Snorton hits the beach

Lightened flywheels!!!

Blatantly halfinched from the Vintagent

89cu" Chout build added to CBA

Indian Chout Breeders Association

BlackBob goes forth

Well, that pretty much brings the story up to date, BB comes out to play most weekends, sometimes gets used for the run up to work at Achnasheen and gets taken to the Loch Ness run and sometimes the Helmsdale Run (both organised by the Highland CMCC) Always ridden hard and fast, always draws a crowd when its parked up, gets mixed reactions from the public, everything from thumbs up to shaked fists (that always cracks me up!)

So what next, down the line, sometime I want to put together a stroker motor, I read about a fella in Oz who put together a 940cc bonnie motor using a Norton Commando crank in T140 cases, but that'll have to wait til Ive finished all the Indian projects!

One thing's for sure, BlackBob aint for sale!

BlackBob part 5

So 2007 came n went with a succession of modern bikes that never quite filled the gap, I got sent a pic that by a mate who'd seen BB down at a bike show in Aldershot.

Tail end of the year I got a call from Adam, he'd decided to sell BB, would I be interested?
So by selling a few Indian spares and the modern bike of the moment, I rustled up the asking price (less than he'd paid) I sorted out a man wiv a van to bring the beastie north and a week later BB was back in the lockup.
Adam had made some minor changes, the pipes were shorter and now had a kick up at the rear, which I liked, but they needed something - so I wrapped them! He'd changed the speedway bars for a narrower set and had machined up some low risers, otherwise BB was pretty much the same bike to look at.

The motor wasn't the same tho........... it started fine and would tick over, but all through the midrange there was a stuttering misfire, tried the Mag, new condenser, new coil, still the same!

Over the winter the top end got stripped down and checked over, I decided to fit a Morgo 750cc big bore kit, and a Cobb Racing sidedraft Mikuni kit from the states. These fitted early Summer 2008 BB was back on the road, the Mikuni wasnt quite running right, so I took it along to Highland MC Dyno's, just along the road from me and they got it running pretty sweet. Still a bit iffy when cold but once warmed up the motor pulls strong.

BlackBob part 4

2007 wasnt a great year! I'd had a whole lot of phonecalls from a guy called Adam down in Hampshire who really wanted to buy BlackBob, pretty much asking me to name my price, at first the answer was a definate NO! but as the winter months kicked in and the bills kept coming I was kinda getting forced towards selling him the bike. I was gathering the parts for the Stroker Scout build at this time and something had to go!
In a moment of madness, I called Adam and told him a price, he agreed (didnt expect that!) and early 2007 I met him at Abindon Services and we did the deal, a wad of cash and the remains ofthe ex Chris Knibbs T140 Flattracker came north with me, and BlackBob went south with Adam - I was gutted!

BlackBob part 3

2006 Some minor changes, I managed to persuade Pete to part with the open primary cover that he had kept hold of, coulldnt afford the ARD mag set up but to be honest I kinda like the way the Hunt hangs out there, EVERYONE asks what happens if I crash the bike on that side???!!!! dunno why, I suppose it must look kinda vulnerabloe, but at the end of the day if you bin a bike its gonna need fixed innit!

BlackBob part 2

I rode BlackBob like that all summer 2004, straight thru hi level legburner pipes, enclosed chain primary, standard T140 brakes front and rear and the forks that came with the rolling chassis which were T140 with cut down springs to lower the front end.
Over the winter months I pulled it all apart again, forks got rebuilt with new stanchions seals and

Progressive springs which lifted the front end by about 2", calipers got swapped for nice new lightweight Grimeca alloy ones with race spec pads. A change of sprockets to give better gearing to suit the type of riding up here in the middle of nowhere. Then some trick bits - SRM alloy clutch plate, race clutch, PSP hydraulic clutch kit and Magura master cylinders for both clutch and brakes, braided stainless hoses for both. While the primary was open I fitted a Hayward belt drive.

Back on the road for spring 2005 and what a difference, great handling, gearing lets the bike pull cleanly to well over the ton, clutch is light and positive, brakes are just excellent!

Round about this time I picked up a used Jo Hunt Magneto, so the boyer got stripped off along with the alternator and now BlackBob was completely Lucas free 8-)

The difference in the motor having the alternator removed was really impressive just picks up and revs so much better.

