Paignton Sea Front weekly Bike show by BMAD back home where I lived for a while and shows still going.

Posted on July 11, 2019January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

11 Jul

Well, back in my old seaside town where I resided for a few years in the south of the country, started a great Motorcycle fraternity up called BMAD, (Bikers, Make A Difference).

First founded By Kelvin and Jane Halloran in 2003, this event and meetings have continued to grow and function as a very successful meeting in Paignton Seafront, attracting many of the public to come and look at these great two wheeled machines and also the main objective is that it raises money to help sick, disabled and disadvantaged children, also other worthy causes and charities within the TQ postcode area.

Funds are raised by hosting a three day festival on Paignton Esplanade over the May Day Bank Holiday (fri-sun), this includes live music, traders and of course bikes, Trikes and scooters!
We host 18 bike nights also on the Esplanade, these take place every Wednesday evening at 6:00 pm from the beginning of June through to the end of September, we are fully supported by bikers who make a donation on the gate for themselves and a pillion if applicable. Collection buckets are available for pedestrians to donate should they wish.

All monies raised by BMAD are used for charitable causes and all volunteers are unpaid.

General Information

We hold bike nights every Wednesday evening between the start of June and the end of September. Bikers donate £1:00 per person at the gate to park on the Esplanade and enjoy our bike night event.

In addition we hold a Bike Festival over the first May Bank Holiday weekend (fri-sun) and I have been to that a few years ago when I took a trip home as our MUM was dying from Cancer, that place was so cool, people remembered me from 30 years ago and it was like I had never left the Torbay area.

This bike meeting is always popular come rain or shine, the time I went , the weather was blowing hard, the air was colder than an Eskimo’s fridge and the H2o was starting to get stronger, but- everyone just enjoyed their-selves and rightly so, you cant let weather stop you from enjoying what you have a passion for.

What I love about it is that there is Old and New, so like Forrest Gump saying that life is like a Box of chocolates, Paignton sea front BMAD show is the same, as you just never know what you are going to get and as we look here a Cool Kawasaki 400 and the ring and ding ding of the RD400 and in restored condition, I can almost smell the Castrol R from here in California.

Road bikes, Classics and Customs, like this Bobber, there is always something for everyone and no attitudes either, a bang on meet up that others should learn from to be honest.

Mission

Our mission is to raise funds for sick, disabled and disadvantaged children within the TQ postcode area, to support local charities and other worthy causes.

This show is maybe 5 minutes walk from my old apartment and I used to love to walk along the seafront, buy a bag of fish and chips ans check all the bikes out along Paignton green.

Like I said, there is something for everyone, even this Lambretta got plenty of attention, mind you, many will not know what this model is, unless you are into Hair dryer Motors.

Good ole Motor Morini with Megaphones, as a teenager I loved to hear the sound of these V twins belting a long with their distinct roar.

So, a section for the Scooters were available, making this meet up a super friendly event and some rare ones at that.

The good Old 500. I had one of these in Blue, my first BIG bike, I traded it for a SL125 Honda and Ran a muck around East Anglia on it for a long time, those expansion chambers still ringing in my ears today!

Perfect pre unit that I would love to own too, hats off to the fella for bringing such a tasty treat along to this event, see if you can make the next one?

The meet up on the seafront is July 17th at 6pm Paignton seafront, hope you can make it and send me some cool pics.

The Bike Shed Show 2018

Posted on June 19, 2018January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

19 Jun

The Bike Shed started back in November in 2011, really as a blog about Anthony “Dutch” Van Somerens Journey as a modern Sports bike Rider into the newer wave of Motorcycles and the scene such as “Cafe Racer, Brat, Tracker etc and wrote about New Bikes and builders new on the scene to show what is getting so very popular these days and of course, creating an interest into building your own machines or getting the Bike Shed to create one for you.

The Blog attracted a Crew of mates and of course contributors who shared the same passion for these 2 wheeled manifestations. Such as Tim & Kev from the Spirirt of the Seventies. Adam from United Motorcycles, and art Director Barry, from Two Wheels only and Deluxe Motorcycles.

First bike show was a little later in 2013 and from then on it has grown and grown and here is a video of todays show.

Always great to have a look at and seeing as I am a brit, you can see that us Europeans live and breathe this stuff, what surprises me is that there is always a number of bikes that blow you away, I mean, you think that there is nothing left to do custom wise any more, but bugger, you always get gobsmacked by something every-time.

