Q and A about complacency

Question:
What is worse that a complacent car driver not paying attention to a motorcycle rider?

Answer:
That motorcyclist being too complacent to notice the complacent car driver not noticing him/her.

Complacency is one of the biggest dangers of riding a motorcycle.

Think.
Be aware.
Never forget how vulnerable we are out there.

****** Original post Above******
Edited ad on information per Big D.'s comment below
Now mind you, I had no idea this had just happened when I posted this.
Scary stuff! PAY ATTENTION FOLKS!
Check out the accident details below.
http://www.kpho.com/news/22956828/detail.html

Everything Zen

Everything Zen is a song by Bush. It is the first thing I thought of the other day March 21st while riding my motorcycle with the tunes cranking from my I-Pod.

You see I now realize for the first time in over 20 years of riding motorcycles that I've been missing out. I know that lots of bikers with fairings and radios have already experienced riding while rockin, but sad to say last sunday was my first experience.

I have to wonder why I waited so long. It was like a DUH moment. I thought WTF. This is awesome! It made riding a completely different kind of experience.

Not only did the ear buds crank out the tunes, but they also acted as ear plugs to cut out the wind from going into my ears. I got those Skull Candy ones that have the soft rubbers that go in your ear. They were cheap. Like only 16 bucks! They also came with three total different sized ear pieces to choose from so you get the right fit and comfort.

I turned the music up loud enough to hear it over the rumble of the motor, but quite enough to hear if there was an emergency vehicle, or police officer behind me.

So this brought me to wonder how many other people out there ride with headphones on?

I know that it is technically illegal, but......

Moral of the story...

+=

Everything Zen

Stephen's 1910 Model 3 1/2 HP Norton

Stephen (from the Bracebridge Street Norton Register) sent a photo of his 1910 Model 3 1/2 HP Norton:

"This was a trip down to Brighton with a load of other veteran bikes on the Pioneer Run. It was not an easy ride as she is very high geared for speed and not for going through congested towns. A hundred year old Norton and still going strong, here is to the next hundred."

Howard's 1929 ES2 Norton

Another photo from Howard in Australia: "I sold this bike's motor some time ago to a chap in the UK who had been trying to obtain one for many years. I had a complete 1929 ES2 "Special" (see the photo) and very foolishly took the original engine out and fitted a CS1 motor in its place thinking it was a better bike.....sold it and slowly realised how stupid I had been in doing that!"

Interesting picture; note the grey brakeplates; were these plated? The original Sturmey Archer gearbox has been replaced by a later Norton dollshead 'box.

1923 Model Big Four Norton

An email from the USA:

"Hello, I'm hoping that one of your Norton aficionados might be able to help me with the attached photos. The gent driving the outfit is my great grandfather William Gegg, and I do know that the picture was taken in 1923 or earlier. I think it may be a Norton, but I would love to be able to confirm this, as the photo is posted on my family's Ancestry.com page and we're trying to identify all of the machinery. If it's any help, the photo was taken in North Yorkshire, near Scarborough.

Thanks in advance for any help!
Gordon
Wisconsin, USA"

The picture above was copied from a brochure front cover for 1923 and it looks very similar to me; the shape of the tank at front identifies the machine as a Big Four. Noteworthy accessories are the electric lights and does the bike have a front drum brake? The photo below may be from the same 1923 brochure.

...and Gordon's reply:

"The younger lady in the photographs was my grandmother, who passed away in 1923 after giving birth to my father; we now know that these may be the last photographs taken of her and that she could have been pregnant with my father at the time. The gentleman, William Gegg owned a popular confectionary and restaurant in Scarborough, the older passenger is his wife Margo, and the younger is my grandmother, named Eveline."


...and from Roger:

The pictures of the Big 4 are intriguing. Although they may have been taken in 1923 I am not so sure that the machine was new at that time. The North Yorkshire registration is a lot earlier that 1923 as by the middle of the year then next letters were being used. As the series started in 1904 and went up to 9999 the registration date is likely to be around 1920; this could date the outfit to around 1920 which may be right for the motorcycle and sidecar. The electric lighting set would have been available by that date but we need to check whether Norton made it an option as this may be the best dating evidence available. The outfit looks well used so this would support the date.


