Guy Martin

Just last weekend Madelyn and I discovered that our niece,Holly, worked as a Production Co Ordinator  with Guy Martin whilst he was filming 'Speed with Guy Martin'
  What is odd about this fact is that we see her fairly regularly and know that she worked at Aardman - Shaun the Sheep, with Tony Robinson on the first series of 'Walking Through History' and was last year based in Birmingham with a series of 'Fifth Gear' amongst a number of other productions. It turns out that before Fifth Gear was 'Speed'
  Obviously she know's I love bikes etc so you'd think........................Oh well maybe not !
  Apparently, and as you'd expect, Guy is a very nice and down to earth man.
  Anyway, for part of her Nan's birthday present from Holly, Guy signed a photo of himself which she also took a picture of him holding, to later make into a birthday card for the same Nan  - Yvonne (Nan) is actually a fan of course

Moto Guzzi USA Trip continued.........

.............. from Chickasha,Oklahoma into Texas and New Mexico

On the 6th day of being on the road we had reached Texas

Our Lunchtime stop was directly opposite
the Jail / Prison pictured below

This inmate was watering the grass

Our very first bit of Route 66 and still in Texas.
We'd not long passed Amarillo and had also gone passed
the famous 'Cadillac Ranch' 

Still on Route 66 and we're heading that a way !

Our  nights stop in New Mexico -'Blue Swallow' Motel
at Tucumcari.
Each double room with it's own garage and a free 1st beer from the outside fridge. 

Oh what a beautiful sign !
The owner is restoring the car too.
All this for $80 a night which at the time was £40

The next morning at approximately 8 am the skies were clearing after a night of torrential
rain,thunder and lightening .
It was our third and last experience (luckily all 3 happened at night) of bad weather

It must have already been 70 degrees plus

On the road again and I try making my phone call home.
Just after here Route 66 halted abruptly  and we were back
on Interstate Highway 40 which runs right alongside a lot anyway 

After a little way on Highway 40 we saw a sign showing Route 66 again,which was
also the turn off for Santa Rosa that we were taking to start heading up into
Northern New Mexico.
Just off the Highway was this privately owned museum

Well worth popping in for the princely sum of $5

Next time......................... up into the corner of Colorado, Arizona - Monument Valley / Grand Canyon

Martin's new / old Milling machine

My friend Martin wanted a navigator and a extra pair of hands (and my exceptionally pleasant company) with collection of his latest Ebay purchase - a very large (3/4 ton) - Milling Machine. He already has a one  but this will be better,that is of course  if he can actually make room for it ? 
He hired a van and off we trundled............. actually trundle isn't a word I should use to describe Martin's driving...........Off we sped to do a approx round trip of 300 + miles into the the depths of East Sussex.
  We arrived safely....PHEW !......... and it then took us approximately 2 hours to take it apart,

All 3/4 ton of it !
The cast iron base that has a pump and a sump inside was the heaviest  and to unload it
the two of us had to push it down a couple of  planks and slip improvised rollers underneath
to get it the 40ft into his garage
Oh how we laughed ,while doing our Back's in at the same time !

Starting to come apart and we ended up with 4 or 5 main items

The cutters - they might look rusty but all the Tips / Edges? looked in excellent condition

as much as we could into manageable pieces........Luckily the seller had a engine hoist to load a few of the heavier parts.
  Martin is already in the process of stripping it down further as he is going to restore it all before assembling it into a space in his workshop...............then his old one will be up For Sale !

