..but at the time the ferry arrived in bergen, the shops were closed.
But I rode by the Harley dealership to see if someone was there. But they didn't know anyone which could have a spare voltage regulator.
I found some people in the Norwegian Antique motorcycle club roster, and started phoning. Well, I stayed at the local motorcycle clubhouse ..but we were unable to find a regulator. Then during the night a rainstorm came in..and the next day I had to ride in some of the worst rain I've ridden through.. Bergen is a very wet place, but even the locals started to worry about this weather. Traffic jams and no lights made it hard to ride around the city looking for a regulator. But I found a bosch regulator, later in the day.. flashed the generator coils as it had changed polarity again. And after a while I got it working. Then I rode out of the city, only to experience the fuses blowing out. Oh no.. the battery is fried.
Back to the shop and in with a new battery.. but it was not charging.
Since it was already evening.. I gave up and found a campsite..
It was a real pleasure to get my clothes washed and dried... the small things make a bad day better....
The high res pictures from this trip, and additional pictures can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10527710@N03/
...and I ran into a Dutch couple at the campsite who had two bikes on a trailer behind their camper. They parked the camper on campsite, and rode daytrips on the bikes. Smart idea.. more time to ride instead of packing all the heavy stuff on the bikes everyday..
I borrowed a battery charger from them, and then we spent hours solving world problems around the table in the mobile home.
It wasn't fun returning to a tent full of wet riding gear... and try to sleep in the rain and noise from the nearby truckstop.
The next morning I packed all the stuff back onto the bike, and headed towards a long time bosch serviceshop. At least I could borrow some tools and a voltmeter and with some Mc`Gyver tricks I fixed the mechanical voltage regulator. The dead battery had overloaded the regulator, and it was also charging too hard (wrong regulator).
So.. finally I was able to ride out of the wet Bergen.. and after a while it stopped raining.. for a while.. and then it got worse..
But.. the ride through beautiful places like Gudvangen and then over the old road (Aurlandsvegen) over the mountain to Lærdal was fantastic..like always.
Aurland ( west in Norway)
I was getting a bit cold up in the cold mountain and the gloves and boots were totally wet.. and it was getting dark outside.. so I stopped in Lærdal and got a nice room in the campsite there.
After a while I got a phone call from the president of the Norwegian Indian club.. and he asked if I would make it to the club's summer meet.
I had planned to be there early the first day of the meet... but I had forgotten which day it was .. so I was supposed to be there the same night... oh, well.. I had some pretty rough nights and long days trying to get the bike fixed... and thought I was one day ahead.
For once, I found it best to not push my luck with riding over the next mountain in the rain and dark..
So... at 6 am the next day, I felt fresh after a good nights sleep, had reasonably dry clothes, and was ready to do the Sognefjellet mountain pass. I did the private toll road to the Turtagrø mountain hotel, and then over the Sognefjellet mountain to Lom.
Norway is also a beautiful place to see on a motorcycle.. one of the reasons I have done most of my riding here in my home country..
Snow in august at the Sognefjellet Mountain
Mountains, snow,water grass and rocks in the mountains of Norway
So... I finally made it to the Indian motorcycle summermeet.. after 3 weeks on the road. Only to find that i had lost my credit card..and then had to rush to the nearest town to get some cash before they closed.
At friday evening we had some 40 Indian motorcycles there, from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Not to bad considering the other rallies and meetings in that period.
We arrange a "Hill climb" during this meet.. which is a average speed trial up a 3.9 kilometer long gravel road which has a 400 meter climb. Lots of fun with footclutches and handshifters. Well, I have just been arranging this trial up to now, but this year I got the chance to ride it myself.
I took it easy from the start..not sure if I wanted to shoot for the average speed or the "very unofficial" fastest time. But after some sharp and slow curves, I couldn't resist going fast...
Here are some pics from the starting line..
ready to "fly" up the hill..
I managed to get the "longest distance" trophy...even though they were questioning both the distance and my navigation capabilities:)
They couldn't understand unless they have experienced Iceland on their own.. a whole lot of rough and long distance riding. Not for everyone..
I had 3950 kilometers on the calibrated bicycle computer when I arrived at the meeting. Without the 4,5 days I spent on the ferry..
Here are some more pictures from the meeting:
Nice 1935 indian four....$$$$$$$$$
Well.. I was really upset that the nice red lavadust had been washed off the bike.. but the bike still had a nice patina when I came home:
I didn't want to clean the bike.. but I had to fix some things before heading to the next Indian meet in Sweden the following weekend.
The trip to Sweden went pretty well.. now with the 25tooth front sprocket in place, so I could ride at 110km/h ++ at the highways.
Had to replace the generator drive belt though... and I could feel the bike was in need of some new bushings here and there.. but I can fix that in the winter.
Arrived late.. but even with a late departure and horrible traffic, I had kept a pretty good average speed. Sometimes it's better to have the flexibility of a narrow motorcycle in traffic. The other Norwegians started riding the day before, so they were already there.
Visited an amazing private collection of old(mostly american) motorcycles on saturday, and then a motorcycle museum. My waterproof and impact proof camera stopped working...maybe Iceland was too rough:)
I ended up getting a trophy for being the "Indian rider of the year".. but as I'm not used to winning anything, I didn't know what to say..:)
it's fun that people are interested in what I do..and enjoy the stories, videos and pictures.
After returning from the meeting in Sweden, the chief bluesmoke has had lazy days. Have some issues with the gas tanks and some wear and tear to fix this winter. Need to put in some new piston rings.
