Airgunaid

[Hsing-ee]

Jim/ Gareth look forward to sp5 article, another on my list to get. How much would such a rarity cost these days ! Gareth if u sell can i have first refussel !

It is the only one I've ever heard of. The rest are probably doing the car-boot circuit with the BSF 65s.

I think Gareth will give first refusals to everyone in respect of the SP5, i.e. he will refuse all offers to buy it. You could always buy a s/h Diana G80, they're only about £50...

[fat man]

Got a g 80 in .177, used it to teach newbies to shoot with. would still love an sp5.

[Gareth W-B]

Jim/ Gareth look forward to sp5 article, another on my list to get. How much would such a rarity cost these days ! Gareth if u sell can i have first refussel !

It is the only one I've ever heard of. The rest are probably doing the car-boot circuit with the BSF 65s.

I think Gareth will give first refusals to everyone in respect of the SP5, i.e. he will refuse all offers to buy it. You could always buy a s/h Diana G80, they're only about £50...

Ha ha ha. Hi Guys. My Airgunaid SP-5, is in g-c, but is a shooter, ergo sports a Pro-System silencer and scope (and is used). Have the original open sights, and a spare 'brand new' SP-5 MkI stock for it, for that rainy day we all hope never comes, but as I stated earlier, although a mile-stone in air gun development it ain't all that compared to its original stable-mate, namely the Eddie Barber Vixen HW35 (wonderful guns), or even guns just ten years its junior ... .

Turned down £175 for my SP-5 two years back however as (a) it is not for sale, and (b) imo is not worth that much, and have been offered a boxed example for £350, but (again imo), that is just a ridiculous price, so I declined with haste .

Bought both of my aforementioned TR-2 .177s for £70 each and sold them for the same however, although to be fair, they should've each been closer to the £100 mark. But as has been said many times, price is subjective, and is what someone is prepared to pay: G.

[junglie]

I had a g80,first springer I tuned,had the guide macined to take a meteor spring, new leather piston washer, polish & dri slided chamber & piston,they had a two stage trigger that was'nt too bad when set up correctly & it accounted for many bunnies ,probably ran at about 11ft/lbs & was very smooth & quiet.

[Gareth W-B]

Small world Gareth! I was at school (Meadgate Junior School) with Eddie's son, Freddie I think... Sometimes spoke to him about his dads guns and wento to his shop Airgun Aid a few times too, before it burnt down. Used to shoot a target rifle they made, based on the same rifle but in .177 at the Chelmsford YMCA, they held a shooting club for youths there for a while, my first introduction to 'proper' airguns!

Oops. Hi crosmanman, sorry, only just seen this . Yes it is a small world, and thank God for it eh ??? I was a Longmead Ave boy, and use to hang out around the Meadgate parade of shops with a big bunch of mates on our FS1Es and the like.

Am sure we were a terrible nuisance with our constant wheelies, swearing, cider-swilling, and girl chasing, but hey, we weren't the first generation to do it, and we sure as hell weren't the last . Life on Mars eh ??? Truly was another planet back then though wasn't it. Atb m8 and thanks for sparking the Meadgate memories: Gareth.

[crosmanman]

I was up the other end of town, Tabors Avenue so the Vineyards parade of shops was my hangout! Antway, nice to have another meadgate boy on here!

[Hsing-ee]

use to hang out around the Meadgate parade of shops with a big bunch of mates on our FS1Es and the like.

Never liked the pressed spine frame on the FS1E. Always wanted to get a RD50 and lever an RS125 engine into it to make the ultimate single-cylinder 'moped'.

As regards the FS1E, 70mph was achav-able with the right porting, a spannie, massive carb and fiddled induction disc but no-one had the skills to do it apart from that bloke in Motorcycle Mechanics.

45mph was top whack for the elusive pre-restriction Fizzer.

Best bike in our school was a late model RD125 Twin, electric blue and gorgeous with twin Micron exhausts. Why the owner put wide bars on it I'll never know (wheelies actually), I lusted after it terrible. I'd have a 2/4 seat on it and some ace bars.

[T 20]

45mph was top whack for the elusive pre-restriction Fizzer.

