PROJECTS

Shovel: although its on the road its still a project, ive altered the swinging arm to give more clearance for the rear wheel to mudguard and it seems to work well but been out on it this morning and the rear pot seems more smokey than ever. The motor had been sat for a good 10 years before i got it so i am thinking stuck rings or marked bore. Away on holiday next week but i recon its engine out when i get back..

Ugly Betty came home this week, or at least this bit of it did. I will just collect parts as and when and hopefully rebuild it at the end of the year for some more Straightlining in 2011.

The GKM Triumph chop is moving along slowly but this is all you get. Buy the mag to see the story.

THREE WHEELS AGAIN

In one of the early Outlaw biker films, Hells Angels 69 possibly, there is a chop with a sidecar, something ive always fancied doing. This one was on ebay last week and would have been cosmic on my Shovel !

and ideal for taking essentials to bike rallies

THE MOST FUN YOU CAN HAVE ON 3 WHEELS

Or none. Taking Ali out for a sunday drive in 1989 at Manby (top) and RAF North Coates. This Sunbeam was the easiest car to drive fast i have ever had, it was semi works built by Talbot Sport for Scottish touring car driver Jenny Birrell who used it on the Scottish and RAC rallies in 1982/3. I literally changed the oil, put petrol in it and went rallying. Brilliant little car. If i remember right the gearbox broke at Manby (number 13!) but we got 2nd in 1600cc class at North Coates.

SOLD

THE TUESDAY TRITON

FOR SALE ?

Saw this in the Nov '74 edition of Bike and started wondering if it was time for the old thing to go to a new home and possibly start a new chapter in its life.


No specs or details required just read any one of these.



£3,500. to save you asking. Contact tri650@live.co.uk I can help with shipping if required.

I reserve the right to change my mind and no it wont be going on eBay.

UGLY BETTY

2007. Some photos i took while the bike was in the studio for Streetfighters mag photo shoot with Louise Cliffe. In the top pic she had just stabbed her finger on some lockwire, not best pleased. Final photo is at East Kirby Straightliners meeting where i made the final in 9.3 class (i lost). I stripped the bike and sold it off in lumps at the end of the year. I kept the frame/tank/seat till the following year but finally let it go to stop myself from building it up again, im buying it back tomorrow !

SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPION

Dont bet against it !. Only his second GP in Sweden last night and he made the semi finals. Chris Holder will win a GP, and soon..

BEING A BLOKE

I got a new compact camera for Christmas (Canon Ixus) but being as i'm a chap i didnt read the instructions i just charged up the battery, put it on auto and pointed. Five months later i've got round to reading the little book, it does all sorts. Not Josh Kurpius but not as crap as before. Now where are the instructions for my phone ?

FRIDAY

Went for my 6 monthly blood pressure checks, yes still too high, drink less, relax more, blah blah, so i went for a relaxing lunch at Rosedale tea rooms on my A10, how terribly English. What the photo doesnt show is that it was windy and cold with a capital F


Got back to work to find a parcel from the US, i asked Randy to mark it "faulty item returned" it worked, no duty to pay !


Better still, inside was this....

Randy has some other Triumph goodies for sale, check out his eBay stuff under username randy3514.

Then i took the swinging arm out of the Shovel (again) and got it ready to weld some new shocker bosses on top to raise the back end a bit. The old hippo bottoms out with the tyre hitting the guard in all the craters left by the frost even with the heavy duty shocks set on an almost rigid setting. Im just thankful for some suspension, North Yorkshire's roads at present are no place for a hardtail


Tomorrows post will be more interesting, promise.

60s DRAGSTER

This must have been one of the first British dragsters, no one knows who, where or when, its a great image though.

SIMON McKINLEY

Most motorsport in Southern Ireland takes place on closed public roads either tarmac rallies or hillclimbs and sprints. If you are minted you have a WRC if not its rear wheel drive, all other 4wd and front wheel drive cars especially are for lasses. With the current economy in the state it is many WRCs are mothballed due to the running expenses but the Escort Mk2s are popular as ever.



This is Simon Mckinley, if you can drive like this you are a god. Turn up the volume, In to 1st, 8,000 on the clock sit back and enjoy if you like this have a look also at the first couple if minutes of Knockalla

THE TUESDAY TRITON

A Triton every Tuesday, forever. Only rules are Featherbed frame, Meriden twin engine..




No excuses for starting with this one that i sold in 2006, it had spent 15 yrs in a cellar before i got it and now lives in a penthouse suite overlooking the Eiffel tower, certainly the prettiest one ive had (so far !).

If you have any photos of Tritons that you have taken please mail them to me, tri650@live.co.uk, ta.

LUCY LU

Lucy is a friend of my daughter Ellis and took some photos of her with my Triton when she was 15.

She's 19 now and specialises in band photography, here is some of her work..

Florence.

Farewell Fall.


Maximo Park.

Big Pink.

Noisettes.

Paulo Nuttela.


Brilliant photos, lots more on her
Facebook site

CANT BE ?

Bought a few old magazines at Rufforth Autojumble yesterday and amongst them were the first 10 issues of Silver Machine, this was a good little mag produced by Mark Williams (the original editor of Bike) in the late 80s. It was later bought out by Myatt Mcfarlane and swallowed up by BSH.
Anyroad im reading through 'em and gets to an article about some cool geezer from the smoke with an A10 cafe racer who took his missis for a ride out, not to Brighton but to Ibiza, and they got there as well...



He was called Matt Davis by the way.

OLIVERS MOUNT

A few shots from Olivers Mount Hillclimb today...










Stu Mills (48), what can you possibly say....