A mastermind of engine technology. Mr Turner stands with the marvel of the vertical twin used for nigh- on fifty years. Here’s the birth of a child of the British motorcycle industry: its first iteration a 500cc Speed Twin.
Looks good now; it must have looked outstanding back then. The modern day Bonneville T100 takes a serious visual note from this very engine.
The Bonnie has been suffering from a little wet-sumping. That’s motorcycle incontinence to the general public; with this Triumph typically when a mote of debris has been sucked up from the scavenger into the oil pump. Itself a pair of pistons driven from an eccentric pin off the inlet camshaft.
Sprung ball bearings prevent backflow but can be jammed open with said unwanted grunge. Access and disassembly is straight forward under timing cover.
Buttoned-up, kicked over and timing sweetened. Took the old gal around the block and all seems good.
Angry Toy: Black brick biker (*assembly required).
I learned a lit about how things are built using the basic blocks of LEGO. These days there are countless mouldings to allow anything to be made. Early Technic sets started the idea of gears, axles, riveted beams and the like.
An early motorbike kit had the option of building a combination or chopper, both with working piston engine and chain drive.
I loved the assembly drawings.
The bowels of the Bonnie: several hours of close inspection and reconnecting the synaptic parts of the central nervous system, or loom, looking for escaping electrons. A few joints looked suspect so were replaced.
Wiring reminds me of a plate of pasta; you need to follow it strand by strand. Add sauce and then things get interesting. Of course there is that intersection on the M6 near Birmingham. The traffic equivalent of my motos wiring. Take a wrong slip road and you’ll end up in Edgbaston rather than Wolv’rampton…
Gravelly Hill Interchange.
Keeping on this Gremlin theme here’s another informational graphic. It taken a mere hairline crack in a ships hull to let in water allowing it to rust out and leak or fracture. “Keep the Navy Afloat”.
Same with motorcycle frames- all joints need to be solid and secure. Don’t let those little bugger’s in!
Fall temperatures are here, and with them a bit of color to add to the backdrop to a ride-out. Color was my language too with six breakdowns on the ride home. Engine cutting out. After fettling a couple of loose connections under the seat, twiddling air screws on the Amals and pulling the plugs to view their condition. It’s all pointing to an electrical issue somewhere… A gremlin has taken up residence in the workings and I need to flush ‘im out….
A current offering on the online bidding site EBay is a ’65 Triumph Cub. The main photo shows a complete bike looking quite sharp. Big letters state the bike ‘needs some work’ and ‘ran when last in one piece’ also ‘mostly there…’ Well, for $1,750 starting price I would at least want a box of spanners and a workshop manual thrown in! It’s not as adventurous as my project with parts being scoured from all corners of The globe. Here’s another… $699.. More reasonable…
There are several variations for setting up a trials rear wheel. It includes the axle adjustment, brake arm pivot, brake rod or cable, chain tensioning, wheel alignment, chain guarding. Snail cams seem like the way to go for easy adjustability, a thin aluminum guard plate to keep the oily chain off the soft wide knobbly tire, and an underside roller/block pushing up with spring action to eliminate slack.
Looking into the very bowels of a monster. This cutaway engine taken from a Vincent shows the oilways, meshed gears, even the peep of a piston. Blood red slices and shiny ebony skin hint at a vigorous pulse inside.
Forty five years ago. I grew up with this most historic event fresh in the conscience of the world and looked on the people who carried out these endeavors as heros. The iconic image of Buzz Aldrin standing in his “magnificent desolation” shows us the simple askew snapshot of a man standing on another planetary body: explorers indeed.
600 million of earths population watched these ghostly images of Commander Neil Armstrong step onto the surface uttering “One small step for(a) man; one giant leap for mankind”.
This was his first photograph taken with a space prepared Hasselblad (which is still on the moon) The lunar lander Eagles leg harshly shadowed in the vacuum-clear sunlight. Black sky starless under the lunar sun.
Let’s look at a motorcycling link to the Apollo program: a modern day take on the white NASA color scheme of the behemoth Saturn V. This a Kawasaki ZX14 by 2XtreemTV with appropriate black striping. I don’t know about the noseward escape tower… Even the leathers hint at the bulky moonsuits. This bike has 350 bhp. Orbit anyone?
