Saw this on the Oil Stained Brain site and had to ask for more info. CFH tshirt in Austrailia!
Name: Nicholas Umek
Motorcycle make/model/year: 1949
BSA B33 500cc OHV
Build story:
I bought a dodgy plunger model BSA B33 from
a deceased estate 3 years ago when I was still at uni. I didn't have much cash
and the bike was rougher than hessian undies so I got what I paid for I guess,
though being new to motorcycles in general at the time I can't now really say I
knew exactly what I had at the time!
It took me a year to find the
time to pull the rusty wreck apart to asses what needed replacing or repairing
and it was then that I realised I was a bit in over my head. Around the same
time saw some grainy super 8 footage of the very first Catalina Grand Prix
in 1951. What I saw from Catalina was a revelation to me, there were several
B33's and other run of the mill British singles, along with larger side valve
Harleys, being punted through the hybrid course over the island by regular guys
in wollen jumpers, leather skull caps and pudding bowl helmets. I was
captivated by the bikes, they were just average cheap commuter bikes with the
lights taken off and a race number stuck on. Regular Joes could bring their
daily and race it for a small fee, it was really only later that manufacturers,
importers and shops started assembling teams and recruiting professional riders
to race factory works bikes.
I admired the ingenuity and ballsiness of the
early privateer riders thrashing hardtail lead sleds around the dirt and off
jumps, so I have tried to replicate something like what those young blokes
would have ridden then. It’s not a period correct early 50’s pre-swingarm bike,
but I’ve tried to make do with what I could find and afford. Two years of
Hunting for parts at swapmeets, through club classifieds and eBay plus the last
two months finally assembling the bike have been a massive learning experience
for me, I’ve recently finished a short course in fitting and machining at TAFE
and will go back to learn to weld when I get the time. I started the bike with
a mission statement to do as much as possible by myself but it wouldn’t be here
without the help of all the friends I’ve made along the way. I’m looking
forward to finishing it properly, putting it on full rego and getting some time
in on it around the dirt track at Broadford with my mates.
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