dinsdag 27 december 2011

My bike year in photo's (and a few words)

Januari:

The year starts really nice with the CB being featured on the largest custom motorcycle blog in the world: BikeExif.



I am working on a Kawasaki KZ for Zoran:



Februari:

We are getting to the final stages of building the Virago. It's 10% of the work, but takes 90% of the time.



We find an abandoned airfield. The BMW is still sporting the fiberglass tank.



And the CX500 sees some daylight again. The CX will spend most of this year in the shed unfortunately. Mostly because of lack of time (study).



March:

Real test riding with the Virago starts



And the fiberglass tank on the BMW fails. The BMW will spend months in the shed, waiting for a solution.



Luckily the CB is turning out to be a great bike. I have been using the CB A LOT this year. It was fantastic to always have a bike that I could use under any circumstances (even snow 2 weeks ago). It was great to be able to go where public transport can't take you and to be able to take a passenger there too.



I finished Zoran's bike as far as I was going to work on it, the rest was up to Zoran!



April:

I get remote flashes for my photo camera. They will have a big impact on my photography this year. But it's a steep learning curve



It was a very busy moth for me, the study demanded a lot of time. Trips like this one were scarce:



May:

Very busy month too. The CB is mainly use for transportation and a little bit of relaxation



June:

Greta weather. The CB sees a lot of the country and now pretty much completely replaces public transport.



I buy a new welder. Great decision, I don't regret it for a second.



I finally find a new tank for the BMW. Great, two working bikes (and the CX for the girlfriend) in the shed. Feels very luxurious.



Juli:

The cafe racer meeting in Achterveld is always an event to look out for. This year was probably the best so far. Hundreds of bikes, great weather and happy people.



The Virago has been plagued by a lot of very small problems, but is now finally running as it should. Time to strip it down for painting.



August:

We bought a Yamaha SR500! Now the Virago is nearly done, it is time for the next project and this bike was a steal. 



Not much to say about August. Not a lot happened in the field of bike building.



September:

The BMW gets featured on BikeExif. Wow. Two bikes in one year. just wow. The great weather makes for great riding and the BMW and CB are now both used for many (nightly) trips around the country.



This month is also the Chopperstyle Low Budget Bike Building Meeting. 



October:

Another photo trip to Amsterdam. Sadly the last time we could use the NDSM ship wharf as a photo location, it is not allowed anymore.



The Virago is getting it's final color scheme.



November

I am now really getting the hang for using the remote flashes. This is one of my favorite photo's of this year:



The Virago is now finally well and truly finished. Ready to start on the SR500!



December:

The weather is dark and wet. The BMW is locked away in the shed, waiting for better weather, but the CB is still being used, for instances to get to the horses where I take this photo:



It's the only none-bike photo in this post, but I have to mention it because it caused such a stir for me that it did change a lot. I am now getting (paid!) photo assignments.

December is also the last time the Vehikel Oldtimer Swap meet is being held in the Veemarkhallen, very close to my home. We find some great stuff for the SR500, can't wait to start on it!



So, that's it for this year. I would like to thank you all, my readers, for showing interest and support. For putting up with my endless stream of photo's, for sending me emails with questions and emails with photo's.


Bedankt!! (thanks in Dutch)

See you next year!

zondag 18 december 2011

Vehikel 011 part 2

Plenty of pre-war bikes for sale.
Another Ariel Scrambler
The fuel tank of the moped in the previous post.
Old bikes just look better....
Very nice details on this one
Probably better than when it was new.
The now very popular BMW R90.
This racing bike drew such a big crowd that it was nearly impossible to get a photo.
This mess of different parts (and missing parts) would only part hands for 3000 euro's....
A bike built in Belgium.
The St Christopher seal on the fender of the Adler push bike (see previous post).

Swapmeet: Vehikel 2011

I went to a swap meet with Vincent yesterday. Expectations weren't too high, since the last edition was a bit of a disappointment (high entree fee, not many sellers and very high prices), but this edition was great.

This would be a great headlight for a steam punk bike....
Lots of junk, but very interesting junk none the less.
Push bike with a shaft drive. Sweet!
Lots of tanks to chose from
A Heinkel motor scooter
Ariel scrambler.... I want one!
This kind of quality just can't be found anymore on anything that leaves a factory these days.
Lots of handlebars, very cheap. So we bought a few to see what looks best on the SR500
Old school instrument for checking batteries.
Boxes and boxes full of tacho's.....
Very cool fuel consumption meter. I guess it was vacuum driven?
1937 Adler push bike with 3 gears. It had wooden fenders with a small logo of St Christopher on them (the saint that protects travelers).


In the end we came home with a new brake switch for my CB, air filters for Vincent's Ducati and a lot of stuff for our next project, the SR500: 2 Sets of handlebars, a fuel tank, decompression lever, tail light and 2 headlights. All for very low prices. Nice.