onsdag 24. august 2011

American Motorcycles



What a great shot this is, a missus in the sidecar and a purring Exelsior to pull you both trough the country side roads.



Hanson sports shield

Thanks to Gary and his skills I have been lucky enough to get a Hanson sports shield on my bobber. This is a cool period accessory for the bobber guys wanting the best of two worlds.

Thanks a lot Gary!!





Zenith Tx4

The Henderson De-luxe models as well as the K all used Zenith updraft carbs. The first models used the T3 1/2 whilst the later used the Zenith Tx4. This carb is a three piece unit where the main part contain the floatbowl and jets, one part is the choke and finally there is one part for the ventury and throttle.
The ventury is originally cast in pot metal and the ventury body in cast iron. Due to the potmetals severe abilities for corosion it makes the cast iron to crack, sometimes in several pieces.
Hence there is a need for recasted ventury bodies. As you might remember I got a couple made a while back, now its time to get them machined.

Tx4`s where used by Chevy in the early twenties too, if altered with the Henderson style ventury body, choke part and throtle control arm it works OK and noone will se any difference. A new ventury as well as all screws and gaskets can be bought from Bill at Hendersonmotorcycles in St- Louis.









































mandag 15. august 2011

American Motorcycles Norway

A 1928 Harley Davidson model FD. Looks like if there is some special occasion as the Harley have been decorated with those white flowers.
Maybe from the look of the smile in the riders face its as simple as he is in love and have been given flowers from "her".


søndag 14. august 2011

Motorcycle babes

No words needed with this pic, its still summer out there.


lørdag 13. august 2011

American Motorcycles

Hans in Holland have more luck than most. At a fair he found an old photo album where the captures below where amongst other photos from whoever once kept his memorys in there.
According to Hans he think those are British motorists touring Belgium on their bikes.
And what bikes those are. Early twenties Harleys and an inline four ACE. Some with periodic artillery wheel caps, and riders all dressed for touring.
What luck those images got rescued by Hans rather than ending at the dumpster place.

I can not resist from posting these pics even if not representing the Scandinavian bike scene from Yesterdaze.

15.08.2011:
My internet friend Jaap in Holland is the lucky owner of a 33 Harley 45". Having seen those pics he could tell us the G registration as shown on the visible reg. plates are from North Holland, most likely Amsterdam. They are some special personal reg. plates that allowed the owner to use them on any vehicle registrated in his name. Eventally the Dutch gov. ended this by the mid fifties.

Oh I wish we had the same, a reg plate to swap between my bikes as I can only drive one at the time anyway.

Thanks Jaap!














American Motorcycles Norway

I admit in having gently stolen this pic elsewhere on the www. This photo is cool as its taken outside the forge in a small mid Norway community. In these days the blacksmith was a true artist capable of repairing anything mechanical. Those locations slowly changed when the horses where replaced by early cars and motorcycles, getting more advanced tools, grease pit and a petrol pump like the Tokvam? pump in the middle of this image.
When a capture is of such a quality as this its great to dive into it to look at the details, as the 1928 Harley JD with optional spot light bar as well as a speedo and amp meter on the fuel tank.
One can just wonder what motorcycle relics are dumped in the "used parts dept." at the far back of the site, sigh.


fredag 12. august 2011

American Motorcycles Norway

Another picture from Bjørn Andre`s collection. Early twenties J model Harley with unknown brand sidecar attached. Someone made a modification to the bikes headlamp, this is not as when the bike left the "mo-co" in Milwaukee.



tirsdag 9. august 2011

John Boija sr.`s Indian Chief


As usual it`s mostly due to coincidence I get in contact with my victims whom I am to nuisance for old motorcycle photos.
John Boija jr. is one of those.
His interest in family heritage is presented on a dedicated website, http://www.boija.com/ .
Here is shown a small image capturing his grandfather John Boija Sr on an Indian motocycle and side car. OK, alarm bells are now on and I need to get in touch with the owner of this page to learn more.
It showed up with John Jr`s response to my e-mail he is in Afica and I am told to contact him later, which I did and this is the result of what John Jr had to share with us from his Grampa`s time as an avid motorcyclist.


