Any bobber enthusiasts out there.

Snowbird

Snowbird

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Since 11-05-2000
Since the purchase of my old Velocette I have really got the bike bug again. I have become interested in the latest craze for bobbers, preferably English. Have looked at a few over the last couple of weeks and the last one I saw today really has got my heart pounding. A Triumph T110 powered rigid frame which I think is positively orgasmic. Completely rebuilt and a masterpiece of engineering excellence. My old Triton cafe racer has been brought out of storage where its been languishing for over 30 years and has gone to a specialist to be rebuilt, and whilst this is going on a bobber is something to play with meanwhile. Do any other funsters have the bobber bog or am I going through the male menopause.
 
TheTwoOfUs said:
I'm afraid to say that I just don't get it. Why take a perfectly good looking bike and bastardise it to look like what we called having a poo as kids, a ba-ba. In other words it's s**t. :(
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I understand that the purists will not agree, but I suppose the same could be said for many things. I was involved in the hotrod scene years ago and many thought we were a little crazy with some of the creations, but many of those old school hotrods are now worth a fortune, and lets face it, old Fords were never very powerful stock and the brakes were virtually non existent. But drop a V8 small block in and uprate the brakes and suspension and you had a very cool looking vehicle that would more than keep up with modern traffic and would stop when required.
You dont see many stock Harleys that still look the same as when they left the factory, not that I would want a stock or custom Harley anyway :). I know there are some awful bobed bikes about, but some are really well thought out and extremely well engineered.
A classic example is the Triton, Norton frame and Triumph engine, the best of both worlds at the time. I know by modern standards, they were crap, but they were the best we had at the time. There will always be people that "think" they can make a better vehicle than a manufacturer, but some can :cool:.
 
JJ said:
I think it is time for some Funster Folk to start acting their age and give up the attempt at hanging on to their teenage years which have long since gone... :rofl:

Light up your pipe, slip into your slippers and have a nap in front of the fire... ;)


JJ :cool:
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I will leave that to the really old funsters :D.

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Some good looking old ones but you would have to be very flexible with long arms to ride one,
Take a look at FB XS650 quite a few on there for some reason.
 
Snowbird said:
Since the purchase of my old Velocette I have really got the bike bug again.
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A mate of the OH had an old velocette, a couple of years ago he rode it over from IoM where he lives to ride around UK visiting friends, including us here in Devon.
 
Snowbird said:
Since the purchase of my old Velocette I have really got the bike bug again. I have become interested in the latest craze for bobbers, preferably English. Have looked at a few over the last couple of weeks and the last one I saw today really has got my heart pounding. A Triumph T110 powered rigid frame which I think is positively orgasmic. Completely rebuilt and a masterpiece of engineering excellence. My old Triton cafe racer has been brought out of storage where its been languishing for over 30 years and has gone to a specialist to be rebuilt, and whilst this is going on a bobber is something to play with meanwhile. Do any other funsters have the bobber bog or am I going through the male menopause.
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I don't understand a single word of this, is it Liverpudlian slang....:)

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Steve and Denise said:
Some good looking old ones but you would have to be very flexible with long arms to ride one,
Take a look at FB XS650 quite a few on there for some reason.
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Thanks for the link, but am not really into the Japanese stuff. Maybe its a nostalgia thing and I know am wearing rose tinted glasses. I looked at a very nicely put together Yamaha, but it just did not feel right somehow. Nothing sounds or feels like a 60s 650 Triumph, many manufacturers have tried to replicate it over the years, but non have got it just right. Yes, they are temperamental, and yes they do leak oil and the brakes left a lot to be desired but maybe thats part of there appeal.
The Yamaha I looked at which was nice but not for me.
 
buttons said:
I don't understand a single word of this, is it Liverpudlian slang....:)
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What bit dont you understand. Do they not have the menopause dahn south :rolleyes:.
 
But a bobber isn't a Triton nor a NorBsa nor a Norvin. They had style. It's a bike that's been made unroadworthy for any distance. It's OK if you want to pop down to the local café, bistro or to the Bike Shed and that's about it. Nobblies on a road bike - 'fraid not for me and what's with the bandages on the exhausts where once there was a nice chrome one? It's what we would call a field bike when we were kids.
 
I currently have 4 motorbikes, a modern Suzuki Gixer sportbike, two classic race bikes (from the 70's which I have restored/am restoring) and my 'Bobber Equivalent'

Let me explain, to ride it fast, the Gixer needs tyres checking, I need undersuit, contact lenses, leather suit, full face helmet, race gloves, etc. So, if I have been busy and want to pop out on a bike for a quick ride, maybe to the bikers cafe for a coffee & chat with other bikers, it's all too much of a faff to take the Gixer. That said, I can never think of a time when I wouldn't have a sportbike - after all these years they still give me such an amazing rush

I thought long & hard about a real classic, maybe a 1954 AJS - the year I was born and the year AJS won a TT. But my experiences with classic bikes means I know just how much fettling they need to keep them running - to say nothing of getting my imperial tools out of the back of my garage!

In the end, I bought a Royal Enfield Continental GT - built in India. It looks like a classic, it sounds like a classic (mega exhaust added) but it rides so much better, is more reliable, has an electric starter, is cheap to run and after 2 years & 4000 miles, zero depreciation!

