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Did a "church" ride a couple of months ago, ride through the villages taking pics of their churches, here's the results   Beckingham all saints Claypole,Saint Peters  

The weather didn't look too bad this morning so I got the trike out,filled my drinking bottle with water and put a couple of banana's in the bag and set off for Lincoln,Brayford warfe to be exact,five

Met up with a new friend today who has just moved into the next village to us,I saw him last week when I was riding back home along the cycle/footpath between our two villages,it was then he told me h

2 hours ago, philmayfield said:

The 'classic' cars with wire wheels have handed spinners to secure them. They're usually marked with an arrow to show the direction of tightening. Incidentally I've been invited to a classic car meet today but the organiser has been in touch to say, because of the vagaries of the weather, it's OK to bring a modern car if you don't want to get your classic dirty. I think he's ordered lots of food and he doesn't want to be eating it all himself next week. Mines a modern classic so I'm OK either way!

 

Where's the classic car show at  ???

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Well just returned from the ‘classic’ show. Quite interesting seeing cars that I saw when they were originally new plus a few pre war. I think it’s cured my desire for another classic. Nice to get back in my modern car with all the gizmos. Do I really want to spend Sunday mornings balancing the carbs and adjusting the timing? Not really, nice to look at other people’s cars though. I must admit I did like the XK150 in British Racing Green!

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Cutting the 5 BA thread onto the 3 mm bar,the other end had have a rivet head hammered into it,I had to make a small die to put the other end of the steel in, I did this by drilling a 3.5mm hole in a steel plate, to get the rivet shape I needed I had to counter sink that hole, I heated up the end of the steel until it was glowing then fastened it in the vice and put my home made die over it and started to form the "rivet head" by hammering it into the counter sunk hole, perfect, a nice rivet head hat fits into the wheel rim hole, then I cut the steel to the correct length 412 mm and started the cut the thread (are you keeping up with this Ben?) nice spokes ready for fitting, I have to buy more steel bar this week, not cheap but I'm in no rush to finish the project

P1060899.jpg

 

Rog

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Thankyou for that Phil, It's an interesting project and some of the problems are quite unique, most of the stuff being blacksmith made I should imagine probably built in a small workshop or shed like mine, another project I have on at the moment is trying to restore an old Petter single cylinder petrol engine that has not run for many years, It's the other side of the village so I'm doing that in the guy's garage, took the magneto off last week and fettled it,now got a good spark, carb all cleaned and oil drained, I'm going there next week to put everything back together,so from a completely dead engine that the guy was going to have as a garden feature is now looking more like a working engine,got to keep busy mate

 

Rog

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I was looking at a Westfield 11 today at the classics show. That's a modern copy of the original Lotus 11.  Having seen it I'm quite tempted to buy the GRP kit and build one. I do have the donor vehicle, a 1250 MG Midget, in the back of the garage. I did build a Caterham from a kit once but that was over 25 years ago. Maybe getting a bit too cold now for working outside in the garage. I'll wait until the Spring and think again. Maybe getting too old - probably couldn't get into one now!

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I’ve just remembered - I did restore a 1952 grey Fergie TED tractor a few years ago. Trouble is, when it’s working what do you do with it? It’s outside under a cover now and I bring it out for ‘open gardens’ where the kids can sit on it and have their ‘photos taken. In fact it’s usually the big kids!

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Get restoring/building stuff Phil, keeps the old grey cells alive and problems solving keeps the old dementia stuff away

 

Rog

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Plantfit - your solution to making new spokes was exactly the way that I was thinking. As i said earlier I am so pleased that the old ordinary is being re built. It was given to me by a fellow apprentice at the ROF in 1958. I got it in roadworthy condition and a close friend rode it in a 10 mile TT. He was only 5' 1" tall so riding it was possible. He made the low slung pedals to give a bit of leg room. I have not had time to restore it due to being overburdened with various other projects. I have to rebuild a scratter for next w/e cider making and also a special fly rod to use before the season ends. The Petter engine starts up quite easily and it will be driving the big scratter eventually. It will also be in service at next years Staffordshire County Show along with scratters and press.

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45 minutes ago, plantfit said:

Get restoring/building stuff Phil, keeps the old grey cells alive and problems solving keeps the old dementia stuff away

 

Rog

I do two crosswords at breakfast to keep the brain working but, like you, I do enjoy restoring things. I don’t have a lot of patience though - I’m more for instant gratification!

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I can understand what you are saying Phil but after retiring and realising that more time is available for getting things done, instant seems less important, I have lots of different projects on, as well as trike riding,pigeon shooting,gardening, odd jobs around the house,cooking/baking,visiting markets in Notts villages and of course restoring the penny farthing and various old engines

 

Rog

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Terry, thanks for those kind words, I'm enjoying the project as you are aware, funny how making that little die for the spoke ends is the same way as you'd have done it, I think most basic engineering tasks follow the same route with little variation, I'm going to order some more steel this week,( 500mm X 3mm) I only get half a dozen pieces at a time but they keep me fairly busy with riveting,cutting, threading and cleaning then eventually fitting them to the rim and hub, when I took it and the engine to the village fete it generated a lot of interest,( I never got chance to look around the show myself because of the amount of people wanting to talk about the penny or the engine,the most frequently asked question was "did you ride it here?" then came the explanation about not enough spokes yet and how the spokes are being made etc, the progress photo's of both project created a lot of interest from the crowds as well so people could see what I started with and where I had got to, people are used to seeing me on the trike and some of them said they will have to get used to me riding the penny as well, they must think there's something strange about me but I just love cycles and cycling

 

Rog

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Glad the 'penny' is creating interest. It originated in the Durham area. A lot of stuff was made in the North East  C1900. Almost like the Black country for machinery and transport.

Re Phil's remarks about crosswords keeping the mind active. I do several puzzles every day but it is thought that doing projects that require original and creative thinking is of more value. Also, that regular exercise is even more beneficial for mental well being than mental exercise itself!  I do an indoor row most mornings. Just over 10k this morning. What with that and the projects, I should become a genius by the time I'm a hundred :biggrin:

ps - also starting a new business.....

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These could be space ships but I don't think they are really, I took this picture on a trike ride between Fenton and Claypole Notts,not far from Balderton, all the way down the road I could see these large spheres on the electric wires, all I can think they might be are covers for joints in the cable but it does seem a bit of overkill for a simple joint, one suggestion from a member of a cycling website suggest they could be floats to raise the cable above the water level in the event of a flood slywinkI think he had been drinking, anyway all suggestions will be considered

 

P1060591.jpg

 

Rog

 

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It reminded me of when I flew into the now disused airfield at Winthorpe where Newark gliding club were once based. There was a row of pylons together with their cables on the approach from the Lincoln side - obviously put up after it was an active military airfield. It was debatable whether to fly over or under the cables. I voted for over and then chopped the power!

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