AMcN wish all those great people from all around the world having visited this blog trough 2010 a Merry Christmas & a Happy New year.
A special thanks to those making a comment and another special thanks to the owners of all great blogs in our "neighbourhood" on the www.
Take care
Sverre & Øyunn
onsdag 22. desember 2010
lørdag 18. desember 2010
Garage visit
Its winter, WINTER outside. More than 50cm (20") of snow from above so far today. Lets agree, showeling snow is an excersise one easily could live without.
Looking outside make one dream on sunny days, motorbiking or getting some work done in the garage.
Talking on garages, some garages stand out of the crowd - by far.
Not only because there are rare bikes hardly seen but even more as of the atmosphere therein, the fact that those relics displayed in there are used and abused as if the owner have not realised that they are antiques. Most others would leave them for display and getting to know them from when rubbing a rag over their polished chrome details, not this guy.
In this garage is such a lot of knowledge and dedication in details I find it hard not to share some pics taken during a visit a couple of months ago, enjoy,
30ìes VL in Police trim
WR replica and DL racer
37 W in all original condition
B&H shifter all set up for quick action shifting when racing
There is nothing like original paint
Spikes in the front tire for ice racing
WL bobber
Slim lines
Looking outside make one dream on sunny days, motorbiking or getting some work done in the garage.
Talking on garages, some garages stand out of the crowd - by far.
Not only because there are rare bikes hardly seen but even more as of the atmosphere therein, the fact that those relics displayed in there are used and abused as if the owner have not realised that they are antiques. Most others would leave them for display and getting to know them from when rubbing a rag over their polished chrome details, not this guy.
In this garage is such a lot of knowledge and dedication in details I find it hard not to share some pics taken during a visit a couple of months ago, enjoy,
30ìes VL in Police trim
WR replica and DL racer
37 W in all original condition
B&H shifter all set up for quick action shifting when racing
There is nothing like original paint
Spikes in the front tire for ice racing
WL bobber
Slim lines
tirsdag 14. desember 2010
Dressing up
Damned its winter here in ol Norway. Have been 10-24 degree C below for three weeks now. This slowly kreep into your walls and in the end all you do is sticking a new piece of firewood into the oven. Its not comfy working in the lathe at 4-6 degrees C, "but a man got to do" etc.
Have fiddled with the Pan for a couple of evenings, just getting an idea what it will look like eventually.
Slightly modified Superior upsweep muffler, thanks a lot Rondoggie
A pair of blue Doray`s tucked inbetween the rearbumper, had to tailor a bracket for those. Making the rear bumper is more work than one would think before starting at it.
Got this Buco shield in "as new" condition from Tim who used to run his Chief with this for years and years, thanks a lot man for taking such great care of this piece.
Had to tailor a pair of fasteners for the handlebars.
Have fiddled with the Pan for a couple of evenings, just getting an idea what it will look like eventually.
Slightly modified Superior upsweep muffler, thanks a lot Rondoggie
A pair of blue Doray`s tucked inbetween the rearbumper, had to tailor a bracket for those. Making the rear bumper is more work than one would think before starting at it.
Got this Buco shield in "as new" condition from Tim who used to run his Chief with this for years and years, thanks a lot man for taking such great care of this piece.
Had to tailor a pair of fasteners for the handlebars.
onsdag 8. desember 2010
tirsdag 7. desember 2010
American Motorcycles
This pic show an Indian power Plus from 1915-16. Indian introduced their new sidevalve engine in 1915 but stayed with the old "Hedstrøm" inspired chassis for another two seasons.
mandag 6. desember 2010
AmericanMotorcycles
Mother Vilhelmine, Father Carl and in between is little Elise.
This is a single cylinder Hedstrom Indian lightweight from around 1914ìsh.
fredag 3. desember 2010
The story of Bjarne Wist a motorcyclist and his Harley factory racer.
Bjarne Wist (1894-1989) grew up with 10 siblings on the family farm from which he got his surname, Wist in Sparbu outside the town of Steinkjer. The farm was located along the road that today is the main road from north to south of Norway, E6 and from an early age he was inspired by cars and motorcycles passing by the farm. If he spotted a vehicle he would run down next to the road to get a glimpse.
