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It's been a while, but here we go with one of the coolest bikes we've seen for a while, hopefully worth the wait . . . .

Often, the simplest things in life give us the greatest pleasures, and to prove it we have this lovely little Triumph bobber.
Now, as usual, there is a large degree of guesswork in establishing what the chop was based on. Starting with the frame, we're going for an early to mid-Fifties stock frame: although bolt-on hardtail conversions were common additions during the 'Easy Rider' years, the rear spindle bracket has a 'factory' look to it. For the heart of the bike, its engine, we have plumped for a later Fifties, possibly early Sixties pre-unit engine and gearbox combo (Triumph finally phased out pre-unit construction around 1962).
The front forks could be Triumph, but as so many different makes are interchangeable we couldn't be sure, especially as the brake doesn't seem to match any pictures of Triumph ones that we could find. Although the fuel tank looks perfect in bright flame orange, that too doesn't look very Triumph, and the seat is an aftermarket Bates-type, the headlamp also looking very 'Bates'.

Actually, we were about ready to upload this feature, when we spotted the bike again at the NASC Nationals over August Bank Holiday: the rear mudguard had now been painted, and the forks shrouded, giving a subtly different, more finished look. This left us in a bit of a quandary - do we stick with the original, now out of date, look, or go with the new one?
Well, we couldn't decide, so we'll leave it up to you.

Still keeping things simple, and harking back to, well, er . . . a couple of years ago, we bring you one of the nicest hot rod pickups around. At least it was, as it's now a bright red Model A Roadster!
One of the projects in our garage is a '29 A-pickup, so this one was a particular favourite. Far straighter and cleaner than any pickup ever left the factory, it was the subject of a magazine feature in 2000, riding on a set of (tasteful) billet wheels. It looked great then, but when we caught up with it in the flesh in early 2001, at the NASC season-opener at Drayton Manor, it was even better! Why? Well, it now sat on a set of tall black-wall rubber, wrapped around black-painted steels, with early Mercury hubcaps adding a bit of flash to the centres.
And why is it now a little red Roadster? Well, the cab and bed were sold off (someone got a bargain), and replaced by a '29 Roadster body, equally straight and well-finished, and as bright as the truck was dark.

We've been pretty busy lately, and have been making a bit of an effort to get at least one bike or car project finished before next summer. Since we're going to spend a bit less time at the desk, and a bit more time in the garage, updates will be more 'occasional', but we'll still do what we can.