National Sprint Association at Westonzoyland

Spoilt for choice this weekend for things to do with the Sprint meeting, Somerset Bike Weekend at the Haynes museum, American car show today at Yate Rugby club, a gathering  /  run of 150 + Classic Cars just down the road from Yate at Chipping Sodbury and  the Grand National Race Meeting at Castle Combe circuit.
   Yesterday I chose to pop along to Westonzoyland to spend a couple of hours at the Sprint with a reasonably good ride through the Somerset countryside via Wells and Glastonbury.
  Early yesterday evening my next door neighbour gave me three passes to get into Castle Combe,but the weather this morning is pretty miserable and neither myself nor my two friends that I invited are quite so keen - not much fun riding or watching the racing in the wet.
   THE NEXT NSA Event at Westonzoyland is Sat/Sun 1st & 2nd August and it's FREE to watch.
 The one after that,the last for this year,is October 3th & 4th 

Too late with my camera as my friend Steve on his ZZR 1100
was too quick off the mark,hence the empty l/h lane.
He only got into sprinting 18 months ago and is totally hooked

Henry Body's 600cc Douglas
I believe he has achieved 110mph on it !

Henry Body himself  - 81,one eye,artificial hip and a pacemaker
and still very very quick.

Steve's other,more recently purchased, bike a Hayabusa.
He bought it from two friends who prepared and took it to Bonneville,
but sadly no racing took place -just a year or two ago - due to the week being a washout

Moto Guzzi Crank Sludge Trap

I'm building a Guzzi up for a local chap called Mark. It started life as a T3,has been apart in a stripped down state for many many years and a leman I tank, cyl/heads,barrels and pistons have been acquired along the way. All the engine / gearbox casings have gone off for vapour blasting and the other day I removed the crank sludge trap plug. After drilling,use of a dremel and a hacksaw blade I finally got it out. The pics show what I cleaned out from what we believe to be quite a low mileage bike, having stood unused for approx 20 years.

Boranni wheel corrosion

My friend Joe has just got back from a week away to Brittany on his Guzzi. Last Thursday just before boarding the return ferry he got a puncture in his rear tyre. Over this past weekend he set about replacing the inner tube and found this corrosion on the inside of the rim. As can be seen from the pics the outside of

the wheel looks in pretty good condition which makes the inside condition all the more surprising. I have to say that I have had quite a number of Boranni wheels pass through my hands over the past 20+ years and have never seen one like this before

Guzzi wire wheels refurb in progress

No pictures of the Italian day at Cassington as last Saturday was probably the most wet and miserable day that we've had for a long time with it finally drying up in the very late afternoon.
  Instead, here are some pics of the progress so far been made with my Cali 1100 inj wire wheels destined for the new project that is making slow progress in the workshop,as I made a right royal cock up with the seat that I'd had recovered and I'm taking the newly modified item back tomorrow to pay for another cover and also had some bike work in.
   The wheel hubs have come up well considering their condition with just some small areas of pitting in the alloy. Both wheels have come up a treat too,except there were limits with the rear around the spoke holes with once again suffering from the dreaded pitting / corrosion. As the polisher said ...."there is only so far you can go before you are taking away too much metal"
   I had to use a slightly unconventional way of transporting the rims which seemed to cause a few looks of amusement while riding through Bristol.

2 x sets of spokes and nipples

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Italian Day - Cassington Oxfordshire 2015

There is a Italian Day this Saturday 13th June at The Red Lion Cassington,Oxfordshire which is not far passed the Witney junction of the A40 if travelling from the West.  
   I went last year and it's a pleasant day and a good excuse for a ride along some quite enjoyable roads via Tetbury (doff your cap as you go by Charlie's place),Cirencester,Bibury and Burford.

The Bike Shed Event 2015...........

.............Yes,there were a lot Boxer BMW's 

Some Moto Guzzi's............

...............have a unique ability to,just like snakes, shed their skin.
   Not too sure if it's that welcome and I'd certainly prefer not to be having to strip wheels down and buy new spokes / nipples etc for one of my current projects .These are from a believed low mileage(less than 20,000mls) 95' Cali 1100inj. Ok,maybe it was badly stored or is it just poor prep and quality control ??

Moto Guzzi Timing Gears

Joe Caruso specially produced Steel Timing Gears that he gets made in small batches whenever demand is there. I know that he researched these in depth before development / getting them put into production and they are being used successfully in racing Guzzis around the world including a version for the 4 valve Daytona models.
 contact Joe:   joe.caruso@ntlworld.com