[AKSA]

Hi Martyn,

Velos made it too Oz, the 350 KSS was for some years my favorite.  Archetypally British, with a Frog name, but somehow better engineered than the BSAs and even the Matchless.  I liked the AJS too.  Last model here was the Thruxton, which was a truly watershed bike, but difficult to start.

Velos were very popular in Australia in the fifties for their marvellous handling and idiosyncratic fish tail exhaust.  They certainly appealed to me, though a little small for me.

Greg,

I'm sorry to hear of your dreadful experience.  Not nice.  What do you ride now?


This is the most OT thread we've ever had.  Anyone for tennis??

Cheers,

Hugh

[jules]

Remarkable! It's getting close to be the Guzzi thread.

Please may I have membership on the basis of having owned a Le Mans Guzzi some 27 years back. Great bike, except in the air when they really do try to rotate around their crankshaft  .

The linked brake system caused you some grief then Greg  ?

Best exhaust note ... a friend of mine used to own a  Manx Norton [500cc single cylinder OH cams] with a megaphone exhaust, unregistered of course. We'd occasionally get it out and do a run or two in the suburbs of Melbourne. It was so loud you had to either scream or laugh. KSS Velo ... ooh yes!

jules

[AKSA]

Jules,

A good friend of mine from years back, Bob Jolly of Adelaide, raced a Manx from 1966 to 2006 - forty freakin' years would ya believe - and would now be in his early sixties.  He was a wild man.

Back in the sixties, 53 bhp at 7200 rpm was very high performance on a racetrack.  I saw Bob racing open class at McNamara Park in Mt Gambier about two years ago, and almost everything passed him on the straight.  But on the corners, he caught them again.......  good rider, still slim, unlike yours truly......

The Manx was beautifully engineered, with an unusual bevel drive a la early Dukes to the cam gear.  But when I gaze at my Kwaka ZRX, with its exquisitely engineered engine/transmission/electrics, I realise they have come a long way indeed.  The ZRX pulls 122 bhp at 8500 rpm, yet pulls smoothly in fifth gear from 1500rpm - that's just 43 kph!!  This sort of tractability is a revelation compared to an older bike, but sadly it's not evident on the liter monsters, which don't get going until at least 4000 rpm.

Guzzi has been a bit more sparing with the split braking system in recent years, putting it only on their cruisers.  Silly idea, keeping the brakes separate gives you a chance of better control on a much greater range of surfaces, sort of like a human ABS.

Cheers,

Hugh

[RonR]

Any AKSA owners out there that are into classic sports cars?

No?

Just me then!

Ron

[AKSA]

Hmmm, none of us have the boodle, perhaps?

C'mon Ron, what sort do you have?  Aston?  TVR?  Jensen?  Lotus?  Healey?   

BTW, my daughter, Soraya, is presently living in London, in Willesden Green, arrived a week ago, fancy that??

Sadly she is as interested in hifi as I am in garden snails......   

Cheers,

Hugh

[Martyn]

Hugh, my father bought a KSS brand new for 60 pounds way before I came on the scene, It was his reminiscing and old photos that led me to my Venom after my Triumph twin, then once he had sat on it and all the old memories came flooding back, he went and bought another Venom like mine. He never did ride it much - just a typical second childhood thing. I always wanted a Thruxton but never did have one (sigh).

Ron, funny you should ask that! I no longer have any bikes (although I often think about getting one), but I do have a '67 Jag. In true DIY fashion and mainly because this was the only affordable route to ownership, it came as a kit - dismantled for restoration, subsequently abandoned, then finally sold "as is" (a rusty shell on wheels and lots of cardboard boxes). Now if I could ever figure out how to add a photo to a message...

I used to lust after a gal who lived in Willesdon Green...just how far OT can this get?

[RonR]

So, we have the "Original" Soraya in London! I hope she enjoys her stay.
Does she have anything in common with her namesake?

As for cars, I have a 1968 Lotus Elan +2. It was bought as a going concern, but was hit from behind a couple of years later. It's now nearing completion of its restoration, and yes, it has cost lots of £ and time to restore!

In case anyone doesn't know what one is, have a look here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=953

Cheers,

Ron

[andyr]

Any AKSA owners out there that are into classic sports cars?

No?

Just me then!

