How Ned got Stanley's works racer OF166

Amazing things still happen; a few blogs ago I published a picture of "uncle Ned'' on his CS1 Norton. Obviously, this was not a standard bike but modifications like the right-hand exhaust can be made by anyone. Then the photo was seen by my friend Simon and with a keen eye for detail and a very good memory the story unfolded. It would be a shame to change the text in the emails below:


Date: Sat, 25 Apr

John- 'Uncle Ned's' CS1 on your web site has what looks to be one of the 1929-ish works type 7 inch front brakes.....the reg. no. OF166 is Birmingham and it would not surprise me if this CS1 wasn't a works cast-off at some stage! The reg. number seems vaguely familiar to me....

Cheers Simon


Date: Sat, 25 Apr

John- no wonder OF166 seemed familiar - it was the reg. no. of the CS1 ridden by Stanley Woods in practise - and perhaps in the actual race - in the 1929 TT. I have a paddock practise photo of him and the bike! Race number was 28.

Cheers Simon


Date: Wed, 29 Apr

John - You may notice that Stanleys bike has the usual (awful) 8" Enfield front hub in this shot but other 1929 TT pics. show the racing 7 inch hub (probably Horton).

Brgds Simon


Great story, but how did uncle Ned get his hands on a factory racer used by Stanley Woods? Half an hour of Googling retrieved the original pic of Ned from the Internet and fortunately it was posted on a forum that displayed the email address of Ned's nephew; an interesting detail is that the nephew operates under the name of NoisyNorton! This is his reply:


Date: Wed, 29 Apr

Hi John,

Info on the bike is pretty scarce. My Dad told me the story of it many years ago. To make it short it seems there was an Irish soccer player (I have his name written down somewhere but I can't remember it) playing for a team in Birmingham and he was good friends with Joe Craig. Which is how he came by the bike. The bike was supposed to be an ex-factory racer. As the story goes the soccer player brought the bike to Ireland for a summer vacation and never brought it back to England. It passed through the family. Dad, Uncle Ned, Uncle Bill etc. and then disappeared just before WW2. Another friend in Ireland remembered possibly owning it but it has long since disappeared possibly for good. I lived in Ireland for a considerable time and became good friends with Stanley (through the Dublin and District Motorcycle Club).

Many thanks, Bill


Joe Craig was the famous and very successful racer, development engineer and Norton racing team director. Stanley Woods was the Irish motorcycle racer famous for 29 motorcycle Grand Prix wins and winning the Isle of Man TT races 10 times in his career.


Date: Thu, 30 Apr

Hi John - The photo was taken in the TT paddock in '29 and Stanley Wood's riding number was 28 in the Senior. It is not a race day photo as the numbers are the wrong colour - white on black was used for practise sessions. I think it highly likely it was his actual race bike - despite the front brake - rather than a publicity shot on a standard machine. For one thing, it has the right hand exhaust port cylinder head which was ONLY used on the works bikes in 1929. Unfortunately, the 1929 works bikes are not listed in the despatch records in one clump so to speak and individual superseded race bikes when sold much later on, do not seem always to have been given an entry so it is really difficult to be 100% sure of facts at this distance in time! Stanley retired in the event itself.....and was too idle to check as to the reason.

Cheers Simon


Date: Thu, 30 Apr

Hi John,

I'm 63 years old and for at least 60 of those years I heard the story of OF 166 being a very special Norton. Stanley Woods was a hero of my Dad during his younger years. I'm sure had he (or uncle Ned or uncle Bill) known it was Stanley's race bike it would still be part of the family. I have a feeling that somewhere in Dublin it is hiding in a shed or garage and will resurface someday...

Bill

Auction time

What to do when you don't really pay attention to what happens at the Bonhams auction and a rather sorry-looking flat tank Norton project comes up for sale at a price that you consider more than reasonable? In a split second my instincts took over, I raised my hand, the hammer fell and I had bought a lot containing the rusty remains of a 1920s 16H.

Only when unloaded at home did I take a closer look at my new purchase and fortunately it looks like a decent deal. The 16H engine as fitted is in very good condition. The spare bottom end that came with the lot looks quite undamaged and I love those holes in the conrod!

I spent a very nice evening aligning my spare Norton engines; which is rather pointless but it beats watching television. Some of these engines are complete rubbish, others are somewhat better but amongst them they should contain the parts to make at least one proper engine!