BlackBob part 1

Pete Stansfield has tol the story so far on his Eat the Rich blog, check out T120 parts 1-4, so I'd better take up the story. Spring 2004, Ive got two projects on the go, (whaddya mean only 2???) a CCM?BSA hybrid and a rigid pre unit bonnie chop, so I'm trawling ebay for bobber junk. Now that was back in 2004, not many folks had a clue wot a bobber was, type the word "bobber" into ebay search now and you'll get your pick of everthing from T shirts n stickers to Honda Fireblades wi apehangers, back in 2004 you got about 10 items!
Anyway up comes a listing for a T120 bobber rolling chassis, down in deepest Yorkshire, I recognised it from pics I'd seen in BSH of Pete's T120 and was going to have it one way or another. Cut a short story shorter, the chassis, tank, wheels and tractor style seat arrived on my 40th birthday on a pallet, within about an hour I had the rolling chassis built up on a bench in the shop part of the petrol station that I ran at the time. Just one minor detail, I didnt have a motor for it!
On the phone to all the dealers I knew, nothing, on ebay, nothing, more phonecalls more leads and a couple of false starts later I got my hands on a fully rebuilt TR6P single carb 650cc motor, built up by a fella ready to go in a Rickman Metisse chassis to go pre 65 Scambling, but never used. All new parts inside, new carb and good to go!
The motor was fitted up, sparks were sorted out with a Boyer black box and micro digital ignition kit. Lights, who needs lights???
So a couple of months after it arrived from Petes, its on the road, christened BlackBob and getting a good shakedown at the Loch Ness Run.

Part 2 to follow

Snorton 2

didnt like the rear muddie so I cut 6" out at the front and rotated it forward, then moved the number plate back to end of guard, got a couple of seat mounts to fabricate then I'm going to make up a new central oil tank to replace the MASSIVE standard one.

Snorton gets a bit of a makeover............

Picked up a nice period fiberglass comp tank on Ebay last week, so I set to this afternoon and pulled the old heavy and leaky tank off the Norton, temp fitted with some foam underneath til I get the final position sorted and backed up with a Wassell single scrambler seat, think I might attack the rear muddie next!

Backyard Casting

I used to do a bit of casting as part of my "day job" in our family run jewellery workshop. Mainly using silver and gold I used a delft clay and some aluminium flasks to produce one off pieces that could be finished off by hand. I had some success with this process and found that it was great for reproducing detailed reproductions of existing pieces. The downsides of the method for producing bike related parts were mainly that you couldnt melt enough metal to pour the size of pieces I would want without having some sort of forge to get the metal (aluminium usuall) to 1340 deg to pour it successfully, and the 4" flasks were quite limiting!

I have been looking at the possibility of casting some of the hard to find pieces I need/want for my Indian projects, and found a couple of really informative sites

Lanstrom's Foundry Where the Warpath Indian cases are cast - awesome!

Backyard Metal Casting some great how to's and a whole lotta source info here


So I'm off into town on monday to buy me some fire cement and fireclay bricks! I'm gonna build me a forge ;-)

Bridge

A man was riding his Indian along a California beach when suddenly the sky cleared above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said,

'Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.'

The biker pulled over and said, 'Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.'

The Lord said, 'Your request is materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports required reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly help mankind.'

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, 'Lord, I wish that I and all men could understand women; I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, why she snaps and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.'

The Lord replied, 'You want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?'

Tim's TriBSA 3 and a bit.........

Moving on toi the motor and gearbox, the clutch seemed to be disengaged when kicking the motor over there was no resistance, so last night I pulled the primary cover off and found that there were no plates or springs in the clutch basket. This morning I had a rummage in the shed and found a Hayward belt drive alloy clutch basket c/w a full 4 spring clutch assembly, I temporarily nicked the plates, springs and pressure plate and fitted them up, motor spins quite freely on the kickstart now so at least its not seized up.
I'm going to take the single chain primary set up off and keep it for the Indian Junior Scout, which will be running a Triumph 4 speed box. I'll get the right size of belt from Tony H and fit the belt drive kit with an alloy pressure plate to the TriBSA.

Tim's TriBSA 3

A good day today, had a couple of hours down in the lockup, stripped the B40 of its front end, swing arm and wheels. Set the TriBSA up on the stand and pulled the Yamaha back wheel off and put it in the Ebay pile. Fitted the Montesa rear wheel in the BSA swingarm, the spindle is too narrow so I'll have to take a run over to my mate Colin's workshop where I keep my lathe and turn ap a couple of adapters and a spacer. The Ceriani front end c/w matching front Montesa wheel was an easy swap I will need to make up a 3/4" spacer to take up the extra spindle length in the yokes but other than that the jobs a goodun!