Buco Jackets

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Via Come Chantrel





Buco brand designs of the defunct Joseph Buegeleisen Company of Detroit.
The Joseph Buegeleisen Co. started business in 1933 providing motorcycle accessories & saddlebags, and began producing motorcycle jackets in the 1940’s.



the Joseph Buegeleisen Company, commonly known as "Buco." The Buco J24 design was referred to by Rin Tanaka, author of Motorcycle Jackets: A Century of Leather Design, as "the coolest motorcycle jacket ever."




Take time to visit those cool website : http://www.lostworldsinc.com/ and http://www.vintagemotorcyclejackets.com/

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One picture One bike : SWM

SWM was founded in 1971 by Piero Sironi and Fausto Vergani and was based in Milan, Italy. SWM manufactured Observed Trials, Enduro, Motorcross and off-road motorcycles in the 1970s and 1980s. They started with small capacity Sachs engined enduro bikes and began making Rotax engined trials bikes in 1977.

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Spitfire & Norton : 2 British legends

By Come Chantrel


Copyright by : clavework graphycs

My father went through flight training in the RAF during the late 1940s and ended up in the cockpit of the Spitfire MK XIV. Back in those days, fighter aircrafts really meant something. A few years before the same airplane had defeated Hitler in the skies of England. The Spit was a legend and the MK XIV was its sharpest version.

Meanwhile all my dad kept talking about was not the fun he had flying the Spitfire but the fun he had riding his Triumph and Norton motorcycles on the British Roads. As an aviation buff who’s never owned a bike, that makes little sense to me although I understand the comparison.





By the time I was born, the only thing that was left from his time in the RAF, was one of his log book. The picture is not him but it could have been as he flew the same airplane and wore the same outfit. I dreamed of wearing his long lost Irving jacket and his flight boots when I was a kid. I remember that he used to call his flight uniform, a "battle dress" in typical British pilot form and that his description of flying the "Spit" included variable pitch propeller, stick and rudder synchronization and trimming the controls, all concepts that I had a lot of troubles both to understand and to include when I played with my model airplanes...




The Rolls Royce Merlin engine of the previous version was replaced by a Griffon engine. Although the Griffon engined Spitfires were never produced in the large numbers of the Merlin engined variants they were an important part of the Spitfire family and, in their later versions, kept the Spifire at the forefront of piston-engined fighter development.



The first one of these was flown by Jeffrey Quill on 20 January 1943: Changes to the aircraft were restricted to those essential to enable it to accept the new engine...I found that it had a spectacular performance doing 445 mph at 25,000 ft, with a sea-level rate of climb of over 5,000 ft per minute. I remember being greatly delighted with it; it seemed to me that from this relatively simple conversion, carried out with a minimum of fuss and bother, had come up with something quite outstanding...
It was truly an impressive machine, being able to climb almost vertically - it gave many Luftwaffe pilots the shock of their lives when, having thought they had bounced you from a superior height, they were astonished to find the Mk XIV climbing up to tackle them head-on, throttle wide open!

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Walt Axthelm an Off-road Rider

. Via the AMA Motorcycle hall of fame museum


Walt Axthelm was an influential off-road rider of the 1950s and ‘60s. He was one of the first Americans to compete in the prestigious International Six Day Trials (now called the International Six Day Enduro). Axthelm won numerous off-road events in Southern California during his racing career, including a class in the popular Catalina Grand Prix. He rode with backing from several factories during his career and was one of the first riders in the America to race factory-backed Suzukis in off-road races.



Axthelm was born in Upland, Pennsylvania, in 1933. His family moved to Southern California when he was 14 years old and shortly afterwards Walt got a junior motor license and his first motorbike, a Schwinn-bicycle-framed Whizzer. He later got a more advanced Whizzer with springer suspension, a two-speed gearbox with chain drive. He raced against his buddies who had Cushman, Powell and other brands of scooters. He lived in Compton and in the afternoons he would go down to the Los Angeles riverbed and practice riding until dark. By the time Walt was 17 he began racing his first true motorcycle, a rigid-framed Royal Enfield, which had no rear suspension and all of two inches of front fork travel.



He began racing in Scrambles events on an AJS in Palos Verdes. Gradually, he worked his way up to become one of the leading off-road racers in Southern California. His first sponsored ride came in 1954 when he was backed by Louie Thomas’ BSA shop in East Los Angeles.



Axthelm was sponsored indirectly by BSA, through Thomas’ shop. "Hap Alzina (BSA’s western states distributor) was supplying the bikes to Louie and they built them there," Walt explained. "Off-road riding didn’t pay anything back then so I never got any money from BSA. No one was making money from that type of racing back then."



