Harley Model J in Papua New Guinea

 

Bit beaten around this photo but it's a cracker. The bike is a Harley Model J which looks to have had every bit as hard a life as the photo itself. I genuinely would be at a total loss as for the location but for the fact that someone has written Kokopo, New Guinea April 1919 on the reverse.

Kokopo was part of 'German New Guinea' until the start of the First World War when in 1914 it quickly fell to Australian forces. Presumably these chaps in the photo are Aussie military.

Meguro J Junior model 1951

Some decent pics here of a very rare motorcycle. The Meguro Model J Junior was apparently Japan's first 250cc motorcycle and only 800 examples were produced between December 1950 and December 1951. At the bottom of the page are a few links to a nice Japanese enthusiast website for Meguro motorcycles.

https://meguroworks.konjiki.jp/mini-e.files/j-e.txt

https://meguroworks.konjiki.jp/meguro_photo/j.htm

https://meguroworks.konjiki.jp/english.htm

Twenties group

So much going on in this photo. First bike on left is an AJS, next up a Triumph H (note the leather strap around the forks to mitigate against spring failure and the soft toy mole on the sidecar is cute!). I wish I could identify the next bike, it looks sporting, Druid forks and a very distinctive wide flat petrol tank shape. Final bike on the right side is another Triumph H.

Moto escape France

Seems like a distant memory now, this was back in late September. I had a free week and the weather was good so I jumped on the opportunity to get some riding in.

The original plan was to make it to the Pyrenees and to hit some trails but apropos this I found myself trapped in a bit of a catch 22. I had off road capable tyres fitted for the mountain trails but then I found myself unable to reach those trails because the tyres made covering distance on motorways intolerable. When you're only nudging 30bhp it's quite amazing how sapping some knobblies can be when trying to cruise near your limit. And the noise, that noise! Even ear plugs couldn't drown it out.

No choice then but to go for back road cruising and lessen the ambition regarding distance covered. In the end a good decision as there's not a lot of joy in riding a Himalayan on a motorway. The Dordogne was decided upon as a suitable new target destination.

The first couple of nights I was the sole
occupant of each campsite I stayed in.
This is the municipal camping at St
Fraimbault in Normandy. Both a peach of
a campsite and village.

 

Following the motorway debacle I tracked my way down using secondary roads and trying to zig zag as many national parks as possible. Second night was at another municipal at Mezieres-en-Brenne. The Parc naturel regional de Brenne is a bit different as it is a wetland comprising of hundreds of small lakes and ponds. From Brenne I went through the Parc naturel regional Perigord-Limousin, stopped for lunch in Chalus at a traditional fixed menu place and was surprised to find it run by Brits after rocking up with a bonjour in my best French.

Despite the campsite in Domme being fairly busy I
was able to pitch up right by the river.

On to the Dordogne. A quick google for the most picturesque villages and I settled on Domme. Indeed it is quite stunningly picturesque. The temperature rose to above thirty degrees and suddenly I was in an area popular with 'snow bird' camper vanners from slightly more northerly climes. Totally undestandable given the balmy temperatures, beautiful scenery and high quality camping with pool.

Domme in the Dordogne. Stunning.

Sunrise view from my tent in Domme.

Leaving Domme I decided to follow the Dordogne to the sea as much as possible. It started a good idea with sweet roads and great scenery but I should have probably packed it in a good way before Bordeaux which was traffic hell. I'm sure a beautiful city centre but the ring road was purgatory.

It wasn't great scenery all the way.

It can't be great scenery all the way every day and the ride up to the municipal camping at Pons from Bordeaux proved that point. A functional stop over and everything got better the next day with a shorter ride to Angers on the Loire. The Indian summer was coming to an end and temperatures plummeted somewhat. I still opted for camping and the site at Angers was a lovely walk along the river to the city centre.

Angers.

Next stop was Falaises back in Normandy. I was determined to camp for the last night despite the very strong chill in the air. I rocked up to the municipal camping mid afternoon and was pretty much told to go away by a surly caretaker as the reception was not open for another twenty minutes and no, I could not hang around and wait. To a certain extent a relief as I had a good excuse to book into a cozy hotel, have a hot bath and dry off my dew soaked tent.

A short hop back up to Cherbourg taking in as many coastal roads as possible along the East coast of the peninsula and back to home and reality that same evening. All in the Himalayan was a joy as soon as I made the decision to ditch the motorway route. Never again on off road tyres though!

London floods of 1964

My father passed away recently and in going through his effects I came across this image of a BSA Bantam. It looks like the bike is a Post Office BSA Bantam, at best guess the year is 1964 as this roughly corresponds to when he was living in London and there was flooding in South East London nearby where he was living.

Post Office Bantam negotiated floodwater.

Merry Christmas 2023

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

 

Seoul biking

I was recently lucky enough to be able to wrangle a stop over in Seoul on the way to join my ship in Japan. Lots of motorcycles and scooters but nothing much old. Royal Enfields are surprisingly popular, I saw quite a few around. A significant amount of two wheeled traffic is from delivery bikes which are generally chinese machines locally modified with extended swinging arms, extra shockers and a large subframe for extra carrying capacity. There's also a significant number of motor tricycles, these again seem locally modified, though some may perhaps come from China as are. These delivery bikes seemed quite at odds with the otherwise ultra modernity of Seoul where a significant percentage of cars are electric.

This was the oldest bike I saw. A Yamaha DT175
fitted with a chinese Zhongshen motor.

One particular cafe near where I was staying
always had a selection of Harleys outside.
Regular Sportsters but well used and lightly
modded. No front mudguards and in one case
no front brake..

Delivery bike transporting a garland.

Trikes awaiting a job.

And another trike. They are all quite agricultural
in construction.