Which Bike? (Moved from Travellers Seeking Travellers)
 

i am looking for any info on the best touring bike,just a few stipulations tho;
1, has to be an english bike
2, age between 1930-1960
3, easy to repair/get spares for

any info would be gratefully appreciated

This is my tuppence worth
Considering parts availablity as much as bike desirability :
500cc single - Royal Enfield , closely followed by Norton ES2 and AJS/Matchless, pre war Ariels are super looking and if I could find one I'd grab it .

600cc + TWINS - BSA A10 and Norton 99

I would probably say the Enfield, simply because they are a tough bike and you can get any part easily. I have always preferred Triumphs for road use, and a thunderbird takes a lot of beating, unfortunately I would prefer a later one (unit construction). The unit 500cc Triumph twin I had in the early sixties covered 70k miles mostly doing 435 mile each way mad dash trips at the weekends. Biut the spares situation for those is not so good as the later 650/750 cc triumphs, and nowhere near as good as the Enfields.

Any objections?
 

I think this should be in the "Which Bike?" forum. If there are no objection (and feel free to say no if you think so), then I will shift it there in a day or so.

Kind regards

Nigel in NZ