I had a new Guzzi Le Mans Mk2 back in the late '70s and it was the best bike I ever owned. I had over the years about 10 bikes but I still love the Guzzi. Thanks for the video.
Ohhh No CBX always looked like a brick wall head in Never too popular by Honda standards with around 27,000 sold Triumph managed to sell over 40,000 Tridents by way of a comparison Those 6 pipes did look cool though
@bikerdood1100 Aaaaaa but I was a lean, 20 something, out to make a statement, with money 💰 to burn from from 2 years compulsary compulsory national service AND my apprenticeship at South African Airways ..... and it sure looked ba-euti-ful ......
I know it sounds a bit overcooked but at the time seeing the earlier blue and silver Ducati SS900 for the first time while standing broadside in a shop window is still engraved in my mind. What a revelation that was. No wonder everything I ride preferable still has a set of clipons or M-bars.
@@bikerdood1100 Just told you about the Zuendapp CS50 banger I was riding myself at the time elsewhere. Inspirational is an understatement. I already fancied the Thunderbirds since early childhood but since seeing that SS I even believe in flying saucers. 😜
Yep, a JPS was for sale at a motorcycle dealer in Dutch Limburg for quite a while in the lat 70ies. Little did I know about it but it still spoke to me through it’s shape. The Formula, which I only found out about years later, is off course the real deal. I actually welded a battery carrying monocoque chassis for my electric motorcycle project because I still think it is the best technical solution, although production costs would off course be prohibitive. But for a one off it still makes sense. 😁
I've ridden 3 of these bikes when they were new, the Commando, the H.D XLCR, and the 900ss. The Harley was slow and scarey, didn't handle, and poor brakes. The Commando pretty good, handled well, quicker turning than the Jota or the 900ss, and better feel on it's front disc than either of the Italians with their twin set up. (This was due to the M/C piston dia. for the brembos.Sleeving and reducing to 13mm solves this). The Laverda Jota was a very fast, stable road bike, I took it up to an indicated 130mph, no worries. It was also predicitable and good in the curves, if a bit of a weight to throw around. I bought a '78 900ss, favourite use was going out to my local sets of twisties after work and on weekends, and misbehaving at "throw me in jail" speeds. Put 60,000 hard miles on it, including many DOCC track weekends, before the crank rumbled. Testament to how good they are. Still have it, rebuild in progress.
My friend rebuilt a le mans and had it painted metal flake purple with chromed plastic switchgear very different. I also remember the Harley XLCR in a bike magazine I bought when at school in 1977
Well, now... Back in the day, I had a couple Duke 750s, one standared and a Desmo. Great bikes, but the Desmo was a pain in the ass to service (and it took a LOT of servicing). Plus, the switchgear was crap (replaced it with Suzuki units, solving the problems so I could ride it in the rain). I still have an 850 Le Mans that I bought when I was a dealer for them (it was a couple years old, and the owner wanted "something faster"...his loss) and will never sell it. However, it's been ungraded beyond understanding...and it is still as reliable as an anvil and will surprise a lot of younger riders on newer bikes ("Where did that old man with the beard come from on that antique bike??"). The less said about the Harley, the better, as it was from the dreaded "AMF era". Still have my much-modded 850 Commando and my daughter has already laid claim to it (when/if I ever agree)...and she can indeed start it. I also still have a fiddled BMW R90S, which would have fit in with your video and is arguably the best of the '70s factory cafe bikes. Good video...
@@bikerdood1100 I could say my mistake was in schooling my darling daughter in the technique of starting a big twin...but she's my sole heir, so she will eventually inherit the lot of my stuff. Of course, that assumes I ever consent to die and don't live forever (move over Methuselah).
I actually preferred the HD CR out of all the HD's of that era I worked in a HD dealership at the time so I had ridden the Sportster, Super Glide and Electra Glide but then again I was never an HD man and the CR felt the least like one, it is worth remembering Harley Davidson was AMF owned at that time and there seemed to be quality issues.
@@bikerdood1100 A few months ago I visited a guy living near Assen with a whole shed full of Sachs powered rotary specials. An earlier one was based on a white BMW frame (sold), another on a Malanca 125 and a third one is based a VFR 400 frame (If I remember correctly). He is presently working on a nearly perfect replica of a Yamaha prototype. He manufactures his own side wall seals by machining them out of ship diesel piston rings with the right diameter. His bikes all smoke like hell when cold but I assure you he still does not agree with your standpoint. What a guy! 😁
Michael Douglas in 'Black Rain' on that Harley...2nd favourite HD after the XR750...all nice, apart from that Norton...oh,I'm related to the Davidsons, the Grandfather of the bike Davidson, given the dates...Kincardineshire, Scotland
Why the R90S is not in this list puzzles me. It was certainly more of a cafe racer than the Harley. A gentleman's one, too be sure, but very much a competent cafe racer.
