Raise a Glass

As 2012 approaches I'd like to raise a glass of what I recently heard described rather amusingly as 'Fabulous Goose' and wish everyone out there a Happy Hogmanay and all the best for the New Year.

Happy New Year

Waiting On Better Days

Another one from the talented Mr. Douglas. Pretty much sums up how I've been spending my days recently.

Starfire

Big Red

I really like this photo. It’s one that I took a few months ago on a trip to North Queensferry, Fife on the Firth of Forth.

The idea was to take some shots of the bike with the Forth Bridge in the background, but the sun was quite low that day and I was shooting directly into it for the shots with the bridge, which made a lot of the resultant pictures rather over-exposed. 

But the same light really works in this one. It picks out the reds of the bike and the sports car beautifully.

And, I promise, no Photoshop  jiggery-pokery. This is just  how it turned out.

California Dreaming

Moto Guzzi California 1100i

Too Many Wheels?

Anyone looking for something different for the New Year could do worse than this nice quadcycle. 

It's a Lazareth Wazuma V8F.

This French made quad is powered by a 3-liter Ferrari V-8 and puts out 250 horsepower in a vehicle that weighs less than a Smart car, so the performance should be pretty nippy. 

Of course at around $260,000, you would have to be just a little nuts to buy one. That's actually more than a real Ferrari.

(via: Iheartchaos)

Sol Invictus

Seasonal Classic

Sunbeam S7

Sunbeam S7 Deluxe (1950)

 

Dies Natalis Solis Invicti 

Season's Greetings

Hope that you all have yourselves a very Merry Christmas and a good New Year. Hopefully Santa will bring you something that you wanted – be it something new for your shed or just a pair of Wallace & Gromit socks.

(from: 100MPH)

Christmas Songbook

Off out tonight to see some live music. I went last year and had a great time. Imagine, if you can, a show which is part ceilidh, part carol sing-along with brass band accompaniment. It’s quite a small venue so it feels quite intimate. 

Oh, and there is mulled wine and mince pies in the foyer before the show. Does it get more Christmassy than this?

Phil Cunningham’s Christmas Songbook - What's On - The Queen's Hall

Glamour Girl

This is the look that your wife will give you just as it starts to rain on that trip to the country you persuaded her to take in your sidecar outfit.

It’s quite expressive. It quite clearly says that you don’t really care, that other people’s wives get to ride in a car, and that you’re going to be sleeping on the sofa tonight!

Thunderball

1965 BSA Lightning

Navel Gazing

This one is for Norrie & MuZ660

Injun Chief Bobber

(from: American Motorcycles Norway)

Model Machine

1975 Lego Norton Commmando

At last, a Norton Commando that I can afford.

More photos at twowheels+: '75 Commando

Unusual Headgear

 Sculpture / Roundabout of the Week

 

Duke of Wellington Statue in Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow wearing his usual traffic cone hat.

Snow Beatle

Slippery Sam

Barber Motorsports Park

Cuba and Whisky

A few years ago the whisky manufacturers Glenfiddich released this advert for their product.



It was shot in Cuba and, at about 30 seconds in, there’s a shot of an old man astride a motorcycle (see photo below).

MZ ES150/1

A friend of mine contacted Glenfiddich at the time and asked about the bike. It seems that all of the vehicles seen in the advert were sourced locally, and most of the people seen in the advert were locals, too. The stag was added later using CGI.

They were nice enough to send him some pictures, including this one of a member of the crew on the same bike, and a copy of the actual advert, but no whisky, unfortunately.

Later, a special edition of Glenfiddich single malt whisky, 'Havana Reserve', was barred from the US market because it has been made from whisky aged in Cuban rum barrels and therefore contravened the longstanding US embargo on importing products from its Communist neighbour.

Conducting Electrickery

Wiring Loom

It might as well look like this for all the sense such things make to me.

Ural Twin

M66 Ural 650

 

Commando Advertising

Presents for Everybody

Iron Pig

This was the first MZ model that was officially imported into the UK by Wilf Green Motorcycles of Sheffield beginning in 1972.

MZ ES250/2 ‘Trophy’

Evolved from the previous ES250/1 model, the MZ ES250/2 was introduced in 1967. But where its predecessor was more rounded, the ES250/2 was an angular beast, which may be one reason East German motorcyclists claimed the “ES” stood for Eisen-Schwein, or “Iron Pig.” 

Show Winner

The machine boasted a 243cc air-cooled two-stroke single-cylinder engine, and utilized a pressed steel body with Earles type front suspension. This front suspension set-up meant that instead of diving on heavy braking the front end actually rose up. This is quite good for sidecar use, but can take some getting used to for folk used to a more conventional arrangement on a solo machine.

I actually used to own one of these machines. I remember it best for its rather unusual styling, idiosyncratic handling, pitiful brakes and marginal electrics. However, it was quite fun to ride and certainly turned heads.

Having sold it to one friend it eventually turned up again in the ownership of another, but this time with a diesel engine and a snazzy paintjob.

MZ Riders Club stand at Scottish Motorcycle Show 2011

side by side comparison

Sunnier Times

What’s it like where you are at the moment? Here it’s cold, dark, windy and wet, with the promise of snow to come. Lovely!

Just to remind you that it doesn’t always have to be like this, here’s a photo of my MZ Skorpion Traveller at the top of the Bealach-na-Ba in Wester Ross. 

Some days it’s just a joy to ride a bike.

Sporting Success

US Bike Show

Some more pictures sent my way by Triumph USA. These are from a couple of different shows, and I like that they are quite happy to include other makes on their site.

 Bonneville Performance Street Tracker

Commando 961 'Cafe Racer'

'Brown Sugar' - 1964 TR6R custom

Guzzi V7 'Racer'

Thruxton custom from Eurocycles

Tiger

 

Typical Triumph customers