Ferndale

Private hire at Ferndale skatepark on Tuesday. Braved the snow and ice (wasn't too bad) for a nice relaxed sesh. Tried and tried to drop in on the mini but just couldn't suss it. Bit irritated by that.

Jacko and Bobster hug up:-

Hesh Law

Just cracked a Red Stripe and watched Hesh Law. Or at least I think I did. Musta fell asleep. Or its a short fillum. Ah well.

Merry Christmas

Av it Santa!!

Hunter Cam

There May Be Trouble Ahead....

But while theres moonlight...

And music....

And love....

And romance.....

Lets build an Ariel (and dance)

New project - 1920 (I think) White and Poppe engined Ariel 500cc sidevalve with chain cum belt transmission, Ariel gearbox. Needs a bit of fettling but its solid.

This Place Looks Like Fun

http://www.ferndaleskatepark.co.uk/

SAGA Night Down the Oasis

Tonights entertainment at Swindon Oasis (why is a small bottle of Becks £3? Ripping the punters off. Nice)

Green Laning

A few years ago me and Davey went green laning on the Ariels. Think it was February and a tad chilly. Just found some photos:-

On Sunday I'll Mostly Be Listening To......

...at Swindon Oasis. Supported by The Damned (oh yes!!) and Girlschool.

Should be a kwalitee night out.

Street Valve

Trialsin in the Rain

Or not, as the case may be.

Heath and Kevo travelled up country for a ride on the Swindon rockery only for the weather to close in and make things way too slippery for our meagre trials riding standards.

So, off to Maccy Ds for breakfast and a chat instead.

This Week I have Mostly Been Listening To....

Bit Quiet

Not much going on at the moment. Had a little skate at the Boardroom mid-week.

Been getting on with my 1928 Ariel project - making crankcase studs from stainless. Read parts book - 4off 3/8" studs, 3 3/8" long. No problem. Measure, turn, measure, turn. I end up with 4off 5/16" studs, 3 3/8" long....

Back to the drawing board.

I Hate People....

...and They Hate Me.

Top gig by Anti Nowhere League last night at the Bierkeller. the antics of the crowd was pretty entertaining as well.

Enjoy:-

Tomorrow - Brizzle Bierkeller

A Finger of Kent

Or is it a Kentish Finger? Courtesy of DTB (thanks Dave)

Donchester Gathering of the Clans

Bit of a meet up with peeps this weekend - Pete, DTB, Alec, Gaff and me down at Donchester. Bawb was poorly having brought hog fever back from his US trip (get well soon fella).

Alec and Dave:-

Gaff in motion:-

Good to meet you fellas. Looking forward to the next time.

Me and Gaffer went to Blandford on the way back and I celebrated a grand day out with an out of control scooting incident, throwing myself roughly to the floor. Shoulders a bit sore now.

This Week I Have Been Mostly Listening To...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTR3wNUQ3Cc

...And So It Begins

By the time I'd got myself sorted it was raining so no skaterin. So I started to put the 1928 Ariel rolling chassis together.

Fuel tank jibber and hand change:-

Took me ages to get the tyres on. New tyres are so stiff. Hate changing tyres.

The end of a good days work:-

The bike has never been this complete in my ownership. Well pleased.

The engine has been on the bench for years. Its a 500cc OHV single cylinder engine. This is how it looks at the moment:-

Its gone...

..the v-twin Beesa that is. Took it to the Shepton Mallet autojumble today where a nice bloke called Alan gave me a chunk of cash for it. Now its time to build Ariels. Plans have altered slightly and I think its the 1928 Ariel thats going to get built first.

Best Laid Plans...

Ariel Club Welsh Borders Rally this weekend - set off on a fully loaded 38 Red Hunter on Friday afternoon. Managed 8 miles before running out of compression, which returned a minute or so later, another 4 miles and it stopped again. So limped back home and loaded up the Fireblade.

Good turn out at the rally. Loads of beer and nonsense talked. Saturday run out and I have a choice - go out on the Blade or ride shotgun in this (1930 Ariel Model B outfit):-

No contest really. Never been in a sidecar before and I was bit nervous but turned out to be a cracking day out. We also ascended Long Mynd, quite a steep climb for an old combo.

http://s211.photobucket.com/albums/bb165/arieltt/?action=view&current=MVI_1352.flv

Best laugh I've had on bikes in ages.

Goodbye

After long and thoughtful mulling I've decided that me and the vee are partin compan-ee. Off to Ebay with it. Sad to see it go but I need room to build my Ariels.

What Flat Tanks Are For...

