Some recent shots…

Blimey this year is running too fast, next week will be mid summer, and then it is all downhill to Christmas! and the older I get the less I enjoy winter. So some recent pictures from  Italian day.

Moto Guzzi V7 Sport

Serious Carbs

Ducati 750 Sport

Norton, November 1964…

Now I would love one of these Norton Scrambler models, just too cool.

Norton 750 Scrambler

Clocks Back Rally…

I headed out to the Moto Guzzi clocks back rally all on me lonesome. So being a Moto Guzzi rally, I grabbed the Triumph Bonnie SE, loaded it it up with my camping stuff in the warmth of an autumn Friday, and headed out with a loose plan to be at Upton upon Severn, eighty or so miles west of me, by lunch time, and a date with with a traditional British lunch in the shape of a steamed, steak and kidney pudding! For I had found out that hidden in the backstreets of Upton was the world famous Pudding Shop & cafe.

Eighty country lane miles later, and I was pulled up outside that very purveyor of savoury goodness, and they were open for lunch…

The Pudding Shop

 

Steamed Steak and Kidney pudding

The camp site

That was pretty much it for the first day, just time meet a few people, drink a beer or five, and get settled in for the evening in the warmth of a country pub.
The next morning started damp with heavy grey cloud and light drizzle, although it did get a bit heavier during the day, it was not too cold or unpleasant. so after a full english breakfast, I decided to take a walk into town, and have a bit of a mooch about, first then was the river Severn, from where the town gets it’s name. Once a thriving market style town, now though overwhelmed with antique shops, but it does still have a few decent pubs to keep the thirsty traveller quenched.

Mmm

V7 750 Special in Upton

The Anchor Inn

Kempton Jumble, Narley Special…

Another fine Jumble put on by Eric, and the guys from EGP, if you have never been, you really are missing a good day out. This is the Motorcycle Jumble by which all others are judged, and so very often fail.

I will show some of the items for sale in another post, but first I will show you a special that was parked in the car park. You always get some bikes that are worth seeing, but this was a step above the average special, and almost looked like a factory build.

Norton/Harley special, Nice work indeed.

Narley, Norton Harley 45 special

Norton/Harley Special

Harley 750 “WL” series motor, Norton “Dolls Head” gearbox

Norton ES2/Model 18, Garden Gate plunger frame

Special? yes it is.

I wonder if the guy who owns it will see this, and drop me a line with a few build details? What a great build.

 

WL750, Electrical Problems…

I have had a problem with lack of spark, and it seems that my bike (1951 WL) has been running on battery power alone. To the point where it killed the battery and i had to be recovered.

Today I replaced the blown headlight and Generator bulbs, and after starting the bike, all seemed well, the gen bulb going off as revs increased as you would hope.

But then as I turned on the headlight again all seemed well with the headlight getting brighter as revs increased, but then again it all went bad. the generator lamp came on, got really bright and then blew, at the same time causing a backfire from the motor. So I again replaced the Gen bulb, and the exact same thing happened again.

Ignition Cutout

32E Generator

It is fitted with a 32E Genny, but I did find the two wires were connected to the wrong terminals (would this cause a problem?) I swapped them over to the correct position, and once again replaced the blown Genny lamp, but still had the same result? I seem to be getting a spike in voltage from the Genny?
With the voltage “spike” thing in mind, I put my voltage meter across the battery terminals, and had a steady 7+ volts at the battery, but I would also get a hit at 14 volts? what is going on there.

So the day ended in frustration, trying to catch the fault all to no avail. So I had nothing else to do except drag out the Panhead and go for a ride….

Was Joe Lucas American?…

I was heading out today to attend the Popham wings and Motorcycle day at Popham airfield, I have been attending this for a few years now, and have never failed to get there, until today.

My newly acquired Harley WL 750 side valve let me down when all the sparks went on strike! not sure where they have gone, but gone they have. I was rumbling along on a sunny Saturday, when it started missing and backfiring, and then dropped to one cylinder, then died. Battery was dead.
No lights, no horn, no spark? Dead!
So a quick call to the recovery team had me waiting around for a while,so I checked all the connections and wires, but nothing obvious, I did however get a dim glow from the lights again. So I am guessing that either the regulator or dynamo have packed up. We shall see.

Stranded

Breakdown Services

I love Weekends….

And this one was no exception…

I got to ride two of my Harley’s on Saturday, and then Sunday saw me out on my Norton Commando. But first I had to empty the sump of oil from where it had been stood idle for so long, then I fitted a new battery, and we were good to go.

Saturday…

Coffee on the Shovel

Harley WL 1951

Sunday…

750 Commando

The Best of British, Norton and Landrover, at Caversham.

More Guzzi Chronicles…

I have just returned from the USA, a trip that included a visit to the Barber Motorcycle Museum, and the 10th anniversary Vintage festival held at the Motorsport park. This is my second visit to Barber, and it just gets better every time, although it is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. With so much nowgoing on around the park, it is impossible to get to see it all in just three days.

1970 Ambassador

The swap meet is massive, and there are bargains to be found, if you take your time, and have done your research. One such bargain came back to Georgia with us in the back of the truck, as I managed to do a deal on this 1970 Moto Guzzi Ambassador, that has had an 850 upgrade kit fitted.

Down Georgia Way

The bike rides great, smooth gear change, but does need a little work to tidy it up. Right now we are working on getting the bike shipped over here to the UK, but there really is no hurry.

Moto Guzzi Ambassador

The Guzzi Chronicles, cont…

Once again the Guzzi Ambo is all back together following on from having the heads reworked, and the valves and guides replaced, and once back together the old girl fired right on up, perfect. This bike has now had a full top end rebuild in the year I have owned it, having previously done the the barrels and pistons with the Gillardoni kits that are for sale. And now the heads.

The bike sounds great too, no nasty noises, it ticks over like a good watch. It is a great bike, and I wish I could keep it, but that seems unlikely right now, as I recently lost my job, so it may have to go as I need the funds. this hardly seems fair after all the work I have put into the thing, but then life sometimes just isn’t fair.

Moto Guzzi Ambassador V750

Guzzi Head

Moto Guzzi Ambo

The Guzzi Chronicles cont…

Headwork.

I mentioned a while back that I had an issue with the exhaust thread on one of my Guzzi heads,  and so with a repair in mind I ordered up a threaded insert to fix the problem, well that was way back in July, and as of today there is still no sign of it turning up! So instead a couple of months back I set too looking for a good used head to use instead, and lucky for me, one of the Guzzi guys in the US, had one he would send, for just the price of the postage, and he did.

So I pulled the heads from the bike and sent them off to be cleaned, and took the time while they were away to order new valves and guides, these duly arrived, so I took the whole lot to a local engineer to have the guides fitted. Of course in this modern age nothing you buy as a replacement part fits any more, and such was the case with the new valve guides, they were too large, and the engineers had to take three thou off them to make them fit. But finally I got them back, the seats had been cut too, so it just took a little light grinding in, to get them right, and after a leak test all was good, and they are now ready to be re fitted this weekend.

Rebuilt Heads

New Valves

Good Threads