From schoolboy years he grew a huge fascination for the thrill of speed. As a young man Bjarne in 1920 had the opportunity to ride from Trondheim to Christiania (the former name of Oslo, capitol of Norway) as passenger in a car owned by a relative that had emigrated to the US. This relative,Ole Røstø vacating in his old country had become a pioneer of early aviation in USA. He had been air born in a self constructed plane as early as 1909.
Ole (aka Olivier) Rosto driving his Packard with young Bjarne as one of his passengers, picture is taken while they crossed the Hemnekjølen mountains.
This car ride must have inspired young Wist, as not long after he in partnership with two childhood friends O. I. Iversen and Petrus Aalberg bought the wreck of a military seaplane that had crashed near the city of Trondheim. Iversen had a small workshop in Steinkjær where the three comrades restored aircraft. When the plane was all done, they agred that they would only tax the plane on the fjord since none of them had ever flown nor had any experience with flying.
They soon discovered that they had gotten the airplane's center of gravity slightly out of balance. Poor Aalberg had to sit on the tail when the plane was taxing on the fjord for the first time, Bjarne Wist in control of throtle and Iverson in control of the helm. Things did not go as planned and as the plane picked up speed it suddenly took off in a stall and the entire plane landed upside down. Luckily all three survived though it took time before Iversen came loose from cockpit.
There was lots of audience at shore and in boats on the fjord to see the daredevils, and they were soon rescued by a boat arriving the scene.
This single event set a stop to the young men's career in aviation. Wist now turned his eyes on motorcycling to get thrills and speed. He soon bought a motorcycle and started competing in different sports and he soon did very well, primarily in racing oval horse tracks, the precursor of speedway. In Norwegian this was called “rundbane”. His nearest race track was located at Trondheim stadium Øya, in the middle of town.
This track was inspired by the more professional tracks on the continent as they had made the curves of the track angled upwards by stacking mud and gravel. Bjarne made himself an unbeatable driving technique in order to minimize lap times. He was careful in not getting too far out trough the curves and thus saving much time. Drivers visiting from the clubs in Oslo did not master this technique and Bjarne was considered unbeatable at his hometowns number one race track. Bjarne was one of the first Norwegians riding with steel shoe at his left foot, to be able to slide trough the curves. Skipping the footboards got him plenty of extra lean trough the curves. He did also drive with steel studs in both front and rear tires. His style of riding was pretty much as in modern time speedway and must have impressed his challengers.
This picture show Bjarne Wist using his skills getting trough the curve of Trondheim stadium.
Bjarne once told in an interview he had broken both arms and legs but never in competition, just during practise.
Times for sure where different from today when Bjarne practiced his skills, racing his motorbike at the local tarmac. None complained in the roaring noise even if afternoon or night and in the middle of town with loads of surrounding neighborhoods!
Oval track racing was a popular sport in Trondheim during the twenties and thirties. In those years a race could draw a crowd of thousands of people as audience. It was 7-8 active drivers in Trondheim at the time when Bjarne was racing. Most used standard machines that were rebuilt as needed.
The guys mixed their own alcohol-based fuel mixtures and experimented with their engines to achieve maximum efficiency. This was not always as successful as intended the motors reliability would suffer.
Bjarne started his career as a motorcycle racer with Indians, first off a modified 500 cc Indian Scout, later an Indian Chief.
The below news paper clippings show results from a race held in Trondheim, one that took place at the Korketrekkeren, a famous race held in Oslo and finally one clip showing that Bjarne did compete in the 6 days ISDT rally held in Scandinavia where the riders drove both in Sweden and in Norway. This ISDT rally was the fourth ever held. All three clips are from news papers dated to 1923.
Later Bjarne would favorite Harley Davidson and his Harley racer was obtained trough Sørensen and Balchen in Oslo who at the time was the Harley import to Norway. They supplied Norwegians with their Harleys into the late forties. Bjarnes Harley racer must have been purchased in 1926-27 by studying the details in images available of the bike.
This Harley racer was a very fast machine but Bjarne described its engine as somewhat "tender" or “fragile”. Mechanics on this racing Harley was taken care of by a local motorcycle mechanic Olav T. Ness, who ran a motorcycle repair shop in Møllenberg in Trondheim. This guy was trusted by Bjarne to be in charge of tuning and maintaining the engine as well as the bike.
