Whats Coming Up on Barnstormers……..

Well not too much at the moment. The thought of frozen icicles of nasal fluid hanging off the end of the nose are not a great invitation to work in a arctic workshop in the evening. And the idea of any type of combustable heating device involving matches to keep warm is long gone after Mrs McSmokey found out that I managed to set fire to one of my co-workers some 30 years ago. However between eating cucumber sandwiches and drinking cups of Earl Grey tea the Knobster and me have come up with a few ideas so…………

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Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me …………. Yup another year has rolled around for old McFuffy. A letter from the Queen (or any queen come to think of it) is just around the corner. Family gathered, presents were given (lots and lots of presents) and senior offspring Princess McSnoooty gave me this lovely big donut (Beagle Boys not included). Yum. Yup, the world is great and everybody loves old McFluffy. Note —— Knobster, wheres my present!!!!

1921-100How to Ride a Flat Tank Motorcycle. We just wondered how hard it really was to ride a early flat tank motorcycle with no clutch, by a person with only modern wonder rocket riding experience. The pictured beast on the left is the chosen steed, completed with hand crank start, 2 speed countershaft, and wooden block for a brake (well almost). The article has been written (the easy part) and we are now searching for a budding rider to actually do the test and a place to do it. However current weather conditions are not agreeable and so we hope to bring this to you towards the end of the year.

calthorpe-rh1-100Project Vintage Racer – As with a lot of collectors of ‘old motorcycle junk’ the Knobster and me thought we would dig into some of the piles of junk we have collected over the many years and see if we could build something within a recognisable budget to go racing. I know the Lobster Knobster has got stuff ‘cos in 1989 he bought 7 motorcycles back from an auction in ‘Gisborne By the Sea’ in the back of his Falcon Station wagon (got to be a good story there young fella!). It will be an ongoing project over the next 12~18 months with the first instalment soon. The bike chosen is the very bare remains of a 1930 Calthorpe 350.

A finally, something that scares a lot of people – that popular but terrifying movie of ‘When the Magneto Fails’. We will delve into the basic Dos and Don’t of playing with these Black Boxes of vintage technology. So stay tuned.

Ta Ra for now readers…………….