WheresMurph
Adventurer
Oil/Air cooled. The last airhead was 95/96 I believe, then the oil head was born.
WhereThehellisMurph, 3 Wheels, 7 Continents, 7 Years
- Thread starter WheresMurph
- Start date
Been following your blog for a month or so after seeing you here. Ordering decals today. Love the pics! Like you, I love winter! Here in Oklahoma we don't get much of it so my wife and I have enjoyed looking the the pics!
I guess it's strange where life leads us! Just found out Friday my father has non-operative pancreatic cancer after battling cancer once and winning, so we thought. Keep up the good work!
Chuck
I guess it's strange where life leads us! Just found out Friday my father has non-operative pancreatic cancer after battling cancer once and winning, so we thought. Keep up the good work!
Chuck
WheresMurph
Adventurer
Hi Arlo,
That's' a sweet looking outfit there, still have it?.
Chuck, thanks and good to have you along. Waiting for your sticker order.....
Murph.
That's' a sweet looking outfit there, still have it?.
Chuck, thanks and good to have you along. Waiting for your sticker order.....
Murph.
Arlo
Adventurer
Murph, I sold it in 1990.
Needed the money for a new engine installed to the VW Bus.
Since 1999 a Land Rover is in permanent use.
btw: do you ever have been to Corsica?
You should join the island!
It's written, when God created the world, he put his finger at the 7th day an on that small part of it and squirreled it up!
In my opinion, he did a great job! :wings:
Last edited:
WheresMurph
Adventurer
ROVANIEMI..Hornwork. Traditional Lappish Crafts.
.
.
Ounasjoki Ice Road. Rovaniemi, Finland.
The last of the Ice Road crossings until next Winter.
As I was crossing over the Ounas river ice road on the way to Ari and Irene Kangasniemi at Hornwork, I stopped in the moddle of the frozen river, probably for the last time, to take in the view and the snow clouds in the distance.
One of the last times I'll be able to ride the ice road I guess, since the ice over the Ounas river is already melting fast. Only a few weeks ago there was snow on the ground, it was still in the -5° range and just a hint of Spring. This onset of warm weather has come on really quickly, most of it in the last two weeks. I don't really like it that much, especially this slushy dirty stuff thats all over the roads. Makes a mess of things. All of the nice white snowbanks piled up on the sides of the road only a few weeks ago have now been turned into a disgusting looking dirty black and brown color. Gross. Nasty stuff. I want my white fluffy snow back please. I guess I'll just have to wait until next October or November, depending on where I am.
Meeting people, local people, wherever I go is what this trip, my whole journey, is all about. They shape my life, my travels, my destinations, in so many ways. I am finding myself lately planning (and I never plan) on where to go based on interesting encounters I have already had or may possibly have.
Ari and Irene are two wonderful and talented people and I've been out to their house and workshop to visit them a number of times already.
I was first brought there by Heikki, the Karu MC president. I've always been interested in the old ways, the traditional crafts people, and up here in northern Finland, the home of the Sami people, I wanted to get a few traditional handcrafted items, not the ones they sell in the tourist stores. And as soon as I walked in to Ari and Irene's home and workshop, I knew I was in the right place. You could feel it in the air.
There were good spirits there.
Ari is a self taught, and mainly uses reindeer antler as working material.
Back in the 60's, making handicrafts was not a profession, but a way of life, an integral part of Lappish life, where tools were made out of necessity and also made by hand.
Irene was taken on as an apprentice with bone work master Veikko Piipponen in Rovaniemi in 1981, and continues on the old traditional ways with her husband Ari. Irene's grandparents were reindeer owners, and apparently, Irene's grandfather was famous for castrating reindeer with his teeth. Ok.
The rest of this post can be found HERE on the blog.
Murph.
.
.
Ounasjoki Ice Road. Rovaniemi, Finland.
The last of the Ice Road crossings until next Winter.
As I was crossing over the Ounas river ice road on the way to Ari and Irene Kangasniemi at Hornwork, I stopped in the moddle of the frozen river, probably for the last time, to take in the view and the snow clouds in the distance.
