Oh, fork it!!!!!

Today I became the pround new owner, courtesy of eBay, a set of forks for "Vicky". For that honor, I get a set of forks that just need a little TLC instead of major surgery....and this is always a good thing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130552349335&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWNX%3AIT


The chase parts still continues though........






*That was a pretty catchy title ya gotta admit........what....noooo? Jeez, not even a courtesy chuckle....

Nothing to do with motorcycles, bodging or ale

Bit of a disappointment I know, but it's true.....

For the past few days, Bodger has not been doing the usual routine at the Postal salt mines, but instead, has been in a three day class being taught and certified....no....not that type of certified....on how to be a "Facilitator" which is just a posh name for instructor or teacher.

Me myself along with two other mailmen types, a window clerk (the one in the Post Office you buy stamps from) and a office supervisor are being trained on how to teach/instruct classes. Those latter two for office type jobs, and us other three to be.....wait for it......Driver Safety Instructors!!!!!!!!

Yes, yes, we will instruct new people on the proper, Postal, way of driving Postal vehicles in the delivery of the mail which must get through no matter what.

The first day was spent covering basic things such as setting up a classroom, class materials, effective use of time. The next two were spent doing more of the same along with speechifying or actually giving a short presentation to the class on an aspect of the job.

Needless to say, it's easier to spout drivel and gibberish on a blog or a forum than it is to stand in front of people and do it all day long AND keep them awake as well as informed.

But did it I did and I am happy to say that I was certified (and about time too I hear from some of you) as a "Facilitator."  What's next????

Spending spree....sort of

The past couple of days Bodger went bonkers and spent some hard earned coins on some new toys for the shed.

I still may get the old workbench at a later date, but in the meantime a necessity was needed in the form of one of those stands that bolts onto the bench and a motor is secured into it.

Told it might be a good idea to have that for taking "Vicky's" motor apart. Sure it can be sat on the bench and flop around like a bit of Icelandic cod on the deck of a fishing boat.....or.........it could be held nice and secure so meaningful work can be done to it.

Option #2 seemed logical to me.

Also got one of those fork sealer holder tool things used to tighten and untighten fork seals in the forks. Would be a lot easier to do an assembly of the forks with that than to use the always popular lump hammer/long, skinny bar approach favored by most hamfisted oiks of years gone by.

Also got the wee cover that goes onto "Vicky's" head to check the tappets, not to forget one of Roy Bacon's works on BSAs. And lastly, for those many hours spent in the shed, a BSA cup to have a cuppa tea in or even an adult type drink providing there's any in the bottle.

So, it's been a productive and destructive past few days; productive: getting these trinkets. destructive: having to empty the coffers to pay for it all!

And now for something completely different

Over on Kawa's blog he featured two sprint or drag bikes, Nero and Super Nero, both run by the late George Brown. If memory serves me, these were both Vincent Comet singles that had some serious tuning work done on them. I'm not sure of the details, but I just recently read an article on them and there's info in a link via the title on Kawa's blog. See them at the bottom of the page.

Here are a couple of others that are living in the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, Birminham, UK.

. This one is the Hogslayer run by TC Christianson. It's a twin engined Norton drag bike.

Texas Ceegar, a Triumph powered streamliner that was run at Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. This set a speed record and the folks in charge at Triumph at the time were so impressed that they named this model....wait for it....Bonneville...... This was heavily damaged during the fire at the NMM a few years back and fully restored by Big D Cycles in Dallas. 

This one I didn't get the info on while at the NMM, but it's interesting as hell. There's something about it being thrust powered is all I know so far. 

These two are the ones described at the beginning of the blog, Nero and Super Nero.

For more info on any of these, I'm sure Google has something there to read or even more pictures.

Putting some of the puzzle together

Even though it's a dry run to see how it's gonna look, I put some of the puzzle pieces together.

So far, not to bad considering...here have a look for yourselves. Not looking to shabby though of course when it's completely done it'll look way better than this.....well let's hope so anyway eh?

Tank update

Got the tank for "Vicky" yesterday.

In really good shape considering the bondo that was used on it. One area has a small indentation in the bondo...thinking not enough was put on and after it dried there was some shrinkage along with the sanding.

So I think a wee bit more bondo, just enough to build it up, let it dry and then sand it down to where it's good.

The bare metal I'm thinking will need to be primered and then some of that aluminum paint or if this chrome look paint I've heard about is good, some of that along with the yellow to get it looking the way it needs to.

Then the decals/stickers for the side of the tank and we're set.

At the rate I'm finding and getting parts, I may well be ready to put it all together sometime....let's see....it's 2011 now.......hmmmm....sometime in the next decade.

Seriously, if all goes good, within a year or so I'm hoping. That's if everything goes good. Still have to find those parts first!

