Covid19 ressurection - Locked down in Yorkshireshireshire. (Vintafake or Art for Art sake? you decide)Part 12

 Progress report by Albert Crackleport. - News? Chuffin NEWS!!! I'm sat here shaking my head in slow side to side movements and at the same time and much slower rolling my eyes upwards. "Well you silly man" you may shout, "What's rattled you?" Hang on... hang on....how much can a chap take before pouring an extremely large sherry and helping himself  to several cheese/pineapple cocktail stick nibbles....

Blighty News....(which helps put this jotting in time, place and space) is the disaster around the world regarding covid and it's still ongoing....blooming serious! Too right. BUT!!! Outside of 'The Shire' and further darn sarfff where the silly willy clowns that govern our land live the T.V. news discussions are on 'Boris's curtains.....How much did they cost? I can hardly lift one finger across the keyboard to type... F.F.S. He's a public schoolboy blagger and don't ya know it. Ya did know before casting ya vote surely !!!! Well known for taking anyones money especially the taxpayers,  Thank goodness The Old Sidevalve Bar doesn't have a currency, I have a special world trading agreement in place, swapping goods and labour for sausage sandwiches', huge croissants and snifters of Barley wine. None taxable but rather a pain to carry around in a wallet. Hey Ho!

Back to Little Walt. The little chap is complete, next step is to apply for a dating certificate. Not one that may come from 32 Ambleside Avenue. Streatham. (Rather a famous dating agency in the 60's) Nay, Little Walts dating certificate will have to come from a motorcycle club that has access to old records of the relevant machine manufacturer. To obtain such a document I have to provide photographic evidence of Frame Number, Engine Number together with several photo's showing both sides clearly. Attached to such valuable information needs to be a bankers cheque valued in G.B.P. and not sausage sandwiches. 

Stress....don't know which is more stressful....Waiting for a successful dating search or the birth of a first born..  Either one takes what seems like ages to arrive and is accompanied with huge puffing and blowing as it emerges into the daylight.

Finally the big day.... He's from the year 1926....... and now has roots...I have the certificate to prove it..

Then more form filling to answer questions posed by Big Mother Computor of vehicle registration, another bankers cheque valued once again in G.B.P. and another wait......

 1926, by 'eck, them the'er Raleigh riders knew how to clock up tha' wins!!!!

Covid19 ressurection - Locked down in Yorkshireshireshire. (Vintafake or Art for Art sake? you decide)Part 11

 

 Albert here....Date 03/05/2021. Still living around Covid restrictions.......You know what? I'm not bothered if it's lockdown or not. Slowly unlocking? Phuff....Do I need my nails done? Nope!!! Visit a zoo? Nope!!! Have a pint outside on a freezing night? Nope!!! I'm in my zone (shed and homebrew) and the new normal can be what the hell it likes I'm not going to be part of it, not now and I've decided not ever! What really matters is progress continues on 'Little Walt'. 

There's faking and then there's 'Big Mister' faking and hey you've come to the right page to meet the 'Big Mister Fakers' We are edging ever nearer towards the climax episode! The finishing stoke that will reduce anyone but the prepared to breathlessness of almost lifethreatening proportions.... aaaaaaahhhhh....  aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh.... careful now!...Hold on a bit longer!!!! There's more to do.

Handlebar grips - Surely the old racers didn't bother with nancy boy anti-vibration bar end weights and sponge grips?  No sir!!  Fabric tape or a strip of tightly wrapped old inner tube would surely suffice to keep hand on bars over the infamous bump at  Brooklands. Then it's good enough for me, I need some similar.

Here's my Eric Fernihough tribute handlebar grips.....using old bicycle tube. Above is the man himself  at 169.79 miles per hour on a Brough Superior. Little Walt is looking faster already.

 

Adding to 'The Sporty Look' - The old Castrol R tin is a left over from my own racing days in the early '80s. Maybe not the correct logo for 1920's Wakefield Oil Co (laterly Castrol) but hey it's my motorcycle, and old motorcycles evolve through time.  A British Army water bottle carrier dating from possibly Falklands era held it nicely, case of fabricating a couple of brackets to mount it to the frame. Tried 2 positions and settled for the later.

 

 

 Fabricate bottom bracket - complete with 'speedholes'
 

and a top bracket.

Add a period lamp..

Borrow the gear changing lever from the Picklington Precision and fabricate attaching bracket.

That's it ! Hope Little Walt now looks good enough to present to Licensing Dept with a view of obtaining road legal paperwork.

Hope also that the 'Extreme Vintafaking' reflects in the best possible way the sporting heritage of Raleigh Motorcycles. 

Speaking of sporting - Here's another good sport, well known for giving her best on the moors and in thick wooded areas. Yes, you've guessed it, another great photo of top Works Raleigh Chick - Marjorie Cottle riding in the 1927 I.S.D.T.  (left)

 

Looks like Little Walt came from an era of hard riding, and hard dinner breaks.

Shap ISDT 1927 (image from STT collection)  

Image of a Lunch Stop with lashings of Beer at ISDT 1927 

So, keep watching for more news of Little Walt.  In the meantime why not have your own ISDT lunch stop. But remember 'stay safe and bottoms up'.