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BJ's banana yellow bike is a 741. It first shows up in an episode called 'Blood and Guts'. BJ and Klinger rebuilt it in that episode.

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Well I did not know that. Guess I did learn something this morning. :nod:

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BJ's banana yellow bike is a 741. It first shows up in an episode called 'Blood and Guts'. BJ and Klinger rebuilt it in that episode.

 

sheesh, is there anything Indian you don't know? lol!

 

I also noticed the tank shifter is on the rh side. which means its a military Indian, right?

where the only LH throttle Indians the military ones?

and I've been told the LH throttle military was so you could shoot with your right hand, correct?

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Actually many of the larger city's in the U.S. had that requirement when looking for police bikes, The bidding wars got to the point that Indian & H-D would bribe some of the officials in the larger City's to find out their requirements before hand so there was time to design & build them before the meetings, many of contracts were signed because of this tactic

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Actually many of the larger city's in the U.S. had that requirement when looking for police bikes, The bidding wars got to the point that Indian & H-D would bribe some of the officials in the larger City's to find out their requirements before hand so there was time to design & build them before the meetings, many of contracts were signed because of this tactic

 

 

Thats some good'ol fashion competition right there! :buttrock:

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I've been told the LH throttle military was so you could shoot with your right hand, correct?

May be some truth to that but it may be an urban legend. I've never seen anything in writing as to why the throttle and shifter were on the opposite side.
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theres gotta be something amiss then.

every search I do and everyone says its a scout.

supposebly they even call it a Indian scout in the episode "blood and guts"

 

In "Blood and Guts" that WAS a Scout, a 741 I believe. I htink people just assumed the yellow bike was an Indian too. Easy to mistake with the girder front end, hand shift and right side drive. All Internet references are incorrect however. Myself, I can't tell just what it is other than a 30's (probably early as most Brit and European bikes were foto shift by mid 30's) but the tank cut out I can't place. I looks like it would fit on an OHV single yet, as far as I can tell from the screen shots, BJ's bike is a sidevalve. I could very well be just a parts bin special put together by props? I would assume it would be somthing common like a BSA, Triumph, Norton, RE, AJS or MAtchless yet all the bikes of that era do not fit. Maybe European, French, German? Definatly NOT Indian.

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Closest I can find is a 1929 Sunbeam Model 8. The tank is wrong but it has the right side final drive with hand change. The bike BJ rode at the end of MASH is going to be similar to this, if not a Sunbeam. Most of the more popular Brit bikes of that era were all left side final drive. I am by no means saying it IS a 1929 Sunbeam Model 8, but it is dfinatly NOT an Indian.

sunbeam_ll500.jpg

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NSU ah I use to have one of them. Well not actually a motorsickle it was a moped :outdoor: all I could afford back in the 50's it was a 1959 Quickly they called it 1.5 hp I worked on that thing as much as I rode it. Old boy that had it sold it and it went thru several owners before I got it. Throttle cable was broke when I got it so I had to pull on the cable where it came out of the carb to get it going. Learned to ride it one handed.

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I found it:

Early 1930's NSU 501ts

 

Note the right side drive, tank cut out, shift linkage, bar end levers, girder fork, side valve single with central spark plug and visible push rod tubes.

 

1930s-nsu-501ts-867x570.jpg

Edited by Necron99
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I can understand a first glance mistake. Every time I see a pair of tig ol' bitties I think it's a old girl friend, then I realize she'd be in her late 60's. Gotta lower my gaze about 8''.

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BJ's banana yellow bike is a 741. It first shows up in an episode called 'Blood and Guts'. BJ and Klinger rebuilt it in that episode.

 

Geez, I've never seen a single cylinder 741 with a tank cut out like this one and shift linkage. Experimental model? :rotfl:

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Geez, I've never seen a single cylinder 741 with a tank cut out like this one and shift linkage. Experimental model? :rotfl:

 

Didn't actually look at the photo of the yellow bike. I just remembered the rebuild of the 741 from the "Blood and Guts" episode and I had heard BJ rode the same bike in the finale.

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