So far it hasn't been to bad; I never thought I'd find a tank in good nick and at a good price to boot. Same with the seat. Granted it may cost me to get it redone, but it'll still be cheaper than getting a GOOD NOS seat.

The hunt continues......

Can you buy heritage or credibility?

I was reading the article by Mark Zimmerman in latest issue of CBG about Polaris buying the "Indian" name in order to have some "heritage" for the company.

Normally I read his articles but don't really agree with what he says....just me being contrary to most I guess making me who I am.

Anyway, it seems that Polaris, makers of snowmobiles, ATVs and V twin motorcycles, thinks that with the name "Indian" as part of the group, people will assume they have an aura of respectability, lineage and become a household name much in the same way Harley Davidson or H*nda does.

But that doesn't really mean squat in my opinion. It's how well your product is made, how well your product is known, the way customers are treated or dealt with, etc.

If "Thrash 'em Motorcycles" (me basically and is totally unknown in the motorcycle world apart from my ramblings here) was to buy the name "Greeves" which has an illustrious past,  that wouldn't make me any more famous, respectable or even imply I have a long motorcycling heritage. It just means I've got the scratch to buy something (wish I did) and can now flaunt the name.

So Polaris I think isn't really doing anything special other than acquiring a famous name and cashing in on it.

What are your thoughts oh blog readers???? Answers on a bit of paper sent to: The guy in charge of opinions, Old house down the lane, Hinton-in-the Hedges, Northants, UK or just leave a comment here as always.

The all elusive tank

As some may know, finding a fuel tank is hard as all get out......it's easier to find a chicken with lips than it is an unmolested or undamaged tank for a 441.

If you do, the prices asked for them are out of this world. They're so high up there, the Space Shuttle couldn't get to those heights.

OK, OK, exaggerated I know, but said to prove a point which is that to find a good 'un, you're going to pay for the privilege of owning it.

Which brings Bodger to the point of this post.....I got myself one off eBay and though it's a wee bit more than I wanted to pay, I decided Sod it!!!! I 'm 'aving it.

Now this isn't exactly a beauty judging by the piccies, but with the right attention, it will fit the bill.

So without further adieu (that's French by the way), here's some pics of this beastie:

As can be seen, there have been some dents added as per usual by some hamfisted twit and those, according to the sales write-up, were given the time honored bondo treatment and then several coats of paint.

From what the seller said, he stripped it all down to what is now seen, base metal and bondo. He says that he checked into having it plated but it would've been to costly.

So what is to be done to cover the bondo repairs and make this look like a tank and not something that got by-passed at the body shop?

I'm thinking a good primer coating following by some sort of silver/aluminum paint top coat and then the front part of the tank done in the yellow associated with 441VS tanks. May just do the job I'm thinking. Won't pass scrutiny of rivet counters, but then again, they have no lives and are to be pitied.

So, that will be another thing that Bodger gets to experiment on in order to learn the fine art of painting with a spray gun and compressor. Damn and botheration, now a compressor needs to be purchased.

The cost for this was less than $200 with shipping....a little more than I wanted, but less than some I've seen on eBay.

Happy Birthday.....

......to us!!!!!!

Today is July 4th and it's the 235th anniversary of independence from Great Britain....or....our birthday.

Today people will be having BBQs, drinking beer, having games, etc to celebrate this once a year event. And at night, the places that allow such festivities will be having fireworks displays such as these:

But not in the area where Bodger lives. Seems that this area gets extremely dry due to the heat and lack of rain. So no fireworks displays at all this year. At all not even in the city or on the military bases
where things can be controlled.

So, if you want to see fireworks, and not the type that occur when you come stumbling in from the boozer hours after it's closed, the pics above will have to do ya.

In a few hours Bodger is going to go get a can or two of what is referred to here as beer and have a quiet day enjoying the day off, rearranging the garage and relaxing before heading back to the postal salt mines the morrow.

So.......................HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here they is

The they being piccies of the newish home of Thrash 'em Motorcycles.

As you can see, there are some features that the old digs lacked such as the cupboards for stashing parts in, the hangy peg things to hang stuff from as well as the shelf that's useful to put things such as a knackered old seat on.

If you clicky on the pics, they should inbiggerate to a bigger size.

Things still need to be put in their proper place so that needs to get done. But by and large the new place ain't half bad, though it could do with some decent lighting.

If you'll notice, there's a cabinet above the bench....that opens up for some good tool storage...I'm thinking for over-sized things such as valve spring or piston ring compressors...things like that.

For the eagle-eyed, an item of great importance is amongst the clutter..... 

But as always, the shed is always in need of tidying up and it will be got to.....when it cools down enough.

Until the next....whenever that might be....tonight?....tomorrow?....who knows?....certainly not me!