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Ian Soady¹ said :-
The front brake on the BSA is an 8" twin leading shoe affair and is very progressive and powerful. I agree some drum brakes were pretty pathetic but by the late 1960s there were some good ones around. Norton's TLS on the early Commandos was excellent and indeed better in many ways than the later disc. I remember some heart stopping moments on my disc braked 850 Commando in the wet. It needed a full turn of the wheel at least before the water was wiped off. Just as your knuckles were going white it would start to grip at which point the front wheel would lock......
No sidecar brake and I can't see a means of fitting one easily. The wheel is in fact from a Ural with suitable adaptors. A sidecar brake is useful - not so much for stopping but to help with left hand bends which also need slight acceleration. On right handers - which of course are less scary - slight application of the bike rear brake helps to pull the whole thing round. I need to relearn all these things and have located a useful big car park on a local trading estate which is unused on Sundays so will be making my way there once all is up & running.
Sidecar paint and transport there on Monday confirmed.
This is the BSA brake - also fitted to Bonnies, Tridents and the like.
27/02/2026 12:23:54 UTC
Glyn said :-
I came across this at Kempton bike jumble today. A V6 engine and fairly well put together. I presuming it is someone’s one off. It had a ticket for £750 on it. Has anyone any ideas?
07/03/2026 20:13:48 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Glyn, that's a mystery indeed. It's got elements of Pan Euro 11/13 about it but they're V4.
Upt.
07/03/2026 21:59:54 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
On second looksies, I dont think it is a V6, it's an ST1100 with a fake front ST lead. But I've been wrong before. Fake news, who said that?
07/03/2026 22:03:20 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
See what I mean?
07/03/2026 22:05:37 UTC
Glyn said :-
I think you’re onto something there Up’t. I don’t think the Triumph tank fooled anybody but it was a very good fit seemingly sculpted around various fitments on the frame. Do you think it’s the Pan frame. Clever really because most of the Pan is covered with fairing so those who have never owned one would not recognise the chassis and engine. £750 seems reasonable value for what could become a pretty interesting machine.
08/03/2026 07:42:27 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Interesting, I always like bikes that are a bit oddball. I think Mr North may be right as I can only see 2 exhausts exiting, at least on the side we can see.
08/03/2026 09:47:42 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
The frame and rear footpeg hangers are ST11. The tank is a dummy, you can see the tank and filler just behind it in it's original position. Wheels are ST11 too.
08/03/2026 16:39:29 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Yeah if you look at the front spark plug cap compared to the middle and rear caps it's "different". Most peculiar, someone's gone to a lot of effort to give a V4 engine a V6 look. Weird, but as long as weird ain't hurting no-one weird is fine.
09/03/2026 08:14:03 UTC
nab301 said :-
I guess it's a poor mans take on a Honda Valkyrie (although the valkyrie is a flat 6 ) if the engine and transmission are good it seems well worth the money . Be interesting to see how it rides and with some custom side covers it could look ok.
Nigel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Valkyrie...
09/03/2026 16:03:09 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ay up me ducks.
Advice required, no not that, keep it clean!
Anyone got any experience of charging through the OBD2 port. Optimate make a lead with the OBD2 port on one end and the SAE on the other. Seems a good solution in an ever more complicated HEV world. Any views, experiences would be welcomed. I've put the question to Optimate and will post their response when it comes. This is for a 4 wheeled contrivance and not a motorsiccle. It would seem to be safer to go through the OBD but I'm just checking things out before I spend 20 squid on a lead.
Ta me ducks.
Upt.
10/03/2026 16:58:44 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
https://www.optimate.co.uk/battery-chargers/o37-sae-to-obd-ii-cable/...
10/03/2026 16:59:39 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
From Optimate....
Thank you for your email.
The O37 OBD connector is a very safe option for battery maintenance and will be the ideal solution for you to keep the battery in your Toyota topped up when the car is not being used.
Regards,
Benn Green
Technical Sales Advisor
10/03/2026 21:13:41 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Wow! I am surprised. Firstly because Optimate actually got back to you and secondly I didn't think it'd be a good idea to charge through the OBD2 port. I know there's a 12v feed to the OBD2 port as my el-cheapo fault code reader has no battery but it wakes up when it's plugged into the port. I would have thought the 12v wires to the OBD2 port would be quite thin, only designed to provide an amp or so for any attached equipment. I wouldn't want to be back-feeding a hefty charge through an OBD2 port.
I suppose the Optimate is a battery TENDER as opposed to a battery CHARGER. It's designed to feed a small current to the battery to keep it topped up rather than a dollop of amps to quickly recharge.
On an OBD2 side note I purchased a OBD2 port to 4 pin thingy that fits in the CB500X's little red diagnostic port. My el-cheapo scanner can now read the basics from my Honda. Woohoo!
11/03/2026 07:55:15 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I'm a bit surprised as well but if optimate thinks it's OK and you have that in writing then I assume they will pick up the tab if your ecu gets fried.
My solution was to use the permanent live on the 12 pin trailer socket on my car. It's handy because the car's still locked and indeed would still work even if the battery was dead. Some years ago my wife left the headlights on with her car and flattened the battery rendering the central locking inoperative. For some reason I couldn't get to the key operated door lock. After a few choice words I remembered my AA patrol days and manage to break in using a wire coathanger and a tyre lever. No damage was caused.....
Oddly enough, breaking into cars wasn't covered in the AA training course but it was one of the more common call outs, especially Ford Escorts for some reason. The only ones I could never get into were VW bugs (the originals).
11/03/2026 09:43:03 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I spoke to my man Michael last night, mechanic extraordinaire. Well, I was actually helping him put a rodent strip on the bottom of the garage door, his Aston has been spied by the mice from hell.
He said it's the norm now apparently, OBD is the way to go.
It shall be ordered forthwith.
Upt.
11/03/2026 11:32:48 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Well every day is a school day. Still - I wouldn't recommend actually shunting many amps through the OBD2 port.
As for you hanging out with folks who own an "Aston" - well aren't you moving in the upper echelons of society eh? Do you come here to slum it?
11/03/2026 12:08:28 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Yes.
11/03/2026 12:35:47 UTC
Glyn said :-
The OBD 2 port can take up to 5 Amps. I didn’t realise that it had a permanent 12volt supply though. The optimate battery conditioner / charger that I use on the bikes puts out approximately 2 Amps. However, if you’ve got a 100 Amp battery it’ll take more than 50 hours to charge because of the clever way it brings the battery up to full charge.
11/03/2026 15:08:20 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I believe it's a 60 amp battery Glyn. I just want to eliminate the seemingly regular issue with HEV cars of the 12V battery being borderline for extended rest periods. If we had to leave it on charge through the optimate for a day or more upon our return then it would be fine.
Our Hyundai Mild Hybrid 48V is a little temperamental and after 2 weeks or so whilst it will start all the menu's, of which there are many, reset and leave you scratching your head to reset the same.
Thanks for the 5 amp information, you're a very helpful chap. I'll buy you a drink later.
Upt.
11/03/2026 16:49:31 UTC
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