aermacchi

on average, the loveless shed has been turning out one and a half bikes per year, handbuilt in a shed in derbyshire, all done after our day job's, long nights, weekend's, there are more good times than bad, machining a one-off from a bit of scrap stock from the local scrappy, modifying parts to look like they belong, stuff most people wouldn't even notice, chopping out steering lock barrels and welding them up, grinding them flush so you would never know, chopping, filing, hand shaping old, redundant bracketry, just to get that 'look', some people get it, some don't, it's all about hands-on time, you don't need to be the world's best engineer to build a nice bike, just attention to detail, take off more than you put back and keep it tidy, fresh air is good, stainless sidepanels are bad, spend your time hand finishing what you have rather than buying stuff off the interweb, time, that's what all of us have just too little of, dangerous ran up a forty mile round trip to get the rear, twin-leader rear brake plate media blasted to the 'right' finish, i spent my dinner break getting some brand new, spanking. race rubber fitted to the aermacchi rims, you only get out what you put in brothers and sisters......

aermacchi

must admit, i was a little disappointed when dangerous picked up the 'aermacchi owners manual' from sweary mick's. mick had sent off to the USA for it and we were looking forward to having something to guide us on our recommisioning of the little racer, what we received could hardly be described as a 'hefty tome' that's for sure, a mere ten photocopied pages, [including the front and rear covers] and a further four, one sided, very faded copies of the gearbox internals, [with the gem of information 'replace the shims with the correct size', no mention of any measurements or tolerances], oh well, i suppose any information is better than none at all, if anyone has any info on these bikes please free to enlighten us, i have the superb mick walker enthusiasts series book, 'aermacchi harley davidson motorcycles' which, if your appetite has been whetted by reading about the aermacchi is well worth a punt and i've found an old copy of 'classic bike' magazine on ebay that's got an article about the aermacchi metisse so that should be landing in the postbox shortly, oh yeah, just like to say that the loveless engineering guide to building racebikes, choppers, cafe racers and restoring classic bikes will be available soon, it's a very reasonable five hundred pounds, signed by me and dangerous and the price includes postage, in fact the guide is written on the back of the stamp, get it bought, it's a bargain if i say so myself............

aermacchi

some jobs on the project are just too dull to post photo's, so, here's something much more interesting a couple of atmospheric shots of an aermacchi racer and his young lady at what looks like a far, flung, european track, [it's certainly not cadwell park in late september], thanks to ed at the fingymoto blogspot for sharing the great pic's...

aermacchi

sunday, bolting the clip-on's back on, dangerous notices that they are different length's so they need machining to equal length's, machine up the fasteners, there's more than two thread's showing, can't live with that, throw the two 8mm nylock's in the bin and start again, yep, that's better, right length now, [you wouldn't even notice it, but me?, it would keep me awake for hour's], sweary mick has bought an aermacchi race bike manual off the tinterweb, good job really, the mettise forks had 150ml of fluid in them when i drained them, should be 175ml, i top them up with fresh silkolene race oil, the fork caps were painted that horrible 'trent buses' red when we got the bike, quick spin in the lathe reveals why, the chrome is shagged, another spin in the lathe to remove the plating and i clean them off with some thinners and waft them with some clear lacquer, sorted, fork legs wet and dried and finished with solvol, ditto the top and bottom yokes, new unf and unc fasteners, machined up to remove makers stamping and grade marks and well, i guess we've turned the corner, it was never about a concourse job, just a little sympathetic 'massaging' of the basic component's, remember, it's not our bike, there's a fine line between building a bike that's meant to be used properly, to be raced in anger and a bike that's just built to stand in someone's collection because they can afford to do that........

classic motor show [part two]

well, what you saying? shite photo's, but, to tell you the truth, i was too busy scoping out all the bikes and cars to even notice my camera was on the wrong setting, got the makings of the second best show in the sceptered isle behind stafford.......