The below picture was taken just before the start of a race at Trondheim Stadium in 1928. Pay particular attention to the mascot on the middle of the bikes handlebars. This little toy is seen in other pictures of the bike too.
Bjarnes Harley factory racer built for European racing was a 1000cc (61”), supplied with the original 3 speed gearbox. This was quite different from in the US where they would skip the entire gearbox. Harley additionally made a two speed gearbox intended for the UK, Australian and New-Zealand dirt track markets.
The frame of the bike where of Keystone type in wich the engine acts as a part of the frame structure as well as the steel plates on each side of the engine crank cases support the engine allowing increased performance and higher revs during racing. Most for sure this bike was supplied from the factory with a twin cam motor, unfortunately the timing side of the engine is not seen in any picture found yet. A Schebler AMX racing carburetor designed for alcohol (barrel carburetor) is clearly seen in the detailed pictures. Unfortunately the motor did not survive and was replaced in the early thirties by a JAP V-twin engine. This was run on alcohol too.
"A thrilling motorcycle race".
This is “Adresseavisens”, the local newspaper of Trondheim`s headline in connection with the race held at the stadium in Trondheim in 1928. In this race, one can see that most bikes are converted standard machines whilst Helge Larsen, start number 11`s Harley is more modified to look like a real racer. Bjarne Wist`s bike is the only “real” racing machine in the event.
In the picture below one can study the participants at the 1928 race that took place at Trondheim stadium. At the far left is Bjarne Wist, well dressed in suit and tie, then a Harley, two Indian Scouts, a single-cylinder Harley, an elderly Indian Power Plus with a Harley by his side, a four-cylinder ACE and at the far right a view of Helge Larsen`s Harley racer. The license plate on the front mudguard of Larsens mount tell us that this hopped up Harley was used in the streets as well as on the tarmac.
Bjarne Wist ready to take off. Left foot on the clutch, and full throttle.
Bjarne did participate in numerous events taking place in other parts of the country too, as in Oslo. Here too, the newspaper clips tells us his he did well and ranked high. The below clip from Bjerkebanen first weekend in September 1929 show he won his class.
In addition to oval racing he as mentioned earlier participated several times in the Korketrekkeren with good results as in 1923 and in 1925, now riding a Harley Davidson.
Bjarne drove many regularity trials too, on open roads locally and he once in his career joined the in its time famous test of strength and reliability; the Kristiania Trondheim and return. This was a total distance of more than 1000km on gravel roads, facing snow across the mountains passes. This one time when Bjarne participated he was mounting a Henderson who by his own words was a very reliable machine for long distances with its four-cylindered engine. This was not a speed contest, participants drove on ideal time and it was not allowed to break speed limits.
Bjarne found it to challenging competing in this rally as he had to go to Oslo in advance of the run and back after having completed, this giving a total of more than 2000km.
In 1932 Bjarne and his wife started a gas station in Trondheim and eventually this turned into a larger shop selling cars. As the company grew it was harder to find spare time for motorcycling. His wife had to manage the business while he went off to join races.
The motorcycle hobby was not at all cheap and much was sacrificed in order to continue racing.
Bjarne drove the Harley brand as transportation too. This capture from when he visited a ice race at leangen in the early thirties.
Tough still, after having become a major part in Trondhjems business he kept his interest in the sport and he was an obvious pick when flowers where to be given to Basse Hveem after winning a national speedway championship held in Trondheim in 1952
In the late seventies Bjarne still keeping his old Harley racer was contacted by Norwegian Technological museum as they where to display motorcycles in an upcoming exhibition. He then chose to donate his bike to the museum where it still is resting next to another speedway heros bike, Basse Hveems home built JAP racer.
Bjarne Wist`s Harley racer next to Basse Hveems JAP racer at NTM.
When NRK (Norwegian broadcasting) interviewed Bjarne Wist in 1984 at the age of 90 years, he still appreciated the thrill of speed and frequently used his red sports car.
Sources;
NRK's archives, Aftenposten archives Adresseavisens archives, museum archives Sverresborg, Bjarne Wist d.y.
Editors note;
If anyone still wonder where the cutdowns and bobbers origin from, eh have a guess.
