Tag Archives: BSA

Merry Christmas to ALL my Customers around the world

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
22 Dec

Well, the time has flown by this year, way to fast to be honest, but its here now and whilst I am still busy, i need to stop and charge my own batteries so I can be fully charged for 2025, I hope that you have enjoyed your Motorcycle this year, whether it was just riding or rebuilding, a feel of accomplishment is hard to beat when you hear that engine crackle into life from a long time in a cold corner some place.

So, I am enjoying some good festive food and of course give me some time to watch some you tube stuff and relax with Jennifer and the animals we have at the Ranch, and I wanted to thank you all for purchasing from me and I always appreciate the emails and phone calls that I receive.

So, I thought I would add a video of stuff that I like watching and am sure that you will enjoy too or may of already watched it yourselves, if you have then I will be adding more over this Festive season for you all to enjoy.

 

Wishing everybody a Very Merry Christmas and I am always here to help, either by phone, by email or even by text, coming up to 25 years in business and love every moment of it.

Scuderia Ferrari F1 styled CB750 Creation

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
08 Apr

I have been a fan of F1 Formula race cars since I was a teenager, regularly watching the races on our 3 channel television, I loved watching these guys in the JPS Renault Lotus and my First Motorcycle that adorned the Motorcycle world was based on Emerson Fittipaldi’s Black and Gold F1.

Now, over half a Century later, not only did I create a fun Cafe bike representing the JPS styling, I am now going to create another F1 livery Motorcycle for my Brother, but this time in the Ferrari F1 colors.  This will not be a replica of that machine but will have the accents of the Italian Stallion beast that runs the circuits today.

I still have a long way to go but as long as I get the look, I shall be more than happy, this has lots of work to be done still like seat set up and some accessories as well as the color scheme but this time I shall not be painting the bodywork as ferrari and all F1 race cars are wrapped, so this will get a new skin and hope I can pull that look off?

I am incorporating Airduct’s into the side covers and will make a custom seat and this time will have removable Pannier bags that hang onto the outside of the machine to give it a wider look from the rear.

The other thing is i like to mix old with New, so I shall have a Satellite GPS speedometer with a digital Tach built inside, set inside an old Vintage Race Car Alloy Cup that was attached to the steering column many years ago and had a Tach inside it.

I am making stuff up as I go along, some I shall keep and some I shall redesign most probably, but want this to be a cool ride that I will personally ride upo where I live as its a winding set of roads with many turns and off cambered switch backs.

This will have a new exhaust system as I hope to make in stainless and am using BSA silencers to give a little British feel and sound to the machine, that’s the cool thing with Custom machines, the sky is the limit and you can change to what ever you feel is to your personal liking.

As you can see, to keep with the Italian feel, I am using Tarozzi rear sets that came directly from Italy and will make this so much more comfortable to ride and change gear quickly.

Still a long way yo go right now but its taking shape and quite excited at the form that she is making right this minute and wanted to share with you guys and gals, I shall keep you updated on this creation and hopefully not too far away I shall be cranking gears in my area and grinning from ear to ear.  Stay tuned……………………..

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
24 Nov

Well, its that time of the year already, I will not be working at all in the Barn, its nice to celebrate Turkey day and I will make sure I shall to its fullest. Burp!

Hope you are celebrating too if you are in America that is, and so tomorrow, work will be flat out as the festive season will then be upon us.

Just wanted to take this time to wish you all a Very Happy Thanksgiving and than you all for your orders, I love my job and what I do, this Thanksgiving I sit, eat and feel thankful for all that this wonderful country lets me be a part of.

 

Weekend is here but its going to be damn Hot In Southern California

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
14 May

I know, I know- I should not complain about the weather, but- I left the shores of Blighty back in 1997, this weekend it will be in the 90’s and I am lucky that I now have the Barn to work in, albeit no A/C.  Its surprising how much you can get done when there is a big ball of fire trying to make you evaporate.

