Mercury for sale (maybe)

Hi

I'm thinking I might sell the mercury I have?

i really can't be bothered with eBay and the likes.....and wondered if any NOC members would be interested.....

see my other posts and you will get the general idea of condition....

i have my hands full with a 60's racing tribsa at the moment and have had a few set backs with an old track honda ....and I feel I need to thin the decks abit.....7 bikes here and I need some breathing space .....

if you are interested just contact me.....

Hello Well I would sell the Honda and Some of the Bits Called motorcycles then you can concentrate your mind on a Good bike like your Norton Mercury. Racing is very expensive I have been there and got the T Shirt , I raced a Sidecar with a 800cc Konig Flat 4 in tuned by me, and would see of some of these new sidecars today , she pull 230 mph on a good long straight bit of road , like the M18 before it was open there was a 5 mile straight bit there we had the use of.

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Previously michael_coombes wrote:

Hi

I'm thinking I might sell the mercury I have?

i really can't be bothered with eBay and the likes.....and wondered if any NOC members would be interested.....

see my other posts and you will get the general idea of condition....

i have my hands full with a 60's racing tribsa at the moment and have had a few set backs with an old track honda ....and I feel I need to thin the decks abit.....7 bikes here and I need some breathing space .....

if you are interested just contact me.....

Hello Well I would sell the Honda and Some of the Bits Called motorcycles then you can concentrate your mind on a Good bike like your Norton Mercury. Racing is very expensive I have been there and got the T Shirt , I raced a Sidecar with a 800cc Konig Flat 4 in tuned by me, and would see of some of these new sidecars today , she pull 230 mph on a good long straight bit of road , like the M18 before it was open there was a 5 mile straight bit there we had the use of.

Really Anna? 230MILES per hour??

Previously michael_coombes wrote:

Ha ha I was waiting for a comment like that.....

the thing is the norton was the last bike I brought into the garage and it only owes me what I paid plus a few quid in sundries .....

i don't really want to sell any of the 7 bikes i own as they have all been labours of love......... as you probably know you never really can recoup the time and money you invest in them...so as it stands it is the one that owes me least....

and a little foot note... I like all my bikes and all makes my life doesn't stop on one make or model I confess my newest bike was built in 1975 so I do tend to lean to newer classics...

the problem with British bikes is that my friends and people I meet are just not interested in them....they are into newer 70's and 80's Japanese bikes... They look at mine and have absolutely no interest In the Brit stuff...now I'm 40 this year ( young in the classic bike world) and I do wonder who will be buying the British bikes in the near future? they won't be spending their hard earned cash on bikes they have no feelings for they want the models they remember and wanted back in the day....

i would guess most nortons have found their homes by now but who will be prepared to buy them in the future ......the market for them is getting smaller as each year passes....

this is a crying shame as they are indeed cracking bikes and are part of motorcycle history.

some of my mates dont like british bikes but it has never crossed my mind to sell them because they dont like them!!!

WIll the bubble burst? So many British bike enthusiasts havea collection of bikes and are at or beyond retirement age. Over the next 20 years the market will see a whole load of bikes appear. Who will buy them? There is no sign of the bubble bursting yet - prices keep going up, yet they really should reach a ceiling or fall eventually. The rare and exoticwill always demand a premium, but I can see the ordinary British twin struggling to find homes eventually. I might just be able to squeeze the Mercury into my shed rather than see it thrown in a skip.

Michael,

I do wonder what the point of your original message was in this thread. You state any body interested about buying the bike should get in touch, and then say in the last message that you are not definitely selling the bike. Ever heard of time wasting? Sounds like you're trying to gauge the level of interest in the bike so as to price it at maximum before 'quickly shifting your trading tool' as you put it. Guess there's room for a Speculators section in the club. This comes from one of the minority of club members who bought a Norton to ride,

enjoy the summer.