So sit back today as its Tuesday, put ya feet up when you get a break at work and watch this on your PC or phone, plenty of snippets of cool Motorcycles that I know you will dig as much as I did.
Need boots or Gloves? Check these out.

Few more little vids for you to watch to make your day go by a little easier.

Different videos from different people, that way, you get to see different creations and views, hope you enjoy?

Come to the OG Motorcycle show in LA this weekend.

Posted on March 29, 2018January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

29 Mar

The OG Moto Show is an annual motorcycle event located in Downtown Los Angeles featuring select Cafe’ Racer, Bobber, Classic, Tracker, Scrambler, Old School Chopper, Modern Classic, Brat and full custom motorcycles on display in a unique setting. The vision of Jay LaRossa of Lossa Engineering, Stan Chen, John Pangilinan, and Ralph Holguin of RMD Garage to help bring this style of motorcycle culture to Southern California.

Many bikes and Art on Display, a superb Gathering of unique Motorcycles and craft under one roof, see if you can make it and spread the word, its a show not to be missed.

The event gathers thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts together in a unique setting. The experience will feature art, photography, music and more. Coffee, drinks, and food will be served throughout the day. Select vendors were on hand offering goods for purchase and the highlight of the event will centered on the custom motorcycles on display.

I will be taking my Metalflake Harlequin Honda there to sit with many other super cool builds.

LOCATION | 6TH ANDERSON [NEW VENUE]

615 S ANDERSON ST

LOS ANGELES, CA 90023

TIME | 12 – 9 PM

Hope to see you there, you can text me to see if I am around at 714-598-8392, so much to see there you will enjoy the whole place, Music, Art, and these cool Motorcycles.

Finally, I have the Harlequin out of the Garage and in the sunlight, so good to be able to see it in real light, still a few things to do last minute, as always but I will load her up tomorrow and head to LA for the show and leave it there, then come back on Saturday and Sunday, took a long time to get this Super Sport how I wanted it but I really am happy with the end result.

OK, now to just finish a few things up on this Harlequin Honda, hope you like what I have managed to achieve, just wanted a Custom Creation this time.

Stunt riders of the 1970’s and 1980’s

Posted on March 23, 2018January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

23 Mar

Seeing I was a Teenager in the 1970’s, I thought I would mention people like Dave Wheelie King Taylor and Arto Nyqvist, now- I have already done a blog about Dave and this time I thought I would do a quick one about this chap. Below:

Arto Nyquist, the Finnish stunt rider, caused a sensation in the 1980’s riding a Z1300. Even now 30 years later its damned impressive…not sure there are so many Z1300 tail lights available now either! This is from a LWT programme called Just Amazing presented by Kenny Lynch and Barry Sheene.

Here is a bit more in his Finnish language tv episode, music makes me laugh.

Little bit more Raw footage someone filmed in 1991, the guy was amazing.

Truly a legend on the Kwacka!

Have a great weekend everyone, just wanted to share a bit of history with the flying Fin and of course the 6 Cylinder KZ1300, it was and still is a power house to this day.

1976 Kawasaki KZ 400 Cafe Racer Motorcycle $2300

Posted on March 14, 2018January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

14 Mar

Here we are with a Customer that is selling his little KZ400 Cafe Racer machine, a fun motorcycle with plenty of zip from the 400cc engine. This is a cheap ride to have fun on and, with the price of gasoline on the rise again, what better than to use this to commute on and have fun on the way to and from your job?

He has been riding it consistently for the last three years without any issues. It has an electronic start and idles great. Never topped 100 with it, but never really tried to either.

Comes with trickle charger, but you won’t need it. He replaced a lot of the electrical parts and it holds a charge great.

Great Cafe Racer to play around with on the weekend. No Low Ballers. Serious buyers only, please.

I work during the day so ill be showing the bike between 5pm-7pm on weeknights.

Drop a Dime to Garrett at (949) 584-3492 and he will tell you all you may want to know about his fun Bar Hopper.

A 1978 KZ400-C1

The Kawasaki KZ400/Z400 is a street motorcycle that was produced by Kawasaki between 1974 and 1984. The 398cc displacement of the twin cylinder engine was increased to 443cc for the KZ440/Z440. The later KZ400-J used a 399cc four cylinder engine.

