had enough charlie?

 virgin whiteout

oooohhhhh

the view to the east 

Smile

castle frolics

awake! fire! fear! foes! awake!

aladdins cave found in fishing port... well it was... back in the day...

A seventy mile round trip on a cold but crisp Saturday up the coast

to Tod Monks emporium in Lowestoft, Britains most easterly town

featured a couple of Iron Heads, and his
84' early evo engined chop with shovel gearbox

The shop was an old electricity sub station and features this walk in safe! 

Most of the floors were covered in original intrically patterned victorian tiles...

Tod's T140 chop, a veteran of cross europe jaunts, waiting its turn.

A veritable aladdins cave, room after room of parts and workshops...

 

Tod tells me he's managed to clear some of the bikes and engines and parts he has collected in the last sixteen years... - haha
no shovel stuff though...

Coffee and a chat with led to a bit of a tour, he mentioned that Chris Ireland of 'Desperate Dan' fame comes in from time to time and also bikes of harley chaps from the 'smoke' who've found their wonga goes a bit further up here.

and (fan fare) - the bitch started first kick!

greetings from the east coast brothers and sisters

So a preliminary visit to a local test station and told that they had no issue with the the rear seat and no footrests - result. 

But the morning of the test I realised that without a chain guard, the so-called rear seat had to come off. Fuck, and a last minute wheel removal too.

And a Fail! 

Handlebar bushings loose, funny how you get used to somethings 

 The one old year old rubber crap above, 
replaced with new polyurethane bushings 

a £3.50 fix and a Pass,

and a celebratory trip down the road to the coast

Suffolk time

Not a day to be repeated in a hurry

 Me, the bitch and two likely lads of Mr Reliable Removals

home sweet home

A slightly stressy day

Mr Reliable were an hour late (due to traffic)

and it rained all day.

Loaded and off by 1.45pm we then got a phone call in the car at 4.00pm  to say the funds had not been transferred by the solicitors bank.

 Loyds TSB that had nationwide problems.

We could not get a regular signal on the mobile in the car.

At 4.45pm we were granted a licence to move in with permission 

of the property owner.

We arrive at 5pm we arrive and so do the agents with Keys, thank fuck.

No Removal Trucks in sight.

The luton van with the bitch on board arrives at 5.30pm

fortunately the guys had picked up another mate on route to help unload.

At 6.00 pm th big truck arrives and we are all unloaded by 8.30pm.

Still pissing down with rain.

Then at 9.00 pm Mrs Arcadian and I walked down to the local pub and had

a few drinks.

Pheeeeewwwwwwwww.

I finally succumbed to the siren call...

Orford, Suffolk

So the bags are packed, the bitch, the dogs and mrs arcadian 

are off tomorrow morning for good.

They tell me there is free wifi in the local so catch you all later.

and remember...

a Shovel is not just for Christmas

Beer is best

its my birthday and I'll ride if I want to...

now we've got 89 years between us...

Bugger.

Newlands corner, strangely devoid of choppers - or other bikes

'Fuck I've got no cash on me for a cup of tea!'

I got off Christine, not realising I'd voiced my thoughts out loud

And this chap in the van said 'here you go mate' and gave me two quid.

And then this other bloke came up, asked if he could take a picture of Christine 

and told me how much he liked my bike.

Its not all bad.

I had two cups of tea too.

why does it hurt when I pee...

my rocker screws are always weeping, no matter what I try

 it may be because the brass oil kit flows too much oil

brass and steel fittings can be a problem, I managed to cross thread this one

 

 and a half hour job turned into two hours...

lucky bastard

 larry's 101 incher "green ellie"

 his bad ass bitch 140,000 mile shov

he's owned for 'ellie' for the last sixteen years

now fitted with a triumph front brake that he says now stops 
this lovely hotrod

pics courtesy of Larry 

aka Blind Melon, Lucky Bastard MC

Larry sent me these pics while conversing on the black arts of shoveldom

look out corners of the world, its knees out time...

 New rubber for the bitch - no faux vintage shit...

 spot the seventeen year old front rubber...  yes - seven - teen...

 freshly shod -  this rubbers for going round corners...

 looking gooooooooooood

 a trip to Windsor to check out the tyres, a bit nippy and getting dark 

(check Paul's happy face)...

and somehow we've managed over 3000 miles this year....

The bitch in print...

Wade kindly sent this snap published in the latest 'Sickboyz Mag', Backstreet Heroes (BSH) -haha

kick starting the beast...

The Bible has landed!

Donny Petersens Unauthorised Tech Guide to the Shovel part one!

 Shovels have different personalities, ignore this and kicking could become a prolonged exercise 

- hahaha, he knows his stuff

Can't wait for Part Two

the rivet counters latest offering

 

 they were gathered round oohhing and aaarrrrhing

 quickly???? your having a laugh mate....

and then the chief expert cracks, 'bet thats faster than a harley'...

oh how they chuckled into their barbours

haha - chop it...

it can't be thirty four years...

Over to Rickmansworth on Sunday to meet an old mate...

who has one of my dog's pups - 'Myrtle' ...

 I've known Ken since the late seventies, we worked for the same agency, then shared the same flat, set up desk space in soho and each of us went on to some success ...

He hasn't changed a bit and still in the business, though he's an MD now...

you want to learn some riding skills...

the day I met the rivet counters uncle (the one on the right)

I passed him on his classic velocette about a minute away from Newlands Corner.

He steams up to me as I am parking up, with little room to turn as he parked so close

'You want to learn some riding skills'

Hows that?

'You want to learn some riding skills, my bike won the 1929 Manx Grand prix'

Yeah, I can't get round those damp corners with these fifteen year old tyres

'You want my advice, sell that and get a moped!'
er yeah, it does need new tyres...

and he flounced off to get his tea

and twenty five kicks later...

In the hope of improving starting by getting the engine to turn over more when kicking, I had purchased a smaller kick starter gear earlier in the year...

 original sixteen tooth kick starter clutch...

 puller teeth cut to size...

and (amazingly) it just popped off... 

 fourteen tooth replacement (left)...  

Found that lock washer tabs not used again! - I tapped the tabs up...

 These beauties pulled the studs out...

 But  a lorra heat would not loosen em...

and found a small bit of earlier damage...

and twenty five kicks later she finally started...

bitch...