OC Vintage Bike Meet

At the OC Vintage bike meet the bikes must be at least 30 years old to be in the show.

Aussie Glen arriving on one of his stable of Ducatis

Me with my Square Four and Ariel Tee shirt.

There is an arrow to my Slow Down Watch, the watch with only one pointer given to me by Rainer Dango.

A Honda CBX from 1980 maybe, I rode one belonging to my good friend Harold Kie, faster than shit off a stick. However with six carbs it was harder to keep in tune than a Ferrari.

Now look at this Bad Boy!, a 1,000 CC Vincent engine shoe horned into a Norton Featherbed frame.

A very special BMW, not 30 years old and not in the show, but very special and desirable nonetheless.

This rocket machine was being ridden by a guy even older than me.

A 1934 Velocette KSS, a beautiful and honest bike.

Nellie was really looked on as being something of a star at the show.

We declined to be judged as I thought it a bit demeaning to expect her to haul me over there, then have a bunch of aging Lotharios giving her their leering looks!

So we sat back and enjoyed basking in the admiration.

Only one small problem and that was down to me not her.

When I pulled into the parking lot she made a small puddle, well she is almost 60 years old.

Turns out when I had drained and refilled the oil tank, there was still a fair amount of oil in the sump.

Once we were running and up to temperature the oil tank overflowed slightly, hence a few drips and the small puddle.

All in all a Grand Day Out, thank you James for bring some rags to wipe off the oil.

We are all looking forward to next month.

Next on the agenda, the shed raising.

One shed ready for delivery.

I drove home on surface streets to avoid freeway speed.

Truck unloaded with the help of my hired hand.

Shed stacked in the yard ready for assembly, what a poser!

Second Sunday

On the second Sunday of the month the OC Vintage Bike Club meets in HB.

Check it out with the link below.

http://www.vintagebikeoc.com/home/

On Sunday 7/13/2014 I am going to check it out.

The plan is to ride Nellie over to the burger joint where this event takes place.

James Wilbourn my friend and colleague is scheduled to meet up with me there. He plans to ride either his modern Triumph or his older BSA.

Nellie has been up on the lift for the last few days getting a little TLC and an oil shut off valve added.

 An oil shut off valve is a dangerous thing, if you forget to to turn it on the engine is toast very quickly.

My solution to that problem is to hang the key on the valve. That way I have to take the key from the valve and hopefully open the valve too!

The reason for the addition of the oil shut off valve is to prevent sumping.

When you leave the bike for extended periods without running, the oil tends to run from the oil tank through the pump into the crankcase or SUMP. Hence sumping.

When you start the engine next time, the oil in the sump passes through to the primary case and leaks out through the clutch housing.

A bit of midnight oil has been expended to complete this project. (Pun Intended)

Well more like 9:00 o'clock oil!

If the weather is not too warm, (Sorry Brits) I will wear my 60th birthday jacket.

A gift from good friends; yes I know, you did not think that I had any.

I'll give you an update on the ride out after we get back home tomorrow.

Ciao Bella

From Nellie and Norm

Hmm!

Just thinking, what with me always signing off with Ciao Bella, maybe I should change Nellie's name to 

Gina.

Naw!

She would never forgive me.

Bobby

Bobby, that lovable rascal!

As most of you already know, we decided that Bob's time had come and we needed to end his suffering.

So with with heavy hearts we parted company on June 30th.

It was, as you can imagine, a sad day in the Cain household.

Missy acted rather strangely or should I say more strangely than usual for several days.

However she seems to have returned to what we have come to call normal.

This picture was not set up or photo shopped, it was serendipitous.
This was just Bob with his favorite buddy Bear.
Bear, as most of you know left us in 2011.

We decided to re-book our trip to Italy for August.

So, we depart on August 13th for Frankfurt and then on to Naples.

The trip is pretty much the same as originally planned, the locations are the same but the hotels are different.

Dan is looking after Missy and the Casa, that makes it easier to leave knowing that she is at home and not in a boarding kennel.

We will post more about the trip soon.

Ciao Bella

Norm

New Bike

New Old Bike

After a lot of frustration and a difficulty with the bank; I am now the proud owner of a new very old motorcycle.

The only way this deal worked was with the help of a friend in the UK who paid the seller for me, trusting me to repay him.

It seems that the banks are keen to take your money but not so keen on giving it back when you want it.

This is a 1953 Velocette MAC and it should be Stateside in about four weeks.

With my luck that will coincide with a strike at the dock by the longshoremen.

The longshoremen's union are in contract negotiations right now.

The last time they went on strike there were so many ships anchored off Long Beach that you could have walked to Catalina.

The trade mark Velocette exhaust pipe.

The new home is under construction.

The concrete pad is already in place and the new shed is on order.

Anne has told me that if any more bikes show up there had better be a divorce lawyer sitting on the back seat.

More soon.