Old Guys Simplex moto-peddle bike

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fasteddy

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Feb 13, 2009
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Crossed posts. That answers the question then.

I loved cooking and still do. My sister in law refers to me as the official chopper. I live with my brother and sister in law so I'm readily available. I lived with a young lady in the 70's who was divorced and her former husband was a middle school principal. They had a dinner club going with a bunch of fellow teachers where they got together each month after picking a country that the food and wine would come from for the next gathering. I blunder into this in the middle of the month so the scramble is on.

I've forgotten the country but I went for the gold. Meet the new guy and see what happens to the dinner club. They don't know I am a cook. New guy turned out to be OK and the food it seem surprised them until they discovered the chef thing. The dinner club staggered along for about a year and they decided they couldn't "compete" with me. I didn't teach school either but it bothered them enough to call it off.

I ended up building a table 12' long and 3' wide to seat everyone for Sunday dinners. We were out in the country and friends would stop in on Sunday to spend the day. Grew our own food so it was easy and I enjoyed it.

Her last words to me as I was going out the door for the last time were "The only thing I'll miss about you is your cooking." High praise indeed.

Good for your friend. Respect of the people under you is hard to earn and a rank that high is harder to earn. To have your friends hold you in high esteem is is priceless. To hold your friends in that high esteem that you would retire and go to school so that you can entertain them as you would like to has no words in my mind. From what I heard that school is not an easy place to graduate from. They prepare you for the rigors of the kitchen and there are many.

Steve.
 
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fasteddy

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Feb 13, 2009
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I'll have my brother get it out tomorrow and I'll get some photos of it. I haven't yet figured out how to post photos on the forum so I will put it on Face book and provide a link to it. I pretty sure it was made in Edinburgh.

I believe it was Damascus steel. Dad always said it was only good for black powder and mentioned often that you had to run ahead 20 feet to get out of the smoke to see if you had hit what you were shooting at.

I've told this story before but my Grandfather was a drunk. Brilliant businessman but a poor piece of humanity. They lived in a small city in North Western Ontario on the Northern Minnesota that was closed of from the rest of the world at the time except for boats and a wagon track in the summer and rail year around. Logging was the industry.

Granddad went out to get some fire wood early in the morning and didn't come back. Grandma sent Dad to go and see where he was since he probably was in the ice house drinking. Dad said he opened the back door and there was Granddad up in a huge pine tree with an arm load of firewood which he was throwing at a rather large and belligerent bull moose who had been in the back yard and since it was rutting season took great exception to Grandad being there.

Dad backed into the house and loaded his brand new to him shotgun with slugs and opened up the back door again and pulled both triggers. Dad and his two brothers didn't go to school that day and Grandad didn't go to work since they had a large moose to clean and skin. It was fall time so the meat cooled quickly but they had to quarter the moose and get it into the ice house before dark to keep it safe from any bears that weren't hibernating yet and the wolves.

A time long past and the little city is now a major tourist and retirement area.

Steve.
 
indian22

indian22

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Dec 31, 2014
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As a life long woodsman the Moose story rings true. Never shot one or tasted moose but I understand it's as good as or better than Elk & that's the ultimate in my experience...better than Kobe beef!

Road Peashooters & factory race team Peashooters shared the same single cylinder OHV Vertical purpose built motors and raced many years along side the converted singles created by blocking off one or the other jug, creating a "leaning cylinder look" I've not seen one of these conversions mounted with the jug vertical, although I believe that it would be possible to do so. My conjecture being based on the fact that during the era of these flat track racers all the engines were still total loss oil designs with oil tanks used as reservoirs. The OHV V-twin single conversions (such as the knuclehead) or a flat head engine wouldn't be oil starved in the vertical position, but motor mount position wouldn't have lined up & obviously the frames had room to spare for the jug orientation leaning to front or rear. Remember some of those race bikes built without Keystone cradles used road frames that had room enough for a three speed tranny behind the motor. So I see no reason for HD to have ever mounted the single cylinder V-twin conversion (half a Harley) vertically.

Pro racers A class & amateur C class racers used both flat head and OHV engines for decades in flat track and hill climb. In European competition the Harley singles struggled especially against the British *** singles which were not only dependable but vastly more powerful, though the American pros made good rides the bikes fielded by the British & ridden by experts as well were just too much to overcome by the Indians and Harley's.

By the time of the mid twenties the Harley's pretty much owned the Indians in any racing venue & I'm very much a great fan of the Indian marque, just a historical fact.

I love this stuff and it's why I'm building a HD flat track tribute bike. It won't be a replica for sure but will I hope display a collection of Harley attributes. Though I'm determined to refer to my build as a Harley peashooter it does have elements of the leaning cylinder single cylinder Half a Harleys with a "chuckle head" style genuine faux rocker cover & magneto equipped 5 speed Japanese designed engine. I guess the made in America proud Harley crowd just 'gonna have to deal with it bro. lol Just trying to keep it half real & not build it half 'ast. Rick C.
 
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fasteddy

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The more I see these bikes the more I'd like one. I thought I'd book marked a link I found from an Australian vintage bike site where a chap talked about how a friend had found a peashooter frame in the early 1970's and built most of a bike out of it and how he'd bought it and completed the bike using parts he'd purchased from the estate auction. He kept what he wanted and sold of the rest only to find that when he put the head on the engine the piston pushed it off the cylinder a 1/4". After investigating what happened he was told that there were at least 6 different heads offered by H.D. for the motor.

Here is a link to some information about the peashooters start.

