New browser, does it work again?

Ye gads! Just when I though I had made it to the 20th century, they tell me that they don't like my browser no more, and I'm getting blasted back to the 19th! (Sad thing is, everyone else had already made it to the 21st!) So this little episode is to see if the bloody thing works again, and I can get back to writing snippets about the middle half of the last century and such. Lets see if I can still insert a picture with this new browser...........type type type.....TAP!
   Well, not quite where I intended, but it works! (And, super secret 'I'm Not An I.T. Guy," you stick your picture on my computer after you fix it and it'll go nationwide or more....Heheheheheheh!) Seriously, thanks Eric, for the helping hand. Now I can get back to Motorcycle things soon enough! Cheers!

Motorcycles Saving Cars!

Back in the day, especially in Jolly olde England, the motorcycle sidehack was a common means of carrying more on a regular bike. The Automobile Association had several of these rigs sent out to help stranded motorists. This purchase for the AA was for 72 new units to help patrol and aid!  Here's a pic of some of the new arrivals, circa 1952:

Full moon ride!

Last night was an almost full moon, and it happened to be rising in my neck of the woods about the right time. Unfortunately, the camera was still at home! Today, however, I actually thought ahead. Batteries charged, tripod loaded, on the way home I was able to pull a couple of shots. First one is the Russian River here in Sonoma county, California, about 2 miles from the coast.

This second photo is not quite what I wanted, with some time I'm sure I'll get the one I want. It's my faithful Triumph, Penny, taken in the same spot with the parking lights on. See, I rigged up my tank shift with a glass knob shifter, and it lights up as well! So I've been wanting to get a nice shot of the bike after dark, and with a nice moon in the background.

This is what the tankshifter looks light just before dark:

All in all, it still wound up being a good night. I got a couple of pics, had a nice ride home, and didn't get squished anywhere in the process. There's not too many things other than riding a motorcycle that can be as much fun as standing in the middle of a dark road trying to get night time shots of the bike while you're wearing black leathers!    Cheers!

Some Days You Just Can't Win......

I finally got around to getting the primary cover off to inspect the clutch and chain. Everything came apart just fine, and I may have even found the source of a little extra noise I was looking for- seems the clutch hub was just a hair loose on the spline it fits onto, giving me some extra noise. As long as I had the primary open, I wanted to pull and inspect the primary chain, as well as replace the rubber cushions inside the clutch hub. I even popped the removeable sprocket cover behind the clutch to check the trans sprocket and it's nut.  All went surprisingly well, no problems in their tightness and condition, the new clutch hub rubbers all went in smoothly, and everything went back together with a nice comfortable fit. Ran a torque wrench on all the nuts and bolts before preparing to adjust the clutch, and was just about to start when I realised that the only thing that didn't go together right was that big round sprocket cover that is behind everything I had just tightened. Unortunately, it wasn't behind everything, it was still sitting on the workbench with the 6 screws right next to it!  OOOPS!

Well, tomorrow is another day, I guess.......

Birds And Bikes.

Ahh, a fresh and hot cup of coffee! First one of the day is best, just the right flavour and aroma to get you going. Next best thing to a good lady!

Back in the sixties, Triumph, BSA, and Norton all hit on the '"Beautiful girl posing on a bike" phase.  Here's a couple of my favourites from that era, and guys, that Triumph girl with the cowboy hat, well, hands off, she's gonna be mine! (Yeah, o.k., so she's like 60 years old today, but I'll bet she's still hot!)

Enjoy an early morning look at some neat old hot bikes and hot birds!

If Great Minds Think Alike, I Shoulda' Been Born A Century Ago

I like the old rigid frame stockers and choppers. Used to love a 45" trike I had as a kid, that seat was a nice big ol'seat, and felt like a great big tractor seat. Hmm, maybe it's the fact it was a Servi car?? At any rate, I always liked the way it looked, no springs in the back, and rode up and down on internal springs inside a down tube on the frame. Nice sleek concealed mounting place, holding adjustable springs, a really beautiful, well thought out design.

Moving forward a few years, I got into Brit bikes and choppers, the early ones having kidney killer seats, bolted directly to the rigid frame! The smart guys would throw on little 3 inch springs to cushion the road a bit, but far from adequate. At one point I had switched to a 1951 Triumph Thunderbird, rigid framed, but with about 9 inch springs. Fairly comfortable, decent travel, but those bloody springs could scratch the paint on a severe pot hole bounce, not to mention the chrome rusting and pitting as time took it's toll. So I began to look at a way to get rid of the springs, or at least conceal them.

A close look at my frame showed the possibility of mounting and internal spring horizontally in the upper support tube, much like the old Harley seat post, but at a different angle. Although the idea had it's possibilities, it was never implemented; I was content enough to keep bouncing along in relative comfort and swearing at the crappy chroming whenever I'd clean the bike.

Imagine my surprise when I found this lovely little nugget! Just what I had imagined, but dating back to 1946 on an English made Sunbeam motorcycle! Although the ad does not mention it, it could probably be adjusted for a taller rider as well by adding a "U" shaped strap of metal at the nose of the seat with a couple of different holes drilled into the sides of the "U" to set the nose a 1/2", 1" or maybe even 1 1/2" taller! Yep, great minds think alike, even if they are decades apart........

In the beginning, there was Deadstiffcatt.....sort of.......

O.k., so I'm blogging (whatever the hell that means.)  Seems this thing is going to wind up being a compilation of me and the motorcycle (Penny), and what we may be doing. Other than that who knows where it will go.

   I haven't always been Deadstiffcatt. Many moons ago, in the far off land of Texas, I was born and named Joe. It changed one day when I was working with the steadily declining stock, Napster, and the most natural screen name to hit was Deadstiffcatt. Since then, the handle has stuck, as I have branched out into this learn- how-to-make-bucks on the internet thing. It's a real gas to look people in the eye when they ask me, "What do you do?", and reply that I run a small business named Deadstiffcatt Enterprises. I mean, how many people can say they make a small living using that as a name????
    I grew up with a love of old Triumph motorcycles, and have always had one since I was about 16. Oh sure, there was an old Harley 45 once or twice in the mix (and there's your explanation for the tank shifter on Penny), but I always come back to the old Brit tin. Apparently, as I have discovered, you can't readily use whitworth spanners on American or metric bolts, and I'm too cheap to buy a new toolset, so it looks like I'll be a Triumph guy for quite some time. The current love of my life is Penny, a lovely lass from 1965. She's not stock, but has a few of the features I like in my motorcycles. We've only been together a couple of years, but hey, a new bike (for me anyways) and starting a newer blog seems like a good recipe for something to come out of pounding on these confounded little letters on this computing machine.
   As I like old Triumphs and play with them frequently, it seems there is a lot of information both new and old that can be published here. Keep your eyes out for new project articles, pics, and other fun old motorcycle things, as well as a re-visit to some older ones that need a newer, more permanent home.
   Til the next post, Cheers!   Joe