One of the last times I'll be able to ride the ice road I guess, since the ice over the Ounas river is already melting fast. Only a few weeks ago there was snow on the ground, it was still in the -5° range and just a hint of Spring. This onset of warm weather has come on really quickly, most of it in the last two weeks. I don't really like it that much, especially this slushy dirty stuff thats all over the roads. Makes a mess of things. All of the nice white snowbanks piled up on the sides of the road only a few weeks ago have now been turned into a disgusting looking dirty black and brown color. Gross. Nasty stuff. I want my white fluffy snow back please. I guess I'll just have to wait until next October or November, depending on where I am.
Meeting people, local people, wherever I go is what this trip, my whole journey, is all about. They shape my life, my travels, my destinations, in so many ways. I am finding myself lately planning (and I never plan) on where to go based on interesting encounters I have already had or may possibly have.
Ari and Irene are two wonderful and talented people and I've been out to their house and workshop to visit them a number of times already.
I was first brought there by Heikki, the Karu MC president. I've always been interested in the old ways, the traditional crafts people, and up here in northern Finland, the home of the Sami people, I wanted to get a few traditional handcrafted items, not the ones they sell in the tourist stores. And as soon as I walked in to Ari and Irene's home and workshop, I knew I was in the right place. You could feel it in the air.
There were good spirits there.
Traditionally, the Sami pre-Christian religion was a belief that all life was dualistic, spiritually and physically, and that people should live in harmony in their lives without disturbing nature. Words and thoughts to live by.
So, alongside the material world, there was the spiritual world, Saivo, where everything was more whole than in the material world (which is quite possible) and where the dead continued on their lives.
There were shamans, Noaidi, that could communicate with the spirit world and practice healing. In order to do this the shaman had to get into a trance, which was done with the help of the drum and the yoik, the traditional sami form of song. Interestingly, most of the sami shaman drums that ever existed were burnt in the late 17th century, since Christianity was the preferred belief then.
The painted symbols on the drums are a representation of the "known world" and life of the Lapps. Each drum tells it's own story, and the drums are usually divided into three or five fields. The upper fields correspond to the spirit world, the lowest one to the underworld.
So, alongside the material world, there was the spiritual world, Saivo, where everything was more whole than in the material world (which is quite possible) and where the dead continued on their lives.
There were shamans, Noaidi, that could communicate with the spirit world and practice healing. In order to do this the shaman had to get into a trance, which was done with the help of the drum and the yoik, the traditional sami form of song. Interestingly, most of the sami shaman drums that ever existed were burnt in the late 17th century, since Christianity was the preferred belief then.
The painted symbols on the drums are a representation of the "known world" and life of the Lapps. Each drum tells it's own story, and the drums are usually divided into three or five fields. The upper fields correspond to the spirit world, the lowest one to the underworld.
Ari is a self taught, and mainly uses reindeer antler as working material.
Back in the 60's, making handicrafts was not a profession, but a way of life, an integral part of Lappish life, where tools were made out of necessity and also made by hand.
Irene was taken on as an apprentice with bone work master Veikko Piipponen in Rovaniemi in 1981, and continues on the old traditional ways with her husband Ari. Irene's grandparents were reindeer owners, and apparently, Irene's grandfather was famous for castrating reindeer with his teeth. Ok.
The rest of this post can be found HERE on the blog.
Murph.
Scott Brady
Founder
I have really enjoyed the progression of the images Murph. You have always taken great shots, but your own personal style is emerging - I like it!
WheresMurph
Adventurer
Mr. Brady, thank you very much.
Your recognition of my efforts and personal style carries much weight and means a lot to me. I appreciate you taking the time to make it known.
Also, the "border effect" on my images is exclusive only to Expo. It's involved and time-consuming, a 5 step import export import export import process. Since Expo background is white, as opposed to my blog of black, it's worth the effort.
Regards from Finland,
Murph.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
ROVANIEMI...and the Midnight Sun.
.
.
"Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very
May; but at length the season of summer does come"...................Thomas Carlyle.
The Ice Road is now a liquid ice road, summer has arrived at the Arctic Circle here in Finland
12:15am Rivaniemi, Finland.
The midnight sun, only something I heard about before, I now feel like Al Pacino's character Det. Dormer in the movie "Insomnia".
Lumberjacks Candle Bridge, Rovaniemi, Finland. March 2013.
