Harley Model J combination

Here's a charming period snap of two ladies and a girl posing on a mid twenties Harley Model J inlet over exhaust engined combination. A fairly exotic piece of kit in the UK at that time. Not a particularly fine quality picture but well worth clicking on and enlarging.

Harley Model J combination.

Autumn Nifty Run 2013

The Autumn Nifty run is organised by the Stonehenge section of the VMCC. Simple concept - small (<250cc) pre '72 bikes for a gentle run around the New Forest to encourage machinery out that doesn't get used so often.

Slightly grim weather on the day reduced the turnout from the previous year slightly but all the same 15 or so interesting machines turned up.




Beautiful detailing on watercooled SOS.



Nice original Vincent Firefly.

That same firefly again.

Greeves 25DC looking like it is used regularly and upgraded
with the front tls hub from a Silverstone racer.

The SOS putting out a proper blue haze.

Shepton Mallet Autojumble again

A couple of weeks back now but only just gotten round to uploading pictures. Here're a few personal highlights from trawling around the always excellent Somerset VMCC Shepton Mallet autojumble.



Brilliantly corroded early BSA Bantam offered in the autojumble.
Not much use for riding around as is but in my mind should
be left alone. There won't be many left like this in a few years
time....





Another view of that same Bantam.





This BSA B31 was parked up in the 'jumble area but not offered
for sale. I think it was from someone working on a stand. Very
well used and a near perfect state of corrosion!





Big Head Bullet and Matchless G9 in the punters car park.




Electra Glide in Blue. Shovel out on the road.



Another shovelhead parked up. Don't really get the whole
converting to jockey shift thing.

Tidy used rigid Panther M100 combo.

Same Panther, different angle.

This T100 looks like it has been around a bit and has a story
to tell.

Norton Atlas brochure

Brochure for the mighty Norton Atlas 750. Those cowhorn handlebars must have made it a treat to ride as they quivered up and down with the jackhammer vibes and high speed would have had your top half pumped up quicker than a bullworker...

Norton Atlas brochure page 1.

Norton Atlas brochure page 2.

Motobecane velo

On holiday in France recently and spotted this lovely ladies Motobecane in Rennes. Totally original condition and fantastic detailing on it down to the tooled 'winged M' on the leather saddle.



Motoebcane ladies mixte frame model mid fifties.



Very cute toolboxes!

A high quality machine. Note early cantilevers. The attention
to detail goes down to the emblem cut in to the frame brace.

Tail view.

Royal Enfield Bullet and Harley MT350 out on the green lanes

Harley Davidson MT350.

 A drizzly, misty day at the end of September and a day of greelaning planned. Ian turned up on his newly purchased Harley MT350. Very immaculate for an army bike and with all the weight adding extras! This was the first time the Bullet had seen action since coming back from Ireland. The MT350 started on the button.

The plan was to ride up to Salisbury on green lanes and then hit Salisbury plain. As often happens things don't always go to plan...



MT350 and Bullet trials.

We took the lane from Tarrant Hinton to Chettle, then the plan was to go over to Tollard Royal and join the Dorset ridgeway. This is where it started to unravel. We took a lane, quite probably the right one, there were several turnings and soon it became very evidently the wrong one. No problem, take this drove here and we'll certainly be back on the right track. Not so. Intuitively taken turnings took us in circles and to places where possibly we would not have been welcome on bikes and we ended up one hour later quite back in Tarrant Hinton.

No problem, take the road to Tollard Royal. Up on to the ridgeway. Great. Hmmm... now it is lunchtime and there is nothing around. Again no problem, get back on to the road and find a shop. Several miles later no shop and the Bullet throttle jams open.

Lucky I'd wired an ignition cut-out. On examination the cable was terminally frayed. A prepared ride would have had a second cable taped on as a spare. Of course I did not. No choice but to set the idle on the carb to fast and ride it on the cutout. At least no call to the RAC..

The unexpected is part of the joy of the hobby. But in this case, sorry Ian to putting the kibosh on the day's ride! 







Coventry Eagle combination

A nice studio shot of a couple of lads posing in a vintage Coventry Eagle combo. First thought was that the model is a Flying 8 but on close examination the exhaust exits on the wrong side and it looks like a twin port single

Vintage Coventry Eagle combo.