Saturday, May 25, 2013
Thruxton clocks and brake reservoir
Had a great day working on the Thruxton today with Jimi and Bad Evil. I pulled the original clocks/dials off last weekend, I've actually had these new ones sitting around for a good few months now but hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it cause I've been so stoked on the Norton being on the road again. I'd also bought a British Customs mini brake reservoir which had been sitting around for a while. Anyway finally got around to getting into all this properly today. Jimi had made up some mounts for me during the week – I wanna mount the dials real low, flush with the top of the triple tree. The mounts are great but the rubber washers Jimi had made need to be rethought slightly (harder rubber). Bad Evil is our inhouse electrical genius so he was there doing some seriously mind-boggling fucking wiring work! I bled the brakes and got into mounting the new mini reservoir... which was a bit of a head-job until I realised that the thing actually comes apart!? Felt really stupid once I realised that, but hey British Customs (if you're there) maybe you could send these out with instructions? I'm not complaining though cause it looks bloody great and is a MASSIVE improvement on the stock one which sticks up all over the place. Very happy with the way this is all sitting much lower now... and I think this stuff is all making the old T150 breadbox tank looks really good. I just really love how the whole front end looks so much lower now.
A couple of issues to sort out though – 1. the indicator light in the speedo will only go with one of the indicators, either left or right, you choose, but not both. Hoping Bad can solve this? Then 2. Jimi's mounts need new, harder rubber bits.
So stoked to finally be getting this bike a little closer to what I've always been imagining it looking like. Slowly but surely...
Thursday, May 23, 2013
David Taylor's BMW on The Bike Shed
David Taylor, a regular at our Bike Nights (at Smash Palace every Thursday), has rebuilt a standard R100 that he got in mint condition and with real low miles on it. It's featured here on The Bike Shed website.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
The Black Biker Experience
This starts out kinda weird but its well worth watching for the first minute or two because it gets pretty good when old 'Sugar Bear' gets interviewed. The racism he's had to deal with in terms of bike mags wanting to show his bikes but not him is pretty interesting. His bikes are pretty amazing, especially his fork and front wheel set ups. I guess this is what he's known for, but me not being a chopper guy... well you know, it's all news to me!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Akaroa with Simoen and Jimi
Following an awesome day dirtbiking with Simoen we thought we'd better show her what it was like on the road, and luckily Jimi and his T160 were free to help. Was a beautiful morning ride out round the bays of Lyttelton Harbour and then over to Akaroa where the harbour was calm and glassy. I thought Simoen might get freaked out about doing hi speeds, but she lapped it up and after stopping briefly in Little River she suggested Jimi "go faster"... which I think freaked me out more than her!?
Nads took the photos above from the back of my bike, and Simoen also took a bunch more photos on her polaroid which I scanned (below). Such a great weekend, Simoen you're welcome back anytime and you are absolutely one of my favourite people! Cheers.
Dirtbikin' with Simoen
Our friend Simoen has been down from Wellington this weekend. We'd been real worried, as we usually are when people come to visit form outta town, that she might hate it here. So we decided to do some cool shit with her! Mostly this meant riding motorcycles... obviously.
On Saturday we went out to the Ashley River with Bad Evil and his missus'. Bad and I have been keen to teach our girls to ride and Simoen was keen to have a go at it too. Unfortunately I didn't learn Simoen real good though and she crashed us both on her first go and we broke the front brake lever off the 185. It was a pretty good little crash, but I was super impressed when Simoen was keen to just get back on and try again (rear brakes only of course!). By the end of the day she was taking off on her own and cruising up and down the dirt rd that runs beside the river. Nads was still struggling with the whole mysterious phenomenon called 'the clutch' but had a good go at it. Becky (Mrs Evil) won the Womens Section hands down by taking on one of the muddiest tracks around, getting stuck, and then pushing the bike back out on her own!
When we weren't teaching the girls me and Bad were fucking about like teenagers in the dirt doing donuts and riding through the river and stuff.
Bad took the Val down, I bought ol' Pedro (dog) in the van with the bikes, and Simoen brought her Polaroid camera with her and took some awesome shots on that little sucker (a couple incl. here). I really wanna get one. You sure can't beat film!
All photos here by Simoen and Nads.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Stuart Page interview set for issue #3!
Just confirmed an interview with Stuart Page for the next issue of HFoS! Stuart made this video for legendary NZ band Snapper in 1988, along with a bunch of other awesome music videos for other kick ass NZ bands like King Loser (featured in HFoS issue #1). In fact it was a King Loser connection that motivated me to get in touch with Stuart – David Bennewith, while visiting recently, bought me a Chris Heazlewood 7" which, on the back, mentioned his buying a motorcycle off Stuart Page. The same motorcycle that appears at the end of this most excellent King Loser video (Dir. Stuart Page of course):
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