For Rob......

MACHINE Yamaha XS650 from matt machine on Vimeo.

these men.....

did an amazing thing for me...they came to machine and spent three days eating, drinking, and filming bikes and machines and i enjoyed every minute...

i hope to see them again this weekend...

stay tuned for a little 3 and a half minutes at machine this weekend....

1974 Ducati Sport....

in the shed.....

i have this aussie mate named steve who knows more about restoring ducatis (and lots of other marques as well) than just about anyone i know. when one of my oldest friends damien asked me to go in on a bike buying deal with him i couldnt say no...id wanted to get another ducati since i sold my last one...a 1981 MHR about 9 years ago.

there was no question who was going to do the resto for me...i have too many bikes on the go and not enough time as it is, so steve took it on and here it is sitting in my shed. what a beautiful bike it is....thanks steve there is no doubt you is the man.

stay tuned for more photos when it stops fucking raining here.

ducati 1974 750 ss race bike....

has been in the shed for the last few months...its always surprising to me how fast these bikes are...and rock solid on the road...this one spins up better than most though and was a very successful race bike in it day....stay tuned as my sport of the same year should be here this week....

ducati 1974 750 ss race bike....

....holy crapola.

Ducati sport tank....

all finished and ready for petrol....steve and i started the sport last week....she's all finished bar some choke cables and a few bits and pieces...

steve is a very old aussie mate who has been restoring ducatis (and other marques) for longer than i've been alive...(well almost).

as our mate mick said to me the other day he's forgotten more shit than we ever knew.

pete young's..... OCCHIO LUNGO

OCCHIO LUNGO is one of my favourite blogs....if you don't already check it out then get to it mate.....informative posts galore.

check this post and video he just loaded.....ace.

thanks pete.....

pipeburn feature on the xs 650....

andrew at pipeburn (if your not following this site get to it mate), did a great little feature on the xs that Rob in Sydney now owns and rides the tyres off.....totally amazing photography and lots of nice words and comments....its nice to be appreciated thats for sure.

the best thing about it..... Rob loves the bike....

as always, thanks blokes.

2012 BIKE EXIF CALENDER...

Im jumping out of my skin today because i just found out that Chris Hunter from BIKE EXIF has included my Mark 1 Le Mans in next years calendar.

To be selected as 1 of 12 by a man that features around 300 motorcycles a year puts a big smile on my face....thanks Chris i'm totally honoured.

pre-order a copy here

finally its aligned....

Joe the owner of the 50 panhead and i decided that we would fit a new inch and a half bprimary drive and ditch the old 2 incher...there seemed to be some dodgy work done on the front pulley on the old one and to be honest i could never get it to run 100% true...always seemed to pull the belt an 1/8 out....

Anyways, we order a new drive set up and when i go to fit it seems the alignment is like half inch out....seems the previous owner had moved the gearbox over in order to accommodate a dodgy front pully that had been cut and rewelded....WHY!!!!!!

New gearbox plate, then pull hub, and sprocket and install a non offset sprocket and now its sweet...what a mess to clean up.

Fitted a more appropriate brake light switch also.

Im not looking forward to having to redo the exhaust to accommodate the new gearbox position...the kicker is surely going to hit....its all fun though.

holy fucken shitbags....

get a load of this....

6 Over - Teaser from Wild Honey Productions on Vimeo.

big balls and itchy eyes...

....i call these two.

got the pan out after a long cold winter this week. changed the oil and the gas....and off she went.

riding home i stopped to say hello to these two fellas. one just looked at me and the other was too busy with his itchy eyes. he looked like that scene with mel gibson and the blue face.

itchy eyeballs from matt machine on Vimeo.

new bars, primary drive, brake light switch.....

and a bunch of other stuff on the 50 pan...will have to send some parts off for rechroming that i have had to alter...im just glad i had an afternoon to myself to do some fun stuff.

i feel theres gonna be some riding this season...

sorry for the crapola phone camera pictures...

ok....so take off the exhaust...

then drain the oil, take off those oil lines remove the tank and all the other bits in the way then call me and ill tell you what to do next mr right hand man.

loved this video i came across tonight......

Free from Andrew Quinones on Vimeo.

watch his other video and keep watching...im sure much more to come....talented man.

i know about the sound of a pan on a long, quiet road in the bush......and it sounds like this.

on the run...

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.