From schoolboy years he grew a huge fascination for the thrill of speed. As a young man Bjarne in 1920 had the opportunity to ride from Trondheim to Christiania (the former name of Oslo, capitol of Norway) as passenger in a car owned by a relative that had emigrated to the US. This relative,Ole Røstø vacating in his old country had become a pioneer of early aviation in USA. He had been air born in a self constructed plane as early as 1909.
Ole (aka Olivier) Rosto driving his Packard with young Bjarne as one of his passengers, picture is taken while they crossed the Hemnekjølen mountains.
This car ride must have inspired young Wist, as not long after he in partnership with two childhood friends O. I. Iversen and Petrus Aalberg bought the wreck of a military seaplane that had crashed near the city of Trondheim. Iversen had a small workshop in Steinkjær where the three comrades restored aircraft. When the plane was all done, they agred that they would only tax the plane on the fjord since none of them had ever flown nor had any experience with flying.
They soon discovered that they had gotten the airplane's center of gravity slightly out of balance. Poor Aalberg had to sit on the tail when the plane was taxing on the fjord for the first time, Bjarne Wist in control of throtle and Iverson in control of the helm. Things did not go as planned and as the plane picked up speed it suddenly took off in a stall and the entire plane landed upside down. Luckily all three survived though it took time before Iversen came loose from cockpit.
There was lots of audience at shore and in boats on the fjord to see the daredevils, and they were soon rescued by a boat arriving the scene.
This single event set a stop to the young men's career in aviation. Wist now turned his eyes on motorcycling to get thrills and speed. He soon bought a motorcycle and started competing in different sports and he soon did very well, primarily in racing oval horse tracks, the precursor of speedway. In Norwegian this was called “rundbane”. His nearest race track was located at Trondheim stadium Øya, in the middle of town.
This track was inspired by the more professional tracks on the continent as they had made the curves of the track angled upwards by stacking mud and gravel. Bjarne made himself an unbeatable driving technique in order to minimize lap times. He was careful in not getting too far out trough the curves and thus saving much time. Drivers visiting from the clubs in Oslo did not master this technique and Bjarne was considered unbeatable at his hometowns number one race track. Bjarne was one of the first Norwegians riding with steel shoe at his left foot, to be able to slide trough the curves. Skipping the footboards got him plenty of extra lean trough the curves. He did also drive with steel studs in both front and rear tires. His style of riding was pretty much as in modern time speedway and must have impressed his challengers.
This picture show Bjarne Wist using his skills getting trough the curve of Trondheim stadium.
Bjarne once told in an interview he had broken both arms and legs but never in competition, just during practise.
Times for sure where different from today when Bjarne practiced his skills, racing his motorbike at the local tarmac. None complained in the roaring noise even if afternoon or night and in the middle of town with loads of surrounding neighborhoods!
Oval track racing was a popular sport in Trondheim during the twenties and thirties. In those years a race could draw a crowd of thousands of people as audience. It was 7-8 active drivers in Trondheim at the time when Bjarne was racing. Most used standard machines that were rebuilt as needed.
The guys mixed their own alcohol-based fuel mixtures and experimented with their engines to achieve maximum efficiency. This was not always as successful as intended the motors reliability would suffer.
Bjarne started his career as a motorcycle racer with Indians, first off a modified 500 cc Indian Scout, later an Indian Chief.
The below news paper clippings show results from a race held in Trondheim, one that took place at the Korketrekkeren, a famous race held in Oslo and finally one clip showing that Bjarne did compete in the 6 days ISDT rally held in Scandinavia where the riders drove both in Sweden and in Norway. This ISDT rally was the fourth ever held. All three clips are from news papers dated to 1923.
Later Bjarne would favorite Harley Davidson and his Harley racer was obtained trough Sørensen and Balchen in Oslo who at the time was the Harley import to Norway. They supplied Norwegians with their Harleys into the late forties. Bjarnes Harley racer must have been purchased in 1926-27 by studying the details in images available of the bike.
This Harley racer was a very fast machine but Bjarne described its engine as somewhat "tender" or “fragile”. Mechanics on this racing Harley was taken care of by a local motorcycle mechanic Olav T. Ness, who ran a motorcycle repair shop in Møllenberg in Trondheim. This guy was trusted by Bjarne to be in charge of tuning and maintaining the engine as well as the bike.