I rather like threads which wander off topic. Like Michael, I have projects in the shed which realistically I will never get round to. Like Michael, I put the word around that there was I bike which I might consider selling. I got a fair (certainly not excessive)offer and sold it. Then promptly went out and bought another, rather missing the point of rationalising the shed contents. Such is life.

You haven't wasted my time Michael. If time was that precious I wouldn't be here reading this stuff!

Interesting that your mates are not into the old bikes. I don't think that's the same thing as not appreciating them. I take my Dommi to a local bike meet most Wednesdays, and it always draws a crowd. It's usually one of only two or three bikes that aren't encased in multi-coloured plastic and ridden by power-ranger lookalikes (sorry - I mean people clothed in sensible safety wear!). It gets lots of comments from youngsters (for youngsters read pre-35ish) but I'm sure that most, if they had cash to spare, would go for the latest ZZYR1200 speed rocket or whatever, probably spending about four times the quivalent of what my Dommi is worth. Maybe it's about age - I had the crotch rockets when I was younger, but I scaled down when the kids arrived in the hope it might just enable me to live long enough to see them grow up!

If I had the funds I'd bid for your Mercury in a heartbeat - but in terms of bills and mortgage we seem to have something in common! I also work fulltime and have a young family to support. For these reasons, you will not see me at International events or for that matter any event more than say 50 odd miles from home, and even then not as often as I would like. But I DO ride my Norton. Don't know what category that puts me in.....

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Previously michael_coombes wrote:

Hi

I'm thinking I might sell the mercury I have?

i really can't be bothered with eBay and the likes.....and wondered if any NOC members would be interested.....

see my other posts and you will get the general idea of condition....

i have my hands full with a 60's racing tribsa at the moment and have had a few set backs with an old track honda ....and I feel I need to thin the decks abit.....7 bikes here and I need some breathing space .....

if you are interested just contact me.....

Hello Well I would sell the Honda and Some of the Bits Called motorcycles then you can concentrate your mind on a Good bike like your Norton Mercury. Racing is very expensive I have been there and got the T Shirt , I raced a Sidecar with a 800cc Konig Flat 4 in tuned by me, and would see of some of these new sidecars today , she pull 230 mph on a good long straight bit of road , like the M18 before it was open there was a 5 mile straight bit there we had the use of.

Really Anna? 230MILES per hour??

hello what wrong with 230mph then! a 120bhp liquid cooled tuned two stroke motor will do this easy. geared right ! even fitted in a sidecar. 2 inches off the ground

WIll the bubble burst? So many British bike enthusiasts havea collection of bikes and are at or beyond retirement age. Over the next 20 years the market will see a whole load of bikes appear. Who will buy them? There is no sign of the bubble bursting yet - prices keep going up, yet they really should reach a ceiling or fall eventually. The rare and exoticwill always demand a premium, but I can see the ordinary British twin struggling to find homes eventually. I might just be able to squeeze the Mercury into my shed rather than see it thrown in a skip.

hello well they said all this 50 years ago about the 30s and 40s bike's and even 20s machines. but there still lot of them to be found. and enthusiasts are still buying them too.

Ha ha I was waiting for a comment like that.....

the thing is the norton was the last bike I brought into the garage and it only owes me what I paid plus a few quid in sundries .....

i don't really want to sell any of the 7 bikes i own as they have all been labours of love......... as you probably know you never really can recoup the time and money you invest in them...so as it stands it is the one that owes me least....

and a little foot note... I like all my bikes and all makes my life doesn't stop on one make or model I confess my newest bike was built in 1975 so I do tend to lean to newer classics...

the problem with British bikes is that my friends and people I meet are just not interested in them....they are into newer 70's and 80's Japanese bikes... They look at mine and have absolutely no interest In the Brit stuff...now I'm 40 this year ( young in the classic bike world) and I do wonder who will be buying the British bikes in the near future? they won't be spending their hard earned cash on bikes they have no feelings for they want the models they remember and wanted back in the day....

i would guess most nortons have found their homes by now but who will be prepared to buy them in the future ......the market for them is getting smaller as each year passes....

this is a crying shame as they are indeed cracking bikes and are part of motorcycle history.

