mandag 25. april 2011

Horror !!!

Last week my god friend Oscars (PP choppers) workshop was hit by fire. Three Panheads and a special sportster, a life long collection of chopper and biker magazines, NOS parts, toolings, his biker lounge, all gone in the snap of a hour.

Guys, check your insurances, you never know.

Oscar, my thoughts are with you.







søndag 24. april 2011

Its spring time, la la

Leaving offshore three weeks ago there was snow all over the place. Knee high outside my front door. What a reliefe to get back shore to find most off the winter have dissapeared, schwiiisch all long gone for this time (hopefully).
Eastern showed up with beautiful spring weather, cold but still sun. Air is bright like no time else during early spring, its a pleasure getting the bikes back on the road to collect some more mileage.

We got this idea a couple of days ago to ride to cape south, Lindesnes to check out what spring was like by the sea. Oh my what a dissapointment. Cape South showed up with sea-fog, cold as hell and we didnt even see the sea from a 10 meter distance. Based on this chilling experience we spent the rest of our driving up in the valleys, still snow along the roadside but after all the sun was making driving comfortable.
















New kid in town

Well, actually it aint neither new nor new in town, tough it have recently changed hands.
Cay is now the lucky owner of this beautiful Injun Chief bobber. A smoth runner, whump whump, will be a pleasure driving behind this old redskin in the future.

Enjoy the pics and details,













tirsdag 12. april 2011

American Motorcycles

There is nothing like a motorcycle to impress a girl you want to get better known to. Einar the lucky owner of this Indian Power Plus dated Margret who enjoyed pillow riding.
Einars efforts in impressing Margret with his Indian paid out as they later became a couple.

In a previous post I stated Corbins where black, which is wrong. I got an e-mail the other day from Perry in Canada that let me learn that early corbins indeed where nickle plated too.
Thanks a lot for letting me know!
This Power Plus sport a nickle plated Corbin speedometer, though no lights. OK, Einar is more concerned with speed than getting home at night?

mandag 11. april 2011

American Motorcycles

This guy needs to get his gf home before dark as this early twenties Scout is a magneto model with no lights.
Those small 37ci(600 cc) Indians where the first Scouts introduced to the market in 1920 and where continued until 1927. In 1928 the Scout 101 was presented to stay in the Indian product line until 1931. The 101`s where sold as both 37ci and 45 ci (600 & 750cc).
Those Scout 101`s where machines of great quality and soon got the reputation of "You cant wear out your Indian Scout".
There must be a reason most "Wall of death" riders are 100% faithful to the 101 Scouts until present day!

Personally I find few motorcycles of a better design than the 1931 101 Scout.


lørdag 9. april 2011

All done!

This cool bike have been presented on this blog before in the "As Found" coloumn.
Sigurd have done a great job in giving this old scooter a new life. All technical issues are sorted, but most important the barn fresh look is still there.

A 1935 Harley R 45" (750cc) with total loss lubrication, "Always fresh oil" was still a part of the sales slogan back in 35. This would soon after come to an end when the factory introduced the Knucklehead in 1936.




onsdag 6. april 2011

American Motorcycles Norway

Sometimes you dont have too look far away for those old pics, they might be closer than one would imagine.

A while back a god friend came by, quite excited to say the least. He is well aware of my passion for old photos. He had gone trough some old family photos and discovered some nice pics from yesterdaze motorcycle life.

Thanks a lot Jan



Early twenties Harley J model with sidecar. Electrically equipped model (hence the J), both passenger and rider is dressed with yesterdaze riding gear.
As most Harleys sold in Norway during those years this bike is equipped with an additional Johs Manville speedo (JM`s where nickle plated whilst Corbins where black).

tirsdag 5. april 2011

American Motorcycles

Oh my!!

This one Super X is one of the best ever.
Raced on ice in Sweden during the late twenties. This particular pic is taken in 1930 at Sæterviken bay near Uppsala.
There is just so much in this bike, study the details and imagine letting the engine stretch out on the ice surface at close to 100mph.

"I cant prove it, but I`m quite sure this bike was owned by Ernst Bohlin, brother of another famous bicycle racer and motorcycle racer, Erik "Orsa" Bohlin. Erik set several records on ice and worked at Swedish motorcycle manufacturer "Nymans" as test pilot.
Will have to dig into this, lets hope anyone Swedish recognise this bike and its history."

Added 10.04.2011: OK, I have got an email from one very serious X brand enthusiast, Thomas Bund. Thomas is the author of a great book on the history of Scwinn`s Excelsior line of bikes, a book which is filled with interesting facts and pics on Excelsiors, Hendersons and the Super X.
He informed me that the pictured Super X special once belong to Helmer Petterson from Sweden. Obviously Helmer and Erik "Orsa" Bohlin have known each other as both raced in the same time periode.
Thanks a lot Thomas for letting us know.

This story is to be continued, watch out.













To better see all the modifications done to the ice racing Super X, compare to the original sales flyer from 1927.
Harley forks, shortened rear frame, messinger racing saddle, steering friction dampner, racing bars and more.

mandag 4. april 2011

Some might remember Uncle Ralph, the cool looking gentleman with the pretty large Stetson, you know who I mean?

A while back I got an e-mail from an US gentleman, Jim A. from Tucson AZ. His e-mail was quite interesting as he claimed to recognise Uncle Ralph as Chuck Binney whom wich Jim worked with at UCLA in the late sixties.
Chuck had been a dedicated motorcyclist in his younger years staying faithful to the Harley brand, as well as young Chuck was carefull in his choise of costume (with regards to his Stetson this is an understatement).

I had to admit that my Uncle Ralph and the entire story including Ralphs name was a product of my imagination, that Ralph might well be Chuck or the other way around.








OK, if or not here is an image of a young Chuck Binney and his 1918-19 Harley, as with his later bike shown in the akà Ralph post this bike too is fitted with artillery wheel caps to prevent mud getting stuck in the spokes. This was quite common during the WWI years. Cuck have a Harley pennant attached to his handlebars, I wonder why did this fashion get to an end. I would love to ride with a Harley / AMcN pennant on my handlebars.

Jim thanks for letting us getting known to Chuck.
Take care when out for a spin with your Velocette.

lørdag 2. april 2011

American Motorcycles Norway



This is one photo that got me really thinking what those motorcycles had to go trough back in the daze. This 1917-18 Harley IOE 61" (1000cc) have had to work hard, carrying this huge ice boat at Mjøsa, Norways biggest lake that is all frozen during winter. Our oldest steam vessel "Skibladner" called the white swan of Mjøsa traveled this lake during summer, but there is no doubt this Harley was the ugly duckling during winter time.
Imagine when loaded with gods and passengers, oh my.

fredag 1. april 2011

American Motorcycles




A sidecar equipped Excelsior from Sundsvall in Sweden. What a beauty this machine must have been when new and shining bright like this, coloured in dark Packard blue with grey rims.

Henderson De-luxe

Have just spent some time looking trough a bunch of photos on the harddisk when this old photo showing my Hendersons as "before" surfaced. The pic is actually taken the same day as I arrived home with the bike having begged for 17 years to get it, yeah its true. 17 years. My Henderson was stored outside for 25 years under a stairway not far from the sea, oh well that is now all forgotten.