Muddy Mounts

Didnt get as much done as I wanted to - only had about 3 hours 
fettle time in the end!


decided to crack on with the mudguard struts...


first up was to bend the supports - in true shed built fashion this 
meant clamping them in a vice and bending them round an old 
bit of gas bottle!






Just a little more....





thats better!





Then I turned up some steel sleeves to weld to the bottom - 
time seems to disappear when I'm on the lathe - in a little 
dream world!





The are countersunk, so the bolts will fit neatly inside of them. 
There has been loads of little bits ive wanted to do like this on 
the bike along the way, but I'll have it nailed for the next bike.


I then drilled the side of the sleeves so the arms could be fitted 
in prior to welding, I'm pretty happy with how they look so far....





This is them offered up to the bike...






I'll get my thinking cap on for the top detail tonight, unsure 
whether to go for a full top rail, or just to connect to the muddy....


oh, and the front wheel is still the wrong way round!

Progress with the Relic!

Feels good to be posting up some progress!


Not got masses to show, but there was loads of little bits 
done. had to get some metal stock in, so had a trip to the 
metal supermarket to get what i needed - and picked up a
bobcat bedford on the way back! (my ears are still hurting
from the noise of that bike!)


I had a couple of bits to turn up, firstly a blanking set for where
the electric start used to be. All turned up out of aluminium, I
just need a locking nylock bolt to blank it all in place.



The wheels are changing for the final time (I promise!) I got a 
twin (leader or trailing - i never know the difference) from a guy 
from Liverpool a couple of weeks back, so I made up some 
spacers to get the wheel mounted in place. it should have a 
decent bit of stopping power now too!






the spindle is the old one from the wide front end I had - which 
toddy had made - I'll need to shorten it down now to fit....


the bracket under the fork to hold the spindle has seen much 
better days, so I'll be on the hunt for one of them - look at the 
state of it!





rear wheel spacers are to be done in the morning. the rear 
wheel is a bit shabby, but its structurally sound. just needs a 
clean up and the spokes looking at.





the stance has changed once again, but its high on the blocks 
with no weight on the forks, so it'll sit plenty lower than this when 
its on the road. I think in time I will change up the rear tyre for 
something a bit more beefy, but I'll have it running on the road
 before then, and will just run the fender with plenty of clearance!

The Kraken!

Got my hands on a bottle of Kraken rum!

Gonna get stuck into it tonight!






Next week off, so the relic build will commence once again!

Hayride antics!

I'm sure you all will have seen all the photos from the hayride on various other blogs, and as I didn't take many pictures this will lead to a drab post...

However, what a cracking event! Immersed in the culture that I've grown to love on my journey, and able to meet up with a load of guys while there. Some faces to names, some I'd never met before, all top blokes tho!

Sorry again to Lyn for destroying his tent while drunk in my pants! Allegations were made of an elbow drop from an oak tree which I can neither confirm or deny!

What the hayride did do is get me focussed on my plans for my builds...

1. Finish the relic and stop fannying about with it

2. The 45 project to be sorted, plenty of ideas stolen along the way!

3. Get the indian project sorted, with a stretched rear frame to accommodate my size!

Anyway a few snaps I did take...


All loaded and ready to rock!


Me and PPTom just off the m25 somewhere!!




Some of the bikes when we arrived




Night time shot!

New Lid

I've been swapping between a bell full face (in the rain) and a NOS Buco open face from 1974 that I got from the states for when the weather is nice.
With doing more miles and the Hayride looking I decided to have a look at what new helmets were on the market to protect my noggin...


Had a look at Biltwell - not Dot Approved and one size fits all ( I have a pretty big swede) - Licks Helmets - have to import from the states and I'm told it takes up to a month to get them over (plus run the risk of taxes), and then the Bell Custom 500's - Dot approved and available is a couple of colours.


Went with the Bell - so when it arrives I'll do a bit of a write up on it - I'll probably wear it down to the Hayride and back.

Riding time!

Very quiet in Blogland at the moment, trying to get out riding whenever the English weather permits.
The Hayride is just over a week away, and I have over 200 miles each way to ride as a fairly inexperienced rider - on a hardtail!!!


Luckily i'm breaking the journey down into 2 days, so that should help.


I'm glad i'm not rushing to get the relic ready to go down now - a lot of lads burning the midnight oil to get their bikes running!


Good luck Fellas! 

New Blog

Mr PPTom one of the "Newark Autojumble Congregation" has started up a blog of his XS650 build.

Tom is doing some cracking work on his bike, and having had a sit on it last time I was at his, its gonna be a cracking ride!

Keep up to speed with his build over at http://shedmadecycles.blogspot.com/