HARLEY vs. TRIUMPH, the CALTECH WIND-TUNNEL, and the ACCIDENTAL birth of 750cc racing

Moto Guzzi is setting a good example with the V100! They should’ve included hydraulic valves!

Merry Christmas!
I'd like to know if you guys remember a magazine, in the late 70s or middle 80s maybe
That took a XS 650 and put a triumph tank, old school Sportster rear fender and I don't recall what all else.
What do you think you know what I mean? Or where I could find the Old article?

Thanks guys, the kids are done tearing open their Xmas gifts and the ol' man gets to sit down and listen to Motorcycle history with a cup of coffee!

Tony Murphy used those 16” tires on that Bridgestone 350cc road racer he built in the late 60s.

And Harley is still having sumping problems, wtf...?

Race motorcycles more reliable than an airliner?
That is it. I'm never flying again.

Motorcycles go through snow, right?

It’s too bad that they didn’t stay with the Class C concept of differing displacements for different engine layouts which is still the best way to have fair racing. A better formula might have been -
900 or 1000cc pushrod twins.
750cc OHC Twins.
650cc OHC Multis
500cc 2S air cooled.
350cc 2S air cooled.

The Triumph 500 twin had a ridiculously designed frame the steering head was not alone the rear post was a single tube and the swinging arm pivot was brazed to the tube and it would twist at that point, the simple answer was to make two triangular plates that bolted to the ends of the pivot and braced the two ends to the tubes leading up to the seat base, it stiffened the whole assembly and stopped the frame bending in the middle, it became standard on the ‘Daytona’ model along with the twin carbs.

",,,,a high-speed viscosity measuring apparatus." Classic!
Still riding my 70 Triumph Daytona, bought non-running for a couple hundred with a warped Amal carb body (from over-tightening). Jack Hately sold me a used body for $10, I put a set clutch plates in it and have now been riding it on and off for the past 40 years. Starts first kick, doesn't burn (or leak) a drop of oil and always puts a smile on my face.

This was a very special Christmas gift, thanks!

There was a private project bike built around a K model Harley engine and put into an H-D Sprint type frame in the mid to late '60s. I saw the machine in action at Laconia during a class C meet there, remember it was in the rain. I don't recall who rode it and it seems like the project got good coverage in perhaps Cycle magazine at the time, also may have partially sponsored it's construction . The rods and cylinders had been shortened to fit the frame which was specially made. Would like to see someone expand a article on that bike, hopefully Kevin Cameron.

I run a 2001 GSX-R1000 in the altitudes between 4200 and about 9000 feet. I regularly fill up with mid grade fuel (87/88 RON) and it runs just as good as anything else out here. I've see premium gas at 87 RON at higher elevation towns.

Another wonderful history lesson.....I enjoy your storytelling a lot! Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2025!

Hi Kevin and Mark, suggestion: do a show on procedure to jet carburetors and establish spark timing for a special build.

I feel like a genius when I can almost comprehend a theory from 1957 🤔
I can't wait to go out and incorporate it into conversations like it's basic knowledge.
Sadly, any memory of it is gone long before the podcast ends 😢

Dick O'Brien the "Fighting Irishmen"! from Buffalo, N.Y. The ultimate flathead in 1969! 160MPH through the speed traps on a 750cc sidevalve!

In the 1990s, I edited an automotive industry tabloid-sized newspaper, and we still had paste-ups pre-printing. You went into production and saw your pages composed of photo negatives taped up in forms. By 2000 this was history and we sent PDFs to the printer and they went directly to plates and which were then hung and you were printing...all this in minutes, not hours!
PS - I raced in the '60s and remember buying two Triumph T120 TTs (the legendary TT Special) from Mr Patton in Texas for the discounted price of $1250 each. Wonder what they wold be worth today??

One benefit that a flathead engine has is that you can run more radical cam timing because you don't have to worry about the valves hitting the piston.

Another interesting pod cast thanks for the effort .hi from New Zealand 🇳🇿

Fantastic story's - thanks!

I was at the Mallory Park Race of the Year, the year Cal Raybourn took the 750 there, unfortunately for them Jarno Saarinen was there on a 350cc Yamaha and pasted the 750 Triumphs, Hondas and Harleys, in fact Raybourn blew the guts out of the Harley and I was stood watching him pick bits of alloy out of his leg where they exited via the carbs.

