Premium Member 2and3cylinders Posted August 26, 2022 Premium Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 1 hour ago, wordsmith said: Nice-lookin' house, and nice old Matchless bike. Many years ago in my spotted youth days I lived in South East London not far from the AJS and Matchless factory. It was quite common to see bikes of either brand being ridden arowere pound the streets there, presumably being tested by the factory. In SoCal the Collier Bros Matchless and less so AJS were very popular for trials (scrambles on the early motocross tracks) and desert racing. The G80Cs 500 push rod 2 valve magneto and no generator was the most common. Unobtanum G50s were only road raced. I bought basket cases and restored them to feed my Cafe Racer addiction for the street. Should never have sold off my sidehacks also. Great for dates, groceries and laundry as I didn't own a cage. Also regret selling off all my Whitworth and special tools. Easy to work on but never buy one made on a Thursday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 Thanks, 2&3 - nothing new in your own method of getting onto the bike, and I have of course tried it, but the sad fact is that I don't have enough strength in my leg(s) to lift myself up as suggested, thanks to a shortage of spinach caused by either covid or the Ukraine war or global warming! Well, every other ill in the world at present is being blamed on these factors, but I'm hopeful that the intended humpectomy will help. I have always been a seven-stone weakling - in fact I yearn to be a seven-stone weakling... Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 2 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said: The Matchless G50 and AJS 7R road-racers are extremely rare - haven't seen either in over fifty years. Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 Took the recently added red pinstriping out for a spin in 21deg C today. Glorious weather. The addition of the red farkles produced some sweet induction roar at times. 🏍️. That sound certainly brings a grin to the dial. In other news, bought one of these new technological wonders. I've had a few over the years and I can't believe how compact, light and extremely sophisticated this one is. I put it into an auto 'follow me' mode and nervously ran (OK jogged) through the trees and low hanging branches and leaves and it dutifully tracked me while dodging every obstacle automatically! Hoping to get some cool biking footage when I get better acquainted with this gizmo. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 8 hours ago, 2and3cylinders said: The US model didn't have the side cover decals? This bit here is what I'm referring to. Yours is in red but the charcoal bikes were in black and virtually invisible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 5 hours ago, wordsmith said: With so much red there, Dazz, you must hit warp speed every time you go out! Bike looks good. Thanks wordy. Some of that red was in fact supplied by you some years back if you recall so, if I get a speeding ticket I'll get them to send a percentage of the bill to you as you can be considered a - 'contributing factor'. 👍 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 8 hours ago, wordsmith said: Looking at the side-on view of your bike and the prominent 'hump' or rise of the front of the pillion seat behind the rider seat reminds me that I must look into some kind of 'humpectomy' on my GT to allow me to get on and off more easily. Do you have any leads, ideas or solutions to complete this 'humpectomy' yet or has the quest for this only just begun? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 1 hour ago, dazzler24 said: Do you have any leads, ideas or solutions to complete this 'humpectomy' yet or has the quest for this only just bugun? If you mean 'begun', yes I have, and it's well underway! Whether it works or not is another matter. Stay tuned for words on the subject in due course... 1 Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 20 minutes ago, wordsmith said: If you mean 'begun', yes I have, and it's well underway! Whether it works or not is another matter. Stay tuned for words on the subject in due course... Aghh! Always check your spelling before posting! Especially if you're writing to the 'Wordsmith'! FYI - I've fixed the original post. Sorry Sensei. 🙇♂️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted August 26, 2022 Share Posted August 26, 2022 (edited) 6 minutes ago, dazzler24 said: Aghh! Always check your spelling before posting! Especially if you're writing to the 'Wordsmith'! FYI - I've fixed the original post. Sorry Sensei. 🙇♂️ I made a rod for my own back when adopting the Wordsmith monniker way back, and lie awake at nights lest I have in any recent post here let myself down. Maybe I should change to "Only Human"... 😪 BTW Dazz - not good news that La Nina is set to bring its heavy rainfall and possible flooding to eastern Australia this coming spring and summer, for the third consecutive year. I may trade the GT for a JetSki... Edited August 26, 2022 by wordsmith Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member dazzler24 Posted August 26, 2022 Supporting Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 10 minutes ago, wordsmith said: BTW Dazz - not good news that La Nina is set to bring its heavy rainfall and possible flooding to eastern Australia this coming spring and summer, for the third consecutive year. I may trade the GT for a JetSki... Yes, potentially not conducive to outdoor activities of any kind sadly. Maybe forget the Jetski and think about building an Ark?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member 2and3cylinders Posted August 26, 2022 Premium Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 8 hours ago, wordsmith said: Thanks, 2&3 - nothing new in your own method of getting onto the bike, and I have of course tried it, but the sad fact is that I don't have enough strength in my leg(s) to lift myself up as suggested, thanks to a shortage of spinach caused by either covid or the Ukraine war or global warming! Well, every other ill in the world at present is being blamed on these factors, but I'm hopeful that the intended humpectomy will help. I have always been a seven-stone weakling - in fact I yearn to be a seven-stone weakling... I had to go to my conversion app to figure out what 7 stone was yikes! You are 42% of my weight!!! Not knocking you but I haven't weighed 98 pounds since since freshmen year in high school maybe. I wish I was 152% of you. But then none of my gear would fit. Let alone the new limited wardrobe I've had to Obtain since I've gained the covid 19 plus pounds! I'm sure if you work at it you'll regain some of your strength but I know how tough it is to lose weight little alone gain weight and strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member 2and3cylinders Posted August 26, 2022 Premium Member Share Posted August 26, 2022 13 hours ago, wordsmith said: The Matchless G50 and AJS 7R road-racers are extremely rare - haven't seen either in over fifty years. They've got to have orgs and teams like these down under! https://www.ahrma.org/about/ https://www.race-uscra.com/ https://www.teamobsolete.com/ https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/manns-machine-dick-manns-matchless-g50-roadracer-barn-find/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wintersdark Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 On 8/25/2022 at 7:42 PM, wordsmith said: The only not-so-good thing about my newish-to-me 2019 Tracer 900 GT is the difficulty that my aged and stiff hip, knee, and ankle joints give me when mounting - and more so dismounting – without ungainly movements that cause crowds to gather and laugh at my antics as I half-fall, half-roll off, and altogether make a fool of myself! A word of advice to all - do NOT get old!. I'm only in my late 40's now, but shot knees and a lifetime of bodily abuse have definitely caught up to me. At 6'4", height wise the Tracer isn't tall for me (though my Tenere is, with it's ~36" seat height) but getting off is *incredibly* awkward. It's not TOO bad if I don't have the hard cases or tail bag on, but if I do? I can't bend my leg enough or swing it wide enough to get over a tail bag or around the hard cases. Then I get my left foot down, and sort of back off the bike dragging my right leg then heel straight out across the seat until my foot is free. It's not a good look, but thankfully I learned long ago that nobody really pays any attention to random motorcyclists anyways, so... meh. It's incredibly awkward, though, and I can't see it getting much better with time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member 2and3cylinders Posted August 29, 2022 Premium Member Share Posted August 29, 2022 On 8/26/2022 at 11:16 PM, Wintersdark said: Then I get my left foot down, and sort of back off the bike dragging my right leg then heel straight out across the seat until my foot is free. To mount-up, I can't swing my right leg over due to my back. I've tried dismount as you describe but my balance can go haywire and I risk falling on my right hip and /or butt; or worse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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