11 replies to this topic

[daveinnola]

does anybody have any pictures of the duke minter hartle read era gileras

[T54]

Not very good ones from books and newspapers, yes. The bikes were nearly identical to the old ones save for Dunlop triangular tires and new fairings.

[Russell Burrows]

Not very good ones from books and newspapers, yes. The bikes were nearly identical to the old ones save for Dunlop triangular tires and new fairings.

Avons, I think...

Edited by Russell Burrows, 29 July 2009 - 12:42.

[Bjorn Kjer]

There are quite many pictures in Mick Walkers book on Gilera.

Edited by Bjørn Kjer, 02 August 2009 - 05:49.

[T54]

Avons, I think... smoking.gif

The ones I have seen has Dunlops...

[Russell Burrows]

The ones I have seen has Dunlops...

Not on the '63 bikes..

[Arthur]

Not on the '63 bikes..

Bit borderline this as originally Gilera would have been using Avon but Avon pulled out of racing tyres around 1963 I was under contract to Avon at the time and had to beg a contract off Dunlop.Not sure of the exact year but it was around the 1963/64 that the triangle profile came about and we had no choice as Dunlop were the only suppliers then.

[Russell Burrows]

Avons, I think...

Hi Arthur and thanks for that. You're right, they pulled out at the end of '63. As you can see from the TT Hartle pic, Avons are fitted and the ad is reporting the results of Minter's win at Oulton Park in August. I think it was Joe Potts on here who explaned that Bob Mac did much of the development work on the Dunlop triangulars and that he used them from around '62. As is suggested from the ad though, almost everyone else was on Avons. I think Alan Sheperd was on Dunlops? Did you find the triangulars as good as the Avons. I know they could make road bikes such as CB72/CB 350 Hondas behave very weirdly on the handling front.

[Rennmax]

Hi Arthur and thanks for that. You're right, they pulled out at the end of '63. As you can see from the TT Hartle pic, Avons are fitted and the ad is reporting the results of Minter's win at Oulton Park in August. I think it was Joe Potts on here who explaned that Bob Mac did much of the development work on the Dunlop triangulars and that he used them from around '62. As is suggested from the ad though, almost everyone else was on Avons. I think Alan Sheperd was on Dunlops? Did you find the triangulars as good as the Avons. I know they could make road bikes such as CB72/CB 350 Hondas behave very weirdly on the handling front.

Hi Russ, I've just dug out an article about the triangulars in a classic mag which confirms your post. Acc to it, development of the "RMT1" tyres began in summer of '61 and were tested by Bob Mac. In the summer '62, Alan Shepherd had to take over the job and finally, after Avon retired more or less at the end of '63, they became available as KR76 (front) and KR73(rear).
I think Avon were the dominant brand in the fifties after the Norton team ran in serious trouble with Dunlop tyres as early as 1950, where the factory team dropped out both at Spa and Assen with tyre failure.

Edited by Rennmax, 01 August 2009 - 09:17.

[Russell Burrows]

Hi Russ, I've just dug out an article about the triangulars in a classic mag which confirms your post. Acc to it, development of the "RMT1" tyres began in summer of '61 and were tested by Bob Mac. In the summer '62, Alan Shepherd had to take over the job and finally, after Avon retired more or less at the end of '63, they became available as KR76 (front) and KR73(rear).
I think Avon were the dominant brand in the fifties after the Norton team ran in serious trouble with Dunlop tyres as early as 1950, where the factory team dropped out both at Spa and Assen with tyre failure.

Someone I knew once fitted a pair of triangulars onto a bog standard CB350 Honda and atempted to race it..... it was almost comic to watch as it leapt about all over the place. I once rode a CB77 with them and IIRC it felt like it wanted to flop to the floor when going into a corner. On proper racers they seemed alright, but then I was not around when Avons were all the go.

[joepotts7]

Hi Arthur and thanks for that. You're right, they pulled out at the end of '63. As you can see from the TT Hartle pic, Avons are fitted and the ad is reporting the results of Minter's win at Oulton Park in August. I think it was Joe Potts on here who explaned that Bob Mac did much of the development work on the Dunlop triangulars and that he used them from around '62. As is suggested from the ad though, almost everyone else was on Avons. I think Alan Sheperd was on Dunlops? Did you find the triangulars as good as the Avons. I know they could make road bikes such as CB72/CB 350 Hondas behave very weirdly on the handling front.

Bob Mac did most of the development work on Triangulars in 61 and 62. For the 62 TT Bob, Alastair King (another Joe Potts rider ) and Alan Shepherd had triangulars.

[serafini]

There are quite many pictures in Mick Walkers book on Gilera.

Sorry to be slow in picking this up but the proper books on Gilera racing are -
Gilera Road Racers: Ainscoe
Gilera Quattro: Colombo
Gilera: cento anni di storia: Confalonieri
Gilera: una storia lombarda: Lucchini Gilera