Only put in 5 in per video and frankly the XLCR is more interesting because it’s so unusual, looks good too More of an R100rs man myself Love the fairing
In 1985, I was offered to buy a 1976 registered BMW R90S, it was a lovely machine in it's orange and cream livery. I worked with the seller, he was asking £350 for the Beemer, I was 28 at the time, I told him that BMW's were for old men and I told him that I wasn't interested, what a foolish mistake I made as the R90S is as you will be aware, very collectable today. Mind you I did have a Laverda 1200 Mirage in 1985, so I did make a good decision in buying it.
Factory café racers are like factory custom bikes, both miss the point of the original. A caff racer is either a lightened road bike with clip-ons and rear sets, or, any bike capable of racing your mates up the local bypass. Bikes like the Ducati Desmos are beautiful machines, but are post-café racers or proto-sports bikes for my two bob's worth.
l have owned a Lemans 850 .....the first, no Mk number..... and a Ducati 900SS...You're correct, the afore mentioned are really post Cafe Racer scene but they both had the essence of the sixties bikes...The race look and feel, especial handling. Before l retired to Spain l built a Triton with a 650 bonny engine. l built it just like the sixties bikes l remembered as a Greasy Rocker of that period.... l sold it to a Spanish enthusiast in Valencia about twelve years ago..When l rode it on Classic meeting it was always being photographed..A Triton being quite rare in Spain...
@@JoepKortekaas-l4q l beg to differ. Whilst l would agree that a Harley is hardly a cafe racer, the Italian 'stallions' were a lot closer to the genre, baring in mind that things like electric starters were now common...as were indicators. The Ducati in particular was a bike that was very sparsely built plus was a lot faster than all the sixties Cafe Racers....Do you remember the Royal Enfield Continental GT, as l remember possibly the first company that tried to emulate the genre on a commercial basis. Generally speaking a Cafe Racer was a bike rebuilt by a ''Bloke in a Shed''....
@BrianLesliePerry The last sentence sums up my view. This isn't snobbery, inverted or otherwise, just a way of differentiating café racer from other types of motorcycle. The argument gets interesting when discussing British customisers like Dunstall. Did they make caff racers or racing machines? There was a feedback loop from works racers, to men-in-sheds, to low volume production bikes, and it's difficult to know who was influencing whom at times. The only pub discussion hill I'd die on, is a caff racer can never have raised bars. The Harley XLCR is more like a Triumph (/BSA) X-75 Hurricane, a muscle cruiser.
Oh of course Another sad Japanese only type Trust me good as the 350 was it would never make a Le Mans look like an HD The XCCL Maybe the Guzzi chasis was more than a match for the Japanese frames of the period and of course there’s all that lovely torque Clearly you have never ridden any of the bikes featured That much is obvious
Oh of course 🙄 Dam silly comment Someone clearly has little clue Because obviously the English man has no clue about English led culture What next, question my gramma ? 🤔😂
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
6 am here in the States! Coffee maker woke me up the same time this video popped up, I'd say we're off to a pretty good start of the day.
Oh
It’s early yet 😂
I had a new Guzzi Le Mans Mk2 back in the late '70s and it was the best bike I ever owned. I had over the years about 10 bikes but I still love the Guzzi.
Thanks for the video.
Our pleasure
We should have a road test of a Le Mans 2 soon
FYI
@@bikerdood1100 Great it will do this old man a lot old good🤪
From South Africa... the MG 850 Le man's was my second drool , my number one at the time was the mighty 6
Ohhh
No CBX always looked like a brick wall head in
Never too popular by Honda standards with around 27,000 sold
Triumph managed to sell over 40,000 Tridents by way of a comparison
Those 6 pipes did look cool though
@bikerdood1100 Aaaaaa but I was a lean, 20 something, out to make a statement, with money 💰 to burn from from 2 years compulsary compulsory national service AND my apprenticeship at South African Airways ..... and it sure looked ba-euti-ful ......
They’ve all got comfy-looking seats.
Have they ?
I wouldn’t tour on any of em
Very nice selection, thank you! Would add the BMW R 90 S, which was sometimes converted to low handlebars.