Unless you had a John Player Special FS1E of course



ATB Mick

[Gareth W-B]

Always wanted to get a RD50 and lever an RS125 engine into it to make the ultimate single-cylinder 'moped'.

The RD50 and RS125 didn't come out until many years after our FS1E exploits, and by then, we'd moved on to bigger cubed machines, as could ride up to 250cc bikes on 'L' plates in those days, so had no interest in 50cc jobbies -- especially the post August 1978 girly restricted ones . As for speed? Most FS1E 50's were indeed out of breath at 50mph, tops, even with an Alspeed expansion pipe. So we did YB100 conversions (still got a YB100 stabled among the transient bikes that come and go to this day ). Ah nostalgia. It just isn’t what it use to be. Atb: G.

[Gareth W-B]

45mph was top whack for the elusive pre-restriction Fizzer.

Unless you had a John Player Special FS1E of course

... Now ya talkin .

[I. J.]

Please. Please gentlemen. Can we get back on the subject instead of discussing vintage Jap cr@p? Fizzies! JPS!

My first real bike was a Triumph Tiger Cub! 200cc of throbbing power between your legs. Now THAT was a bike. Passed my test on that and the following day went an bought a Bonnie - T120 1969 THE best Bonnie ever produced and now much sought after. I used to get Fizzies stuck in my air filter.

ATB
Ian

[BTDT]

My first real bike was a Triumph Tiger Cub! 200cc of throbbing power between your legs. Now THAT was a bike.

My first bike was a Tiger Cub, too. Only real drawback was the white metal big end bearing, which I renewed on more than one occasion, a roller bearing being out of my price range.

Cloggy - we may be sworn enemies but, on this issue, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder (you'll need something to stand on, of course) against the onslaught of the moped kiddies who seem to have hijacked this thread.

[I. J.]

Ive always looked up to you oh great bearded one - if only physically.

I too suffered from big end problems and so did my bike. I was lucky in the I bought a complete engine/gear box unit for the pricely sum of 50p, were cheap 'oop north', and that had a (later?) roller big end. An afternoon with the spanners had me up and running quietly and thats the last time I did run. British bikes were simple to work on, that had to be with me, and forgiving. Character.
Have you seen the price of a decent Tiger Cub these days?

I bought my 3rd (or was it 4th) T.Cub for £40. It came dismantled in a variety of boxes and plastic tubs filled with diesel. Some parts were duplicated, several times, while there was no barrel or piston. The only one I could find locally was a new square barrel and (round ) piston which did the job. I converted it to 12 volt electrics and, because I couldn't afford a Zener Diode to stop the battery overcharging I had to run it all the time with the lights on. Oh, happy days. Still ate Fizzies and the like.

ATB
Ian

[Hsing-ee]

I bought my 3rd (or was it 4th) T.Cub for £40. It came dismantled in a variety of boxes and plastic tubs filled with diesel. Some parts were duplicated, several times, while there was no barrel or piston. The only one I could find locally was a new square barrel and (round ) piston which did the job. I converted it to 12 volt electrics and, because I couldn't afford a Zener Diode to stop the battery overcharging I had to run it all the time with the lights on. Oh, happy days. Still ate Fizzies and the like.

ATB
Ian

Isn't the Tiger Cub one of the only sub-250cc British bikes to break the 50mph barrier? After which the steering reverses and your knuckles go so white they glow like tripe leavings on a winter's evening. I know Bill Martin nearly did 140mph on one, but he had to put it in a tin dustbin and go down on his knees to make it do it.

[stillair1]

Small world Gareth! I was at school (Meadgate Junior School) with Eddie's son, Freddie I think... Sometimes spoke to him about his dads guns and wento to his shop Airgun Aid a few times too, before it burnt down. Used to shoot a target rifle they made, based on the same rifle but in .177 at the Chelmsford YMCA, they held a shooting club for youths there for a while, my first introduction to 'proper' airguns!

YMCA
Blimey double small world, I was there often too, run by a couple of chaps, one I believe was Brian Walker a collector of webleys back then. That was a few years back. An old chap Jim used an annie 335 iirc.

neil