Rjukan`s industry fire brigade

February 28, 2015, 8:05 am

≫ Next: American Motorcycles Norway / Pics from Yesterdaze

Rjukan`s motorized fire brigade
I have previously posted pictures on this blog, showing Rjukan`s motorized fire brigade and their Indian motocycles.
Time goes by fast, quite a while ago I gave a hand with translating a text regarding this brigade, and the unknown destiny of the Indians once used by them. This text was authored by Andre whom we know as the owner of the "famous"Spanjola four, another bike previously presented on this blog.
Andre wrote this article to the International Indian magazine, hence some might have seen it before. Finally I got time to get the article on this blog (with Andre`s permission off course), and what is great news i managed to get some great photos from Rjukan Industrial museums archives to follow the words by Andre, big thanks to them.

Rjukan’s Indian-Motocycle fire brigade.

Rjukan, a Norwegian community tucked in the bottom of a valley between high mountains in county of Telemark.

Prior to 1906 “Rjukan” was just a rural area known for the nearby waterfall, the Rjukan falls. This would soon be changed.

Sam Eyde, founder of Norsk Hydro and Norway’s most famous industrial pioneer, bought the land and the waterfall rights. By 1911 the tamed waterfalls would become power source to create synthetic nitrogen by the use of a huge electric arc, a method invented by Hydros co-founder and scientist Kristian Birkeland, the so called: Eyde-Birkeland method. The synthetic nitrogen was used in Norsk Hydro’s new plant as part of their process to fabricate Norges saltpeter, a fertilizer product which in turn would modernize agriculture worldwide.

When Sam Eyde and Hydro’s generator plant and factory where ready to start producing, the total cost was by then Norway’s largest single investment.

To ensure their investments Hydro built a new and modern fire station inside the factory and a new brigade was organized. In 1919 the fire station invested in two Indian 1000cc Powerplus sidecar outfits to be able to reach a fire in less time than by the earlier non-motorized brigade.

Indian motorcycles were a well-known brand in Rjukan at the time. This because many factory engineers were keen motorcycle riders, they even organized a motorcycle club in 1919 (the first club outside the capitol in Norway, Christiania). Indian was considered to hold a high quality, it was reliable and there is no doubt that the red Indian color fit the fire brigade well.

The fire brigade Indians got an aluminum box mounted on the rear of the sidecar frame carrying 1oo meters of hose and hydrant connecting equipment. The sidecar also carried a modern chemical extinguisher. Each bike had a crew of three men. A third Powerplus was added in 1920 as well as a F.W.D. fire truck.

Due to its modern equipment and its new fire station, Rjukan fire station was presented in Norsk Motorblads (a magazine covering the news of all motorized vehicles in Norway at the time) Christmas issue in 1921. A proud brigade leader could inform Norsk Motorblads readers that the Indians had been the first to reach the scene of fire in more than 100 occasions, this both at the factory and in the town around. Their Indians would travel at speeds up to 70 km`s at straight roads, both winter and summer.

What happened to Rjukan fire brigade Indians?

During the late twenties Hydro’s factory at Rjukan became less profitable and was rebuilt to produce with less energy consumption. This in turn created a bi-product, the heavy water which real name is deuterium oxide. This could become an important ingredient in Germanys attempt to create a nuclear bomb during WWII. The export of the bomb material was sabotaged by Norwegian resistance in some very daring actions in 1943 -44.

In 1965 the movie "Heroes from Telemark " was filmed in Rjukan, where Kirk Douglas was the main actor. This was a film based on sabotage actions in Rjukan, among them at the heavy water factory that was placed in a steep mountainside, as an ancient castle. The film was made by the Hollywood producer Anthony Mann and the film crew was in part British.

According to a story told by a Rjukan local some years ago, the Indians went with the film crew back to England after their last take. Huge interest for old motorcycles had not yet seen its light in Norway. The fire brigade Indians was supposedly still in a very good condition.

This story has not yet been confirmed by other sources.

It would be of great interest to the Norwegian Indian club to find out the destiny of those bikes. Their identity is as follows;

License plate number H-338, first registered in Norway 11-07-1919, engine number 83 M 518

License plate number H-339, first registered in Norway 05-09-1919, engine number 83 M 846

License plate number H-382, first registered in Norway 14-05-1920, engine number 74 M 819

Pic1.