Lumberjacks Candle Bridge, Rovaniemi, Finland. May 2013.
Victor, from Murmansk in Russia, riding one of the new water-cooled BMW GS's. A popular bike in Russia according to him, due to the really bad roads there.
And sometimes you just meet the nicest people sitting on your sidecar when you come out. This is Irina, from Moldova. A chance encounter, or a new friend?.
Yes.
There is more of this post on the blog Here
Murph.
.
.
"Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very
May; but at length the season of summer does come"...................Thomas Carlyle.
The Ice Road is now a liquid ice road, summer has arrived at the Arctic Circle here in Finland
12:15am Rivaniemi, Finland.
The midnight sun, only something I heard about before, I now feel like Al Pacino's character Det. Dormer in the movie "Insomnia".
Lumberjacks Candle Bridge, Rovaniemi, Finland. May 2013.
Victor, from Murmansk in Russia, riding one of the new water-cooled BMW GS's. A popular bike in Russia according to him, due to the really bad roads there.
And sometimes you just meet the nicest people sitting on your sidecar when you come out. This is Irina, from Moldova. A chance encounter, or a new friend?.
Yes.
There is more of this post on the blog Here
Murph.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
.
.
Nearly 90°F in Finland.
Seriously?.
89°F and in a few hot spots maybe 90+?. Not really my cuppa tea.
Even the Finns are complaining, "On todella kuuma", (too damn hot). Well, not all of them, but a lot echo these very sentiments.
It's the hottest it's been in Finland in over 50 years they tell me. In fact, northern Finland is the hottest part of Europe right now. -33°C in winter, +33°C now at the end of May.
Which is a bit of a problem for me right now. Not like a life or death problem, just more of an inconvenience. I'm not set up for summer and hot weather riding and hate it. I really don't like the heat anymore. It just drains me. I don't have room for a summer wardrobe on my sidecar outfit, as big as it is.
But even if I did, winter is my preferred season to travel. And the hotter it gets here, the more I can't wait for December. Only another 6 months, I am counting the days.....
Located 18 km north of Rovaniemi in a place called Norvajärvi, the German Soldiers Cemetery and Memorial Mausoleum was consecrated on August 31, 1963. You cannot drive right up to the Mausoleum itself, but must park 0.5 km from it.
From where you park it's a .5 km walk through a winding forest path leading to a pair of stone pillars, the entrance and the silent sentinels of the grounds. A continuous natural stone wall seems to grow from the outside of the two pillars and surrounds the mausoleum almost down to the lake.
The top inscription reads "German Military Cemetery" in German, the middle is in Finnish.
"Mother and Son" by German sculptor Ursula Querner.
In World War II, approximately 15,000 German soldiers died at the Finnish border, most of them are buried on Russian ground.
In Finland, there are two main cemeteries for German soldiers killed in the war.
This one here at Norvajärvi in Lapland and another one in Helsinki, the Hietaniemi Cemetery or Hietaniemen Hautausmaa in Finnish.
The Helsinki cemetery is smaller then the Norvajärvi cemetery, containing the remains of 371 soldiers from World War II and 6 soldiers from World War I. Most of the 371 fallen from the Second World War were Kreigsmarine sailors from 2 destroyers laying a minefield along the Estonian coast.
All together, there were approximately 200,000 German soldiers in Lapland during the Continuation War of 1941-1944.
The interior of the chapel was designed by architect Otto Kindt Hamburg, built between 1959-1963 by Kemi Construction in Rovaniemi, Finland.
The main room contains 8 large flat limestone slabs or tablets that are engraved with the names, rank, DOB and DOD of 2,683 German soldiers.
The inscription on the stone reads:
"Wir Gendeken Aller Kriegsgräber Die Unserer Liebe Unerreichbar Sind Und Befehlen Sie In Gottes Friden"
"We Commemorate All War Graves That Are Unreached By Our Love, And We Command Them To God.".
Meanwhile, back at Karu MC, bikes are coming out from a long winter hibernation.
A Dnepr with a VW powered motor.
Many more photos, much more stories and the origins of the swastika on the front of the sidecar too HERE on the blog.
MURPH.
.
Nearly 90°F in Finland.
Seriously?.
89°F and in a few hot spots maybe 90+?. Not really my cuppa tea.
