Happy New Year

Clip courtesy of Plasticman.

Another One...

Another nice small case unit Tri , with a hardtail for the track.

Seasonal Post

Buy a tin , the empty tins are handy .

Pills , Vils and Bellyaches .

Mike Vils excellent custom Triumph went through several detail changes . I like the twin headlights , but I prefer the pipes that kick up in line with the frame rail . Suede seat is a classy touch .

The Bug

So much to like about this bike . What is that headlight ? Love the way it`s tucked in with the stock fork covers .

Red Max

Worth a look ...

http://www.redmaxspeedshop.com/flattrack.html

A Little Fur Q.

The Same But Different ...again

Don`t know which paintjob came first , but I like `em both .
Reverse scallops pic pinched from here ...

http://4qconditioning.blogspot.com/

The Same , but different....

Small case unit Trumps , hardtailed for a purpose .

Folkstone , the Wind , the Jooks , the Stars .

Took a little trip up into Kent last night , to see my mates the Royal Stars do a gig with the Jooks of Kent .
Halfway there , I started to think it wasn`t to be . Felt like gale force winds and driving rain were trying to blow us right back across Romney Marshes .
We struggled on and I have to say it was worth the trip. Good music , great people , what more could you ask for ?
Managed to finally meet up with Chris , Scarlett and Tim , who , aside from being the Jooks of Kent , are the driving force behind the Dirty Bobbers forum (see link bar ). Great band , great people .
Note to self , don`t go out and not drink , you fucking hate it , make Jelly Ellis drive next time .

King of the Hill.

K.I.S.S.

Simple , well proportioned bikes always do it for me .

Sprunghubs ~ Hardtales.

Friend of the blog , Rowan , has started his own blog .
Unlike me , he actually knows what he`s talking about .

http://sprunghubsnhardtales.blogspot.com/

Coffee pot Carb Accessory

Has anyone out there seen one of these floatbowl extensions for a chopped Monobloc before ?
I`d love to know who manufactured them .

Whatever happened to....

Anyone know if this ever got finished ?

Wayback Machine

Proper Chopper

Terrier and the Ton Ten

I keep thinking about getting one of these 150cc singles .
I like the look and think they`d make a nice little town bike .

TR5

Built by James Dean ....allegedly .

`Oi Burnside , shut it !`

New Sideburn mag`s out , you ordered yours yet ?

http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/

Barn Job

One of the first crappy jobs I had after I left school was working in a factory making commercial catering equipment . Like most manufacturing jobs , it was tedious to the extreme . The only plus point was , I had a nice sideline getting mine and my mates bike parts polished and chromed , the plating was much better quality than the stuff you got on off the shelf parts . They also had a huge machine shop , with a lot of engineers who would do `homers `.
This was around the time when the craze for buying Oast Houses was in full swing . Builders would buy up farm buildings cheaply , do them up a little and sell at a massive profit . One of the draughtsmen from the factory drawing office bought such a property and I can remember him coming into work saying he had found an old bike in one of the untouched outhouses on the property.
Sure enough , a few months later , he rode into the factory car park on a freshly restored Panther sloper . I can still remember the lazy beat of the engine , the smell of the thing and just how fucking cool it was .
Anyway , here`s some more from my mate Rowan . In the pictures , we see a nice little plunger BSA , which Rowan acquired from a farmer for a very modest sum . The farmer even lent him a lawnmower fuel tank and temporary seat padding . After a little tinkering with the carb , he was able to ride the thing home !

First and Foremost

What Lies Beneath

Ever wondered what`s under all that filler on the raked Triumph frame your going to build a bike around one day ?
Wonder no more , we have our 1970`s correspondant Rowan to fill in the blanks for us . Thanks Rowan .

The Grapevine

This bike has been a big favourite of mine since I first saw it.
I don`t know if it`s the `just so` rake or the neat little oil tank but it just hangs so nicely.

500cc unit Triumph , light , fast , fun.

Faster Pussycat ,Faster.

I don`t know about art but...

While I was looking for my old Irvin jacket , I came across this old leather jacket . Aside from being pleasantly surprised it still fits me (just!), I`d really forgotten how good the artwork on the back was.

It was painted back in `91 by my friend Jelly , he did it all with an airbrush from a poster I had found.

Nice thing is , he`s still at it .
Take a look at this Series 2 Lambretta he did recently.

Thunderbirds are Go!

Nice double feature from AWoL magazine in`92 , featuring two 6Ts in very different styles .

Oz`s bike (the rigid chopper ) looks like it may be an older build , which has been given a makeover in the smooth and chunky late eighties style.
The pre unit Triumph motor in the stretched and raked BSA frame is classic English chopper material .

Neil`s orange Streetracker is a total contrast .I could live without the rearsets , but otherwise this is a great Bitza hooligan machine .
Love the seat unit and that`s a great colour for a bike like this .

I`d have to change a heap of stuff on Oz`s bike if it was mine , but back in`92 mag wheels and psuedo HD styling were very much `in`.


Thunderbirds look great in any build style.
I think Ginge ( who gets mentioned in the first line of the article) might be the same bloke who built the 45" in a BSA previously featured here.

WWII Jacket

Dug this old `Irvin` jacket out of the loft today . I hate selling anything vintage , `cos you`ll never find another one , but I`m probably putting this on eBay this week .
Contact me (my e,mail addy is on here somewhere) if you want to own a piece of history.

1951 TR5 Trophy

The TR5 shares many common parts with the Side Valve TRW , which probably makes it one of the most `fake~able` high value vintage Triumphs .
Special short wheelbase frame , 20" front wheel and that beautiful tank .
The engine is mainly Speed Twin but with the alloy head and block as used on the GP model.
I love the shorty rear mudguard and the lovely (not shown in pic)high level siamesed pipe.