I found an old SD card with literally thousands of my old ebike photos on it. Some of them were for projects I posted on here, and there were lots of other interesting ones too.

 

Here's an ebike I spotted in the town centre. A couple of things stand out to me. It seems to have a cable operated hydraulic brake on the back 6 years ago. I didn't know they were around then. Look at the mount. Is it home made? Also the arrangement for holding the front wheel looks weird. I can't make it out. I should have looked closer at the time. Finally, the front brake looks like a standard cable disc brake that's badly adjusted and about to go over top dead centre, which would be a real problem for that bike with all that weight travelling at 30 mph:

 

Next, is a Gocycle that I repaired. This photo is of the inside of the chaincase, which is much more complicated than it looks from the outside. You can see the nice chain tensioner and the R/C servo that's used to do the automatic gear shifting. That was the thing, which was faulty and needed replacing:

 

Edited August 14, 2025Aug 14 by saneagle

It seems to have a cable operated hydraulic brake on the back 6 years ago. I didn't know they were around then.

That one looks like a Zoom.

 

But cable actuated hydraulic disc brakes go further back, with the 1996 Amp Research making them(The D1) They later sold the concept to Rockshox who marketed their own version.

 

I'd a pair of the rockshox ones, but never manage to find the rotors and mounts so stupidly sold them.

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by AndyBike

That GoCycle drive train looks nicely made.

 

The enclosed chain appeals to me. Clean and dry and always lubricated.

 

Great in the winter in comparison to a chain out in the wet, dirt and road salt.

 

My old CG125 (year2000) probably has its original drive chain at 17000 miles. Totally enclosed, and brushed with ep90 every petrol tank full - about 260 miles. 11hp.

That GoCycle drive train looks nicely made.

 

The enclosed chain appeals to me. Clean and dry and always lubricated.

 

Great in the winter in comparison to a chain out in the wet, dirt and road salt.

 

My old CG125 (year2000) probably has its original drive chain at 17000 miles. Totally enclosed, and brushed with ep90 every petrol tank full - about 260 miles. 11hp.

IIRC, Gocycle said the chain would last the life of the bike, but I guess it depends how much it gets used. It is a nice solution though - a lot cheaper and easier than a belt, and a lot cleaner. Those Gocycles go pretty well too. The motor is bespoke and tiny, but they can handle enough power to do whatever a normal rider would want. Gocycle brought a fleet of them to Redbridge race track. They turned up the power and let us race them around the track. I'm not sure what the max speed was, but it was somewhere in the mid 20s mph.

IIRC, Gocycle said the chain would last the life of the bike, but I guess it depends how much it gets used. It is a nice solution though - a lot cheaper and easier than a belt, and a lot cleaner. Those Gocycles go pretty well too. The motor is bespoke and tiny, but they can handle enough power to do whatever a normal rider would want. Gocycle brought a fleet of them to Redbridge race track. They turned up the power and let us race them around the track. I'm not sure what the max speed was, but it was somewhere in the mid 20s mph.

 

Do you remember what the old primary drive chains looked like when you opened the primary drive case to work on the clutch of old BSA and no doubt other old brit motorbikes from the 1950s? I had a few of them back at the end of the sixties and early seventies, and the chains ran in an oil bath and after tens of thousands of miles the chains looked perfect unless they had been abused and neglected by an ar se.

 

That Gocycle would be the same only more so because the power delivery is so slight and it is totally enclosed.

 

Last winter I rode my bike twenty miles one wet day after the roads had been salted and a week later the chain would not even go through the derailleur, until I oiled it up and freed the rusty links. Exposed chains lead a dogs life in winter.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Just looked up the prices of those Go Cycles. You can get a half decent Chinese 125 motorbike for about half that price.

 

No thanks - not for me. I could have two of these for that money:

 

Edited August 15, 2025Aug 15 by Tony1951

My eight year old GoCycle GS has been serviced once in eight years and hasn’t put a foot wrong in all that time. And it’s used throughout the year for nipping round town.

 

The GoCycle G5 is due out next year and sadly does away with the cleandrive in favour of a belt drive and 5speed hub gear. As my only criticism of the GoCycle is that it is a little low geared I think this is a good decision…

My eight year old GoCycle GS has been serviced once in eight years and hasn’t put a foot wrong in all that time. And it’s used throughout the year for nipping round town.

