A Bit of Work

Engine stand to keep me from tipping her over.

It’s nice to be able to recycle some alloy for something useful at the bench.  I rescued a alloy rollup window from work and salvage a bit of the side rails for an engine stand.  Got this drilled up and cut out just about right for assembly use.  The engine sits straight and the drain plug is about 1/8^th of an inch off the deck.  Making a second set for the spare engine.  Which, is still for sale if anybody is interested.

BACK FROM THE SHADOWS AGAIN

                                       

Warning Long Story!

Anybody who builds a cycle from a box of bits needs parts.  Raw materials, repair parts or replacing missing parts; you have to have parts.  There are parts of this country, primarily on the left and rights coasts, which have semi-regular vintage shows and flea-markets.  Other parts of the world have very regular auto-jumbles.  But in Helena, Montana none of those sorts of things ever occur.

So to find parts I have to rely on detective work and friends from the web.  Recently I undertook the job to source a Norton Atlas clutch basket for the Overland gearbox which very conveniently is also Norton Atlas.  So I visited a friend in Portland who restores Brit bikes.  While he didn’t have the part he referred me to a Norton shop in Portland.  The guys name was Dick.  He had a small shop back in an industrial district which was about as big as a storage locker.  Rolled up to his place and found him working with a Command rider with a shift linkage problem.

Trying to stay out of the way I introduced myself and mentioned I was Montana and looking for parts to buy.  To be polite I ask how he was and I got a crumpy reply to the effect that he was crummy.  The repair he was working on seemed like it may take a bit.  Actually it looked like it would take some fabrication to make it right.  I waited and waited.  Had a smoke, snagged a card from his shelf for motorcycle frames and tube bending and waited. 

He never said another word nor seemed to think it worth while to even ask what parts I wanted.  I got the impression that like lots of small shop guys he would know if he had it or not without looking.  After 30 minutes of being ignored I left.

Later in the week I called the frame fabrication shop and tube bender.  Got a great reception and John said please come on over and lets talk and you can see what they have going on.  So I did and found a funky old steel building full of race frames and vintage race bikes.  Also found out that this shop has the frame jigs from the old Champion Race shop.  Plus they will build and bend just about anything you need.  Score!  Great conversation and I was drooling over all the stuff in the shop.  Well I mentioned my parts search.  John asks, “Have you tried Dick?”  Well of course I got scared and replied, “You mean Dick with the shop?”  “No not that asshole!”  All I could say was, “Wow so I’m not alone in thinking that.”

So John gave me a phone number for Dick the racer. So I call Dick and leave a message and get a call back.  Dick the racer says, “Sure come on over I think I have what you need.”  That totally blew my hair back.  So I drive over and find that Dick the racer lives just a few blocks from Dave the restoration guy and they do know each other.  Dave is out in his back yard tuning up his Norton racer and just pretty much enjoying the great afternoon weather.  Actually rare for Portland this time of year.

Dave is an old racer and is funny and full of great stories.  We chat and he takes e into his stall garage which is cluttered with three other race bikes and parts bits and pieces all over the place.  He reaches up on a shelf and takes down a Norton Atlas clutch basket.  It’s not complete but the splines are perfect and the chain wheel has good teeth.  He wants 100 bucks for it and I agree.  However because we forgot to bring the check book and I hate getting cash from the machines that charge an arm and a leg for that service, I say I will have to have him ship it and I will pay for that and his time.

Nope that’s not going to work and Dick says just take it and mail a check when you get home.  Wow hair blown back again.  Cool!  Well I did happen to mention I had tried to get parts from another shop and he said about the same regarding the other Dick.  Now twice in as many days I have my negative experience confirmed by others in the local area.  Not only that but I ran across a cycle shop and coffee bar and mentioned looking for parts and they said almost the same thing regarding the other Dick.  Then this shop refers me down the street to a guy who is preparing to open a vintage shop in the same location where Cliff Majors had his infamous Cycle Hub shop for ages.

Yes he is getting prepared to open and he shows me some cool vintage bikes.  And yes he has had the same experience with the other Dick.  So I guess this story only sort of highlights some of the sleuthing and digging that I normally do to find parts.  But as life and adventures go this was really great.  I met and made some friends and contacts with like minded people and found one road not to take.

TIME TO JUST BE

After I got my cast off the family took a trip to Portland, Oregon.  Went out to the left coast to visit the kids.  Had a great day out at the Portland Japanese Gardens.  I have been trying to get back on the power curve so some family time was just perfect.  Plus I got in some parts hunting time.

                                         Bronze Cranes at the waters edge of the Coy Pond.