John Boija Sr was born in 1898 and grew up on Granholmen, a small island in the river Ångermans located in the rural part of mid-Sweden. This island was the final location for all timber floated down the river to reach the sea.
John was from young years very interested in all technical. Growing up close to a huge steam driven saw mill allowed him to work with steam boilers, mechanic and even electrics in his school holidays.
In 1913 at the age 15 John left elementary school to start a 5 years education as an engineer, this a natural choice of study based on his interests. When John got his exam in 1918 he was ready to start his working career with a local factory, this wouldn’t last long as he three months later was enrolled in the army to serve his country.
John was not ready to continue his career as an engineer in thermodynamics until 1920. With a permanent position comes income, a driving licence was handed over from the authorities in nearby Harnøsand in 1921 and soon after in the spring of 1922 his savings allowed him to buy his first motorcycle. His eyes fell on a used but not abused Swiss made Moto-Reve from the late teens. This little belt puller could under optimal conditions deliver 4hp with its v-twin engine of 500cc displacement.
John enjoyed many miles on Y 241 and they where a happy couple for two years. As with most others bitten by the motorcycle bug there will always be an urge to get more cubic inches, power hence speed. In 1924 John traded his little Swiss companion in an early Indian. Y 108 was according to its registration a 1924 model Chief, the models third year of production, to be continued until 1953 when the wigwam finally closed. Owning this huge 1200cc / 74” side valve v-twin must have been like stepping into another world in motorcycling for young John. An Indian Chief motocycle, brand new out of the Sprigfield wigwam. The mighty Chief would easily carry any load up a steep hill, running beside or passengers out to push is now all forgotten. Neither is there any slipping belts during rainy days as the Indian was running a chain drive.
Captivated by his Indians capability of speed John soon became involved in racing, this as we know means ice racing during winter as this is the only time of the year mother nature provides enough flat space in the North of Scandinavia to allow for a race track.
If Johns racing led him to any local fame is unknown, but we could only imagine the fun and thrills he gained.
John stayed with his Indian for six years until the spring of 1930. His transport was now carried by a Citroen car bought a year before he finally let his Indian go.

John continued his interest in motoring tough now with cars as well as he became a successful entrepreneur, but hey that is another story which you can find more on at John jr.`s site (if your read Swedish).

























American Motorcycles Norway

Reading Standards, when did we ever see any of those around amongst those active in the vintage motorcycle scene?
Those mighty dark green sidevalve twins sold a number of bikes in Scandinavia in the late teens and early twenties. This Reading Standard once stayed in the eastern parts of Norway, Akershus where it carried its owner and passengers.

Reading Standard offered their bikes as early as in 1903, twins from 1908 and they continued to make bikes until 1922 when they sold the entire factory to Cleveland motorcycles. They only made the the Raedings Standards for one more year when they had to sell their own factory du to the decline in motorcycle sales. The golden age of motorcycling was by then passed and the markets would never be the same.

I have always liked the Reading Standard sales slogan, "Tested in the Mountains". This as the factory was located in the hills of Pennsylvania.


søndag 7. august 2011

AmericanMotorcyclesNorway

Got this photo captured in the south western parts of Norway trough my friend Ståle, himself the owner of several bikes made in the Springfield wigwam.
This Power Plus is a magneto model, with a ball horn to warn whoever needs to be warned and a home made arrangement with a bicycle light at front powered by a dynamo running towards the wall of the front tire.
I would imagine the amount of light from this setup during winter nights was rather limited?


lørdag 6. august 2011

American Motorcycles Norway

Whow time goes by in a blast at summer. I didnt post a pic from yestedaze in a month, today. I feel sorry for this, there is still a bunch of cool photos to be posted to show what yesterdaze motorcycling was all about.

Here is another mighty Thor, pictured in Fredrikstad, eastern Norway close to Sweden.
This is the electrically equipped big twin which have been described thoroughly described elsewhere on this blog.
On cute detail, the owner didnt really trust his electrics, hence there is both an electric horn and to be sure a hand operatated ogahh horn on the bars.
Better not run over some pedestrians when thundering down the streets of old Fredrikstad!

fredag 5. august 2011

Wauseon 2011, "A litle bit of this and a litle bit of that"

Those pic show a tiny fraction of the huge amount of nice motorcycles at Wauseon. Of course there where European and Japanese bikes too, many.