The below picture was taken just before the start of a race at Trondheim Stadium in 1928. Pay particular attention to the mascot on the middle of the bikes handlebars. This little toy is seen in other pictures of the bike too.
Bjarnes Harley factory racer built for European racing was a 1000cc (61”), supplied with the original 3 speed gearbox. This was quite different from in the US where they would skip the entire gearbox. Harley additionally made a two speed gearbox intended for the UK, Australian and New-Zealand dirt track markets.
The frame of the bike where of Keystone type in wich the engine acts as a part of the frame structure as well as the steel plates on each side of the engine crank cases support the engine allowing increased performance and higher revs during racing. Most for sure this bike was supplied from the factory with a twin cam motor, unfortunately the timing side of the engine is not seen in any picture found yet. A Schebler AMX racing carburetor designed for alcohol (barrel carburetor) is clearly seen in the detailed pictures. Unfortunately the motor did not survive and was replaced in the early thirties by a JAP V-twin engine. This was run on alcohol too.
"A thrilling motorcycle race".
This is “Adresseavisens”, the local newspaper of Trondheim`s headline in connection with the race held at the stadium in Trondheim in 1928. In this race, one can see that most bikes are converted standard machines whilst Helge Larsen, start number 11`s Harley is more modified to look like a real racer. Bjarne Wist`s bike is the only “real” racing machine in the event.
In the picture below one can study the participants at the 1928 race that took place at Trondheim stadium. At the far left is Bjarne Wist, well dressed in suit and tie, then a Harley, two Indian Scouts, a single-cylinder Harley, an elderly Indian Power Plus with a Harley by his side, a four-cylinder ACE and at the far right a view of Helge Larsen`s Harley racer. The license plate on the front mudguard of Larsens mount tell us that this hopped up Harley was used in the streets as well as on the tarmac.
Bjarne Wist ready to take off. Left foot on the clutch, and full throttle.
Bjarne did participate in numerous events taking place in other parts of the country too, as in Oslo. Here too, the newspaper clips tells us his he did well and ranked high. The below clip from Bjerkebanen first weekend in September 1929 show he won his class.
In addition to oval racing he as mentioned earlier participated several times in the Korketrekkeren with good results as in 1923 and in 1925, now riding a Harley Davidson.
Bjarne drove many regularity trials too, on open roads locally and he once in his career joined the in its time famous test of strength and reliability; the Kristiania Trondheim and return. This was a total distance of more than 1000km on gravel roads, facing snow across the mountains passes. This one time when Bjarne participated he was mounting a Henderson who by his own words was a very reliable machine for long distances with its four-cylindered engine. This was not a speed contest, participants drove on ideal time and it was not allowed to break speed limits.
Bjarne found it to challenging competing in this rally as he had to go to Oslo in advance of the run and back after having completed, this giving a total of more than 2000km.
In 1932 Bjarne and his wife started a gas station in Trondheim and eventually this turned into a larger shop selling cars. As the company grew it was harder to find spare time for motorcycling. His wife had to manage the business while he went off to join races.
The motorcycle hobby was not at all cheap and much was sacrificed in order to continue racing.
Bjarne drove the Harley brand as transportation too. This capture from when he visited a ice race at leangen in the early thirties.
Tough still, after having become a major part in Trondhjems business he kept his interest in the sport and he was an obvious pick when flowers where to be given to Basse Hveem after winning a national speedway championship held in Trondheim in 1952
In the late seventies Bjarne still keeping his old Harley racer was contacted by Norwegian Technological museum as they where to display motorcycles in an upcoming exhibition. He then chose to donate his bike to the museum where it still is resting next to another speedway heros bike, Basse Hveems home built JAP racer.
Bjarne Wist`s Harley racer next to Basse Hveems JAP racer at NTM.
When NRK (Norwegian broadcasting) interviewed Bjarne Wist in 1984 at the age of 90 years, he still appreciated the thrill of speed and frequently used his red sports car.
Sources;
NRK's archives, Aftenposten archives Adresseavisens archives, museum archives Sverresborg, Bjarne Wist d.y.
