# Old British Beauty



## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

had this majestic old queen come through the workshop today,we have mot,d it for a few years now,shes a BSA S26 dating from 1926,500cc sidevalve single,difficult to ride unless you posess the dexterity of a helicopter pilot,it has 2 throttle levers 1 controlling fuel the other air and infinite adjustments ,lever controlled advance retard and a hand change gearlever,adjustable oil control system and gas lights,whats more it gets used very regularly and is often seen floating as far as the isle of man


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Fantastic that, though I must admit that I wouldn't want to ride it!!! I suppose once you know what you're doing it's no worse than riding anything else?

One of the porters at work was telling me about the Panther 600cc he used to own years & years ago. From what he said it sounded like it had about 15 levers on the handlebars all doing various different things - one for this & one for that. I remember him saying that it had a decompression lever to help you start it, a choke lever, the usual brake & clutch levers, an advance & retard lever which you had to have retarded when you started the bike but which you advanced as you rode the bike & it warmed up - but if you came to a hill whilst it wasn't fully warmed up you had to retard it again - talk about complicated!!! You needed a bloody degree to ride the thing!!! Besides all that it was great (he said) though it vibrated a lot, wasn't that reliable or economical & wasn't very fast - makes you wonder why he bothered


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## Bill Thornton (Nov 17, 2005)

Had a 19S Norton which my brother and I rebuilt in the bedroom of our pre-fab it didnt half shake the floor boards when we started it up .It was great fun blathering up and down the road (adjusting the timing your honour) you could probably have ploughed with the thing.

Again a 600 single really made for sidecar work hauling a double busmar anyone remember them?


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

pauluspaolo said:


> One of the porters at work was telling me about the Panther 600cc he used to own years & years ago. From what he said it sounded like it had about 15 levers on the handlebars all doing various different things - one for this & one for that. I remember him saying that it had a decompression lever to help you start it, a choke lever, the usual brake & clutch levers, an advance & retard lever which you had to have retarded when you started the bike but which you advanced as you rode the bike & it warmed up - but if you came to a hill whilst it wasn't fully warmed up you had to retard it again - talk about complicated!!! You needed a bloody degree to ride the thing!!! Besides all that it was great (he said) though it vibrated a lot, wasn't that reliable or economical & wasn't very fast - makes you wonder why he bothered


My first proper bike ( in @ 1973) after a Puch Maxi was an ex-AA BSA M21 with 600cc sidevalve engine, it had an igntion advance/retard, decompression, choke, as well as the usual brake and clutch levers.

Learning to start it was great fun (you could stand on the kick start) including `tickling` the carb, using the decomp lever, easing over compression, setting the ignition lever, praying that I`d got everything just right, giving the starter a hefty kick then screaming in agony when it kicked me back because I got it wrong









Then after the pain has subsided trying again, eventually I managed to get it going and then had to learn how to use the clutch & gears, naturally I kept stalling so back to trying to start it again









When I finally did work it all out I loved it


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## murph (Aug 14, 2006)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Learning to start it was great fun (you could stand on the kick start) including `tickling` the carb, using the decomp lever, easing over compression, setting the ignition lever, praying that I`d got everything just right, giving the starter a hefty kick then screaming in agony when it kicked me back because I got it wrong
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That reminds me of when I was in my early teens and a friend had a husqavarna 500 that we used on the local fields and hills. I soon learned to let someone else have a go first then take it from then while it was running. You don't want a whack from one of them wearing trainers and you certainly don't want to then let the bike fall while your reacting to the pain. At least we have lots of hills that make bump starting easier.









When that thing fell over it felt like trying to lift a horse to a young teenager.


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## hippo (Jun 27, 2006)

Do any of you guys read Classic Bike?


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## Bill Thornton (Nov 17, 2005)

hippo said:


> Do any of you guys read Classic Bike?


 Motorcycle sport used to be my medicine ,all those in depth technical articles that usually proved that there was nothing much new in motorcycle design. The first 30 yrs of development were certainly far more exciting than todays methods i.e put a servo on everything and run it off a chip! i mean to say this is a watch forum and the 250cc mondial with desmodromic valve gear hey just like a watch!!


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