Next big things that never lived up to the hype, failed, or disappeared without a trace... What do you remember??

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T4tomo

Legendary Member
Pressure cookers. Massively popular for a time in the eighties and they were going to make ovens redundant. Hardly anyone uses one now, mainly because the food they produced was shyte.

err the Ninja multi cookers - quite big in the air fryer world - have a pressure cooker function / additional lid..

plus for stews / casseroles and things like that they are awesome
 

Electric_Andy

Heavy Metal Fan
Location
Plymouth
Friends reunited, I guess Farce book superseded it. Never did either personally.

Everyone at my school (it came in shortly after I left college) jumped on friends reunited straight away. You could create a profile for free but you had to pay to add any pictures or message anyone. Some people realised that you could type a hint to your email address into your profile, but it didn't really work. No-one was willing to pay a fiver to contact old school friends. Which is why FB completely took over, as it was free, and now look at what its done to the population!
 

DCLane

Found in the Yorkshire hills ...
In our world ....

Kirk Precision , magnesium bike frames

I've got a magnesium-framed bike, this being the second one I've had from Carrera (built by Merida). Not a Kirk Precision though.

I am very aware it will crack spectacularly at some point, probably when I'm going downhill and hit a bump. But that's all part of the 'ownership experience'.
 
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a.twiddler

Veteran
Have a look at the Crighton *CR 700W over 200bhp and under 130Kg, OK they're only making 25 initially and they are quite expensive but Brian is looking at possibly making a road version.

* Brian Crighton was the guy behind the Norton that won multiple championships as the JPS Norton and was the last British bike to win a TT with Steve Hislop beating Carl Fogerty.

In a world where reciprocating engine technology has been developed to be relatively cheap, plentiful and reliable, and the rotary piston engine didn't manage to become widespread enough to bring costs down enough to have a self sustaining network behind it before emissions regulations made further development uneconomic, it's just another footnote in history. They were always uncommon unlike for example two stroke motorcycles which were everywhere at one time for the utility rider. It's likely that many more people could afford a Francis Barnet Plover than a Norton Atlas back in the day. Due to emissions regulations, very few two strokes are produced now and they are around 50cc.

If history had taken a different turn who knows what might have been the commonplace technology now. Feet first super lightweight turbocharged diesel motorcycles? Gas or steam turbine technology?

With the future of vehicle technology being most likely battery electric or hydrogen fuel cells or something as yet unimagined the era of significant develpment in internal combustion vehicles is probably over.
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
In a world where reciprocating engine technology has been developed to be relatively cheap, plentiful and reliable, and the rotary piston engine didn't manage to become widespread enough to bring costs down enough to have a self sustaining network behind it before emissions regulations made further development uneconomic, it's just another footnote in history. They were always uncommon unlike for example two stroke motorcycles which were everywhere at one time for the utility rider. It's likely that many more people could afford a Francis Barnet Plover than a Norton Atlas back in the day. Due to emissions regulations, very few two strokes are produced now and they are around 50cc.

If history had taken a different turn who knows what might have been the commonplace technology now. Feet first super lightweight turbocharged diesel motorcycles? Gas or steam turbine technology?

With the future of vehicle technology being most likely battery electric or hydrogen fuel cells or something as yet unimagined the era of significant develpment in internal combustion vehicles is probably over.

I for one miss 2 strokes and one of my favourite memories was Trevor Nation getting 'black flagged' in practice at Mallory Park for 'wheelying' the JPS Norton rotary through the Devils Elbow a nasty off camber downhill bend with no runoff and not just once but lap after lap. :wacko::notworthy:
 
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