HL500

[VMX247]

That's because the originals were put together in small batches and the frames were hand made by Brian Curtis who's work (as you correctly noted) is magnificent.

Thanks- knowledge is but a touch of the key pad  I now see it was also the maganese that also has a brilliance about the work produced.
The story goes on the above mentioned bike,that the owner got three of the four that came into the Albany Port south of Western Australia,not sure on the timing though..
Something I will have too ask the owner at a latter date, as he was busy kicking over another of his Yamaha's.
2011 Big thumpers 
cheers A 
http://www.classicdirtbike.co.uk/news/something-special-curtis-yamaha
http://forums.mxtrax.co.uk/showthread.php?t=244233
there is a Brian Curtis doing bmxer's also,dont know if its the same ?
http://www.curtisbikes.co.uk/info.html
Quote:Here at Curtis we build our frames from a type of tube called T45. T45 is a combination of Carbon, Manganese and Steel and is one of the strongest and highest quality tubes available. To top it off it's made in England! T45 is used a lot in the aerospace and motorsport industries because of it's superior strength to weight ratio over other steel tubing. T45 was used to construct the chassis on Richard Nobles Thrust 2 land speed record car. T45 is not easily available abroad which is why all imported steel frames are made from American or Taiwanese 4130 Chromoly.

Chromoly tubing also requires heat treating after any welding or brazing, where T45 does not require any heat treatment whatsoever. T45 is simply a stronger and higher quality tube than Chromoly. We have been using and brazing T45 tubing since the 1970s, and it is due to our choice of tubing, along with our reinforced headtubes (see right) that we are so confident in our frames and are able to offer such an extensive guarantee to our customers.

[firko]

. Ali....We've covered all of this previously, plenty of times actually, I can't believe you'd never seen an HL before   Here's a piccy of Brian Curtis and one of his creations and one of his bikes, perhaps Dave Kings bike....or is it yours Ben?

[VMX247]

No ! Never parked next to one before and noticed the amazing welds.... 
cheers a

[LWC82PE]

That would be Daves unless theres another identical one with WP's and Fox forks out there. A bit different to the normal red versions you see.

[firko]

The trainspotters amongst you will notice that the Curtis frame is for all intents an HL with a Honda engine.
Dave Curtis is the creator of the Norton Villiers production HL. I think Flower Pot Ben has a genuine Curtis HL and a replica by our own GMC, a nice pairing.

[flower pot racing]

. Ali....We've covered all of this previously, plenty of times actually, I can't believe you'd never seen an HL before   Here's a piccy of Brian Curtis and one of his creations and one of his bikes, perhaps Dave Kings bike....or is it yours Ben?

That is THE man holding my frame.
The bike below is Dave Kings bike

[flower pot racing]

The trainspotters amongst you will notice that the Curtis frame is for all intents an HL with a Honda engine.
Dave Curtis is the creator of the Norton Villiers production HL. I think Flower Pot Ben has a genuine Curtis HL and a replica by our own GMC, a nice pairing.

That's an old pic....

My original one is on the left.  It has had some TLC sincethe pic was taken and a visit to Mr Hudsons as it was a pig to start.  You can now start it nice and easily on with slippers (if you choose to do so)  Mr Smooth is also very hand on bike prep as well as being a rather good rider and all round very nice chap.

The one on the left is a GMC and was build by the Chief Engineer at Bently motor cars who looks after the engine set ups.  It had lots and lots of very nice nutand bolts...!

[flower pot racing]

A friend in France wanted one, so I asked around and found this one for him.  It was just in my garage for a very short while and now lives in France.  I saw it in October at Beauval and it looks even better now.

The original builder is also a very good rider and would take the bike to modern meetings and blow the modern bikes away.  They used to hate it when he used to over take them by going over their heads on the big jumps.  I am told he has a 'take no prisoners' riding style!  (and good taste in bikes I think would will agree!)

[Marc.com]

Too true .... next mod to mine is rare Daytona head that has been under my desk for quite a while

[AjayVMX]

Yeah, I still have Ray's HL Replica.  It's awesome.

[HuskyPete]

Shoey's ProFab HL 500



One hot model, which one would you ride



CD5 John Behrens flogging it



CD5 John Behrens flogging it

[firko]

Here's the original Husky framed HL prototype with Hallman, Enquist and a helmeted Bengt Aberg
Note the realistic seat height. I suspect the action shots of Aberg racing the HL are this bike. Compare the back suspension with the studio shot of Abergs original race HL posted by Graeme at the start of this thread. The factory HL has laid over Fox Shox yet the bike Bengts racing has a rear end setup similar to the bike below.

[HL500]

Too true .... next mod to mine is rare Daytona head that has been under my desk for quite a while

Mark, Mark, Mark, hand the head over.   You've had it too long, unused and don't deserve it!!  Give it to a needie home! MINE.  Mate what length eye to eye are your shocks.  I think you once quoted 17.5'  but they appear shorter.
John

[ola_martin]

Here's the original Husky framed HL prototype with Hallman, Enquist and a helmeted Bengt Aberg
Note the realistic seat height. I suspect the action shots of Aberg racing the HL are this bike. Compare the back suspension with the studio shot of Abergs original race HL posted by Graeme at the start of this thread. The factory HL has laid over Fox Shox yet the bike Bengts racing has a rear end setup similar to the bike below.

It's Torsten Hallman, Sten Lundin, Bengt Aaberg, Staffan Enequist.
I think that bike is the first one, witch actually is a Huskyframe with the XT engine, made by Lundin and founded by Yamahaimporters Hallman and and Enequist. This bike was only tested, never raced, before the frame was shipped to Pro-Tec in USA so that they could make a new frame based on this. Aaberg only raced the Pro-Tec frames, the british production NVTframes was a replica of this, a not very good one according to Hallman.

[Marc.com]

Mark, Mark, Mark, hand the head over.   You've had it too long, unused and don't deserve it!!  Give it to a needie home! MINE.  Mate what length eye to eye are your shocks.  I think you once quoted 17.5'  but they appear shorter.
John
[/quote]

Mate, that head is a bit like my gym membership .... I have very good intentions to use it one day. The shocks are a shade under 17.5", maybe 17.25" .... my mind is a little adled on the exact dimensions, a lot of parts have gone over the desk since then. I seem to remember GMC Geoff reminding me my HL took 4 years to complete but that may have something to do with only being home 3 weeks of the year.