Basket Cases

[David Lahey]

Thanks mate, the only decent bike photo I've taken. Somehow its on facebook now

It looked so good in that photo I couldn't resist

[Greg Harding]

Hi Everyone,
Brent, thank you for posting! Your RL has the German hand grenade rear silencer, all of mine have the hand shaped one. Can you still read the compliance sticker as I think it is a late 1974 Model?

Greg there was a very interesting contributor to motor noise in the Blue Dungar motor and there will be photos of it appearing soon (and not big end nor little end)
Yes good idea to show off the RL bearing sizes - one of them is particularly hippopotamic. I hope I have kept some old ones from KT and TY motor rebuilds

David, thank you for solving an old mystery for me as the Blue Dungar was parked in the too hard basket.
From memory KT main bearings are the same as TY ones at 62 mm, whereas the big one is 72 mm.
Here is a photo of LJ 50 crank assembly, LJ 50 539cc triple 4 X 4 motor, 3 of the 4 mains are 72 mm. The 2 middle mains have a locating Dowell hole and are almost non existent now. Apparently the T 500 twin road bike has the same problem with the middle main and I am now thinking it is the same part.

1439723681471.jpg (129.88 KiB) Viewed 3729 times

Does this make it a pod of Hippopotami

[David Lahey]

This a Bultaco Sherpa T M80 frame I bought in late 2014 and am finally getting to have a decent look at it. The twist in the main frame loop is a pretty common thing with these frames

[David Lahey]

Something I hadn't seen before is this aluminium shroud covering the swingarm pivot axle end. The following model Sherpa T (M91/92) has recesses for the ends of the swingarm axle so the protruding axle and nut must have been a safety or comfort issue at the time.
I suspect that this shroud was a DIY mod.

[David Lahey]

The front downtube has a curve near the bottom. Trouble is that on some other model Bultaco Sherpa T frames there is a deliberate curve higher up in the front downtube, and there are also plenty of Sherpa Ts that have crashed head-on into solid objects, causing curves where there were none previously.
At first I tried to imagine how a bend like this could be caused in a crash, because if I could work that out, I would know where else to look for other damage bends, and would also know how to get the frame back to original shape. I couldn't imagine how any crash could do what I was seeing, then remembered that I had just bought another M80, and did a comparison.
I'm now pretty sure it is meant to have that curve in the bottom end of the front tube, but would be happy to hear comments from people who can contradict or support this. The top frame tube is straight and the rest of the front downtube is straight. The front gusset is completely flat

[David Lahey]

Here is an overall view

[brent j]

The frame looks a bit RLish doesn't it? Or should I say an RL frame looks a bit Sherpish?

[brownie]

My 49 frame has the same bend (tried to post a photo)
The aluminium covers would be to save your boots I'd say, the nuts and pivot stick out from the frame tubes unlike later models

[David Lahey]

The frame looks a bit RLish doesn't it? Or should I say an RL frame looks a bit Sherpish?

Somehow I don't think it is a coincidence. Which came first?????

[David Lahey]

My 49 frame has the same bend (tried to post a photo)
The aluminium covers would be to save your boots I'd say, the nuts and pivot stick out from the frame tubes unlike later models

Thanks brownie. The silverish frame M80 is numbered three hundred and something and the black frame one is a bit later (one thousand and something)
I had a good look at the black framed one today and the frame looks remarkably straight