Interesting and somewhat humbling

It's a state of mind....................

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Lowside 6 on the streets

Not as well known as GK or DiCe, well not on this side of the pond anyway, Lowside 6 arrived today.

As always the guys are keepin' it real, and there's the usual sage observations from editor Tim West and a good take on the H.O.G. scene from The Fong Bros. 

If you haven't seen a copy or need this issue check it out here.

1950 Tiger 100 Head

A guy I know's Brother-in-Law has just started to do a carb cleaning and vapour blasting service. Being a collector of old 50's and 60's racing iron he knows what is expected by people and strives to please.

I sent over this early 50's alloy Tiger 100 head over to check out his work, bloody top notch springs to mind, and turned 'round in a couple of days, all for a price that is a lot cheaper than a night down the pub.

 If you're in the south of England or the East Anglian region and need something cleaned, you could do a lot, lot worse than get in contact with Bob.

Rollin' Gold

1st October 2011

Well, there were a couple of wheels about and you've got to have a look ain't ya?

It's difficult to appreciate just how small it has turned out from the picture, but it isn't big by any definition!

Brit - US Autojumble

Just spotted this from Leedog and Stevie over at lowlevelhell, October 23rd, there's an all Brit and US autojumble/swap meet at Jack's Hill Cafe just north of Towcester on the A5. 

NN12 6ET, Post Code only relevant if you've got sat nav on the bike of course, cos you wouldn't be going up in a motor now would you????

A new blog worthy of note

Sometimes it gets pretty awkward trying to source old British stuff over here in England, although it is said that around 70% of Triumph's output went to the US  and you would have to think that BSA would have been up there as well. Anyway I digress, a pal of mine and fellow DB'er Roy lives in Montana, USA and for some reason better known to himself is lusting after a bit of JAP powered fun. That's J.A.P. not Jap by the way, and whilst not the easiest thing to find parts for it must give an immense feeling of achievement when something does turn up. To follow Roy's quest for his personal grail, check his blog out HERE.

The Unapproachable Norton

A couple of months ago I posted some pictures of a lovely ES2, and said that,at the time, there was no more information on it.Well that can now be put right, the bike, along with several others was put together in the shed of Doctor George Cohen, or "Norton George" as he is better known in the hallowed tomes of Bracebridge Street folk lore.

This is so close to what I consider the nascent style of British Bobberness that it's difficult to draw a line, so, for all intents and purposes this is where it's at, as far as BIW is concerned anyways up.

There's been a delay in posting these pics because I've been waiting for the thumbs up from George to "blogjack" 'em. For more of these great looking bikes and to read his funny, insightful, informative web page go this way to Georges Shed

So close I can taste it

1950 ZB32 Gold Star

Got up to Toddys earlier in the week to collect the bones of the Goldie project. He'd been good enough to section the early Bantam tank and make and fit a seat base.

Got the bits reassembled when it got back here and loose fitted the early Motobecane girders.

I've mentioned on here about trying to nail what is a British style of custom and I hope that this will be going down that path. There is some beautiful work being done on Nortons by Dr George Cohen down in Somerset in the same style. Also know of several being put together around all 4 corners of Britain at the moment, and one in Montana! Just hope it's the start of something good.

Of course the A7 will be finished before work starts in earnest on this, but parts will be sourced and scored in the meantime.

British Thunder From Down Under

Well the spring sunshine has kicked in for a while down in NZ and Ben managed to get a few shots of the Beezer. Lovely looking piece of kit there fellah, stripped to the bone with dirt on it's mind, "a bike for blokes" if I've ever seen one.

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Great photos of a great bike, thanks Ben.

'65 BSA A65 Thunderolt

Ben has just finished his sweet Thunderbolt over in New Zealand and has sent over a coupla tasters of the build,

A guy I know down Christchurch way had spent some years in the US and had imported container loads of bikes when he came back to NZ. I used to go to his place for parts for my other project and just wander around looking at all his machines, he had maybe 30 or 40, mostly unit triumphs, some beezas and triples. We’d talk bikes and Id listen to stories from his years of riding. I spied this dirty and dusty BSA sitting under the stairs. “Oh yeah, that one,” he said “We set that up for some guys who wanted to go flat track racing.” That’s as much of the history I got. An ex US west coast bike that may or may not have been racing. I offered some money for it and it was readily accepted, I guess my offer was too high! I eventually got it home and decided I would fix only the bits that needed fixing, just enough to get it going. But once I started on it, the urge to customize took over and before I new it was rebuilding the whole thing. I had made the mistake of trying to do both my triumph project and the BSA at the same time, so progress was slow, and my triumph is still only half done. Money was falling out of my wallet and into the BSA faster than what I had planned for, but the vision of the A65 was coming together.

I checked the numbers and found it was 1965 Thunderbolt frame, but the engine numbers proved too cryptic to figure out the motor history. It could be an A50 bottom end with a 650 barrel, or a 650 with A50 numbers added for the ownership title. The tank and fork yokes I believe are Firebird items, the oil tank and all the other various parts from different years and different bikes. I tracked down some alloy rims and had them laced up to the QD hub in the rear and Honda hub in the front. I went with an XL350 front end originally because I thought it would be cheaper and more practical, but once I had some adapters machined to fit the forks to the yokes I didn’t save a cent over the cost of rebuilding the original beeza legs. I shortened the springs to get the height right, shaved and polished the Honda legs and I had a nice looking front end that actually works really well. Kawasaki shocks were fitted easily to the rear.

All the paint was done by me in 2k urethane, and I spent a good many hours prepping and making the tank and wassell type rear guard to look straight and clean. I originally thought the rear guard had some sort of speckled paint finish but then realised it was just paint over rust! That thing was more pitted than the devils driveway. I cut a seat pan from alloy sheet and had a local upholsterer make the seat to my design. New foot rubbers went on, new exhaust, oil lines, tyres and all new nuts, bolts and fasteners that were missing or had been lost on the garage floor during the disassembly and drinking phase.

I fitted a pazon electronic ignition system and wired it to run battery-less, based on a wiring diagram for a points system with no battery. I didn’t know if it would work but it did! The black box and the regulator are squeezed in between the top of the oil tank and the underneath of the seat. A new Amal 928 with factory spec jetting was fitted. Clutch plates and rotor also replaced. A good few hours went into repairing and polishing the primary and timing side covers, they were in a real sh*# state. Final touches included using a Norton commando seat fastening nut for the steering damper knob.

Nothing was done to the engine internals and as it turned out, it runs fine. A little puff of smoke on startup says the rings need doing at some stage, but it runs clear once its warm so Im in no hurry to do that. Its road geared, too tall for real off road riding, but should suit beach racing. I hope to make it to the Burt Munro Challenge again this year, and race on Oreti beach for the first time. For now though, I have to be content with short blasts up and down the road!

If the weather holds out Ben hopes to get some bike shots in, in the very near future, well worth the wait I promise ya!