Wednesday, October 26, 2011

More from Luckenbach

Here's a few more for Luckenbach that you may like:
An ISO I think, not really sure other than it's Italian
The trials course


 
An Italian hairdryer, really nice looking though

Nice Triumph with high level pipes



Gorgeous little Honda 350/4 being raffled

Tried to get the guy with the Hawaiian tourist shirt on here, but it was taking so long to load, thinking the program couldn't handle all that color at one time. I know my eyes couldn't.




Sunday, October 23, 2011

Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas.....








......to go to the Annual Harvest Classic show.

This is a show that's been held annually for the past few years and this was the first time Bodger has visited.

It's held in the quaint little town(?) of Luckenbach which has a population on a normal day of about....3. At night or on the weekends it gets larger and more crowded due to the live bands that play there in the dance hall.

Unlike most places that will throw bricks at you or give you dirty looks just because, Luckenbach is motorcycle friendly. They even have reserved parking just for motorcycles under a shade tree:





Anyway, back to the plot, if there ever was one......

As this is a 1 1/2 day event, people can start camping overnight on Friday and the bulk of the show is on Saturday, it's best to get up there early on Saturday morning coz that's when the trials competition showing begins. As Bodger has mentioned in a posting way back when, trials on these old hacks is something of interest and to actually see it done would be a good thing. But the only old hacks were a Bultaco, a Montessa and an Ossa, the rest are those newfangled trials machines that are so lightweight they can be bounced around, but you can't sit in the blooming things. Oh, and the riders seem to favor multi-colored parrot suits just like the crotch rocket brigade. One old boy was awash with color until I saw he was wearing a Hawaiian tourist shirt, and for some reason it seemed to fit in with the other parrot suits....go figure...



                                                      
                                                        
                                                     



As this whole event is a charity type of do to raise money for the less fortunate or some other good cause, an organized swap meet/jumble isn't in the cards, so there wasn't much chance of finding any pieces for the on-going jigsaw puzzle called Vicky. But there was a show to have bikes judged as well as raffles for odds and sods to help raise money.

The weather favored the show by being a nice fall day. Just the sort to make these so enjoyable even with allergies.

After kicking about for a while, a trip into Fredricksburg was in order. The town is the birthplace of one Chester Nimitz who was an Admiral during WWII in the Pacific War.

There's a museum there which is pretty interesting but as it's in two separate locations and one location has tours at specific times, it was decided to by-pass that and just do some of the touristy things expected of...well...tourists.
The touristy things involved looking in stores and just looking at things in general. I think that there is one thing that might be missed by this time, providing it's held here, Oktoberfest. Well, it is a German town after all and October wouldn't be October in one without Oktoberfest.

Hope you enjoyed these, next show to attend will be at New Ulm in May.




Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A little off beat

Taking a slight break from the painting and sanding of the bits and bobs and running some errands when I came across this in one of the chain bookstores......and yes....I can read goodly!

Feast your eyes on this unbelievable find, thought I think it may be a bit redundant now:



Actually, I just happened to stumble across this and had to take the picture as GBC had shared a similar one by Haynes for the Space Shuttle. I know, I didn't believe that one either and thought it was a big joke until I saw this 'un today.

Depending how motivated Bodger feels will depend on what else is done to the bits and bobs before Saturday rolls around.

That's when Bodger moseys (?) up the road to the tiny burg of Luckenbach, made famous in a song of the same name by Willie Nelson, to attend the annual Harvest Classic show.

Apparently it's been going on for several years but not heard of by muggins here until just recently. There's supposed to be a trials demonstration, raffles of some sort, displays but no selling of parts (on a grand scale, on the sly is OK) along with a live band and Texas style BBQ.....meaning brisket and other vittles.

This will be followed by a trip into Fredricksburg to do touristy things. Fredricksburg is the home of Admiral Chester Nimitz of WWII Naval warfare fame and there's a museum there, along with the usual overpriced touristy stuff. Still, it'll be a good day out before heading back to the salt mines on Monday.

All goes well with the digital camera and the batteries are all charged, the should be a report and pics by deadline Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....oh hell, some day!

Quick edit here: Just in case ya thought I was funning ya, here's a picture of the Haynes Space Shuttle workshop manual, for those who restoring a mere motorcycle isn't enough anymore:

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Technical question time


OK boys and girls, it's time for some mental gymnastics............does anyone know if the muffler/silencer for a late 60s BSA B44 Victor Special has a cut-out on the backside for the right hand shock absorber?
Like shown in the pics below.....






The reason I ask is that of the pics I've seen of these, I've never seen a cutout, plus on top of that, all the pics have been of the front side where the heat shield is screwed on.

There's one for sale and could be mine if this isn't some aborted bodge that will blow up on Bodger like a trick cigar.