Editors note;
If anyone still wonder where the cutdowns and bobbers origin from, eh have a guess.
torsdag 2. desember 2010
American Motorcycles Norway
Have posted pics previously from the Rjukan Motorcycle Club. This was a huge group of guys who during the earlier years of motorcycling kept close to the US made motorcycle brands. You might remember the homebrew Spanjola 4 cylinder based on a double Indian Powerplus engine.
Rjukan was a small industrial town deep into the valleys in Telemark county, but the amount of bikes was extrordinary.
They did allso run roadtrials and uphill events in smaller scales.
Below a couple of pics from an uphill contest.
Passenger on the rear wheel to keep the wheel gripping the gravel.
This rig is out of power and its crew need to run beside and push.
Rjukan was a small industrial town deep into the valleys in Telemark county, but the amount of bikes was extrordinary.
They did allso run roadtrials and uphill events in smaller scales.
Below a couple of pics from an uphill contest.
Passenger on the rear wheel to keep the wheel gripping the gravel.
This rig is out of power and its crew need to run beside and push.
søndag 28. november 2010
Norsk Motorcykle Klub NMK
In 1916 a group of men came together and founded Norways first Motorcycle club, " Norsk Motorcykel Club ". Sverre Strand was directed as the organisations first chairman, the other 6 founders and members of the board as well as the club where: Halvor Haneborg, Finn Hjortnæs, Tycko Lindros, Macke Nicolaysen, Sverre Nærup og Poul de Roger.
This is a pretty crappy picture of the first Norsk Motorcykle Klub NMK logo, I find the design very cool.
Most of those beeing a member of NMK in these early years where engineers, business managers, wholesalers and in general people from the upper class.
In the early years of the organisation reliability trials where held on public roads, like from one town to another and back. Most of the focus was getting the bike to take the beating of the country roads to get you home.
After the WWI NMK arranged the famous Kristianaia-Trondhjem-Kristiania trial, arranged for the first time 29-31 of August 1919. This was a distance of more than 1000km, an unheard distance back then.
The above scan is from "Norsk Idretts og Sports Blad" covering up the facts on this spectacular event.
17 drivers participated in this first Kristiania-Trondhjem and back trial, 16 Norwegians and one Danish driver. The weather was really bad when crossing the mountains and soon close to half of the participants where out due to technical problems. The remaining ten where true heroes. Events winner was Erik Gotaas at 398 points, second was Oscar Wiger 403 points and third pr. Bjørnstad at 465 points. The Danish participant riding a small BSA crossed the finnish line at 1035 points.
Erik Gotaas who drove his Excelsior celebrated his 20 years birthday at the day of finnishing the trial, a brave youg man compared to his older and more experienced competitors.
Other bikes finnishing where Indians, Harleys and a Reading Standard
On the 7 of desember 1920 "Norsk Motorcykle Klub Kristiania" (now Oslo) was founded as a branch of the existing organisation.
In just a year the club had 288 members, all recomended by a previous member and approved by the club board.
The club arranged several races, one of the first was the "Korketrekkeren race" or in english "the corckscrew race" This was an uphill race from Svendstuen to Frognerseteren, loads of curves rising 250 meters from start to the finnish line.
The first Korketrekkeren was arranged 22 of october 1921, when Macke Nicolaysen NMK Kristiania set a time record of 2.59 1/5.
The picture above is from a race held in 1927 where driver Torbjørn Tollefsen lost control of his Harley outfit coming out of a sharp S curve, throwing his chair monkey Fr. Dieseth out of the chair. This rather spectacular scene resulted in an injured driver and an unhurt monkey. I bet the spectators where pretty shaken by this accident!
Other races still remembered where held at locations nearby Oslo such as Dælenga, Bjerke Travbane, Frogner Stadion, Frognerkilen and Gjerssjøen where the two last where during winter time on ice as they are both lakes.
This picture is taken during a race on the ice of Gjersjøen.
In a few years NMK was getting branches in other major cities too, such as Bergen and Trondhjem.
This is a pretty crappy picture of the first Norsk Motorcykle Klub NMK logo, I find the design very cool.
Most of those beeing a member of NMK in these early years where engineers, business managers, wholesalers and in general people from the upper class.
In the early years of the organisation reliability trials where held on public roads, like from one town to another and back. Most of the focus was getting the bike to take the beating of the country roads to get you home.