I think that I can see the rod for the rim brakes in the side on picture. In addition the tax disc for 1923 should show a vertical green stripe. The disc is either not there or is of the 1921/2 type with no stripe.

Get out of the Car! senior moment

Click on the article to "EMBIGGEN" it.

Pat's tank

"Hey John,
here is a brief report on some work I had carried out on my 1930 M18 Norton. You know, when you buy a nice old bike there is always lots of work to be done. You start out with the mechanical bits; "It should be good enough to take me all the way to the Isle of Man and back . . while carrying luggage !" and in the end it did!. As a Norton should! Hmmm, new piston, bore, valves & seats, new bearings everywhere, incuding the bigend, the gearbox rebuilt... (thanks Simon!) - the lot.


Then you start wondering about the originality of minor parts; you fit inverted levers, a straight pull twistgrip, have the dynamo done and fit lights. Yes, I am one of those guys in need for illumination after having been told at the traffic lights at dusk; "Your lights don't work", "Yeah I know - it's standard - 1930 equipment"; replied by "Aha, where do you live I'll take you there". Afterwards I realized I had been escorted by a motorcycle policeman returning home after his shift; lucky me!

With that under way there still is this nasty dent in the tank. Some may say "Yeah, it's patina", and then I would reply "No, it was not on the accessories list for 1930". So you try to find a chap willing to, and able to fix the dent without coming up with a repair that is so nice and shiny that it no longer fits in with the rest of the bike. Like a "rustoration".

All of us with old bikes know that it takes years before you have a network of people who understand what you are talking about and at the end of a nice restoration I decided to jump in. A colleague at work tipped me off "Go and see this guy, he is a real crafts man and really into details". Knowing my colleague, who is exceptionally fussy about details, this friend of his should be someone special. And this is the result. The tank "rustored" to the condition it looked like when the M18 came into my possesion - but now without the dent! 

The dent was pulled out with a nail puller - a nail welded to the tank and given a hefty pull with an impact puller. The bottom wasn't even opened up. I like it like this!

Thanks Peter - and Frank!

Cheers, Pat"

Amal type 6 carburetter

This is the Amal type 6/012 carburetter fitted to my 1927 Model 18 Norton; the M18 would have been equipped with an Amac or a B and B carburetter when it left the Works.  This Amal is a few years younger but it looks brilliant without the throttle-stop and twin float chambers.

SPEEDo DEMON

Professional photography by Pegasus Photography.

New Speed Control Method?

Speed controls being used in Eastern Canada.

Don't know 'bout you, but it would slow me down! People slow down to try to straddle the pot-holes.

This is actually a speed control devise in use! It is cheaper than cameras, especially when moved around each day.

Look at the poor dude on a motorcycle.

To me, these look like an accident waiting to happen!

I can just imagine how many rear end collisions they have the potential to cause.

Viktor's 1925 Model 18 Norton

This is Viktor's bike; Viktor lives in the Czech Republic. "I´m a designer by profession and renovating broken parts is my hobby. When I bought my Norton twenty years ago it was the terrrible wreck - see the two pictures above. After years of collecting missing parts and rebuilding many of the components my motorcycle starts to look like a proper flat tank Norton - see the two pics below. I´m still looking for other parts : a chain cover, rear stand and double silencer. The frame- and engine number suggest that the year of production is 1925."

V-twin Norton

This photo was sent by Howard from Australia: "I have attached a very early photo of a dealers showroom here in Hobart, Tasmania. Smack bang in the middle is a V-twin Norton.....rare bird indeed. Alas it does not still exist as far as I know. Interesting photo.....I wonder how many V-twin Nortons do still exist?"

The picture must have been taken a 100 years ago and the V-twin Norton should be similar to the one used by Rem Fowler to win the 1907 TT races (below).

David's 1929 M18 Norton

David from Canada sent these pics of the 1929 M18 he purchased a while ago. He is still scratching his head about how to rebuild the petrol tank. A proper valve lifter will be fitted to replace the decompressor in the plug hole and a more suitable carburetter will be sourced to replace that Monobloc.

1930 CS1 Norton

This is a 1930 CS1 Norton that was entered for the 1930 TT races; the rider is Mr Tim Hunt. Obviously, the Norton has a Carroll engine in a three stay frame. The high resolution picture was copied from the April 2010 issue of "The Classic Motorcycle" and shows a few remarkable details I had not noticed before.

