DUKE FLAT-TRACKER

 I had a full day in the shed yesterday, so i managed to finnish the frame for my DUKE.
Looks allright i reckon and it gives the steering loads more clearance.

Then today i was pissing about trying to get a set of forks and yolks to fit. 
After heating and beating i managed to get the steering stem out of some FZ750 yolks. Then after some Freezing and heating i managed to fit the stem to some SLABSIDE yolks ( triple trees if your American). Bloody result i just need some bearings then my forks will fit. 
Only problem is that the tank i made dosn't fit the new frame. Oh well, i can sort that.

CORNWALL

 Just had a couple of sneaky days in Cornwall. 
About 2 hrs drive away is the coast famous for Smuggeling and Tin Mining. In fact the inventor of the "high pressure steam engine-was built by Richard Trevithick (a Cornish man) also builder of the first full scale steam powered locomotive.

 The sea was stormy and mingin but i still managed a surf.
I cant remember the last time i went for a surf. It scared me a little as my lack of fitness made the possibility of "Puking my guts out in the line up" quite high. But i'm still alive and it feels good to have sea water running out of my nose once again.

But mostley we spent our time in the PUB......

NO YOU CANT HAVE ONE (not yet anyway)

I finished writing my book, but i still dont have a publisher for it yet. But i printed and bound a few copies for my family. It was a major ball ache but i'm preaty chuffed with the results. 
If i find a publisher ill let you know, other wise ill just have to make more. But its' so time consuming ill have to charge £25 and know body would want to pay that.

INDIAN FLAT-TRACKER

 A very good friend of mine gave me a copy of this print, for Christmas (Thankyou Paul).
I dont know Who it is , but ive done some poking around on the internet and I think it may be 
Ed Kretz.

 This is Ed Kretz 
Ed "Iron Man" Kretz Raced between the late 30's and 1940's and had many victories including 
 The Savannah 200mile road race 
the Daytona 200
And the Langhorne 100 mile.
Imagine racing for 200 miles on an Indian Scout.

 To me the bike looks very similar to the picture i got but 'Kretz' is running the No 38, where as on my picture the bike is No 31??
Does anybody Know  any different?

 Either way searching the internet and finding all these great pictures 
is bloody inspiring.
 Read more on 
Ed Kretz..... HERE



Ed Kretz also rode for Triumph


I love the pic of him with the 
Lovely Lady below, although
that may be his son.

IT'S NOT RAINING, IT'S NOT ICEY AND IM NOT AT WORK

No one on the road cus they're all fighting over the last "fujiwosit", or what ever the latest piece of cheep crap is the most sort after thing in the shops.
So i went for a nice blast over the moors LOVELY.....

WEIRD LYRICS....

 Some lyrics are funny, some are fucked up and some are just bloody WEIRD.
"I eat my dinner, I eat my pork and beans, I eat more chicken than any man ever seen.."
The Doors "Back Door Man"

 "You think his head was only there to keep his ears apart"
Wise word from Hank Williams. I cant remember which song though.

 "I got a handle on reality- It came off in my hands"
"The diners I eat aint wholesome, Think what you will about that"
"ladies and gentlemen attention please, I'm living on a diet of cold baked beans"
"I saw you play in London, your band was really shit and you forgot the lyrics to your one and only hit"
This album is BRILLIANT you must hear it. Nigel Lewis and the Zorchmen...

 The master of bizzare lyrics Ronnie James Dio.
"Ride the Tiger, you can see his stripes but you know he's clean. Don't you see what i mean?"
Actually Ronnie, I haven't got a fuckin clue....

 "If you're lookin for the one who fucked your mum, it's not me."
"I got an itch in my cosmic pocket and it wont go away."
"So wont you cover my dick in plastic, and put my brain in a Jar, their's something left of my spirit, it'll find you where ever you are."
I bloody love MONSTER MAGNET but i haven't got a clue what they're singing about. (which is ok. as Ignorance is bliss.)

 " Think you look so good in your new t'shirt, seems you forgot how you made me hurt. Makes me laugh to see that name on you're TITS, thinkin you're PUNK just gives me the SHITS."