Answers as always on a bit of paper behind the loo at the station..... 

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Let the painting begin

Well actually it was some sanding first a few days ago and then today after faffing about, got around to hitting all the parts such as frame, tank, swing arm and pivot (the left footrest bracket on it actually) and a few other odds and sods with some etching primer and then with some grey aerosol primer.

Actually this is supposed to be a super, duper primer and filler all rolled into one neat little package. Supposedly will fill in wee cracks, gouges, what have you while it primes so you don't have to mess about too much with prep work.








Now before we get to far ahead of ourseleves here, for the time being, Bodger is just priming, sanding and getting parts ready for the application of the all important top coat of black enamel.

This is so that there's plenty of time to get the coats of primer sanded and smoothed down as best as can be done with these old arthritic grabbers as well as making sure that more parts of the jigsaw puzzle that is Vicky can be gathered.

Plus there's also the all important aspect of getting the layout for the tank worked out too. Can't be just taping and masking willy-nilly, no sir, need to get the dimensions sussed out right as well as finding the right color yellow to use as well as the shiny portion which is a brushed aluminum.

Also, slightly off topic, but as a tribute to a guy who's brief career was cut short by a fatal accident at Imola I think it was, Bodger managed to score this





to show off on the workbench as well as one on the laptop cover. The chappy was #51, Pat Evans who raced in one of the TransAtlantic Match Races back in the 70s, possibly a couple more.

Looks good I think with the Gus Kuhn, Scottish Saltire, NMM and Radio Caroline stickers......

Friday, October 7, 2011

An observation

When is it that people are going to be held accountable for what they do instead of someone else?

By this I mean, the average person who gets behind the steering wheel of any four wheeled vehicle has basically been given the perfect excuse more or less by the government or any law providers to not be held liable for any death or injury that occurs if the were to hit and/or kill a motorcyclist.

The reason, to me, is that those who make the laws are so intent on any carnage from happening on the roads that they come out with laws to "protect" a motorcyclist and passenger for their own good.

They range from the mandatory use of a helmet to daytime headlights to now in some places the use of Day-Glo vests or jackets.

Even though I don't particularly care to wear a helmet, I do just to be safe due to the number of idiotic and dangerous drivers here, even though it's not required here.

The others I just don't get at all.......if a driver of a car or truck runs into someone who isn't wearing a Day-Glo jacket, he has a built in excuse...."I didn't see him cause he wasn't bright enough!"

What happened to using your EYES??????? Looking and observing is part of driving. It's amazing how somebody can say that but will be driving along and will see a small sign for a sale of some sort, but can somehow NOT SEE a motorcycle approx. 5 feet long with a rider on it that maybe 5 feet high.

Pretty soon, we, as in motorcyclists, will be back to the old ways when cars first came along......a person will have to walk a ways in front and signal with flags and make some sort of noise to let people know they are in the vicinity, along with posting a time table to let them know to the second when.

Make and hold the four wheel driver accountable for not using their peepers like intended....either that or ban them from driving!

Just an observation.............tomorrow, getting messy and dirty with wet-n-dry paper, some water and Vicky's frame and other tinware.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

All I can say is...

.....the weather has FINALLY gotten cooler and it feels like fall has gotten here after somewhere around two-three months of over 100F DAILY!!!!! It wasn't just hot here, it was Africa hot.

This is beautiful weather to be riding in, but unfortunately, Bodgers bits of scrap metal...err....trusty rides....are still in the shed awaiting parts, care and attention.

The hunt for more pieces of the puzzle is an on-going thing, latest acquisition are the headlight mounting brackets needed for Vicky. Trawling through eBay for other parts is a daily thing.

Bodger did manage to get one of the Holy Grails he was looking for, "BSA Singles Restoration" by Roy Bacon. This is one of those books thaat you need to aid in restoring bikes as it has all kinds of "DUI" or Damned Usefull Information stuffed into it such as color schemes, ID numbers, etc.

Anyway, a copy was finally obtained and didn't cost a fortune or kidney like expected as some stupid prices were being paid for the same thing by others in the past.

Seeing how the weather is nice now and Bodger now has his two mobile alarms (Bandit and Smudge the Wonder Dog) back in place, today seemed like a good a day as any to open the doors, fire up the grille and cook some dead meat in the form of  pork ribs with BBQ sauce with some type of fixin' like a baked/roasted spud and baked beans. Maybe even some belly wash in the way of a nice ale would be nice.

After all, what's the point of running the Piston Broke Bar and Grille if ya can't indulge in eating cooked food and drinking ale.

Also, as the weather is getting cooler, thoughts of a big pot of beef stew, navy bean soup or even Scotch Broth may be a good idea.....

Gordon Ramsey....the greasy spoon is up to the challenge......