Hello Well I can tell you that the Mercury 650 is hard to come by now. and getting harder so if you sell this machine then I feel you regret selling it one day. jap bike were mass produced in there thousands. Mercury's there were less than 900. built . and as for the gear change the best side is the right hand side as most people think from the right side of the brain. this a fact. as most are right handed. so from a safety point of veue motorcycles should be-able too have there gear controls at any side. so the rider can use the machine with out having to think witch side the gears are on. I do believe is could be one factor in motorcycle accidents . seconds lost by have to think were the controls are. and as for Japaneses bikes most of then ether fell apart or rusted away. the Early Jap machines were are they there is not many left to see. from the 1960s in the USA you find piles of Jap bikes from the 60s 70s 80s 90s in bike breaker yards . you find piles of them here too if you know were to look. they did this with Brit bikes but soon relished there is money to be made later on . as the classic bug bit. its now happing with the early jap bikes but the biggest part of them are long gone. and part prices are going the same way as British bikes. and some are even more expensive. the most expensive are the tyers for some of these Japanese machines.

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Racing is very expensive I have been there and got the T Shirt , I raced a Sidecar with a 800cc Konig Flat 4 in tuned by me, and would see of some of these new sidecars today , she pull 230 mph on a good long straight bit of road , like the M18 before it was open there was a 5 mile straight bit there we had the use of.

Really Anna? 230MILES per hour??

hello what wrong with 230mph then! a 120bhp liquid cooled tuned two stroke motor will do this easy. geared right ! even fitted in a sidecar. 2 inches off the ground

Really Anna.

Sometimes you don't know when to stop. The sidecar land speed record is 208mph, set at Bonneville Salt Flatsdone with a turbocharged Hayabusa engined machine, putting out around 400hp. Thebest GP 500 solo's (NSR Honda)were only getting to around210mph at Hockenheim when they had 190bhp+ and really good streamlining.

230mph? Is this a case of the"the older I get, the faster I was" syndrome?

Perhaps you have gone metric? 230kph = 140mph, which would be about right for a 120bhp 3 wheeler. The fastest sidecar (Ben Birchall)at the TT this year achieved 144mph with a very tuned (definately more than 120bhp) 600cc Honda.

George.

Hi Michael, so the bikes for sale for the 'right money', which is how much exactly?

Simon.

and as for the gear change the best side is the right hand side as most people think from the right side of the brain. this a fact. as most are right handed.

No this is not a fact. Left hemisphere is responsible for right-side body movement, Right side hemisphere is responsible for left-side body movement. Using your logic Anna, we should all be riding Hondas!

Michael,

I'm not interested in buying the bike at all, I am just amused at your reluctance in stating the sale price. If you do not know it's value then let the open market decide on ebay, for example. If you have a sale price worked out then let any prospective buyers know. It appears you are worried in selling the bike and not making absolute maximum profit. There are too many people in the classic scene who are more interested in making a profit out of motorcycles rather than riding them. I'm obviously not saying you're one of these people, with seven bikes in the garage, but I think they do exist.

happy riding.

P.S I'll happily admit that I haven't got a clue what your on about re 'pm me'?

and as for the gear change the best side is the right hand side as most people think from the right side of the brain. this a fact. as most are right handed.