After the WWI NMK arranged the famous Kristianaia-Trondhjem-Kristiania trial, arranged for the first time 29-31 of August 1919. This was a distance of more than 1000km, an unheard distance back then.
The above scan is from "Norsk Idretts og Sports Blad" covering up the facts on this spectacular event.
17 drivers participated in this first Kristiania-Trondhjem and back trial, 16 Norwegians and one Danish driver. The weather was really bad when crossing the mountains and soon close to half of the participants where out due to technical problems. The remaining ten where true heroes. Events winner was Erik Gotaas at 398 points, second was Oscar Wiger 403 points and third pr. Bjørnstad at 465 points. The Danish participant riding a small BSA crossed the finnish line at 1035 points.
Erik Gotaas who drove his Excelsior celebrated his 20 years birthday at the day of finnishing the trial, a brave youg man compared to his older and more experienced competitors.
Other bikes finnishing where Indians, Harleys and a Reading Standard
On the 7 of desember 1920 "Norsk Motorcykle Klub Kristiania" (now Oslo) was founded as a branch of the existing organisation.
In just a year the club had 288 members, all recomended by a previous member and approved by the club board.
The club arranged several races, one of the first was the "Korketrekkeren race" or in english "the corckscrew race" This was an uphill race from Svendstuen to Frognerseteren, loads of curves rising 250 meters from start to the finnish line.
The first Korketrekkeren was arranged 22 of october 1921, when Macke Nicolaysen NMK Kristiania set a time record of 2.59 1/5.
The picture above is from a race held in 1927 where driver Torbjørn Tollefsen lost control of his Harley outfit coming out of a sharp S curve, throwing his chair monkey Fr. Dieseth out of the chair. This rather spectacular scene resulted in an injured driver and an unhurt monkey. I bet the spectators where pretty shaken by this accident!
Other races still remembered where held at locations nearby Oslo such as Dælenga, Bjerke Travbane, Frogner Stadion, Frognerkilen and Gjerssjøen where the two last where during winter time on ice as they are both lakes.
This picture is taken during a race on the ice of Gjersjøen.
In a few years NMK was getting branches in other major cities too, such as Bergen and Trondhjem.
fredag 26. november 2010
American Motorcycles
Poul Jørgensen on his Excelsior big port racer at Fanø beach speed trials in 1921.
The Schwinn built Excelsior bigports where fast machines in their time making life pretty hard for Indian and Harley on the racetracks.
I love those early machines where the controls are all mechanical, rods and ball joints. Just think about the labor cost on this compared to the later bowden cables.
Imagine the roar of those exhaust pipes at full throttle along the track.
torsdag 25. november 2010
American Motorcycles Norway
F-15599 with owner Torstein Skattebo behind the controls is an intersting machine. This as pictureis taken as late as in 1936 when on a longer tour crossing the Dagali mountains. Looking at the bikes condition it have to be well maintained staying this fit at almost 20 years of age.
This Harley is a 61" (1000cc) magneto model with acetylene lights.
Pillow rider, cant really figure out where she keeps her feets when on the back?
onsdag 24. november 2010
Christian Bohnstedt-Petersen II
Those still remebering my write up on the great Danish motorcyclist Christian Bohnstedt-Pedersen will remeber he did some spectacular racing with Reading Standards on the Fanø Races held on the Fanø beaches from 1919 to 1924.
Here is some more photos of Christian and his Reading Standard machines taken on the Fanø beaches.
Who might this brave sidecar girl be?
1921 at the Fanø beach race. Standard bike with sidecar, humm well not quite standard is it with those roadster bars?
I like the handlebar risers used by Reading Standard, like those to come from Flanders years later.
UPDATED INFO, 27.11.2010:
Spoke with Christian Bohnstedt-Petersen`s grandson Frank who could inform that the brave woman in the Reading Standards sidecar was his grandmother Vera. At the time of the race when this photo is captured Franks father Henry was a lad aged 6. Wonder if he was on the beach looking at his parents?
1921 at the Fanø beach race. Testing the performance of a standard bike.
1920 at the Fanø beach race. This is a serious racing machine, direct drive, no gear or clutch, just "off you go".
Both cylinders have cooling ribs removed and holes drilled in the cylinder walls to improve cooling and get rid of waste oil.
