Very OT -- for the Motorcycle Guys

Yeah, that place is by McCarren Park. There are certain places I don't go to, for financial reasons; and vintage Italian cafe racer shops, along with rare book and vintage camera stores, is one of them.

Here's a little tit for tat, Barret- been to the vintage camera store on Manhattan Ave. recently? Nice little selection of Canon, Nikon, Ikon, and Voigltander rangefinders in there right now. And a few Russian 'finders as well...

-grant
 
I've probably shown you all this before, but here's the last bike I owned.. a modern classic '85 Honda Interceptor.. it was the handling bike I ever had, and just the right size for cruising around town.. photos were taken a week before I sold it
 
JoeFriday said:
somehow this thread reminds me of an article I read in a cycle rag many years ago, about the Iron Butt Rally.. anybody ever hear of it?
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1000 miles a day for 11 days? No way with my bike! On a sunny day I may get from Troy to New York without the help of a trailer 🙂
 
JoeFriday said:
somehow this thread reminds me of an article I read in a cycle rag many years ago, about the Iron Butt Rally.. anybody ever hear of it?

http://www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/default.cfm
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I'm a member; have applied twice to do the rally but have not yet been accepted. I've done a few of their other rides (1000 miles in 24 hours, 1500 miles in 24 hours, and 3000 miles in 48 hours), it's fun if you're interested in that sort of riding. I've always liked to leave before dawn and ride into the night anyway so it suits me well.
 
My first bike was a '65 trumpet that i rebuilt in mt living room. Then I got a '77 Low Rider with my re-enlistment bonus and when it was stolen I got an '81 low rider. My current rebuild projact is a '73 H-D Servi-car 45 CI and completely original except for the rear box and the seat covering
 
Oh dear, now you've gone and done it!

Up till now I've been over the moon with a nice new Suzi 650 'V' twin with the half pointy bit on the front, semi rear set pegs n clip ons (SV650S in the UK). I've even been happy running it in........... until now...... , man I had a proper T140V Bonnie that went from zero to an ton in a bang and odd noises followed by severe power loss, yup it blew up but thats another story for another time. But thats not it, it was incredible fun (to kick start is yet another story for yet another time) to ride, incredible low center of gravity that you could hurtle round the outside of any modern sprts bike on traffic roundabouts (traffic circles to some US bods) and assuming you did not fall off on the oil that you were dumping either from the crank cases or the breather (yeah right!) pipe you looked really cool.

And that it, it had character, many faults (even more in the wet) but when it went well it was sheer joy.

Oddly the single most irritable aspect of my old Bonnie was that the seat was stitched, great idea until it rains and the seat foam filled up. You could have several sunny dry days and get off the bonnie with a soggy bum (not due to medical condition honest)

Did I mention I use a Leica and a Bessa L?

I'll get my coat......



Note: new bike was instead of a new 75 Cron. Thats it off to read the tealeaves
 
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grantray said:
Yeah, that place is by McCarren Park. There are certain places I don't go to, for financial reasons; and vintage Italian cafe racer shops, along with rare book and vintage camera stores, is one of them.

Here's a little tit for tat, Barret- been to the vintage camera store on Manhattan Ave. recently? Nice little selection of Canon, Nikon, Ikon, and Voigltander rangefinders in there right now. And a few Russian 'finders as well...
Click to expand...

Oh, but do I feel your pain.

Yep, I swing by Albert's from time to time (great collection, priced just a tad high IMO...but he's got the rent to deal with). Last time I poked my head in there I had one of my Hexar RFs in tow; he gave me a hard time about buying a camera from a company "that stole Leica's lens mount". Somehow, explaining that the patent on that mount had expired didn't seem to cut much ice with him. Knowing him as well as I do, I declined to push the matter further. 😱


- Barrett
 
Paulbe said:
Ahhhhh finally! Thanks Rick for mentioning HD---wouldn't have been a real MotorCycle thread without it! 🙂 🙂
Paul
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Yep, and if they want to talk about iron butt, I drove that 77 Low rider from San Diego, Ca. to N La. in a 3 day marathon and then in '81 i drove from here to Sturgis, SD only stopping for gas.
 
Paulbe said:
Ahhhhh finally! Thanks Rick for mentioning HD---wouldn't have been a real MotorCycle thread without it! 🙂 🙂
Paul
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Can't beat the sound of a good Vee twin, not like these multi pot modern mental revving mega bombs, although I do prefer the 90 degree V of the Duke.

I guess it's that un definable thing called character that sets them apart, a Duke is more than a HD with short forks but they share the V.

Anyone want a new Suzi? Apart from me 🙂
 
My father restores bikes in his garden shed.
see here (1945 Matcless G80L 500cc single)
here (1939 BSA)
here (1961 AJS Model 14 250cc)
and here (1961 Norton Dominator 88 Deluxe)

Now it's a real motorcycle thread. 😉

He has two other Matchlesses but they weren't out the day I took these.
 
So, Rich C, are you at wildguzzi.com? Seems I remember your bike. Mine's a 77.

Taffer, for the sake of Barcelona's pride, I have a Bultaco Metralla Mk2 Kit America in my garage, with a TSS fairing. Also a Frontera.

And we even have Morini risers here-my wife had a 3 1/2 and a 500 Sport-she still misses the 350, though. She was riding one in Putney, VT when we met Carlton Palmer, he of many Vincents. I have a photo ofa Vincent with a lot of Lightning bits in my gallery.

Back on topic-a Spitfire is supposed to be one of the more temperamental BSAs ever. Are you going to get it?
 
Andy K said:
My father restores bikes in his garden shed.
see here (1945 Matcless G80L 500cc single)
here (1939 BSA)
here (1961 AJS Model 14 250cc)
and here (1961 Norton Dominator 88 Deluxe)

Now it's a real motorcycle thread. 😉

He has two other Matchlesses but they weren't out the day I took these.
Click to expand...
Just one word...Wow! (What a collection)
Thank you for the pics!
 
MY '77 is the gray one, the '81 is the one in front of my nephews shop . I don;t have any photos of the police servi-car as it is still in the rebuild stage,
 
amateriat said:
Oh, but do I feel your pain.

Yep, I swing by Albert's from time to time (great collection, priced just a tad high IMO...but he's got the rent to deal with). Last time I poked my head in there I had one of my Hexar RFs in tow; he gave me a hard time about buying a camera from a company "that stole Leica's lens mount". Somehow, explaining that the patent on that mount had expired didn't seem to cut much ice with him. Knowing him as well as I do, I declined to push the matter further. 😱


- Barrett
Click to expand...

If he does so again, remind him that Leica used the Zeiss formula for they're early asph lenses. That should get a smirk out of him!

-grant
 
Andy K said:
My father restores bikes in his garden shed.
see here (1945 Matcless G80L 500cc single)
here (1939 BSA)
here (1961 AJS Model 14 250cc)
and here (1961 Norton Dominator 88 Deluxe)

Now it's a real motorcycle thread. 😉

He has two other Matchlesses but they weren't out the day I took these.
Click to expand...


Brilliant! thanks for the links, I see that some still carry the old road tax disc, no longer needed for old stuff. Well done.

Cheers!
 
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