HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year and all the best in 2011.

Am looking forward to more days like in the pic in the coming year, miles of great roads on the bike and enjoying every minute of it. Pic taken on the Isle of Skye looking north to the Cuillins, great place to visit.

Old Adverts

What can I say about this "thing", did they sell, did anyone buy one and has anyone seen one?

Since posting this ad I had a look for info on the Sno Runner, and yes they did sell them, here's a link to their late 70s promo film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IuS_H51_2E

You'll also see some up to date vids of people using them on Youtube.

Looking for a bit of history, click on this link and go down to Chrysler http://www.vintagesnowmobiles.50megs.com/BROCHURES.html , the site won't let me copy and paste.

Just found THE Sno Runner site, click title to go to it

Now where do I find one...

Cars

While we were talking about the Citroen DS, after posting the pic, I thought you might want to see a pic of my old French car. I bought it in 1986 while working at the local Peugeot Dealer, its a 1973 Peugeot 504 Cabriolet desgined by Pininfarina. I have been lucky enough to have managed to keep it in a garage out of harms (rust) way over the years. The last time I had it on the road was 1992, although it does get started up now and again. I have collected a fair amount of parts over the years, like a new roof, set of period Dunlop alloys, all the badges, bits of bright work and loads of engine spares.... all I need now is time to work on it between the bikes and other cars




My car a few years back

Indians in the summer

I was just looking through some photos from last year (09) and came across the album from the "Old Indians Never Die Motorcycle Rally", Scottish Indian Motorcycle Rally held at Traquair House in the Scottish Boarders. Being held in July the weather was as good as it gets. I met up with some friends, Willie and his Indian 741, which had taken 5 years to build and a Triumph T110. Also GBC was down for the weekend doing a bit of reporting for Old Bike Mart. It was great to see so many old Indians, think there was well over a hunderd, parked round the oval lawn in front of the house. The weekend was only part of the event for some of them, as they were heading North for a week riding through the Scottish Highlands.

Here's a link to the album http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b297/Haggi/Indian%20Rally/?albumview=slideshow

I'll put a youtube link in the title to a vid I've borrowed of a tour round the Lawn

Willies 741

Old Adverts

Seeing as we haven't had any old adverts for a few weeks here's some from the late 60s, there seems to be a bit of a bias towards BSA on the site???

Out and about

Just some pics I took while out and about at work in the last few days. The old Citroen DS was a surprise to see out on the roads this time of year, the owner was out collecting logs, he also said its a great car that will go anywhere in this weather

Friday Bike

Looks like it could be 20s 30s Four Clyinder Indian or Henderson, but is it? Click on the title to get the story

Modified Zeds

There are some really nice modified Zeds out there, here's some from the Scottish Z1oc Rally 2010



Above is what started out as a Kawa Z650 now fitted with a GSX R motor and modern running gear.




From a fairly standard but modified Z1000 to a Harris Kawa, there is so much you can still do with these old bikes ( first ones came out in 1972)

Friday Bike

It started life as a Road going Rickman Kawasaki CR and was converted to a race bike, I think about 10 years ago. My friend Colin had seen it for sale at the Oct 05 Stafford show, a deal was done and we picked it up a few months later. Quick spec on the bike, Z900 based engine bored to 1075cc, Kent Cams(dont know spec), 31CRs, Astralite wheels, TZ disca and Lockhead calipiers. There is also a full fairing, TZ 750, but looks a lot better with out it...

Bits and pieces

Had a look for some Video footage of the Boardtrack racing after posting the old photo of the Boardtrack Racer (Dec 9th) and found this



And some guys out enjoying their old Racers




Also came across this footage of Daytona 1949, which goes nicely with the Old Photo of Bob Holt (Nov 30th)

Friday Bike 2

Just to make up for the other Friday Bike, heres a nice take on the Ducati Paul Smart (PS)1000 , look a lot better with the exhaust pipes coming out the right place

Friday Bike

Now for something different, which they certainly are, click on the "Fridy Bike" title and it'll link you to there site, go on have a look at the small Customs and let me know what you think.

Old Photos

Going for it on the old board track, great photo, don't have any details on this one. But heres a bit about the sport

Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of motorsport, popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century, where competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. Although the tracks most often used motorcycles, many different types of racing automobiles also competed, enough so as to see the majority of the 1920s American national championship races contested at such venues.By the early 1930s, board track racing had fallen out of favor, and into eventual obsolescence, due to both its perceived dangers and the high cost of maintenance of the wooden racing surfaces. However, several of its most notable aspects have continued to influence American motorsports philosophy to the present day, including: A technical emphasis on raw speed produced by the steep inclinations; ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; and the development of extensive grandstands surrounding many of the courses.

Old Adverts

I think since the first Motorcycle came about Speed has played a large part in advertising them.

