Friday, 31 December 2010

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.

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

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

Monday, 27 December 2010

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.


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



Willies 741



Sunday, 26 December 2010

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???

Saturday, 25 December 2010

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

Sunday, 19 December 2010

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)

Saturday, 18 December 2010

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)

Saturday, 11 December 2010

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.

Thursday, 9 December 2010

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.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Old Adverts



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

Monday, 6 December 2010

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

Saturday, 4 December 2010

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

Wednesday, 1 December 2010

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