classic motor show

bugger, i've been walking around all day taking photo's on my olde sony camera with it on the wrong settings, so, please excuse the horrible pictures, had a day off today so me and dangerous hacked down to britain's second city for the classic motor show, we had to queue to get in the carpark, queue to pay the admission fee, then told that we had to go to another paybooth to purchase tickets just for the bike show at hall seven, the lady debits my card for fifty three quid and i tell her we only want tickets for the bike show, she refunds me in cash and i purchase the correct tickets, at last we get in, you are never going to get the atmosphere of stafford, newark or any of the other,slightly frayed at the edges, motorcycle shows in the clinical, neon lit, vast halls of the national exhibition centre, but, i can recommend a visit, [here's a tip, don't buy an all inclusive car and bike ticket for twenty five quid, just buy a bike only ticket for fourteen quid, get your hand stamped to go outside for 'a smoke' [not that i do] and you can wander around the car show for nothing, just have to flash the security your handstamp, result] apparently, britain is in the depth of a recession, not at the nec, i'm talking serious cash money being spent, especially in the car area, one hundred and forty five thousand pounds for an e-type jaguar? what about a fire damaged e-type jag, horrible '70's alloy wheels and a tatty small block chevy rammed up it for sixteen and a half grand? thirty five big ones for a lotus cortina? [jane goodall, my old squeeze, dumped one outside an all-nighter at coalville back in the day because it wouldn't start] bumped into ex top gear presenter steve berry who told us all about the delights of running an ex kenny iron's pro-am lc 350 on the road including an hilarious encounter with the local plod who wanted to know why he hadn't got a brake light and insisted he started it so they could check it, young steve explained it didn't have a kickstart and he had to bump-start it, the copper told him he would inspect it as it was and to 'put it on the stand' 'it's not got a stand, sorry' 'look mate, your'e pissing me off now, just get on your bike and fuck off' brilliant, i know mr berry has had a lot of stick, but, for me he know's bikes and i like him, just ask him his thoughts on a panigale, 'what the fuck are they for?' or an old time, rockers, milkmans hat, even i can't repeat the answer to that one, [listen, i have some friend's who are gay, they read the blog, no problem to me]for me the highlights were the little two stroke aermacchi racer, seeing a genuine auto-union racing car in the flesh, [i seriously wanted to lick this car]the goldstar racer, sitting amongst the pristine, never run road bikes, [your pipes let you down boy's, goldie pipes go blue as soon as you run them, you sad individuals, book yourselves in for the festival of a thousand bikes and use them like there supposed to be used, not kept as a bloody investment] the mz with the 'two-stroke inside' sticker, the triton with the pudding basin helmet, goggles and white silk scarve on the seat, oh yeah, did i mention the auto-union racing car?........

aermacchi

'and i woke up, and you won't believe it, i was covered in......' sorry about that, ahem, loveless is back in the room, well, what a week, i love those 0200 hr phonecalls that inform you that the alarm is going off at work and your boss has got his phone off, the callout emergency phone is going straight to answer phone so, the central scrutinizer, [check out 'joe's garage' by frank zappa and it will all make sense, well, sort of], informs me that, 'you have to attend' all of a sudden i comprehend what this is all about, sorry, i thought i did my shift, got paid and went home to continue with 'real life', dicking about with bikes in the shed, listening to music, reading, walking the dog's, getting tattooed, going on holiday, watching football, family life, the whole reason why you go to work, but no, i've got some snotty cunt telling me to 'attend' excuse me? you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a fuck! trouble is, i do, too much, so i humbly tell the faceless voice manning a call centre that i will 'attend', i let the dog's out for a slash, get dressed and start the old faithful v-dub, half way to work my phone rings, 'someone has attended the call out, no need to 'attend' i'm laughing, like that nutter on the bus, i turn around and go home, it's 0220 hrs, i'm wide awake, dressed and full of adrenaline, my thought's full of fighting off imaginery foe, i try and sneak back to bed, ever tried that with two jack russell terriers, they are down the stairs unleashing hell, i try to undress as quietly as i can, mr's b just snort's, 'don't even bother toss-pot, i'm awake' deep joy, pissed off mrs, pissed off dog's, pissed off me, i lie tossing and turning for the next couple of hour's, greasy insomnia, trying to will myself to sleep, it just makes me wider awake, i'm just waiting for the fucking alarm to go off, 0500hrs, there it goes, i like to think i'm a free man, but in reality i'm not, except when i'm in the shed working on the bikes, or having a crack at the racing, or doing anything but working for the man, anyway, serious aermacchi fettling this week, check out that frame, [yes i know it's upside down]........