Actually I took a short ride with the ol` chief bluesmoke tonight.. still runs pretty well and puts a big smile on my face..
Have been riding the ducati the last weeks... including a trip over the mountain to the west of Norway again. It's lot of fun in the curves..and the ducati (900ssie) has just enough of the torque and power to make the Norwegian roads fun. I don't care about going fast straight ahead.. I like the tight and slow curves where you can feel the torque in 1st and 2nd gear. Quite a number of people got interested in the ducati actually.. even if it's a plastic racer.. must be the name, the frame and the sound:)
But nothing beats the ol' chief bluesmoke:)
I borrowed a battery charger from them, and then we spent hours solving world problems around the table in the mobile home.
It wasn't fun returning to a tent full of wet riding gear... and try to sleep in the rain and noise from the nearby truckstop.
The next morning I packed all the stuff back onto the bike, and headed towards a long time bosch serviceshop. At least I could borrow some tools and a voltmeter and with some Mc`Gyver tricks I fixed the mechanical voltage regulator. The dead battery had overloaded the regulator, and it was also charging too hard (wrong regulator).
So.. finally I was able to ride out of the wet Bergen.. and after a while it stopped raining.. for a while.. and then it got worse..
But.. the ride through beautiful places like Gudvangen and then over the old road (Aurlandsvegen) over the mountain to Lærdal was fantastic..like always.
Aurland ( west in Norway)
I was getting a bit cold up in the cold mountain and the gloves and boots were totally wet.. and it was getting dark outside.. so I stopped in Lærdal and got a nice room in the campsite there.
After a while I got a phone call from the president of the Norwegian Indian club.. and he asked if I would make it to the club's summer meet.
I had planned to be there early the first day of the meet... but I had forgotten which day it was .. so I was supposed to be there the same night... oh, well.. I had some pretty rough nights and long days trying to get the bike fixed... and thought I was one day ahead.
For once, I found it best to not push my luck with riding over the next mountain in the rain and dark..
So... at 6 am the next day, I felt fresh after a good nights sleep, had reasonably dry clothes, and was ready to do the Sognefjellet mountain pass. I did the private toll road to the Turtagrø mountain hotel, and then over the Sognefjellet mountain to Lom.
Norway is also a beautiful place to see on a motorcycle.. one of the reasons I have done most of my riding here in my home country..
Snow in august at the Sognefjellet Mountain
Mountains, snow,water grass and rocks in the mountains of Norway
So... I finally made it to the Indian motorcycle summermeet.. after 3 weeks on the road. Only to find that i had lost my credit card..and then had to rush to the nearest town to get some cash before they closed.
At friday evening we had some 40 Indian motorcycles there, from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Not to bad considering the other rallies and meetings in that period.
We arrange a "Hill climb" during this meet.. which is a average speed trial up a 3.9 kilometer long gravel road which has a 400 meter climb. Lots of fun with footclutches and handshifters. Well, I have just been arranging this trial up to now, but this year I got the chance to ride it myself.
I took it easy from the start..not sure if I wanted to shoot for the average speed or the "very unofficial" fastest time. But after some sharp and slow curves, I couldn't resist going fast...
Here are some pics from the starting line..
ready to "fly" up the hill..
I managed to get the "longest distance" trophy...even though they were questioning both the distance and my navigation capabilities:)
They couldn't understand unless they have experienced Iceland on their own.. a whole lot of rough and long distance riding. Not for everyone..
I had 3950 kilometers on the calibrated bicycle computer when I arrived at the meeting. Without the 4,5 days I spent on the ferry..
Here are some more pictures from the meeting:
Nice 1935 indian four....$$$$$$$$$
Well.. I was really upset that the nice red lavadust had been washed off the bike.. but the bike still had a nice patina when I came home:
I didn't want to clean the bike.. but I had to fix some things before heading to the next Indian meet in Sweden the following weekend.
The trip to Sweden went pretty well.. now with the 25tooth front sprocket in place, so I could ride at 110km/h ++ at the highways.
Had to replace the generator drive belt though... and I could feel the bike was in need of some new bushings here and there.. but I can fix that in the winter.
Arrived late.. but even with a late departure and horrible traffic, I had kept a pretty good average speed. Sometimes it's better to have the flexibility of a narrow motorcycle in traffic. The other Norwegians started riding the day before, so they were already there.
Visited an amazing private collection of old(mostly american) motorcycles on saturday, and then a motorcycle museum. My waterproof and impact proof camera stopped working...maybe Iceland was too rough:)
I ended up getting a trophy for being the "Indian rider of the year".. but as I'm not used to winning anything, I didn't know what to say..:)
it's fun that people are interested in what I do..and enjoy the stories, videos and pictures.
After returning from the meeting in Sweden, the chief bluesmoke has had lazy days. Have some issues with the gas tanks and some wear and tear to fix this winter. Need to put in some new piston rings.
Actually I took a short ride with the ol` chief bluesmoke tonight.. still runs pretty well and puts a big smile on my face..
Have been riding the ducati the last weeks... including a trip over the mountain to the west of Norway again. It's lot of fun in the curves..and the ducati (900ssie) has just enough of the torque and power to make the Norwegian roads fun. I don't care about going fast straight ahead.. I like the tight and slow curves where you can feel the torque in 1st and 2nd gear. Quite a number of people got interested in the ducati actually.. even if it's a plastic racer.. must be the name, the frame and the sound:)
But nothing beats the ol' chief bluesmoke:)
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