Ron

Never really had the loot to be seriously "into" classic sports cars but I did own a Lancia Montecarlo for a few years - bought it in 1980 (1 of only 5 in Oz, at that stage).  Unfortunately, having only 2 seats meant that when my daughter was born in 1983 ... it had to go! 

It was a sensational drive!  aa

Regards,

Andy

[RonR]

Hi Andy,
The Monty was a real sportscar, and the precursor I think to the all-conquering Lancia Stratos Rally car.

OK, I admit it! I too had a Lancia Beta, but mine was the HPE variant.

A beautiful machine, but not built for the British weather I fear. The dreaded Tin worm ate mine in a few short years, and by the time it completely melted away only half the electrics were working. BUT... the generation of engines in both our vehicles and the Fiat supermirafiori were designed by a Ferrari man during a sabattical, and boy did he get it right!

Cheers,

Ron.

[kyrill]

when I was a student i had  an MG midget, although i was 6feet+ tall

now I am the proud owner of what is to me a classique: the Alfa 164 3.0 literV6
bought it new and cannot take part from it
I have bought years ago a strange multi metal ( copper looking) tube with a loose piece of metal in it ( you can hear it when you shake it, but it does not fall out)
and you have to place it in the gasoline tube ( input of the engine) as close to  the motor as possible
What it should do is pre-ionise the gasoline so it becomes more "+" and when it is atomized above the pistons the tiny mist of gasoline will repel itself easier from itself ( erghh miss the right English words)
The effect is the gas expands much more quickly and spread more evenly above the pistons. So more power or more efficient. The motor new is advertised as 200 hp. after a check i had 205 hp but the check was after 100.000 miles on the motor

[andyr]

Hi Andy,
The Monty was a real sportscar, and the precursor I think to the all-conquering Lancia Stratos Rally car.

OK, I admit it! I too had a Lancia Beta, but mine was the HPE variant.

Cheers,

Ron.

Hi Ron,

Well, well - another Lancia owner ... no wonder you like AKSAs too!  

Yes, I had a Beta coupe for 4 years. That's how I got turned on to the Montecarlo!    But I must admit the no-power-steering of the Beta was a real PITA!

And I've always had a niggling desire to own a Lotus ... but never got around to it.    However, I did go and investigate the 4-seater, tailgate model a decade ago ... the Elise?

Regards,

Andy

[aurelius]

2002 Nissan 200SX is as close as I come to 'classic sports car'.  Very sweet 2.0 litre 4.

Andy, I had meant to compliment you earlier on your new amp enclosure... looks very nice.  When I swap out to Lifeforces, I will change to a "chest of drawers" concept (I find modifying the amp modules in particular, quite fiddly in my current set-up). 

[andyr]

Andy, I had meant to compliment you earlier on your new amp enclosure... looks very nice.  When I swap out to Lifeforces, I will change to a "chest of drawers" concept (I find modifying the amp modules in particular, quite fiddly in my current set-up). 

Thanks, marcus ... as I said, your setup inspired it! 

If you've had a look at my Gallery pics ... I'm not sure it comes through that the front and back panels are hinged at the bottom, to make it easier to get at the LF modules on the front panel (ie. directly behind the Maggies) and the XO boards on the back.  However, I made a major error in using a 2-shelf heatsink for the 3 LF modules (LF100 on the top; LF55 & LF25 on the bottom) ... the shelves are a bit too close together, so undoing/doing up the bolts used to anchor the modules to the heatsink is fiddlier than I would like! 

Come up for a listen sometime!!?? 

Regards,

Andy

[Martyn]

As for cars, I have a 1968 Lotus Elan +2. It was bought as a going concern, but was hit from behind a couple of years later. It's now nearing completion of its restoration, and yes, it has cost lots of £ and time to restore!

In case anyone doesn't know what one is, have a look here: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=953

Cheers,

Ron

Very nice. I very nearly bought one about five years ago, but the gelcoat was quote badly cracked and crazed. The car was otherwise quite sound, but it would nave needed too much time and money to bring it up to scratch. When I get the current batch of projects out of the way (maybe in five years time) I'm going to build either one of the Lotus 7 look-alikes or maybe an AC Cobra. I'm a believer in Colin Chapman's approach to performance, but the seven has so little space and weather protection that a Cobra might be more practicable. We'll see (and we'll see what my wife has to say about it too).

