Pete and Laz

Pete and Laz
Yeah, Pete it's rough...but it's a runner.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Some European and Japanese motorcycles....


It's 'El Fo Fitty'
This was parked outside of the European and Japanese motorcycle show hall. Found out later via Instagram it was built by Alex Vrbtsk, for the 'Dirtbagchallenge' two years ago. It is based on a 1969 CB 450. It has 21 and 23 inch wheels. The front end is from a 1963 Honda Dream. The fuel tank from a Bultaco Matodor, and a Hooker Header...My favorite part is the fishing creel battery box. The bandana covered banana seat is a nice touch...


A 1970 KO model CB 750...of the so called 'sand cast' variety...heading up a line of nicely restored bikes


Nice Candy Blue 1968 CL 125A Scrambler


View of the high mounted Scrambler pipes

Knew a guy in High School, name of Greg... that had one just like this. He'd pretty much keep up with a bunch of us on 175 twins (like the orange one, a much younger version of myself... is sitting on, at the top of this blog...15 years old and about 55-60 lbs. lighter... Greg could smoke most 160's with the little 125.
His brother owned a Triumph Bonnie with an eight valve-big bore Rickman top end kit. For laughs they would race each other. His brother would give him a head start, as well as starting off in high gear on the Triumph. Wasn't too long before the little Honda would be screaming along, and the big Bonnie would motor by....heading for the 'Ton'.
Greg was a little crazy...no, he was a lot crazy. Watched him hit three foot high lumps of dirt on a trail at about 35-40 mph....and launch that little 125 like Evel Knevel...bottoming out the suspension on the launch and the landings. Crazy....he would do it over and over. As a testament to how tough that Honda was, it never broke. (But I'm thinking the rims must have had some flat spots on them!) 
But I digress...more pics to post:


A pair of 1954 Honda J 89cc
Bike in foreground should have a chromed tank...yet, the worth as is, estimated at $15,000.
The unrestored bike behind it estimated at $3,000.


A 1955 Honda JB 125cc
Value estimated at $40,000 


A 1962 Honda Trail 55 C105T Chrome plated dealers promo model
Probably less than 100 exist today...period correct Baggage packs.


A flat track version of a Kawasaki W2 (sorry pic a little fuzzy..)

And now some European bikes...


A 1939 BMW R 71
746 cc 22.03 HP 


1964 BMW R 60/2 with a Russian made Ural sidecar


Benelli 500 Four


1964 BMW R 60/2 with a sidecar


Another angle of the Beemer rig


A Bultaco Astro with some other Bultacos, and Montessas, and Maicos for company...


!973 Ducati Condor 350  Swiss Military model



Out of focus Maico motocrosser


1965 Bulttaco Metisse 250




circa 1960 Benelli sold as a Wards Riverside




An out of focus...MV Augusta

Sorry for the delay in posting these pics of the 'other show' that was at the same time as the All-British show. It's almost too much to take in , next time will have to show up earlier. Nice bikes in both shows, and lot's of stuff for sell. 

As usual, it seems I've either misplaced or lost some pics. I wanted to add some Kawasaki pics about here which seem to have disappeared. I may have to see if I can 'retrieve' them from my Facebook page. Anyone else have these kinds of problems downloading pics from their cel-phone? Maybe I shouldn't wait until there are a couple thousand pics stacked up....? 

Next time ....updates on all the current projects...


































Sunday, April 20, 2014

Fun with Honda SL 100's...continues.

Wishing I had bought more of these years ago....


This is where all this started some weeks back....


One of my 'parts' bikes, which will probably become a runner now...
The bike with the extra capacity after market plastic tank is an SL-175 single cylinder bike I had forgotten I had, a project for another time. One of the SL-100's came fitted with a seat and muffler from a 175, funny how things work out like that...the 175 needs a new seat...lurking behind the 175, is a very tired Kawa 1000...



