Back up the West Coast

The next day we woke up next to Lake Pukaki which was beautiful but cold. Joe and Malcolm too a dip in the lake and I thought 'fuck that'. We headed for Naseby for the night from here. Amazing day with stunning weather. Joe and Milky were so happy they got a bit touchy-feely that evening while checkin out some nature...

Next day we rode from Naseby to Makarora through Wanaka. Another amazing day, great weather etc, a few more cars I guess, but didn't take any photos.

After camping in Makarora we headed through the Haast Pass and onto the West Coast where we also, unusually, had great weather. That road is amazing when it's nice. There'd been a few wash-outs recently from big rains, but mostly it was just great... Milky wouldn't quit touching Joe though...

Then finally it happened. Rain. Heaps of it, and real heavy. My camera ain't waterproof so no photos obviously. Except this one, when we were getting ready to leave the shelter of the motel in Greymouth...

South and West with Joe and MIlky T.

Managed to squeeze in another brief ride before starting back at work in February this year. Taken me a while to get around to getting these photos up, mostly because I have to photoshop out all the black spots hat I get in my photos because of all the shit that's been forced into the camera by my taking it out and taking photos at open road speeds. Anyways, these are from DAY 1... left Christchurch on Wednesday about 5.30pm and headed south to Geraldine and then onto Tekapo. Some amazing changes in light, got fuckin' cold, but a beautiful ride with bugger all traffic being mid-week and all. Spent the night free-camping at Lake Pukaki, drinking cheap liquor and watching the stars in one of the clearest skies the world has to offer (we're very close to the Mount John Observatory here).

More to come...

Thruxton new speedo and tacho

Here they go finally, the new speedo and tacho I got from Dime City a while ago – on the bike AND working. Again a massive thanks to Bad Evil and Jimi without whom I woulda been fucked. Bad did a beautiful job of the wiring and Jimi made the brackets (see 'em at work here). Bought the bike down to Dunedin with me this week, have been on a couple of rides and everything seems to be working sweet. My only complaint is that the colour of the back-lights in each dial is different... the tacho is a kind of yellowy light and the speedo is a bright white/blue light. Hoping I can change the bulbs or something. Apart from that I'm pretty happy, I mounted them as low as possible (tops flush with the top of the the triple tree and the really change the look of the bike, lowering the front end and, I reckon, looking much better with the old breadbox petrol tank.

Shorty megaphone mufflers (with no baffles) to go on next! Wanted to mount them on a fucked up angle but need to figure that out...

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...

More Thruxton mods coming up...

I finally have a bunch of new shit to put on the Thruxton. Got some shorty Emgo mufflers off Pete (that I think are off Sarah's bike originally?). They're straight through and Pete said they're fucking loud – sounds like what I'm after! They're the same as on Tim's bonnie and it sounds pretty sweet, so yeah keen to see what they sound like on a new Triumph? I'm also pleased that they're quite a bit shorter than the ones I have on there now, and I really wanna see if I can get them on quite an angle too.

Apart from the mufflers the other shit is all front end stuff. New speedo and tacho that I'm going to mount flat and low. And then, importantly cause the old one sticks up like an unwanted erection, a new direct mount front brake reservoir from British Customs... so that'll get that lower as well. I also have this old Lucas headlight with grill that I wanna mount somehow. Might just modify the grill to fit the existing headlight? I'll see. Gonna have to make some new brackets for the dials, and so also thinking about making some for the headlight too and maybe lowering it a bit. Also thinking about changing the bars too – clip ons, lower! Maybe? Really wanna ditch the switchgear and replace that too...

Hoping to get started on this asap now that the Norton seems to be a runner (touch fucking wood).

Kick ass Hinkley Triumph

Hanging out with the Quake City Rumblers this weekend made me really wanna chop something up a lot more! I don't think I can bear to chop my matching numbers Norton (as much as I'd like to!?), so been thinking about pushing my Triumph into another world? I'm real happy with my breadbox tank, but it kinda makes the rest of the bike look too 'new' and outta place or something. Also I'm not real happy with the new seat I made. Nadine, my girlfriend who rides pillion a lot, stopped me chopping it down as much as I would have liked to... but then seeing Joska's little seat in the weekend (the Honda in the post below this one) made me think mine looked like a bloody couch or something! I'm also realising I'm really gonna have to get a bigger front wheel – one off a Bonnie. The Thruxton one is just too small... maybe a new rear as well? Fuck I'm going down some vortex... and I only just got the Triumph on the road again. Maybe when the Norton's going I'll pull down the Triumph and fuck about with it good and proper... [sigh]

Triumph Thruxton seat finished

My new seat is finally bloody done! It was slow going getting it to mount properly and also be strong enough after I'd cut so much away from the pan (although it's still not as small as I'd imagined I'd make it). I'll stick up some process/working shots of the whole thing at some point soon, I ended up putting aluminium 'rails' under the seat. It's a tight fit and I broke the weld on the little bracket Marty welded onto the tank for the seat to locate into. Will fix that soon, but hoping to take this bike to Dunedin this weekend. It hasn't got a warrant or rego though and I have to get a new tyre – of course there's no Bridgestone BT45s in NZ right now, so thinking about what I might put on instead.

There's still a bunch to do on this bike. I'll put an alloy front mudguard on soon, and then do something about lowering the dials. I'm also thinking about putting a slightly wider rear mudguard on it? I'm really happy with the Trident tank. Enjoying it plain at the moment, but will paint something on it at some point, and also run something (vinyl or leather) up the center of the tank. One thing that's buggin me now is the mufflers... they stick out too much and are too big. I'd like to put little short ones on it, keep the whole thing really 'thin'. Oh and I gotta paint the rear indicator brackets...

Temporary seat

Electrical tape and foam rubber!