Retrograde Mechanica

Saturday, 16 March 2013

Sammy Miller Part 1

The Sammy Miller museum is bloody awesome, I could go back every day....I took over 200 photo's so here's a few....

Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Digger project for sale

Benny's got this awesome Digger project for sale......here's what he says.

Sportster Digger project for sale. just needs painting, wiring, seat covered and putting back together. since this photo the forks,pipes and other bits and bobs have been chromed. it's a 2002 5 seed motor with matching v5, RHC/Boneshakers frame, RHC/Boneshakers tank and oil tank. Ness replica forks by the very talented Mr Todds, 21" spool hub front wheel, 16 all chrome rear drum brake wheel. This will make a really cool, reliable new build digger and a very easy finish project. I am super busy and haven't got the time to finish it. If you are interested please call me on 01562730429 or 07913325297. Bike is located in England U.K but can help with shipping anywhere...

Monday, 11 March 2013

HiCliff...

Not great in march....

Beaulieu

The good lass took me down to the New Forest for the weekend as a Birthday Treat, so the Sensible thing was to hit Beaulieu and the Sammy Miller Museum - Awesome!

Here's Beaulieu...

Friday, 8 March 2013

Triumph Re-Deux

As the Nickel Triumph's engine is nearly together it was time to start sorting the other details that've been bothering me - the main one being getting that front end dirty low, a few hours in the shed and all is looking good!

2.5" extra in the damping Sleeves and a 2" spring cut seems to have sorted that right out - Cheers for the help and the sleeves Tom!

Original length...

Disassembly.....

Little Lathe time....

Untidy Bench.....

Springs Cut and shaped

The new front ride height!

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Robbie Maddison

This is how Tom rides in his head.......

"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"