chris palmer's new mz racer build, chris is our riders rep and does a lot of work representing our club, [bmzrc, the british mz racing club, check out http://www.bmzrc.org.uk/ ], he had a really nasty accident at cadwell park last season and had to be airlifted to hospital in the lincolnshire air ambulance helicopter, he's well on the way to recovery and i managed to have a chat with him at our last meeting at snetterton in september where he offered us loads of advice on setting up the bike, chris works in the racing car industry and the quality of the build shines through, twin brembo's, early honda steel-frame cbr600 wheels, maxton forks and shocks, powdercoated crankcases and that lovely combination of international harvester orange and black paintwork, real trick little bike [and i'm dead jealous of that aluminium paddock stand]

so, after the big weekend clean-up and shed re-organistion, it was back to work on the sporty, the original filler on the fuel tank is pressed into an apperture in the top and welded into position, the weld leaves a ridge which has to be carefully removed with a dremel and carbide bit to allow the quick-filler to sit flush, the original welded filler has to be cut back to give enough room for the mounting screws which sit, [as you can see in the second photo], very close to the edge of the hole, it takes a bit of work to grind to shape with a small stone wheel in the drill as the metal is really too thin to file for fear of denting the tank, quick rub up with emery to finish and drill the mounting holes, [i used a centre drill to pilot the holes and then a 4mm hss bit and just gently clean up with a round file to give clearance for the screws] if you look carefully at photo 2 you can see where the original filler was welded into the tank, you have to be really careful when drilling the new mounting holes in case the drill 'wanders' into the groove and throws your centres out, bit of a squeeky bum moment but i reckon the result is worth it.

after getting the lathe into position we soon realised that we needed a major re-organisation to fit everything in the shed, we have three bikes in there, the sporty, the bonny and the mz racer, the sporty and bonny are in the middle of being rebuilt and we had parts from both bikes strewn around the floor, the bench for the pillar drill and grinder needed moving to accomodate the lathe and we had tools all over the floor and bench, we started the big clean up saturday night and finished sunday tea time, not a lot of progress on the bikes granted, but well worth the effort for the room we've gained,[that's jess, my daughter, in the second photo, she's raiding the secret choccy stash that we keep hidden in the filing cabinet]

sporty project, searching through my parts stash i came across this lovely little 80mm quick filler, fitted loads of the 100mm fillers into the standard sporty tank but never the smaller brother, dropped the cork gasket onto the tank for a working profile, fuckinghellitstight, worked the dremmel around the mounting and cut out the standard filler, might have bitten off more than i can chew this time..... 

t.s harrison and sons limited, union machine tool works, heckmondwike, yorkshire, 1962, that's the year this lathe rolled off the production line, i was three years old, almost half a century has passed since this machine was manufactured, what a different world, up early this morning, barse from the abk crew couldn't get his works van so we needed to make alternative arrangements to pick up the lathe, down to belper van rental just after seven am to find the only vehicle available a box van with tail lift, ideal, booked it and arranged for collection later in the morning, home, breakfast, out with the dog's, home, shower, pick up dangerous and arrange to meet the three generations of the abk posse at the van hire yard, they follow us up to eckington and there follows twenty minutes of hard graft, pushing, swearing and pulling, we slide the lathe onto a pair of old mz fork stanchions so we can roll the big heavy bastard onto the tail-lift platform, once on dangerous hits the button and it lifts the machine up groaning under the weight, we man-handle it into the back of the van, young jake on the heavy end and me and gordy on the light end, gordy and me strap it against the side of the van, pay mr's penny's son and get ready to leave, dangerous stows the mz fork leg rollers and our tool's and i go to thank mr's penny, i've got her a bunch of flowers, she's a lovely lady and it's the least we can do, she gives me a kiss and we are on our way, we are soon home, barse, gordy and jake are standing in my kitchen supping tea when we get back, lathe out of the van, racer out on the yard along with half the contents of the shed as we jockey the lathe into position, i return the van while dangerous and the abk get the racer back in, fuck me!, looks like a bomb has gone off when i get back, the abk skin out and i put the kettle on, we sit in the shed eating toasted teacakes and drinking tea, the rams game on the radio, getting dicked by watford three-nil, deep joy, we need a sort out, up to my ma's next-door-but-one, 'can i put some stuff in your shed ma?', 'only if you get rid of some of the other rubbish!', all my old mz stuff, [contacted the mz owners club, said they could have it for nothing if it helped someone out but they never turned up to collect it!], old slick's off the racer and a load of other old junk, loaded up my old vw polo and down to work to dump it in the skip, shame but i really need some room to work on the racer, sporty and bonny, thanks to barse, jake and gordy, couldn't have done it without you lads, thanks to mrs penny, and last, but not least, thanks to the union machine tool works..........

