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.

Oslo Motor Show 2

Husqvarna, a brand we in Scandinavia have seen on a lot of products……motorcycles, guns, chainsaws and everything for the kitchen. But I think this must be the first Husqvarna V twin chopper I have seen.

The power plant is made in 1923, 550 cc side valve

Double outside vintage style front brake…….Note the brass wheels to guide the wires.

A long bike………..

Oslo Motor Show

Oslo Motor Show today. All kind off cars, trucks and bikes at the same place. Here are some bikes for different tastes:

 

Ulf Sanberg`s 1952 road going Manx. This bike has an interesting Scandinavian racing history. I will get back to that….

 

A stuffed speedway rider on a JAP.

Munch 4TT from 1968.

Norton`s at Montlhèry, 62 years ago today.

The remains of an Emblem.

I had heard about it for while……..A friend of mine had found the remains of his uncle Emblem motorcycle. I was all ears…..He could remember the bike in traffic when he was a kid and had some stories about it. Well my friend is in his eighty’s and can tell a bike ore car tail. He wanted to keep the bits and see what turned up…….Fair enough; after all it was a family relic.

Some time passes and I am out to his place to have a look......... And I ask about the Emblem, after all he is more of a car guy

To make it short, I had to go and get my car……

Well well, what have we here……..in a corner in the garage.

Emblem was made in Angola, New York from 1909 to 1925. They had a reputation to be of excellent quality. I do not know how many that made it to Norway.

This is all the parts, but all projects have a start.….. I will try to find some more of the bike, but it can be a difficult task. The Emblem “lived” close to a deep lake and I have heard many stories of the effective cleaning of unneeded stuff. You drag the things you don`t want out on the ice late in winter. Then you just have to wait until spring, and viola…….everything has disappeared. Did I mention that the lake was deep?

 

Still original paint with gold lining, amazing that it has survived all the years with use and abuse.

I do not know if the parts are from a twin or a single cylinder machine.

Workshop art?