Hoosier Daddy said:
So many times us Yanks take for granted the availabilty of bikes and parts let alone the cost associated with them.
Kudos to you for taking on such a project in an area where things are not so easily obtainable!
Thanks man!
A little bit of history: The antique motorcycles and cars in Israel can be divided to three periods. The first period is basically from the beginning of British empire mandate in the region from 1923 to 1948. In this time period, many British bikes were brought here, but unfortunately not many left. The most common bike from the period is BSA M20, which from some reason is always referred as BSA 1942. There are other bikes. I have a friend who owns a 1935 Norton (I'm not sure which model, you can see its picture below) and I've seen an Ariel from '42.
That's the '35 Norton mentioned above.
This is me, trying to kick-start it.
That's a '42 (maybe) BSA M20.
Another actual '42 BSA M20
A commercial for Panther motorcycles. Not sure what year, but I never saw a Panther around here.
Yes! Even Indians were brought here. This one is from '36. Right now there are 12 Indians in Israel, and they have a nice story. I'll leave it for the next time.
Circa 1930 in Tel Aviv. Not sure which bike is it.
I'm sure that there are Triumphs and other bikes as well but I haven't seen them yet. Most of the bikes prior to '48 were gone from several reasons: some were taken back with the withdrawal of the British. Some were destroyed or forgotten and even buried after they broke down (usually because of lack of knowledge on how to fix them) and some were simply stolen. Another problem with bikes from that era is that immediately after the establishment of the Israeli state, anyone who had a vehicle had to register it. Since not all vehicles were registered, many of the vehicles simply cannot be driven legally and were left to rot.
The second period is from the 50's to the 80's. In this period there was some kind of blooming in the motorcycle scene in Israel. Since cars were considered luxury, motorcycles were the vehicle of choice (although, comparing to England and the US, the number of bikes that were sold or brought here was quite low. Note that the population here back in those days was poor and composed from holocaust survivors, Jewish communities from Asia and Africa and Arabs). Most of the bikes were British. BSA, Norton, Triumph, Matchless, AJS, you name it! Unfortunately, lots of these bikes were poorly maintained (due to lack of knowledge and parts) and the ones that survived are usually found in poor shape. For example, I have a friend who had a Matchless just like mine when he was young. One day the engine stopped working, so he simply left the bike behind some bushes and forgot about it.
Even though motorcycles were popular, the scooters were the undisputed rulers of the road, with the Piaggio Vespa as the scooter to be seen with. Many Vespa's are still around today.
My friend's 70's Triumph. I think it's a Bonnie, I'm not sure.
A very rare sight here. Bobber made from T100 if I'm not mistaken.
BSA M21 from '56
Restored Triumph. I don't know which model is it.
Restored Vespa in Tel Aviv.
As I said, through the 50's and 60's things were going pretty well, but then came the 70's and with it the downfall of the British motorcycle industry and rise of the Japanese one.
Since Israel was boycotted by the Arab world, many companies did not do business with Israel since they feared to lose the Arab market (which was by far bigger than the Israeli market). As a result, during the 70's to the mid 80's there was no import of Japanese bikes at all! Japanese bikes from the 70's are very rare in Israel, although in recent years many people import them from abroad. The bikes that you can find here from the 70's are some British bikes (Nortons and Triumphs and in very small numbers), BMWs, Husquarna, Jawa and Italian brands such as Moto-guzzi and Ducati. You could find some Japanese bikes, but they were outnumbered comparing to the others. I think that this time can be called the low point of the motorcycle scene here, although some will consider the present as the low point.
Restored Husquarna.
Ducati Indiana. I think it's from the 70's.
This brings us to the final period. From the 80's until present. In the mid 80's some Japanese bikes were began appearing on the roads here and with the beginning of the 90's, as the boycott removed, there was an explosion of Japanese brands entering the Israeli market and pretty much rule it until now.
As I mentioned before, some people will say that the low point of the Israeli motorcycle scene and market is now. The reason is that motorcycles are not considered as a legitimate way of transportation by the government. The insurance cost is skyrocketing (about 1500-2000$ a year), the roads infrastructure is completely motorcycle unfriendly and most of all, motorcycles are a very expensive hobby here.
Anyway, there are still many crazy people here to keep the scene alive... so there is still hope.
