Sound of Thunder: Bears racing 2012

The 'Sound of Thunder' was on yesterday (cancelled last year because of the big earthquake). Went out with Bad Evil and met James and Bonnie there, Bonnie's dad (Robin Struthers) was racing a Buell, and James old race bike was being ridden by someone else. James was hurting and wishing he was out there on the track while at the same time trying to convince me not to get into racing! Shit I'm getting pretty keen I have to say... I'm not content watching anymore. Thinking pretty seriously about booking in for some track days on my Thruxton? Anyway, yeah here's a bunch of cool bikes that were there... there were a bunch more, esp racing. My camera's fucked so mostly I'm sticking to black and white. There were a quite a few Nortons interestingly... I don't think I've ever seen this many all in one place for a long time? I have to admit stock Commandos aren't the most interesting looking bikes eh. There was even one of the new Commandos there, PLUS another one that was racing! We didn't see it race though as it blew its clutch up before we got there. Oh and that little bike, 17th image down, is a Maserati!?

Norton Update: Primary (can of worms)

Lastnight I stripped out the Primary. I'd opened it up in the weekend with the idea I'd simply be putting my new rotor in, but holy shit have I opened a can of worms here! Jimmy was here when I opened it up and he pointed at that the clutch basket was rocking about on the mainshaft, I went and talked to Alastair Mears about that and he said it'd probably be the bearing in the clutch basket, so that'd be coming off too...

But first the rotor... here's my old one (still in the stator). You can see what a mess it is. There is one mark punched deeper than others (which are more sort of scratched in) but with a strobe it had been really hard to get a proper reading from this. Also I thought it was a bit worn because it was loose o the shaft.

 

Above is the new rotor I got from British Spares. It's too big anyway, so wasn't going to be going on. Luckily I figured that out before opening the bag an whatnot.

Shit went downhill quick when I pulled off the stator and the rotor came right off with it. The problem, I think, is that the keyway for the woodruff key that positions the rotor on the shaft is worn. I put a new key in, but the rotor can still rock backwards and forwards too much I reckon? I asked John, he seemed to think it might be ok because there's 80 pounds pf torque pressure keeping that done up on the shaft. I need to investigate this. Obviously I really do no want to have to do a total engine rebuild to fix keyway in the shaft!? I'm going to have to talk to people etc and find out what's to be done here..

There is also a leaking seal here where engine oil is getting through into the Primary (see below). How much does that matter? Is this maybe why my clutch ends up dragging after every few hundred miles?

The clutch mainshaft bearing is pretty worn I think (below). Will take that to school and test it out in a vice there tomorrow...

I am, at least, getting a lot faster at dismantling my whole primary side!

Will I ever get this bike on the road again? It's been 2 years now since I've really been able to ride it at all properly.

Norton Update: Ignition

It's been a while since I've mentioned what's going on with my Norton Commando, so here's a quick catch up...

After much fucking about with the carbs and getting nowhere with my running problems, I decided to go back to basics, start with the ignition, and work my way through things from there. This is all kinda scary – need I say I am a total bloody amatuer. Anyway I pulled out my ignition about two weeks back and sent it to British Spares for testing. That came back ok, which is cool but also means I haven't discovered any problems to fix.

My whole wiring loom is looking very old and tired, and so I enlisted the help of my good friend and local rock star 'Bad Evil' to help me tidy up some connections and put the ignition back in nice and tidy like. Bad's some kinda electrical whizz (he builds Plinius amplifiers!) and I don't know shit apart from what Lou Reed siad about electricity coming form other planets.

Next up was to order a new rotor, as my current one is old and the only timing mark on it looks to have been punched into it by someone ages ago. I don't know how accurate it is, and on top of other problems the bike's been kicking back pretty violently a lot when I'm trying to start it.

6 Over: The Movie (Dice Mag)

6 Over - Teaser from Wild Honey Productions on Vimeo.


This has been up for a while from the guys at Dice, but it looks like the full movie is coming out soon. I, personally, can't wait... and I'm not even into choppers really. But I really like Dice mag, and just the general way these guys approach shit. I like their style goddamn it. I'm hoping this movie will kick ass all over those wishy-washy HD bike porn things that look real nice but don't have fuck all to say.

Stalker?

Holy shit someone's obviously following me around drawing pictures of me. It's a bit creepy although I'm sort of flattered too. I found this on Cafe Racer Culture and as usual there's no info...

James Oram's new build

This is James Oram's newly built bike towards the end of the night at the HFoS launch. Tim Brott took the photo. This bike is totally awesome, not only does it look hot, it rides real well too. This started life as a Honda FT500... check them out, you'll see how much work he's done here! I think Kerry Swanson is doing something on this bike in a mag soon. Hopefully James will do something for HFoS #2 too? Look out!

Ride to HFOS launch party

This footage was shot by my missus from the back of my bike. Was a lot of fun, except at the start there when Malcolm couldn't kick over the 125!? And so we had to ride about looking for everyone else to hook up again. Good times, cops, etc... thanks ya'll for coming!

New petrol tank for the Thruxton

I finally bit the bullet and shelled out for a new tank last week, and it just got here today. Having paid for the thing I read in the weekend some guy on the TriumphRat forum saying to someone else that there was no way this would work, that the tunnel in the tank would be too small. I was freaking out thinking shit I shoulda checked this out more before buying the tank, so when it arrived today I got busy straight away seeing if and how it might work. Good news! It's going to work, and won't require any mods to the tank. I will have to grind a couple of lugs of the frame though (the ones that hold the front of the current tank). I had been trying to do everything without cutting the frame at all, but fuck it I think this tank is going to look totally fucking awesome, so get out the grinder! I will have to reroute the loom a bit, maybe pull it apart to do this, but I don't think that'll be too difficult. Also, obviously, will have to make up some pretty serious brackets. The one at the back will be easy enough I think, the front will require a little more thought. Anyway sitting the tank on the bike, even though it won't go down past those lugs, I'm pretty happy with the shape of it. Might even grind of those lugs this weekend so I can get started thinking about brackets etc. AND then I'll be able to fit it over the frame and actually eyeball it 'on' the bike.

This is a NOS tank! And I know there's a bunch of Triumph owners who aren't going to be very happy about this... esp more so because I'm planning to get rid of the mounts for the tank badges and paint the thing (probably black?). It is original paint too. Sorry guys, but I couldn't find another one in shitty condition to do this with... and hey, you coulda bought it if you loved it so much. Still I do feel a bit guilty, she's a beautiful object that's for sure...

Hinckley tracker

Have been looking a lot at other examples of Hinckley Triumphs that have been chopped up. This is from FrankenStrange here.