Originally Posted by
ala_xfire
British bikes also smell better, or at least my Triumphs did.
I think it came from cleaning the engine with "Cycle Bath" product.
As a youngster ( 12-13 ) I'd visit the Triumph dealer and fell in love with them.
Ended up owning 3 Bonnevilles, 1 TR6 and1 Thunderbird over time.
I only had two bikes, both 350 BSAs, one was quite rare I found out much later. It was a 1938 or 1939 BSA works trials bike, I found out when a documentary describing bikes in a museum said “and now we come to the very rare B28 ?“ I think the model was. It was really too heavy, but all the guard’s, chain, clutch cover etc had been chrome plated, it had the up swept exhaust pipe and silencer which still had the original chrome on it in great condition, despite the heat shield it gave me some nasty burns. I ran it with the original rear tire. The other was a postwar B31 from the early ‘50s someone gave me it.
I used to go to Silverstone and Brands Hatch to see the bike races. There is something special happening when you get the air filled with the smell of Castrol R.