received this great poster friday from mr. dave taylor, too nice to just blu-tack to the shed wall so i nipped down to 'wilco's' to get a proper frame, the roller girl is dave's missus zoe, lincolnshire bombers roller girl, battle scars, respect due....

old school tattoo parlour, literally, someone's backroom, no autoclave, shared needles, [or washed with 'fairy liquid' if you were lucky, no surgical gloves, the 'artist' probably smoking while he's tattooing, add that and a load of dodgy geezer's watching you, [especially acker bilk, bloke with trilby and well dodgy 'ripper' beard, far right, [in the photo, not his political leaning] and you have the ultimate tattoo experience, bring back the old day's, skin infections, bad tattoo's, hepatitis, wavy lines and bruising, proper..........

check this one out for an 'unfinished project, small amount of work to finish', ex-works re125 mz racer, magnesium swing-arm, frame powdercoated and paintwork finished to very high spec, just need's putting together, no, i haven't bought it, yes, iv'e put an extra line on the lottery....

ts 250, someone's pride and joy somewhere down the line.....

bank holiday monday, heavy rain today, the dog's look at me in disgust when i suggest a walk and doss down on the sofa ignoring me, i make a brew, dig out mick walker's excellent 'european racing motorcycles' and join the dog's on the sofa, i'm lost in the history of the czechoslovakian jawa's, from the dohc four stroke twins to the 350 v-four two-stroke  that really was a serious threat to the mv ridden by agostini in the hands of the diminutive hands of bill ivy, sadly bill was killed in a crash during practice for the east german grand prix at the sachsenring in 1969, my appetite whetted and i'm on the tinterweb for more details, then i come across this little 250 jawa custom, bloody lovely, remind me to tell you about my mz 250 in a rigid frame bobber project that nearly happened a few years ago........

the sporty has gone to frenchy's for wiring, no way can i get my head around all that elektrickery majick, just doesn't make sense to a simple derbyshire lad like me so i'll leave that side to the clever people, in the meantime i make a cardboard template out of an old cereal box for the seat cover, i'm using close-cell neoprene again like on the mz, it's cheap, durable, easy to shape, [using a craft knife and 280 and 120 grit wet and dry] and looks 'race', the seat unit is back with mad john for a coat of gloss black paint, after all the hand wringing about the fake carbon it's the only way to go..........

the loveless garden.

brilliant article in this months bike magazine, [july 2011], about mz racing.....

es 250 trophy, why don't they make them anymore? why can't people see the beauty?........