Today I shall be packing up quite a few New exhaust systems, with more on the way, busy time of the year for me as people are wrenching on their machines and of course, with warmer temperatures, then riding season is at its most fruitful, I too love riding early in the morning as the warmth of the Sun begins to make the tarmac steam and for me, there is nothing better to clear your head than a crisp morning.

But parts have to be re-stocked and I am trying to get the New Place in some sort of order, so I can pick and pack my parts a little easier and then ship right out to my Customers, I am lucky as the Main Post Office is just down the road, so that means I can take them directly to the Loading dock to scan and load the packages and boxes onto the truck that is going out to deliver.

I am coming up with a few different parts too and this all takes time, but I am enjoying what I do and when you work from your own Workshop with no landlord hassling you, a lot of stress simply disappears.

Happy Sunday everyone and hope you get a little bit of time to be able to do some wrenching on your machine, let me know if I can help by phone or text, 714-598-8392.  keep building and keep riding.

Plymouth to Ivybridge Ton Up Boys 1962

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
03 May

Young Motorcycle Racers are gathered by a transport café on the A38 Exeter to Plymouth road. They are the ton-up boys taking off into the night.

British biker subculture originates in the 1950s and is influenced by American pop culture and the rock and roll music of Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry. 1960s rockers portray a rebellious image emulating the cool moody actor James Dean with white t-shirt and socks, jeans and Black Boots with Fisherman socks, and of course , leather jacket, quiff and motorbike.

 

The ton-up boys create a lifestyle out of motorbike racing. The aim is to reach the speed of one hundred miles an hour in other words do the ton. The transport café is the starting and finishing post for races and games such as buzzing or chicken are played.

Chicken is putting a record on the jukebox and running to your bike and doing the ton and returning before the song finishes. Chicken is also doing a u-turn lean where the outer edges of the tyre touches the road used to measure a rider’s skill.

 

A Westwood TV production, presenter not known

Weekend is pretty Much Here

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
11 Mar

Hey Everyone

I have been pretty busy as of late as the Barn is now built but still waiting on a few things to get it functional to be honest, and with the price of Building materials higher than a Coke addict, I shall just take my sweet ass time in getting it completed.

 

Anyway, the weekend is here, I hope to have a little ride over these next couple of days as we have some great winding roads where I live, tree lines corners and big off cambered corners with drop off, make for an exhilarating ride to be sure.

 

Hope you can get some time in the saddle like this fella on His 650 BEEZA!

Happy New Year Everyone

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
01 Jan

Here we are 2022 at last, man – What a crappy 2020 and glad to see the back of it and start a fresh and hope that we all have some good health and enjoy life as much as we can.

I somehow caught the Flu over Christmas and it Royaly buggered me up, Only about 80% right now but at least I am up on my feet, and I wanted to make sure that I did a bit of work at the house and get a few things ready for when My Barn arrives for assembly on Wednesday.

I have a few Projects I would like to finish this season and I hope my health gets a lot stronger as I took quite a whooping last year with Covid and the Flu, so lets all keep our pinkies crossed that we are all fine and can go and wrench on our machines to our hearts content.

There are many things that I hope to make and offer on my website for all the avid Motorcycle builders out there, I receive so many emails and texts about what you lot are up to, it drives me to help get your machine completed, and sure hope that you can complete yours this year to get on the tarmac for the new season when it eventually arrives where ever you are located.

Just wanted to wish you all a Very Happy New year and thank you for all of your orders, emails, phone calls and texts, I love chatting to you all and look forward to continuing great communication with you in this New year we have all started.

Look Forward to seeing what you are all creating and maybe see you on the road one of these days?

 

Here is something to have a laugh at at days gone by back home 1965.

TV show with great Motorcycle in it.

