weekend away at the tank moto launch ...

last weekend was pretty special....its been a long while since i had a few days away...just me and a bike....did about 1600kms over the few days, met up with most of my friends down there and the weather held up beautifully...

although this morning was one of the coldest i've ever ridden...ice on my screen for nearly 40kms and i had to stop a couple of times to get some blood in my fingers...

jims new place in abbotsford...go check it out and say hi...

 dallas' gold plated knuck...

me and nico

 tim kills u model

we went to the importer and picked up barteks new panhead....and got it started up.

this guy...

great little film on a motorcycle mechanic.

SHINYA KIMURA - "Motorcycle Mechanic" from Evan Scott on Vimeo.

throttle roll.

well done blokes.


Throttle Roll 2013 from Australian Cafe Racers on Vimeo.

last few days...

...in the shed have been pretty productive.....little bit of work on the shovel...going to use the old primo primary plate to form the basis for a partial enclosure... stop stones from dirt roads getting in there, i formed an alloy curved clutch cover up also.

...and i tacked together a new set of bars, bit higher, bit curvier....they have gone off to the bender to be copied in stainless...

....then i laid another section of ritchies tank on.....i totally stuffed up the first attempt and im having another go...used an old lace tablecloth i found at the tip...then put a couple coats of clear over....ill start to fade in some nice blue over it when i pick up some colour next week.

also, i got stuck back into the knuckle project for Joe...i started forming a 1 piece fuel / oil tank / seat section.....

ideas for a scallop section protruding on the tank....

... heres an idea for the left side to incorporate a finned oil tank below the fuel tank...gonna give this a try next week and see if it flies.

more shots from Robert S.......

...taken by Roberts  brother in front of Brad Andres Harley Davidson Dealership in San Diego California … summer of 1966.

Robert S Knuckle in 1969.....

pretty well perfect dont you agree......

made in the shade

love this album.....

basement steel door.

i finished up hanging the basement door with Mike the other day. this thing weighs a ton. it hung beautifully and didn't need any realigning or anything which was lucky. now i can push it open or closed with my little finger thanks to tapered roller bearings top and bottom.

ill be using some old 34 dodge gearbox pieces to make up a smart locking mechanism for it....ill start that next week when i get time.

top pivot is held in place by a sliding tube section that is pinned through. so if i ever needed to remove everything for some reason in the future i can.

candy update

shovelhead progress

making a bit of progress this week with the shop truck. new front endon, bar the brakes, and i started cutting down rogers old damaged tanks to go on....no more 3 hour fuel stops for me.

started playing with some handlebar designs to see what im going to be happy with....i want em high and comfy if thats possible.

next up mid controls, and a new sissy to match the new chrome fenders.

machineshed t shirt in the store

small, large and extra large in stock....... STORE 

dead man t shirt in store....

I've got a limited run of the dead man T up in the STORE .... print only on the front if your into beards, hair and dead men. 

concrete and stone insulated and reinforced wall

This is the wall that we are currently building along the south side of the house (southern hemisphere, north wall opens to sun). The above shot is where its at right now. We are a third of the way complete along its length. I wanted to have a wall that would give the coldest part of the house (south side) a large thermal mass. It had to be an insulated wall (which this is) and it had to be built by hand by my wife and I.

This is where we started. The first corner block. We did various walls around the property adjoining gardens and terraces as a trial. I finally was drawn to the idea of completely forming the wall in sections that were manageable. 2400 x 600 x 650mm thick was the chosen size. The sheet of form ply fitted well cut into two, and the height ensured that there was not too much pressure on the formwork as it was loaded up.

I constructed two forms, a corner mould and a straight mould out of RHS steel. I then fixed positions that threaded rod could be fed through conduit and tightened to keep the forms together. I will do some close ups of the forms next time i strip a block.

In the centre i used a 30mm styrofoam insulation which is fixed in position by silicon at sides and bottom and held vertical by a couple of welded bars that are removed after pour is complete.

down low on the wall are steel tubes 150mm diametre that will operate as cool air ventilation inlets into the house, allowing great cross ventilation, keeping the house cool in summer.

we found a neighbouring property that wanted to get rid of local granite they had all over their land. we got all this lighter coloured rock for free. we added a bunch of hard basalt from a quarry not far from here and mix the sizes and textures and colours as we go. We do all the concrete mixing by hand (9 mixes per block) and it takes us about 3 hours to pour each block start to finish. it takes a day to go off, an hour to strip and an hour to clean the block and the formwork. Two hours to set up for the next pour and off we go again.

i put two keyjoints into each block end, one on each side of the insulation.

above the wall along its length will be louvered and double glased window sections and architecturally the roof line should "float" over the heavy wall below.