Whats it all about ?????

Over 30 years of buying, breaking, building, cutting, welding, riding and selling greasy old mo'sickles. Bare bones bikes from the middle of nowhere!

Thursday, 26 January 2012

More Scottish Indian builders

I was down country at the weekend at a trade fair, I managed to get Sunday off and meet up with some other Indian builders in Central Scotland.

Neil Grieve's Nordian is a stunner, 84 cubic inches of Chief motor squeezed into a wideline featherbed frame, you can read Neil's build story here on the Virtual Indian



Neil has got a 640 Bonneville Sport Scout on the bench, he hopes to have it on the road this year, I cant wait to see it finished!


Next we headed over to see Willie in Falkirk, Willie bought a 1925 Scout motor and transmission from me a couple of years ago.. he's been busy gathering parts to build a wall bike, he has also picked up a 101 wall bike basket case, along with his 741 bobber and his son Scott's three Papooses they have their shed's full!








Tuesday, 24 January 2012

Paypal Scammers

Ive had quite a few paypal transactions over the last 10 years, i use it through ebay and for part sales from the blog or just for deals with mates, its quick easy and relatively cheap.

At the weekend i got this email about my Model T

"Hi,Do you still have it for sale? i will like to make an offer of the exactly amount you want to sell it,payment will be made through paypal and i will arrange for the pick up as well. Cheers, Andrew."

I emailed the fella back told him that i would prefer either cash on collection or bank transfer before collection, but didnt accept hi value transactions via paypal due to fees etc

I got a long winded reply saying that he was offshore and was buying the "item" for his son's birthday and paypal was the only way he could do the deal..... alarm bells ..... Pretty much the same woording and story we got in an email from a bogus online buyer trying to buy a £950 gold pendant from our shop (dayjob) using paypal

Sellers beware, paypal says the following in there terms

UNAUTHORISED PAYMENTS
If a fraudster gets hold of the details of a PayPal account (possibly because the account holder has fallen victim to a phishing email), it’s possible that you could receive an unauthorised payment.

DONT GET SCAMMED !


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Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Blown away by this guy's pictures

this 101 racer is just perfect.... the shot is stunning

check out more here

Knobbly rubber goodness

18 quid for a lightly used road legal 120x18 enduro tyre,,,

i changed to a 18" rim when i rebuilt the wheel .......... ebay has its uses! 8o)


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I picked up this nicely beaten up ally tank

Tried it for size on ol Snorton this morning, could sit a bit lower but, its the right sorta shape

Monday, 16 January 2012

Strathbran with Ice




Brrrrr!!!!!!!   Think I'll leave the bikes in hibernation for a while yet!

Sunday, 15 January 2012

New bars

Treated the beastie to a set of Renthals and shorty ally levers




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Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Using the Speedshop's wooden anvil

To drift out the wheel bearings and distance piece








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More little jobs on Snorton


Opened up the gearbox casing cos the kicker wasn't returning, found that the spring had broken the tang where it locates in the hole in the inner casting... got a spare spring so no big deal... apart from the worn "ramps" either side of the hole. I'll need to build them up and redrill the hole.


on to the front wheel, which needs a bit of modification, its a BSA single sided hub that had been modified  by someone in the past to take a Norton type wheel spindle, it'll need to modded again to take the narrower 14mm one that fits the Ceriani fork.


Monday, 9 January 2012

Forks fit

Tried the Ceriani front on Snorton, good fit, the BSA front wheel will need a new spindle tube and spacers but otherwise its a goer



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When the cat's away

The mouse's bring their Norton in from the cold



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Saturday, 7 January 2012

Ive been after one of these for years......

1974, I was 10 years old. I cant remember which of the bike mags it was in, my older brothers used to get both Bike and Superbike, but there was a big colour pic of the new US export only Triumph TR5mx Avenger. The BSA unit single fans among you will know that its was really a rebadged BSA B50mx and it was just the newly formed NVT group clearing old BSA stock on.......... but to a young Triumph fan with an obsession for big dirt bikes, it was the most beautiful bike I had ever seen!







Nine years later I was hanging around Claymore MC's yard in Bellshill near Glasgow (as I quite often did!) when I saw a little orange bike tucked in behind a couple of Shovel chops, I pulled it out and there she was TUN507J a UK spec TR25SS the smaller 250 version of  my dream bike...it was a friday afternoon, I'd just been paid..... a bit of negotiation with a guy called "Stonewall" and I was the proud owner of the wee orange beastie... It was dragged home in the back of a works van, rattlecan painted black and given a rewire and a top end rebuild


I sold TUN in 1987 just before I got married, promised myself I'd get myself a 500 to replace it... I'm still looking!





Today I was browsing the web and I stumbled across this cool Texan TR5, great story here

There are a couple available is the USA, but the shipping cost would make them too pricey

If you come across a good straight TR5MX for sale in the UK ... get in touch  ;-)


Friday, 6 January 2012

18 years ago.... Rosie's first road trip

Cherbourg...   just off the ferry we're southwest bound for Arachon ... it's 7am and we're wearing sunglasses..... lets hit it!!!
funny how one song can bring back so many memories 8o)


Sunday, 1 January 2012

Two oh one two to do........

 
Get the Ironhead's front brake sorted and get it on the road

Put ol' Snorton back together


Get this motor........


Into this frame


And put some miles onto this!

  And this

Cheers ... and Happy New Year!