Motorcycles
I have been riding a 1956 Ariel model NH 350cc "Red Hunter" since 1985, and I
have rebuilt it several times while clocking up around 35000 miles in the UK,
Ireland, Norway and the USA. The bike is still street legal and can occasionally
be seen puttering around Livermore or up to the Junction on Mines
Road. It turned up in a barn on the Isle of Arran for sixty quid, missing a lot of parts and paint and
covered in cowshit. This machine has many minor modifications, some for
comfort (wider bars and Enfield India seat), some for safety (12 volt
alternator, 60 watt halogen headlamp, indicators and twin Fiamm airhorns),
some for practicality (Nonfango hard luggage, powder coat paint) and some
because the right parts weren't handy when needed (headlamp shell and
speedometer from ??). It won numerous awards at rallies in the UK and Norway
from 86-91, a mixture of "farthest travelled" and "grot". It has since been
powder coated Post Office Red, which solved the rust problems. The bike is
legal, loud, smelly and slow by modern standards, but then so am I.
The
next project is a VB which I am assembling
from parts from various years for sidecar use. The aim is to approximate a
1946 model, but it will never win a concourse award. The frame is 49, forks
are NOS war surplus, engine and transmission are from a 55 Glasgow chopper,
and the back wheel is the front wheel off a Honda CB750 as I want a decent
brake on at least one of the three wheels. Since this picture was taken I
have got the engine running and mounted the headlamp and speedometer,
acquired a front mudguard and mounted the rear sprocket. The engine is a
very easy starter and is loud, smelly and slow.
My modern ride is a 2003 Triumph Bonneville T100, which, apart from the brakes, power, vibration, suspension, electrics and oil leaks, rides much the same as the Red Hunter. It is missing some technology that I have on the "Modern Motorcycle" and miss, including chain oiler, luggage, covered fork tubes, decent horns and a kickstart. Most of these will be fixed in due course.
Ariel single cylinder motorcycles are the bikes I know best. They are simple, reliable, robust and easy to maintain - a "practical classic" if ever there was one. I own these two.
The red one is a 1956 NH "Red Hunter" which for about 15 years was the only working bike I owned.