Is motorcycling allowed?

[Hairy]

For the Harley riders, this FB page has a world of manuals and tech docs for free in PDF format

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465028990466294/

[Andrew_Smith]

Sharing on behalf of a friend, he makes 3D printed helmet brackets:

http://www.bike3d.co.za/

If you decide to order from him, you can tell him that Andrew_Smith sent you.

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by Andrew_Smith

[RoddieJ]

3 hours ago, Andrew_Smith said:

Sharing on behalf of a friend, he makes 3D printed helmet brackets:

http://www.bike3d.co.za/

If you decide to order from him, you can tell him that Andrew_Smith sent you.

 

I have the white one of these ????????
Pretty cool online shop too...

[mazambaan]

On 11/16/2021 at 11:23 AM, Andymann said:

So a little bit of trivia - arguably of the most successful and genuine Café Racers (during a time where the guys actually removed their bikes lights and raced them on the weekend) was the Velocette Thruxton.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocette_Thruxton

Anyone who knows the history of British bike racing will know the success of the Velocette Thruxton and also the marketing pull of the name "Thruxton"

Velocette only had copyright on the name for a certain period and when the current owners of the Velocette name forgot to re-register the trademark it lapsed and Triumph pounced much to the disgust of every die-hard Velocette owner!

 

 

Thanks for the info - I have been listening to the MotoStarr podcasts featuring the older US greats; Reg Pridmore (he mentioned starting racing in the US on the Triumph Thruxtons), Dave Aldana, Dick Mann, Keith McCarty (Andymann will know who that is!!) etc. Fascinating (well, to me).

[Andymann]

It's actually such a really interesting story regarding the Velocette Thruxton - I tried loading the pdf document of the full story, but in a nutshell Velocette had a standard 500cc model called the Venom.  There was a very good bike racer in Rhodesia called Alan Harris and together with his mechanic Geoff Lacey they built a pretty fast 500 Venom.  The Velocette factory racers came out to Rhodesia and SA at the time to compete (with their factory race bikes) and were soundly beaten by Alan and his 500 developed by Geoff.  To put this into perspective, it would be like someone in South Africa modifying a road Yamaha R1 and when the Factory Yamaha's came out for WSBK they get beaten by a local riders on a modified  R1 road bike.  That's the enormity of what Alan and Geoff did.  The Velocette factory was so impressed that they flew Alan, Geoff and his bike to the UK, and stripped it to see exactly what they had done here in Africa.  And from that, the Velocette 500 Thruxton (an R1-M in comparison) was built.  Alan was actually a very successful racer - I can't find too much info but he did race successfully at the Isle of Man TT.

Alan Harris sadly died from Cancer a few years ago, but I knew him well and when I built my Velocette Venom into a Café Racer, he advised me on all the right mods to do - Geoff Lacey is still alive living in George but he is moving to a retirement Village, so cannot keep all his spares -  our Velocette Club has recently bought all of his spares in in amongst the pile of stuff are some of the original heads he and Alan modified when they were building the racer.  Most of them are scrap because they didn't work, but there is one that Geoff said to me would work on my bike - I just need a proper piston and some 100 Octane race fuel! Crazy old man he is.....

[Andymann]

5 minutes ago, Andymann said:

It's actually such a really interesting story regarding the Velocette Thruxton - I tried loading the pdf document of the full story, but in a nutshell Velocette had a standard 500cc model called the Venom.  There was a very good bike racer in Rhodesia called Alan Harris and together with his mechanic Geoff Lacey they built a pretty fast 500 Venom.  The Velocette factory racers came out to Rhodesia and SA at the time to compete (with their factory race bikes) and were soundly beaten by Alan and his 500 developed by Geoff.  To put this into perspective, it would be like someone in South Africa modifying a road Yamaha R1 and when the Factory Yamaha's came out for WSBK they get beaten by a local riders on a modified  R1 road bike.  That's the enormity of what Alan and Geoff did.  The Velocette factory was so impressed that they flew Alan, Geoff and his bike to the UK, and stripped it to see exactly what they had done here in Africa.  And from that, the Velocette 500 Thruxton (an R1-M in comparison) was built.  Alan was actually a very successful racer - I can't find too much info but he did race successfully at the Isle of Man TT.