It attracts a lot of attention, I even had an attractive young lady in a car at the traffic lights open the window and tell me that it was the most beautiful bike she'd every seen - yes really!


We're all different and I think most bikers would want at least a dozen bikes, but practicality means we limit ourselves to less!



17352470_1869856109922022_1092844435621934908_n.jpg
 
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JJ said:
I think it is time for some Funster Folk to start acting their age and give up the attempt at hanging on to their teenage years which have long since gone... :rofl:

Light up your pipe, slip into your slippers and have a nap in front of the fire... ;)


JJ :cool:
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I tried acting my age once - the most boring ten minutes of my entire life:)

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JJ said:
I think it is time for some Funster Folk to start acting their age and give up the attempt at hanging on to their teenage years which have long since gone... :rofl:

Light up your pipe, slip into your slippers and have a nap in front of the fire... ;)


JJ :cool:
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Getting old is inevitable, but ageing is optional,

Live long and have as much fun as you can whilst you can
 
Ride one a decent distance before you part with £ :whistle:
 
TheTwoOfUs said:
But a bobber isn't a Triton nor a NorBsa nor a Norvin. They had style. It's a bike that's been made unroadworthy for any distance. It's OK if you want to pop down to the local café, bistro or to the Bike Shed and that's about it. Nobblies on a road bike - 'fraid not for me and what's with the bandages on the exhausts where once there was a nice chrome one? It's what we would call a field bike when we were kids.
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For those very reasons it was not for me.
 
Enword said:
Ride one a decent distance before you part with £ :whistle:
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Very good advice, but for any distance I have the car. The bobber would only be to play with and maybe take in the trailer behind the MH to warmer climes. Having had some interesting toys over the years I know they are just that, toys and not to be confused with practicality. Some of my hotrods are great for a 20 mile run on a sunny Sunday morning, but I wouldnt want to drive them from one end of the country to the other.
 
Was looking at this on eBay the other day.

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Snowbird said:
Thanks for the link, but am not really into the Japanese stuff. Maybe its a nostalgia thing and I know am wearing rose tinted glasses. I looked at a very nicely put together Yamaha, but it just did not feel right somehow. Nothing sounds or feels like a 60s 650 Triumph, many manufacturers have tried to replicate it over the years, but non have got it just right. Yes, they are temperamental, and yes they do leak oil and the brakes left a lot to be desired but maybe thats part of there appeal.
The Yamaha I looked at which was nice but not for me.
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Kawasaki W650 or if you don't want Carbs the W800, reliable, vibration free and they don't leak oil.

I was brought up with British bikes and looking back I would always now go Japanese or my Trusty BMW K75.
Bearing in mind I still have a 1954 Royal Enfiled Bullet.
 
Snowbird said:
Since the purchase of my old Velocette I have really got the bike bug again. I have become interested in the latest craze for bobbers, preferably English. Have looked at a few over the last couple of weeks and the last one I saw today really has got my heart pounding. A Triumph T110 powered rigid frame which I think is positively orgasmic. Completely rebuilt and a masterpiece of engineering excellence. My old Triton cafe racer has been brought out of storage where its been languishing for over 30 years and has gone to a specialist to be rebuilt, and whilst this is going on a bobber is something to play with meanwhile. Do any other funsters have the bobber bog or am I going through the male menopause.
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I think one of us is going through the male menopause Snowbird, not sure it is me.....;):)
 
Snowbird said:
Very good advice, but for any distance I have the car. The bobber would only be to play with and maybe take in the trailer behind the MH to warmer climes. Having had some interesting toys over the years I know they are just that, toys and not to be confused with practicality. Some of my hotrods are great for a 20 mile run on a sunny Sunday morning, but I wouldnt want to drive them from one end of the country to the other.
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Its all about the grin factor (y)
 
CAAFB3E6-6773-4D39-8C7C-BC98BAD10BA1.jpeg
The first outfit I built was A10 frame t110 motor slick shift box (the box lasted a day) back to Burman box as you say Snowbird nothing sounds quite like a Triumph blowing up!

If you take a look at XS not XV this is a parallel twin not a V
 
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buttons said:
I think one of us is going through the male menopause Snowbird, not sure it is me.....;):)
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Dont be ridiculous - us bikers never go through the menopause - we barely reach puberty!

I still think of myself as a teenager (without the spots) :)

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TheTwoOfUs said:
But a bobber isn't a Triton nor a NorBsa nor a Norvin. They had style. It's a bike that's been made unroadworthy for any distance. It's OK if you want to pop down to the local café, bistro or to the Bike Shed and that's about it. Nobblies on a road bike - 'fraid not for me and what's with the bandages on the exhausts where once there was a nice chrome one? It's what we would call a field bike when we were kids.
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And the craze of having a bike with two back wheels... just not for me.
 
OK, this is the serious contender. I went down to Leicester to view it yesterday and can only say it looks better in the flesh than the photos. The guy that owns it is also a motorhomer, so he must be kosher. He also won the TT on a sidecar outfit in 1985, so I presume he knows a little about these things.
 
JJ said:
I agree but motorbikes are not included in my life of fun...

Marmite and Oxo Cubes are though! ;)


JJ :cool:
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Nor mine JJ along with Oxo and Marmite but each to his own

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