Frame have been modified with keystone style front motor mount as well as the entire frame is shorted.
Here is some more photos of Christian and his Reading Standard machines taken on the Fanø beaches.
Who might this brave sidecar girl be?
1921 at the Fanø beach race. Standard bike with sidecar, humm well not quite standard is it with those roadster bars?
I like the handlebar risers used by Reading Standard, like those to come from Flanders years later.
UPDATED INFO, 27.11.2010:
Spoke with Christian Bohnstedt-Petersen`s grandson Frank who could inform that the brave woman in the Reading Standards sidecar was his grandmother Vera. At the time of the race when this photo is captured Franks father Henry was a lad aged 6. Wonder if he was on the beach looking at his parents?
1921 at the Fanø beach race. Testing the performance of a standard bike.
1920 at the Fanø beach race. This is a serious racing machine, direct drive, no gear or clutch, just "off you go".
Both cylinders have cooling ribs removed and holes drilled in the cylinder walls to improve cooling and get rid of waste oil.
Frame have been modified with keystone style front motor mount as well as the entire frame is shorted.
lørdag 20. november 2010
Custom aluminium footboard mats
Metal casting, I love it. The process is so cool, pouring floating metal as if it was water into a premade mould and voila, let it cool down and you have a part for your motorcycle.
I`ve since long thought about making some aluminium footboard mats for my boardtracker, why? dont know, just because it looks cool on a custom built machine I recon.
Anyway, as my local metal pourer is going to close for retirement I had to get the project going, its a shame his bussines wil be discontinued. Hmm, maybe I need to get on with casting my own stuff from now on.
The finnished alu mats are 1 mm thicker than original ones and a little bit shorter as I was to lazy to compensate for shrinking on the plug used for making the core boxes.
They look cooool on a bike, will post pics of mats on bike later on.
Took a bunch of pics this time, for you to enjoy;
Core box, mirror view of part to come. metal is to be poured into the V formed portion to spread better before cooling.
Core boxes lined up ready for pouring metal. Oven in the back with melted aluminium.
My metal pourer ready dressed (hmm, he have been in the bussines to loong as he wear ordinary jeans and shoes).
Melted and ready for pouring.
Loads of energy, better watch out if this starts floating around.
Pouring metal into core boxes, floats like water.
Having cooled for a while core boxes are ready to be split up to view the part.
A bunch of mats, two not yet ground of from the pour. In the foreground is the "original".
Details went out really well, this is of course depending on the quality of the sand in the corebox.
I`ve since long thought about making some aluminium footboard mats for my boardtracker, why? dont know, just because it looks cool on a custom built machine I recon.
Anyway, as my local metal pourer is going to close for retirement I had to get the project going, its a shame his bussines wil be discontinued. Hmm, maybe I need to get on with casting my own stuff from now on.
The finnished alu mats are 1 mm thicker than original ones and a little bit shorter as I was to lazy to compensate for shrinking on the plug used for making the core boxes.
They look cooool on a bike, will post pics of mats on bike later on.
Took a bunch of pics this time, for you to enjoy;
Core box, mirror view of part to come. metal is to be poured into the V formed portion to spread better before cooling.
Core boxes lined up ready for pouring metal. Oven in the back with melted aluminium.
My metal pourer ready dressed (hmm, he have been in the bussines to loong as he wear ordinary jeans and shoes).
Melted and ready for pouring.
Loads of energy, better watch out if this starts floating around.
Pouring metal into core boxes, floats like water.
Having cooled for a while core boxes are ready to be split up to view the part.
A bunch of mats, two not yet ground of from the pour. In the foreground is the "original".
Details went out really well, this is of course depending on the quality of the sand in the corebox.
tirsdag 16. november 2010
American Motorcycles Norway
D-1376, a late teens Harley? Cool to see there is a reg. plate on both the bike and the sidecar. I`ve seen quite a few older sidecars with plates, have a old National myself with plate on.
Have never read if this was the standard in the early years of Norwegian Motorcycling, somthing to look into.
No big deal figuring out who in this pic is the boss / rider, hint; dress code.
Have never read if this was the standard in the early years of Norwegian Motorcycling, somthing to look into.
No big deal figuring out who in this pic is the boss / rider, hint; dress code.
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