Hustler 6

Mini based but needing lots of work and has a armchair for a rear seat.

Cars!

It's a (very) long time since I've done anything worth posting about with a motorcycle. No building, customising, shows... nothing except regular garden trials and maintenance. However it was suggested a while ago that we could look at buying an interesting car. I'd rather be spending money on more bikes but thats not an option, my partner doesn't ride and my son is way too young (also, he shows a worrying lack of interest in bikes). But I find cars difficult, there are lots I like but few that I'd like to own. So I'm going to post a few possibilities here and see what you think.

This Lancia Fulvia was on eBay recently, apparently needing quite a bit of welding but looking superficially beautiful especially with it's red leather and chromed interior. 

Bonneville flat tracker

T140e, my second bike. Being young and inexperienced I didn't realise how badly it had been treated by the previous owner and never got it to run nicely. Ignoring the problems, worn out cluch drum and butchered wiring, I wanted a flat tracker like the Strongbow bikes. Somewhere along the way I got confused and fitted flat bars and rear sets. It was still a great bike to ride, when it worked, but I still need to do this properly.

 At Rollerburn someone turned up with this.



ROLLERBURN Drag race

More ROLLERBURN

ROLLERBURN

The Vintagent and the National Motorcycle Museum

The Vintagent doesn't like the NMM, see his comments here.  The Vintagent is extremly knowledgeable and runs a popular and very successfull blog but I happen to disagree with him, here's why.

Actually I like the fact the place is crammed out. I'm completely fed up with museums that are full of style but have little content, are designed to ensure maximum footfall and the theme follows through into the shop to ensure maximum spend. The NMM is privately funded so it doesn't need to make a profit and doesn't need blokes with degrees to decide what's important, the visitor can do that for themselves. The Science Museum has warehouses full of engineering gems that will never be displayed again because they will not bring the footfall that government funding requires. Well, I think sometimes we should be shown stuff that might not look very interesting at first glance because that way we start to make connections and really understand how engineering develops. The NMM provides that, if I want to I can spend a day just looking at Amal carburettors, what could be better. Museums are about exhibits not exhibitions.

New blog

OBRAS MOTOS

Montesa street trials, drag, chop, lowrider thing.

Not had much time for bikes recently, hence the lack of posts, but suddenly got the need to to complete a thirty year plan.  Not finished, but nearly.

Holiday rides

If a hire car is the fastest car in the world, then this is the fastest bike in the world.

F1

Despite my Fireblade having nearly twice the power, I could never even keep up along a windy lane with my mate on his F1.  That's because he can ride properly.

SE4 Barn find

SE5a Dunlop alloys

GTD 40

GT40

This is not jewellery

Well what do you expect to happen?

Golf GTi Mk.1

Harlequin

T140E, KH250

Fred at his very best

Not my Fault
This link breaks every time I close the browser.  If you really want to read it you can follow the link in the previous post, then look for 'bin 5' and 'Not my fault Fred'.

Fred Gassit

I identify with Fred Gassit, we're about the same height, same build, loner, dreamer, waster, both like sausages.  Haven't seen much of him lately.

New road ride (recycled)

Montesa

Flamin Cars

An old friend Marvin Zilm likes setting fire to things.

Madelvic

Madelvic Electric Carriage Company built electric cars in Granton, Edinburgh from 1898 to 1900.  The factory cost £33,000 and was way over budget leaving the company financially vulnerable.  This was the first purpose built car factory in the UK and is the oldest still surviving.

The carriage carried up to half a ton and could still manage steep hills that left horse drawn carriages struggling.  One of the first customers to recognise the value of this was the Post Office who purchased three of the vehicles.  It was a traditional Edwardian brougham carriage but built on a tubular steel chassis with wire spoked steel wheels and solid tyres.  The batteries sat at the front, presumably under the footplate and the electric motor had a direct drive to the the central wheel. 

After liquidation in 1900 several other car companies occupied the the premises building buses, lorries and taxis there until 1925, all with internal combustion engines.  The building is not architecturally special, however even in its current neglected and dilapidated state it is still a spectacular factory space.  Despite being listed grade B, approval for demolition was granted in January 2010.

RC30

Nostalgia Drags at 240 FPS from Matthew Macomber on Vimeo.

Remember this hill

Customs, chops, bobbers