shed music tonight....

Sisters, Niggers, Whities, Jews

Sisters, brothers and the whities Blacks and the crackers Police and their backers They're all political actors Hurry People running from their worries While the judge and the juries Dictate the law that's partly flaw Cat calling, love balling, fussing and cussing Top billing now is killing For peace no-one is willing Kind of make you get that feeling Everybody smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke Use the pill and the dope, dope, dope, dope, dope Educated fools From uneducated schools Pimping people is the rule Polluted water in the pool And Nixon talking about don't worry, worry, worry, worry He says don't worry, worry, worry, worry He says don't worry, worry, worry, worry He says don't worry, worry, worry, worry But they don't know There can be no show And if there's a hell below We're all gonna go, go, go, go, go Everybody's praying And everybody's saying But when come time to do Everybody's laying Just talking about don't worry, worry, worry, worry They say don't worry, worry, worry, worry They say don't worry, worry, worry, worry They say don't worry, worry, worry, worry

funny how the world turns around and around and around and some of us still dont get it. dont want this blob to be some kind of statement about anything but machines but sometimes i just want to push all the shit away and spend some time in the garden growing food for my little family. curtis wrote this song the year i was born and it humbles me to think im that old and still dont know better.

lots of him and lots of him....

and im happy....photo taken by some sick arse.

machine wall photos 2..

inspired by ian barry's top ten on pipeburn here is george brough's personal sidevalve racer "old bill" as seen on page 6 of vic willoughby's classic motorcycles.

finally getting some time for myself....

and to do some shed stuff....worked on the primary of joes 50 pan today...its the one thing that really i didnt touch when we did the rebuild...but its always given me the heebeegeebees cause it just has not been right....gearbox had a later mainshaft fitted and gave me no end of problems...i have a new bdl unit to fit here now but there will still be further mods needed to get it all right and tracking straight.

mikes wl also got a look in today and is back on the burner.....and speaking of burners its fire lighting time round here getting rid of all that timber, building related, fencing related and general tree falling over related ....

nice red wine in front of the fire with near freezing temperatures means a nice nights sleep for me coming up.

its been like spring in the middle of winter...

machine le mans from matt machine on Vimeo.

aussie bikers....

sorry for the lack of posting action....

im getting pummelled....

machine wall photos

from the norton story by bob holliday....photos like this made such an impression on me when i first got into nortons....

remembered this scene today....

is it just me or does anyone else laugh every single time they see it.??

tried loading it up but kept having problems....and cant seem to embed it....

so click this:

funny shit.

hey to russell....

driving through sydney the other day i rounded a corner and saw this chopped up wl parked on the side....i stopped called in and met russell who as it turned out new my face from the cover of GK and the blog.....that made me feel real good....so,...hey russell...take it easy man.

my main man millan....

ever meet a young person and think to yourself .... this person will take the world by storm one day ... the world is his oyster.

peace millanovitchikins.

mikes wl pegs...

i've got them worked out now.....ill show some shots later when i strip the bike and start reassembly....but getting this set up right has taken some thinking time.

i have been trying to keep the lines real clean and not overcomplicate the construction.

they have had to be positioned (just right) to accommodate the triumph gearbox, and i have deleted the old footboard support brackets so that only complicated the issue further.

i had a set of tarozzi folding passenger pegs hidden away and wanted to use those also.

the final solution is a good one. strong and minimal. this is the right side .... i will remake the gear change lever to suit later. fuck ... thats a relief.

have i been listening to this ...

for nearly a quarter of a century?!

1.56 and i wish that scratch was on the original lp.

i dont know why....

....but the set up for the peg mounts and controls on mikes wl have been giving me trouble.....

i've looked through so many images on the netosphere all to no benefit....

i've looked at original setups, and every fucked up 45 bobber however last night and this morning early i hit on another idea....

i've had two good serious goes so far and been left wondering if they would hold up and stand the test of time.....so tonight i started again...

to date probably 8 hours or so invested...but now i think i'm ready to go....ill keep you posted over the next day or so....

machine wall photos

so much talk about ill post my photo on your wall of you being on my wall...i don't understand it, all that face book stuff.....anyway....

i recently got a scanner/printer thingamejig. well now i can get all those photos off the wall/or in the book i've had for twenty years and post the shots i've always loved, bikes that have inspired me to love motorcycles.

the following two shots are from vic willoughby's classic motorcycles published in 1975...so many beautiful shots in that book with great text.

ill let the photos speak for themselves.

machine website on the way....

and i love machines.....sorry...been taking photos today..weird how i can look at something a million times but its only through a lens and sitting on the computer that i look at it...like the wear on the handle of my mill vice....

machine website on the way....

kelly and i are mucking around with shots of the machines in the shed so that we have some appropriate background images on the new website that hopefully will be set up in the next couple of weeks. I've got new shirts on the way and been focusing on some parts i think you might like, so stay tuned.

My Mark 1....

i've posted this little movie of my le mans before but i'm changing over all my videos from you tube to vimeo.

so here it is again...

i'm planning to get more movies posted soon of some things happening in the shed....and all the people in the know say vimeo is the way to go...something about compression or such....do they measure that in foot pounds?

MACHINE moto guzzi mark 1 le mans from matt machine on Vimeo.

the man that is Terry P.

ive met some people through motorcycling. ive met some friends who have stayed and some that have gone. ive met weirdos in motorcycle clubs, weirdos at the cafe, bastards that want to kill me on the road and a band in colours that stopped to help me get a 47 knuck started and wished me safe riding as i headed off into the sunset....but nothing compares to sitting in one mans shed, and talking with him for hours about life in the australian bush, living motorcycling on the edge on the bonneville salt, dedicating 50 years to one marque and the development of one motor.

i had the absolute pleasure of spending time with terry p this week. seeing his house that he and his amazing wife built, her art everywhere, the worlds most amazing bathroom, and yes i did eat at level 41, spending time sitting next to a slow burning fire in the centre of a beautifully clean modestly sized workshop, and then talking about things that only a man like him would know, having lived in the australian bush, and built by hand a world around him, i think about my own life and how ive made some choices and how im happy with each and every one of them.

knowing when the sun rises on your property, when it comes through a certain window at this time of the year, when it sets and the colour reflected off that escarpment over there when rain is coming, and what the road holds for me on the way in and out after a heavy rain...these are the wonderful idiosyncrasies of living in the australian bush...and what i love most about my life.....totally highlighted in my mind by visiting a mans house and having him make me a coffee while i sit and talk to him about how life can bring us together in strange and very mysterious...maybe crazy ways.

my life is better because i met this man.

INDIAN 4

had the pleasure of getting up close with chilli's indian four the other day....what a beautiful machine.