Another one that might have hopes of becoming a runner as well. Here it is modeling a Tank from a 175 twin, or maybe it's off an old CL 350?. The biggest problem with these bikes is the poor condition of the original fuel tanks (when they have one). This 175 tank is absolutely clean inside, and actually looks like it will be a good fit with some bracketry added to the frame...I have dug out a selection of various tanks from my Okie-bank , some alloy ones...should be able to come up with something, Have been seeing a lot of people on various sites trying their hand at using electrolysis methods for tank cleaning...it seems it works ok for mild cases of rust, but can cause problems with pin holes opening up. Also all kinds of chemical concoctions, with various results. Might look into some of these later...and of course the alcohol infused fuel these days is playing heck with some of the tank lining formulas... And before winter...need to strip and paint the back of the house...the neglected weather side...


During the back yard clean up and de-jungleing...all kinds of interesting stuff came to light. Here we have a low mileage Kawa Ninja 250...when I parked it back here next to a friends BMW...it was in pretty good shape Now it has a cracked front fender and a broken windscreen. I suppose a squirrel could have fallen out of a tree and caused such damage...but I'm tending to believe it was vandalism...probably by the same guys that helped them selves to an old kayak that was parked back there as well... sometimes I wish I had a dog again...but the neighbor behind me has a couple of pit bulls that are watching things these days...
It wouldn't take too much to get the 250 back on the road and use it for a work commuter...medium distance machine. Projects, yeah...I've got some...


Rust never takes a holiday...victim of a leaky roof...a CB 350 crankshaft, now suitable as garden sculpture...in fact a certain 'Vintage Monkey' gal has dibs on it...

Tomorrow. up early and back to bikes...




Saturday, April 19, 2014

The Sacramento Mile 2014...


Has been cancelled ....

Was just checking the State Fair schedule which still lists the race as happening in July, but alas...three other sites are announcing it's cancellation due to some dispute with the horse racing folks.....

Looks like I'll be catching the Santa Rosa Mile, an hour and a half away, and in September... 

Monday, April 14, 2014

DirtquakeUS....I'm in...

.....just gotta figure out paypal , again and get my official entry turned  in. My little Honda SL-100 'racer' has been pre-approved, so now the work begins.


This is what it looked like after cutting it free from the vines and weeds that had overgrown it...( yes, that is green moss growing out of the seat foam...)


After a little soap and water, it's looking better already...
Luckily I have 4 four more bikes like this to pull parts from.

Have scaled back plans of entering something more ferocious (maybe next year...) and decided to go small...somebody has to bring up the rear of the pack after all... I accept the challenge!
Have a couple weeks off from work to play with motorcycles, so we will see how much I can get done here at the "Not ready for Prime-time dirtworks".... 


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Oilyrob aka Rob Williams...

....is a timber framing carpenter who races flattrack motorcycles in the UK. I've added a couple of links in 'my blog list' over there  (GoodWood Frames,and GoodWood Frames Home----------------->

The one at the bottom of the list GoodWood Frames Home, is a 'weebly.com' site, that has a cool video you should check out...
As a sometimes carpenter, and follower of  "This Old House"....have always been fascinated by timber framing, and dream of someday building something using the old methods.....yeah check it out....massive oak beams...just some beautiful stuff...


You can follow him on Instagram ...oilyrob


As I was looking at his Instagram page, I realized reflected on the screen, were the mock, built up beams of the McD's ....just not the same as the real deal....




Friday, April 11, 2014

Meanwhile at the 'Not ready for prime-time dirt works'....


Rummaging through the bone yard... 

Back to the place where SL's go to die...well maybe rest awhile in this case. Over the past...well more years than I care to remember I've been buying the little guys as I ran into them...
The orange one, an SL 100.. which is fairly complete, I believe has a stuck piston. The grayish looking bike is a 125 that was running and even had a new (at the time it was purchased) battery, and was a good runner...but leaked oil from the head. The incomplete bike has a good motor I believe, but is pretty naked of much else but wheels and suspension...
There is another mostly complete 100, not pictured, that is in undetermined condition. When the sun hits that one just right, you can see through the gas tank...I'm thinking it is going to be mostly a donor bike. 


The bare frame is of an SL 100 that has been in the family since the 70's. it was a '71 I believe, that my brother probably traded a mini-bike or a bicycle or something for. Yeah , about the time the movie 'On Any Sunday' came out, and about the time I was working odd jobs and attending colleges occasionally.

