Hey Jinx ive got Couple of CB 200s they where a great little bike also a 400/4 great reliable bike but I'm a british bike man at heart..                                                                                                                                                                             

ALWAYS TOTAL respect for them....they' re not called Honda MOTOR corporation for nothing..depths of December,cover off,turn on, fuel on,press starter.. Still love old,eccentric, iconic,leaky,Luddite devices of all persuasions,simpler the better though..                                                                                                                                                                             

You know I just cannot picture a cb 200 in my head thats the first bike mentioned I can not think what they look like google here we come lol                                                                                                                                                                              

Hey Jinxy one of my friends dad has the last triumph bonnie ever made still in its crate are ya jealous lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Nope,rebuilt too many Meriden twins to be jealous,best thing is take it out of crate,thrash it,strip it ,rebuild it properly,then fit a single carb so it'll tick over nicely and give better mpg...include an unleaded valve seat job for cylinder head too, primary belt drive conversion would be nice too,but just splitting hairs now...shame it wasn't a 500 Daytona or Tiger,much nicer bike(biased)                                                                                                                                                                             

wowser that's why your the daddy jinx Ill pass that info on to him
He had a 500cc single Norton too and I did witness him shooting over the handle bars when it back fired when he tried to kick it up and he was six foot plus lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Learn to use the advance/retard lever...  Don't worry Denny,i've got a bike with one of them on too...it's an archaic term now...                                                                                                                                                                             

is that for the timing Jinx ?
tell me about it please 
did you advance as it got warmer ? help 
love old shite really                                                                                                                                                                              

Simply a cable controlled method of altering the ignition advance position on another old-fashioned device...the magneto...to be honest many drag bikes even up to quite recently used magneto spark provision in preference to alternator or coils because you COULD adjust it to give the biggest possible spark at the plug gap at the optimum moment,bigger bang,faster you can burn fuel,more power...most manufacturers turned to automatic systems soon after WWII..

A good aid for winter starting in particular though..full advance for the first start in cold weather,back off half once started,ride for half a mile,back off to where it sounded happiset at speed or up steep climbs...riding the old 'flat tank' veteran bikes..ala Banbury Run or London To Brighton is a real challenge,some had no actual force feed for the engine oil,so you could in a 30 second period be hand changing gears,opening/ closing throttle lever(not always hand twistgrip throttle),adjust advance /retard lever,adjust rear drive belt pulley,(belt drive not a modern thing),pumping oil with separate plunger to engine,all whilst watching well ahead for any idiot car drivers pulling out,as many bikes had little better than bicycle size rim brakes..!A real juggling act..                                                                                                                                                                             

In fact,if it was for the sheer ingenuity of the engineers who thought out the problems,you would not be able to walk out turn the key,press the button,and vroooooooom....upside down front forks are modern,right?WRONG..my '51 Guzzi has them...And cantilever rear suspension,underslung under engine...Buell re-used that one...very few real new ideas out there,just refinements of what went before...

Ho Jinx saved this one to read when I could digest it first time I looked it looked technical.
God Iam glad modern bikes don't have those things on them.
Talk about not concentrating on the road lol 
upside down forks on a 51Guzzi ?
As I remember trial bikes seemed to be first to use the upside down fork but could be wrong just in my head 
Your right theres not much really that's gone forward in years as you say just refinements 
which are good tbh but its summat else to go wrong lol 
Its like engines the manufactures have got to a stage where they cannot get any more power out on a bike engine there struggling to get each hp more now till some brain surgeon comes up with another idea 

                                                                                                                                                                             

Trouble is cost constraints imposed by bean counters...if money is no object,then you can get exactly what you want..you can even have a Guzzi v8 500 replica(my personal choice after the lottery win)                                                                                                                                                                             

A wee 1978 Yam DT 125e which I totally ratted up with Matt Black paint, used it off road in the fields near my house as a wee teen. Loved that wee bike *sigh*                                                                                                                                                                             

its strange how they wee in Scotland and in Ireland !!!!!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

No weirder than Gurt down yer...                                                                                                                                                                             

we use that too Jinx                                                                                                                                                                              

Good multi-purpose word,less fussy than tad or smidgen,imho                                                                                                                                                                             

mmm we call our wives gurt lmao                                                                                                                                                                              

If you got a mrs Boo then welcome to the kennels Boo PMSL