By 1980, Axthelm was in his late 40s and he decided to retire after getting hit by a big rock thrown up by a racing pick-up truck in one of the long-distance desert races.

"I decided that it wasn’t fun anymore," he said. "I had a small sailboat at Dana Point and just packed it up and went sailing and that was it."

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Ace Jacket : The G-1

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The G-1 Flight Jacket was issued to the US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, and has been in service since the late 1930's. The original G-1 design features bi-swing back and underarm gussets for greater mobility, and single entry button down flap pockets.



Made famous by the AVG in China and Hellcat pilots over the Pacific during WWII! The G-1 is the USN and USMC leather flight jacket, worn with pride by the Phantom crews during Vietnam and the current Tomcat and Hornet pilots. The G-1 is also worn by members of the US Coast Guard.



More technically, the jacket may be considered the U.S. Military flight jacket developed in 1947 and used in the Korean War since the term "G-1" was not used as a label for this fur-collared military-issued jacket until after World War II. However, the term "G-1" has come to be used for this style of naval leather flight jacket. Technically, prior to the end of World War II, and starting in 1940 when it was officially named by the Navy, the jacket had the military spec number of M-422.





This jacket was brought to use by the U.S. Navy in the 1930s, and standardized by the Navy in 1940 as the M-422A. In 1943 this jacket, also named by the Army Air Corps and Navy as the ANJ-3 (Army Navy Jacket 3) replaced the iconic A-2 jacket, the most famous of U.S. Military jackets, hence the name of ANJ-3 (vs. A-2). The M-422A replacement of the loved and famous A-2 was, however, in the form of a non-fur-collared version of the "G-1", currently referred to for obvious reasons as the G-2.

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The Sunday Movie : 24 heures du Mans 1964

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A Man and a Woman (French: Un homme et une femme) is a 1966 French film. The movie was written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven, and directed by Lelouch. It is notable for its lush photography (Lelouch had a background in advertising photography), which features frequent segues between full color, black-and-white, and sepia-toned shots, and for its memorable musical score by Francis Lai.

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Built for Speed

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By Eric Johnson



Last February, I alighted from a rental car in front of the massive grandstands that surround Daytona International Speedway. Affixed to these massive structures constructed of aluminum cross beams and steel girders were massive sepia-toned posters featuring great moments in NASCAR. One of them immediately caught my eye. The image was of the #40 Petty Enterprises Plymouth Superbird, driver Pete Hamilton behind the wheel, crossing the finish line in victory at Daytona in 1970.



While Daytona is now known as the stomping grounds of great drivers like Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and others, in 1970, the Superbird was the star attraction at the speedway. Reason being? It was the most outlandish, futuristic and downright frighteningly fast stock car to ever leave streaks of rubber on superspeedways such as the 2.5-mile, 31-degree banked tri-oval of Daytona and the 2.66-mile, 33 degree high banks of Talladega Superspeedway. An exercise in the fantastic, the Plymouth Superbird was brought to life for one reason and one reason only: To beat the then omnipotent Ford Torino Talladega.



Throwing caution to the wind, Plymouth gathered around its finest engineers. Armed with T-squares and new technology. The engineers were told to ignore the accountants and immediately set about creating a stock car the likes Planet Earth had ever seen. Through their research and development efforts, the Superbird was designed aerodynamically by using a wind tunnel and computer analysis. Pure Detroit muscle, the Superbird’s body was silky smooth and seamless and graced with a shark-like front nose and a 23-inch high tail wing.



And with a 426-cubic inch big block dropped in the car, the Superbird cur through the air like an arrow, drivers like Richard Petty and Hamilton surpassing the 200 mile per hour mark like a NASA rocket. With Hamilton mashing the gas pedal into the floor, the Superbird won the first race it entered – the 1970 Daytona 500. So supernaturally fast was the Superbird that by 1971, NASCAR stepped in and restricted the car’s engine size, effectively clipping the Superbird’s wings. The car would effectively go the way of the dinosaur, but man alive, what a brilliant legacy it left behind.

Don’t believe the hype? Check out this YouTube segment.

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Mad men : What are you waiting for ?

Mad Men is an American television drama series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. It is produced by Lionsgate Television and is broadcast on the cable network AMC. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its second season on October 26, 2008. The third season is scheduled to begin August 2009.
Set in New York City, Mad Men begins in the early 1960s at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on New York City's Madison Avenue. The show centers on Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a high-level advertising creative director, and the people in his life in and out of the office. It also depicts the changing social mores of 1960s America.



