OT Brit bike questions.

[rusty210]

I'm thinking of getting a Triumph or BSA. What should I look for with either one. What year, model, etc. Anything that I should avoid. Thanks for any help.-Jay

[ELpolacko]

Get as much bike as you can afford to buy. Get yourself a Walnecks book on a regular basis and scour the local papers for yard sales and such.

Tri or BSA, your choice. Check out the websites related to both, www.britbike.com (http://www.britbike.com) is a good place to start.

There are others like www.tonup.com (http://www.tonup.com) and www.acecafe.com (http://www.acecafe.com) for some truly inspirational "traditional" built Brit bikes. Annother good source is an English mag called Classic Bike. Great read and excelent pictures too.

If you want to stray to the chopper side there are plenty of others here that can help out.

I have been in process on converting my 1957 T110 Tri into a Clubman racer, but my way. Here is an old pic.

[Church]

Thanks polako. That britbike site may finally answer the question of what year my bike is. It already eliminated a couple years and it says M21's weren't even made in 42 or 43.

[rusty210]

Italian bikes are cool too. I came across a '73 Moto Guzzi Eldorado 850 that looks interesting. Looks to be more of a heavy cruiser. I look the full fenders. I haven't heard much about them though.

[luketrash]

I'm still wet behind the ears here, so feel free to call me a loser:

I went the trouble free route and bought a 2000 Kawasaki W650 in 2001. Looks and rides like a Triumph from the 60's, but doesn't leak any oil, and has never needed any work done on it. I've ridden it to the grand canyon with viral meningitis.. The thing is awesome. In all ways it is better than a new Bonneville, and in many ways it is like bikes of the past. You might be totally uninterested, but if you can ever get a test ride on one, I suggest trying it out. I only owned 60's/70's Japanese twins before this bike and wanted a brit bike, but for the same price, I got something that never lets me down.

I love the engine too with its overhead, bevel driven cam.. I know of a dude with 50k miles on the clock, and has only had to change tires. The bike doesn't have any cheap ass parts to break like most new things. If you want any specific info, PM me. If you think I'm off base, harrass me...

Here's a rather large photo of my bike:

Bike Pic (http://www.whiteboard.net/~luke/spring03/w_sunset.jpg)

[truth]

If you are going the vintage chopper or bobber route, any 63-70 Triumph is cool. 67-70 are the best years of those. 71 and after have the Oil in frame style, and are a lot harder to chop. Plus Im not a big fan of their conical hubs. The preunits are kickass, too (pre 63), but stuff is getting harder and harder to come by for them.

[cheaterjack]

I thought that pre 67 was the way to go if you were going to cut them up. No turn signals and such... Just my 2 cents.
Oh and cutting them up is the way to go..