By LongRoofian
If either of the two above images draw your interest and you can spare a few minutes of your busy work day for more images, and some Ramblings From The olelongrooffan, stroll on through to see What I Saw Today.
As those of you who follow along with me, you might remember this olelongrooffan stays off the Eisenhower Highway System, most of the time, and I do not hesitate to circle around to look at something previously seen at the slower speeds this 50 year old tends to drive these days.
Well, the other day, after meeting with a buddy, Manuel Labor, this olelongrooffan was heading down A1A here in The Birthplace of Speed in my olestationbus, to get back to my two and a half room condo, affectionately dubbed the Taj Mahal by my brother, thejeepjunkie, to shower and get back to feeling like a human being again.
Anyway, I spotted this parked in the parking lot of the local IHOP and, as I am always looking out for interesting, at least to this olelongrooffan, something to blog, I knew I had to capture this for Two Wheeled Tuesdays right here on Hooniverse.
That’s right my fellow Hoons. A 1946 Triumph motorcycle. Now, I have to say this about that, other than living near the home of Bike Week and Biketoberfest, I am not a motorcycle guy.
But this two wheeled beauty, the same age as thejeepjunkie’s Willys CJ2A, is absolutely gorgeous.
As it was about the time of a Japanese dentist appointment, you know, 2:30, the 80 something owners were the only guests at that IHOP and I went inside to request their permission to get some images of it.
Well, it turns out the owner was also the dude who restored it. Unfortunately, not being a bike dude, I didn’t ask all the questions I should have but I did get out of him that he as 17 more of them at his home not far from the Birthplace of Speed.
So, I head back out to the parking lot to get some pertinent images to share with my fellow Hoons.
I especially liked this bicycle style seat the Powers That Be deemed necessary for this oletwowheeler.
And you can bet your *ss that in 1946 there were no electric starters on these.
As I was looking at the foot controls on the left side of this motorbike, I was trying to figure out how the petal to the left in the following image went to the transmission, as is the norm on the few US motorcycles I am familiar with.
I even took another image to try and figure that transmission out.
Then this dumb*ss olelongrooffan realized that it is an English bike and the transmission shifter is on the right while the brake is on the left of the driver in the forward facing position, similar to the reverse controls on their motorcars.
And that tail light on the rear of this rare old Triumph is no larger that a vintage JFK half dollar.
Well Hoons, I hope this olelongrooffan hasn’t taken up too much of your workday and I sincerely hoped you enjoyed seeing this vintage old motorcycle.
And remember to take the time to Celebrate Life.
Jeff Glucker 
Peter Tanshanomi 
Yep, these are fun! The spring seat eases the pain associated with the hardtail frame. Or to put it another way, "In Merry old England, suspension suspends you (and only you)".
That weird triangle shaped cover on the front right of the sump houses the timing gears. On the newer ones it is more of a triangle, but this one is elongated back to house an extra gear to drive the magneto. the cover on the left holds a chain that connects the crank to the outside of the clutch basket. On the newer ones (1964 -1984? unit motors) the alternator is attached directly to the crank under this cover. Not sure if that's the case with these pre-unit motors. Wonderfully primitive, these things.
That was well worth a few minutes out of my morning. Great find, and surprising to hear that the gentleman has seventeen more of them. I would have offered him up a cashier's check for one on the spot. I'd love to own one of these.
That looks to be a Ural, a Russian copy of a BMW. It could be a year or two old, if I'm correct. You could probably find a dealership right there in Michigan and get one for yourself, if you wanted. The sidecar wheel is driven, and they'll supposedly go almost anywhere. Just don't be in a big hurry. There's a guy here who has a similar rig.
This one was tagged as a BMW, though I suppose it could be a fake. The sidecar wheel was driven, IIRC. Still a pretty cool rig and not something you'd expect walking out of a building on a NASA center.
That Triumph is just lovely. Yeah, brake on left, shift on right. Also, the shift pattern is probably one up, three down. My Norton Commando still had the shift lever in the same place, and the same pattern. It was a 1974, and in 1975, the last year Norton made bikes, they had to switch the shifter to the other side, because of some regulation standardizing motorcycle controls. Oh, and my bike was kickstart only, too. They finally gave it electric start in 1975, too. Didn't work all that well, apparently. Yeah, this Triumph looks familiar.
It wasn't really all that hard to get used to, the opposite foot controls. I only tried to brake with the shifter and shift with the brake a few times when I first got the bike.
Interesting. My 1972 Triumph has a right side shift with a one down 4 up pattern. Did your Norton have the opposite pattern? I’m told some bikes had an opposite pattern because it was preferred for racing. Don’t know why exactly.
I had a 1970 MotoGuzzi Ambassador for a while. That had a 1 up 4 down pattern.
Changing between right and left side shift I find relatively easy. Riding the opposite shift pattern, not so much. When I rode the Goose I rode nothing else all year.