World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides

Has anybody been watching  'World's Greatest Motorcycle Rides' which  seems to be on a constant repeat loop on the Travel Channel  on Freeview. 
  I like watching it because I like looking at the scenery etc but as a presenter I / we find Henry Cole highly irritating,although I am sure that he is a very pleasant in person .
  He mostly seems to pick the most inappropriate bikes for each trip and then moans about their handling,lack of tank range or getting more wet than normal because it has no mudguards.
   He constantly says things like"the road beckons" refers to the views as Vista's,' Gassing up' when putting in petrol and distances as 'Clicks'.  He has had a dig at Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman for having a huge entourage on their trips yet has a follow up camera car and consequently never has to carry any of his own luggage....................I could go on but I won't.
   Anyway,what better excuse than to put some pics up of our trip (I did threaten that I would do this quite some time ago) across the United States. 
   It was back in about 2008 that we shipped our two Guzzi's to New Jersey for a short 3 weeks and a few days trip (you can knock off the few days due to a hold up with getting Customs clearance)
   There was no properly planned route and so no booked in advance hotels. To keep a long story very short we had a vague idea encompassing a few bits of Route 66 and ending up in California due in part to the bikes being shipped back from the Long Beach area.
 When we finally set off,on a Friday afternoon, we headed down towards Maryland where we stayed the night and the next day went through West Virginia into Kentucky for our second nights stop. Then from there we found all back roads into 'Dexter' Missouri 
 That night we had a very heavy storm  and although dry the next morning the forecast wasn't good (we had been weather watching on the news all the time because of the amount of Tornadoes hitting a lot of areas but in particular Oklahoma) Rather than continue West we decided that a little further South into Arkansas was the best idea. We were lucky as even as we rode on dry roads it was like a corridor of blackness on either side of us. We went past the city of Little Rock and a little further on turned right into and through 'Hot Springs National Park'  After we had been riding for quite some while and I'd already gone onto reserve some 20mls previous I started to get a little concerned as all we could still see was endless trees. 
Luckily we came out into a clearing and a petrol station and then half a mile further a small town and hotel.
 Enough of my ramblings for now,here are some pics. 

A weirdo in New York

Oh no,it's just Tony !

Fairly sure this is in West Virginia

In Kentucky ?
All I  remember  is being on small back roads and just before pulling up to
a T junction happened to look to our right

Now I would have said that this was definitely Kentucky though I would have thought
this pic should be before the one above...........I'm confused !
I  reckon it's after leaving the Louisville area on state highway 60

Fuel stop and this might already be in Arkansas.
Definitely after leaving Dexter Missouri
and on our way to Little Rock/Hot Springs

This was opposite out hotel where we stayed (Heavener,Oklahoma)after coming through Hot Springs.
 Sadly it wasn't open for breakfast
We'd had another proper downpour overnight and it was still raining lightly. The only morning that we put our waterproof's on

Next door to the hotel 

Same street and just down the road from the hotel and the Sonic burger place.
We walked past it the night before on our quest for food.
There were no lights on but the front door was open and all you could see was a pair of white legs
sitting in a chair in the hallway.

So you think your house is small
This was next door to the one in the previous picture

Good food!
Already in Oklahoma and the waterproofs were already off and not needed again.
We were just leaving here but upon going in a cowboy was leaving............well he had the boots,hat
and jeans on but no horse.

Maysville Oklahoma

Somewhere in Oklahoma.
Everywhere had been fairly quiet because it was Veterans weekend.
Why everywhere looks to be closed on what must be a Tuesday is anybody's guess

Bet you can't wait for the next instalment eh ?
   Texas and our first bit of Route 66.............whoo hoo !

Norton Dominator for sale - £2,995 - SOLD !

My friend Rob has to sell his old Norton 99 Dominator Slimline (600cc) After his Dad died Rob inherited it with the intention of finishing the restoration but due to recent circumstances now has to sell.
All I can tell you is that all the Stove enamelling has been done,although the petrol tank needs redoing.Most of the chrome is in excellent condition apart from the exhaust pipes.
The engine fitted was rebuilt in 1986 but has never been ran.
There is a spare petrol tank and stripped engine included.
The only parts missing are a wiring harness and a few nuts and bolts
For more information give Rob a call on -  mobile 07791615210   ( Bristol area)

Rob has had a Norton Owners Club member view the bike who suggested that a more realistic price to offer it For Sale at is £2,995

Run Rabbit Run

Joe sent me this Youtube clip which my first thought was "how is this going to be very funny" and then I watched it...............Hilarious !

Moto Guzzi Black Roadster..........Oh Bloody Hell !

I have had a mysterious light tapping on the right hand side of my Black Guzzi for a few months now.
I took it for a MOT back in September and it was fine and a couple of days later I went out on it and it started. It really was hardly noticeable under all the other Guzzi noises but a month or so later it became more noticeable and at speed too but didn't sound serious. I was expecting a badly worn cam follower or rocker spindle or.....?
  Anyway.I took the right hand head,barrel etc off and could not find anything as yet, except a couple of tiny pits on the high point of the cam lobe on the inlet and a little pitting on the corresponding follower.
  What I did notice was that the con rod was staying put when normally it should move very freely. Moved it about whilst turning the crank to find tight and loose spots.
  I took the sump off today and removed the con rod bolts to find what you see in the pics below.
 My friend Martin reckons it looks more like corrosion than wear and I must admit the crank does look / feel to be ok 
   I have certainly opened a can of worms but obviously it's better to find it now before things got any worse.
I still don't know what is likely to be the cause of the tapping noise

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