Biker joke - The crusty old biker

A crusty old biker out on a long summer ride in the country pulls up to a tavern in the middle of nowhere,
parks his bike and walks inside.



As he passes through the swinging doors, he sees a sign hanging over the bar that reads:



COLD BEER: $2.00



HAMBURGER: $2.25



CHEESEBURGER: $2.50



CHICKEN SANDWICH: $3.50



HAND JOB: $50.00



Checking his wallet to be sure he has the necessary payment, the ole' biker walks up to the bar and beckons to the exceptionally attractive female bartender who is serving drinks to a couple of
sun-wrinkled farmers.



She glides down behind the bar to the ole biker.



"Yes?" she inquires with a wide, knowing smile, "may I help you?"



The ole biker leans over the bar, "I was wondering young lady," he whispers, "are you the one who gives the hand-jobs?"



She looks into his eyes with that wide smile and purrs "Why yes, yes, I sure am".



The ole' biker leans closer and into her left ear whispers softly, "Well, wash your hands real good,

‘cause I want a cheeseburger".

Custom paint repairs

Another recent project that I worked on was a repair to a gas tank, and a cracked fender weld. Blending into existing custom paint.

Click on the image below to watch YouTube Video with step by step photos.

From the rediculous to the sublime

Both these photographs depict Roy Reece. The Norton in the pic on top appears to be a Model 9, note the absense of gearbox and the belt drive. It's an early 1920s model I would guess. The norton in the bottom pic appears to be a 1924/25 model 16H.

Is the later model sublime and the older one rediculous? The older bike has a decently fast engine combined with an almost complete lack of brakes; probably the reason for the mangled front mudguard!

2009 Spring Flood Run

Couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. It was an awesome ride with some beautiful scenery.

Here's a few Pics.

Warming up my bike in the morning getting ready to roll.

The starting point at the Beach Bar, The Bikes rolling in.

Retired St. Paul, MN Police Chief Finny's Indian Chief Motorcycle.

A nice Old Skool

A Gene Simmons KISS Bike!

A dog or a log?? Maybe a log dog.

Beautiful Lake Pepin.

One of my latest projects.

I know I've been absent as of late, and to those who might actually enjoy my ramblings, jokes, pictures, etc. I apologize. I've been swamped with the usual everyday life things, and then trying to accomplish three projects simultaneously. Here is one of the three. The rest will follow when completed, and I find time to breathe and post them.

This was a bike that the owner bought a custom racing kit for, and then bought a used gas tank and wanted the graphics custom painted to seamlessly tie in with the existing. I had some pretty shoddy photos of the original racing bike to work with, but It turned out just like the original.

Here she is. Click on the photo below to watch video of start to finish.

Prends la Route

Searching the Internet I stumbled upon a French movie "Prends la Route", made in 1936, that features a lot of very interesting vehicles, not at least a few Nortons! The bike in the second black & white picture from top may be a 1930s model 18 or ES2, with the chrome tank and the right-hand exhaust. The bike in the other pictures is a 1929 Moore-engined CS1 Norton! Glorious pictures! Can anyone obtain a copy? The film was directed by Jean Boyer and produced by Raoul Ploquin.

Matchless Model X for sale -NOW SOLD-

SOLD: my 1938 Matchless Model X; in very good condition. See the movie by MGS. I've had it for over 10 years and enjoyed it a lot; it took me all the way to the Isle of Man. But it's like a good book; once finished you've got to move on to the next one.

Someone made me an offer that I could not refuse!

really cool murals, and bathrooms

These are not motorcycle related, but I could not pass up sharing these with you!

YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS ONE.
THIS IS A CEILING MURAL IN A SMOKER'S LOUNGE.

BATHROOM PAINTED FLOOR
IMAGINE YOU ARE AT A PARTY.....
On the tenth floor of a hi-rise building.....
AND....
THEN YOU HAVE TO VISIT THE BATHROOM...
You open the door...

Would this mess up your mind? Would you be able to walk in to this bathroom? Or do anything else?

Another Awesome Toilet

THE LADY IS GETTING READY TO ENTER!!
This is a picture of a public toilet in Houston :

Now that you've seen the outside view, take a look at the inside view...

It's made entirely of one-way glass!
No one can see you from the outside, but when
you are inside it's like sitting in a clear glass box!
Now would you... COULD YOU....?