                                         Portland Japanese Gardens

                                         

                                         Rock Garden

                                         Portland Japanese Gardens

                                         Meditation Basin

                                         Portland Japanese Gardens 

Something to Please the Eye and Fuel the Imagination

Both of these motorcycles have been around for a bit.  However they are well worth drooling over because of the quality of the build and they are both just plain cool.  I’m not usually a twin fan but I do make exceptions from time to time because you know gorgeous and beautiful are not exclusive to singles.

First up is the Vincent built from spares by the hand of Mr. Jeff Decker.  There has been much said back and forth about this bike.  All I can say is that it’s perfect and it gets ridden.  And more than likely it gets ridden hard and often.  I’m not sure Mr. Decker lets much dust collect on any of his bikes. 

Go here to see more; http://www.jeffdeckerstudio.com/  You do have to spend some time wandering around his pages!

Next up is the Vincent built by Ian Barry also know as Falcon Motorcycles.  As with the Vincent from the hands of Mr. Decker, Mr. Barry has also built a perfect bike.  Go here to see the pages from Falcon; http://www.falconmotorcycles.com/  Just like the Vincent from Utah the Vincent from California has had lots said about it also.

All photos are courtesy of Mr. Decker and Mr. Barry.  However if there are objections to my non-commercial use gentlemen please let me know and I will remove the images.

Back from the Shadows Again!!!

This is just a few hours from having the cast removed.  Arm is scaly like a lizard and everything.  But I have my opposable thumb and wrist back.  Yes I am a happy!  So I’m back in the garage with some exercising and a new found resolve to always trust gravity and no matter what try to fly without an airframe and engine.   

PAITENCE

Is not fun when it’s imposed.  Yet when you contemplate a scratch build of any kind, tow or four wheeled, it should become your friend.  And patience is all about waiting.  You wait for better weather because you’re too cheap to put a better heat source in the garage.  After all that’s money that could be better used for parts.  Yes I admit it, not the best choice really.  You wait for trades and deals to be completed.  You wait for the right part to turn up which will allow you to finish a critical assembly.  You wait to sell a part for cash for that other part.  And it all goes on and on.  But I’m willing to admit that the bit of fiberglass on my arm has really soured my outlook about patience and waiting.

Probably because normally there is always something to do while you wait.   Clean parts; find the right nuts and bolts.  Polish bits just right and think about paint color.  It is all of those things that keep your mind off waiting so you don’t have to have patience which I can’t do.  But the end is in site and it’s not a light in the tunnel.  May 23 I get to have the cast removed.

                                        Just a wonderful studio photo of a racing JAP.

Magnetos

Trying not to be too down about not being able to pick up tools I have been doing some information gathering.

The stash of parts I have has four magnetos in stock.  Two BTH dirt track mags, a SEM from Sweden and a PAL which I believe is ESO from Czechoslovakia.   The PAL is interesting but has been promised on a parts trade o a friend in Australia who has an early ESO that needs spark.

That leaves the BTH and the SEM mags.  The BTH as the usual unit used with the JAP engines.  And both of these come with manual spark advance.  What little I understand of the SEM is that it is used for speedway and ice racing and has a reputation for reliability and the traditional Swede quality.

The problem is I have no idea if any of these four actually spark.  Or if they do spark is it good enough to run the JAP.  So off to surf the great information sea I went.  I found little or no help on the SEM magneto.  I may have just been not digging enough or used the wrong search strings.

I did find some reasonable info for the BTH.  These guys Bright Spark Magnetos, http://brightsparkmagnetos.com/index.htm, have an interesting web site and are trying to address some of the problems with old magnetos.  Very interesting bunch of information regarding know problems and solutions using new materials and technology.

I also found this site Racing Vincent UK, http://www.racingvincent.co.uk/.  This is a very commercial site offering restoration parts for Norton and Vincent.  But what I found interesting and maybe useful is they offer a range of bits for BTH magnetos in the catalog.  Go here for the list of BTH bits.  http://s261735181.e-shop.info/shop/catalog/browse?shop_param=shop_overview_pager%3D1%26cid%3D66%26.

I haven’t made an inquiry of these guys but it does seem they may be in business and could provide those hard to get bits for a BTH refurb.  You know like the gaskets and screws and stuff along with new bearing and such.  There is a small interesting note of the parts page.  They indicate that the BTH Dirt Track mag and the TT mag were the same mag; just a different name plate.

So all in all, with some more surfing under my belt, I’m pretty much decided on using the traditional BTH mag for spark.  Now to try and determine if either one of the KD-1 mags spark and what I will need for bits to get them fit to bolt up to the JAP.

So anybody have something to trade for a SEM speedway magneto?

`                                          SEM Magneto

                                        
                                         BTH KD-1 Race Magnetos.  These two appear to be 
                                         of dfferent vintage magnetos.  Just need to wait and try
                                         a test and see if either will work.

In the meantime if anybody has better information to share or has a great easy way to test a magneto please let me know.