Rjukan`s motorized firebrigade. Chief Berg is seated in the front sidecar, brigade leader in sidecar two and second leader in the third. Order in the ranks!

Pic2.

Indian H-339 from Rjukans firebrigade. The box for fire equipment at rear of the sidecar, picture used by Norsk Motorblad 1921.

Pic3.

Rjukan`s firebrigade on their way back from the town Rjukan to the factory.

Pic4.

Rjukan`s firebrigade pictured inside the factory.

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American Motorcycles Norway / Pics from Yesterdaze

March 7, 2015, 8:12 pm

≫ Next: Bror With.

≪ Previous: Rjukan`s industry fire brigade

This proud young gentleman is dressed in the latest motorcycle fashion and ready to take off on his dark green Excelsior from the Schwinn factory in Chicago.

Bike is equipped with acetylene lights front and rear, manual Klaxon horn is located such that sudden braking should be avoided. This is an early photo, easily recognizable as there is registration plate only at front of the bike.

That the Schwinn water transfer decal on the primary cover is still intact tells us the bike is pretty fresh from the shop.

Another pic of this beautiful Excelsior motorbike. The rider with his back towards the camera observe his mates checking out his ride.

This is one lucky lad!

D-1593 - a small Cleveland two stroke motorcycle is all this local farmer needs to get to town.

Two lucky couples out for a ride on their Injun Motocycles.

One of the Ms`s ride the sidecar, the other on the pillion seat of those early PP models. This is another early photo, front bike have no reg plate at rear, the combination have reg plate on the sidecar, both are details from the early years of Norwegian motorcycle sport.

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Bror With.

March 11, 2015, 7:08 pm

≫ Next: Getting ready for a new season

≪ Previous: American Motorcycles Norway / Pics from Yesterdaze

There are reasons our motorbike heritage rely on just a small number of survivors.
Back in the days, motorbikes was not scrapped, they was reused, again and again in various creations of technical character.
People had in general less money, hardly none, this was good for creativity and ingenuity. Like in this picture, where an old Excelsior have shared its engine and rear wheel to make a snowmobile.
The guy behind the steering wheel is Bror With, a Norwegian to become famous for his inventions, among them the "Rottefella" ski binding, the "Dromedille" speed boat and more.

Apparently young With inventions started with butchering old motorbikes.

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Getting ready for a new season

March 23, 2015, 3:24 pm

≫ Next: Pics from Yesterdaze!

≪ Previous: Bror With.

Pooh! Spring is coming closer so fast. I just realized I had a lot of work to be done to my bikes and Bessie girl was the first in line.
Had a pair of new Allstate Diamond tires for her, got them (and several more) from Takushi in Japan, thanks a lot.
I have already driven roughly 8000 km`s on Bessie in two summers since I completed the restoration.
As usual when there are no troubles I just ride, though I know I should have paid some attention to maintenance along the way.
Anyway, starting at rear working my way to the front I think all the issues are now taken care of.
The most surprising find was the amount of slack in the steering head bearings, I am really surprised this have happened and even more I havent noticed along the way during braking etc.
Another issue is I find there are quite a bit of depositions in the bottom of the oil tank around the magnet plug that I have used as a replacement for the drain plug. To make sure there was no issues I removed the timing cover checking the internal dirt traps. They was both OK, everything else looked find in there too, still I am a bit alerted.
Will try to change oil more often this summer.

Who is the next in line? Oh well, I will not run out of work.

"A bikers work is never done"

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Pics from Yesterdaze!

March 26, 2015, 7:42 am

≫ Next: Buco sport shield

≪ Previous: Getting ready for a new season

Two photos from Northern Norway, or to be more specific in Sulitjelma. Sulitjelma was and is a mining community where large amounts of copper have been mined during more than a hundred years.
This W registered Harley used to be ridden in Sulis. We can only imagine if it has survived.

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Buco sport shield

March 26, 2015, 3:16 pm

≫ Next: It is spring, though still cold!

≪ Previous: Pics from Yesterdaze!

