The GT550 was a four cylinder four stroke with a six speed gearbox, not amazingly fast but quite nippy all the same. It was a very well mannered bike with the handling, but I never really took to the closeness of the gear ratios.
Youāve certainly had some bikes in your time Barry, just how many do you reckon youāve owned in total? That BMW R80 RT has a fairing very similar to the fairing I had on the Triumph Twin 21, slightly more square, the same problem with side winds was experienced though. However, it was worth it as that was used daily for getting to work and socially. It was good not to get soaking wet which was the case more often than not with previous bikes. 
This Kawasaki GT550 I found this picture of does look the part, very nice! Anything like the one you had?
1 Like
Thatās the one Baz, a treat to see one again so many thanks. The one that I had I let a friend have in lieu for doing some work for me, he was a custom freak so wanted it to make another hardtail chopper fromā¦ I often wonder what these people have against rear suspensionā¦ lol.
Yes Iāve owned many bikes Baz, probably twenty plus over the years but not all to ride, sometimes just the pleasure of restoring and then gazing on now and then and polishing the alloy engine casings. I guess I just find them to be a thing of beauty really. 
In a couple of words āSolvol Autosolā perhaps? If so then this picture will bring back some memories I bet! Now Ā£4 a tube in Halfords I have just seen.
I have a car with Wolfrace alloy wheels, a lot of polishing. Those unfortunately went like most do when they are lacquered and the salt on the roads in winter gets underneath. They look really awful and other than getting them re-polished thereās very little that can be done. I had mine re-polished a while back but not lacquered, Solvol Autosol is ideal for keeping them looking good. A lot of āelbow greaseā is required but worth it on seeing the finished item though. 
When I left home at the tender age of eighteen to start an engineering apprenticeship, I lived in a hostel run by the YMCA. It was set in the former RAF Officerās Mess on Filton Aerodrome and had a garage/workshop, closed on two sides and open at the front and one side.
This open side was a covered bike park and housed all sorts of machines from mopeds to howling two-wheeled missiles over the five years I lived there on and off between stints at college.
Bikes I remember parked there were included an Ariel Arrow, Royal Oilfield 350 Bullet, a brace of identical Triumph 6Ts, a Triumph Tiger Cub, two BSA C15s, a BSA Starfire, a BSA B40, a Norville (Norton frame with a Villiers engine, a Frantic Barnett of some description, a Villiers 350, a Royal Oilfield Constellation, a BSA Bantam D1, and a host of other bikes including Japanese and Italian bikes that never interested me enough to learn anything about them.
There was a sports hall down a lane to the side of the garage and a BSA A7 with chair rested there for many years in a dismantled state, the owner having left at some point and never came back.
One chap was obsessed with reducing the weight of his cafe racer to the point where he drilled holes in every part of it he could. Brake levers, foot-pegs, prop-stand, anything at all he could think off would end up riddled with holes.
Once he drilled a series of holes in the clutch housing, only to find it was too weak to stay in one piece, so he had to get steel reinforcing bands welded round it to hold it together. Even after he drilled holes in these bands, the clutch ended up being heavier than when he started. His name was Jim, so afterwards, all holes were referred to as Jims.
āSwiss cheese is full of Jimsā
āDo you have a set of HSS Jimbits I could borrow please?ā
āBe careful, thereās a nasty Jim in the road by the college.ā
You get the idea. 
I bought a very rusty Ariel Huntmaster āgarden ornamentā from a friend, and along with his help and another friend I part rebuilt it in an attic room in the main Mess building. Somehow a piece of the Burman gearbox had broken away around the kickstart. This was possibly the reason why the bike had been abandoned in a garden in the first place.
As an apprentice, my friends and I moved around the manufactory and got to know āusefulā people and facilities. I was put in touch with an experienced welder who was able to effect an effective repair of the alloy casing. A bit of filing and polishing afterwards, and there was no sign of the box ever having been damaged.
The clutch cover should have been a nice, shiny chrome plated steel dome, but it was badly rusted and heavily pitted from having lived outdoors for many years. I got it shot blasted, then copper plated several times, rubbing it down between each layer and then polishing it until I got a nice smooth finish. A friend of mine then got it chrome plated at the aerospace manufactory on the other side of the airfield.
Money to the value of a packet of fags or pint of beer was the usual cost of getting these āforeignersā done at work.
Getting this bike upstairs in bits was easy. Getting it down two flights of stairs minus its wheels was a bit of a barsteward.
I later finished it whilst living in a rented house and kept it for a few years before replacing it with a lovely Panther 100.
There was always someone at the hostel who had the knowledge or tools to help with just about any job that needed doing to keep our bikes running.
