Monday 31 October 2011

Sporty Transport



This is another of my bikes, an MZ Skorpion Sport 660 outside the grounds of Dirleton Castle in East Lothian.

Who's Bad?


The Jackson 5 chillin’ by the pool.

Sunday 30 October 2011

No Pictures

I needed to go to Glasgow today and had decided last night that, if the weather wasn’t too grim (ie. raining), I’d go on the bike.  

So, this morning when I woke to a clear, if cold day, I dug the Triumph Sprint out of the shed and set off. I took mainly back roads and, as it was fairly quiet, I pottered along enjoying the late autumn colours.

This is where you should be looking at all of the photos I took. But I lost my camera on the way home. To make taking photos easier I had stashed my small digital camera in my jacket pocket. This meant that I could stop, dig it out, and snap away, without having to get off and rummage around in my top-box every time I wanted to take a photo.

However, I mustn’t have closed the zip properly the last time I put the camera away, and riding along the Edinburgh City By-Pass (a motorway in everything but name), I felt a bump on my thigh. Looking down, I was just in time to see my camera slide off my leg and disappear onto the road. A glance in my mirror showed it bouncing along towards the central reservation.

I did think about going back for it, but two things stopped me. I wasn’t exactly sure where it had ended up, and dodging about in the fast lane of a motorway looking for it didn’t strike me as a particularly good idea.

So, I’ve nothing to show for my day, and I now need a new camera. 

Oh, well. It’s nearly Xmas!

Saturday 29 October 2011

Rocket 3



Heavily modfified BSA spotted at the Stafford Show this year.

Friday 28 October 2011

Bike Clothing

Does anyone know how to knit?


What all the cool BMW riders were wearing in the 1970s. 

I'm sure that it would keep you warm, but it doesn't look very waterproof.

(I’ve used this before on another forum, but thought that it deserved an outing here too)

A Wee Beauty

Kawasaki two-stroke triple


If you noticed the bike first then you may just be getting old

In the seventies Kawasaki produced a range of two-stroke triples in 250cc, 350cc, 400cc, 500cc and 750cc. At this time it was seen as perfectly acceptable to fit powerful engines into flimsy frames with skinny tyres and poor brakes.

Of all the different variants, probably the most user-friendly and best all-rounder was the KH400. It had good looks, a proven engine, handled considerably better than the other triples and came with decent brakes and electronic ignition.

Thursday 27 October 2011

Rocket

Need a sidecar for your bike? Have some spare napalm canisters in the backyard?

The solution is obvious.


More details here.

Monday 24 October 2011

Museum Pieces

Some more photos from the motor museum at Wanaka, New Zealand.

Honda Cubs (and much more)
collection of Jawas
NZ army Harley_Davidson

NZ army Indian
Corgi folding motorcycle and sidecar
Bicycles

Mono

I was recently trawling through the interweb and came across this strange vehicle. 


It’s a monowheel, something that has been attempted on numerous occasions with a singular lack of success.
 
It looked somewhat familiar, and then I remembered that I’d seen something similar in a motor museum in New Zealand while on holiday. So I dug out this picture.


This one is in the National Transport & Toy Museum at Wanaka, an enormous and diverse collection of vehicles and other stuff. Well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Wednesday 19 October 2011

The Simple Life

Two of my favourite things

Silver Star

This is a factory publicity shot of one of my former bikes, an MZ Silver Star fitted with a sidecar. 


Manufactured from 1992 until 1997, it is a single-cylinder four-stroke powered by a 494cc Rotax engine.


Alternatively, you could order one in green as the Green Star or red as Red Star.


Tuesday 18 October 2011