Even the Finns are complaining, "On todella kuuma", (too damn hot). Well, not all of them, but a lot echo these very sentiments.
It's the hottest it's been in Finland in over 50 years they tell me. In fact, northern Finland is the hottest part of Europe right now. -33°C in winter, +33°C now at the end of May.
Which is a bit of a problem for me right now. Not like a life or death problem, just more of an inconvenience. I'm not set up for summer and hot weather riding and hate it. I really don't like the heat anymore. It just drains me. I don't have room for a summer wardrobe on my sidecar outfit, as big as it is.
Located 18 km north of Rovaniemi in a place called Norvajärvi, the German Soldiers Cemetery and Memorial Mausoleum was consecrated on August 31, 1963. You cannot drive right up to the Mausoleum itself, but must park 0.5 km from it.
From where you park it's a .5 km walk through a winding forest path leading to a pair of stone pillars, the entrance and the silent sentinels of the grounds. A continuous natural stone wall seems to grow from the outside of the two pillars and surrounds the mausoleum almost down to the lake.
The top inscription reads "German Military Cemetery" in German, the middle is in Finnish.
"Mother and Son" by German sculptor Ursula Querner.
In World War II, approximately 15,000 German soldiers died at the Finnish border, most of them are buried on Russian ground.
In Finland, there are two main cemeteries for German soldiers killed in the war.
This one here at Norvajärvi in Lapland and another one in Helsinki, the Hietaniemi Cemetery or Hietaniemen Hautausmaa in Finnish.
The Helsinki cemetery is smaller then the Norvajärvi cemetery, containing the remains of 371 soldiers from World War II and 6 soldiers from World War I. Most of the 371 fallen from the Second World War were Kreigsmarine sailors from 2 destroyers laying a minefield along the Estonian coast.
All together, there were approximately 200,000 German soldiers in Lapland during the Continuation War of 1941-1944.
The interior of the chapel was designed by architect Otto Kindt Hamburg, built between 1959-1963 by Kemi Construction in Rovaniemi, Finland.
The main room contains 8 large flat limestone slabs or tablets that are engraved with the names, rank, DOB and DOD of 2,683 German soldiers.
The inscription on the stone reads:
"Wir Gendeken Aller Kriegsgräber Die Unserer Liebe Unerreichbar Sind Und Befehlen Sie In Gottes Friden"
"We Commemorate All War Graves That Are Unreached By Our Love, And We Command Them To God.".
Meanwhile, back at Karu MC, bikes are coming out from a long winter hibernation.
A Dnepr with a VW powered motor.
Many more photos, much more stories and the origins of the swastika on the front of the sidecar too HERE on the blog.
MURPH.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
BITTIRALLI 40, all British Motorcycle Rally, Himanka, Finland.
.
.
Should I go?.
The weather forecast for the Friday ride to the Rally and for most of the weekend was calling for rain, which meant even more mosquitos than the millions that are already vacationing here in Finland, pestering the living hell out of me and slowly, drop by minuscule drop, extracting the lifeblood out of me to nourish and feed a batch of new mosquitos. Parasitic welfare at it's finest.
Ahh, what the hell.....may as well, there's probably going to be some nice old British iron there.
Yes, indeed. Plenty of great Brit bikes for sure.
The Black Bomber, so named because you could get in any color you wanted, so long as it was black.
Had they been paying attention all along and made sure they had all their bearings greased and their pistons and cylinders lubed up real good, they probably would of been fine and may have even survived.
But unfortunately for the British motorcycle manufacturing industry, in reality it was more like this....
Another 50+ images and the rest of the story on the demise of the British bike industry can be read Right hereon the blog.
.
.
Should I go?.
The weather forecast for the Friday ride to the Rally and for most of the weekend was calling for rain, which meant even more mosquitos than the millions that are already vacationing here in Finland, pestering the living hell out of me and slowly, drop by minuscule drop, extracting the lifeblood out of me to nourish and feed a batch of new mosquitos. Parasitic welfare at it's finest.
Ahh, what the hell.....may as well, there's probably going to be some nice old British iron there.
Yes, indeed. Plenty of great Brit bikes for sure.
