On to the next!

Check out my all new blog :-) -> Triumph Spitfire Blog!

dinsdag 30 juni 2009

Update

zondag 28 juni 2009

Gallery


The Harley Bantam


'The Bad Element' thanks to The new Cafe (Racer)

B.S.A. - D3

zaterdag 27 juni 2009

working...


dinsdag 23 juni 2009

Super Bantam!



Speedy


never seen the track...

zondag 21 juni 2009

me first bike...


An here's me lookin cute on me groovy first sickle, in about the mid-Sixties. It were a BSA Bantam I bought for a fiver after seein it in a back garden in the village. The bloke even rode it down for me. It had all the road shite on it, but that soon got junked (but what price all those original mudguards and lights and stuff now eh?), 'cept I kept the front 'guard an hacksawed it in half to fit on the back. Then I painted the tank pink and for some reason covered the seat in hessian sacking. It all looks a bit twonky now, but I was only 11. Check the cool turn-ups and sneakers tho...

zaterdag 20 juni 2009

dinsdag 16 juni 2009

Brian Laine

"If your parents want you to be involved with sports and give you a football helmet, they are less than enthused when you fill in the ear-holes and repaint it to convert it to a motorcycle helmet." Brian Laine

zaterdag 13 juni 2009

John Storey

“Suddenly there were battle tanks rolling in and panic everywhere. The Czechs told me that I ought to get out immediately, and I thought that was a good idea. They didn’t know then exactly what was going to happen—or how bad it was likely to get. Nobody did. Only, there wasn’t any petrol to be had. Not at first anyway. But there was a sort of whip round and finally I managed to get my hands on some, and I was hurrying out of there." I liked the Czechs.

Nothing, it seems, fazes him.

He was arrested in Yugoslavia; had his tools pinched in Paris; has had to deal with sudden engine lock-ups; mad truck drivers; the Russian army; a few spills; and no end of seemingly mindless international bureaucracy. John's been around.


"Moreover, he’s got his eye on Europe again. There are still roads to travel, and there’s still life left in Project 9. And there are still places he hasn’t seen.

Not many, mind. Just some."


For more info Sump Publishing!

vrijdag 12 juni 2009

Christmas!!!

woensdag 10 juni 2009

Overland to Egypt!


My love of classic motorcycles began in 1985 when I bought a 1963 Royal Enfield Crusader Sport. Since then I have been the owner of a plethora of different Royal Enfield models as well as a couple of Triumphs, an AJS and a 1957 mist green BSA D1 Bantam.

I bought that Bantam, 66 TNU, in 1996. For the following 3 years I used it as my regular transport around the hilly streets of my home in Wellington, New Zealand. It proved to be an ideal machine for whizzing around the city and its surrounding twisty harbour roads.

I shipped the bike to the UK when I moved here in 1999, but struggled to use it around Manchester, where the traffic was much faster and far less accommodating than in New Zealand. I regretfully sold it in 2005.

BUT!

Following on from his previous classic motorcycle adventure, Overland To India on a 1953 500cc Royal Enfield, author Gordon G. May aims to ride a humble 1952 BSA Bantam to the Giza pyramids in Egypt.

His route will cross the Alps, then track down the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, Albania and Greece. A ferry from Athens to Turkey via Rhodes will see the plucky little two-stroker onto the second half of its journey, travelling through Syria, Jordan and finally crossing Egypt's Sinai desert.

Check back regularly for additional information on the bike, including details of the modifications being made for the ride, and also for a blog that Gordon will write en route. The journey will commence mid-August 2009

dinsdag 9 juni 2009

maandag 8 juni 2009

You're never alone when you ride a Bantam, allegedly!

A lot of folk like BSA's Bantam. I've owned a few over the years (most of them a very long way off) but they are too small for a gent of my size to be comfortable on. However, for everyone else they have loads of advantages, like they're cheap to buy, cheap to run, and are well served in the spares arena. They're everso easy to work on, and have a mighty fan base, too. You're never alone when you ride a Bantam, allegedly!

And here was a decent enough array of BSA strokery; half a dozen Bantams from £300 to £600. A Bantam for Everyman, almost, ranging from the humble workers right through to the late sporty variant nearest the camera. They were all described as being in 'ride-away-today' condition, and man who had them was John Bull,

zondag 7 juni 2009

Bsa Bantam Major

"We are in Waikarie on the Murray River - an irrigated fruit growing region. Being a long weekend here the local machinery preservation group had a display of restored engines and tractors.

The bike was an unexpected surprise and reminded me of my (partly) misspent youth." Bilzmale

vrijdag 5 juni 2009

Sammy Miller Museum Two Stroke Day


Without doubt, the most bizarre bike of the day, and one which I would have given anything to have a blast on, was a V-twin Bantam! The bike has been around for a while and was built as a sprinter by using two Bantam motors welded together in tandem, driving via the rear engine's original gearbox. There were plenty of people scratching their heads and asking 'how?' -- but the big question is 'why?' I never did find out the answer but I'm so glad there are still engineers around who are eccentric enough to embark on projects like this. The bike was fired up and Sammy took no time at all to grab the chance of a quick blast around the car park. Great stuff!

dinsdag 2 juni 2009

Trail