24-04-2021, 12:11 PM (This post was last modified: 24-04-2021, 06:32 PM by Tony Griffiths.)
Getting into the head of motor vehicle designers circa 1914 -1920, most appeared to think that good brakes were dangerous. Here's a crazy example - a 1000 cc V-twin Sparkbrook. I had one of those, but with a 296 cc Villers engine, a bike so light I could lift it off the ground. The brakes - cycle blocks on the front and a dummy rim on the rear - were utterly useless.
With a 1000cc V-twin engine, pregnant wife on the pillion and two hearty children in the originally-fitted sidecar - how on earth was this monster ever brought to a halt, especially (as the second picture hints) in the wet?
24-04-2021, 06:52 PM (This post was last modified: 24-04-2021, 06:53 PM by Duncan Grimmond.)
I think it's a case of driving on the throttle as if you have no brakes at all...
My wife would certainly NOT have ridden on that luggage carrier! The least she would have accepted would have been a "Tart Trap" as I had on a rigid frame 16H Norton.
24-04-2021, 11:19 PM (This post was last modified: 25-04-2021, 02:55 AM by Tony Press.)
(24-04-2021, 06:52 PM)Duncan Grimmond Wrote: I think it's a case of driving on the throttle as if you have no brakes at all...
My wife would certainly NOT have ridden on that luggage carrier! The least she would have accepted would have been a "Tart Trap" as I had on a rigid frame 16H Norton.
No footrests or did the passenger use the front one ? But the bulb horn would have warned of the impending collision.
24-04-2021, 11:29 PM (This post was last modified: 25-04-2021, 12:01 AM by Duncan Grimmond.)
A Tart Trap was a vinyl covered foam rubber pad curved on the underside to fit over a rear mudguard. With a pair of clamp-on footrests it provided a pillion seat for a young lady or, in vernacular, a “tart”.
If you were lucky and “clicked “ with a girl at the “caff “ you could offer her a lift home on the pillion seat...
