lørdag 27. juli 2013

American Motorcycles Norway





I grew up in Hardanger during the seventies and early eighties. Thats where I bought my first vintage motorcycle at age 14-15.
Oh boy years pass by fast when life is thrilling.

Old bikes were literally "all over" when my vintage motorcycle gene started to flower, problem was I had no money. Numerous factories in need of huge amount of cheap electricity had been built along the Hardanger fjord since the late 1800`s, and around them towns were built. Those factories and the construction of them and the community near by this gave in its turn work to a lot of skilled well paid craftsmen.
Their purchasing power and the lack of decent roads for cars caused motorcycles to earn a huge popularity.

Registration signs in Hordaland where Hardanger (the fjord) is located were back in the older days designated with the letter R.

The motorcycles pictured above are all R registered, from the area around Odda, a major industrial town in Hardanger.

fredag 26. juli 2013

Cory`s 48 Pan

Cory is one great guy that I have learned to know trough the www.
I think we first met at the AMCA board years ago when posting historical pictures there and commenting on each other posts.

Cory lives in Canada and ride a 48 Panhead, on all sorts of roads.

This great pic from one of Cory`s trips on Canadian gravel roads show real use of an old Hog!
This is what they where all made for, rough roads and hard use.


tirsdag 23. juli 2013

Henderson KJ


A while back I got a phone call from my friend since years back, Jan Kåre.
His voice less calm than normal, after a short conversation he states;
I got myself a new toy.
And what a toy he got, a Henderson KJ, nothing less.
The Henderson KJ was produced from 1929 to the marke deceased in 1931. A beautifully streamlined motorcycle with a strong 4 cylindered IOE engine.
The dream of any true enthusiast into US produced vintage motorcycles
Congratulations.

lørdag 20. juli 2013

July, almost gone!

Holy cow!
For sure, time pass by fast.
Leaving for work is hard when the sun finally shine bright day after day.
Everyone interested in riding a bike should be granted 14 days continous good weather during each summer.
It should be a human right!

Finally found time to get my Henderson back on the road. Remember, I got my magneto rewound, condenser swapped and more.
Did I feel any difference?
YES, YES and YES. The old Hen is stronger than before and starts even when boiling hot.
Thanks Thomas, you did great with that old Simms.

Its so great to ride the Henderson De-luxe on country roads, gravel or paved roads, makes no difference, its one of the most easy handling bikes I have ever ridden (modern ones are counted in). Its easily ridden trough a curve steered by the knees only, no hands on the bars at all.
Going 50 Mph is the ideal average speed, hills are thrills, none less.

Just before leaving for work I had a great ride out with Peggy. She rode her rigid sporty, and I tell you she had a hard time to follow the Henderson on the gravel roads, I am allowed to let you know.
Brakes, ahhum, planning ahead is a necessity even if the Henderson have a fully floating rear brake.

We went off from my shop at early after noon, when we came back 160km`s had been ridden.

Pure fun!


 


Crossed the Brokke-Suleskar mountain pass, riding Bessie my ol Panhead girl.
Unfortunately not much snow up there, still I managed to collect enough snow at a roadside stop to make a couple off snow balls.
Guess who was hit by at least one of them?

 



On our way back we meet one great guy from the former East-Berlin, on tour in Norway with his Trabant car. Even if ol Bessie had allmoust double engine capasity, as well as four stroke engine the "Trabi" was in fact rebuilt to carry a bed and a small kitchen as well as all food and gear needed for a months holliday, whow.
Nice to know the two stroke Trabi used the same amount of gasoline pr mile as Bessie does.



During this time of the rig, I volunteered to take care of my grandson (age 8) for a week.
As Bessie have a buddy seat I thought riding with the two of us would be an easy match.
Uhhhm, not so.
I felt like riding on the tank, even if my grandson is pretty small, still we both enjoyed many many hours out riding, throut fishing and stops for a swim.

On one of our rides up the valley we came across a group of gearheads, not bikers, no (well there was actually both a Chinese and a couple off Russian bikes there) these guys where playing with old WWII vehicles, all sorts including a tank and a couple of canons.
We ended up spending several hours at their camp and we met some great guys that I have never known before, their meet was pretty much like most bike meets, beer, booze, lying and stories.

Eh, well the way they dug a channel in a marsh might have been a bit different.






mandag 8. juli 2013

June!!

June have been a month where things didnt work out as planned, and weather have in general been crappy, according to the news the worst in 15 years!!!
Linkert, didnt get there!
Why?
Bike was packed up and ready to catch the morning ferry to Denmark at 0645 sunday morning 23 of June. Just checking the e-mail before going to bed there is an e-mail from DFDS!
What the Fu¤/¤#k?
The ferry trip from Esbjerg to Harwich is cancelled!
Cancelled!
The fu¤%#&ing ferry hit the dock in Harwich and almost sank, will not go in two weeks. I cant beleive it is true.
DFDS offer me a ticket from Calee to Dover as a replacement, thanks a lot (NOT).
I might be a pussy, but facing 1400km`s in rain, I throw in the hanky, I missed the last? UK Linkert, Arghhh!

Having seen the pics from Linkert on various blogs, I sure missed a great event!!



So what to do then?

In between and in rain showers we rode a great mountain tour, even the snow had rained away and the Linkert weekend me and Rune went to an Nimbus meet (Yes we where the only two Harleys) where I got drunk, seriously so. I think my mood made this happen.
Beleive it or not, Sunday morning we rode home in sun!!




The last couple of days weather have changed, its sun and the local lakes have become hot enough for an evening swim, life feels less crappy now.