'61 Greeves Hawkstone Scrambler

[DRGSin393]

Im glad this old thread has been updated. looking forward to more of the progress and the retrospective dialogue.

[Tracker]

That is a cool picture Tracker, really cool.
Did you make any of those brass parts?

Also a neat article below on Tokiwa's (Cinco) by Tom Marshall that is in this months Dist 37 newsletter. Sure brings back a lot of memories.
Scroll down to about page 7.

In my Amal research I found that the older ones had a lot of parts made of brass. All of the brass parts on this one were zinc plated. When I cleaned off the old zinc I kind of liked the look and didn't re-plate them. The top cap is brass too. I plated it to tighten up the threads but I think I'll strip the outer surface.
My Dad used to wake me up as we were coming up on the Tokiwa's place. I'm sure you remember that across the street there used to be several thousand acres of alfalpha growing. We'd take the pellet gun and get that evening's dinner when the cottontails would cooperate. Yes, we had the farmer's permission.
One of my brothers is in that club called the "Clampers". They use the property to stage whenever they have a "Clamp-out" ().
Edit: The Caswell "Copy-Cad" plating for zinc is as good as their ad says. The cleaning is a pain but the actual plating is cool.

[TRexRacing]

Please keep updating.I love bringing back vintage iron.You are going to ride it aren't you?

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by TRexRacing

Please keep updating.I love bringing back vintage iron.You are going to ride it aren't you?

I may not ride it like it was meant to be ridden but it will be race-ready and go out to a couple events. I'm pretty sure these old bones need another foot of suspension travel at each end.
I do have a drag race planned against a guy with a really sweet (and stock) Ossa Stiletto.

[Mainjet2001]

Originally Posted by Tracker

My Dad used to wake me up as we were coming up on the Tokiwa's place. I'm sure you remember that across the street there used to be several thousand acres of alfalpha growing. We'd take the pellet gun and get that evening's dinner when the cottontails would cooperate. Yes, we had the farmer's permission.

I remember that alfalfa because when we drove past there in the heat (90-100 degs) as the area was cooler. Yep we used to ride out there when it was that hot and also rode over there in the alfalfa and got in the spray from the sprinklers a few times.
Tracker, my son and Charley rode their small trail bikes together when they were about 12 yrs old. I knew Warren and Tokiawa and remember Warren's bad health. He used to come to the races and just set in his car to watch when he had really bad health. They were really neat folks.
Ran the Prospector's Enduro out of there more than once.
Damn, I miss all that.

Would sure like to see you drag race that Stiletto.

[Tracker]

It's surprising how vivid the memories can be when they were about those times and places. It's like I can remember every trip. Our group's "spot" was in Jawbone. Directly south and across the road from the green mountain is a short dead-end canyon that is protected from the wind. Even today if I go by there I almost expect to see our bikes and trucks parked at the end of the road.
If you ever found yourself asking, "What's that?" in reference to an odd bike or two in the area it may have been one of us. Ducati's weren't very well known or cool back then and people tended to make faces when they saw us. A friend of my dad's had a shop that sold them so it was easy to keep them running. They were good thumpers in an era when the choices were very limited.
The Greeves should be done by this fall. All I need is the time to do the tedious work since I'm too cheap to pay someone to do it. I'm re-plating all of the nuts and bolts right now. And as long as the buckets are brewing the '73 RT3 stuff is getting done too.

[Mainjet2001]

Tracker, every time you say something it's bringing back memories.
Camped out a lot in that same canyon. My father-in-law had a 350 Ducati with a greeves leading link front end. It was the same time period and you may have seen it. The Ducati had a low center of gravity because of the big lower case and it sure was easy to power slide.
Came down that long sand hill by the pipeline a bunch of times. Prospectors loved running everyone down that hill in their enduros.
Sadly I remember the 1st time we ran into a fence across the Jawbone wash and later on found out why....another (sad) story.

[OLDMXRACER 393]

You guys keep on reminicin'. I'm enjoying this!

[Mainjet2001]

Hey Tracker....going to Slash X tomorrow.

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

Hey Tracker....going to Slash X tomorrow.

USDR had one race out there and none since. The rest have all been in the Spangler hills area. I've killed a chukar or two at the guzzler off the pipeline road. Steer clear of the Bell Mtn side of that area. The popo is finally clamping down.
Oh no. The "Duke of Earl" was real. I never saw it but several from our group did see it. It was one of those things we puzzled about but never really knew the story. If your father-in-law lived in the South-bay / Long Beach area he may have bought his Ducati parts from my dad's friend, Jack Simmons Suzuki. Those old bevel-drive singles were tough. We had several of them. I no longer have the guts to go on Ebay and see what they are selling for.

