Yesterday I had the opportunity to take out both bikes. Elisa (Imola) to and from work in Linköping (about 90 km altogether) and Hugo (v50) for an evening spin (about 60km). Luxury!! It was also great to really feel the difference between these bikes. Elisa, more sporty bike but weaker engine; Hugo, more touring and easily maneuvered with a stronger engine. So I reckon I might even take Hugo out to the Guzzi Club Springtime Meetup this weekend, since he will keep up better in speed with Swedephotog’s Ducati ST2 . Plus he deserves a longer ride since he spent a lot of time in the garage. It would be actually nice to combine Elisa’s sportiness with some more horsepower. So, maybe a Guzzi LeMans as next family member? Or the new Thruxton…

Enjoy!

Catalunya 2009 Motogp ‘Rossi teaches Lorenzo a lesson!’ from Tim Fowden on Vimeo.

Merkel developed the first type of a spring front fork and also the first type of a rear suspension. From 1905, Merkel also developed bikes for the upcoming racing scene in the U.S. . Merkel and his technology got acquired in 1911 by the Miamin Cycle Manufacturing Company which gave them the market leadership in technology. Merkels continued with their success, among others with a won endurance race from Chicago to St. Louis in 1914. Several factors, such as the dawning WWI meant the end of the further production of Merkels in 1917.

Not even two decade they stayed, but an important influence on future motorcycle construction they had.

Incredible with today’s eyes that they were raced once and apparently still a few of them are up and running today – if they are allowed to.

Check out the full story and especially the racing pics.  This is what they sound like.  

And this one lives at MC Collection in Sollentuna, Stockholm, Sweden.

Want one? Well, if you get hold of one, you might want to be prepared to slaughter your piggy bank, one of them got sold for 82.000 US Dollars.

Brage took the motor of an Indian and built his bike around it. Read more about it in the Google-translated article on Fastbikes.se.

Brage Fossum is the first non-Swedish winner of the competition !

Let’s take a few more looks at his art of building a beautiful (and ridable!) bike. MCM always chooses ridable bikes as their winners, and Brages “båge” has been out on the road quite a bit.

Nobody back then double-checked my actual head size, they were perfectly happy with me stating that my head size was 57 cm, and that the helmet sat snug, at least to my definition of snug. And it didn’t occur to me either to measure properly again, which I probably should have done, being totally new to helmets and usually quite picky in general.

Anyway. Last weekend at the motorcycle fair in Gothenburg I checked out helmets and prices at Lelles MC, one of the big Swedish shops for motorcycle clothing. Since I knew what I wanted, I went to one of their staff and mentioned what I intended to buy. A new Arai Chaser, and their new model, the Chaser V – in size M of course.

The first thing the guy did was made me try on the helmet in size M. He made me fasten it as I usually would, then look up to the ceiling and then pulled the helmet down to the front, right onto my nose. Ouch. And how easy that was done. The helmet didn’t come off, but it moved way too much. Although it felt comfortable and snug even when shaking the head. Snug, again, to my definition. This was the first “wow”-effect. The second one came when we repeated the same game with size S. The helmet sat tighter this time, but it was even then pulled down to my nose without any bigger problem. “You need XS”, the guy said, ignoring my surprised looks and getting one from the shelf. And indeed, size XS fitted like a second skull-shell around my head. Snug and tight, but in a comfortable way. I had it on for a while, then took it off, waited a bit and put it on again, just to be sure. The model was definitely right. No pulling it down to the nose was possible, and there was not much space either when putting in the fingers under the helmet at the sides of my neck. My head size turned by the way out to be just below 55 cm. Not as big as I thought then .

Knowing the severe consequences a wrong helmet size can have in an accident, I was stunned by the fact that I wore a helmet 2 sizes too big for 5 years, which luckily had been accident-free. Touch wood or head. How grateful I was for this expert advice of someone who knew his shit, you cannot imagine!

This experience inspired me to post some tips and links regarding buying a helmet.

