Had a 1971 Norton 750 Commando-- it suffered--- NO, that's not quite correct--- I suffered, with Mr. Lucas's electrics!
Like you Danny, there was "some" time spent by the side of the road.
When properly tuned and primed, it would start on one kick, (but the original advance system in mine didn't last very long and it took my backyard tinkering way too long to find the worn parts in the centrifical advance mechanism).

Bud

British beer is served tepid because Lucas makes the refrigerators.

There are no skyscrapers in London because Lucas makes the elevators.

We had BAE 146 airliners, which had Lucas starters on the jet engines. I kept an oak 2X2 to rap the starter with if it failed to start. Insufficient tension on the brush springs, probably, but I never delved into it. All we wanted to do was get one more flight out it and keep on schedule.

Yeah but he produced some great movies!

Correction: the Dream redlined at 9,000 rpm. It was my later CB350 that redlined at 10,500. It's been so long I'm getting them mixed up. I bought it in pieces for $50. A guy took it apart to paint it, got drafted and killed in Vietnam. It sat in his parent's garage a few years. I didn't put a dime into it. I ran it for a while and sold it for $150 ! Hard tires, poor ride and handling, marginal brakes (and ugly) but it would do 100 mph if you waited long enough. (Only a stupid punk like me would run those tires at 100 mph, it scares to think of it now) Made the guys with the English 650 and 750 bikes mad. I can't remember what year it was made, maybe 1965.

One of the worst I worked on was a BSA 441 Victor. Every one I saw had a dent in the right side of the gas tank where it kicked backed and put your knee in the gas tank. Single cylinder, high compression, in addition to the Lucas stuff it vibrated so badly you couldn't use the mirrors. Didn't matter cause they fell off like everything else while you ran it. Cracked exhaust pipes, split the fenders, speedo broken, forget headlights, even foot pegs came loose. We worked on it every time Mark rode it. The SOB of the day. I think the BSA twins were better but I never saw one back then.

Talk about thread drift... sorry!

quote:

the Dream

I had a 1965 305 Dream, electric start,saddle bags and fancy wind screen; ran like a bugger! Kept up with my pals' Moto Guzzis and BMWs in on the bendy pocono mtn.roads............with a rider behind me. Beautiful little bike I wish I had it now, gas prices and all.

Why don't the Brits make computers?

Because they haven't figured out how to make them leak oil yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:

One of the worst I worked on was a BSA 441 Victor. Every one I saw had a dent in the right side of the gas tank where it kicked backed and put your knee in the gas tank.

I had a friend who was so injured by a BSA kickback that the Army rejected him for the draft. May have saved his life. I lost a lot of friends back then.

quote:

Single cylinder, high compression,.....

I believe that model was the loudest motorcycle ever sold for the street. Probably compression and timing. And not much of a muffler.

Evil machine. It ultimately self-distructed. The guy who owned it attempted to ride it from Midland, MI to Buffalo. Before the Ohio line the tail light assembly fell off, hanging by wires. He removed it. Then the front fender struts broke, soon after, the fender came off the forks. Mirrors were long gone. He made it barely to Penn sans one peg, exhaust barking at the port (even louder!) After sunset the headlight lasted 15 minutes, then the whole exhaust fell off. He pulled over (again) pushed it in the ditch and hitch hiked to NY. Said his hands were too numb to ride or work on it anymore. Evil machine, not surprised it disabled somebody without even riding it! It was a true torque monster in the dirt though, if you could keep it running.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve VW:
! It was a true torque monster in the dirt though, if you could keep it running.

In the '70s, John Banks came to So Cal and showed the local MXers the way around the track on a Cheney 440 or 500. He was unbeatable. He had complete spare bikes. Factory sponsored, I think.

even on our non-Lucas airliners, a pilot report of the smell of smoke in the cockpit was the kiss of death. The airplane was grounded until the cause could be positively found. It was usually something piddly, like a fluorescent ballast or hot Glyptal, but it HAD to be found.

Brit bikes are something like the Barth when it comes to electrical problems. It's probably a bad or intermittant ground.
My everyday rider is a 1970 Mark 2 750 Interceptor, but there is also a 65 mark 1 in the garage.
Don

quote:

Originally posted by Danny Z:
Anybody that would come up with a zener-diode electrical system has to be evil. I have not-so-fond memories of sitting by the side of the road with my Matchless, and suddenly it would be up and running, no explanation, other than the Lucas gods [or demons] decided to let me get back on the road.

OMG, haven't seen one in years! Nice rig! (Where are the air filters?)

Went to go look at that Barth but I got power steering juice all over the driveway under the car.. not a hose like I expected... damn spot weld on the bracket on one of the lines, grrr!

Maybe tomorrow.

Steve! Air filter's? Brit bikes don't need no stinkin air filters! Actually, it now has a pair of velocity stacks with brass sceening to keep out the bugs and small birds. The pic above was from after I had got her all back together. I had a big end let go and had to do a complete rebuild.
The 65 Mk 1 Interceptor below comes with a tool/battery box fitted so there isn't any room for air filters anyway.
Don

Dang, why do those things have to look so good and be so fun to ride! That is beautiful. Hey wait...it doesn't even seem to leak, are you sure it's genuine?