Both tanks are polished and plated in chrome or nickel and so are the handlebars and clamps. It still has inverted levers; the throttle is operated via a modern twist grip  The brake plates are of a very light color, were they plated too? Spokes and rims were painted black while the nipples were plated. The rear wheel is 19" while the front rim is 21". The front forks are heavy duty TT Webbs; note the rubber stops fitted below the lower spindles. The anchor of the Andree steering damper is still fitted to the top of the petrol tank. The engine still has an oil return pipe from the cambox to the crankcase like the Moore engines. The petrol pipe is in rubber covered by a metal spring. The magneto is an ML 'square body'. The metal box in front of the cylinder contains oil to lubricate the primary chain. The gearbox probably is a Sturmey Archer 4 speed and has a positive stop mechanism fitted.

Valve guides

This is the inlet valve guide of my 1927 OHV flat tank Norton and it should win me the award for "Most Worn Valve Guide Ever". The previous owner told me it was difficult to start the engine; I'm not surprised, it must have sucked more air via the valve guide than via the carb!

Two 16H Nortons

Two 16H Nortons; the one in the lower picture is a 1946 model, one of the last Nortons to be equipped with girder forks. The other 16H is a late 1930s model and at least younger than 1935 as the lock on the toolbox is on top; compare this to this 1935 model. Note the many other differences; the older model has an 8" headlight, paneltank, front brake on the left hand side, dolls head gearbox, oilpressure tell-tale...

The photo's look like factory shots to me; the white sheet was used to provide an even background. Does anyone know who the three gents are?

Roger's & Tim's comments:

"The top picture shows the registration COV169 which is a Birmingham registration dating to January 1937."


"I think the date will be 1936 or 1937, because it is fitted with the 2 brush dynamo system and regulator box fitted above the toolbox this first came out in 1936 and took over from the 3 brush type which had the half charge resistor in the switch and no regulator/cutout box. The engine is the redesigned type as it has the 2 small oil drain pipes in the timing chest. The flywheels are also thinner than the 1935 model and the valve cover has provision for greasing the valve guides. Cannot think the panel tank would have gone on longer than 1937"

A Glimpse of the Vintage Years of Motorcycling at Brooklands

Roger Bird is a volunteer at the Brooklands Museum where one day he was allowed to to ride the Norton sidecar outfit LPD1; this made such an impression that he ended up owning the machine and researching it's history. In the process he collected a wealth of information on 1920s flat tank Nortons and the people involved with these motorcycles and as Roger likes to share his knowledge he wrote this book on the subject.

The book covers the careers of four of the most successful Norton tuners and riders at Brooklands and continues with a detailed description of their machines. Most interesting, some of the tricks used by Pat Driscoll to tune an M18 engine to produce twice the power output of a standard machine are discussed in detail. Briefly, find yourself a steel crankshaft, an 8,5" conrod, 9-1 compression ratio Martlet piston, IT cams, an M19 cylinder, an early ES2 cylinderhead and an Amac 25 TT carburetter; and make sure assembly is absolutely spot on. Be careful though, the photo above shows what happens when it all goes wrong.

The book is illustrated by numerous pictures of 1920s Norton racers, many of which I had not seen before. All in all a very recommendable book and the title could have been "Norton at Brooklands in the 1920s".

Information on how to obtain your copy of this book can be found via this link.

Lovetts Motorcycle Catalogue for 1928

These are a few pages from a 1928 catalogue from a London motorcycle dealer, sent to me by John in Canada.

Dan O'Donovan and Bert Denly

Dan and Bert in a sidecar racer;  it looks like a 588cc Model 19 and the lack of friction dampers on the Druids may date it as a 1923 machine. Note the skid under the sidecar body that was used at Brooklands to prevent a catastrophe if the sidecar wheel failed.

Martin's comments: "The front and rear wheel rims are Westwood section beaded edge rims while the sidecar wheel is a flat center beaded edge rim, all of which date from perhaps 1923-1924, but the MkII Druid forks may be 1925 or later (see below). They have also fitted a wire device taped across the front tyre called a "Carlton Tyre Saver" which skims the tread as you ride and knocks flints out before they cause a puncture. The sidecar body looks to be skinned in doped canvas and flimsy is too strong a word for it! Denly must have been a brave chap to ride in such a thing..."

