Electric youth and the future Conan...

Sitting around a Mickey D's after work, having finished an 8 hour work day due to a holiday that fell on Monday (Martin Luther King)...my regular weekday off- when I work four tens.... an extra 2 hours to kill before I head home...cuppa joe to try and stay awake, till I hit the hay. Friday, and heading to my mother's to do some repairs, and maybe escape the rain predicted for Sacramento this weekend. Not sure where this post is headed, or if it will ever get posted...do that sometimes...

Suddenly got quiet in here, the after school kids are hoofing it home during a lull in the weather...won't miss the seemingly pointless conversations (to my old ears at least...sorry, feeling a bit curmudgeonly lately)...the kids all have cel-phones, and use them well...as one kid heads out the door, another yells out, "I'll send you the address later..." Non-Luddites they are"...

School computer....1968-70 ish....

When I was in High School I somehow ended up in a math class that was far more advanced then I was able to handle...I think someone got my transcripts mixed up with someone else... Mr. Peterson would work for weeks preparing a fairly simple math problem to enter into the schools computer....which looked something like this pic I found on the web....like clockwork....it would crash....and Peterson would say...."Oh well...maybe next week",  as far as I know he was never able to get that thing to complete a program. By the time I started college...computers were even larger, and run by punched out cards...that mothers and grandmothers fashioned lovely gold spray painted wreaths....and after a brief fling as an engineering student....

Fast forward a few years....I'm on a $200.00 notebook computer that would have blown minds in the 60's, and most kids these  days... would consider it a toy...I imagine....My father passed away in '95...he had a third hand IBM PC....I believe it was...the one before the 286's... it had some basic programs on it that he used to type up things he needed for the sailing class he was teaching at the Naval Post Graduate school in Monterey. How did a career Air Force photographer end up teaching a sailing class...some might ask...? Well...it's Eddie Albert's fault...yeah that Eddie Albert...the one who starred with Eva Gabor in the TV show "Green Acres".

Eddie before "Green Acres"

My father joined the Sea Scouts in the Long Beach area. The local Sea Scouts had Eddie Albert's yacht at their disposal when he wasn't using it. The troop would sail down to Mexico and back. (couldn't find a picture of his yacht...but did find this smaller craft with him at sea...)

But darling....so, you're really German?

Tender moment from Green Acres...

Random shot of a Honda 350 powered High Heel...a bike Ms. Gabor might approve of...

As it turns out Mr. Albert is a very interesting individual...worth a Wikipedia read. He was 'black listed' in Hollywood, and after heroic service in the US Navy during World War Two...he was able to resume a career in Hollywood.

Link to Wikipedia article-------------->https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Albert

How many people do you know can say that they worked as a clown and high wire artist traveling through Mexico, while simultaneously working for Army Intelligence ?

We will be back with our regular programming...

Cleaning shop, and cleaning blog...

With the new year in, comes my resolutions...time to spend more time with and riding bikes...and time to shake out the old blog and do some cleaning here. Will start with the blog links here. I'm going to add some, and delete some. Been noticing that Facebook and Instagram have been sucking the life out of some blogs...which I see as a sad thing...I have accounts at those places too, but am going to keep blogging. I suppose it's the ease with which those places are for "ínstantly" posting whatever....but I still enjoy checking out the blogs....where it seems I see more interesting and thoughtful writings than at those other spots...so, be that as it may one of the first I'm adding is "Brokenmotorcycle.com" . I met Denis at a gas station a few years back when he was gassing up an old green Suzuki 50.

I snapped this pic of him...

We got into a quick conversation about bikes...he was talking about Moto Meeto, a local group of guys that meet up a few times a month...I thought he was referring to the Moto Melee, a once a year Northern California ride...that I have tried and failed to participate in a few times. Next time I saw him was when he drove by on an old BSA...so I followed him to where he was living at the time, and got to have another quick bike discussion. Since then I see him and his pops, another motorcycle loving individual, and several others we all know on a semi regular basis at one of the local Starbucks caffeine stations. Great group of guys...wide variety of motorcycle interests. Denis runs a car shop and earns a living with that. His bike shop is for him and his bikes, and is pretty impressive. Check out his site, and his Instagram (brokenmotorcycle) for a look at some local California motorcycle stuff.

If this is what I think it is, it's a short video of Denis on his three speed Trail Bronc BSA Bantam D-18.

BSA Trailbronc D-18

Tank detail...a rare stateside model...I've only seen two...and just happen to know both owners.

