Oh good lord no... it's on much higher level of international dullness all of it's own making. And one that is strangely compelling For example, have you have checked out the visual spectacle of the Nimbostratus page?
Not sure what Triumph this is and also not quite sure how the exhaust header is fixed into the head. A nice little DOT
I'm not sure... I've only ever heard the term 'sloper' used with Panthers and always thought it was refering to the slope of the barrel. But prompted by your question a web search seems to imply it was a generic term. And the wiki for a BSA sloper mentions "Its engine rhythm, together with its easy handling may have added to choice of its name."
Speedway motorcycle engines also come in both upright and sloper. There was a lovely unrestored Panther many moons ago in a transport yard I briefly worked at a lovely looking machine.
Just looked it up and it had a 4" stroke... so it wouldn't surprise the orientation was to prevent the bike becoming too tall.
That is a lovely looking bike, looks exactly like the one in that transport yard except his/hers was Black. all over.
it was exactly this, i know containing engines within an allocated space is a pain for a designer, you will remember how some bikes could suffer with front tyres touching water rad on extreme braking as packaging limits so small at times.
yes, and more besides - was talking about the precise angle that was all. This varied slightly even within the Panther range i believe.
