Sunday breakfast tea.

Sunday morning, the first day of winter officially with the clocks going back an hour last night, what better way to enjoy the sunny day than to have a run to probably the best tea room ever. A great weekend for weather and today the wind has died down so its actually quite warm in the sun. When the weather is like this Scotland IS hard to beat.

Do you fancy the Norton Rally in the USA?

Bauke Steinfort is organising a container to the USA for next years International Rally, Details as follows;

Come and go with us to the USA.

The annual International Norton Rally 2011 will be held from 18 till July 22 at the Brookside Campground, Catskill, NY-USA and is located about 180 km northwest of New York close to Woodstock. For this great and beautiful adventure to become a reality and still be affordable, we will open up registration for members of the Norton Owners Club. It is all about attracting kindred souls. If you are indeed interested in this trip, we will organise a meeting to discuss all the details. We hope we will be able to convince you that this very special trip will totally be wicked.
One container will hold 20 motorbikes.
Return shipping Rotterdam - New York Bayonne per motorcycle € 795, -
Transport insurance costs € 160, - (with insured value of € 4000, -)
The motorbike will be anchored in a special motor transport frame (see picture)
Oil and gas do NOT need be drained. Tents, sleeping bags and other luggage can also go in the container. You will take your personal luggage with you on the plane of course.
There is a weekly departure from Rotterdam with a crossing time of 12 days
This offer includes the provision of import and export papers.
Insurance U.S.A. is based on current data € 185, -.
This brings the total package to approx. € 1145, - This does not include your own flight.

In order to save Bauke from being bombarded with Spam, if you contact me then I'll put you in touch.

Pretty pretty

Working (as always) on the bikes today, just got the head for the Mk3 Commando back from Alex who's done a great job of Aqua Blasting it. Looks too good to put on the bike now, if only I had a larger mantlepiece!
Valves ground in and now just waiting for a couple of odds and ends to get it finished and back on the bike. Hopefully have it running again by the weekend but then I need to find somewhere to store it for the Winter so that I can get on with my other projects. Next is a MK3 Le Mans needing fettled and some TLC but I need to sell it when its going to make space, actually need to sell more as its a joke at the moment with the lack of room but I can't bring myself to do it!
I've started easing myself into the selling thing by listing a Norton Tank on fleabay, need more room!

Comrie

Last minute decision to have an impromptu meeting at the tea bar in comrie. Frosty this morning and the bad news is that the gritters are out already spreading the corrosion forming salt on our roads. A bit premature I think, next they'll be moaning about running out! I suppose the guys working for the council need their overtime before they get paid off. A good turnout but mine's was the only norton. Had to stop for a pit stop at halfway home to warm up, I was bloody freezing! Its funny how soft you get, but it looks like a long winter ahead, snow on the hills already so I suppose I better toughen up.

Nice for a while

It started of bleak and cold this morning but took the guzzi out anyway. Great run to my favourite tea shop for a big pot of tea. The roads were incredibly slippy though so not too much heroics on the corners. Funny how a cold windy day can be someones idea of a bad day but for the windsurfers out enjoying the conditions it seemed perfect. I suppose the old saying there's no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing is mainly true.

Nice but cold.

This is the day that the current government declares even more doom and gloom for the country but luckily its also very sunny so I decided to take the fastback out for a blast. What I underestimated was how bloody cold it is. I'm sure welders will be cashing in on the brass monkey market today! But it was refreshing to get out and escape the gloom and doom and immerse myself in enjoying an old norton which has in its lifetime seen many recessions and survived. Get out on your bike burn some petrol and clear your mind, its therapeutic.

Almost guzzi time again.

Today I dug out my old
Mk3 le mans to see what state it was in. Its sat since last april which is when I took it off the road. The battery was a bit flat so I jumped it off the car and it started almost right away. Very impressed that it started so easily with old petrol . Guzzi's have an unfair reputation for unreliability I think. Wish my nortons started so easily after a lay off!

Sunset

Once again we are treated to a nice applecross sunset. Been sunny all day but there is a nip in the air. I don't think the snow is far away which is unfortunate, not this weekend though!

Applecross bay

So a nice day in applecross certainly better than the rain we had yesterday. A strange entrance into the village as I was in the car and the bealach is closed so we had to use the coast road. The coast road is much longer and although scenic its not the same as the challenge of the bealach. Whisky overdose last night so feeling a bit jaded today.

Going again!

A large part of the day spent troubleshooting the fastback after it playing up yesterday. After a lot of fiddling around and checking it would appear the culprit was the carb pilot jet. All back together now and running well. Its a worry though that the ethanol in the petrol may be reacting with the fibreglass in the tank to create some sludge which may be blocking the fuel system. A bigger problem ahead for us all when they allow up to 10% ethanol to be added to petrol from next year. The ethanol attacks rubber and plastic so unless you have the right kind of rubber and plastic in your fuel system there could be trouble ahead. Possibly a business opportunity in future!

Cold!

Been busy cleaning and checking the mk3 commando so that I can order up the parts I need for the rebuild. This afternoon the sun came out so I thought i'd take the fastback out for a run. Got myself organised and then started it, easy enough no drama's then off with the choke and the bloody thing died. Seems like there's a jet blocked in the carb, my neighbour thinks its funny as he's always giving me a hard time about the amount of time I spend fettling the bikes, bloody british bikes, why do they have to be so quirky? Anyway took the roadster out instead down to queensferry, nice but cold with just the jeans and a very thin leather jacket on. I suppose thats the real meaning of looking cool, actually I was looking freezing!

Dry run home

After a rather hectic night and a bit of a hangover this morning we enjoyed a nice run home in the autumnal weather. The colours are fantastic at this time of year but the downside is the cooler temperatures still no complaints a rain free weekend which we were thankful for.

The thistle rally.

So once again we're here at the thistle rally in killin. Just got the tent up in what could be termed airy conditions. The rain is holding off so thats the main thing. Breaking with tradition and having a cup of tea rather than getting stuck in to the beer. Mainly because i'm full of the cold. Ideal getting a cold then going camping after a trip on the bike!

Oh Dear!

Well this week I've been busy stripping the Mk3 Commando and checking it out for the engine problem. My prognosis was correct, the foot has come off the end of the cam follower as you can see in the photo, the half moon thing should be firmly stuck to the follower and not lying in the bottom of the crankcases where I found it. There was also a broken top ring which luckily hasn't caused any damage apart from the obvious carbon build up on the head. So all in all not a big disaster, the cam seems fine and I've decided not to split the crankcases to rebuild the bottom end as it doesn't need it and with the quality of new parts these days its better left alone with the bits that have lasted the last 33 years.
Some fettling and much cleaning to be done before its rebuilt, hopefully next week!

Finally sorted

Well thats the roadster finally sorted out (for now) out for a breakfast run and now having my usual debate on which bikes to sell to make room. Difficult one really as I like them all. Now if I had more room it would be fine I could buy up the world's supply of old bikes !