chris palmer

every now and again you meet someone who's whole being can change the way you think about life and how you live life itself, chris palmer is one of those rare beings, i first met chris at cadwell park, we, that is dangerous and me, had nearly finished building our mz racer and rode up to cadwell park on our ducati's on a glorious summer day to watch the mz racers and meet up with another inspirational character, des davies, we parked up, left our gear in the awning of des's old bus and shared a welcome brew and homemade cake courtesy of mrs des, des introduced us to chris who couldn't have been more friendly, answering my stupid questions, chipping in with invaluable advice all while trying to prepare his machine for the forthcoming races, a true gentleman, we made our way down to the foot of the famous mountain to watch the 'zedder's race, i only caught it out of the corner of my eye, but, i knew it was a big off, the race was red flagged immeadiately, chris had had a coming together with another rider and had a major off, touch and go, helicopter ride to louth, serious, today, chris is the mz riders rep with the bmzrc, totally committed to getting people out racing, whatever their standard of riding, from novice to people wanting another crack, if you have ever wanted to have a crack at racing, [believe me, there's no better feeling and that's from a proper tailender, fighting just not to get lapped] contact chris at the bmzrc website, get yourself booked in for an experience weekend and have a fucking go,the images are from this month's performance bike magazine, the 360 degree feature, trackdays = coffee, racing = heroin......

give me back my man

cindy, cindy, cindy...........one minute, thirty seven second's ,it really doesn't get any better than that, total class..........

oxfam

saturday shift today, tell you the truth? i fucking hate them, half the weekend gone, me and the boy jack are up at sparrows fart, dark, cold, wet, wank, home for 01130hrs, nice to walk the boy's in the daylight, a little glimpse of blue sky to raise the spirits, home, bath the muddy little buggers and lady patricia and i hit belper, first stop, oxfam, as usual, three gem's, 'music to watch girl's by' music to watch girl's by, [more music to watch girl's by] this is the sound of young loveless, listening to mum and dads music, bfpo radio, [british forces post office] so many classic tunes, you listen to them and end up singing along, andy williams, petula clark, tony bennett, scott walker, mel torme, dean martin and so many other classic tunes, 'windmill's of my mind'? spooky as a very spooky thing,  richard harris, 'macarthur park', 'someone left the cake out in the rain...? ' what the fuck is that all about? brilliant. track them down on amazon or ebay or preferably your local record store and buy them, and the b52's? well, what can you say, cooler than a...... 'dance this mess around', i heard 'give me back my man' on tune-in radio while i was in the states and realised i hadn't got it on the playlist, so, wrong's been righted and i've scored three great cd's for the price of two pint's at pride park, result..........

outfits

riding a motorcycle is a pretty dangerous pastime, [recently noticed that a well known insurer in britain won't cover you if you ride a bike] racing a bike is taking it to another level, [although you don't have the added risk of a road rider, spilt diesel on roundabouts, oncoming traffic, street furniture, myopic car drivers, old folk making their way to the garden centre, wet drain covers, slippy road markings, tractors on the apex of your favourite bend, cyclists hogging the whiteline, or jumping off the pavement, or turning across you with no lights on or fucking horse riders who insist on riding three abreast down country roads and waving politely at you when you just want to give it the berry's, flick them the english archers and shout fucccckkkk offfff! at them and then, the idiots towing caravans? don't even get me started] but, sidecar racer's? they just need to have a chat with themselves, that really is dangerous........