How does one purchase the princess Leia headphones?

I never liked any Harley ,maybe XR but thats it ,that old stale twin is just a clunker no matter what they do to doll it up,the VRod was ok too I guess.

Thank you, always entertaining and informative. Can wait for the next one

The best online podcast! More...more...more PLEASE.

Hi a video on isolastics sounds great, long live Norton cheers 🍻

As the story was told to me, Dick Mann's Daytona winning Honda was using Amal carbs!

A further fascinating technical video for Christmas. What a treat! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (from UK), with doubtless many more videos in 2025 too good to miss.

Burt Munroe's World's Fastest Indian's body was shaped a lot like a fish .

Thank you for another fantastic story! Does Mr. Cameron knows Gabriele Gnani? An Italian guy that's building and racing his own racing 2 strokes for 40 years and in the eighties reached 5th in the world championship. He is such a character. There's a lot of videos about him in yt. It's pretty impressive what 1 man alone is able to do.

The first engine I took apart was a flathead B&S from a roto-tiller. It had a cast iron block.
I think sensors can be expensive. There was a Kawasaki sport bike that adjusted fuel mixture using speed and gear position. It may have had a pressure sensor in the intake tract too. The software validation is the expensive part I think. The GUI can talk to anything - even two cans on a string.
The aero era was interesting and I guess frightening with the dust bin bikes. More tear drop than fish.

A Great Show for just past Christmas leading into another year of more motorcycle History. Can't stop now ...

Great stories!

Bought a '68 Daytona, $900... While on 30 day leave from Vietnam...to ride with my brother who had a 350 Ducati....
Gorgeous...in that Seafoam Green and Silver...
The dealer called it "the Gary Nixon replica"...
Meaning:
Nixon had beaten the 750 Harley flatheads in '67 on the 500 Triumph, ohv...
I RODE it...occasionally over-revved it to 9000...
But it never broke...
My first bike...my first love...
And Nixon won the OKC Mile on the flat track version, SCREAMING it to almost 10000....
WOW....
Bless you guys for reminding me...

Not the history lesson I was expecting and the delivery definitely sucks. No pictures. No nothing so yeah kinda hard to follow.

Thank you, incredible knowledge and amazing stories.

Enjoy the holidays 🎄 🎅.

Mike in Michigan

Ignitech in your Ducati Mr Hoyer?

Can you talk about motorcycle ergonomics? How and why motorcycle seating handle bar and foot peg positions have evolved? How we got from upright seating positions with mid foot controls to modern motogp positions? What are teams doing to tailor ergonomics to riders? What can street riders learn from that. Why does harley insist on seats being so low? Are motorcycle seat heights and other ergos a conspiracy to discourage women from riding?...

The days of acoustic couplers for copmuter communications! THAT brings back memories.

And as my frend Larry Palmgren said that Dick Mann's 750 Honda won the race but only on 3 cylinders. And Larry used to race with Dick. Mert and all those guys back then. I have a picture of Larry and Mert but I don't know how to put it in this comment.

Thank you!

Learn us more about the physics and riding of SpeedWay and Dirt Track. I didn’t experience it until i was on my early 70’s Honda S50 i brought back from Japan when i was 17 and experienced it naturally kicking the back tire out on the sandy soil of our elementary school. Not sure how fast i was going but i couldn’t out race the off duty policeman coaching the 12 yr olds playing soccer.

1974 Auto shop in Stamford High School in Connecticut we had a little educational dyno with a 3.5 hp Briggs engine. The shop teacher Jack Wench? did not suppress our enthusiasm. I took the head off and cut a head gasket out of tin foil replacing the thick stock gasket. The valve pocket in the head left ample clearance for the open valves.
The pull start was noticeably harder due to the higher compression. Running the dyno it was obvious it had more power and the dyno proved 4.25 hp.
Next run we blasted oxygen from the torch in the carb and reved it past the limiter to achieve 6.5 hp.

fantastic hope the aerodynamics gets better with time.

So that book you recommended is $2900.00 on amazon. Really…

Thanks for the Great podcast!!!! You gentleman provide the Tech for my greatest passion of motorcycles!!!

Have been an avid Cycle World reader since the February 1967 issue. Since discovering this channel I've binge watched the entire series. Thank you, I consider myself smarter because of it.

Dittos!

Your stories are deeply informative and also give us a deep feeling for the life. Thank you.