1. Know your head size! Take a tape measure and measure tight but comfortably around your head, just above the eyebrows and just above the ears. This should be the biggest width of your head. If you measure yourself, take help of a mirror where you can see that you put the tape measure evenly around your head. Best is to take help of a friend, though.

2. Know your head shape, this will also help you choosing the right brand and model. If the staff in the shop of your choice doesn’t mention this fact, ask them to help you find out. Revzilla has a nice explaining video about the differences in head shapes.

3. Go to a shop with a big choice of helmets, better even if you have the possibility to check out different shops. Try on different brands and models that fit your head size and form. All known brands with a good reputation should be equal in security, but I find that a good browse through the reviews on the web will also help you making a choice. Especially if you should be between two brands. Read what others say, check with your friends as well as with the staff at the dealer. The staff should by the way be as knowledgeable as my sales guy at Lelles. If they are not, definitely go to another shop.

Buying a helmet is important. Not only because it protects your brain, but also because it is quite an investment financially, and once bought, usually no shop will take it back, simply since they cannot know whether you dropped it or not.

Therefore
- Never buy a helmet that was a demo which lots of people had on their heads. A helmet must be new straight out of its packing and it must adjust to your head alone for optimal fit and best security. So never lend it to friends either, unless you buy a second one for exactly these purposes. However, having read the lines here, you probably got that ideally everyone should have his or her own helmet.

- Never buy a helmet second-hand. Same reasons. It doesn’t fit your head, and it could have been dropped. And once dropped, it must be replaced.

Once you have your helmet, love it and treat it like your head. Means think for example of where you leave it and store it.

- Never hang your helmet on the mirrors of your motorcycle. It can affect the interior of the helmet on the long-term.

- Don’t store it in a warm place or in a room with solvents of paint, adhesives etc. Warmth and solvents can also affect the interior materials of the helmet and shorten its life.

Motorcycle Cruiser has a pretty good guide about buying a helmet with a few more points than I mentioned here. Go and check it out.

By the way, this one in Diamond White is my friend next season
(I am wearing it a bit high up in this picture, I remember that I pulled it down a tiny bit after the pic got taken, to make it sit just above the eye brows, fitting perfectly and giving best vision.)

Anyway, my beloved spoiled me this Christmas with some essential accessories for the garage months .

Let me post a nice slow motion shot from last year’s GP with racing bikes below. Besides, much better weather they have there, too. At least in comparison to us right now. I mean, honest, as a motorcyclist, does one need winter?! Yes, winter is quality time for repairs, you might say. But. Do you really use winter for that? Is it not rather so that about two weeks before the season starts you realise “oh, sh…, I should have fixed this and that”? I mean, where otherwise do all these accumulated emergency-repair-jobs at workshops in April result from? So. As a motorcyclist one does not need winter, if you ask me. Our two-wheeled friends decide anyway themselves when it is a convenient time (to them) for breaking down. And if you are lucky enough, you get some notice. And if not, well.

Therefore, enjoy the cold period of the year to dream up some nice trip for next summer. Just like we do.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Here some pictures of Hugo in front of Reijmyre Glasbruk, where we stopped on a Sunday tour.

Happy Friday!

Seen at the train station in Norrköping a while ago.

Finally it was time for the Red Lady to get out of the garage. Signorina Pasolina has been sitting there since last summer, not even getting a proper cleaning. Which of course meant that she didn´t just start after the hibernation during the winter months. She is after all an italian lady. The protest consisted of not making any sound whatsoever when pushing the starter button, even though the battery had been on charge for quite a while. Ok, there was a very silent click from some electronic device located under the seat. Apart from that, nothing. I even suspected the electrical starter to be broke and the changing of that very item last year was not incredibly fun. To reach all screws that holds the thing to the bike, you need to get the left engine cover off. To be able to do that you have to take away a part of the frame. As the bike is a Ducati Paso, before you do all that you of course have to get all the fairings off. And I tell you, there is a reason why I sometimes give the bike the nickname Ducati Calzone.