Sometimes a job might become far more complicated than first thought. Like restoring an old Buco sport windshield I bought on e-bay a while back.
I wanted to fit a Buco sport shield to my 39 Knuck as I like to ride with a windshield. Having tried to bid on several on e-bay during some time I found there was obviously more people than me in need of those, hence prices have been pretty stiff. Then, this really smashed and beaten old Buco sport shield came up for sale. I could see that at least the frame had some potential. final bid was mine, 1 USD!
When the package arrived and opened I have to say I thought, puhh, this is going to be tough. I managed to make all the frame parts straight with some hammers and punches, and I even managed to clean up and carefully by adding heat get the red lower part pretty OK.
Now the hard part came up. Buco use very thin sheets in their windshields, and make them keep their form by adding a solid acrylic rod as edge trim, this edge trim is then secured by the windshield frame.
I was quite sure such a edge trim would be available to buy, I could not be more wrong.
Nowhere, I checked and e-mailed and even visited several guys working with plastics to earn their living, negative.
I ended up buying a solid rod, 5/16" (8mm), was very reasonable priced to my surprise. But how do I get a 5 mm deep and 1,5 mm wide slit in a piece of this rod?
Again I went to a professional, but sorry no they could only make 3mm wide slits as a minimum.
Back home I decided to make my own tool to make this slit, MKI by using a high speed wood edge trimmer, no luck as the high rpm`s got the saw to melt the acrylic.
MKII, now a drill with an adjustable rpm motor was used, far better at low rpm but when adding water to the saw during the cutting things really started to work well.
At last I had a 4 feet piece of rod with the correct slit.
Then came the job in carefully heating the rod with a hot air gun such that it could carefully be bent around the new made upper windshield piece I had made.
Whow did I get my neighbor sweaty as he was chosen to help me out in this matter.
Finally we where able to mount both windshield pieces in the frame, was not at all easy cause we had just four hands available, should have been at least six.
Lessons learned;
buy the expensive windshield on e-bay if you get a chance or you might get a handful of challenges that of course in its turn give a load of experience you might or might not need along the way.

Acryl rod slitting saw MKI, to high speed, didnt work as the acrylic got to hot and melted.

Principal of construction.

Acrylic rod slitting saw MKII, now low rpm by regulated drill motor.

Even with lower rpm the best solution was to water cool the saw when cutting in the acrylic rod.

Saw with a slitted piece of the acrylic rod laying in the back.

Making a template for the new Buco upper windshield part. The straightened Buco windshield frame resting in the back, waiting for the screen parts.

Old windshield parts and the finished template.

Ahh, finally done, unfortunately there was no pics from when cutting the acrylic rod nor when heating it to get it bent for the new shield. Both those operations demanded full concentration, picturing was no option.

Mounted on the 39 knuck.

Looking good?

Riders view.

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It is spring, though still cold!

April 8, 2015, 11:30 am

≫ Next: Cleveland Four

≪ Previous: Buco sport shield

Finally spring has come to a point where it is OK to ride around on an old Harley. This year winter was not that hard after all, hence smaller roads do have less gravel from when this is used on top of the snow to protect the cars from sliding out in the bends(sic!)
I prefer to keep the first rides on my old bikes along the cost, it is less cold and as just stated less gravel in the curves.
Now when I`m due to go back offshore for work I will look back at those first rides.

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Cleveland Four

April 10, 2015, 8:41 am

≫ Next: Militor

≪ Previous: It is spring, though still cold!

There are some guys I know that have had the old bike bug since "whenever". Svein is one of those guys, that I luckily lives close enough to drop by from time to time. It is fascinating to see what great restorations can be done without all sorts of fancy equipment at hand, Svein does it all, the old way.
Recently I got an interesting e-mail from Svein where some cool photos was added to. This was the remains of two Cleveland 4 motorcycles that in a rather short time during the early eighties surfaced in the Northern part of Norway, Svein had some of this for a while before passing on further.
This is what appears to be the first year Cleveland 4, a 1925 model from the chassis, but hey the motor don`t look as if a "Fowler" designed motor, neither does it look as the later 1926 to 1929 "De-Long" designed ones.
I will try to do some more investigations regarding this rather rare bird and what is today`s status.
Stay tuned.