The original owner was what we'd refer to as a 'rich kid', his dad bought him a brand new Honda. The kid thought he was going to build a Drag bike. He took the motor apart, cut the tops of the upper fork tubes about six inches from the top. He managed to lose the wheels and many other parts and then became disinterested in the project...after turning it into a complete basket case. My brother decided to turn it into a 'racer' to replace his hopped up S-90. So with some financial assistance from me...we proceeded to set to. 
Making a long story shorter...I found wheels and fork parts at a local motorcycle wrecking yard (the one that  years later, I'd end up working at)...My brother extended the swingarm a couple inches in his metal shop class at the High School...following a 'hop-up' article in a motorcycle magazine, it ended up with a home grown big bore kit using a modified piston from a 175 twin Honda which gave it really high compression. Carl Cranke (of Penton motorcycle fame) was working at a local shop at the time, and did the machine work to the piston and cylinder. We ordered up a full race cam, and when a three-quarter race cam showed up instead we decided to go with it, which was probably a wiser choice for a dirt machine. It got a set of 'racing' valve springs...modified clutch...carb off a bigger bike...port and polish...racing pipe...all that jazz.  It turned out pretty good and was fast for it's size. 
Eventually it ended up as one of my dirt bikes. And then later still it was torn down, and then carried around through several moves. I still have most of the major parts, and with a little help from the 'bone yard' I should be able to get it together.  

Been checking out the DQUSA hashtag at Instagram, to see what other people are cooking up to bring to DirtQuake USA. Some pretty serious looking machinery...oh well...they need someone to bring up the rear!! Originally I'd thought of bringing a bigger bike, but decided to scale back ambition and be a little more sensible about it. 

For those of you just tuning in, Dirt Quake USA is an inaugural event that will be happening at a real GNC* race track. Castle Rock in Washington state. Sideburn Magazine and See See Motorcycles and coffee are co-hosting this event. It is patterned after the three years running Dirt Quake in merry old England.

*GNC Grand National Championship

    

Since I was last here...I've realized I'm going to have to 'pull it out' as suggested by the fuel tank on the Sideburn Enfield Streettracker...and get my pre-entry pictures in.


The frame of the SL 100 is about 94 and 1/2 percent de-rusted...



Thanks to this 18 volt cordless 'sidewinder', as yanks are known to call handheld angle grinders..
Take that, you derelict motorcycle frame....

I have the next 10 days off from work....time to catch up on blogs, publishing, and reading, and leaving snotty comments and such...  Will be back with more British bikes and European and Japanese as well...


And back to the 350 project...



                                                                                            







Saturday, April 5, 2014

More bikes from the 2014 Clubmans Show...


A nice unrestored 1968 BSA B44 Victor Special
with genuine oil drips....



a very nicely restored 1956 Ariel-Square Four 1000cc MK 2 



A very nice Ariel Twin, that I somehow managed to not get any info on...a 500, perhaps..?



An out of focus 1937 Rudge Special...that could be yours for $8000.00 .



A nice Royal Enfield of unknown vintage...



Another view of the 1949 Vincent Rapide known as "Barn Job".



A Triumph 500 Flattrack racer



A Triumph Bonneville, ridden to the show- parked out side.



A nice 1966 Norton Atlas 100 miles since restoration, yours for $8000.00



A 1915 Scott, a water cooled twin two stroke.



Rear view of the fantastic Eddie Mulder street tracker, pretty 'Ryechus' ...indeed.



A perfect little 1964 Triumph T20SS Tiger Cub



A 1961 Norton 650 Manxman



Don Harrell's 1960 BSA Spitfire Scrambler
I'm fortunate to own one similar to this (but nowhere near this condition)



Here we have a Norton Four...



A 1953 Norton "Clubman"
A very cleverly engineered special. I see it as a nod to the proposed Norton Four...that never was. I believe this is a disguised Honda motor, but really not sure about that...anyone out there recognize it? Paul Adams, the owner... races old Nortons, when he isn't pulling wool over our eyes...



Nice un restored Triumph triple 750



A few Triumphs...

I'm thinking this is a good place to pause, and hit the 'publish' button....may or may not be back with a few more British bikes...due to the non-quality of some of my snapshots.(and some difficulties with photo transferring...) Will definitely be back with European and Japanese bikes from the 'other hall'.