Mad Men has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity and visual style, and has won numerous awards, including three Golden Globes, a BAFTA and six Emmys. It is the second cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and the first basic cable series to do so.

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HD Police Motors

In the last five years, Harley-Davidson police sales have more than doubled. Today, just as in the late 1920s, more than 3,400 police departments Harley-Davidson motorcycles in the U.S. alone. Harley-Davidson motorcycles are used in 45 countries.

Photo provided by Harley-Davidson Archvies

This dramatic increase from the Motor Company's 80th Anniversary twenty years ago, when just over 400 state, provincial, county and municipal police departments were equipped with Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Photo provided by Harley-Davidson Archvies

After the tragic events of September 11, 2001, Harley-Davidson donated 37 motorcycles to the New York Police Department, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York State Police.
Follow this link to this amazing website about Police H.D History :
http://www.policemotorunits.com/

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The Chase

.by Eric Johnson



I was only four years-old at the time, but somehow I remember parts of it all. So much so, that to this day, when I refer back to my memories, my dad knows I have it all right. In 1968, my dad went to go see a film called Bullitt. Directed by Peter Yates, the film was described as an action thriller. The premise of the film involved a California politician named Walter Chalmers who was trying to bring down the Mob. For protection before a heavy-duty court hearing, Chalmers hires a Lieutenant named Frank Bullitt. Bullitt is played by the great Steve McQueen. Okay, now that we have that all out of the way, here’s where my story begins.



Bullitt is best known for featuring the best car chase scene of all-time. In it, Bullitt, behind the wheel of a 1969 Ford Mustang 390 CID Fastback, is chased by two hit men in a Tuxedo Black Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum. The chase ate up exactly 9 minutes and 42 seconds of film, but for any man (or four-year old for that matter) in America at the time, the chase would, in their memory, last forever. It would also make more than a few men reach for the wallets. I know my old man did. According to my mom, my dad saw the film on a Friday night, and the next morning, went straight to a Cleveland area Dodge dealer to buy the same Charger that was driven by the actor Bill Hickman in the film.



I don’t remember how it exactly all went down, but I do remember waking up from a nap, being led outside and seeing a shiny black car my dad had just bought. It looked mean. It looked mad. It looked cool. Not long after, my dad took me to see the movie. At that age I didn’t remember much of it, but I remember one part very vividly. I remember the part when Hickman – sitting in the driver’s seat and dressed in a trench coat – pulls up behind McQueen, puts on his seat belt and looks over to his shotgun. Seeing him in his rearview mirror, McQueen mashes the Fastback’s gas pedal to the floor and boils the rear tires. Hickman does the same and the chase begins.

Oh yeah… My dad started racing that car a few months later. He won’t admit it, but my mom later told me he traded his younger brother his entire record collection he had amassed while in the Navy for a new crankshaft.

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Apollo 11 Moonwalk

Courtesy NASA Apollo 11 Moonwalk Montage This two-minute video montage shows highlights of the Apollo 11 moonwalk Apollo 11 Partial Restoration HD Videos

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B.S.A & Triumph Renewal

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Towards the end of the 60’s, the British motorcycle industry was in decline under the assault on the market of Japanese bikes in particular by the Honda 450cc DOHC. In an attempt to stem this tide BSA & Triumph management planned the development and sale of a motorcycle which could compete in the marketplace against the Japanese bikes. Thus the BSA Fury & Triumph Bandit were born. Essentially the same bike which were badged under their respective brands..





The Triumph TR6 Trophy was introduced in 1956 and lasted until 1973 when it was replaced by the 750cc TR7. During this time it was a successful model, particularly in the US. The competition variant, the TR6(S)C, popularly known as the "desert sled", won numerous competitions throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. The bike's appearance in The Great Escape and Steve McQueen's fondness for the model are well known. Although not quite as quick as the Bonneville the Trophy is considered by many to be Triumph's best all-round 650cc model.



By the 1960s, small, reliable, oil-tight Japanese machines were gaining momentum. To strengthen its position, BSA merged with Triumph, and had mild success with its Rocket 3, a three-cylinder bike that shared its engine and drivetrain with the Triumph Trident. Nevertheless, by the 1970s, performance Japanese motorcycles had displaced BSAs in the minds of many motorcyclists.



The BSA Lightning was designed as the 'all-round' sportbike of the 1960s, planned largely for export to the US market to complement the touring BSA Thunderbolt and the supersports BSA Spitfire. Development of the engine aimed to make it more reliable, quieter and less prone to oil leaks, with top speed sacrificed to improve mid-range and rideability. With twin carburettors the A65L could still reach 108 mph (174 km/h), however. Improvements included an oil pressure warning light which had a tendency to malfunction, so riders learned to ignore it.