Roger in his book also discussed this loop of wire fitted to the front forks with insulating tape. During one of his runs, Bert's back tyre picked up a coil spring from a roller blind which embedded itself in the tread and as the wheel went round the spring lashed Bert's backside. After that incident, these "nail catchers" were fitted to all of his Nortons. The characteristic Denly nail catcher can even be used to identify Bert's bikes, like this one.

...and more comments from Roger: "The sidecars' rims were of the flat beaded edge type right the way up to 1932. Bert used the Westwood section until he joined AJS in 1929 but Pat changed to well based rims in 1927 (see the pictures in Doctor Bayley's book "The Vintage Years at Brooklands"). The picture could have been taken before 1924 which is when silencers were made mandatory at the Brooklands track (the Norton is running the standard length open pipe) and Bert didn't join the team until 1923. I am not sure about the Druids but George Cohen states that the Mk II's were introduced in 1922. The sidecar in the picture may be constructed from strip of wood which can just be made out.  Bert would lay face down and feet forward in the chair for the duration of an outer circuit race.  

B & A Cylinder Head, an Honest Motorcycle Mechanic

I just want to put a shout out to B&A Cylinder Head for being straight with me.

Earlier on a mechanic I've used in the past (name not mentioned as I do not believe in defaming anyone), I was lead to believe that I needed lifters, or (Tappits). His business was out of commission while moving so I started looking elsewhere for some other opinions on what might be wrong with my bike. After talking to some other mechanics, I had got a few opinions that it might not necessarily be my lifters making the ticking noise I was hearing during idle after the motor warmed up. I guess you could say this was an honest mistake, and or misdiagnosis. The only problem is, that misdiagnosis could have, and would have cost me some serious dough to fix absolutely nothing.

Previously, when I had my motor built up a bit, I had my bike Dyno-tuned, so I brought it to the place that did that. It turns out after a trip to B&A Cylinder Head and a Dyno set up that the ticking sound I am hearing is just my motor doing what all or most Harley motors do eventually when they have some miles on them. There is one of several parts that is worn, or off by less than 1,000th of an inch. Not enough for the naked eye to see. He said he could replace those parts for the tune of about $1900.00, and then you would be sure you got which ever one it was that was making that tick, or knock. He also went on to tell me that the noise I am hearing is nothing to worry about and that if it was his bike he would just ride it as is. If I wanted to spend $1900.00 with him, let's have me save up the money versus charging it on my credit card and putting me into debt for nothing. He said later on I could put that money to better use and put some more horsepower between my knees rather than wasting it on chasing a noise that isn't hurting anything. By the way, the diagnosis fee including setting it up on the Dyno., was way less money than what it should have been based on the time he had into figuring out what was wrong with the bike, or in this case being certain that he could say that there was nothing wrong with the bike. But he gave me a figure, and he stuck to it. Did I mention that he came and picked up and delivered my bike to me with his covered trailer, so I wouldn't have to ride it back and forth to his shop in the winter? What Excellent service!

Honesty and word of mouth advertising is EVERYTHING in this business, so I felt it was only fair to spread the word that I have found someone I am willing to share as a good honest motorcycle mechanic. He could have told me that if I didn't spend that $1900.00, my motor was in jeopardy of blowing up, and I would have handed him my credit card.

Needless to say, I'll be saving that money. He'll be seeing more of me in the future, and hopefully more of my friends who ride too.

LPD1

A few weeks ago I got into contact with Roger Bird, volunteer at the Brooklands Museum, writer of the very recommendable book "A Glimpse of the Vintage Years of Motorcycling at Brooklands" and the current custodian of one of the most famous Nortons ever, LPD1. Roger is rebuilding  LPD1 and needs your help, please read his story below:

"LPD1 is well known as one of the most original Brooklands racers to have survived although the name "LPD1" really only applies to the engine as it was the first one that L. P. "Pat" Driscoll produced for the Brooklands Norton works team in 1927. The engine powered the first 500cc motorcycle to achieve more than 100 miles in an hour at Montlhery in June 1927. Pat Driscoll subsequently raced it in both solo and sidecar form with some success including 18 long distance records with Bert Denly in 1928. In its final form it is reputed to have lapped Brooklands at 111mph but was stored in Pat's shed at the Track when he was forced to give up motorcycle racing in 1932 as he was the team leader for the Works Austin racers.

