The cardboard box Ariel.

When I saw this bike two weeks ago it was only bits and pieces in buckets and boxes.  The Ariel had been stored and mixed with several other bikes for decades. But after some late night puzzle Hans Torvald are building himself a nice racing looking Red Hunter.

When will these fierce looking tires be throwing gravel again?

Goodbye June 2005….

Many years ago all the garages and workshops around her had pin up calendars. Somehow the the smell of oil and grease goes well with nude girls…..Most of the old places are gone and the new streamlined computer filled garages have nothing on the wall that are not approved by the management.

I used to have a steady supply of new calendars……but the source dried out in 2005….but in my workshop the times are not changing. I was stuck in June 2005, my favorite for that year.

From a friend I suddenly received a new calendar, the Exposed 2012 edition:

I am looking forward to 2012!

Gunnars garage....

Harley parts from Poland.

My visit to Gunnar was not to inspect the weathervane or Velocette. He had been to Poland to get some HD 750 parts.

 So I wondered if he had spent his money wisely……or been clubbing in Warszawa?

First rule of garage visiting…..Make sure that your wife (or similar) are driving….

Double action front brake…..Will he need all that stopping power …..24 wild horse powers…

Where is the long stroke kit and big bore carb?

 

All of the repro parts are very well-made and look and feel good…So we just have to wait until the owner get them in use….It can take a while….

You can say whatever you want about Gunnar….But he sure got his shopping priority right!

Weathervane

Times goes…Two years ago Gunnar turned fifty. That is something that can`t be ignored by his friends.

He had a big party which included live band and a “build a car and race it competition”. Some of us had wounds for weeks after that session, but that’s another story…

Special friends need special gifts….so we custom ordered a velocette fishtail silencer weathervane.

The gift had three purposes:

1.       Every time Gunnar sees the weathervane it will remain him that the Velo is still not ready….

2.       The neighbors will believe that her lives an angler with bade sense for form and shape.

3.       If another Velocette rider finds himself in the sleepy town of Horten he will find friends..

Why am I writing about this two years after he got it? It took him two years to get the weathervane up…..and it is not straight…Also looks like he will be needing a Billy goat to keep the grass on the roof short.

  A good thing is that the Velo are getting worked on. He got the point.