"a shadow fell across me, from above. wings flapped, close by and almost silent. glistening wet, black against the blackened sky, a monster, a giant, winged gargoyle, hunched forward, pausing at a building's ledge, and cocked it's head, following the laugh's last seconds. moonlight glanced across it's back, across its massive shoulders, down its craned, cabled neck, across its skull, striking a triangle at one pointed bat's ear. it rose into space, its wings spread wide, then fell, its wings now a fluttering cape wrappedtight about the body of aman, it fell past me, its shadow sliding across the walls, growing to swallow the buildings, lit by the clouds below. the shadow faded into the clouds. it was gone......."

the dangerous bonneville project took a big step forward today, frenchy called to tell us he had received the tyres and battery for the build, we should have it rolling this weekend, still a lot of work to do though, dangerous is on one, stood at the miller, glasses on the end of his beak and warbling like the old dear who feeds the birds in chitty chitty bang bang.........he's been sketching some ideas for  a trick top yoke and rooting through our aluminium stock bin for a suitable piece, he keep's saying 'it's for next winters build youth', i've heard that one before........

like a real life version of one of ozuma kaname's paintings, that's a whole lot of work going on, respect due.

the dangerous bonneville project is coming together really well, everything seems to be slipping into place and hopefully, if the tyres turn up at kev's, we should have a roller by the weekend, well, that's jinxed it then.....if you sort of squint at this classic photo you should have an idea of what we are aiming for in the look's department, the engine already has some nice mod's, a belt primary drive, morgo oil pump and an electronic ignition, that's it tuning wise and dangerous is going for performance through lightening parts instead of compromising reliability and going overboard tuning the motor.

me and dangerous are merciless when it comes to critiquing each other's bikes, his bonny came with some home made sidepanels, someone had made a nice job of them, brazed and rivetted mounting brackets, powdercoated gloss black and edged with vinyl, but, they were, well a bit bland so i took them off and chucked them in the bin when he'd gone home one night, next night he wasn't amused and i tried to talk him into running the bike with no sidepanels but he wasn't having any of it, he ordered a set of repo 'glass items from shropshire motorcycles and they turned up today, must admit the old nob was right, they look pretty good, [just don't tell him i said it]

    spent my dinner hour down at my local fastener emporium, wanted to stock up with a load of stainless fasteners for the sporty and bonneville projects, after my experience paying well over the odd's for my unc/unf nuts and bolts at the newark 'jumble it was great to get a load of different buttons, hex heads, and socket heads in a range of different sizes along with nylock nuts, washers and repair washers, i always give the lad behind the counter a drink and he looks after me when i go in for supplies, certainly better than getting your pants pulled down at the 'jumbles or shows for sure, drilled a piece of stainless round stock out and cut it in half and faced it up to make a thick washer for the bottom shock mounting tonight, hand filed the markings from the bolt heads and polished them up with some wet and dry, this is where the time goes but all the little details make the difference to me, a lot of people wouldn't even notice but i just have to do it.........