Barcelona - Scooters

Scooter are everywhere. Some have names that seem strange in English

The "Why" from Yamaha, The "Phony" from Sym (symphony gettit?) the "Yupy" & "Scoopy" from Honda, the "Superdink" from Kymco, the "Tweet" from Peugeot and finally the "Fiddle" from Sym.

Barcelona - Montesa

These are rare in Spain now but I snapped this well used Impala 175 (I think) A basic '60's 2 stroke design - the cast wheels indicate a late model - about 1980?

Barcelona

This weekend courtesy of Ryanair.

More Barca stuff soon.

The Bigger Picture

Today I revisited the Rosneath Peninsula which is a pleasant run not too far from home. The weather was cool but mostly dry. The FJ was fitted with its new heated grips that came in handy (thanks Norm) I was trying out a new Fujifilm "bridge" camera with a panorama feature that stitches picture in camera for a wide image.

 Loch Long at Coulport under brooding skies

Loch Long - that speck in the loch looks suspicious...

It's a nuked up Vanguard Class sub (I think) returning to its base at Coulport.

Featured Bike - Mick Barton Norvin

This bike was, for me, the star of the Stafford Classic Bike Show last October. The bike has a Vincent Black Shadow engine in a Norton Featherbed frame. The quality of workmanship is amazing. The silver/orange colour scheme seems odd but works well.

More info here

Video here (ain't electric starters great!)

Past Times #2

I've found my copy of Roy Bacon's "British Motorcycles of the 60s" that has this great period photograph.

 

A motorcycle, a loose woman & cigarettes - classic late '60s

Past Times

This is my favourite picture from a favourite book of mine "British Motorcycles of the 40s & 50s" by Roy Bacon. The caption is "Mini-Motor at the end of the 1953 Nation Rally at Weston-super-Mare - a long ride for owner DJ Anderson" Mini-Motor being the clip-on engine attached to a cycle to provide basic transport. The picture captures post-war Britain. Note the bag over the cycle's cross bar. It looks like the gas mask case I used as a school satchel as a kid.  

Featured Bike - Gilera Saturno Bialbero

A small number of these bikes were imported into the UK in 1990. This pretty lightweight cafe racer was powered by the 500cc single cylinder Dakota trail bike engine. The bike looks great fun but the seat is a shocker! Photographed at the MZRC Rally at Masham, North Yorkshire in 2008.