Old Adverts

Hadn't seen this advert before so not too sure if its period or not... who cares it looks good

Flattracker BSA

This great looking BSA flattracker is in the National Motorcycle Museum, it has an A65 engine fitted in a Trackmaster frame from 1969 and was raced by Dave Aldana

Auld Kawas

Just to make up for the lack of Kawas on this blog, think I might have picked the wrong blog title.... should it have been "Auld Brits an Stuff", I wonder

Friday Bike

This is one of Alistair Laurie's Triumph Triple specials. He built his bikes as light as possible, not just the chassis but many of the engine parts. If I remember right he built a Triple to try for 200mph, it was fitted with a full "Dustbin" fairing, don't know if he ever got to or near his target speed.
In the early 80s we visited his shop in Dumfries (SW Scotland) quite a few times, it was worth the ride just to look at his bikes

Winter Storage 2

When you don't have any floor space in the house to store the bike just put it on the wall

Snowed in Ducati

You know what its like, I'll do it tomorrow, well tomorrow was going to be last weekend and time to build the new shed. Big problem was the snow started and seems to have forgot to stop. There was 14 inches on the Big shed roof last night. So just in case the roof came in I quickly cleared the snow off the roof at sometime after 10pm... anyway with the new shed not built a couple of the bikes have had there first taste on snow, all will be sorted this weekend and they'll be off to a dry garage till the sheds put up.

There should be a Ducati 900ss under the snow

Old Photos

I love looking at old photos as long as there is a Bike or Car in it somewhere. I like to try and find the story behind the photo, not always easy, and wonder if , like in this photo where is the Bike now and is the Rider still about?



That is Bob Holt riding Ed Kretz pre war big base scout, FDB 381 at the 1949 Daytona 100 mi. race*. He took 3rd # 15 in 1948, 4th 1949. Kretz had Bobby Turner ride the bike the next day in the 200 miler. Bobby expired at 176 miles, placing 38th



* That was when it they ran it half on the beach and the road that ran parallel to it, by the late 40s it was just over 4 miles per lap.


Well the current owner of the Indian, Gary Landeen, managed to track down Bob Holt, and some of the subsequent owners, heres one of the photos he took of the 81yr old back on the same Indian 61 years between the photos, great to see.

Friday Bike

A nice photo of a Big Panther, taken by Glen at the Ross Bike Show in Taz a week ago

Royal Enfield Fury

BRITISH MANUFACTURERS have a close association with the history of flat-track racing with both Triumph and BSA taking success in the States and Royal Enfield will be adding their marque with the new flat-track inspired Fury.
The road-going flat-tracker has been styled by Watsonian Squire and and is based around Royal Enfield's fuel-injected 500cc Electra engine, and is the first new model from the British marque in 40 years to feature twin silencers.
To gain the flat-track appearance the design team replaced the twin saddle rear-end with a glass fibre single seat unit, with the tail light hidden discretely.
Commenting on the new machine, Sales Director Ben Matthews said: "“Following the introduction of the new fuel injected unit engine Royal Enfield appeals to a younger and more image-conscious customer base. We have been working on the Fury for 12 months to produce a machine for this group of riders.”
Pricing and availability of the Royal Enfield Fury will be announced at the Carole Nash Motorcycle Live, which opens on the 27th November.

Taken from http://www.visordown.com/

Friday Bike

I don't have any details on this Yamaha, but worth posting as I think it looks great

Winter Storage

Well thanks to my friends Fer and Kath my latest project will have a nice warm dry winter, sitting in their dining room beside the other bikes.

Friday Bike

Two fantastic bikes built by John Britten and his team from New Zealand
John was a brilliant engineer, be it motorcycles or designing and building his own house. Unfortunately he died aged 45 in 1995, theres is no doubt he would have had some fantastic ideas to come.
A few years ago I was given a copy of "dare to dream" The John Britten Story, its his life story and one I enjoyed reading.
If you click on the Friday Bike title at the top it should open a link telling you about John and the bikes

sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le15rkBbIsw&feature=related

Old Adverts

Sometimes when looking through old magazines you come across some great adverts from that time, this is one of them, Gene Romero on a Triumph flattracker advertising Pirelli tyres (tires)

Friday Bike

This is a Harris Kawasaki Magnum 2, owned by Rich from the Street Specials Club and Z1oc. I took this pic at Crail Harbour a couple of years ago.

Kats Bros

Just a quick post here, nice pic of my friend Kats Honda 400 Bros, my 900ss behind it. Was taken during the summer between Perth and Dundee.

One for Bodger

Seeing you liked the last BSA Flattracker, heres one a bit closer to what you've got

Vintage Flat Track Races

Vintage Flat Track Races, swap meet, and vintage bike show at the Wilson County Fair Grounds in Middle Tennessee

This event was put on by a local promoter and is the first short track race he has done. It was $15 to get in as a spectator and while I would have been happier at $10 it was ok. There was a decent crowd gathered in the stands but not that many booths in the swap meet and not all that many bikes in the bike show either. There were a couple really nice bikes present though. The track seemed short, really short. I talked with a couple of the racers who said they just had far to much motor for the track. When the bike was not bucking up on them it was spinning the tire down the straights. It was dusty and dry as well. They had to spray things down a couple times.
Thanks to Jason F for the words and pics from http://www.sohc4.net/

Friday Bike

Yes I know its Saturday, but the Internet was down last night

This is a 1973 Yamaha RD350. It has Motocarrera pipes, Webco Heads, Benelli Gas Tank, Custom Seat and Front Fender





from http://2strokebiker.blogspot.com/

Texas Mile

Never heard of it till a few months ago when talking to Joe, he lives a mile or so from me but is working out in Texas. So last weekend he had a go at the Texas Mile, clocking 181.5mph on his track bike Yamaha R1, not bad and hes even got the Tee shirt





Link to the Texas Mile site http://www.texasmile.net/index.php