Joey Ramone. by THE SKUFFED KNUCKLES........
The SKUFFED KNUCKLES were the best or worst band ever, but what they lacked in tallent they made up for with VOLUME...
If you have never seen the SKUFFED KNUCKLES then you have missed out, as I doubt you will ever see them again.

If you don't recognise them (why would you?  here's a clue .....IT'S ME) But you may recognise the Nacho Libre costume...Pete... Here is a close-up of the lead Screamer.

Mmmmmmmm.

Thats in my house.. That is.. 
Guess what i'll be doing over Christmass?????

TIME TO CUT UP A PERFECTLY GOOD DUCATI

 OOPS
I DECIDED TO CHANGE ONE OF THE FRAME SECTIONS AT A TIME, SINCE THERE ARE FOUR OF THEM, IT WILL SAVE ME FROM BOLTING IT INTO A FRAME JIG i hope

 I'm quite chuffed how the first one has panned out

You can see how  much difference there is, in the amount i can turn the forks now.

DUKE FLAT-TRACK PROJECT

Mert Lawwill

 Today i managed to get a bit of "Shed time".
There's not pictures though as i spent most of my time drawing and "Mulling"..
i had to figure out what forks i would use.

Dave Aldana ,
 Feet up, head down , HAVIN IT

 To be able to get the bike sideways and not get high-sided into "broken-coller-ville" you need quite a lot of  stearing Lock . The Ducati has the stearing of an oil tanker. 
Idially I need 25 degree rake and 3.5 inches of trail. with my Fz 750 forks i have the 25 degree rake but 5" of trail. 
Between 3 and 5 " of trail is normally ok  so i think ill just have to try out what i have.

I have figured that my forks will work with the wheel and they wont hit the motor. 
Now tommorro all i need to do  is cut and reshape the front section of the frame to give me more movement in the stearing.
Then i can get seriously sideways like Dave Aldana here...

I'M ASHAMED

Only one of you spotted my deliberate mistake (AHemm).....
that lovely Suzuki chop is a Honda.
As Hugo says "Don't believe what you read on the internet"

A NICE WARM FEELING INSIDE

 There hasnt been much work (Infact there hasnt been any work) for weeks, on my bikes as with moving back into our old house there was lots of jobs to do. 
But after an epic weekend of ...
Clearing out one shed.
Taking all the shit to the dump.
Re-roofing the old shed, so that i could have somewhere dry to put all the shit that was in MY shed.
Then finally making space so that i could fit my woodburner. 
But now i have heat and tomorrow ill have Electric aswell.
Finally ill be able to sort out the DUKE./.

The wood burner used to be in a van that i used to live in. It was built by a friend of mine( hes a blacksmith and makes lovely AXES.
Lighting that wood burner again after so many years made me feel lovely. What also made me feel lovely was discovering an old hip-flask full of Taquila( i had to have a celibratery slurp, or two)
"NICK NICK....... INDIANS!"

IT'S SUZUKI SATURDAY

 Bloody lovely little chop.

 Very cool classic chopper

 Bonkers handlebars on this intruder1400

 This is very cool..
But not as cool as the next two..

 RATBIKES KICK ASS

ESPETIALLY WHEN THEY ARE PARKED ON A SALTY DESSERT- TYPE PLACE..
Shame about the chemical toilets in the back ground.

HOW COOL IS THAT ??

 What appears to be a very nice building..

 Is in-fact a very cool model.
I know it has nothing to do with bikes but.... as i was walking past a roomat work, looking to steel some biscuits, I spotted this inside.
It is a model produced by an Arcitect/Designer that we work with from time to time.
He is trying to get somebody interested in building this.
The model is laser cut ply-wood and would cost a packet ( i think).
The real thing would cost a lot more.
But how many bikes could you fit in it????

COLD CLEAR DAYS.

At last it stopped raining. Then today it started again.
I havent got much news on my Duke project as i changed the tyre today with a hangover, pinched the iner-tube, spat my dummy, then went to bed.
Tyre was a fucker to fit so ill take it to a workshop to get it done next time.