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
16 Nov

 

Grantchester is a British TV series set in a Cambridgeshire village in the 1950s, where an Anglican vicar named Sidney Chambers — a former WWII Scots Guard officer — helps an overworked Detective Inspector Georgie Keating solve local crimes.
Now, I grew up not far from here, 30 miles away to be exact, and to see the Villages and towns etc. that I blasted through with my mates on our Cafe Motorcycles when I was a teenager, well- it brings back so many fun and fond memories to be honest.
East Anglia has not changed too much in the rural parts, many Villages are still the same and that’s why this series is great as many places have stood still in time, making for a Director of TV shows, to have to worry less about locations as its all there and not many props needed to give it that Nostalgic feel.
I think the Motorcycle is an A7 with different year BSA parts added to give it a Rocket-Goldie look, and to me, that’s so cool to build something out of parts, we all referred them as  “BITZA’S” when we were Teenagers bits of this and bits of that.  Love this Cafe  Racer Motorcycle and hope you lot do too????
This is a great series to watch on Netflix as we have been watching an episode every evening, But season 6 is the best for me because of the BSA the Vicar rides. So, if you have some spare time and not sure what to watch on the One eyed Monster, give Grantchester a try, it is a great series and am sure many of you will enjoy it as much as we have and still do.
GRANTCHESTER
The vicar’s intuitive techniques complement the inspector’s more methodical approach. Issues such as racism, Soviet espionage, civil rights, and domestic abuse are brought to the fore. From season 4 onward, Chambers is replaced with Reverend William Davenport (actor Tom Brittney), a former inner-city chaplain who listens to rock-n-roll and rides a motorcycle.
Our kind of vicar! Said Brittney of his character: “I represent this sort of youth coming in at the end of the ’50s – the rock ‘n’ roll, leather-jacket-wearing, motorbike-riding, Elvis-listening people…”
“The motorcycle looks like a ’50-’52 ZB Gold Star. Motor, tank, exhaust, most of the stuff looks kosher.”
Has a ‘custom’ dual seat, I think the plunger model (it’s not a rigid frame) only came with a sprung single seat and optional bum pad. Has twin clocks but on the only timing side pictures I could find, there doesn’t appear to be any tacho drive on the timing cover and no apparent tacho cable.”
However, the Gold Star was a single-cylinder, and the vicar’s BSA is most definitely a twin. To us, it looks more like a mid-50s modified BSA A7, which featured a swinging arm frame, hotter cam, around 30 hp, and a top speed of 90 mph.
Unfortunately, Grantchester’s production team doesn’t particularly interested in two-wheeled authenticity, as the sound clips never seem to match a BSA engine note, and there are other issues, too.
 “Did you see the episode where he starts the bike without kick-starting?”
“God works in mysterious ways.”
Actor Tom Brittney had actually never ridden a motorcycle prior to this role and had to learn for the series. In an interview with TVWW, he says he was terrified at first… “I never, never ever thought I’d be on one …. When you are going 70 miles per hour down a motorway, that does not feel natural. I did start getting the bug for it, and I did start probably going a lot faster than I should have.”
I really enjoyed the series, I think we have 3 episodes left, so I hope that they continue to make more episodes from a part of the Country I rode many many times and it makes me smile every time I see the bike fire up.
Thanks for reading my little Blog about this TV series, you should be able to see this on many media streams, from You Tube to NETFLIX and great Music and lots of Nostalgia in the whole Series.

Girls and their Machines

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
13 Nov

I have written all sorts of Blogs on two wheeled machines but I am trying to share more info on the Amazing Women that ride Motorcycles too, I have a few Girl friends that ride and I couldn’t keep up with them, they need recognition, and a little insight to how and what made them have an interest into these 2 wheeled internal combustion engine machines.

I hope to feature some Girl riders more regularly, and with any luck they can tell me and you in their own words, what makes them tick, I don’t think there is anything cooler than a Girl on a bike, and my very own Girlfriend rides a Bonneville and has an old 550 Honda, as well as an 883 Sportster.

Below is a friend of mine that was a real Motorcycle enthusiast when I was in London, and still is as mad about two wheeled machines today. Karen Stephenson is an awesome Motorcycle aficionado and is handy with a Spanner and a paint brush.

Here is her explanation of what got her interested into the same scene I am into.

Originally from Canada, it took moving to England to awaken my passion for classic British bikes.

