Roadweasels badge

How did I become the first Norwegian member of the US Roadweasels Mc, a great club with a bunch of friendly people?
This all started when I bought some very well made parts for my Henderson on e-bay from Bill, a proud member of the Roadweasel`s in Michigan.
Having enjoyed corresponding by e-mail after our e-bay deal I finally got to meet Bill and friends when attending the AMCA meet at Davenport a couple of years ago, great fun and great people.

A few days ago I got a parcel from Bill, not an e-bay deal this time, no. I got my Roadweasel badge, handmade by Bill.

Thanks a lot mate, truly appreciated this one!!

Offset springer repair II

OK, this is a pretty late update on the repair of my 48 Panhead fork. Brought my fork and the jig to Eriks forge. I really enjoy beeing in Eriks forge when he and his apprentice Odin do their work as blacksmith`s. Coal, fire, flames, heat and steel soft as butter which is allowed to be shaped of their skilled hands, these are epic moments.

Old legs had to be ground out of the main casting, not as much work as I would have believed at first. Supposedly they where to be secured by pins, didn`t find any. Then the new legs from Matt & Carl Olsen where soldered in place by Erik, this when the fork was placed in the jig to ensure it coming back together straight.
When the joints had cooled the lower part of the fork was made loose, just slightly. Then both fork legs where spot heated on the outside of the tubes just below the main casting, then again allowed to cool down. This cause the outside of the tubes where heated to shrink which in turn removed any tension that the fork legs had got towards the spacer sleeve at the bottom of the jig. Voila fork is as god as new :-), tough still partly original.

Offset springer repair

Jig is done, thanks alot Jeff aka Knucklebuster 1939 for keeping a 48 Pan springer in your kitchen ready to be measured whenever I mail stupid questions:-)
This jig is made to ensure the new legs get in place where supposed to. Off to my friend Erik the master blacksmith tomorrow, hopefully getting back home with a repaired fork!

Having finished the fork repair jig there was still time to get some more done, hmm why not fit the NOS Nation Built dash trim rail recently received from my all time hero and fellow Roadweasel Easy Russ, grand hero of e-bay!!
Turned out being a pretty time consuming job but the result was great. Thanks a lot Russ & Tracy.

A great addition to the Bling factor!

Roadster bars for the Cutdown project

A while back I recieved a piece of steel tube that I had been waiting for since plans where made at the Wauseon AMCA meet this summer. Tom Faber at Fabercycle.com (check out his web page) have made a great looking roadster handlebar for my cutdown project, whow. Tom is a super skilled craftsman, his handlebars for twenties to fourties Harleys, Hellings&Stellings or the ever popular Flanders are made as exact copies of the originals.
My bars are made to look like bars seen in early photos of cutdowns with 1" shorter grips.

These narrow bars look great together with the slim JDH fueltank, or more correct a peashooter tank with valve pockets this is and the messinger racer saddle. Damned I need to get that Pan done to spend more time working on the cutdown.

Sometimes I wonder why I keep a comfortable sofa in my workshop, I`ve never got time to sit in it anyway. Tonight Sara, a dog I`m taking care of these days kept it warm, thanks Sara!

Mudflapping

Sometimes one does jobs of less importance, but they might be fun still.
Got this plain leather mudflap from e-bay, to boring to fit to a dressed up Panhead, better modify it, tada and its as bling as any flap can ever get.

OK time for more serious matters. Started working with making a jig for the springer fork leg repair. It will need to get back together as a straight piece of fork, not like the Tijuana Mexico repair as is.

American Motorcycles Norway

Just found there have been no posting in a while. Busy at work this time, hardly had any time to spend on the www at all. Well not quite the truth as a few bits and bobs for on going projects have been secured on e-bay.
Since back shore I have been off looking at a cool Norwegian Harley IOE race bike preserved in its "as raced condition", post to follow on this soon.

Till then, an early Indian Power Plus captured at the farm where it served as transport and workhorse, this to its owners great satisfaction.

American Motorcycles Norway

One more pic from my recent scan session. This show the ever popular and as always spectacular sidecarclass ready for take of in a Norwegian ice race held sometime in the mid twenties.
There are several cool details in this photo,
the first and most important is the fact that there is one Norwegian Harley racer with a FLXI mounted to the right side, this is the bike third from left in the picture.
Those fully flexible sidecar hacks where hard to compete with due to their roadholding capabilities, and soon after their arrival on the US race tracks they dominated the sport.
From my knowledge there is only one FLXI sidecar that have partially survived in Norway, though there must have been a few around, this as they where frequently advertised in early twenties newspapers.

Then there are two more hacks where the sidecar is visible, both home made attempts to streemline the body to allow for more speed. Keep in mind the monkey of these hacks where laying on his back looking straight into the air, my gosh, just the thought could give chills.

It is so cool to know there have been such impressive Harley racing hacks in use on Norwegian race tracks, just wish more had survived.