 

The GoCycle G5 is due out next year and sadly does away with the cleandrive in favour of a belt drive and 5speed hub gear. As my only criticism of the GoCycle is that it is a little low geared I think this is a good decision…

That's good to hear. I've always liked Gocycles. I've had a few goes on them and fixed a couple, but never owned one. When deristricted, they're surprisingly powerful and fast.

 

One of the ones I fixed was a very minor issue, the other was the one above that had a faulty servo for auto-shifting. Gocycle were very good with instructions.

 

Do you still have fun in Hounslow? I've seen a few videos of it recently, and it doesn't look like a fun place at all. It's unrecogniseable from when I went shopping there as a kid with my mum and dad (1959), when it was a very vibrant town, full of optimism. The last thing I bought there was a part for my fishing reel so that I could catch perch in the River Crane.

 

Do you still have fun in Hounslow? I've seen a few videos of it recently, and it doesn't look like a fun place at all. It's unrecogniseable from when I went shopping there as a kid with my mum and dad (1959), when it was a very vibrant town, full of optimism. The last thing I bought there was a part for my fishing reel so that I could catch perch in the River Crane.

 

When I was a student in 1970 - 73, I lived for about a year or a bit more in Isleworth right next door to Hounslow. I went shopping there quite often. People were quite cheerful there, in spite of the fact that nobody got a lot of sleep or peace and quiet because every minute and a half a huge jet came screaming overhead at about 750 - 1000 feet. Back then before by pass fan engines, planes like the Boeing 707 had plain turbo-jet engines and they screamed and roared like we wouldn't put up with today. Modern jet engines on civilian planes are REALLY quiet by comparison. I stayed at a house in Riverside Walk Isleworth for about a year.

 

Smokey 70's and DC8's proper aircraft but my favorite was a British Jet , the stunning VC10 with it's fabulous Conway's .

 

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by Nealh

When I was a student in 1970 - 73, I lived for about a year or a bit more in Isleworth right next door to Hounslow. I went shopping there quite often. People were quite cheerful there, in spite of the fact that nobody got a lot of sleep or peace and quiet because every minute and a half a huge jet came screaming overhead at about 750 - 1000 feet. Back then before by pass fan engines, planes like the Boeing 707 had plain turbo-jet engines and they screamed and roared like we wouldn't put up with today. Modern jet engines on civilian planes are REALLY quiet by comparison. I stayed at a house in Riverside Walk Isleworth for about a year.

 

We used to go to Isleworth swimming baths, and I think there was a cinema there, where we used to see Superman films when we could afford it.

We used to go to Isleworth swimming baths, and I think there was a cinema there, where we used to see Superman films when we could afford it.

 

Yeah - I know the feeling about not being able to afford the pictures. I really didn't start going until about 1963 for that reason which was about when I got a paper round and had some money of my own. I didn't go that often, but I went to see Dr No. I also a bit later went to see the Sound of Music with my family and instantly fell in love with Julie Andrews. Since then I have always been a sucker for posh, blond girls.... :)

 

As for Isleworth - I had a job in the evenings in a garage on London Road which helped me buy and run my motorbikes. I am a bit ashamed to say that I spent most of my first year riding motorbikes around south east England and skipping lectures. Then, after a warning, I grew up and got down to studying.

Edited December 7, 2025Dec 7 by Tony1951

Who remembers saturday morning cinema club? 6d used to buy a stalls ticket for a couple of hours of cartoons, a serial like Flash Gordon and a main feature. We'd all come tearing out afterwards replaying whatever we'd seen.

Think my folks stumped up for a bit of piece and quiet.

Who remembers saturday morning cinema club? 6d used to buy a stalls ticket for a couple of hours of cartoons, a serial like Flash Gordon and a main feature. We'd all come tearing out afterwards replaying whatever we'd seen.

Think my folks stumped up for a bit of piece and quiet.

That's what i mentioned in another thread. When I lived near Hounslow, we used to get the bus to the cinema, which I'm pretty sure was in Isleworth, where Tony 1951 lived. I wonder if we were both in the cinema at the same show, though not very likely because I can only remember going there a couple of times. I can remember seeing trolley buses and those big trucks with one wheel at the front. Who remembers them? Trolley buses were electric, and they made massive sparks from the overhead cables when they went over junctions, which scared me as a 6 year old.

Trolley busses were in my home town of Maidstone for years. If I remember correctly they carried long poles to put the overhead couplings back on if they got derailed off the overhead points cable system.

Yes and sixpence to go to the pictures on a Saturday morning Hop along Cassidy and all that. If it was your birthday you got to go up on the stage to get something, sweets probably. I cant remember ever going up. There was always a few birthday kids each week. No doubt some were having a few birthdays every year.