[Mainjet2001]

"the Duke of Earl", LOL....now that is cool.
Some times that greeves brake squeaked coming down hills and kinda sounded like that tune, "My Real Name Is Mr. Earl"
oops....tipped my Carona over.

Went way out Stodard Wells Rd past Centeral Rd. and rode to Slash X. Burgers were killers.
Had a good time (7 riders).

[Tracker]

Originally Posted by Mainjet2001

"the Duke of Earl", LOL....now that is cool.
Some times that greeves brake squeaked coming down hills and kinda sounded like that tune, "My Real Name Is Mr. Earl"
oops....tipped my Carona over.

Went way out Stodard Wells Rd past Centeral Rd. and rode to Slash X. Burgers were killers.
Had a good time (7 riders).

I can't say we ever heard the brakes. The name would more likely have come from it being a Duke with an Earl front end. I think the song you are thinking about is "Speedo" by the Cadillacs.
The vintage races / swapmeet were cool too. We bought some junk, sold some junk, and watched races in between. Lots of Ducati bevel drives. My favorite bike today was a 1934 Husky 500 V twin road racer. The owner rode it around after the judging too. My fingers got a rest today so I'll be cleaning and plating a bunch more Greeves nuts and bolts tomorrow.

[TRexRacing]

Here's a picture of the Husky close up.Beautiful piece of work.

[paul reed]

wow - jake brake - earles leading link front end - a very historical machine - thanks for the pictures and old school lesson.

[Tracker]

I may never know who's names are engraved on the top fin of the Marcelle cylinder. I enhanced the writing with pencil so it would show in the pic.

I'd like to think that Nick Nicholson and Bill Landfield had something to do with this motor. Nicholson was of course the Greeves man and Landfield was a LA area dirt rider that won the Catalina GP one year on a DOT. DOTs were supposedly the only Villiers-based dirt bike that used the Marcelle cylinder and head, which were available to fit Alpha cases which I have.
I know- This is a lot of speculation with little evidence to go with it. Maybe somebody looking at the pic will know something.
Thanks to Jack Simmons, former Ascot terror and AMA #88, for the tip on Landfield.

[TRexRacing]

This is turning out to be a cool resurrection.

[Tracker]

Two setbacks today. I didn't take pictures so I might better forget in the near future.
Yesterday I picked up my rims from Xx Xxxxx Chrome and I was on cloud 9. I almost gave the guy a tip they looked so good. I half jokingly asked him, "Are you sure these are mine. They look too good." This morning when I went to start lacing I discovered a small problem: The nipples wouldn't go through the holes.
Ah. The copper and chrome are so thick the holes got tight.
Then I looked at the hole pattern to find my starting place. No. This can't be.
Let's see. an 18" WM3 Dunlop and a 19" WM2 Dunlop? Yup. 40 holes? Yup.
So I call the shop and the owner says he hasn't had any other British rims in the shop for quite some time. I must be mistaken. No; the Greeves spoke nipples are huge and won't come close to going through the holes of the rims he gave me. And, the hole pattern for what's called a "conical" hub is pretty distinct. He asked if I could call back next week.
This may get ugly.
Oh yeah. I mentioned having two setbacks. While I was staring at these two beautiful rims I can't use one started to roll on the workbench and I reached for it. I caught it, but in the process I bumped my NOS 1961 Villiers / Hepolite standard bore piston which rolled off the workbench and hit square on the corner of the skirt. Yup. It broke.

[TRexRacing]

Yeah you lose my vintage parts and it will get ugly.

[Tracker]

My luck is swinging from one extreme to another. I went to check email a little while ago and there was a "You Won" notice from Ebay. I forgot that I had even bid on these:

These are tank badges from Greeves of the same era as mine. The "Sports" rocker means it was from a street bike tank but that's OK, I have the street (large) tank.
I did a little dance around the room and then checked my work email. That wasn't a good thing to do because I discovered that Arnold S. (my boss) is giving us another furlough day. That brings my pay cut to 13.7%.
In the scheme of household finances, vintage bike restoration is hard to justify when times get tough.

[TRexRacing]

Any progress or good news?