The Brittiralli is an all British motorcycle event, held in a different location in Finland each year. The first Britti Ralli was held in 1974 in Somero, Finland, with an attendance of around 50 bikes.
This year it was in Himanka, a small little town on the west coast of Finland just south of Oulu, right on the Gulf of Bothnia, the stretch of water that separates Finland from Sweden.
In the early 1960's in Finland, British motorcycles were the bike that was ridden by the true motorcyclist. Triumphs, BSA's, Nortons, Ariels, Vincents. The Czech CZ's, Jawa's and eastern European bikes were common in Finland, but not considered a real motorcyclists bike like a Triumph or a Norton was.
In the '50s, motorcycles were Britain's third export, right behind cars and spirits or booze. By the end of the 70's, Britain's motorcycling industry was all but gone. How did this happen?. Well, that depends on who you ask.
Back in the early 60's the British motorcycle industry started to get into trouble. They didn't realize just how much trouble until they were in until the 1965 Honda CB 450, The Black Bomber, came along and blew the doors right off the British motorcycling industry. And not so much for what it did do, but more for what it didn't do, which was it didn't leak oil and it didn't fail. Which meant more time riding, less time wrenching.
However, it wasn't a great seller, and was far from perfect, but it was the DOHC engine and bike that was the game changer when it hit the market and subsequently, the roads.
This year it was in Himanka, a small little town on the west coast of Finland just south of Oulu, right on the Gulf of Bothnia, the stretch of water that separates Finland from Sweden.
In the early 1960's in Finland, British motorcycles were the bike that was ridden by the true motorcyclist. Triumphs, BSA's, Nortons, Ariels, Vincents. The Czech CZ's, Jawa's and eastern European bikes were common in Finland, but not considered a real motorcyclists bike like a Triumph or a Norton was.
In the '50s, motorcycles were Britain's third export, right behind cars and spirits or booze. By the end of the 70's, Britain's motorcycling industry was all but gone. How did this happen?. Well, that depends on who you ask.
Back in the early 60's the British motorcycle industry started to get into trouble. They didn't realize just how much trouble until they were in until the 1965 Honda CB 450, The Black Bomber, came along and blew the doors right off the British motorcycling industry. And not so much for what it did do, but more for what it didn't do, which was it didn't leak oil and it didn't fail. Which meant more time riding, less time wrenching.
However, it wasn't a great seller, and was far from perfect, but it was the DOHC engine and bike that was the game changer when it hit the market and subsequently, the roads.
The Black Bomber, so named because you could get in any color you wanted, so long as it was black.
In 1960, Edward Turner, the greatest motorcycle designer that Great Britain has ever seen, made a trip to Japan, and was shocked at what he saw. The Japanese were gearing up for an assault, a full scale assault on the west, and Triumph, along with all the other British motorcycle manufactures, were completely ill prepared and were about to be caught with their pants down around their ankles....
Had they been paying attention all along and made sure they had all their bearings greased and their pistons and cylinders lubed up real good, they probably would of been fine and may have even survived.
But unfortunately for the British motorcycle manufacturing industry, in reality it was more like this....
A lot of the reasons for this was because of their complacency, their typical British "nose in the air" arrogance and just sheer ignorance of the outside world of motorcycling, and all of that can really be summed up in this mind-boggling quote by Donald Heather of BSA fame when he was informed by Bert Hopwood, a famous British motorcycle designer, of the reliability crisis affecting the British outdated engine design:
"Most motorcycle owners love to spend their Sunday mornings taking off the cylinder head and re-seating the valves" said Mr. Heather, who simply could not conceive of the fact that most motorcycle owners would rather be riding than wrenching. "No wonder that they decided to go Japanese" commented Hopwood.
This complete and utter ignorance reached a breaking point, when, in 1968, during a BSA-Triumph board meeting, one of the marketing directors dropped the bombshell that "Honda is going to introduce a four cylinder 750cc machine next year".
Well !!. It was like a fart in church on Sunday morning!!, "Kuin äänekäs pieru jumalanpalveluksen aikaan" !!.
The Boards stunned silence was deafening...
"Most motorcycle owners love to spend their Sunday mornings taking off the cylinder head and re-seating the valves" said Mr. Heather, who simply could not conceive of the fact that most motorcycle owners would rather be riding than wrenching. "No wonder that they decided to go Japanese" commented Hopwood.