Sooooo...consider this a WARNING! WARNING!  Inactive blogs are at risk of deletion!!! Well, at least from my link thingy over there...                                                                                             

Hmmmmm not sure what happened there...not even sure if I could duplicate it again.... 

Most of you are safe...might have to contact a few of you first....I'm not that mean...Good day! 

Been cold...now it's getting wet...did someone mention racing?

Which in the case of drought ridden California is a good thing...and the rain is bringing some warmer air through the area. Was starting to get tired of freezing temperatures...not conducive to getting out to the un-heated shed/garage* and carport area. (*trying out the new 'merican/UK translator here at Blooger...) so , as I was saying... a bit of warmer weather might thaw my old carcass out and get me up and about and doing things again. Over the holidays I've been practicing sleeping...something I hope to do more of when I manage to retire...someday...

Racing? did someone mention racing? Racing is part of my plans for the new year...or shall I call it 'Competition' ? Definitely want to do some flat-tracking, and I've had a hankering to give some vintage trials a try. Eventually a go at the salt-flats. Someday, some pavement racing...but for now, if I get on a dirt track I'll be happy.

A little trip down memory lane...mostly to jog my own memory...

A pic borrowed from the web...waiting in the wings I have a Bultaco Pursang like this one...that with the right tires and gearing, and a lot of practice will make a good tracker.

More pics borrowed from the web...for inspiration...

A B-40 Trials bike

I have a couple basket case B-40's, some day I'd like to see something like this come of them.

A triumph cub set up for trials

Another cub set up for trials

This is my Cub as it was when I purchased it a few summers ago.

It's now apart and waiting patiently....

I have several SL 350's  like the one in this bubble gum trading card I purchased at a show a few years ago.

Here's one I bought over 20 years ago, that is ever so slowly going through a transformation into a 'Street bike'. This pic is from then.

"Facebook",  reminded me the other day that it has been two years since I snapped this pic...same SL, partway to becoming a street bike/coffee bar-hopper...would like to turn the others into flattrackers for racing... 

An old pic of my blue SL 350, that was always faster than the others...have suspicions that the motor had been 'breathed-on' by a previous owner...this is the one that will become a tracker. It will be interesting to see what is inside this one.  I traded the camo '68 bug for a BSA B-40 motor that had been freshly rebuilt, and never started. A friend of mine had cut the back end off of the bug and we turned it into a flatbed truck. The new owner ended up losing it, because he left it on a city street un-registered...so it goes...

A pic from the inaugural "DirtQuake US" two years ago. My 'race-bike' for the event...last time I got to slide a few laps around the track at Castlerock raceway in practice... had to disqualify myself 'race-day' because of a clutch that started playing up, and an ancient front tire that was beginning to disintergrate. Had this bike ready to go again this year with a new front hoop and other improvements...but, due to circumstances beyond my control...didn't make it..(a probably drunk woman, decided to total my vehicle and hers out front of my house...so it goes, fortunately no one was killed or injured...but it did put a serious kink in my vacation plans)...looking forward to this summer..some time in June..says SEESEEMotorcoffee, the American sponsor of DirtQuakeUS....maybe this time bringing some bigger bikes...?

More pics from previous blog posts..

This is Tom, the gentleman I bought the Cub from...he has a few more he's restoring.

This is a Rickman Triumph he is also restoring.

The motor from the Rickman and another Cub motor

I ran into Tom at the big British show in San Jose,last year... and he had a few pics to show me...

The Rickman nearly restored, with the frame freshly re-nickeled...

And a shot of Tom racing a Triumph Cub in the sixties...

I did get the stuck piston loose in my Cub's motor, and things really didn't look too bad inside. Luckily there are ample stocks of parts available for Triumph cubs.

And lastly for this post , a look at my new for me 1986 Honda XR 200R, that was purchased with the intention of participating in the Barstow to Vegas Desert run....which also was missed due to circumstances out of my control...to next year...   enough tap dancing through the digital memory banks....push the publish button, Pete....

oops! wrong button...pulled a Marvin...Ka-Boom!!

Let us try this again, shall we? 

OK , operator error on my part I hit the still photo link instead of the video link....here in the blog editor....been a while since I posted a video. It's been 2 days of hassling with stuff...but at least the software on the phone seems to work...I was able to post a 13 second vid to Facebook, but not to Instagram. I clipped a 5 second section of the above vid, and managed to get it to post at Instagram. Using the phone I was able to get the full 13 second vid to post here at the blog. So far I haven't been able to get the editing program on the computer to work...oh well. Had enough of it for awhile...at least I know the gopro cam works...and eventually I'll figure it all out. 

just a test folks...

first Go pro vid...will it play on the blog?