Another six pence was spent at Sunday school. Got your book rubber stamped put your sixpence in some velvet bag thingy they put in front you. Boring!! No doubt my mum and dad were having much better Sunday mornings with us kids out of the way. Working on the next one!

That's what i mentioned in another thread. When I lived near Hounslow, we used to get the bus to the cinema, which I'm pretty sure was in Isleworth, where Tony 1951 lived. I wonder if we were both in the cinema at the same show, though not very likely because I can only remember going there a couple of times. I can remember seeing trolley buses and those big trucks with one wheel at the front. Who remembers them? Trolley buses were electric, and they made massive sparks from the overhead cables when they went over junctions, which scared me as a 6 year old.

 

I was never in the cinema at Isleworth. I do remember going to see the Omega Man at Twickenham Odeon though. That was right beside one of my favourite places - the Rawalpindi Indian restaurant. My major entertainment at that time was riding around on my motorbikes.

 

We had trolley buses in Newcastle and I used them to go to primary school.

 

The two trolley poles were always coming off where the bus turned across the road at a right hand junction. I am not sure whether it was just a technical failure or poor tracking by the driver. When it happened, the conductor got off and extracted a long wooden pole with a fork on it, from under the bus and he then poked away trying to re-hook the trolley pole onto the power cable. This sometimes took a while and all traffic was messed up.

 

All part of the fun of being a 1950s kid.

 

We still had some trolley buses running in 1966. All the buses in Newcastle then were painted yellow. There were some old petrol engined buses, and some diesels too. This photo is quite a late one because it has one of the fancy new diesel Atlantean buses shown, so it would be about 1962 at the earliest. They were pretty fancy and had an automatic door. All the earlier buses had an open doorway and a sturdy vertical pole in the middle of the doorway you could grab onto and help you jump on and off when it was moving.

 

 

I remember our street being re-surfaced and there was one of those trucks saneagle mentioned with one wheel at the front and also there was a steam powered steam roller. I'd have been about five then, so I suppose we are talking about 1956 for that reminiscence.

 

I took this photo of a steam powered traction engine, about seven years ago near where I live. The owner of this beast is now dead and his son sold it. It weighed 30 tons and he told me it burned a ton of coal every time he took it out like this. Fortunately he was a coal merchant, so I expect he bought the coal at a good price.

 

Edited December 16, 2025Dec 16 by Tony1951

I was never in the cinema at Isleworth. I do remember going to see the Omega Man at Twickenham Odeon though. That was right beside one of my favourite places - the Rawalpindi Indian restaurant. My major entertainment at that time was riding around on my motorbikes.

I might be mistaken about where the Cinema was. I'm fairly sure it was called The Odeon. All I can remember is the bus going quite a long way up Hanworth Road after crossing the railway lines at the SE of Hounslow Heath, where I used to watch the steam trains go under the road, praying that I might see one of the diesel trains I'd heard about. This is what AI says, so that must be the one:

The Odeon Cinema on Hanworth Road, Hounslow (often called the Hounslow Odeon), was a landmark Art Deco cinema located near the junction with Hounslow High Street, roughly where the modern Odeon Luxe (now Vue) stands today (around the current High Street/Hanworth Road junction area),

I might be mistaken about where the Cinema was. I'm fairly sure it was called The Odeon. All I can remember is the bus going quite a long way up Hanworth Road after crossing the railway lines at the SE of Hounslow Heath, where I used to watch the steam trains go under the road, praying that I might see one of the diesel trains I'd heard about. This is what AI says, so that must be the one:

The Odeon Cinema on Hanworth Road, Hounslow (often called the Hounslow Odeon), was a landmark Art Deco cinema located near the junction with Hounslow High Street, roughly where the modern Odeon Luxe (now Vue) stands today (around the current High Street/Hanworth Road junction area),

 

I lived a year at Isleworth in 1970, then moved to a house share in Curtis Road Hounslow and then to Popes Grove in Twickenham for two years.

It seems to me that all the old Odeon cinemas were Art Deco palaces, even the one I went to which was in Shirley, Solihull, just a local flea pit really. It's what made going there extra special.

Who remembers saturday morning cinema club? 6d used to buy a stalls ticket for a couple of hours of cartoons, a serial like Flash Gordon and a main feature. We'd all come tearing out afterwards replaying whatever we'd seen.

Would that have been the 'ABC Minors'

 

Not sure though if other cinema chains had their own club(probably)