Street fighters?

[Pat Kelly]

I've got an XS750SF parts bike sitting in the backyard. Looking around my "pile o' parts" it looks like I have enough stuff to get the bike on the road. If it's still living at my home I will ressurect it.
If so I will be going the "street-fighter" look. Something that looks dangerous and likely to explode at any minute (though still a safe ride). Ratbike streetfighter is more like it. Chrome will be incidental and the color of the parts I put on will remain those colors. The very minimal of components.

[oldbiker648]

Pat,
Sounds like you are looking for that "I built this bike from spare parts, wanna race?" look. Would that make you the antithesis of the lawyer with the $30K late model heavily accessorized H-D that has never been within 1000RPM of red-line in any gear? There's a little of the "bad boy" in all of us, go for it!

[oldbiker648]

Mike,
I think that "exploding engine syndrome" may explain why the Matchli Twins never caught on in the US. Lucas electrics were certainly another reason that the Brit bikes were always swimming upstream, although we know that some of old Yamahas had their own issues in that department. One thing you can't take away from the old Triumphs was the beautiful lines and finish of the cases. Can I assume that your two Matchlesses were of a similar level of finish? I'll bet you wish you still had one of them. If you want to dig deeper into the drawer where you keep those old photos, I know I'd like to see a couple more.

[xs650mike]

Somewhere I've got a snapshot of me and the G12CSR in cafe/canyon/highway mode with drag bars mounted. I can't remember where it is but here's a couple of pics from the Real Classics website that'll give you an idea of what these twins looked like. IMO this was the prettiest of all the Britbike engines. The "derby hat" cast aluminum valve covers are outstanding and the timing case is particularly beautiful. The Lucas dynamo is in front of the cylinders and the Lucas magneto is to the rear. Notice the AMC gearbox which was also used on later Nortons. This gearbox not only shifts on the right side the pattern is backwards from just about every other bike I can think of. I think it was designed originally for racing. With rear set pegs the shift lever is reversed to face to the rear which changes the shift pattern to standard. When this is done the kickstart must be removed so starting becomes strictly run-and-bump.


Below is an AJS Model 30 which is identical to the Matchless G12 series except for the nameplates. I have a magazine picture of James Dean on one of these somewhere that I can't lay hands on at the moment either.


As to how I wound up with two Matchlesses...same way I wound up with the bikes I have right now...the price was right!

[xs650mike]

Here's a couple more Matchless pics.

[81xsproject]

I did a more indepth search and found "Simon the Snake"

http://www.streetfighters.nl/

[xs650mike]

Too cool!

[oldbiker648]

Mike,
Those bikes were really something when you figure they are 45 years old now. I didn't know there was a connection between Matchless and AJS. One thing I notice is that the chain guards look very substantial, unlike those on many later model Jap bikes.
What make carbs are they?

Jessie,
You'll never see stuff like that in the US, will you? I know some of the pics I downloaded were XS's. All of the old 4-cylinder pics I see here look like XJ-1200's. I don't think the shaft drive bikes are very popular as Street Fighters now compared to the chain drives. Did you check out that V-Max? I heard this is the final year of production for them. I've only ever seen one on the street and didn't make eye contact with the owner, I didn't have anything for him, ha.

[xs650mike]

That Vmax was too cool!

Matchless and AJS (A. J. Stevens) were merged at one point and became AMC (Associated Motorcycles Co.) and later they merged with Norton/Villiers. Many of the later G15 (750cc) Matchless twins actually had Norton engines though a few had Matchless 750cc engines. Matchless engines featured separate barrels and heads much like the Enfield twins. Norton adopted the marvelous AMC gearbox. There was also a Norton Scrambler (750cc) that had a Matchless frame and forks. The Matchless forks were very long travel and great in the dirt. The even later Norton P11 Scrambler had a redesigned frame but continued to use Matchless suspension and wheels. The Norton 750cc Scramblers were probably the earliest of the big-bore dual sport bikes, a tradition continued by todays GS BMWs. A little known fact is that Matchless bought the defunct Indian Motocycle Co. and for awhile in the late '50s were imported into the US badged as Indians! I have one of the sales brochures from that time.

[xs650mike]

Carburetors on the G12 Matchlesses were Amal Monoblocs, 2 on the CSR and 1 on the CS.

[CruisingRam]

Simon the snake is a bike photographer in the netherlands mostly.

Here is a page of streetfighters, and simon the snake is on one of those pages. I didn't see any yami XS 1100 pics though- and I would have noticed!

Lots of old 'zuk GS and Kawi KZ streetfighters though, a couple of R1s, one Vmax.

[CruisingRam]

I go to Europe once a year, or at least everyother year - and the bikes on those pages is what I know of streetfighters- to me, it is the paralell of the chopper movement here- but there, the bikes are used in more urban settings- so quick and nimble is cool, here, we have long interstates for "Iron butt" travel- so long and stretched out is the way for the US custom bike scene.

Mini custom fairings, while hand grips, kicked in the butt rear tail panel, under seat exhaust, no body work, killer hp engine, custom rear sets, wild fabrication on swing arms and front forks etc.

I am doing one based on a "gimme" 1985 V65 Sabre that is my personal bike and my "showcase" custom bike- but it is going to take killer fabrication on my part LOL

[CruisingRam]

Okay, here is simons site:

http://www.streetfighters.nl/index.html

[CruisingRam]

Alright- here is the turbo XS 1100 LOL

http://www.streetfighters.nl/yam/yamturbo.jpg

[xs650mike]

That turbo is nice. Not surprising that there's not too many XS1100 streetfighters, the XS11 is awful heavy and not very agile. An XS650 streettracker with some engine mods would a nice streetfighter. Might go that route with my XS650H which has a strong 750 kitted mill. There's a lot of 650 streetfighter type bikes in the US.