Archive for January, 2012

Early Egli

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Way back in the 1980’s, I took these photos at one of the CAMA motorcycle shows.  The Egli section organizer, David Dunfey, says it has some original features that identify it as an early Egli, probably one of the first ten made.  Does anyone know of this bike or who would have taken it to a CAMA show?

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February Meeting

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

The February meeting will be a repeat of last month’s venue, Bill Easter’s loft, 6 PM Saturday the 4th.  Pot luck again, Bill will provide pizza and his usual dessert, and asks that you coordinate with him for your dish selection.

Hansen Dam April 2006

Friday, January 27th, 2012

Flock of Vincents at Hansen Dan April 2006

Flock of Vincents

Vincenteering in Ireland 1

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Here is the start of a new blog category, where I will try to maintain a log of the Vincent activity I can stir up here in Dublin, and also the rest of Ireland, with a little bit about the experience of moving to another country.

First, a quick recap.  Corina and I arrived on Dec first, and moved right in to the temporary apartment my employer arranged. It is a decent enough place, but it is in an area that we later found out is not so great.  After a couple of days off, I started right in at work the following Monday.  We had looked at rental listings before we left, and we knew that unfurnished rental properties are rare over here.  Even more rare are garages, so the combination was going to be tough.  What was even tougher are the listing agents.  We couldn’t get in contact with most.  We only actually had two or three agents show us a property.  Luckily, many property owners handle the listing themselves.  They were easy to work with.  We looked at a few properties that were either a nice house in a bad area, or a not so nice house in a good area, or the garage wasn’t included since the owner was storing stuff.  Then the holiday season hit, and the country comes to a halt.  We found a listing for what looked like a suitable place, but it wouldn’t be available for a yearly lease until April.  My company was only paying for one month at the temporary apartment, and we really didn’t want to stay there on our own dime for the reason mentioned plus a few other reasons.  Then, I noticed the ad had been updated, and it would be available Feb 1st.  We were having such a hard time viewing other properties, we decided to extend our stay in the temp apartment one more month.  The owners were really nice to deal with, and we made the deal.  We move in Feb 2nd.  Meanwhile, the shipping container with our belongings and motorcycles arrived January 6th, and cleared customs within a few days.  The contents are being stored, waiting to be delivered to our rental home the day we move in.

Now the interesting part, getting the motorcycles registered and insured, and getting a driving license.  It looks like I will have to go through the whole licensing process, written test, road test, provisional license, then full license.  The USA is not a country that Ireland recognizes existing licenses from.

I knew the names of a couple of Vincent owners here in Dublin, and had been in email contact with them.  One was spending most of December in Florida, so a week or so after arriving, Peter Redmond and I arranged to meet at a pub near our temp apartment.  Peter rode his Royal Enfield and we had a nice quick visit.

Jump forward past the holidays, and I sent an email to Henry Martini and Peter to see if the three of us could get together.  Peter said he would pick me up in his car and drive over to Henry’s, so last Saturday we did just that, and a fourth Vincent owner, Gerry Clarke, from the west coast near Galway, was there too, having ridden a modern BMW over to Henry’s.  After a nice lunch provided by Henry, we spent a couple of hours out in the garage admiring Henry’s 1300cc Vincent with disc brakes and a few other nice mods.  We will try to continue the get togethers every month or two.

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Ned on a Vincent?

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

Wow, I read in K17 that Ned showed up at the Norton ride on a Vincent.  Can it really be true?    – from Steve D.

Al Mark and engine #3

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

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Al Mark with his wife Nina on his Beautiful Vincent no.3.

Al was a past section organizer, and a long time club member.

A man of many talents. Al is no longer with us, but we will

never forget him.  Gods speed Al.

Bikemike

Off and Running, the First Meeting of the Year

Monday, January 9th, 2012

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Well, I’ve only been attending these meetings for about 35-40 weeks now as opposed too some in the section who have been doing so for nearly that many years! I’ve enjoyed all the gatherings up to this point, but this was the most fun so far. Perhaps it was the venue as much as it was well attended.

The meeting was held at the section headquarters AKA Bill Easter’s loft and, speaking for myself,  I think that this made for a comfortable setting. I must qualify these remarks by saying that, all the meetings I have attended have been comfortable and welcoming, but there is was certainly less inhibition at the clubhouse and for those who have hosted other meetings I have attended please do not misconstrue my observation. All the meetings have been a blast, but the clubhouse affords a special experience. Considering that you must go through Bill’s home to access the loft and in doing so you pass a good deal of motorcycle literature, as well as actual motorcycle history below the loft. Suffice to say there are various motorcycles in addition to Bill’s Vincents.

The Loft provides a wealth of seating as well as a couple of bars to obtain refreshment. Of course there were many Vincent signs and even some evidence of  the Vincent’s record breaking abilities in the form of a Bonneville speed record certifications! I’m sure that the more one visits, the more one will see.

We had a good bit of food to help soak up the libation and we even held a meeting!

Initial plans for the years possible journeys and picnics, etc were outlined. Stay tuned to K 17 and this Blog for specifics when they become available.

Here’s a couple of pictures submitted as proof of these allegations. I seemed to get Bill Easter’s back each time and he was a superlative host as one would expect.

Afterwards, I had a constructive discussion with Mitch Talcove regarding the sorting of my Rapide (which is almost complete). I feel like this is only the beginning and I look forward to my continuing education.

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The pictures do not do the gathering justice. If anyone has any pictures or anecdotes or both, please send them to me and I will disseminate them to the Section masses.

Here’s to a great 2012, it’s off to a good start so far!

Cheers