Steve.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=...UJToF-eHgWoLHeJw&ust=1472406421511470&cad=rjt
 
indian22

indian22

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Ludwig II said:
John Alfred Prestwich, indeed.

And what about HD's CAC short track engines?

Click to expand...
What a beauty! Looks to be from early thirties, I love the tiny fuel tanks on the short track bikes. Harley sent about half their 1925/1926 race ready Peashooters to Australia I've been told Harley's total initial production was about 25 bikes (12 to down under) for cinder track racing. It seems they fared pretty well on the short tracks but the J.A.P. engine was a beast & thanks Ludwig for backing me up with the full name so I don't appear the red neck I am to those whose feelings might be hurt. Not my intention.

That is one great looking bike!! Rick C.
 
indian22

indian22

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fasteddy said:
And after looking on the net last night for over two hours trying to find it what shows up first thing? The site from Australia.

Steve.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=...lp-req&usg=AFQjCNH6YYpsGynVFXET15Z9CsvdlOy3nw
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A wealth of info on those two links Steve. Of course the Australians have a long history with Harley's and they love their short tracks & bikes.

Six twin port racing head variations and two carb vendors. I'd noticed 3 different twin port head from photos...I'll have to watch for the other three. The racer Ludwig posted is a great example of the continuing refinement HD put into their racing programs.

I've been busy today refining my own Peashooter. Rick C.
 

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fasteddy

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Rick the more I see of the Peashooters the more I understand the direction your bike is going. It is going to be a great bike and as you said it will be fun watching the Harley guys try and figure out just what you did to it.

Steve.
 
MEASURE TWICE

MEASURE TWICE

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indian22 said:
A wealth of info on those two links Steve. Of course the Australians have a long history with Harley's and they love their short tracks & bikes.

Six twin port racing head variations and two carb vendors. I'd noticed 3 different twin port head from photos...I'll have to watch for the other three. The racer Ludwig posted is a great example of the continuing refinement HD put into their racing programs.

I've been busy today refining my own Peashooter. Rick C.
Click to expand...
I thought the cylinder was recently painted black. Is this the same engine? Earlier pictures maybe?
 
Ludwig II

Ludwig II

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Jul 17, 2012
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The way around the oversensitive filter on this page is to use the punctuated name, J.A.P. In Britain, lacking your sad 1940s history, we don't have the same thin skin.
 
Ludwig II

Ludwig II

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While I think, there are twin port head versions of the CG available, and also the twin port head as a separate part.
 
indian22

indian22

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This is a new engine that has yet to be "aged" same specs 125CC 5 speed. The jug will receive a black jug along the way with "chuckle head" faux rocker covers and brass rocker rod tubes and genuine fake Magneto box, and a very real air cleaner "box"...the photo of the engine recently shown is mounted in my Simplex pedal bike and was for comparison with the bright silver finish on the new engine....all that silver paint will be removed before the bike is completed and the motor case covers will also receive major alterations. Not going for a replica look but a type of period vintage appearance. Rick C.
 
indian22

indian22

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Ludwig II said:
While I think, there are twin port head versions of the CG available, and also the twin port head as a separate part.
Click to expand...
Thanks Ludwig for the CG twin port head info. I will look into it. I've seen Honda Singles with twin port heads but didn't know it was on the CG? Good input for sure.

Did you read the Billy Bragg/ J.A.P story just posted by Fast Eddy? Interesting stuff dealing with speedway racing & engine development history.

Yes sadly we're all about touchy /feely topics at the moment over here & majoring in minors while our politicians grow rich & we watch the "reality" telly & forgetting the lessons of history...

Building & creating things has become my therapy couch. I don't however nap on it. Rick C.
 
Ludwig II

Ludwig II

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On the Billy Bragg story, some of you will know that in the 1950s Norton had a swing arm frame that wasn't the Featherbed. The genesis of the lesser known frame is rooted in unpopular frames that would need to be scrapped if something wasn't done to make use of them; this when the public wanted swing arm or nothing.

The management spoke to the factory manager, he spoke to Bob Collier, and Collier came up with a cheaply made conversion, so saving or even making the company some money.

The director who spoke to the manager congratulated him, the manager didn't even speak to Collier. This was a sore point with him for some time afterwards.

[[The first Featherbed twins, briefly known as `De Luxe’, were export-only, and the 88 would only come for the UK in any volume from mid-1953.
Overall numbers were in fact restricted because the all-welded frames were produce for Norton by Reynolds Tube, which at the time was only making 70 a week – Norton needed to shift 110 machine a week to break even. Reynolds production figures would rise over the decade, but not spectacularly. You couldn`t give away the plunger-framed twins after the 88 appeared, so the solution, engineered by Bob Collier over weekend, was a swinging-arm version of the Model 7.]]

Full text here - http://makingmotorcyclehistory.tumb...1/1956-norton-dominator-88-wideline-motorcyle
 
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indian22

indian22

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Dec 31, 2014
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Oklahoma
Ludwig II said:
While I think, there are twin port head versions of the CG available, and also the twin port head as a separate part.
Click to expand...
Ludwig I found the a 125 dual port head in Ireland and ordered one. My engine guru that is all about power performance talked me into a lumpy cam and springs to match, with performance CDI & MIkuni to finish up. I didn't think to ask how much or where he was acquiring the parts. I'm too easy! I guess the dual stubby track exhausts are now a must for parades and shows as well. He's thinking 20 plus hp. Has he been drinking too much fuel alcohol? If so it won't be a daily driver at least in that stage of tune. I asked him about the power band & he replied he thought he'd heard them play a warmup for ZZ Top......Rick C.
 
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