The battery was one bought from the swedish company Biltema. They are famous for selling things that are cheap, and that work sort of ok. However, the old truth of “you get what you pay for” applies to their range of stuff as well. After yet another charging session for the two year old battery, the bike did indeed move the electrical starter a tiny, tiny bit. Nowhere near turning the engine though. I decided to put some money down for a new battery, of a well known brand this time. Of course the battery made the engine turn, and of course the engine started after some fiddling with the choke and throttle.

During the winter la Signorina got treated with braided hose lines for the hydraulic clutch, and also got a brand new pack of clutch discs. The whole pack of discs was 3,4 mm. My usual source of information, the shop where I bought the bike in 2000, said the thickness should be 3,3 mm. Not much of a difference, but maybe something to watch out for. Hence the need for a shake down run.

After a bit of cleaning it was time for that test run today. Sun in the sky and summerish temperatures did help making it a joyful tour. It is strange how familiar a bike can feel even after months without riding. Same old power with exactly the same vibration that tells you how the engine is dealing with your choice of gears in a certain situation. Same stability when turning the throttle going through the bend. Same roar when downshifting and engine breaking. Yes, the bike seemed to work properly. I say seemed, cause my experience tells me that some flaws don´t show on the first ride. So far it looks good though. the clutch is much smother than the old worn out one. I have to pull the lever all they way to the handle bar, which was not necessary before as far as I remember it.

My intention was to go one of our normal Sunday tours, down to Stegeborg via the little ferry over the bay Slätbaken. However a sign a few kilometers from the ferry said that it was not working. Hence a detour to Mem, which is a village also by Slätbaken and Göta Kanal. One day during the week motorcyclists are extra welcome there at the local caff´.

To sum it all up, it was a nice ride. More things to be fixed will surely appear, but then again that is part of the game when you ride italian motorcycles. I did a couple of weeks ago test ride a japanese allround bike, but soon realised that it hadn´t got any soul. When you ride an italian bike you will understand what I mean. In a way it was good going on that test ride, because that reminded me why I am so happy riding that Ducati Paso. It does indeed have soul.

Hope you will have nice rides on your bikes this summer!

regards

Swedephotog

This is what it looks and sounds like when the Ducatisti Östergötland get started for their traditional 1st of May ride.

Great to have a least the card with the 90-years anniversary stated, cos as things are I will most likely not make it down to Mandello to the big party in September… But I hope that some of you will be there and share loads of pictures on your blog or Facebook – maybe even on the fan page of the Swedish Guzzi Club . And if you still need a place to stay, we have two great B&B recommendations for you.

Hope you have some great riding days, or days hanging out with likeminds at least should the weather be shite or your bike not season-ready yet.

This little one is currently standing in the yard at my workplace in Linköping. A “Rödqvarna” manufactured at Husqvarna motorcycles between 1951 and 1953, if I am not mistaken.

“Rödqvarna” means as much as “red qvarna” (qvarna from Hus-qvarna), and the name results from the typical red colour of that type of the bike.

At that time it was one of the small affordable bikes people had as a means of transport for going to work, one can imagine the gents pottering off with it, a work day at the factory ahead, a bit like you sometimes can see in old movies.

This specific bike was sitting in a restaurant on the wall, as part of their decoration, and that since the 70′s, if I understood the owner right. So now it was time for redecorating and the bike was up for sale. It will hopefully go to a good home with someone restaurating it, and not slaughtering it for parts.

As you can see it definitely needs a good amount of TLC, but it is not in such a bad shape. So maybe some day it will start like this one, probably even better.

Sounds quite nice, doesn’t it?

As you can imagine, I was tempted to buy it as a restauration object, I even made the loved one go with me for taking another look. But it is quite a job to do, and I know I won’t have the time (and money) for it in the near future. Especially not considering that my current bikes need enough TLC in order to keep them running well during the season. So I left this project for another lucky person. But it is cute…