Retrograde Mechanica

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.

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

Tom's 5ta

Tom's finished her up and looking killer.......look forward to seeing it in the flesh at Jacks on Friday mate!

Memories....

Seems like so long since I was riding the 500.....can't wait to finally sort the engine once and for all!

Triumpher......

My favourite blog of the moment...check it out here

Monday, 25 June 2012

Tyres, accumulating a few here, good or unused ones are 16x5.00 Speedmaster rear, 19x3.25 speedmaster, 19x3.50 front, 19x3.50 speedmaster rear, 19x3.50 Ensign trails front or rear, 18x4.00 Dunlop trials rear, plus a couple of part worn dual purpose that may be of some use to someone?

Email if you want any.....

Turned out nice......

Didn't ride but scrubbed up a couple of the bikes, three feet of crude on the bonnie took some doin'

Wednesday, 20 June 2012

Triumphs and Raleighs

Old Bicycles are just cool, both are now up and running....great for the pub

Firestones.....

Are on the Honda, run of the mill, overused, and frankly awesome! Lots to do on the Bike, still far too standard!

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Beards

Darryl stopped by tonight - few to many beers, little Rock n Roll band at the lamp, no photo's...he left me with this before passing out in the spare room.....I'll let ya off being as you've only grabbed a room to hit moto GP at silverstone tomorrow.......All, i'm saying mate is we're a long way from india and you have a goatee - love ya

Snake Eyes French Fries

Found on the awesome El Solitario via Kingdom of Kicks - it ain't like this round 'ere!

Big John....

Has some serious tackle, Scotts, BSA's, Triumphs and a fine stable of race Matchless G50's, Ducatis, Aeromachi's and Suzuki super 6's....apologies for the bad photo's - lighting was terrible..... looking forward to watching ya throw the G50 round the track at Mallory fella, and thanks for all your help of late!

Dragstalgia!

One not to be missed! - 14th - 15th July at the Pod.

Olney Motorama

Great little show in the village last weekend

Friday, 15 June 2012

This Weekend....

Bummed we're not there!

The Fixie

Coming along well, nice work Johnny boy, really makes my '35 Raleigh look old!

"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"