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Latecoere Flyingboats

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The Latécoère 300 series of aircraft were a group of civil and military flying boats. They were manufactured by French aircraft manufacturer Latécoère in the 1930s.



A single Latécoère 300 was built; it was flown for the first time in 1931 and sank the same year. It was rebuilt and flown again in 1932, being named Croix du Sud ("Southern Cross"). The 300 was a monoplane of parasol wing construction. It was powered by four engines, each of which produced 650 hp, arranged in two push-pull pairs. The 300 set an international aviation record for seaplanes on 31 December 1933, by flying 3,697 kilometers (2,297 mi) non-stop between Berre Lake near Marseille and Saint-Louis, Senegal.



The aircraft then entered service for Air France, transporting mail across the Atlantic Ocean from Dakar, Senegal to Natal, Brazil. It completed 23 missions before being lost at sea on December 7, 1936.The civilian Laté 301, and military Laté 302 were based on the 300, with some design improvements. A total of three aircraft of each type were built between 1935 and 1936. The first of the 301s was lost, the remaining two were used in South Atlantic service until 1939. In 1939 the last remaining 301 was converted to military service, joining the 302s in patrol duties in West Africa.



Original Laté 302 aircraft had 930-hp engines, bow, beam, and engine nacelle machine gun ports, and a bomb load of 300 kilograms (661 lb). The aircraft supported a crew of four and included sleeping accommodations. Fuel and payload were stored inside the hull. The 302s and converted 301 were in service at the start of World War II, and continued in military service, flying patrols from Dakar until retired due to lack of spare parts, the last aircraft being grounded at the end of 1941.

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The Vintage Motocross Club of Western Australia

Check out this excellent website from Australia, those guys are rad, very good site and very nice pictures

VMXWA is the leading body actively promoting Vintage Motocross in Western Australia . The Club runs a full winter calendar from March through to around October. The tracks used by the Club include natural terrain and established 70's era tracks, ideally suited to VMX racing. Racing is low-key with the emphasis on restoring, riding and enjoying your 'vintage' machinery.

Jeff Smith at the 1964 MXdN, Hawsktone Park

Introducing the sport to Western Australia in 1995, VMXWA set out to recreate the sights, sounds, smell and camaraderie of the 'golden years on motocross' - the 60's and 70's. The underlying theme in Vintage Motocross is "the spirit of the era". You won't find any modern "obstacles" on a VMX track, but you will find mud, dirt, dust, hills and a group of riders who love the sport and the bikes they ride.

Jeff Smith at the 2006 Australian Classic MX Nationals

Pre-75 Vintage Motocross
VMXWA is exclusively pre-75 era, so if you own a trail or dirt bike, solo or sidecar built before December 31st 1974, with no more than 7" front wheel travel and 4" rear wheel travel, then it's eligible for vintage motocross with VMXWA.

Want to Know More?
The Club meets every 4th Wednesday of each month at the Como Bowling Club,
99 Hensman Street, South Perth
Start time for club nights is 8:00pm.

The Vintage Motocross Club of Western Australia

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If You Want to Be a Bird

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Brooks England since 1866

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Over almost a century and a half, Brooks England has grown from a small workshop to a byword in quality craftsmanship. Back in 1865, John Boultbee Brooks left his hometown of Hinckley in Leicestershire with just £20 in his pocket.



He headed for Birmingham, where in 1866 he established a business in horse harnesses and general leather goods in Great Charles Street under the name JB Brooks & Co.In 1878, the unfortunate death of Mr Brooks’ horse led to a stroke of inspiration. Unable to afford another horse, he borrowed a bicycle in order to commute to work. But he found the seat so uncomfortable that he vowed to do something about it. On 28 October 1882, Mr Brooks filed his first saddle patent.



Waddling cyclists everywhere threw their hats in the air and the new product was a roaring success. The company became known and respected for its beautiful leather handcrafted saddles, and soon started to make cycle and motorcycle bags and other accessories.



Brooks England is steeped in history, a prestige brand that boasts almost 150 years of tradition and expertise. But quality and style never age. So come on in and take a seat.

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Greeves Motorcycles

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Greeves Motorcycles Ltd is a British motorcycle manufacturer producing motorcycles mainly for the trials and off-road market. Owner Richard Deal bought the rights to the Greeves name in May 1999. The original company had been producing motorcycles since 1952, funded by a contract with the Ministry of Pensions for their Invacar. a three wheeler for disabled drivers. After many wins in motorcycle trials competitions and developing a successful US export market the original company ceased trading following a fire in 1977. The new company continues to develop motorcycles and launched the first new Greeves Trials Bike for 20 years in January 2009, with an innovative new all British two stroke 280cc engine.



