W/NW : Motorcycles

My beloved Bonneville

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coelacanth said:
Thanks bigeye.

She's mostly stock but not "collector grade" stock. Yep the ignition is Boyer, and a few little bits aren't stock (like '68 spec front drum brake, chromed footrests etc, but I'm not a collector and I'll be modifying a few more bits (nothing crazy, but I just can't keep things stock. ;))
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Yes, that's the brake that was on the '70. Mine had Dunlop K70 tires and they were pretty good when fresh. Didn't feel so dicey on sand or exploring 2 tracks. Always wanted to turn it into a street tracker, but didn't have the heart.

A buddy raced Triumphs and beezas in 'scrambles' in the '50s and early '60s. The above looks like a later (post 65) tribsa.
 

Chasing the Sun by Suguru Nishioka, on Flickr

I really gotta find local savvy mechanic folks I can talk to. All old Brit bike guys are down in the South Bay. I used to service my racing bikes (early 90s Japanese motocross bikes like YZ and CR) and owned a modern Bonnie among others (just basic service and modifications only for these), but totally new to 60s Brits...
 
^^ I worked on that vintage of Triumph and BSA when they were new motorcycles, tool
requirements were rather basic,it's the patience that's necessary . Email me, I'd love to help with what I can . Peter
 
Moto-Uno said:
^^ I worked on that vintage of Triumph and BSA when they were new motorcycles, tool
requirements were rather basic,it's the patience that's necessary . Email me, I'd love to help with what I can . Peter
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Thanks Peter. I'll take you up on that offer soon. ;)
 
Bigeye. My friend built this Gold Star ,from bits and pieces that he collected over the years, in the mid 80's to ride the fire roads in the far Northern California. He remounted the swing arm and added the longer shocks. The front has Simmons upside down forks. The engine was built to give good horse power with a wide power band. He used his friend Axtell's original blue prints from the 60's. The head was flowed on Axtell's bench . Intake valve was built from a 2.02" Chevy valve, and the exhaust from a sodirm filled 427 Ford valve. This involved reducing stem and head diameter, shortening, new keeper groves,and hardening the ends. This was toped off with a nice big D'elorto carb. The bike was taken to LA and run on Axtell's dyno and produced a little over 50 horse power.
I never had the opportunity to ride it. I did race against it one time on a mildly hopped up TT 500, and was totaly left in the dust. This bike was featured in Classic Bike Magazine with my photos in the '80's





This is the Gold Star that Axtell tuned to put Sammy Tanner in the championship in (I think) '62, maybe '64, can't remember. This one dyno'd at around 65 horse power, but at that power needed new flywheels each race.





This is the real macoy, many Ascot wins plus the Springfield mile in the '60's with Sammy Tanner riding for Axtell.
 
^ How neat is that to hear Axtell's name. Both my brother and I in the late "70s had
big motored Sportsters . Axtell barrels and S&S flywheels, both bulletproof products in their day and sure helped us stay up with traffic. Later I put that same motor in a Norton featherbed frame. For space and weight reasons I'd left the electric starter off. Took an act of God to start the thing, turns out all I needed was an extra 40 lbs of beef on me to hasten the kick through. Peter
 
Thanks Peter perhaps I can find some more. I must admit I do have an interest in older bikes , when I was a kid I had two older brothers who both had bikes . I had afew interesting bikes of my own like a Maserati 50cc racer loads of matchless singles two with alloy barrels etc.
 
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