How big were those motorcycles back then?

Question

Whenever I see photos of James Dean and other "tough guys" sitting on motorcycles back then, those bikes don't look much bigger than 500cc size. Am I right? Did they have the monster-sized bikes that we have today? How big was the average motorcycle in the 50's & 60's?

Answer 1

usually he's seen on an English bike. Triumphs, BSA's etc from the era were 650cc. Harleys and Indians were 74 or 80 cubic inches 1200 to 1350cc

Answer 2

IN the mid 60s the 3 greatest possessions a man could have were a Martin Guitar, a Nikon Camera and a Triumph motorcycle. The Triumph Bonneville  was a 650cc. Also it was about 52 hp. They leaked oil from every seal, ran fair but not far, and the lighting was by a company named Lucas  (known as the prince of darkness). We have come a long way baby. HD made its 74 inch, a sportster was 55 inch (883cc) and Norton made a 750. After these it was downhill. Then came 1969 and Honda's 750cc 4 cyl.... the revolution was on in earnest. Enjoy the ride!

Answer 3

750cc's was a big one the Army used for its type wich also had to pull a side car.

Answer 4

They were not bigger but heavier. If that is what you mean they sat no higher then todays bikes and had twin to four cylinders the only bikes that had V-twins were harleys then as Henderson went out of business. But they were tubular steel all the way around a '74 750 that I own has a dry wieght is 750lbs. A new 75O would wieght 100 or more pounds less. With better balanceing with computers these new bikes are well designed to distrubute the wieght evenly between the tires.

Answer 5

Most of the ones you seen on TV were Brit bikes. Indian & HD were V- Twins, Brit bikes were 1 lungers or side by side twins, some were in-line 4s, Hendersen, etc. Excelsior was a popular bike. HDs were 750 cc but mostly "74s" ( 74 CID, 1200 cc). Those old timers used them for Hill Climb races. Rough & Tuff, those guys.  A HD in the 50s&60s looked like todays Road King. In 1959 I had a Harley, Duo-Glide