Thinking of buying a bike for my dad.

[Paul the 6th]

Bit random and probably just one of those things I'll think about for 5 mins then find something else to occupy me, but, my dad is 60 next year and he used to ride year and years and years ago. He always talks about bsa's, matchless g2's and royal enfield something-or-others...

I've caught him having a sit on my bike and also looking at it longingly on quite a few occaisions. I've also caught him putting random bids on ebay for bikes from his youth but he's never won anything. One thing he always says when I tell him to have a look at some of the modern bikes is "The gears are on the wrong side! All the proper english bikes from back in the day had back brake on the left foot and gears on the right foot".

The royal enfield 500 classic bullet has this setup and is still built to the exact same spec as something like 1955 (albeit in india). It will probably have all the oil leaks and gasket problems he's looking for, and I'm tempted to buy him something like this as a gift.

http://search.autotrader.co.uk/es-uk.../search.action

this one is just down the road from us and would be mint but I'm not sure how serious he is about this kind of thing. Anyone done owt like this for a relative/friend before? And does anyone have any experience with these nostalgic uber-retro bikes?

My old man has one. Good bike but man he crashes it a lot. I think thats down to a buggered front brake though.

Not a bad bike other than that... lol

[Paul the 6th]

was that your dad with you tonight? If it was I wish I'd known as I'd have asked him a few questions lol

Aye it was mate. Indeed you should have mentioned something. He does love his. I think though the one piece of advice you should deffo get is get a disc on the front!

Cheers,

Nick

[Paul the 6th]

drums on the front of a 500cc single?! they must have been fecking mental - then again we do take discs/all associated technology for granted these days...

as far as I can gather the back brake's on the left and gear on the right - is this correct or only on some models?

cheers!

Originally Posted by Paul the 6th

drums on the front of a 500cc single?! they must have been fecking mental - then again we do take discs/all associated technology for granted these days...

as far as I can gather the back brake's on the left and gear on the right - is this correct or only on some models?

cheers!

I think so, and the gear box is the right way up too (i.e. British style, racing style Not Jap... )