This complete and utter ignorance reached a breaking point, when, in 1968, during a BSA-Triumph board meeting, one of the marketing directors dropped the bombshell that "Honda is going to introduce a four cylinder 750cc machine next year".
Well !!. It was like a fart in church on Sunday morning!!, "Kuin äänekäs pieru jumalanpalveluksen aikaan" !!.
The Boards stunned silence was deafening...
Another 50+ images and the rest of the story on the demise of the British bike industry can be read Right hereon the blog.
Murph.
Hey Murph-
I'm new to ExPo and just catching up on this thread. Incredible. What a journey. You have some very captivating images and tell a true traveler's tale. Congratulations on your sobriety. There is something about addicts who get clean. They are really some of the most interesting people I've met. Best of luck in your journeys.
I'm new to ExPo and just catching up on this thread. Incredible. What a journey. You have some very captivating images and tell a true traveler's tale. Congratulations on your sobriety. There is something about addicts who get clean. They are really some of the most interesting people I've met. Best of luck in your journeys.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
Ghostdog,
Many thanks for taking the time to write, and the compliments on my photos. I put a lot into them, glad to see that it shows.
Some addicts who get clean are, in all honesty, a PITA, they want to convert the whole damn world, they have a hard time living and letting live. To each their own I believe. I just know me, and I know I have an extreme and addictive personality, hence the type of trip I'm on I guess. But I know that I have no business indulging in social or un-social mind altering compounds, otherwise, as they said to me the day I walked out the door of the rehab clinic: "if you're not sure that you're an alcoholic, go to a bar and have some drinks to see, we'll be glad to refund your misery".
Regards from Finland,
Murph.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
BRITTIRALLI 40, HIMANKA, FINLAND.
PART II of the 40th Annual BRITTIRALLI from
HIMANKA, FINLAND.
PART I can be read HERE.
In 1863 in the Birmingham area, Small Heath to be exact, some 14 gun makers , members of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade, got together and merged themselves into Birmingham Small Arms and what came to be known as BSA.
From 1881, BSA started to produce bicycles since gun demand had declined, and naturally this evolved into producing a motorized bicycle, an experimental one, in 1903. For that model, they used a Belgian 233cc Minerva engine, but before the end of the decade BSA were producing their own machines.
Originally sold as reliable alternatives to cars, BSA was popular among fleet buyers with the company claiming "one in four was a BSA".
In 1921 BSA pulled it's motorcycles off the race track after a couple of seasons of embarrassing failures, the circuit being used by manufactures of the day as proof of concept.
Then, in 1937, BSA created an experimental one-off prototype, and legendary racer Wal Handly was coaxed out of retirement to ride the bike at the infamous and difficult Brooklands track.
Handly won the race with his fastest time of 107.57 mph and was presented with the traditional gold star pin given to the elite few who managed to lap the Brooklands circut in excess of 100 mph, the inspiration for the production of the BSA Gold Star.
After the race, designer Val Page went to work designing what would become the M24 Gold Star, a 500cc single cylinder capable of 90 mph and one of the first true super bikes of it's era.
There were loads of BSA's at the 40th Brittiralli, but none more interesting than Jussi and his 1956 BSA Gold Star. Jussi bought his Gold Star new in '56 to race motorcross with it. He's been riding it ever since and coming to the Brittiralli on it regularly. It's an ornery bike, constantly breaks down, but he loves it.
It's just as well I don't drink anymore too. There was some really interesting booze at this event. It's what you could call a "Wet Rally".
This G50 was supposedly a rare and expensive piece.
The rest of the post, all 70 photos, can be seen HERE on the blog.
Murph.
HIMANKA, FINLAND.
PART I can be read HERE.
In 1863 in the Birmingham area, Small Heath to be exact, some 14 gun makers , members of the Birmingham Small Arms Trade, got together and merged themselves into Birmingham Small Arms and what came to be known as BSA.
From 1881, BSA started to produce bicycles since gun demand had declined, and naturally this evolved into producing a motorized bicycle, an experimental one, in 1903. For that model, they used a Belgian 233cc Minerva engine, but before the end of the decade BSA were producing their own machines.
