the last twenty years is that they vibrate so bad it will make your teeth fall out!

I few months ago I read that all the 1200's were not 180 motors but were 120's.

And let's not forget that the 750 is an exact copy of a Honda motor.
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I had a load of copies of “ The Motorcycle” from the sixties- if you read them you would think the Ariel Arrow was going to change motorcycling forever, the Japanese built rubbish little two strokes and most British 650’s had front brakes so powerful you risked going over the handlebars. I ride a Laverda 750 from 1969 which predates me by six months- my whole life I have had boring old farts tell me I wouldn’t know anything about British bikes because I wasn’t old enough to remember. Let me put the record straight, I have owned ‘74 Daytona 500, Vincent Comet, 750 Bonneville & BSA B25- all of them were to a varying degree old shit, not very well designed or put together.
I worked in the motorcycle industry for twenty five years, factory trained by Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph, BMW & I can honestly say there is more bollocks spoken about motorcycles than any other product- trying to find a truth amongst the myths is almost impossible.
if you wrote the truth about motorcycles, it wouldn’t sell- motorcycles are for dreamers to dream about.
 
Exmoor beast said:
I had a load of copies of “ The Motorcycle” from the sixties- if you read them you would think the Ariel Arrow was going to change motorcycling forever, the Japanese built rubbish little two strokes and most British 650’s had front brakes so powerful you risked going over the handlebars. I ride a Laverda 750 from 1969 which predates me by six months- my whole life I have had boring old farts tell me I wouldn’t know anything about British bikes because I wasn’t old enough to remember. Let me put the record straight, I have owned ‘74 Daytona 500, Vincent Comet, 750 Bonneville & BSA B25- all of them were to a varying degree old shit, not very well designed or put together.
I worked in the motorcycle industry for twenty five years, factory trained by Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph, BMW & I can honestly say there is more bollocks spoken about motorcycles than any other product- trying to find a truth amongst the myths is almost impossible.
if you wrote the truth about motorcycles, it wouldn’t sell- motorcycles are for dreamers to dream about.
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Just like sex.
Paul
 
Exmoor beast said:
I had a load of copies of “ The Motorcycle” from the sixties- if you read them you would think the Ariel Arrow was going to change motorcycling forever, the Japanese built rubbish little two strokes and most British 650’s had front brakes so powerful you risked going over the handlebars. I ride a Laverda 750 from 1969 which predates me by six months- my whole life I have had boring old farts tell me I wouldn’t know anything about British bikes because I wasn’t old enough to remember. Let me put the record straight, I have owned ‘74 Daytona 500, Vincent Comet, 750 Bonneville & BSA B25- all of them were to a varying degree old shit, not very well designed or put together.
I worked in the motorcycle industry for twenty five years, factory trained by Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph, BMW & I can honestly say there is more bollocks spoken about motorcycles than any other product- trying to find a truth amongst the myths is almost impossible.
if you wrote the truth about motorcycles, it wouldn’t sell- motorcycles are for dreamers to dream about.
Click to expand...
I also have most of the copies of " Motor Cycle " , but from the late ` sixties onwards ............ the writing was truly on the wall by then ( In large Japanese characters ) , so any test reports of what remained of the British industry probably included an element of duty / pity towards those whose jobs depended on that industries survival ......

When Bob Currie wheeled out an export version of BSA`s A50 Royal Star ( top speed 88 mph ) , he said a couple of blokes from the road test department shouted out ... " You`ll enjoy that one ..... it`s one of our favourites " ....... Bob Currie never mentioned as much , but it was always difficult to know whether they were taking the piss or not .......

............. and of course all press bikes passed through the competitions department before being handed over to the journalists ............ still a standard bike but ..........

By the mid `seventies old hand British bike journalists like ex racer and Vincent record attempt team member Vic Willoughby were flying over to Japan to test and give their impressions of pre production Suzuki GS750 `s and the like .......

... There was a story about workers from the Velocette factory in Birmingham looking at a newly arrived Suzuki Super Six , and one of them saying to his mate .... " Pack up your tools and go home Bob , it`s all over ....... " .......




Mentioning Vic Willoughby reminds me of a story that when Phil Vincent was contemplating the 24 hour record attempt over in France , he was advised by Willoughby and others that he best replace the bikes big end bearings with an up rated item to make sure it lasted the distance ......... but Vincent refused , saying he wanted the bikes to remain as standard .....

True to form , one of the bikes expired whilst Willoughby was riding it ..... ( He said it was a record attempt after all , so he wasn`t exactly hanging about ) ......... but Vincent blamed him for the failure , excluded him from the team , and refused to speak to him afterwards ... ! ..........



Another Vincent story involves a test rider , a humped back bridge , and a double decker bus ........... the bike apparently ended up embedded in the buses upper deck , on fire ........
 
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Nice little write up on a 750 SF in Real Classic in the July issue.
The only ‘classic’ bike mag. I buy these days unless there is a specific bike featured in one of the others.
Real Classic do appear to generally get their facts right and when quoting articles/information published at the time of said motorcycle’s release do make it clear that its info of its time.
 
Yes even in the old days the magazines did exaggerate the bikes performance. I have a 1962 Cycle World magazine with a road test of a 1962 Bonneville and during 1/4 mile tests, they stated that they had to fight to keep the front wheel on the ground. I have owned a 1961 Bonneville for 45 years and don't think even if I dropped the clutch at full revs it would lift the front wheel.
 
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