It remained in the shed until the war when at some point it was liberated by an apprentice who constructed a road going version using parts from the shed. The picture taken in 1946 (above) was soon after another two apprentices, Colin and Martin Peal recognised it as a former racer and bought it for £15. They rode it on the road until 1963 when it was bought by Charlie Knight and went on display in Mike Lane's motorcycle shop where it was confirmed by Pat as being the one that had taken the Class F sidecar records.

 When Charlie died it went to Ken Boulter who had discussed its restoration with Pat Driscoll who had asked that it should not be restored to better than new condition as a museum exhibit. Ken interpreted this as meaning that it should had the well used look of Nortons of the O'Donovan era and the 2006 picture (above) illustrates this nicely as it does look as though it has finished an arduous season at Brooklands.

Research for my book led me to question the authenticity of its appearance as 1927 pictures from Pats album showed an immaculately prepared machine with lots of bright parts including the petrol and oil tanks. These were newly tinned so that had the appearance of bright plating and the black enamel was pristine. Discussion with Pat's son confirmed that his father would completely strip all of his machines at the end of the season and have the frames annealed and repainted. He readily agreed that after nearly 20 years LPD1 should have a makeover to take it back to its original 1920s condition and Ken also accepted that this is the right approach.

The 1946 picture shows that there was a lot of bright metal including the exhaust system and rear brake backplate. The oil tank was a dull solder finish as was the large capacity tank although the tank shown in the pictures seems to be painted silver but unlined. Progress is being made at the museum by removing the black paint on the exhaust and generally cleaning up the rest of the machine. For demonstration runs the front and rear brakes will be kept as they are - slowing a sidecar outfit with two large men requires better brakes than it has! However, for the 75th anniversary of the hour record, we are trying to get it back to how it looked in 1927. For this we need two more wheels with rims for the beaded edge tyres favoured by Bert (but not by Pat) with plain hubs so that the front can be unbraked and the rear fitted with a dummy rim for the V-block brake. Does anyone have suitable components for this?"

Roger would like to add that he has a genuine ex-Bert Denly Amac TT25 body, choke and slide available for anyone who can help him with the wheels.

Overhead Sidevalve Norton

This Norton is for sale at Yesterdays. At first glance a normal sidevalve 16H Norton but when you look more carefully you'll note that the inlet stub and the exhaust pipe are not where they ought to be. Some clever modifications went into this engine, apparently in the way the valves are situated.

The engine was discussed in several issue of Old Bike Mart and above is one of the suggestions as to how it could work. In this setup, the valves are opened by the valve springs and closed by the cams. A flaw in this design is that tappet clearance is still required (metal expands when it gets hot) and as the valve springs open the valves, the valves will not close completely unless forced to do so by the cylinder pressure of a running engine. 

This very nice drawing (above) is another suggestion as to how it could work and frankly, I don't get it; there is still a provision for tappet clearance but now the valve springs close the valves; I don't understand what opens the valves unless these "yokes" could pull the valves open in the presence of tappet adjusters.

The photos above show how it actually works in this Norton's engine; the valve springs close the valves as in a normal engine but the modified cam followers pull the valves from their seats. The valve seats are in the cylinder head now and the valve heads are reversed, as predicted.

So what problem has been solved? In my opinion no more than a slightly more efficient gas flow; less bends to take and perhaps a little bit more performance! On the downside, there is a lot of ''play'' in all the parts that move the valves around and it is hard to envision that this engine will be either very quiet or rev like a proper OHV machine.

Thijs of Yesterdays assures that the machine runs very well, and it looks looks like a lot of love and care went into it's construction. A real opportunity to buy a truly unique part of motoring history!

As Others See Us

This is a 1936 Norton brochure (contributed by Wim); too large to reproduce properly on a Blog page but the introduction (copied below) says it all:

"Here are a few letters of appreciation that we have recently received. We did not ask for them - they were sent spontaneously - obviously as the result of the enthusiasm aroused by the splendid performance of the "Unapproachable" NORTON. As you read these letters it must be perfectly clear that only a machine quite out of the ordinary could provoke such genuine approval."

This photo from the brochure shows Jimmy Guthrie on what appears to be a trials version of the M30 International. Fitting an obsolete acetylene lighting kit must have been less work than fitting a magdyno!