Here is one add from the Norwegian news paper Aftenposten dated 1927 where Cleveland fours are for sale:

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Militor

April 10, 2015, 8:59 am

≫ Next: Pics from Yesterdaze

≪ Previous: Cleveland Four

I have for quite a while heard rumors there should be the remains of what appeared to be a Militor motorcycle engine in Mid Norway.
Finally I got to see this engine when I was visited by Kurt that borrowed it from its owner to show me.
And indeed it was a chopped up Militor motor that someone with brute force had cut the heads of by means of a grinder. lets just hope this violent act took place many many years ago.

I have previously found that Militor was represented by Lindzen & Robsahm in Kristiania, as well as their agent in mid-Norway "Nordisk maskin & Automobil kompani. Apparently they might have sold one of those great bikes too.
There is another add from the well known company Gresvig in Kristiania offering Militaires too. Gresvig where the ones later to sell ACE motorcycles.

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Pics from Yesterdaze

April 21, 2015, 9:37 pm

≫ Next: Success, finally success!!

≪ Previous: Militor

A great picture from the Danish beach at Fanø back in 1921. Per Chr. Herl on the Excelsior racer have the look of a winner in his face.

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Success, finally success!!

May 5, 2015, 10:19 am

≫ Next: Schebler DLX 53

≪ Previous: Pics from Yesterdaze

It's running, be damned it's running, finally.
Today is a great day, my friend Runes 1927 J model is finally running, and its running great.
If you have been by here before you might remember this was a bike Rune bought with what was supposed to be an overhauled engine, NOT!
Now, many kroner`s later and a bunch of hours its running as supposed to when it left the factory in Milwaukee back in 27. So what have we done with this "overhauled" engine to get it running?
A welded front cylinder (it was cracked), all new valves and valve guides, refurbished exhaust valve seats, new inlet valve pockets from Competition Distr. that have been carefully lapped to fit the cylinders, new inlet rocker arms with home made guides and bolts, new inlet pushrod ends, new inlet valve housing nuts, all new valve springs, all new seals for inlet manifold, a DLX carb that is now overhauled, we got that from the Halvtopp lads in Stockholm - thanks by the way, Toyota ignition points and a totally overhauled ignition point housing, and most off all a carefully assembled engine to ensure the pressure test of the inlet showed a satisfying result.
Its as simple as this with any engine, no vacuum in the inlet system, no gas is sucked and there is no explosion (most likely the engine lack compression too), hence the engine want run, period, end of story.
Am I pissed, yes.

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Schebler DLX 53

May 5, 2015, 2:47 pm

≫ Next: AMCA European chapter meet in Raalte (Holland)

≪ Previous: Success, finally success!!

Got this little gem from Roland in CA this weekend. A Schebler racing carb in such a great condition. The DLX 53 was made for hillclimb two cam motors back in 1927, a one year only and obviously an alternative to the AMX barrel racing carb!

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AMCA European chapter meet in Raalte (Holland)

May 19, 2015, 4:00 am

≫ Next: AMK spring meet Kristiansand

≪ Previous: Schebler DLX 53

As usual, I`m behind schedule with blog updates. Not that its that much going on, but hey there is some!

Here are a few of the umpteen pics we took during our 4 day stay in Raalte (Holland) to visit our first meet organized by the European AMCA chapter.

This long weekend was a great experience. A fantastic location close to the "American Motorcycle Museum" owned by Max and organized by himself and his friend Rob. We meet a bunch of friendly and dedicated guys and gals, some of whom we know from before, and several new.

The amount of bikes present, both at the museum and those owned by the participants at the meet was overwhelming, I have tried to present a few in this blog post.

Here are a two links to the www that I think presents the museum very well, its worth a visit if your nearby:

Youtube

Flickr

The location.

Finnish "Fiskis" and friend was out for a spin at the parking lot when we first came to the location.

Still one day ahead of the start, some people start to rig up.

An original paintFlying Merkle, sigh!

The Finnish corner.

One of the swap meet streets taking shape.

Polish vendors.

Goodies.

In Max and Robs "all for sale dept. Impressing!

