søndag 30. september 2012

Old, but still young at heart

You might remember my presentation on Henderson restoration held at a local vintage motor club AMK? Last Sunday I got a very interesting phone call that in itself was more valuable than any pay for the above services for AMK. I dont know the history of my Henderon any further back than the last guy whom owned it as a registered bike. This is back in 1949-50, and as this guy was since long passed I had never been able to track down any older history, the local registry neither had any paper work in their archives (they are, hmm I shouldnt swear in public). OK, back to last Sunday`s phone call, a fella telling me he called on behalf of his father who claimed to have ridden my Henderson from 1947 to 1950, three summers filled with tours, fishing and camping all over southern Norway. Then unfortunately the engine had broken and he sold it off as a parts bike to the guy that I knew had owned it. I allready knew the later had used the engine from another Henderson he had crashed in 1949 for my bike. Now I was asked if he could bring his father to see the bike he had once loved as he had never ever thought it had survived all those years until my Henderson lecture had been mentioned to them. I promise you the visit was great fun both for me and the old gentleman that had once owned my Henderson, even if his body was not as stron as in his youth his mind was as sharp as a knive and his memory as well. He told me loads of great stories from when he and a friend toured the gravel roads of southern Norway on a bike that noone could follow. Histories from way back, still told as if they happened yesterday. Believe it or not, I was even told the guy selling the Henderson to my new acquaintance back in 47 was still allive too, holy moly!! This story is for sure not come to an end still, stay tuned.

fredag 28. september 2012

Panhead roller

A pic of the Panhead chassis before mounting the engine.

Empty box

I`m running out of work on the Panhead, NOT still.

The gearbox was not even inspected yet as I found my bench couldnt take both the engine and gearbox in parts at the same time, to less space.

As the engine is now ready to be mounted in the frame I threw the gearbox on the bench, hoping this should be an easy task.

I was wrong, again.

Opened the filler cap, easily don as there was only one single thread left, humm. The drain plug was not any better, tough an easier fix.

Having drained the oil, time to open the top cover, found quite a bit of rust on the shifting parts, obviously there have been some condensation as well as water in the oil.

I should maybe not complain, gearbox housing and covers have no cracks, all gears are OK, mainshaft is OK, shifter parts are OK, most other bobs and bits needs to be replaced.

Its amazing what a blow with glass will do to the apperance of an old gearbox, it looks like new.

Some pics of the progress:









onsdag 19. september 2012

48 Panhead update

Hah!
So you didnt think I did any to my Bessie since 22 of May this year, this as there have been quiet on the subject on my blog?

You where wrong, a lot have been done since then.
All parts are now painted, the fuel tank is a story in itself, will get back to that one as my universal genius Roald who did all my paint really scared me with his fuel tank operations, it is after all an original. What is good tough is I had to make a nifty tool to get the fuel tap holes to be realigned, could be used later too!

By now the most of the chassis is complete, some electrical is done, engine is done including the timer advance retard unit, carb is done (oh my!!), generator is done and even if this sounds as "not to much" its been a lot. I`m now working on the transmission, no its neither not all OK.

I`m proud of the result and think it will work OK when I hit the road, that is an important detail in this puzzle. I have added a bunch of photos from various tasks in the above description.

















Ekeberg, autumn swapmeet

Damn, it is autumn.
As the annual Ekeberg autumn swap was last week it have to be true.

In retrospective the spring swap was a terrible event, rain, hail and even some snow fell, last winters final cramps. A limited number of vendors and buyers where there then.

Not so this swap, excellent weather, good forecasts and as early as Friday afternoon there was a bunch of both sellers and buyers. Maybe many sellers were keen on getting their stuff out before the winter is coming?
I found a lot of stuff was reasonably prized (of course not so with the old Harley parts).

I was lucky enough to enjoy both Friday and Saturday along with a keen foreign vintage bike owner, rider as well as enthusiast. Patrick the parisian-american AJaj rider whom me and Øyunn met at the Linkert attacks this summer.
I had already known Patrick from e-mailing for the last two years when we finally met in France, and now at Ekeberg.

Look forward to when he get one or more of his bikes to Oslo, great to see an addition to Norways vintage motorcycle scene, and good to know he is a rider!!


























Lecture on Motorcycle restoration

A couple of months back I was contacted by the local vintage motor historical association, AMK.

They had seen me on my Henderson at a couple of their events this year, I even won a 1`st price for best restoration motorcycles at a event this spring.
Now they wondered if I could lecture on vintage motorcycle restoration at their monthly gathering of members. Its easy to say yes when its still a long time left for the lecture to take place.

Last week the time was there, suddenly. OK, time to improvise.
Brought my Henderson, some blown up photos taken during the restoration, a bunch of tools made to be able to reproduce parts and some repopped parts I made when trying to figure how to get the parts looking most correct according to the originals.
I think most of them car guys where truly surprised in how much work there is in restoring a really sad looking 20ìes vintage motorcycle, where there is a limited access of reproduced parts available.

After all, the evening became a great experience for both myself and my audience.


lørdag 8. september 2012

The other day I got one present I truly enjoyed, a lot. 

A NMK enameled silver medal to wear on a suit jacket. This very cool medal used to be owned by a Harley rider Yngvar Sjetnan, a NMK member since the early twenties.

Yngvars brother Steinar Sjetnan was highly ranked as a NMK motorcycle racer during the late twenties. He continued his career well into the thirties, his favorite brand cycle was, Harley Davidson.

I am working on a motorcycle story based on the Sjetnan brothers, I need more hours in the clock!!

Thanks a lot to Yngvars son for letting me have this!!


Out to pick mushrooms


Hey we are real bikers, me and Rune, riding our ol Hogs searching for chantarells.

Isnt that what all bikers have their Harleys for?

It is so cool, we love riding them remote gravel roads and by coincidence chantarells find along a dusty road to be their favourite place to grow (this is actually a secret, dont tell).

Today was another day when I truly loved my low compression sideburning W in favour to an OHV big twin, we are talking kick starting, I say no more.



They have promised cold but no rain for tomorrow, quite sure this means another ride out.

Stay tuned.
 

 
 

Autumn is here

 
Damned, suddenly we have September which means we have entered the autumn.
Again.
This summer passed in a hurry, thats for sure.
Still, riding in the early autumn is very very beautiful, colder that is for sure, but hey this is easily solved by wearing warmer clothes.
This recent Wednesday, the first Wednesday of September, is the last gathering for motorcycle riders at the valley.
Drove there by my "not so dirty nine", found the usual lot as the weather was great. Mostly all sorts of moderrn stuff, not interesting.
Then there was some older bikes of interest, early seventies Jap bikes, An early Russian outfit, Tempos (off course) and some brit iron, and two ol hogs, mine and Runes Panhead.

Great ride, enjoyed the meet, see you next year!