Originally sold as reliable alternatives to cars, BSA was popular among fleet buyers with the company claiming "one in four was a BSA".
In 1921 BSA pulled it's motorcycles off the race track after a couple of seasons of embarrassing failures, the circuit being used by manufactures of the day as proof of concept.
Then, in 1937, BSA created an experimental one-off prototype, and legendary racer Wal Handly was coaxed out of retirement to ride the bike at the infamous and difficult Brooklands track.
Handly won the race with his fastest time of 107.57 mph and was presented with the traditional gold star pin given to the elite few who managed to lap the Brooklands circut in excess of 100 mph, the inspiration for the production of the BSA Gold Star.
After the race, designer Val Page went to work designing what would become the M24 Gold Star, a 500cc single cylinder capable of 90 mph and one of the first true super bikes of it's era.
There were loads of BSA's at the 40th Brittiralli, but none more interesting than Jussi and his 1956 BSA Gold Star. Jussi bought his Gold Star new in '56 to race motorcross with it. He's been riding it ever since and coming to the Brittiralli on it regularly. It's an ornery bike, constantly breaks down, but he loves it.
This G50 was supposedly a rare and expensive piece.
The rest of the post, all 70 photos, can be seen HERE on the blog.
Murph.
WheresMurph
Adventurer
.
.
It was August and I was riding down from British Columbia in Canada...eh?, down to the Bonneville International Speedway in Utah.
I spent 6 or 7 weeks up in BC. I had a great time up at a lovely picturesque little campsite on Box Lake just outside of Nakusp. A small campsite, about 9 or 10 spots, and of those spots 2 or 3 are camping trailer friendly. The winding dirt road that leads downhill to it through the forest from the main Hwy 6 is very twisty and full of potholes, just like a forestry dirt road should be.
Box Lake campground is a government run site. A two week stay is the maximum you can drop your anchor for. Most of the campsites views of the lake are hidden by trees, a few have an uninterrupted view of it. These three or four lakefront sites are gorgeous. Late in the evening as the sun starts to set and the snap, crackle and pop of your fire has settled down to give off a picture perfect red orange glow, the lake, the silence, the smell of the forest. Priceless.
For everything else, there's Mastercard.
Even though the lake is stocked with trout, eating them is not recommended.
Likewise for swimming. Not recommended due to leeches. But if it's early spring before the leeches start, you should be fine. Writing about Box Lake BC makes me yearn to go back now. It's one of my top 5 spots on my trip so far.
It's primitive camping, no showers or running water and 2 pit toilets. There's a campsite in the town of Nakusp right down by the harbor that I used to go to, and for $5 got a hot shower every few days. Unfortunately, I lost most of my photos from that trip. I had them on Picassa, and they got deleted when I switched from a PC over to Mac.
I broke camp and left Nakusp somewhere about the third week of August and headed south, down toward the Canada/US border, fully intending to make the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials that were taking place at the Bonneville International Speedway or "The Bonneville Salt Flats" as most everyone calls them, down in Utah. I'm kicking my self right at this moment because I'm looking back through my files and have absolutely no, NONE, Zero, Zip, Nada, даже не один, photos of the trip from New Denver BC down to Bonneville in Utah.
700 miles of that 1200 mile ride were spectacular, especially the stretch coming south from Bonners Ferry to Missoula in Montana. If you have a motorcycle, just go. Do it. Ride north from Missoula, then ride back south again. Stop. Repeat. Trust me, you'll want to.
If you have a car?. Well, ditch the car and get a motorcycle, or a sidecar.
You cannot truly experience a spectacular stretch of road like that in a car, you just can't. The continuous flow of air all around you, natures natural air conditioning. The connection to your journey on a motorcycle is something car people lose out on and never get to feel. Unless they're weekend motorcyclists, then they get to experience for a few days what it's like.
And I don't have any photos.
What can I say?. A little upset I am the more I think about it, but at that time in my trip, the blog, the documenting, none of that seemed to have the importance to me that it has now. Had I the foresight then to photograph and file away my shots for use at a later date, well, that would have been the right way to do it, wouldn't it?.
Ahh, I remember what happened now. I had an external hard drive that just stopped working on me. It died after I arrived in Wendover. With all of my photos on it.