Rob, the cashier and Max in the "all for sale" dept.

Shelves with Henderson parts.

Bikes start to arrive, some ridden, some by trailer.

Pelders had a sales stand.

Paulie aka Magnetozoo rode all the way from Gothenburg, impressing.

Below some bike shots taken during the weekend.

Norbert, one of the Harleysons from Germany and his last build, a frightening 37 Knuckle dragster.

Paul and Norbert`s 37 Knuckles, quite different in style.

Two beautiful Henderson KJ`s.

Steve Slocombe aka VL Heaven from UK showed up three of his Police VL`s.

This Excelsior was stunning.

Our French friend Olivier, he is a KnuckleJunkie! Here admiring the Norwegian AMCA representative`s low membership number.

Thomas, aka Americancycles showed up with his super Super X.

Cool sticker spotted on the Danish 48 Panhead.

Two of our Danish friends. Søren arriving by Knuckle, Villy on his 39 side valve.

Da boss Øyunn admiring a 09 HD.

Paul and Norbert enjoying the W&W Havana cigars.

Can there be to many pics of Paul`s 37 Knuck?

Sørens 37 Knuck, its a runner, more than 300000km`s should prove that?

To pics of one of my favorite Harleys, Harry Hacker`s famous 8 valve two cam.

Swiss 47 Knuckles.

Another famous bike, the German Canonball Henderson. Andreas the owner had ridden an entire day to come to the meet, of course by Henderson.

Duck.

Friday night.

Ferdy`s 28 two cam bob job.

Da boss ready for theAMCA Friday party.

Original paint.

Fork details, Ferdy`s bobbed two cam HD.

Smith Motor wheel.

A true beast!

Three wheelers.

The AMCA judges, thing start getting serious!

Ferdy starting his two cam for me to hear the growl of the engine!

Original paint PP.

Andreas 39 Knuckle, they of course rode from Germany.

Another view of the Dutch PP.

The Danes share their "Gammel Dansk" with two frosty Norwegians in the attic of the "American Motorcycle Museum".

Yes I know, they had Acetylene lights back then.

Below a bunch of pics from the museum.

Yes, yes its a Cleveland four, its only a chassis away from being a complete runner.

This old Indian was once ridden across the US by a 10 year old boy, no wonder they had to alter the seat height.

Paulie, Rowan and Olivier.

Ferdy taking off on the two cam bobber, not a bad ride for a gentleman who have passed 80.

Above some pictures from the Saturday evening banquet.

Below some happy price winners.

Norbert.

Paul.

Paulie.

Fiskis and friend.

Hope to be back in Raalte in 2016!

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AMK spring meet Kristiansand

May 19, 2015, 4:23 am

≫ Next: AMK spring meet at Frolands Verk

≪ Previous: AMCA European chapter meet in Raalte (Holland)

The local AMK branch run a one day event early May every year to start the season. This one came with hail storm clouds and some hails too. On my way home I got into some really nasty hail storms, Arghh!

Allan

Very few "old" cars, but here are a few of those present.

Not to many old bikes neither, but at least a few other than Bessie arrived, as this thirties Ariel Red Hunter and his little brother WN-G, an ex army bike supplied in huge numbers after the world to the Norwegian forces as a part of the Marshal plan.

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AMK spring meet at Frolands Verk

May 19, 2015, 4:27 am

≫ Next: Norwegian mountains in June!

≪ Previous: AMK spring meet Kristiansand

Imagine, a local event for old cars and bikes came up and the weather was nice!

For sure not have May been bothered with to much of neither sunshine nor heat, but at least the sun was present during my 1 hour ride to Froland verk where AMK Aust Agder had a one day presentation of their vehicles for the audience.

I feel quite confident more people than me was getting a rush from the sun, have never seen so many people at a local event ever.

Nice people, great day and a great ride both ways.

Bessie had to park with the "ordinary" bikes.

Villy and daughter came by their beautifully restored Zundapp KS 750.

Local heroes and a Danish Nimb.

A Classic Honda (OK they actually are quite classy) and one scooter from "The Rivals" gang.

Svein`s 28 JD, they are a winning team.

Harry.

Skirted Chief.

Stationary engines are newer wrong, those where runners.