My favourite picture:-

Two pre-WW1 Ariels and a pre-WW1 Rex somewhere in France.

A Bygone Time...

Ariel 500, 1913 Tourist Trophy, IoM

Curler

Fox or cat? Time to get the Lenor bottle out again....

Busy week

Started off with heatrate tests at Little Barford Power Station, then a presentation to Kings Lynn Power Station on Wednesday.

Thursday evening was a Filton sesh with Bob, Joe, Jesus and Jerome. I tried out these little monkeys for the first time:-

Got em off Slammer off MAS and Jebus they're quick. Much faster than my Rictas and faster than I can cope with at the mo.

Saturday was the unveiling of Alans restored Ariel Leader so it was champers and food round his house. Hes wanted one of these since 1962 - and now hes got one. Nice looking bike:-

Then to round it off, Cretesham on Sunday with Wayne. Managed to regain my drop-ins again, but only on the 2ft transition. Better than nowt though and a step in the right direction. A nice roll in the sunshine despite me being half asleep most of the time.

World of Tanks

Well, the Wartime Weekend at Swindon and Cricklade Railway anyway.

Nice weather, decent turn out. Not bad. Some pictures:-

This'd cut down on traffic jams

Captured bunker in Normandy:-

Jerry (Luftwaffe camp):-

Another one (SchutzPolizei):-

Select your weapons:-

Is It Really THAT Old!?!

Searching round the house for stuff to EBay I came across this:-

I'd forgotten that I had this - 1983 Boss Dr Rhythm DR-110 analogue drum machine. Think I'll keep it - I'm sure I can programme some thrash backbeats into it.

A Right Pair of Bobby Dazzlers

Kiss Army Vans Hi-tops:-

I even have a matching shirt.....

Blige!?!

The old 1938 Ariel seemed to be a bit down on power coming back from the Annual and was becoming a sod to start. Investigations in the garage revealed poor compression so I whipped off the head and found this:-

And it got me home too!! Good bike.

Looks like time to talk to Kempy.

Trialsin

First time out on a trials bike in ages and I can still feel the after effects.

Heath drove up from Weston-Super-Mud Saturday morning and we had a good few hours at my new secret spot:-

Heath generally takes the pics but heres a couple of him for a change:-

And one of me:-

We finished off in a local park riding up a few steps and benches. All in all a good day out. Enjoyed it stacks.

More cycle and moto trials gibber at http://www.r2wtrials.com/

Dave Vanian Rides for Santa Cruz

I know because I have his shorts....

Appearing at a skatepark near you very soon

Newport and `Sham 1 and 2

Busy weekend on the skate front - Saturday was the Kill City Jam at Newport Skatepark. Mega busy so not much skating done by me but Gaffer, Bob and the Brizzle boys had a good roll. Will deffo look in there when its quieter. Superb park.

Sunday morning saw me scooting round Corsham accomplishing nothing. Still haven't recovered my drop-ins. Depression was erased by visiting the beer festival in Wroughton that evening. We even won the pub quiz with a shocking score of 18 / 50.

Monday plans were mixed but we ended up at Melksham and I had a nice roll around the Skatelite park with Bob, Muttley and assorted youngsters, managing to dissipate the clouds left by the beer festival.

A good weekend.

Surfin Croyde Bay

A long time ago, well 1995 anyway, we were three nobbers - me, Stig and Benno, ably assisted by Jowsey and Slick Rick, all of whom were hooked on snowboarding. Well...except Benno who maintained that skiing was the way forward. Winter 1994/5 was the only time I ever managed to do two weeks in the Alps in one season. We decided, after the usual lengthy drink fuelled discussion, that we also wanted to be surfers.

So, summer 1995 found us heading to Croyde Bay every other weekend and renting huge pop-out mini mals to ride the rampant waves. A bit too rampant as it turned out but we all managed to catch a wave or two, stand up for more than a few seconds and enjoyed telling multitudes of tall tales in the Beach Bar, fuelled by Jamaicas finest Red Stripe. Happy daze.

Fast forward nineteen years and we're off to Croyde on holiday. The campsite we used is now a respectable family site and the Beach bar is closed, now selling holiday rubbish, but Croyde is still as nice as it ever was. And now I have no pretentions of being a surfer, prefering the much easier option - bodyboarding.

And of course

And

Croyde Bay from the tea shop near Baggy Point on a blustery day:-

Its been a great week really. Lots of bodyboarding, reasonable weather (but it doesn't really make much difference when you're in the water) and a nice cottage round the corner from the Thatch. Ideal.