BMW Cafe Racer

Martin has sent me a couple more pics of yet another minimalist BMW Cafe Racer style bike.
  Not too sure how well that seat is supported,but I do like the way the rear shocks seem to have been incorporated and to me, to look like part of the frame. Pity a lot of BMW Specials builders stick with using the not so effective original ATE floating brake calipers though !

Erik Buell Racing / Guzzi's,Poole Harbour etc

My friend Pete said he was off work for a day and was going to Motomecca / Moto Corsa to get a few spares. "Do you know they are near Shaftesbury now?" "No".........."We could go down to Poole harbour,have a bag of chips and then pop in and pick up the bits on the way back"
  So that's what we did and Mark came along on his Spada too

Pete's S3, my Cafe Racer and Mark's Spada
in a terrible bleached out photo

I must come down one day and take a boat trip around what is
quite a large natural harbour

Erik Buell's latest offering 

Moto Corsa's Daytona Racing

Guzzi 500cc Single / Seeley Racer

My friend Joe Caruso,who produces some special bikes and parts himself,sent me these few pics of his recent visit,in August,to the Classic Weekend at Donington Park.
  The two Guzzi 500cc singles were built by his friend Graham Hemshall,who like Joe obviously also shows great attention to detail in his builds.
   I think that I am correct in saying that the first pic is a Gambalunga based replica using a Falcone Sport tuned motor in a Sport chassis,which is capable of 112mph.
  The other and my favourite in the Seeley frame uses replica Dondolino engine castings with a second hand crank and Dondolino internals.
   Sounds like a great weekend which also included Summerfield Manxs,Walmesley G50 Matchless's and Velocettes etc

A line up of Gorgeous Aermacchis's

The Felice Brothers at The Fleece Bristol

A couple of nights ago,Tuesday to be exact,I rode down into town on the Cafe Racer to meet up with Nick on his SV650 and Fran on his Guzzi Cafe Racer to go and see The Felice Brothers at a venue that I had never been to before in all of my 24 years of living in Bristol,The Fleece. It's a industrial 1900's building (1830 to be exact) originally a wool market,inside peppered with iron columns,narrow enough not to impede your view,supporting huge Oak timber beams and standing on flagstone floors.
   The evening started off with a support band 'Horse Thief' from Oklahoma and although initially I thought they were ok I thought that the last 4 or 5 songs were actually really good.

   After a breath of fresh air outside 20 minutes or so later The Felice Brothers came on, to the usual roar from the crowd  for the band they'd actually come to see. They took command from the start with their own brand of foot stomping,accordian,fiddle ,guitar etc playing  folk,country rock and it stayed  mostly like that,except for the odd slower paced song for the rest of the night................Excellent !

Midual Type 1 on Bike Exif

Out of curiosity I took a look at this new bike posted on Bike Exif -  the Midual Type 1 priced at $185,000 or approximately £119,000.
   For me,I just don't get it as I don't even think it's a good looking bike.  I can't see anything about it that would excite me as I opened up the garage door. Sure it's going to be fast, but whoopee doo !
  Looks to me like they've done as much as they can to make it stand out from the crowd of other Big Power naked bikes,but.....................?
   For more info and detailed pics look at Bike Exif

BMW Cafe Racer

My friend Martin sent me this pic of this gorgeous minimalist BMW Cafe Racer. Certainly different enough from the normal run of the mill take on the Cafe Racer theme.

Bristol (MAG) Bike Show - 2014

 I was able to get to the local MAG (Motorcycle Action Group) organised Bristol Bike Show last Saturday.
   A lot of it was of no interest to me at all with good proportion of bikes coming and going being fairly stock looking Harley Davidsons,but it's a free and friendly event and not quite as busy as the earlier in the year Auto Italia Day,so this makes moving about so much easier.
   Here's a few pics of some that caught my eye in the fairly short time that I was there,

I first saw this in the car park at Shepton Mallet Autojumble
last year,but didn't have my camera with me at the time

I just don't get a side mounted number plate on Cafe Racer style bikes
and I am not going to mention the star rear light 

Interesting though don't think he'll be going to far afield
with that slightly widened BSA Bantam tank

Not my cup of tea,but the quality of the paintwork
was pretty impressive 

though not necessarily all to my taste,but just that little bit different for me to want to take a photo