Rare one with wheels mounted, most here was on a sledge moved by a horse.

Better safe than sorry, keep some extra fuel. this was a Cleveland car, a rare one.

20ìes department.

Seldom to see such a bunch of twenties cars in one place, its mostly less interesting fifties US cars, imported ones in the later years. The cars below was common on the Norwegian roads back in the day.

Riley headed Ford A, ensure some extra power.

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Norwegian mountains in June!

June 15, 2015, 2:55 pm

≫ Next: Just out riding

≪ Previous: AMK spring meet at Frolands Verk

OK folks, time for some blogging.

Finally the southern parts of Norway have faced some decent weather, it was on due time.

Those whom still not believe in the climate changes have got some easy earned points this spring, our May was the coldest in decades, and still it is bloody cold even if at last there is sun.
A positive side effect of this rather cold spring weather is the snow in the mountains dont melt as fast as in a "normal year".

Last Thursday I woke up to "that great weather" and decided to go for a long ride with my ol Panhead girl Bessie. My goal was to climb the Brokke - Suleskard mountain pass, a 400km`s ride.
They normally open this mountain pass in the end of May, this year it was postponed by almost a week, i was really curious to see how much snow there was still along the roads in the mountains.

I was not be disappointed as I found it to be still up to 10 meters of snow along the roads.

Hey folks, 10 meters of snow along the road, we are talking about June, it is supposed to be summer!!

Enjoy some pics from this great ride on my old Panhead girl, she did not disappoint me, run like a Swiss watch the entire trip.

Having climbed the worst hills in second, I`m ready to stretch out in third into the mountains, serious amounts of snow ahead.

Still climbing, Setesdal ( the valleys) is now far behind.

OK, I thought this was pretty cool and stopped for a photo with Bessie and the snow, there would be more further on.

OK, now we are talking of serious amounts of snow, each side of the single lane road have those walls along the ride.

When riding alone its always pics of bike only, believe it or not, in the middle of the mountains this young couple (Dutch/German) came walking, "WALKING", OK they didnt mind taking a couple of photos with me and Bessie and snow.

For those of you who wondered, YES it was cold.

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Just out riding

June 22, 2015, 3:03 am

≫ Next: Generator issues and the joy of the three brush 32E

≪ Previous: Norwegian mountains in June!

Wednesday showed up with nice weather and there was no reason to not go for a ride.
Spent the day riding around locally on single lane country roads, they have hardly any traffic and still some vintage motor related stuff to see.
Love the old gas station, I would like to have one of those myself, there are not many left now.
Found my old friend Karl was home, convinced him to pull out his ol Flathead, it started on the first kick (of course).

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Generator issues and the joy of the three brush 32E

June 22, 2015, 3:27 am

≫ Next: Oldtimer treff/ Scandinavian Indian meet at Mosten Mc club, Denmark

≪ Previous: Just out riding

Ouch, its easy to forget.
Last year when on my way to the Fucker Chopper fest in Sweden I got a generator issue. The commutator on the armature had got a burned spot, was like two segments had suffered from overheating.
Solved the charging issue then by grinding carefully with some sandpaper.
Well, the other night there was no more charging, and when removing the generator I found the armature had become real worse on the same spot, ouch, was to much to be saved by re-cutting.
Had to install a spare armature I had received from Perry, the Canadian 32E generator expert.
I did also get a chance to use my generator testing gear (made this during the winter), cool to see it all working in the lathe prior to installing on the bike.

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Oldtimer treff/ Scandinavian Indian meet at Mosten Mc club, Denmark

July 3, 2015, 2:37 am

≫ Next: Oldtimer treff/ Scandinavian Indian meet at Mosten Mc club in Denmark, part II

≪ Previous: Generator issues and the joy of the three brush 32E

The travel.

Øyunn onboard the ferry to Denmark.

Stop along the Danish coast, weather is so beautiful.

Local ferry in Denmark, takes only 5 minutes across.

Installed at Mosten Mc campground.

The good guys & gals!

Party!

One can hardly say Mosten Mc`s premises are as most Mc clubs, their own park, drag strip and the most fasinating dining and party hall, Mc shop etc etc.

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