Somethin funny going on here

[61 panman]

I have mixed feelings about a lot of these Japanese bikes and the potential of many of them to be classics. The problem is many of them were painfully boring to ride. Another problem is many of them used castings as direct bearing surfaces so they really were not designed to be rebuilt.
Of course there were some that were great machines.In my mind mainly the 2 strokes. Man they could leave great smog trails hundreds of miles long. Great for pissing off todays environmentalists. A buddy of mine had a 74 Suzuki GT380 and that thing was an unbelievably smooth power maker, but you wouldn't want to ride behind him. I asked him about it recently and he told me it broke down so he just took off the plates and left it by the side of the parkway. The same fate of so many Vega's and Pintos of the same vintage

By the way if you read the article on future classics check out page 29 where the author states regarding the similarities of Triumphs and Yamaha 650's "This 650cc parallel twin was at first regarded as a knock-off of a british twin, but nothing could be further from the truth" what a crock!!! Who does the author think he is writing for... "Ladies Home Journal" that 650 was a shameless copy of the Triumph. That is why so many real bikers of the time distained the Asian invaision as the bikes they produced had very little in the way of originality. how quickly we forget. Where is the accuracy in reporting.
Ahh. calming down now... everything is going to be OK.... Thank You for these boards I really needed to get that off my chest.
Doug

[Hrdly-Dangrs]

If you want to see a knock-off of a british twin, try to find a Kawasaki 'W' Series 1966-1967 Twins. They were virtually identical to the BSA A-10 Pre-Unit Twins! Of course when you actually got into the 'motors' they were much different, but talk about a double-take. I owned three of them at one time. Single carb and the 'Hotter' twin carb. They were always mistaken for BSA's. I found all three in the same week! The first one I seen in a want-ad was a couple towns over so I went and picked it up for $75.00. A couple days later a 'Pair' showed up in the local paper in Staten Island. I think I picked them up for a whopping $130.00! I didn't have a truck at the time so my buddy and I took his old Jeep (yeah a regular size CJ Army Jeep) and went to pick them up. Picture two full size 350Lbs+ each Japanese Motorcycles sticking out the back of a little Jeep, the front of each wheel nearly dragging on the road behind us!...plus some extra parts bouncing around!! We must have stopped a dozen times to keep pushing them back up and into the Jeep! I don't know how we did it, but we got back to North Jersey! Ha!... That's the kind of memories that make you want to get another one just for the heck of it! I'm not fond of JAP bikes themselves, but if I came across another Kaw 'W' Series Twin that was reasonably priced, I'd buy it!....Just something different.... ..Hrdly-Dangrs

[AdminGuy]

I agree Doug. re bearings, cracked cases, etc. everthing is restorable, for a price.--but, every dog will have it's day. Look at a few of the models that were one yr only. Poor sales. Under powered, Super ugly bikes etc.

A machinist friend of mine is currently making a 1200cc water cooled something or other that was super ugly -- look pretty darn good. A rebirth for this one yr only bike. The engine was the best part , cosmetics very ugly. Way over done. He digs metric - that's his bag. I don't question it. Well, he did do a K model and a Servicar, and he has lumps of Italian stuff. Ummmm well he bought out a dealer that closed up , so that explains the metric projects.

Rick is a sneeky monkey for doing that Japanese article. It will ruffle a few feathers. My personal take is that this entry level stuff will lead to futher projects and deeper interest in older marques. Once your hooked - your hooked. So try not too scoff a these people. Steer them in a new direction. Open there eyes. Show them what you really love about your current project.

Yes, the BBoard is a good place to vent. Make your feelings known. Many folks just grumble, swear and never really voice any thoughts. Lets hear it!

[flathead1957]

Originally posted by 61 panman
Hey Man you guys pirated my topic. This was susposed to be about me and my day and my thoughts, and the new club magazine, and now you guys are going on about some big minibikes. Sheesh what a bunch of freeloaders.
Doug

This was all about you and your day and your thoughts, you were just reading it all wrong.