The Motorcycle So Advanced Its Own Company Made It Worse
458 views · Aug 31, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 4
@allenjames515 · 2 weeks ago
1. The head was iron.<br>2. The valves were parallel <br>3. No duct nor fan.<br><br>Farnborough had expeimeted with air cooling in 1917, discovered that head should be aluminium and valves radial in a hemispherical combustion chamber.<br><br>AJS had taken note, used iron but only very small and used alcohol fuel. Consequently it beat all others of 350 and 500 cc in 1921 TT. The side valve was useless and every reasonable bike had a hemihead from then on. Alcohol was banned at TT from 1926 and the wide finned aluminium head became necessary, again a result of careful experiment. Partly why the parallel twin worked was because it had wider fins for same capacity as a single.<br><br>Turner was no engineer, more like a schoolboy doodling on a book's flyleaf. Anyone with experience and decent observation knew before starting that an unducted iron head parallel valve engine was nbg.<br>Sangster, who owned Ariel and Triumph put Turner at Triumph, his intention was money making, not stamina, economy and power.<br><br>Aged 10 it impressed me, just as the Indian 4 had my father at similar age. For a child more is better. Superficial, no real understanding.
@AlfredLoomis-r2z · 11 days ago
this was a lousy design, almost from birth. they did start with a 600 cc liquid-cooled bike that might have been good, but management got cold feet and sold a defective 1000 bike.<br>it was ok if you didn't push it.
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