Norton Kneeler

I was shoveling off the top of the desk the other day - it's like an archeological dig with all the different layers - and I came across the rule book for the East Coast Timing Association that I had sent for a while back. On the cover is a photo of a go-faster sidecar rig and inside there are photos of a belly tank racer, a streamliner and all kinds of other really cool vehicles of two, three or four wheel design. So once again I'm thinking of what I should build. What's out there that was really ahead of it's time or really neat or what would just make a fun project? Historically, something on two wheels with a dustbin fairing like the V-8 Moto Guzzi (bottom photo) was the first thing that came to mind. I'm not going to have the time, inclination or talent to build a V-8 but I could build a fairing like that and put it on a low down frame with a leading link front end like a sidecar runs, that could do it for me.

The other bike that came to mind was the Norton Kneeler from back in the fifties. I could build something like that with one of my Sprint/Aermacchi frames and motors and have something really cool as well.

Just what I need to do - start thinking about another project with about twenty half finished ones already in the hopper. The shop at school is so full, you can't hardly walk through it. I can't see the top of the workbench in the shop at home and I'm still working on cleaning up the last remnants of the old barn. It's just a good thing I exercise and try to eat right. I'm going to have to live to be a hundred to get all of this crap accomplished. Now that I think of it, a belly tank racer could be lots of fun, though.