No this is not a fact. Left hemisphere is responsible for right-side body movement, Right side hemisphere is responsible for left-side body movement. Using your logic Anna, we should all be riding Hondas!

well my Honda fell to bits years ago And I hated Honda's they did not handle well . and the silencer fell off , the main stand rotted before your eyes And I cannot get on with a Left handed gear lever anyway , my left foot as been damaged in the past on a Konig flat 4 sidecar

Hello Well I can tell you that the Mercury 650 is hard to come by now. and getting harder so if you sell this machine then I feel you regret selling it one day. jap bike were mass produced in there thousands. Mercury's there were less than 900. built . and as for the gear change the best side is the right hand side as most people think from the right side of the brain. this a fact. as most are right handed. so from a safety point of veue motorcycles should be-able too have there gear controls at any side. so the rider can use the machine with out having to think witch side the gears are on. I do believe is could be one factor in motorcycle accidents . seconds lost by have to think were the controls are. and as for Japaneses bikes most of then ether fell apart or rusted away. the Early Jap machines were are they there is not many left to see. from the 1960s in the USA you find piles of Jap bikes from the 60s 70s 80s 90s in bike breaker yards . you find piles of them here too if you know were to look. they did this with Brit bikes but soon relished there is money to be made later on . as the classic bug bit. its now happing with the early jap bikes but the biggest part of them are long gone. and part prices are going the same way as British bikes. and some are even more expensive. the most expensive are the tyers for some of these Japanese machines.

Anna

regrets are something I'm sure every one on this site has got ......everybody must regret at some point selling a bike ....I regret selling loads ...

i also regret selling cars / houses....I regret stopping seeing girls and seeing a few too.. I regret going to some parties and regret not going to some..

the thing is if you keep everything you ever have you cannot move on...

i will tell you now if I was ever in a position when I could not pay some bills or a mortgage...I'm sure I'd regret having 7 nice bike's in the garage and no roof over my kids heads

luckily I've never been in that position and work is always good.....but at the moment a small cash injection into the account would not go a miss

well there is plenty room in my workshop I can fit a 1000 bikes in one corner here and still have room for another 1000 it a big old lonely place and miles from anywhere. all I see is Fields All around me. I can even set my Disco Gear up out side on a night and play music as loud as I like And no one hears it. But Me and the Cats and the odd bat flying around. Bat's seem to love rock&roll

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

Racing is very expensive I have been there and got the T Shirt , I raced a Sidecar with a 800cc Konig Flat 4 in tuned by me, and would see of some of these new sidecars today , she pull 230 mph on a good long straight bit of road , like the M18 before it was open there was a 5 mile straight bit there we had the use of.

Really Anna? 230MILES per hour??

hello what wrong with 230mph then! a 120bhp liquid cooled tuned two stroke motor will do this easy. geared right ! even fitted in a sidecar. 2 inches off the ground

Really Anna.

Sometimes you don't know when to stop. The sidecar land speed record is 208mph, set at Bonneville Salt Flatsdone with a turbocharged Hayabusa engined machine, putting out around 400hp. Thebest GP 500 solo's (NSR Honda)were only getting to around210mph at Hockenheim when they had 190bhp+ and really good streamlining.

230mph? Is this a case of the"the older I get, the faster I was" syndrome?

Perhaps you have gone metric? 230kph = 140mph, which would be about right for a 120bhp 3 wheeler. The fastest sidecar (Ben Birchall)at the TT this year achieved 144mph with a very tuned (definately more than 120bhp) 600cc Honda.

George.

Well maybe they should try a Konig 800 Flat 4 . and we had a Motorway with nice smooth concert for 5miles in a dead straight. and nothing on the stretch of M18 for that five miles they where building the flyover at the other end and it had not been open to traffic back then either A Suzuki Hayabusa 1300 can do 200mph with out a Turbo . So its Slow At that speed I can hit 140mph on my 99SS and that no joke Bens his speed must be going backwards a CBR 600 can do better than that I know. I have seen BSA Bantams Go Faster

Previously anna jeannette Dixon wrote:

luckily I've never been in that position and work is always good.....but at the moment a small cash injection into the account would not go a miss

well there is plenty room in my workshop I can fit a 1000 bikes in one corner here and still have room for another 1000 it a big old lonely place and miles from anywhere. all I see is Fields All around me. I can even set my Disco Gear up out side on a night and play music as loud as I like And no one hears it. But Me and the Cats and the odd bat flying around. Bat's seem to love rock&roll

Ah yes, bats...