The "Clubmans all British show and swapmeet"/"European and Japanese show and swapmeet" a little teaser...

Here we have 'that 350' ...the one with the Flying Dragon paint job. 

This was a factory produced option. You may have read about this bike in a couple of recent magazine articles.  Got to meet the owner, and author of one of the articles on these paint sets.

And what do you think my one dollar buy is....? A rocker arm obviously, but for what motor?

This 1970 Triumph Daytona was a raffle prize...theoretically someone may have won this for one dollar. It wasn't me...

This evening I'll sit down and post some more pics from both of these shows.....

As I recall Norman over at the "You can't tour with a single" blog.did a post about the "Flying Dragon" paint sets....so go over and click on the link for his blog. If I had it more together I'd figure out a way to put a link here...maybe when I get back....I'll look at doing that. 

Well...back...and I think I was mistaken about Norm posting at his blog about this...probably saw it on his Face Book page...so, I've tried 5 times to link an article and failed 5 times...hmmm be back later and see if something else will go...

Motorcycle Classics article...click here-----------> Flying Dragon paint set

 6 times did it...be back with more pics from both shows...will probably split it up two posts.

Time for a motorcycle show...

At the Santa Clara fairgrounds this weekend...pics in a few days.

Quick update on the CB 550 project...motor is out...almost down to a bare frame.

Decided it's time to get back to building a frame table...and the 550 will be the first frame to go on it.....so, stay tuned.

Off with it's head...

Coming out of a rainy weekend ...had a stretch of nice days...in fact it's getting very Spring like around here. Decided to do a tear down of the CB 550 and see exactly what was causing the smoke screen effect it had developed. My guess was a 'blown' head gasket....or some broken rings possibly...

As I was doing some yard work...I started to pull most of the bike apart .The nice thing about the 500 and 550's is that you can pull the top ends without pulling the entire motor from the frame. ( Which, in this case is going to happen at a later date..just doing an 'exploratory' to determine the patients condition...).

After pulling the rocker cover off...I was greeted with what looks to be a well oiled and nicely broken-in camshaft.

Took me a few minutes to remember how to get the cam chain off the sprocket so that I could pull the camshaft and see the lower bearing surfaces ( which on these bikes is part of the head casting ). Everything looks pretty good here.

The rocker arm assembly...upper cam bearings very nice, and the wiping surfaces of the rockers look excellent. Some of the valve adjusting screws had some pitting to them...I'll probably replace them.

The cam lobes and cam journal surfaces look good too...

The cam chain adjustment guides have gotten very brittle and worn, so they and the cam chain will get replacements.

The cylinder that was emitting the smoke screen...oil had been leaking into the number one combustion chamber. That and the overly rich carburetors gummed things up in there. 

so...some progress made on Project 'Gentlemen's Express' as I'm calling this one...

The pistons and bores looked good...will have to clean them up and check clearances....

The bottom end seems ok...but will pull it down and check all the bearings and such down below...this will be going on for awhile.

Next up...is to see about getting Project  "Grey Porridge' CX 500 running and back on the road.

Oh yeah...my unfinished 350 Honda project...that seems to have lost steam... 

 Also coming up....work on the DirtQuake bike...which is the Honda SL 100 from last year...have a clutch to fix and some tires to change and brake shoes to install...so till next time.

Out in my carport I found some old slides from 1974...a bit oldy- moldy....roof is in need of repairs.This is a shot of my brothers old sixties S-90 Honda. Big bore kit, Harmon and Collins full race cam, port and polish job, Barnett race clutch, and a straight pipe. It was a wheelie machine Guess you can blame that 'On any Sunday movie that had come out several years before....I'm hoping to find some old pics that haven't suffered the same fate as this slide...

