A close call

This was on BikerPost on Faceache and judging by the title, it could very well be here in sunny south Texas, land of idiot drivers.

Hopefully the cut-n-paste thing worked here, if not check it out yerselves.

http://www.bikerspost.com/video/close-call-on-hwy-281-with-car-and-bike

Then and now...so far

Not too much work has been done on Vicky other than the gathering of parts.

However it was decided that a dry fit was in order to show that even though much work needs to be done on the old girl, the end result will be worth it.

This is Vicky as she was many moons ago

And here's how she looked up on the bench with seat from the Starfire, tank and complete exhaust on her

Even with a dry fit like this, she's starting to look like a motorcycle instead of a rusty old nail as in the first picture.

If Bodger's luck (and money) hold out, pretty soon the parts will all be had and actual work can be started.

Keeping the fingers crossed 'til then......

South Texas Motorcycle Show.....

....or Exhibition or whatever they called it.

Over the past few years the above mentioned has been held annually to display and show off motorcycles and associated trinkets and baubles.

Bodger attended once several years back with his youngest sprog. The show itself wasn't to bad considering that at the time it was still in it's infancy then.

That particular day didn't start well as Bodger was stopped by the local Sherriffs patrol while driving 55mph down a road that one or two other cars on it at the time. The crime against humanity was that the 55mph was in excess of the 30mph that was actually posted for that bit of road.

But that didn't put a dampers on the days festivities as we got to the show and before entering, had a gander at some of the bikes parked outside.

No Britissh bikes other than maybe a Hinckley Triumph though there were the usual suspects of crotch rockets and Milwaukee's best. There was one of those Honda 1500 Goldwing things and then an ancient looking Honda 1000 Goldwing from the 70s.

Inside vendors were set up selling and displaying all that was motorcycle related. For the most part it didn't look to bad.

Fast forward to yesterday when Bodger and Teri attended. Due to this show always being on days Bodger has to actually work for a living, Saturdays, and there's not much in the way of publicity, it largely goes un-noticed by Bodger each year.

But this time Teri mentioned it on Saturday night so we made plans tpo go have a look see on Sunday.

What a difference a few years makes. After paying the price of admittence, we were greeted with a sight of motor vehicles of the four wheeled type more than anything else.

This event has transformed from motorcycles only to an "Autorama" with more cars/trucks on display than motorcycles.

What motorcycles that were there were mainly V-twins, mainly HDs. The swap meet/autojumble was tiny, the vendors were selling trinkets to give riders more "street cred" and some were no where even motorcycle related. I mean, what business are player pianos being flogged at a show such as this????

Outside there was a "trick" riding diplay to entertain the masses. Luckily we couldn't see it to well and as Teri isn't to fond of motorcycles, it was just as well. Even though she thinks they are dangerous, she dosn't lecture or nag, but seeing the trick riding would reinforce that view.

After attending yesterday, Bodger has given this some serious consideration and has come to the conclusion that future attendance isn't do-able.

If it was just motorcycles maybe, but to have cars/trucks, player pianos and other such things is a bit much.

Future spring happenings

Now that the warmer weather is coming about, things in the classic bike world are just a stirring.

The launch of the new Cub and Terrier magazine is at hand with the very first, as in the first, issue hitting the presses and out for mass distribution next month those of you sitting on the fence dithering whether to get a subscription should dither no longer....subscribe. Go to GBC's blog for more details, the link is on the right side of this page somewheres.

The annual New Ulm Rallye in New Ulm (where else?) will be held in late May. Each time Bodger attends this, there's always something new to see whether it's a Norton Interpol or a wee Indian dirt bike or a beautiful looking Rocket 3. There's always something there to see or to be got, even some Cubs that need some attention to them or mayby even a new home!

On the home front, puzzle pieces for the heaps are still coming in. Latest purchases have been an oil pump and the right chainguard needed for "Vicky". By right I mean one with the correct fittings as it seems that there were slight changes made in some model years and the fittings on the guard and corresponding swing arm mounts are different from one year to another.

Also a muffler/silencer with heatshield and the fittings has just been got from eBay along with a seat cover and an oil union pipe thing that goes on the bottom of the oil tank so oil lines can go to the motor.

With the warmer weather, an attempt will be made to get "Vicky's" frame and tinware painted and then some work done on the forks so the pile of parts start to slightly resemble a finely crafted British motorcycle.....OK.....at least resemble a motorcycle.

What else is store for the forthcoming warmer months??? Dunno, will have to wait and see I guess. More trips with Teri out to do wine tastings and to buy bottles of vino are in order that's for sure. Might bee able to see some classsics on the road or perhaps another dealer in the old 'uns still in existence like th eone in Brenham.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot.....Mick Walker who was a motorcycle dealer in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire and a motorcycle journalist amongst other things has recently passed away.

