New Pavement and K81s

[Thruxton71]

First, a catch up. Last Sunday I did not ride a Velo, I rode a Triumph T100R with a NON slipping clutch. But wait, it is related to a Velo, because the Triumph relinquished it's semi permanent spot on the motorcycle life (best tool in my garage) to the Velocette Thruxton. So, there is now, in my line of sight, a path to getting the Thruxton on the road with electronic ignition and the 'stock' carburetor. So it was kind of about Velos. BTW, the Barnett (https://www.barnettclutches.com/) clutch pack for my T100r did the job. It feels like they sent Garage door springs for the tension, but I am running a stock 6 plate clutch and while I may need a new cable in the future, it is NOT slipping. All good.

The crowd at the gas station has been a little thin, illness, other ride commitments, and age are all factors that chip away at the Old British bike base. There is a new rider who showed up on his T140 today, and the Miata driver (ex helicopter pilot, flew in the Vietnam conflict, rode a Velocette when I met him, but doesn't fly or ride anymore.. just throws his Miata around). Just three of us, and it was wet and foggy in Ojai, but we knew that 33 would be clean and dry. Oh, and I was on my 1966 Velocette Endurance, and aside from trying to kick me over the handlebars when I tried to start it, it was running very well. It kind of looks like the one at this site (https://yupyi.com/details.php?id=18008924) except it has been run hard and put away wet since the day I got it, and I was a young pup. It turns out that there is not a lot of references to this model on the web, it was aimed the American market, and at that time there were better choices for dual purpose bikes.... But I like it.

So, back up 33, which, frankly, I could ride every day, every ride and not be unhappy. It has been resealed, and the surface seems to grip like Velcro. We stopped at the lookout over the pacific that we call "Lynn's leap" who, by the way, also rode a T140. The Miata was nowhere to be seen.

Two descending bicycles passed, you could hear their skinny tires react to the surface, like a quiet ripping sound.

Looking over the edge at parched landscape the ribbon of the newly tarred road was a vivid cut through the hills. Inspirational. I had a great ride back down the hill, never touching my brake, rolling through the sticky corners, the engine popping on downshifts, and thumping into the straight to the next curve. It is meditation on wheels. Oh, and we never caught up with the bicycles! They were not joking around.

Keep the rubber side down!

From Ojai.

[Tetge]

HA! You fell for the oldest trick in the book. I told my fellow bicyclist that it would work. Just get out of sight and quickly hide from view and the pursuer will zoom by and, obviously, never catch you. This gives you a lot of cred as a bicyclist faster than a motorcycle. Old trick, but still a good one.