I've never owned any of that temperamental Italian machinery, other than a Fiat X1/9 which was great fun even though various parts did tend to explode from time to time, although most of it comes from a fine racing ancestry. The Nissans are pretty decent cars as far as I can tell - the early Datsuns (can't quite remember the models - 280ZX?) were rather like a Japanese scaled-down E-type.

Here's a link to mine: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=gallery;area=browse;album=1430.

[Seano]

The best sports car I've ever owned was a Lada Niva.  Two doors, fat tyres, all wheel drive, Russian made using licenced Fiat mechanicals........a hoot from go to whoa (which often wasn't too far apart).

I somewhat foolishly swapped it for a stroked V8 Land Rover Series 3 .......which went a hell of a lot faster than the Lada but (even with all wheel drive) went round corners like a Labrador on lino. Not easy to manage whilst one seast is a mere foam block.

[Oz_Audio]

Cars, ye gods, now where talking...money... time...girlfriends.....

While I had the 2 Guzzi's, I also had 2, 1 registered (1967) and 1 for bits (1966),  Prince Skyline GT's.

It will be interesting if anyone here has ever heard of them, but I will not be surprised if some have!

Mark

[AKSA]

MORE NOISE REQUIRED.......
A friend bought the new Alfa 159, a 2.4 litre 5 cylinder turbo diesel.  Remarkable car, very smooth, incredible power.....

Guzzi has just released the Griso 8V, which has four valve heads (quattrovalvole!!).  Reviews are very favourable, it's a wonderful engine with all the Guzzi soul but huge power all the way to 8000 rpm - now with OHC, it really revs.

MV Augusta has released a 1078 four cylinder, which is evidently a beautiful bike, incredibly well balanced with a lovely engine.

Kawasaki's new 1000 cc sports bike is the best yet, with traction control to keep you from killing yourself on exit from corners.....

The new RC8 from KTM, a Vee twin sports tourer, is a disappointment, gearbox bad, heavy on fuel, and not a good top end.

Harley's new 96 CID engine with six speed gearbox (??? ) is apparently quite a good motorcycle, particularly the Fat Bob.  I must say I'm amazed....  took 'em a while......   

My Cressida is now up and running again, and perfectly, too.  Have been considering a turbo for it, however it won't fit:

My new VSonics are considerably better than I ever expected, but the 884 Peerless 8" drivers are proving difficult to obtain in Oz.

The US sub-prime crisis is maturing into a very nasty economic glitch in the US.  Any thoughts from our US members on what is to come?

Cheers,

Hugh

[stvnharr]

MORE NOISE REQUIRED.......

My Cressida is now up and running again, and perfectly, too.  Have been considering a turbo for it, however it won't fit:

My new VSonics are considerably better than I ever expected, but the 884 Peerless 8" drivers are proving difficult to obtain in Oz.

The US sub-prime crisis is maturing into a very nasty economic glitch in the US.  Any thoughts from our US members on what is to come?

Cheers,

Hugh






Hugh,
Good news on the Cressida.  It's been on holiday for a long time!!!
I'll email you soon with news and such.

Steve

[stvnharr]

MORE NOISE REQUIRED.......
My Cressida is now up and running again, and perfectly, too.  Have been considering a turbo for it, however it won't fit:

My new VSonics are considerably better than I ever expected, but the 884 Peerless 8" drivers are proving difficult to obtain in Oz.

The US sub-prime crisis is maturing into a very nasty economic glitch in the US.  Any thoughts from our US members on what is to come?

Cheers,

Hugh

Hugh,
Good news on the Cressida.  It's been on holiday for a long time!!!
I'll email you soon with news and such.

Steve

[LM]

Hugh,

I really got to respect diesel when motoring around Europe a couple of years ago, pity the fuel doesn’t have the same price advantage in Australia though.  With Alfa and Jaguar etc well and truly in the diesel fold, I wonder when Aston Martin and Ferrari will follow.  Somehow they (and motor bikes) don’t seem to quite go together with diesel though Mercedes led the way some time ago with racing versions.  Not sure when Subaru will follow either but I do love their current boxer engines.

Re the Aspen 'not enough noise' bit, have you had enough of a break from your current orders to do much napkin jotting?  Bet the delighted feedback from the GK1 upgrades is making you think about pre amps again but is it enough to capture your attention while the Aztec, headphone amp etc are still rattling around in your brain.  No rush though as the upgraded beast is a sheer delight!