vintagemxr
03-19-2008, 02:09 AM
As promised, a link below to some pictures I shot at last weekend's vintage bike event in Phoenix. Had a great time, saw wonderful bikes, talked to interesting and unusual people. My favorite photo of the bunch:
http://www.corgifan.com/forum/1913indianboardtrackracer1.JPG
Got a description from one fellow on the starting procedure and under way tuning of the 1913 Indian board track racer. I commented to the guy showing the bike that it would be great fun to ride such a machine once. He said his son had ridden the bike and it was a huge pain to start and not a little dangerous to ride, even casually. Imagine a choke with only three preset positions "too rich, too rich, too lean." Running rich/lean was set by turning a slotted barrel on the carburetor while you rode, the throttle was on the left and rotated forward -- not back (standard for Indians), the right grip was spark advance and I recall something about being able to fiddle with cam timing manually, and don't forget to pump the total loss oil system hand pump on the front and back straightaways at 100 mph during the race. Definitely not a simple run and bump and do a easy lap sort of procedure. Iron men, all of them!
Look closely at the shots of the original Indian bobber that was been thoroughly decked out by it's owner. The windscreen is covered with the old style travel decals from as far away as Havana, Cuba. I don't know the story on the bike, my biggest mistake of the day was spending too much time taking pictures and not enough talking to people like the current owner of the bobber.
Other highlights: the 1957 Zundapp flat twin a guy found last year at an estate sale. The "Grumph" Greeves/Triumph hybrid, the original condition 1913 Thor, and of course seeing our own Dean's very first motorcycle the 1931 H-D with the steel tractor seat for the pillion. :002:
Rest of the pictures are here:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/562826097QGBGez
Enjoy!
Doug
http://www.corgifan.com/forum/1913indianboardtrackracer1.JPG
Got a description from one fellow on the starting procedure and under way tuning of the 1913 Indian board track racer. I commented to the guy showing the bike that it would be great fun to ride such a machine once. He said his son had ridden the bike and it was a huge pain to start and not a little dangerous to ride, even casually. Imagine a choke with only three preset positions "too rich, too rich, too lean." Running rich/lean was set by turning a slotted barrel on the carburetor while you rode, the throttle was on the left and rotated forward -- not back (standard for Indians), the right grip was spark advance and I recall something about being able to fiddle with cam timing manually, and don't forget to pump the total loss oil system hand pump on the front and back straightaways at 100 mph during the race. Definitely not a simple run and bump and do a easy lap sort of procedure. Iron men, all of them!
Look closely at the shots of the original Indian bobber that was been thoroughly decked out by it's owner. The windscreen is covered with the old style travel decals from as far away as Havana, Cuba. I don't know the story on the bike, my biggest mistake of the day was spending too much time taking pictures and not enough talking to people like the current owner of the bobber.
Other highlights: the 1957 Zundapp flat twin a guy found last year at an estate sale. The "Grumph" Greeves/Triumph hybrid, the original condition 1913 Thor, and of course seeing our own Dean's very first motorcycle the 1931 H-D with the steel tractor seat for the pillion. :002:
Rest of the pictures are here:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/562826097QGBGez
Enjoy!
Doug