The hostel was about as far away from the main airfield entrance as you could get, so there was the opportunity to test ride bikes in various states of repair up and down a winding lane, or even along the taxiway leading to it.
Depending where we were working, it was possible to get all or part way to work without going on a public road, meaning the bike didnāt need to be road-legal or insured.
On one occasion I was driving my Singer Vogue across the taxiway when the rusty brackets holding the spare wheel under the boot gave way, dropping the wheel and tyre into the path of another apprenti who was following me on his bike! Luckily he swerved in time and managed to miss my jetsam.
All the bikers were regular customers of a motorbike shop in Bristol called Charlies, which was actually the name of the hairdresser that owned the building beforehand.
On one occasion, Reg who owned the bike shop asked one of my mates why he always came in with the bikers then sat in the windowsill until the others were ready to leave, but never bought anything himself.
āIām the one with the car,ā replied my friend.
Reg gave him a gallon can of Duckhams engine oil as a thank you for delivering so many customers to his shop.
1 Like
Fruity, its great to have company facilities when doing a restoration. I was an office wallah but got on well with the blokes on the shop floor, it would not be unusual to see a parade of identical components coming out on hangers from the powder coating oven separated by Suzuki GT380 swing arm. 
1 Like
Great memories of good times Fruity, many thanks for sharing themā¦ 
No underestimating knowing the right people Spitsā¦ 
Iāve come across this photoā taken in 1982, shortly after I bought the place we are in now. You can just make out the front half of my Panther M100 before I rebuilt it.
The garage was in an awful state, and in danger of falling across the pavement and road alongside, hence the reinforcing pillars to take the weight of the roof off the crumbling outside wall.
I used to attend autojumbles with a friend, hence the boxes of bike bits spread around.
1 Like
Nice to see the old girl again Iāll bet Fruity! Tell me though, was the M100 the 500cc and the M120 the 600cc or am I thinking the old BSA sidevalves?
I wish I still had it. 'Twas the best bike I ever owned.
600cc and 650cc respectively, I think.
1 Like
Yes, now I think about it the BSA sidevalves were M20 and M21 for 500cc and 650cc respectively. 
So tell me why does UK produce top quality bikes no more?
On a visit to my my Brother who lived near York, I was given a moped in the mid seventies by my sister-in-law. It was a step-through, possibly 35cc, constant speed setup. You started it, let in the centrifugal clutch, and off it went at about 25mph.
I brought it back to the hostel in Filton in the back of my car, gave it a clean, took it down to the bike shop, again in the back of my car, and got an MoT ticket put on it.
Alongside the hostel was a large air-raid shelter in a field. There was a set of concrete steps leading down to a blast door at one end, but other than that, it looked like a grass-covered Tumulus from any other angle.
Despite this thing being over 2m high, I found that with a good run up I could ride this tiny moped over the top and down the other side. I did this a few times from side to side, then made the mistake of doing it end to end, forgetting that the far end was a steep drop to the shelterās entrance.
I was almost upon it when I realised, and had visions of dropping about 4m to the steps below, but thankfully I was able to stop with the front wheel a few centimetres from a gert plummet.
Time for a brew, I thought.
I sold the bike to the hostel caretaker for a reasonable profit on my minimal outlay.
Not to be outdone, a mate of mine had a Series 1 Land-Rover. Coming back from the pub one night he decided it would be fun to driver over the shelter with several of us sat in the open back.
When we got to the car park, the warden was there to greet us, and query why there were searchlights piercing the night sky at about 45 degrees.
What fun!
1 Like
In the 1960ās, l was a Mod but l disliked scooters. Instead, l loved motorbikes!
I remember names likeā¦ Vincent, Velocetti, BSA āāGoldieā which these days, many men lust after!
Other names l remember, Francis Barnett, Triumph Bonneville/650. Ninja etc.
I remember once whilst walking with my ex husband gasping and saying, āLook at her, isnāt she lovely?ā. I turned, expecting to see a gorgeous woman but it was a BMW red 1000cc motorbike.
He loved motorbikes but broke his leg whilst riding on the side at grass track racing.
@gumbud This website about the Triumph factory may be of interest to you. I realise you reside in Australia therefore the factory visit would not be possible. However, the details on the link below may be of general interest:
The Japs had already arrived when I started taking notice, so have a foot in both camps, the Brits were heavy sloggers and unstylish (arguably), the Japs were lightweight with Rizla thin chrome plate, and screamed at the push of a button, just a different type of appeal spose.
Triumphs have always been stylish.A few Beezas too but Honda were more reliable,werenāt they.