I moved there for work and was introduced to ’60s Triumphs and the Rocking scene.

I would go down to the 59 Club every month and go on the Rockers runs down to Brighton.

If ever there was a rockers do, I would be there. My first bike was a 1957 BSA bantam D1 which I rode from London to the south of France and back after one day’s training on a learner’s license. After that “on the road training” I went back to Canada to get my full motorcycle license.

Upon my return to England I bought a 1968 Triumph Tiger 90. I soon realized that the Tiger 90 was too small so my boyfriend at the time and I upgraded the engine to a Tiger 100.

I loved that bike. That started a passion in me that continues to this day. I have now had many Triumphs and a Triton and some Guzzis and a Ducati Monster. But the constant has always been a Triumph.

 

Work took me back to Canada 11 years later and I am now back to building Triumphs again and have just finished a 1969 Tiger 100 from basket cases and I’m just starting to build a 1963 Bonneville from scratch.

I think I will be riding triumphs until I have to trade it in for a Zimmer frame. Even so, I may put Triumph handlebars and a headlamp on it. Haha

Thats so cool that Karen is still building her Motorcycles and has as much passion now as she had back then.

How about a trifecta of ladies on their Ton Up Machines, awesome photograph taken back home.

There has always been something cool seeing girls and their bikes, especially when they are in full stride in kicking the motor over to hear it scream into life.

Karen does her own wrenching, so saves all that Labor money that garages and the like love to charge and she has built many Motorcycles over the years. A very talented Lady.

Its been many years since I have owned a pair of Black leather Gauntlets, but the British weather always called for them before the slimline fancy stuff was available, nice to see Karen donning the same style like I had for years.

What a Brilliant Photograph right here, these triplets are not to be messed with. Karen’s Jacket is so typical of the attire many of us wore with all them badges of honor and key fobs, love it. A really fun photo that I wish we could all see some more of.

Cannot get enough of these Nostalgic Photos of Karen and her steeds and hope you lot are enjoying as much as me? And am hoping that we get a lot more Ladies sending in their photos of them and their Mean Machines.

This photo is how I remember seeing Karen when I was going to an event like the Rockers reunion etc, a classic look and style and will be loved for ever. I do not know who took the photo but am forever grateful for them as its a Timeless shot that has travelled the globe many times for people to admire.

How many of us have done this over time? I know I sure have, I remember the ride to Hemsby on my little BSA Bantam or when I rode my T100 in rain and wind all the way to the east coast, no money to stop and stay somewhere nice, but I could pull in and find some shelter and lay on the bike to get some well earned rest, love this photo Karen.

Karen lives back in Canada and maybe we can pop in and see her when we get to travel more again, she is a super person and a very talented Mechanic and artist.

So, if you have a Wife, Girlfriend, Partner etc that rides MotorCycles, then drop me a line with some pics and lets do a blog on them, as I love to see as many girls on the road as possible.

 

 

 

carpy@carpyscaferacers.com  OR at carpysgarage@aol.com

 

 

Time and Tide wait for no Man or Woman

Posted on by Steve Carpenter
22 Oct

No matter what is going on in the world, one thing remands the same, and that is the ticking Clock, she will always continue to grind away 24-7 and I am vert aware at times of that as deadlines come up real fast when yo are a small business, but, there is nothing better than being your own boss, so that out weighs the stress and difficulties that we all endure at times in the trade that we are in. Time to get on my Bike and start to design some New parts for you all.

Things are changing for me and not long to go until I get my Own Brand New Workshop/Barn, exciting times for sure and look forward to spending some quality time in there and banging away at some projects that I must get completed my self. Sometimes I need to Police my self to get things finished, but a New Workshop is something to keep you Motivated that’s for sure.

I have just made up a bunch of Braided Hose Oil Lines and Braided brake lines, one piece and 2 piece front brake lines to cover any of your builds and continue to make and design more parts for the inline four, as well as other makes too. Have fun on your Machines this weekend everybody.

 

 

 

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