Bore and Stroke	64.0 x 62.0 mm
Displacement	399 cc
Compression ratio	9.4
Engine oil	3.0L of SE class SAE 10W40, 10W50, 20W40 or 20W50
Cyl. numbering	LTR 1-2
Ignition pattern	1-2
Spark plugs	NGK D8EA or ND X24ES-U

Transmission data

	KZ400-J
1st gear	2.57 (36/14)
2nd gear	1.78 (32/18)
3rd gear	1.38 (29/21)
4th gear	1.13 (27/24)
5th gear	0.96 (25/26)
6th gear	0.85 (23/27)
Primary red. ratio	3.28 (27/23*67/24)
Final red. ratio	2.50 (40/16)
Overall drive ratio	6.98 (Top Gear)

So, at $2300 this is a steal to be honest, Garrett is located in Irvine California. Drop him and dime and have a chin wag as this is a super deal. (949) 584-3492.

Also, to inspire you, here are a few KZ400 Motorcycles that have had the Custom touch, so have a look and see what you think, I am sure this will get your design juices flowing as the platform bike is already there, just takes some imagination.

See how fun these can look with just a little more work and you will get plenty of on lookers for sure if you went this route with the bike advertised.

Lots of options that you can attempt on this little 400 bikes and something I would do for sure.

Look how cool this 400 model is, a fun set up and you could go that route if you are into it.

So there you go, I did my Bit, give him a Call and tell him that Carpy sent ya.

Good luck.

We have a Meet up tomorrow in Fullerton if you are interested.

Posted on September 12, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

12 Sep

Always a great place to meet up, swap a few stories, have some food and beverages and have a look at life on 2 wheels, if you can make it out to Fullerton, it will be great to see you, always a fun night and always great Motorcycles turn up.

If you are into Motorcycles, the old school style of these machines, and enjoy meeting like minded people, then come along as you are always welcome in our group, we are close knit family style Motorcycle club that enjoys riding to interesting places and like this meet, we like to just hang out and chat to other Guys and Gals that like what we are into.

We shall be at Roscoe’s in Fullerton from 6:30pm onward, be great to see you, no hang ups, no attitude just great people. see you there tomorrow.

Glemseck 101

Posted on September 11, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

11 Sep

Our definition of the Glemseck 101 after eleven successful rounds:

The Glemseck 101 is a European »motorcycle happening« taking place in Germany with tens of thousands of visitors, guests and participants who represent the full range of the motorcycle scene and who live the »Spirit of the 101« for three entire days.

In Round 12, for three days and two hot nights, we will again revive this special »Spirit of the 101« for with loud, powerful sounds and full throttle. 2017, you will again find a grand stand at our legendary 1/8 mile and for the individual 101-sprints we are realizing new ideas – with exciting and spectacular bikes from throughout Europe plus their brands and designers. The Glemseck 101 in its 12th round will once again be »THE European Bike Festival« and »the place to be« – a happening of the wildest and best bikes, personalities and brands throughout the bike scene.

Make your own mind up, but looks like fun.

We need to have a 3 day weekend like this, on some private land where you can tun 1/8th mile and have some fun sprint racing.

Bung a few hay bales up and some speakers to let the public know who is racing what machine and where they have traveled from etc, would be a great idea.

So here are some photos that Marco Latorre took of the 2017 event in Germany.

looks like they have it every year and the meet gets bigger and bigger, one of these days I hope to travel to this as I get invites from time to time.

Just the sound of different engines revving and then taking off, whipping through the gearbox would be a cool thing to see and hear.

There could be all sorts of classes to make it fun and give you the opportunity to wring the neck out on your ride against somebody like minded.

Have a look and see what you lot think, looks like a win win to me.

I think if we ran something like this in Oct/November would be perfect as it will be overcast and not too hot.

I shall be doing a little investigating on what it would take to organize a meet such as this as I truly believe there would be plenty of interest in such an event for motorcycles.

So Monday I thought that at least you could look at a few pics and below there are a few videos to get your week off to a good start.

Drop me a line if you have any ideas too, the more the merrier. carpy@carpyscaferacers.com

I had better get back into the garage and knock some work out, have a great week everybody and hope you enjoy another Blog on here.

59 Club O.C. takes a Ride out to Palas Verdes July 9th.

Posted on July 12, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

12 Jul

Well, July came in fast and Hot, so hot infact I wasn’t too sure if I should jump on the Trumpy but once I slung on My leather jeans and boots, I knew I was committed to doing this ride and to be honest, even though it was crazy Hot here in La Mirada, we were riding to the coast and will at least get some Sea Breeze to help us cool down.