Also for those who saw the movie "Waking Ned Devine" (or "Waking Ned" in the UK) and remember the scene with the old boy, David Kelly, riding around starkers on a MZ, he has also passed on. That was a hilarious scene, not soon to be forgotten.

Until then.......tootles!

Road trip

The other day, Sunday, Teri and me went out on a road trip to do some wine tasting and buy a couple of bottles as well.

Day started off by heading East and making a small stop at a service area that has a HUGE store called Buc-ee's. Reminds of a place back East called Stuckey's that had these billboards along the highway saying "50 miles to Stuckey's".

Anyway, after a small pitsop there we got back on the road and headed towards Schulenburg to get some Kolaches which are Czech pastries with a fruit center.
There's also a different type that has a sausage baked in dough, sorta like Pigs-in-blankets. These are both pretty good to eat.

After that it was Northwards towards Bryan/College Station which was our destination.

To get there we had to travel through La Grange which is a small town out in the country and was made famous by ZZ Top and a movie.

Famous I hear you ask and how so??? The answer is that it was the home of the Chicken Ranch, a legal (or at least tolerated) whorehouse which was made famous as I said in the movie "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" and was referred to by ZZ Top in the song "La Grange".

But it was eventually closed done several years back and just last week the Madam who operated it way back then died at age 84.

It was kinda hard to imagine that a small town with a bunch of churches would have a whorehouse in the area, but no telling how things were at the time.

Continuing up the road, we eventually made it to Bryan/College Station. Looking at a map we saw that the winery we was going to was on a road that branched off a main road there in Bryan so we took it.

However we couldn't seem to find the road at first. We drove along the main road for a bit but couldn't seem to locate the other one. But, I did spy an old building that had a "Triumph" sign on it, a Meriden Triumph sign no less and there appeared to be some bikes locked up in an outdoor area alongside.

But as we were looking for the road we needed and as we just happend to see this old bike shop by chance, Bodger didn't get a chance to stop and take a picture or check anything out. Plus as it was Sunday, it would've been closed anyway.

It transpired the reason we couldn't find our road was that we were on the wrong road. We were on Business Highway 6 and needed Highway 6.

So after a few minutes we got back on track and got to the winery we were heaed to.

It was a nice looking place but VERY posh. To take part in a birthday brunch being held for the owner and his son who have birthdays this month, punters were being charged $50/head. Granted this was a posh place and all, but $50 each for brunch???? We opted for sandwiches which we good but IMO still a bit steep at $10 a head.

After that we sampled some wine and bought a couple of bottle before we left to hit another winery in the area. We found this one with no problem and did the same....tasted and bought before we heaed off to locate a third on our list.

Seems that there's a sick joke going on in Bryan that only Teri and me were part of; we were looking at the roadmap and following it as best we could. We had to follow this one road North but the signs I swear were saying South.

Then this other road that we needed seemed to go around in circles and it wasn't a roundabout. After a bit we decided that we had had enough of this cruel country joke on us city slickers and headed back towards the comforts of home.

But first a stop back in Schulenburg to eat and at Buc-ee's to get more Kolaches and some fudge.

As there's a couple of other wineries in that area, a further trip out that way is warranted. And with that, if at all possible, a stop at the old Triumph dealer to get some pics and have a poke about.

Dealers decals

I ran across a small blurb in an old issue of one of the classic bike fish wraps and checked out the website to see if it may be of interest and it was.

Seeing how it looks like posting links may have changed a little here in Bloggerland, guess ya have to type it in now instead of clicking on a linky, but here it is.

"http://dealersdecals.co.uk"

There were several recognizable names in there such as Gus Kuhn, Eddie Dow, Comerfords, Kings, Jack Lilly plus a few from the US as well.

Anyways, back to the plot, seems that "Dealers Decals" either has these in stock or can make them on order as well as possibly make custom ones from a design. Unfortunately, the site doesn't have anything in the way of wordage to say anything of capabilities.

Guess the way would be to e-mail them and find out.

If they can make them to order, I'm thinking about getting a couple made for "Vicky" and "Amelia". The ones I'm thinking are of a dealer in Brechin, Scotland by the name of John Duncan and Sons.

I believe SFB posted a picture of there decal on a forum once and I liked the design. They were the dealers that originally sold her new BSA B25 Starfire and before it was crafted into a TriBSA 350, but not to SFB.

So I figure that if they were BSA dealers, what better than to have dealer decals from a Scottish BSA dealer adorn two BSAs owned by a person of Scottish descent.

I'll try the picture linky thing for the Duncan picture, hopefully it'll work

Maybe one of the Scottish readers can tell Bodger if John Duncan and Sons of Brechin is still in business or not.