Mac has had this ‘basket case’ sat in his garage for probably 15 years now. Once the Yamaharley is wired up and Josh’s Scooter sold off then perhaps it’s time to return this little gem to the road. Question is – full resto or rat rod?? Watch this space.

We were wondering how to get more teenagers to take up the ‘biker lifestyle’ as the government seem to have put so many obstacles in their way …….. so what’s on most teenage boys minds??

Found this on another blog and wondered if these were currently in production? well it’s one way of getting someone onto an old CG125 (?)

On return to the shed, Mac had to get on with actually finishing the Yamaharley project as he was  gutted that he couldn’t enter it into the BFoM / NVT Show.

After listening to the comments from other show goers he rather liked the puzzlement shown regarding the battered tank and unpainted oil tank – so why not continue the flow onto the rear end (nothing to do with every time he sprayed the fibreglass mudguard it reacted and bloomed up like the surface of the moon) and being a fan of the industrial (now called steam punk) look , the cable for the light was run through an ally tube across the top of the guard which will be held down by copper U clamps with copper rivets . The guard itself will be treated to a coating of GT-85 and that’s it! Huzzah!!

Sun going down on another BFoM (2016).

Picture by E.D.

Messed about with a van to get four of our bikes to the show this morning  with Heisenburg roaring up on his XS to make five . The night before Heisenburg was at the nut and bolt shop (leaves everything to the last minute – like fixing the clutch lever in the back of the van at 9.30 the night before the show) and his mate mentioned his son who had a bike he’d made all by himself in his shed. – So as we had space on our plot we invited him along  and he turned up on a lovely Yamaha four pot with loads of one off parts he’d fettled himself.

Below are a few shots of the ‘display’ before the crowds arrived.

The Heisenburg velocipede / speed racer was a huge draw from all warps of life – from old crusties muttering through their volumous beards to small children asking their dads if they too could have an engine in their bicycles.

We sat for some time just listening what folk had to say – I’m glad that most appreciated our efforts but it was also fun listening to the complete b#####ks that some came out with whilst explaining to their somewhat disinterested partners /mates what they’d have done instead(?)

Macs bike drew a crowd …… but most seemed only to take pictures of the ‘Yamaharley’ badge on the tank and make comments like “I can’t get my head around the whole rust thing” whilst clutching their latest £600 Arai helmet.

Anyway – it was a great day out but we agreed that it probably wouldn’t be done again – much better to pick one bike ……… and ride the bl##dy thing to the show !! Mac.

That’s it …………. Mac has to work til 5am the morning of the bike show (tomorrow) – so this’ll have to do!

Far from finished but it can go as a static display alongside his XS, Sarah’s V50 and Heisenburgs collection of weird and wonderful exotica!! (keep watching – we’ve been so busy we’ve let the posts slip)

Sarah’s Bike lives…….. or at least lived.

Cooperman popped round and over a couple of visits got the wiring complete and fired the old girl up …. and the Guzzi.

All was going well for a few turns of the key until a Fzzzzzt and pop from the starter and a plume of smoke suggested the demise of the only cranking aid to this old girl. – Have to wait til payday to find a replacement then …. see how she fairs at the bike show(?).

Making a start on Heisenburgs frame last night – only to find that the girders he’d bought left a little to be desired. Not one to shy away from a little bit of work he just shrugged his shoulders and decided to make some of his own using the originals as a pattern.

The girders I bought were nasty, no bushing and cheap castings, looks a bit brittle for my liking so a quick trip to see ozzy and score some materials on the cheap, I haven’t paid for this lot yet but it will be a fiver or some biscuits, it’s always a good deal.

I turned the headstock out of the rusty peice of water pipe you see in the last picture and bought some bearings, oh…and some oil-lite bushing to keep it all rocking sweet, blown the budget a little though as now these girders are going to cost well over 20 quid… i was aiming at a fiver….such a dreamer.

I’ll leave these now for a bit as I’m going to build the frame so I’ll wait to see what the ride height is, may aswell weld the pivots when we have more information. H

Found a little time to move forward with this project this week, made the mount for the spring.  Found the spring attached to an old kart abandoned in the wood yard, as you do..

Eye’d it up for size and it’s a little tall but it’s all I have so it will do.

Whilst continuing my scavenging in the wood yard I came accross some ‘wood’, fairly common as it happens so I utilised this new material to produce some award winning girders!

Turns out wood is actualy ‘5h1t’ as a building material for bikes so I moved on to a new material called ‘metal’, (not the same sort the Indians use…)!!  Ok the wood was just to get an idea of scale, but a good idea as it’s really quick to do.

So now we have an idea of scale it’s obvious the spring is way to big and I don’t know how to cut one down so I have ordered one off ebay to suit a mountain bike, second hand unit with 230mm centres made by Marzocchi, looks like a retail price of over a ton so I’m happy at £35, got over an inch of adjustment too, be here in a few days.

I have ‘installed a lump of wood’ in place of the new shock for the time being,  postie has been kind and sent me some new tyres, starting to look good, better than a certain Harley.. so I’m told! (by myself..)

Winning a prize in the Brackley show has become somewhat of a competition between Harley and me, I am a bit worried that my efforts are all in vain as Mac rubs shoulders with all the right people, he is a ‘Hobnobber’, he knows all the winks, nudges, trouser shakes and secret hand signals needed to influence the judges decission, my chances are dire at best.. my only hope is a bribe to the right judge so I’m going to bring out the big guns, I have a bottle of 1986 sloe gin and a signed poster by Rick Astley and I’m not afraid to use them!   Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you…..

” Beardy weirdy,” beardy bits”,” ban the beard,” Movember” “Death by beard”, these are all references to men’s facial fuzz which is increasingly popular and gives you the itches to look at. Apparently there’s more germs in a beard than on a toilet seat . If that wasn’t reason enough to shave then this  following story may just have you reaching for the razor.

In 1567, an Austrian by the beard of Hans Steininger,  had to escape from a fire which broke out in his house. He did what any man would do( bearded or otherwise) and ran for safety. Unfortunately his beard was so long he tripped on it. The resulting fall caused poor old Hans to break his neck and consequently burned to death. Now this should serve as a warning for all would be beard growers.

So viewers, do you recognise this man or women ?

I think it’s a cross between Walter White and Osama Bin Laden, what do you think????

Nuff said!

‘Wolfy’