Now to get a sense if scale the Vehicle Assembly Building behind this rider is where the Apollo rockets (and later space shuttles) were pieced together before rolling out to the launch pad.
A view of technician working atop the White Room (where the astronauts enter the Command Module). Vast! This represents the scale of this venture perfect. It wasn’t one, or three, but thousands who realized this dream.
We went to the Moon; but what we really saw was the Earth
Forty five years ago this week a behemoth Saturn V rocket sped three men to a destination with history a quarter of a million mikes away. One of the most fantastic achievements of humans acting collectively with a sure goal.
Wouldn’t things have been more fun if they had a moon-moto to scoot about the dusty surface see here being tested in the infamous low gravity inducing ‘vomit comet’.
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“Invention is the most important product of man’s creative brain. The ultimate purpose is the complete mastery of mind over the material world, the harnessing of human nature to human needs.” Nikola Tesla 10 July1856- 7 January 1943. Electrical Engineer, scientist, inventor, genius
On this day, July 3rd, in 1938 the Number 4468 Mallard set the speed record for a steam locomotive. Going like the clappers with a full head of steam reaching 125.88 mph (202.58 km/h). The record was achieved on 3 July 1938 on the slight downward grade of Stoke Bank south of Grantham on the East Coast Main Line; the highest speed being recorded at milepost 90¼, between Little Bytham and Essendine.
The blue streamlined bodywork harks the zenith of the steam age. Like Malcolm Campbell’s Bluebird cars and boats the sapphire tone yells speed. The black eyebrow swoosh arched lines over the 4-6-2 wheel arrangement is pure form. These wheel skirts were designed by railway engineer Oliver Bulleid with an obvious aerofoil profile – making an engineering need an aesthetic boon.
For the trainspotters out there: this ‘Streak’ is London & North Eastern Railway LNER Class A4 Pacific Steam Locomotive built in Doncaster Yorkshire in 1938. One of 35 engines built, designed by Sir Herbert Nigel Greeley its job was to get passengers from London, through York and Newcastle and on up to Edinburgh.
Before computers drove the shape of the aerodynamic form it was up to the car designer to devise of the curved lines of bodywork to wrap the chassis, engine and seating compartment.
Sculpture on wheels each with a face and body as recognizable as any old family member.
Friends that always continue the conversation where you left off…
Art becomes Art. Looking at, and analyzing, the outline of these beauties, seeing how the curve flows.
There are details that become the marques signature: BMW’s central grill for example. The 2002’s shows this off well.
An E Type’s rear end complements the long engine-full front so well. Perfection!
Even a German next to an Briton looks sumptuous.
Then there’s the cockpit… That another story*
*I didn’t get any images at this car show of walnut dash and leather seat or wood steering wheel and Smiths clocks… Next time!
A classic car and motorcycle show on a couple of closed off streets in Winnetka was attended today. All European stuff. And NICE stuff too! Today I’ll concentrate if the Crown Jewels of the show: a splendid display of no less than 11 Vincents. Quite overwhelming and each individual. The first is a ’52 Black Lightning – just like Richard Thompsons song of the same name. Just in need of a Red Molly to take it for a ride.
The engine as Art…
This one was obviously a rider: high mileage patina and oily rag polish achieve a glowing life to it. Give me an open road and no particular destination…
Egli Vincent: special racer. Take a strong powerplant and bolt it to a lightweight tubular frame dedicated to speed…
“Geriatric Hooliganism” perfect description.
Ed Sender, owner of Morrie’s Place rorted in on his moto. His BSA T-shirt show where his true allegiances lie…
This single cylinder HRD Meteor still looks the part next to its doubled-up brethren. The first true Vincent engine where Phil Irvine worked out many of the motor mechanicals to be seen in Vincents nearly twenty years.
This hyper clean example was a rebuilt barn find. You could stare at your the polished surfaces all day.
The color is perfect: black, metal grey and a hint of gold. The monochrome of a bygone age.
I asked Ed if I could sit on his Vincent, he very kindly allowed me to. A little upright for me. But comfy and everything placed well. Next goal: to take one for a fast spin!
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