Scrapped!!

Well, the deed is done! Abigail has been stripped down ready to sell off all the saleable parts and this is all that's left of her. If you look closely you can see a pound coin resting on the carcass of the once coveted project. This is all she was worth as scrap metal. It probably cost 3 times that to drive to the scrap yard! No matter. The act was more symbolic than financial, it marked the end of one dream and the beginning of another. That pound shall be spent (along with several others) on building the shed and getting ready for the plan.


More to follow. Cheers.

Who's been a lazy boy then!

I confess, I've been a bit lazy as far as my blog is concerned, but that is about to change. There has been a momentous decision taken in the shed and that is to scrap Abigail! "WHAT!" I hear you cry. Yes, the project is going no where and I don't like what I've created. Truth is, she was always destined to end up an imitation of a 60's bike. What I want is a 60's bike. As we speak, she is stripped down and ready for Ebay.

So what now? Well I do have a plan. In fact it is the plan. There are three stages to the plan and a time limit of two and a half years (to coincide with my 50th birthday).

Phase 1 - create the right workshop
Phase 2 - source the right parts
Phase 3 - build the Bike

Phase 1 has begun. Lovely though my shed is, it's too cluttered and disorganised and I need to increase the shelf area and get things behind cupboard doors. General household stuff needs to come out and space has to be created. I shall keep the blog updated as things develop, but for now I'm just laying out the plan. I'll get some 'before' pictures uploaded tomorrow, but today was all about stripping Abigail ready to be sold off.

This is not failure... This is a tactical retreat!

Dragon rally 2012

Just a couple of images from this years Dragon rally. Have to say, although my immediate circle of friends were [as always] the best of company, the overall mood of this rally was disappointing. Seems the Dragon is slowly being taken over by twats who think you must be obnoxious to be into bikes. This could very well be my last Dragon.

Out for a bit of a stroll

I decided to take a walk in the Brecon Beacons just the other side of Christmas as time allowed and I needed to get work well and truly out of my head if I was to stand a chance of enjoying my holiday. Anywho, here's a few piccies. Sadly they do not capture the cold or the strength of the wind, which, on occasion, threatened to blow me off the peaks! Enjoy.

Work continues on the calliper mount

Having made the MDF template, I transferred the shape to a piece of 6mm steel and rough cut it out. The overall length needed to be stretched 20mm to accommodate the kink needed to clear the swing arm. You can see the parallel still on the picture below.

Once the basic shape was cut out and drilled to fit the calliper, I put the piece of steel on a diet and trimmed it down as far as I could. Anywho, this is how it looks now.

I've gone off the idea of bending it now. the minimum kink required is 5mm so I'm thinking of cutting in half and notching 1mm out of one piece before welding the two bits back together. I'll experiment with the MDF template first to see how it looks.

I have to say this is the slowest bit of fabrication known to man... But at least it's progress. More to follow...

A little spot of winter camping

Me and a couple of mates like to meet up mid November for one last camping trip. This year the weather was mild, but boy did it blow up a storm on the Saturday night. Anywho, here's a couple of pictures to paint a story.

The view from my quarters...

... The ever present camp fire...

... Quite excellent roads to explore...

... Home sweet home...

... And finally a picture of Tintern Abbey where I stopped off on my way home for toasted teacakes and a pot for one. Happy days.

Calliper mount Mk2

My first attempt didn't look to good so I've had another go. The new template will hopefully be a bit kinder on the eye as well as working efficiently. First job... Glue the paper template onto MDF.

Next cut it out and drill for spindle.

Comparison with the first attempt shows a more appealing look.

... And on the bike things don't look to bad either.

Next stage is to cut it out of steel which will need a kink added to get over the swing arm. Once I've cut it out I'll think about cutting out some of the mass.

More to follow...