Perhaps 🤔
I know it sounds a bit overcooked but at the time seeing the earlier blue and silver Ducati SS900 for the first time while standing broadside in a shop window is still engraved in my mind. What a revelation that was. No wonder everything I ride preferable still has a set of clipons or M-bars.
Inspirational then ?
@@bikerdood1100 Just told you about the Zuendapp CS50 banger I was riding myself at the time elsewhere. Inspirational is an understatement. I already fancied the Thunderbirds since early childhood but since seeing that SS I even believe in flying saucers. 😜
3: 27 min. “Man you are late!” “Yeah, my map holder blew me off course!” 🤣
Nice shade of blue
Had a Guzzi that shade back in the day
Lovely
Yep, a JPS was for sale at a motorcycle dealer in Dutch Limburg for quite a while in the lat 70ies. Little did I know about it but it still spoke to me through it’s shape. The Formula, which I only found out about years later, is off course the real deal. I actually welded a battery carrying monocoque chassis for my electric motorcycle project because I still think it is the best technical solution, although production costs would off course be prohibitive. But for a one off it still makes sense. 😁
A very rare bike on the continent
Very rare indeed
@@bikerdood1100 I was a naive boy on a worn out Zuendapp moped at the time but already lucid enough to not ask for its price. 😁
I've ridden 3 of these bikes when they were new, the Commando, the H.D XLCR, and the 900ss. The Harley was slow and scarey, didn't handle, and poor brakes.
The Commando pretty good, handled well, quicker turning than the Jota or the 900ss, and better feel on it's front disc than either of the Italians with their twin set up. (This was due to the M/C piston dia. for the brembos.Sleeving and reducing to 13mm solves this).
The Laverda Jota was a very fast, stable road bike, I took it up to an indicated 130mph, no worries. It was also predicitable and good in the curves, if a bit of a weight to throw around.
I bought a '78 900ss, favourite use was going out to my local sets of twisties after work and on weekends, and misbehaving at "throw me in jail" speeds. Put 60,000 hard miles on it, including many DOCC track weekends, before the crank rumbled. Testament to how good they are. Still have it, rebuild in progress.
Interesting 🤔
Thanks for commenting
@@bikerdood1100 Keep up the good work. I always watch your vids!
My friend rebuilt a le mans and had it painted metal flake purple with chromed plastic switchgear very different. I also remember the Harley XLCR in a bike magazine I bought when at school in 1977
Not sure about the paintwork choices
Certainly individual
I remember the Harley one, as friend at work won one in a MCN spot the ball competition, anyone remember those?
That’s going back a bit
the ones in the newspapers were probably one of the biggest cons of the 70's and 80's
Loved it/them!!🤪
I know what you mean
I 🤔
Well, now... Back in the day, I had a couple Duke 750s, one standared and a Desmo. Great bikes, but the Desmo was a pain in the ass to service (and it took a LOT of servicing). Plus, the switchgear was crap (replaced it with Suzuki units, solving the problems so I could ride it in the rain). I still have an 850 Le Mans that I bought when I was a dealer for them (it was a couple years old, and the owner wanted "something faster"...his loss) and will never sell it. However, it's been ungraded beyond understanding...and it is still as reliable as an anvil and will surprise a lot of younger riders on newer bikes ("Where did that old man with the beard come from on that antique bike??"). The less said about the Harley, the better, as it was from the dreaded "AMF era". Still have my much-modded 850 Commando and my daughter has already laid claim to it (when/if I ever agree)...and she can indeed start it. I also still have a fiddled BMW R90S, which would have fit in with your video and is arguably the best of the '70s factory cafe bikes. Good video...
Oh you have to watch the kids
Constantly trying to keep him away from my BSA 😂
@@bikerdood1100 I could say my mistake was in schooling my darling daughter in the technique of starting a big twin...but she's my sole heir, so she will eventually inherit the lot of my stuff. Of course, that assumes I ever consent to die and don't live forever (move over Methuselah).
In seriousness it’s great that she has an interest
Few people indulge their children in their Motorcycle habit
I actually preferred the HD CR out of all the HD's of that era I worked in a HD dealership at the time so I had ridden the Sportster, Super Glide and Electra Glide but then again I was never an HD man and the CR felt the least like one, it is worth remembering Harley Davidson was AMF owned at that time and there seemed to be quality issues.
I included it for similar reasons
Not a typical HD fan at all
But with its blacked out look I thought it looked very cool indeed
It took the Livewire to make my fancy a Harley for the second time.
