What's your dream donor bike?

[gomotomoto]

If you could open up the shed doors at a garage sale and find an old machine for a ridiculous price, what would it be? The fantasy question for the purposes of keeping & building not just reselling a valuable old bike (like an indian).

 

[hocbj23]

Brough Superior.bj

 

[crazypj]

Just too many bikes I would like to have and keep
Egli Vincent, Hesketh, CCM 580 (modified BSA 440/B50 motor) in Rob North style frame 'round barrel' Guzzi 850, or, the ultimate, Britten V1000 (particularly as there was never a road version )

 

[Tim]

I really want a Nimbus. Sure, if I could dream any dream there is the typical laundry list of uber rare valuable machines, but I'd love to find a Nimbus or two sitting in my garage one day ready to be worked on.

 

[gomotomoto]

Never heard of a nimbus... What country of origin?

 

[4eyes]

Excelsior Henderson! 8)

 

[crazypj]

Never heard of a nimbus... What country of origin?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbus_%28motorcycle%29

 

[VonYinzer]

HD 45" "Flathead" bobber, or a Black Shadow maybe. Or maybe a street legal REAL HD xr750. The 62 Triumph "Thruxton" is a thing of beauty as well.

 

[Redbird]

The dream bike I want to find is a Honda 305 Scrambler.
But not just any Scrambler. I want to find the Scrambler my Dad bought when I was a toddler. The bike I handed him tools while he resurrected it from bare frame, forks, wheels, and several shoe boxes and mason jars. This was his first "real motorcycle" (he had a scooter as a kid), and the first bike I ever rode on.

That's the bike I want to find, rebuild (again), and keep.

 

[bradj]

Even thou my dad is a clot 98% of the time due to a drinking problem i would like to find his bike.

Sent from my PB99400 using Tapatalk

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Because you said Donor, as in something as a basis for a build....
An ariel square 4.

Like this guy was gutsy enough to do...

 

[Tim]

 

[bradj]

Excelsior Henderson! 8)

my ridden lawn mower looked like this the last time i tried to go up a hill with it. ill give you a good deal on it 4eyes then all you need is a kool hat

 

[Hoofhearted]

Bill Lacey's Norton that Hailwood won with in the Island.

 

[mikeadamstattoo]

Cb50r...mm

 

[John Rebel]

Vincent black shadow, and a norton fretherbead frame to go with it.

 

[DrJ]

Or maybe a street legal REAL HD xr750.

I've always wished for one also but real XRs don't have generators. Unless you can somehow bolt the top ends onto an XL bottom. The closest thing to a streetable XR is the XR1000 and I've only ever seen one for sale, they're even more rare than the XLCR.

 

[beachcomber]

My old Manx / Goldie, my last race Tribsa or my old Bob Mac Connie.

Or I guess the donor/s to build any of the above !

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

I've always wished for one also but real XRs don't have generators. Unless you can somehow bolt the top ends onto an XL bottom. The closest thing to a streetable XR is the XR1000 and I've only ever seen one for sale, they're even more rare than the XLCR.

Back '82 when I was 19, I had $1,400 in my pocket and was shopping for a bike. Went to the Harley Dealer and he tried to sell be an XR1000.... Hard. I still remember it, gun metal grey, twin pod air filters and an awesome set of black pipes. Brand new on the show room floor. I didn't want to get a loan for the other $3000 so I walked away. To see what they are going for now KILLS me. : :-\ : :-\

 

[beachcomber]

Because you said Donor, as in something as a basis for a build....
An ariel square 4.

Maybe as an a visual excercise - as an engine they were crap ! Very heavy and very slow. Torquier than yer average twin which is why 90% ended up lugging child adult sidecars !

The Healey Bros. [ 20 minutes from where I live ] built a limited edition range of s/arm bikes based around the Squarriel lump - looked the biz but were outperformed by Japanese 125s ! Around 1972 - 78 I think .. didn't last long though. Tim Healey was the driving force and the basis was a modified Egli frame.

I remember one being used in a Sprinter [ Drag bike] back in the late 60's. Shorrock supercharged and running Methanol. It exploded big time on the start line scattering engine bits for hundreds of yards around. Sounded awesome through 4 open pipes though !
I had a pal [ Steve Wassell ] who's Father founded the Wassell spares empire in the UK. They had a really neat private museum and one of the bikes was a factory prototype Squarriel in a swingarm frame [Ariel ] - too late to make it into production and save the factory.

They had a knack of siezing the right rear cylinder due to poor cooling. The bike shown is the four port - preceeded by a twin port, which was even worse.