It gets smaller. Still, I saw the Vintage Speedway: I'd forgotten the
wonderful smell of alcohol-fuelled bikes. First and second time I've
seen anyone fall off doing it as well.

Most interesting (and ear-splitting) was a Wankel speedway bike,
rffectively built, the commentator said, out of half a Norton rotary
engine, giving it a capacity of 294cc IIRC. Sounded like it was
bouncing off its rev limiter, though, when he gave it beans down the
straights, but apparently this was its first outing.

The other entertainment was OK but I guess the likes of the Flying
Gunners and the parachute displays are history - not that they'd have
been jumping in that wind.

One neat stand was a bike mounted on a ramp with its back axle fixed
so that the bike could rotate in the vertical plane but not move
forward - the rear wheel rested on a sort of dyno drum. The idea was
that one could 'wheelie' the bike while stationary. There was a
safety cable that prevented it from backflipping.

Spent rather a lot of money: new leather jeans (nice quaty Spyke ones
for 90 quid), cheap boots, and I unfortunately spotted a 'proper' tool
stall, too. So now I have another machine vice for my collection (it's
a bugger mounting stuff on a small lathe's saddle or vertical slide),
plus a nice big tap wrench, a small ratchet tap wrench and various
sundries.

Hard ride up there: normally the V11's lack of fairing is in part
compensated for by the low riding position, but not in today's stiff
headwind. Neck's still a bit sore. Return ride was easy, but a bit
chilly.

--
-Pip

On 15/05/2011 20:46, Pip Luscher wrote:
> It gets smaller. Still, I saw the Vintage Speedway: I'd forgotten the
> wonderful smell of alcohol-fuelled bikes. First and second time I've
> seen anyone fall off doing it as well.
>
> One neat stand was a bike mounted on a ramp with its back axle fixed
> so that the bike could rotate in the vertical plane but not move
> forward - the rear wheel rested on a sort of dyno drum. The idea was
> that one could 'wheelie' the bike while stationary. There was a
> safety cable that prevented it from backflipping.

Like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKwlFrZz-eA

(Check out some of the idiotic comments....)

--
^*^ Lucretia ^*^

On May 15, 7:46*pm, Pip Luscher <plusc...@live.invalid.co.uk> wrote:.
>
> rffectively built, the commentator said,

That's easy for him to say ...

Paul.

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember LucretiaBorgia
<(E-Mail Removed)> saying something like:

>Like this?
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKwlFrZz-eA

Man thrashes old snotter to death.

>(Check out some of the idiotic comments....)

Duh. By ****, they don't do the brotherhood of motorcyclists any
favours, do they? "Porpose".

On Mon, 16 May 2011 16:50:51 +0100, LucretiaBorgia
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 15/05/2011 20:46, Pip Luscher wrote:
>> It gets smaller. Still, I saw the Vintage Speedway: I'd forgotten the
>> wonderful smell of alcohol-fuelled bikes. First and second time I've
>> seen anyone fall off doing it as well.
>>
>> One neat stand was a bike mounted on a ramp with its back axle fixed
>> so that the bike could rotate in the vertical plane but not move
>> forward - the rear wheel rested on a sort of dyno drum. The idea was
>> that one could 'wheelie' the bike while stationary. There was a
>> safety cable that prevented it from backflipping.
>
>Like this?
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKwlFrZz-eA

Sort of, but not the same. In that clip, it's hard to tell, but it
doesn't look as though the rear wheel is turning at all: it appears to
just be using the clutch, or maybe there's a heavy-duty clutch powered
directly off the chain.

The one I saw did actually use the rear wheel to drive a drum, which I
guess either had a brake or a lot of inertia. Or both. Also, the
bike's rest position was tilted about 20deg up: I guess to compensate
for the lack of horizontal acceleration.

>(Check out some of the idiotic comments....)

I see what you mean.

--
-Pip