Retrograde Mechanica

Wednesday, 11 July 2012

Pete Stansfield's Chop up for Sale

It's got to be one of the nicest Triumph chops out there, I've been coo-ing over this for as long as I can remember, Wish I had the cash....but if you do check it out here

Monday, 9 July 2012

Shaun's Place

Took a trip over to see Shaun and a few of his recent projects....

Sunday, 8 July 2012

Mark 'n' Roy

Bad weather today, but great to go watch a few mates out playing trials with Shaun!

Mark was debuing his just finished Bantam and Roy was riding his beautiful Enfield - that thing pulls like a tractor!

Saturday, 7 July 2012

Tuesday, 3 July 2012

Wheels and waves - the video

Thanks to Corpses from hell for this.
If I don't make it to Biarritz next year I give in.

Hotel Survival Kit

Got a few boring nights in a hotel while away with work, Back issues, alcohol, snacks and On Any Sunday should help with that.......So not all bad!

Spent the other day playing with Greg's Lathe (Cheers buddy you Rule), Can't wait to get my own.
Turned up these neat little thumb screws to replace the bolts so I can get the seat off the scrambler without the use of an allen key, will continue the theme throughout.....when Greg lets me back in to abuse his workshop some more.
Next project - the rear light!

Sunday, 1 July 2012

Marc on Exif...

Our good buddy Marc has our old SR featured on the ever glorious BikeExif at the moment.
Marc took a project we had to let go to finance one of the Triumphs and turned it into something really special! Check out the feature Here

Saturday, 30 June 2012

Billy Whiz....

Is starting up a new Mag - Bigger, Better and more Killer! - Watch THIS space.
His awesome Kuncklehead is making progress too, someone's been a busy boy since moving Stateside!

Love ya dude - you still back in July?

Johns Guzzi

Some cool pics of John tooling around on his old V50

Friday, 29 June 2012

Fresh Faced

Found a pic of me on my old monster - must be 8 years ago, all fresh faced and tattoo free on a bike that started, went and stopped reliably with no leaks.... how times have changed.....

Thursday night rides..

Tom nipped over last night, fiddled with something on his 500 then we headed out to meet Shaun, good ride, great weather, good evening.

Thursday, 28 June 2012

Triumph and Goose Poo

Went for a ride with Terry last night, stopped for a fag, got violated by a big group of geese and swans and scared the crap out of a load starting the bike back up.

"Not everyone understands what a completely rational process this is, this maintenance of a motorcycle. They think it's some kind of a "knack" or some kind of "affinity for machines" in operation. They are right, but the knack is almost purely a process of reason, and most of the troubles are caused by what old time radio men called a "short between the earphones," failures to use the head properly. A motorcycle functions entirely in accordance with the laws of reason, and a study of the art of motorcycle maintenance is really a miniature study of the art of rationality itself"

"That's all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it, that is not out of someone's mind — number three tappet is right on too. One more to go. This had better be it — .I've noticed that people who have never worked with steel have trouble seeing this...that the motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon. They associate metal with given shapes...pipes, rods, girders, tools, parts...all of them fixed and inviolable, and think of it as primarily physical. But a person who does machining or foundry work or forge work or welding sees "steel" as having no shape at all. Steel can be any shape you want if you are skilled enough, and any shape but the one you want if you are not. Shapes, like this tappet, are what you arrive at, what you give to the steel. Steel has no more shape than this old pile of dirt on the engine here. These shapes are all out of someone's mind. That's important to see. The steel? Hell, even the steel is out of someone's mind. There's no steel in nature. Anyone from the Bronze Age could have told you that. All nature has is a potential for steel. There's nothing else there. But what's "potential"? That's also in someone's mind! — Ghosts"