budget bikes?

[steve234]

Has anybody had experience with the early honda's like the CL72 & CL77?

I have noticed some have been bought in and parts don't seem to be an issue as the engines were reportedly very similar to the CB's of the time. I have heard a few on You-tube and they sound great rev pretty hard for 4 strokes of the day.

Cheers,
Steve.

[Marc.com]

I took into account that the A10 frame had been overhauled and painted.....geting a nice clean ready to go frame can save you a lot of grief.

I have Rickman kit body work for an A10, it is pretty rare and fits straight up to A10. I may be open to offers about $1000.

[jimg1au]

firko
charlie edwards bantam was quick and also walsh bantams and there was the bantam built in the bhp workshop in newcastle that sounded like a yz125,thats cause it was inside
cheers

[JC]

Yeh, I seem to recall a roadracing series in UK for bantams only, & I think only the 3sp was allowed. No doubt they get em going pretty quick. Didn't Bert Flood also weave magic on the bantam too?

[mx250]

....then there was the Oz championship winning Victa Bantam at CD5.

[firko]

This budget pre '65 thing has spread all the way to the top. I got a phonecall from the head honcho of MA David White this morning telling me that he's also building a low buck pre 65 machine. He picked up a Bultaco M11 Metisse* frame/swingarm at the Bonanza swapmeet and is fitting a BSA C15 engine and CZ forks and wheels. It just goes to show who reads our posts!
I'm really amazed by the number of folks who have recently become interested in getting into pre 65. The class has been stagnant for years for various reasons, the main two being the perception that you need a shitload of money to throw at a bike and the other being that these bikes are big, overweight tanks that handle like aircraft carriers. I think the message is getting accross that neither of those scenarios need be true. We've shown that with a bit of creative thought you can indeed build a comparitively cheap pre 65 bike and by using a Sprite, Cotton or M11 frame, can build a bike that weighs as little as and handles as well as any pre '75 bike.

This is a great thread that's opening new doors of vintage racing fun. Let's see where it goes.
*Here's an M11 Bultaco Metisse. They spasmodically come up on US eBay for less than a grand, for a barn find.

[firko]

....then there was the Oz championship winning Victa Bantam at CD5

Ray Dole is currently rebuilding the old Victa to original race spec. It's the only Aussie built bike to ever win an Aussie title in any dicipline. Ray tells me he has a few different versions of his "works" Victa tucked away.

[pancho]

i was there that day

[VMX247]

What a wonderful reason to hit the clearance sales with your loved one. 
Endless country places to explore while taking a leisurely drive around the wineries,breweries,craft shops all to stimulate the economy, while secretly pursuing the ultimate bike built before 1975     

http://www.rhas.com.au/Content_Common/pg-Clearance-Sale.seo

http://www.elders.com.au/search/?q=clearance+sales&group=all&sa=Go

http://www.farmonline.com.au/.................probabley the best for all farming newspapers and clearance sales

www.TradingPost.com.au/Motorcycles
cheers
oh forgot ,the local rubbish dump and next doors shed 

[Marc.com]

That brings the basic bike in at around 2.5k. Double that for engine freshen up, paint, polish and upholstery, tyres and possible wheel rebuild and you've got a very basic TRIBSA up and on the track for around 5k.

I think 5K is entirely possible, I picked up Mk3 Rickman with good Betors and shocks for AUD $1600. Couple of grand in a motor and some smart shopping on wheels and body work and even genuine Rickmans don't have to be crazy money.

[mainline]

This is a great thread, how good am I for starting it?

Marc and Mark, you two read my mind. I was going through my small stash of VMX mag last night looking for this sort of stuff, and found the two Tribsa's in issue no.8. I was going to ask tonight why the Triumph thing hadn't been touted all that much and open the thread to find you two had beaten me to it.

Tonight's really stupid question is, the "unit" reference ie. pre unit or unit. what does that mean? I'm serious, I don't know 

Some other questions, after going through my book of 30's 40's 50's British bikes I noticed some had what I would think of as non-conventional shift pedal and rear brake. ie they're on the opposite side to what I'm used to. Are there specific engines or manufacturers (other than Bultaco) where this is the norm?

Firko, you mentioned the early RM tank as an option, do all the major components of the bike have to be pre65 or just the running gear, frame and suspension?

[VMX247]

Mainline, the only true good meaning of a pre 75 "unit" is one of these 
cheers

[firko]

Hi Paul....Unit construction means that the gearbox and engine crankcase are the one 'unit' as in most modern engines.
Pre unit means that the grarbox is a seperate removable unit from the engine.
The English stuff is all right foot gear change some 1 down 3 up others 1 up, three down.
Major components would be frame, engine,forks and hubs. You'd get away with the RM tank polished up to look period as it's not a major component. The key is for the bike to appear period though. A plastic tank off a YZ wouldn't be kosher. In the end it comes down to looking the period.

[VMX247]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BSA-Bantam-1954-D1-Plunger_W0QQitemZ290319433329QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Motorcycles?hash=item439862fe71&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A50

In South Aust  what do you want to put in it..............................SOLD $1525
cheers

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/classic-bsa_W0QQitemZ190311050951QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Motorcycles?hash=item2c4f6c2ec7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A4|294%3A50

keeping the budget bike under the 3k mark..................In NSW

[VMX247]

A Greeves in UK 
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Greeves-scambler-motorbike_W0QQitemZ140323657068QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Motorcycles?hash=item20abf1156c&_trksid=p3286.m63.l1177

cheers