I really enjoy going out and riding with a bunch of friends and today was no exception.

So, we pulled the Triumphs out, I fueled up early in the Morning, Jenn went off and got hers whilst I lubed my chain, checked tire pressure and did a visual inspection on my Thruxton, as everybody should really do when they are going on a ride. Once that was completed, we waited for Tim Albright who is a mate of ours, and is a 59 Club member as well as living just up the road from us, soon as he pulled up, we got ready to make the trip to the Meet up, of which that was a few miles up the road at a Burger joint.

Plenty of people turned up for this July ride and was great to see some Newbies that had seen our posting for a ride and have them come hang out and see what the 59 Club is all about.

Fellow Brit Brendan Cowman turned up on his Thruxton Ace, he is originally from Birmingham and an Aston Villa fan, I cant hold that against him though. LOL.

We all made sure we had fuel and discussed quickly the route that we would be taking, going to Palas Verdes will be a nice change and, even though it was hot as hell right now, I knew the sea air would be a lot cooler as we got closer to the beaches etc.

Jennifer lead for a bit and I was super stoked to see her take the lead, its fun to see everyone having fun, we had fun right out of the Bat as Amanda forgot her license, so whilst she went and got that, we got ready and then left a few minutes later and turned up outside her house, such a blast as I am sure the neighbors must of wondered what the hell was going on as 16 riders pull up on Triumphs and Moto Guzzi and stop outside Amanda’s house.

Soon as we did that we took a couple of pics and made our way to the cooler part of SoCal, even if it was only a couple of degree’s, it would make all the difference., the ride was pretty hot to start of with but the closer to the Sea you got, the better the air was becoming, something I think we all needed with this crazy weather pattern we have now.

The ride was fun as we took side streets and only got separated for a few seconds as having 16 riders can take the road up and the traffic lights caught us out, but being an organised club, soon as they notice missing riders, the main group pull over to wait for us. It worked out really well and enjoyed the ride through the back streets, although long beach was an eye opener but fun none the less.

We rode up past terminal island and into Palos Verdes, the smooth winding Coastal roads were a nice change, although we did have a huge Van going slow for a few miles, but laughing at the people playing Gold at Trumps place made it worth while.

We stopped off in this parking lot opposite the sea and found a really cool Pub that was tucked in the corner of a bunch of Nail salons etc, called OFlahertys Tap House and boy was it a fun little Bar, the Barman was a great laugh and made us all what we wanted, we stayed there at least 90 minutes, soaking up a few suds and having some food, looking at old Platinum albums and cassette tapes in frames and vintage guitars, it suited the barman who was with out a shadow of a doubt an old school headbanger.

Although Steve Fellon Below looked like he had one too many! LOL!

It made for a superb stop to be honest and gave us some time to cool down and have a chine wag with everyone, and after a couple of Lager Shandys, I was ready to get back on the Tarmac once more and have a fun ride back.

There were 16 Riders and it was a good turn out, everyone was great, no issues and no break downs, and as we went up through the twisties I took a video or two just to keep and show later on.

A fun day out and more to come as we head on into the riding year with many great places to visit.

We always have fun, no pressure, no attitude, just a great time with all.

If you want to come and ride with us sometime, always check out our schedule at:

https://www.meetup.com/Carpys-Cafe-Racer-Meetups/

Thanks for looking and if you need any more info, you can drop me a dime at.

714-598-8392 Text or call.

or email at:

carpy@carpyscaferacers.com More than happy to help.

Thanks again for reading my Blog today.

Classic Japanese Cafe Racers

Posted on April 4, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

04 Apr

People know me for the CB750 Honda, and that inline four is one of the most robust motors out there, but many other Brands are just as good, the Kawasaki Z model and the infamous Suzuki GS model too.

Here is just a couple of videos I saw and thought I would share today for my Blog.

Enjoy.

A quick look at the bikes of Yester -Year when I was a teenager.

Posted on February 16, 2017January 30, 2020 by Steve Carpenter

16 Feb

Well, seeing as it is Throw Back Thursday, here is a great little video of some super bikes of the day, I am sure that many of you will remember most of these unique machines that scared the crap out of you when you wound the throttle on.

LOCATION | 6TH ANDERSON [NEW VENUE]

615 S ANDERSON ST

LOS ANGELES, CA 90023

TIME | 12 – 9 PM

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