AMK Swapmeet and Furuly Kjelveralli

Is blogging supposed to be in a chronological order??

I have realised this blog is necessarily not.

A couple of weeks back the annual AMK autumn swap took place, its not where I expect great finds of old US made motorcycle parts, still you never know, AND I have never returned empty handed.
Went there by Bessie early in the morning, rode in mist most of the way as the sun had not yet risen.
No other bikes were at the scene when I arrived, but several came during the morning hours.

At lunch time I had had enough of old parts`n stuff and rode further up into the valley to visit the annual Kjelverally, a small local rocka`billy event with people from south and western parts of Norway.
Many nice guys and girls there, some cool cars and this year even a bunch of Harleys had found their way.

There was also a short common ride-out where ol Bessie and a group of other Harleys rode on some really small gravel roads.

Rode home in the evening, got home just when the darkness came on.

Surrounded by Brits`s, early Jap`s and  Norwegian Tempo`s.

34 Indian Chief, the only other vintage US made bike.

This ULH is different and a new kid in town.

Shuvel bob job.

Such a bunch of Harleys is rarely seen out in the woods.

Trollrally

There are some motorcycle events I just need to go to, even if I at times wonder why I still does so.

Trollrally is one of those, being the first motorcycle rally I visited back in 1982 when I rode a DKW NZ 350 from 1939.
This years Troll became my 28 event, not to bad.

This year I decided to ride the old Henderson, after all my magneto is now overhauled and I am pretty confident with the old hen.  I left all technical worries behind when I left home in the early morning in a beautiful weather, looking forward for a 400km`s ride in a day going forth and back trough three county`s on mostly single lane country roads. Along with me came da`boss Øyunn and our friend Odd, the last carrying some of my tools and a couple of spares in his Guzzi sidecar, just in case.

Its so cool to ride an old bike on winding roads, averaging a 50 miles speed and the old Henderson is so well handling, its all just joy. When I reached a mountain pass from where you can actually see the Trollrally`s location from the top I just let the Henderson climb the slopes in the same speed as I had held up trough the valleys, worked fine, no hard breathing from the four (at least I thought so).

Having had a stop at the top of the pass to make some photos from the scenery it was time to get going. Kicked the four into life, hmm, it did not sing the same tune as before.

Could not instantly tell what was wrong and after having changed spark plugs and cleaned the carb jets without any success in getting the false tone better I decided to climb down to Fyresdal, the nearest town and Troll`s location to further investigations of the problem.

I headed to the local gas station where they in addition to the hotdogs and soft drinks have a tractor workshop, remember we are at the country side now.
I soon realised the exhaust valve on the rear cylinderhadde had severely jammed in the guide, no chance to jerk it loose from the cam follower side.

When trying to open the valve plug (keep in mind the old hen is a sidevalve I realised my home made tool for this was not capable of the torque required to remove it.
Remember its Saturday and workshops are closed, but again this beeing the country side, the guy running the shop was nearby and I was allowed to bring the Henderson inside and offered to use all tools required to try to repair, THIS WOULD NEVER have happened in more urbane locations, I know from previous experiences.

Long story short, we did manage to get the plug removed by some serious tractor tools, one man operating the 50" long wrench, one man hammering on top of the socket and three men holding the bike. We all agreed that the threads on the plug had seriously jammed and I was afraid to see the result when the plug would finally come out.

When the plug was out there was no visual damage to the threads, and I could even turn the plug back in easily by hand????

Finally when I had access I forced the valve out, sanded the stem and the guide as well as reground the valve surface towards the seat.
Voila, some wrenching and the Henderson was back in operation we could continue the last tiny bit to the rally

At Troll you will always meet old friends from the bike scene, this time I met several. Among those were Olav who rode his 48 Pan all the way up from Østfold, a decent trip for an old Pan. Olav is a lucky guy in that he can chose from several old US cicles when planning a trip, both HD and Injun.

As I had spent three hours wrenching I soon realized evening (and darkness) was coming close and we had to start heading towards down south. This time our path would cross another mountain pass on really narrow and bumpy single lane roads, climbing up to the mountains by a huge number of serpentine bends.
Just as well I think as I then had to ride in second gear to manage the curves, and even then I kept grinding my floor boards (during my climb I kept wondering how often Henderson floor boards gets worn through Norwegian bends these days?), another fact is when in second I put less strain to the engine and hence kept my rear cylinder cooler avoiding another exhaust valve accident.

Darkness is a relative factor. When we had about an hour left to ride it was dark, very dark indeed. And that is when my Splitdorf electronic regulator decide to blow up my 6 Volt gel battery, Kapoow!
No lights, none.
I had to follow Øyunns Beemer taillight for the remaining trip, whow I was exhausted when finally home.

All in all, even if some technical issues a great experience that I would not have missed. To ride a 86 years old Henderson is such a thrill, its so damned well handling in curves, OK there is a lack of brakes but still a great motorcycle even today.

Thanks to all those great lads that volunteered in helping me at the workshop in Fyresdal, and in particular to the owner for letting me be there for no charge!!!!

In Åmli on our way up the valley towards Telemark.

Checking spark plugs.

Top of the mountain (I am still luckily not aware of the exhaust valve problem).

Big tools required.

Many gearheads is better than one?

Plugs gets loose.

Valve and seat grinding.

Hands colored from technical entertainment.

Our friend Olav is always smiling!

Friends with Øyunn.

On our way home, its getting darker hence the light (it would become very dark eventually).

A-Bombers 2013 at Backamo Sweden

Man O man, got home from the rig late Thursday, having worked night shifts! A couple of lousy hours sleep and I woke up Friday in what was more than due time to allready have been on the road for a while to catch the ferry from Sandefjord to Strømstad in Sweden.
No time to loose, breakfast was easily skipped and packing up ol Bessie was done with the left hand whilst the right one dressed me up.
Rode on the yellow line most of the way to pass the endless row of cars heading home towards east from their hollidays down south.
Puuh!, reached the ferry with a margin of seconds, had to give the ticket lady a kiss to get onboard, I had not prebooked.

The ride from Strømstad to Backamo was easy going, highway all the way down.

Going the entire trip to A-Bombers in sun, whow, it is my first time. Except from one heavy drench of rain Saturday when the hillclimb was to start we had sun the entire weekend.

A-Bombers 2013, a summary in few words;
Old friends and some new, talking bikes and general BS, drinking beer and the ordinary meals consisting of the Backamo noodles.

When heading home Sunday I found my dear Bessie girl didnt charge her battery, hmmpf, managed to get to Strømstad in due time to catch the ferry and I was lucky enough to get a spare moped 6 V battery from a Norwegian riding his 45" Harley WL. This battery was what eventually got me home that afternoon.

The last 100km`s was in heavy rain, no problem, clothes do dry eventually.

Patina rules

Classy

Apes

Scandinavian brotherhood, Finnish hog having problems in Sweden, problem solved with Norwegian parts

Terje`s Pan

This Norwegian sporty was one of the most innovative builds I`ve seen in a long time

Propeller Lars`s Knuck in the middle

Eh, what to say!!

Our transportation to the hill climb, Terjes Limousine service

This sprung hub Speed twin had traveled far

Ready for take off up the hill

Some gets dressed off, others on

Bessie on the campground

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.

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.

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.

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.