Alan Harris sadly died from Cancer a few years ago, but I knew him well and when I built my Velocette Venom into a Café Racer, he advised me on all the right mods to do - Geoff Lacey is still alive living in George but he is moving to a retirement Village, so cannot keep all his spares -  our Velocette Club has recently bought all of his spares in in amongst the pile of stuff are some of the original heads he and Alan modified when they were building the racer.  Most of them are scrap because they didn't work, but there is one that Geoff said to me would work on my bike - I just need a proper piston and some 100 Octane race fuel! Crazy old man he is.....

I actually have found the Obituary which my Dad wrote for Alan, so if anyone would like me to post it - I will do so.  All I can say is they made them tough back in Rhodesia in the '50s!

[Thug]

49 minutes ago, Andymann said:

It's actually such a really interesting story regarding the Velocette Thruxton - I tried loading the pdf document of the full story, but in a nutshell Velocette had a standard 500cc model called the Venom.  There was a very good bike racer in Rhodesia called Alan Harris and together with his mechanic Geoff Lacey they built a pretty fast 500 Venom.  The Velocette factory racers came out to Rhodesia and SA at the time to compete (with their factory race bikes) and were soundly beaten by Alan and his 500 developed by Geoff.  To put this into perspective, it would be like someone in South Africa modifying a road Yamaha R1 and when the Factory Yamaha's came out for WSBK they get beaten by a local riders on a modified  R1 road bike.  That's the enormity of what Alan and Geoff did.  The Velocette factory was so impressed that they flew Alan, Geoff and his bike to the UK, and stripped it to see exactly what they had done here in Africa.  And from that, the Velocette 500 Thruxton (an R1-M in comparison) was built.  Alan was actually a very successful racer - I can't find too much info but he did race successfully at the Isle of Man TT.

Alan Harris sadly died from Cancer a few years ago, but I knew him well and when I built my Velocette Venom into a Café Racer, he advised me on all the right mods to do - Geoff Lacey is still alive living in George but he is moving to a retirement Village, so cannot keep all his spares -  our Velocette Club has recently bought all of his spares in in amongst the pile of stuff are some of the original heads he and Alan modified when they were building the racer.  Most of them are scrap because they didn't work, but there is one that Geoff said to me would work on my bike - I just need a proper piston and some 100 Octane race fuel! Crazy old man he is.....

A great and interesting story.

I don't suppose this Alan Harris used to live in the Transkei as I knew an ex-Zimbabwean by that name living in Butterworth?

 

[Hairy]

A quick ride out to go get some fresh coffee from the factory / roastery

 

Spotted a big 1200 GS with a side car on the way back ... was interesting to see, and very friendly waving riders 

 

 

 

[Hairy]

 

[New world disorder]

Found a project for myself 

[Hairy]

On 7/31/2021 at 12:31 PM, WaynejG said:

https://hdgoldrand.co.za/product/shock-adjustment-spanner/

Life got away from me and I did not place the order for the spanner.

Thought I would check with the local HD dealers to see if they had anything in stock yet, got a solid no after calling back a few times.

Called the Gold Rand Crew to confirm it will work with my bike, got a solid yes, placed the order and that is that ... and it still had zero shipping costs associated, so a win win!

[dirtypot]

2 hours ago, New world disorder said:

Found a project for myself 

CBR 400? 

[RoddieJ]

Looks like a CBR600RR to me.... ????

[New world disorder]

Its a cbr400 nc29 model ,mid 90s japanese style .

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

On 11/19/2021 at 6:41 PM, New world disorder said:

Its a cbr400 nc29 model ,mid 90s japanese style .

Becoming quite sought after. Had friend looking for a gearbox a good 10yrs ago and it was tough to find one. Spares are a problem with these older bikes, and worse when it is a grey import.
Looks fairly neat though from afar.

[Andrew_Smith]