Modern technology, dumbing down the human race in earnest since 1977.
Amazing, isn't it?. We have all of these electronic "gadgets" that supposedly make our life easier, and instead they're turning people into frustrated, robotic idiots and morons who, for the most part, can't find their way anywhere without the aid of an iPhone or a GPS. No more "turn left at the red building with the broken window and go down until you see the....".
Nobody even needs to ask for directions anymore. Less and less social interaction. More and more social isolation.
Since then, I've had another hard drive die on me. With pictures on it too.
If this were the days of film, I would still have all the negatives. Maybe.
The rest of this post and all the details on the new patches can be read here on the blog.
.
It was August and I was riding down from British Columbia in Canada...eh?, down to the Bonneville International Speedway in Utah.
I spent 6 or 7 weeks up in BC. I had a great time up at a lovely picturesque little campsite on Box Lake just outside of Nakusp. A small campsite, about 9 or 10 spots, and of those spots 2 or 3 are camping trailer friendly. The winding dirt road that leads downhill to it through the forest from the main Hwy 6 is very twisty and full of potholes, just like a forestry dirt road should be.
Box Lake campground is a government run site. A two week stay is the maximum you can drop your anchor for. Most of the campsites views of the lake are hidden by trees, a few have an uninterrupted view of it. These three or four lakefront sites are gorgeous. Late in the evening as the sun starts to set and the snap, crackle and pop of your fire has settled down to give off a picture perfect red orange glow, the lake, the silence, the smell of the forest. Priceless.
For everything else, there's Mastercard.
Even though the lake is stocked with trout, eating them is not recommended.
Likewise for swimming. Not recommended due to leeches. But if it's early spring before the leeches start, you should be fine. Writing about Box Lake BC makes me yearn to go back now. It's one of my top 5 spots on my trip so far.
It's primitive camping, no showers or running water and 2 pit toilets. There's a campsite in the town of Nakusp right down by the harbor that I used to go to, and for $5 got a hot shower every few days. Unfortunately, I lost most of my photos from that trip. I had them on Picassa, and they got deleted when I switched from a PC over to Mac.
I broke camp and left Nakusp somewhere about the third week of August and headed south, down toward the Canada/US border, fully intending to make the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials that were taking place at the Bonneville International Speedway or "The Bonneville Salt Flats" as most everyone calls them, down in Utah. I'm kicking my self right at this moment because I'm looking back through my files and have absolutely no, NONE, Zero, Zip, Nada, даже не один, photos of the trip from New Denver BC down to Bonneville in Utah.
700 miles of that 1200 mile ride were spectacular, especially the stretch coming south from Bonners Ferry to Missoula in Montana. If you have a motorcycle, just go. Do it. Ride north from Missoula, then ride back south again. Stop. Repeat. Trust me, you'll want to.
If you have a car?. Well, ditch the car and get a motorcycle, or a sidecar.
You cannot truly experience a spectacular stretch of road like that in a car, you just can't. The continuous flow of air all around you, natures natural air conditioning. The connection to your journey on a motorcycle is something car people lose out on and never get to feel. Unless they're weekend motorcyclists, then they get to experience for a few days what it's like.
And I don't have any photos.
What can I say?. A little upset I am the more I think about it, but at that time in my trip, the blog, the documenting, none of that seemed to have the importance to me that it has now. Had I the foresight then to photograph and file away my shots for use at a later date, well, that would have been the right way to do it, wouldn't it?.
Ahh, I remember what happened now. I had an external hard drive that just stopped working on me. It died after I arrived in Wendover. With all of my photos on it.
Modern technology, dumbing down the human race in earnest since 1977.
Amazing, isn't it?. We have all of these electronic "gadgets" that supposedly make our life easier, and instead they're turning people into frustrated, robotic idiots and morons who, for the most part, can't find their way anywhere without the aid of an iPhone or a GPS. No more "turn left at the red building with the broken window and go down until you see the....".
Nobody even needs to ask for directions anymore. Less and less social interaction. More and more social isolation.
Since then, I've had another hard drive die on me. With pictures on it too.
If this were the days of film, I would still have all the negatives. Maybe.
The rest of this post and all the details on the new patches can be read here on the blog.
Murph.