CS1 Norton

Another nice picture from the web. "Uncle Ned" on his CS1 Norton. This is the engine that preceeded the better known OHC engine that was designed by Carrol and Craig. The timing cover resembles a cricket bat, hence the name. The cricket bat name has been used since the 1970s only and many people therefore prefer to identify the engine by the name of the designer, Moore. It was a very good design from the start, winning TT races untill Moore redesigned the cylinder heads, which apparently caused overheating and did little for the performance .

This Norton must be of 1929/1930 vintage; it looks very sporty, with the open exhaust, no lights and the chrome plated tanks and mudguards. It already has the "triple-stay" frame. Motorcycle evolution went very fast at the end of the 1920s; no more than a year went by between the 16H flat tank Nortons from the previous blogs and this racer leaving the Norton factory.

Aunt Molly, the family dog and a 16H

Just a picture I took from the net; a very nice and original 16H Norton. It looks like a 1927/1928 model as it has the larger front break and the more substantial Druid-type front forks. Nice dress, by the way!

And a few weeks later I was contacted by bill who told me the following:

Date: Thur, 30 Apr 2009

Hi John,

The woman in the photo is my aunt. She is Molly O'Shea who later married Jim Buffini. They emigrated to Australia not long after the war. The whereabouts of the 16H is unknown. The photo was taken at Killegar farm. Located about 10 miles outside Dublin. The farm still exists.

Bill

The only detail still missing: what's the name of the dog?!

Norton in Japan

One of the best virtues of The Web is that you make friends from all over the world. Daisuke, living in Japan, contacted me a few days ago with questions regarding an oil pump (see the previous blog entry). It turns out that Daisuke is heavily involved in old motorbikes, owning a WLC/WLA Harley, an early Bonneville and best of all, a flat-tank Norton. It's a 1928 16H model in quite original condition by the look of it.

For the rest, there seems to be very little difference between grown up man around the world playing with old motorbikes. His workshop looks as nice as can be and when given the chance we all would own a WWII fighter plane like the Zero behind Daisuke. Only yesterday I considered how nice it would be to buy a Spitfire!

Oilpumps

Norton fitted several types of automatic oilpumps to their engines with total-loss lubrication. Best and Lloyd pumps of the type "Mark II" (top) and "Mark IV" (bottom, with the sight window) were used; the latter was introduced in 1928 and fitted to many 1928-1929 Nortons. These pumps were made of a zinc-like metal called Mazac, also known as monkey-metal. It's fine when left alone, but overtighten a nut or screw and it breaks, and even worse, it's very difficult to repair. The "Mark V" (not shown) was introduced in 1930 and also had a sight window but was much smaller and made from aluminium. Norton never fitted Pilgrim pumps. By 1931, all these bolt-on gearpumps were displaced by the internal Norton gearpump and dry-sump lubrication.

Should you find yourself with a broken pump, there is a modern fix. You can send your broken pump to A2C2M in France (thanks, Daisuke!); they will fit your old pump's internals in a brand new body made from modern alloy stuff. It will set you back approximately 330 euro including postage.

2009 Donnie Smith Bike show

In my opinion, these were the best bikes there. I'm a bit of a bobber fan.

I didn't even bother taking pics of all of the extreme bikes.

Some of the choppers now days are getting so long, so low, so covered up in plastic, fiberglass, sheet metal, what have you, and then being over done in themes that they don't hardly even resemble bikes anymore.

They make me sick. I wanted to vomit at the site of most of them. Thus not even worthy of photographing in my opinion.

I really like the bobber, because it brings you back to the basics of what I think a bike is.

This first red one here The "Retro Rocket" was built by Kings Of Custom Mid-States Power Sports.

It was truly a work of art, and the paint is nonetheless satisfying to look at.

The next four bikes are all Sucker Punch Sally's

And the last one "Green With Envy" A wicked old school, I forgot to get the builder, Sorry.

Click Here to go to my YouTube video and see them. Enjoy the eye candy!

How many things can you spot in this picture that are just Plain wrong?

I'll give you some hints.

1) There is a red arrow in the photo. That doesn't belong there.

2) They are wearing sandals and flip flops. They might get wind burn on their toes if they ride too fast.

3) Her purse is not black leather, which is almost a must if you are going to carry one on a motorcycle!

4) Their helmets don't match the bike.

Uh, I could go on and on!

But seriously folks, Can you believe this! What a bunch of Mucking Forons!

This photo puts a spin on an old term, "Rocket Launcher".

Ooohh Shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!