Competition success
It was off road competition that was to dominate Greeves production, and in 1956 Greeves signed motocross rider Brian Stonebridge and started competing in the European Motocross Championship. Stonebridge became the company Competitions Manager and Development Engineer, as he was a skilled two stroke tuning specilaist and was able to significantly improve the performance of the Villiers engines. In April 1957 Brian Stonebridge managed to beat the 500cc bikes on the much smaller capacity Greeves round the demanding and hilly Hawkstone Park course, winning the 350cc race and coming second in the 500cc race, establishing Greeves reputation as true off road competition motorcycles. The next Greeves model was called the 'Hawkstone' to capitalise on this success and the company began to specialise in motocross motorcycles, ridden by champions including Peter Hammond, Jack Simpson and Norman Sloper.



Stonebridge led a three man Greeves team to the West German ISDT event in 1958 and had a faultless ride, winning another gold medal. In October 1959 tradgedy struck the Greeves team when Brian Stonebridge was killed in a car accident. Bert Greeves was at the wheel and Stonebridge was in the passenger seat when they crashed returning from a visit to a factory in Bradford. In a head on collision Bert was only slightly injured but in the days before seat belts it proved fatal for Brian, who died at the scene of the accident.



After the death of Stonebridge Greeves signed Dave Bickers who won the 1960 and 1961 250cc championship. The company went on to win the Manx Grand Prix, the Scott Trial, the European Trials Championship and the Scottish Six Days Trial, winning gold medals in the ISDT and the ACU 250cc Road Race. Bert Greeves also managed to sign up Bill Wilkinson, the Yorkshire trials rider who made the headlines when he won the British Experts Trail competition in 1960, the first time it had ever been won on a two stroke motorcycle and a significant result for the Greeves factory.



In 1963 the Greeves range still included the 25DC Sports Twin and two new models with the latest glass fibre tanks and handlebar fairings, as well as plastic mudguards. These were the 25DD 'Essex' and the 250 DCX 'Sportsman'. The same year the Greeves factory was asked to provide the motorcycles for the British ISDT team. This was significant because the team had previously relied on four stroke vertical twins. Greeves produced three special machines for the event, which was held in the Czechoslovakian mountains. The engines were highly modified Villiers MK 36A but instead of the standard Villiers crankshaft they had an Alpha assembly and the squared off cylinder barrels and heads were cast in Bert Greeves' own foundry and painted with matt black heat dispersing paint. Although one of the riders, Triss Sharp, had starting problems his brother Brian Sharp and the third rider Peter Stirland both won gold medals. The only woman to compete in the event was also riding a Greeves machine and won a bronze medal.



Greeves also made a successful entry into road-racing with the 250 cc Silverstone model. Although these were not as fast as some of their competitors, they earned a reputation for reliability and were chosen to be the standard motorcycles for the Mortimer Road-Racing School. As well winning the 1964 Isle of Man Grand Prix, Gordon Keith also took the Greeves racer to the fastest lap of the race at 87.6mph, which proved to be the best speed ever by a British 250cc motorcycle. As well as a boot for the Greeves factory, this was an important win when the sport was beginning to become dominated by foreign motorcycles. This led to a lot of interest in the Greeves road bikes, including from a number of British Police forces for a version of the bigger twin equipped with a radio.
Also in 1964 Greeves launched the 'Challenger', and first time out ridden by Garth Weldon it won the Terry Cups Trail. In 1967 a 346cc version of the successful Challenger was launched, together with a and 350cc road racer called the 'Oulton'. A special export model called the 'Ranger' was also developed but by 1968 Villiers had pulled out of engine production and Greeves decided to leave the trails motorcycle market to concentrate on the development of a motorcross model.



As the Japanese entered the market place - Suzuki dominated the European Championships from 1970 to 1973 - sales began to slow. They were successful in winning an important order to supply the Royal Artillery Motorcycle Display Team with motorcycles and developed the 'Greeves Griffons' but a change in the law meant that the Invacar, which had been the mainstay of the company (even at the peak of motorcycle production Bert Greeves still answered the telephone as "Invacar Limited") was no longer legal for road use so the Ministry of Pensions decided to replace it with a four wheeled car. Bert Greeves decided that it was time to retire from the business and was soon followed by his cousin Derry Preston-Cobb. The company floundered in 1976 and after a fire at the factory were unable to resume production and went into receivership.

Avery good link : http://www.kivas.com/greeves/

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