Like the look of the live wire
Everything else about it I can live without thanks
@@bikerdood1100 yep, the likes of you never gave rotary bikes a chance either. Philistine! 🤣
Rotary bikes never had a chance 😂😂
Thermodynamics saw to that
@@bikerdood1100 A few months ago I visited a guy living near Assen with a whole shed full of Sachs powered rotary specials. An earlier one was based on a white BMW frame (sold), another on a Malanca 125 and a third one is based a VFR 400 frame (If I remember correctly). He is presently working on a nearly perfect replica of a Yamaha prototype. He manufactures his own side wall seals by machining them out of ship diesel piston rings with the right diameter. His bikes all smoke like hell when cold but I assure you he still does not agree with your standpoint. What a guy! 😁
See, he’s doing that Imola thing again. 🤣
Love that imola
Le Mans 👍👍
Well yeh
My very favourite bike ever
Michael Douglas in 'Black Rain' on that Harley...2nd favourite HD after the XR750...all nice, apart from that Norton...oh,I'm related to the Davidsons, the Grandfather of the bike Davidson, given the dates...Kincardineshire, Scotland
Apart from the Norton ?
Sacrilege😂
Why the R90S is not in this list puzzles me. It was certainly more of a cafe racer than the Harley. A gentleman's one, too be sure, but very much a competent cafe racer.
Only put in 5 in per video and frankly the XLCR is more interesting because it’s so unusual, looks good too
More of an R100rs man myself
Love the fairing
In 1985, I was offered to buy a 1976 registered BMW R90S, it was a lovely machine in it's orange and cream livery. I worked with the seller, he was asking £350 for the Beemer, I was 28 at the time, I told him that BMW's were for old men and I told him that I wasn't interested, what a foolish mistake I made as the R90S is as you will be aware, very collectable today. Mind you I did have a Laverda 1200 Mirage in 1985, so I did make a good decision in buying it.
Factory café racers are like factory custom bikes, both miss the point of the original. A caff racer is either a lightened road bike with clip-ons and rear sets, or, any bike capable of racing your mates up the local bypass. Bikes like the Ducati Desmos are beautiful machines, but are post-café racers or proto-sports bikes for my two bob's worth.
Hmmm
In the 60s perhaps
l have owned a Lemans 850 .....the first, no Mk number..... and a Ducati 900SS...You're correct, the afore mentioned are really post Cafe Racer scene but they both had the essence of the sixties bikes...The race look and feel, especial handling. Before l retired to Spain l built a Triton with a 650 bonny engine. l built it just like the sixties bikes l remembered as a Greasy Rocker of that period.... l sold it to a Spanish enthusiast in Valencia about twelve years ago..When l rode it on Classic meeting it was always being photographed..A Triton being quite rare in Spain...
You are 100% right! The bikes shown here are not cafe racers at all!
@@JoepKortekaas-l4q l beg to differ. Whilst l would agree that a Harley is hardly a cafe racer, the Italian 'stallions' were a lot closer to the genre, baring in mind that things like electric starters were now common...as were indicators. The Ducati in particular was a bike that was very sparsely built plus was a lot faster than all the sixties Cafe Racers....Do you remember the Royal Enfield Continental GT, as l remember possibly the first company that tried to emulate the genre on a commercial basis. Generally speaking a Cafe Racer was a bike rebuilt by a ''Bloke in a Shed''....
@BrianLesliePerry The last sentence sums up my view. This isn't snobbery, inverted or otherwise, just a way of differentiating café racer from other types of motorcycle. The argument gets interesting when discussing British customisers like Dunstall. Did they make caff racers or racing machines? There was a feedback loop from works racers, to men-in-sheds, to low volume production bikes, and it's difficult to know who was influencing whom at times. The only pub discussion hill I'd die on, is a caff racer can never have raised bars. The Harley XLCR is more like a Triumph (/BSA) X-75 Hurricane, a muscle cruiser.
Ah yeah. There it is at 1:37 min. Big sigh!
Pretty ain’t they
Then stuff like RZ 350s etc made these look like Harley cruisers
Oh of course
Another sad Japanese only type
Trust me good as the 350 was it would never make a Le Mans look like an HD
The XCCL
Maybe the Guzzi chasis was more than a match for the Japanese frames of the period and of course there’s all that lovely torque
Clearly you have never ridden any of the bikes featured
That much is obvious
A Harley XLCR is faster than a Suzuki GSXR1000. Hey I got 50 on Nick, man!
Sure
Over a cliff 😂
You don't seem to have a clue of the concept of a cafe racer!
Oh of course 🙄
Dam silly comment
Someone clearly has little clue
Because obviously the English man has no clue about English led culture
What next, question my gramma ?
🤔😂