Just did a new post at my other blog....the automobile one. Spotted some Model T's on the road. Click on-------------> fullfender.blogspot.com/?m=0

Time to breakout some tools...and work on the Grey Porridge

Project,  from grocery getter, to a 'Gentlemen's Express'

My Honda CB 550 , also known as 'The Orange Crate'...is officially down...with a very blown head gasket. It served me well from the time my Toyota was destroyed by the 'suddenly sleeping' woman who ran into it last summer. Now that I have the Honda van, I can tear the Honda down. Back to my original plan of building a 'Cafe Racer'...or as I prefer a 'Gentlemen's Express', referring back to an old 'Cycle Magazine' article....November 1975. Will try to find a picture from that article to insert here ---------------------------------------

The "Gentlemen's Express" My bike will be a blend of this idea and a "Cafe Racer"

November 75 issue of Cycle magazine with a Honda CB550 known as the 'Mantle piece'

I purchased the CB 550 with the intention of replicating a 1971 CB 500 I owned in the seventies. That bike had a lot of CB 550 parts and some nice suspension upgrades. It had a set of Candy Orange metalflake tank and side covers from a 550 Supersport model, and a sectioned seat and tail from a 750 Supersport, with a custom made taillight. Yeah, Koni shocks and a shortened fork assembly from a 750 Supersport....with the front brake from the 750 as well. Phew! Exciting stuff in those days. Working at a repair shop in a motorcycle wrecking yard, meant I had my pick of parts...for good prices...miss those days! The engine was lightly 'breathed on' ...ran a ported and polished head from a 550 on the stock 500 pistons and bores. Picked up a Hooker Header, some after market ignition coils, ran jetted up 550 carbs....and damn if it didn't make enough power to slip the stock clutch...so an upgrade to a 550 clutch with Barnett plates and 'racing' springs....and it was as quick as a lot of the 750's around town in those days, and sometimes beating them up to about 100 mph....when the bigger bikes would start to breath. Ah, memories...this time round...think I'll work more on handling,,,,and keep things mild in the engine department...maybe a bigger bore..depending on what the current bore looks like...and build more of a touring express.Yeah, somewhere between the two bikes from Cycle magazine. Something to take out for a couple days up, or down the coast...runs up to the hills...with a sleeping bag and some camp gear.


Somehow I missed the Sacramento Autorama this year...guess I'll survive. Coming up in May is the Sacramento Mile. My favorite GNC racer, Sammy Halbert, is switching from Harley Davidson to Kawasaki for his 'Big twin racer'...and continuing to ride Yamahas in the smaller displacement races...will be interesting to watch. Of course DirtQuake USA is happening again in June. Haven't heard any news on the 'Moto Melee' rally...another thing I'd like to do. Then there are various rides for old bikes that Occhilungo...(aka Pete Young) has mentioned here and there.  Sometimes more modern bikes are allowed to tag along....maybe this year?

The 550 earlier this last summer on one of the few joy rides to the local Sacramento river.

Project CX... Grey porridge...I have another tank for this bike....maybe some grey paint?

My Honda CX 500..the ignition switch/fork lock bit the dust...have to see what I can find on-line....waiting patiently for an exhaust system....yeah and a better looking and fitting seat!!  I have a cobbled together temporary exhaust system, using the stock head pipes....some extension pieces and a pair of HD Sportster mufflers. As I get my home welding department back together, I'll dig up the two into one header system I started several years ago in a night adult machine shop class.  

Here's a screen shot from Sammy Halbert's Facebook page....getting results on the new Kawasaki already....Go Sammy! 

Weekends here...time to get busy!

An update in the racing...

From Flattracklive's Instagram...results from racing in Florida. Sammy got a second with the new bike.

DirtQuake US (2) is on June 20 and 21

Seeseemotorcycles has announced dates secured at the track for the Sideburn Magazine/Seeseemotorcycles Dirtquake US event for 2015. I am assuming it wil'll take place at the Castlerock track again. This is a screenshot from Seeseemotorcycles 'Instagram' page.

A screenshot from my 'Instagram' page....A shot of theSeeseemotorcycle motorized pizza with a Hand and a Creature from the Black lagoon getting ready for the parade lap last summer....

You can go to Instagram and follow along or not....I'll be posting my progress on my 'racer' projects here...so stay tuned.

Sideburn Magazine just posted this on 'Instagram'...it's definitely on at Castlerock!!!