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“Finding bikes too small” is a fairly modern problem, resulting from excessively low seat heights. Back in the day, bikes routinely had bench seats of 30-31”, the oil-in-frame Triumph and BSA frames...

What he said, more or less. I’d say the bike was probably chopped in the mid-70s, people didn’t chop new bikes, too expensive. Extended forks, no rake, another common 70s practice.

I had assumed...

The XR frame, which the Evo Sportster is sort-of based on, looks like this 109101 - note that the lower tube is the larger of the two. The BSA all-welded frames were much like the Evo Sportster.
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If I was rebuilding an older bike and didn’t worry too much about original appearance, wanted decent brakes but didn’t want a disc, I’d go for the BSA and Triumph 2LS units from the late 60s
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I’ve never seen that particular patten, but handlebars with varying patterns of knurling or cross-hatching to contribute to securing the grips, are nothing unusual

That’s a really interesting picture. Obviously in the U.K., from the tax disc (on the fork leg) and two original Minis in the background. Very much the sort of bike being built by Ray Leon around...

108859

This is my 45 stroker, Samwel repop frame, at the Peterborough arena a couple of years ago.

The 45 engine will fit quite happily into any older type Harley frame. You might need to do...

I don’t understand the comment about “plates to adjust the deck height for cheap”.

The “deck height” is a measured dimension between the top of the piston at TDC, and the top of the cylinder. It...

Short con rods have no effect on the stroke. There were a few short-rod KR motors built for racing which performed very well, but these involved major reworking of the flywheels (read $$$$$$) which...

Don’t go crazy with these old flatheads. Whatever you do, you still end up with a heavy ol’ flathead with less than 30bhp, and a 3-speed transmission.

WR rods weren’t significantly different from...

#6 heads are a good add-on, 6:1 compression. Depending what you want to spend, and need to replace, T&O stroker wheels, pistons to match and new rods. That will give you about 6.8:1 compression which...

You sometimes saw 45 flatheads fitted with 1 1/2” SU carbs, it was never a common conversion (a lot of work) but seemed to work ok. I don’t see why a CV off a Sportster wouldn’t work, they just don’t...

That’s absolutely gorgeous

But note the following quote, from the CB750 Owners’ Forum

“Cracked side covers, worn side covers, the ratchet assembly inside will start slipping, bent or twisted off kickstart shafts all have...

For me, having owned both I’d stay with the Evo, or find another Evo. They really are that much better than Shovelheads, and much better on the open road. Look for an FLT, the odd-looking one with...

If the pistons were bought from Hepolite in U.K., I wouldn’t give it any more thought. The 11:1 units were mostly fitted to T120TT bikes for the US market, and weren’t generally sold in U.K. I knew...

Over here (UK) that’s what is known as an “older restoration”, a bike with less-than-100% originality, may or may not have engine work of various degrees, paint ranging anywhere from minor...

Most mass produced British Bikes were paint-dipped.Brush painting was reserved for “bespoke” bikes like Broughs and Pre-War Sunbeams.

People used to do all sorts of odd things in the days when...

Another thing which varies quite a lot in the market, is the paintwork. If that is original paint, and it can be cleaned up without touching up, do that. Minor touching up on the frame doesn’t make...

I’d say that Indian’s missed motorcycle opportunity was the 841, the shaft-drive, transverse v-twin. Moto Guzzi still have Bikes like that in their range, after all.

The vertical twins had the...

What he said. A lot of the “Bonneville” bikes around are actually TR6 rebuilt to Bonneville spec; this isn’t hard, all the parts were in the Triumph catalogue, but if the numbers aren’t right it...

My 1992 Sportster XL has Avon Cobras and I’m very pleased with them; wet conditions aren’t exactly unknown in England, and they perform well in wet and dry.

Well, yeah. It’s all advertising - win on Sunday, sell on Monday. They are off and running now with the FTR1200, which puts them right into Ducati Monster/Scrambler territory. They could probably do...

Honda make seriously reliable motorcycles, and sell them in huge numbers to people who just want transport. It’s a pretty good model, for them. I looked st the Street, and it just wasn’t good enough...

Billy Connolly summed up C&W “if the woman isn’t gone, and the dog isn’t dead, it isn’t country”. Actually I quite like Country and Western, good driving music but over here (England) there is a...