Ashtray Aermacchi 350(circa 1971)

My Friends,
Kind words, thanxxxxxxxx! The red frame shows up on many early Aermacchis that have the tube frame. It is rather unusual to see a cast iron frame done in red however. When Jason asked me about repainting the frame, I believe, from his comments, that he considered a re-do of the original black in powder-coat and should it be satin or shiny finish. I immediately said, "Fire-engine, Ferrari, Guard'sRed, one of those." He wrote back an, "OK, it's your bike and I want you to be happy with it..." note. As you see in the copy, he responded by liking it after all.
My point here is, along the time line since I bought my Kawasaki 120 in 1967-68, motorcycles began loosing the "see-thru" individuality of the art/engineering that made each bike different from one another.
This 1971 350 has a different design heritage that I wanted to share with others from first impact. The frame, then the fuel tank, and the single bolt headlight mount all in the same breath as that "ashtray" head. Later on the fuel tank and fenders will be finished in 1977 Porsche Viper Green. For now, I am enjoying the weird stock green, now that I worried the excess Harley-Davidson decals from the tank. That was very difficult because there was a thick clear-coat finish that locked the decals in place.
My 1968 Laverda has an orange repaint, not bad, but I may make it red someday.
Thanxxxxxxxx!

Saw this in Madison, WI, CL

Parts for small amf harleys - $1 (verona)

<HR>Date: 2009-09-30, 11:57AM CDT
Reply to: sale-byfeq-1399784336@craigslist.org <SUP>[Errors when replying to ads?]</SUP>

<HR>

Selling parts for small amf harleys, engines, rolling frames, tanks fenders, ect please email with your needs

• Location: verona
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

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PostingID: 1399784336


Doesn't seem like you need anything, but just in case, here's the ad.

Gonna be a great bike.

Nice work earlyWiz. You have a PM.

Mr. Wizard,

We still need to finalize the wiring, put on the chain, the chain guard (not back from the powder man yet), install the carb, install the tail light, modify the front fender and decide what to do about the handlebar situation.


The only bar I have that will work for you is painted. It is a real neat bend from an ATV, but not in chrome. The bar I thought I had for the bike turned out to be bent. They are so thin, or of such poor metal now that they really cannot be straightened successfully.


The bars need to be steel, as the tang that locates them (keeps them from rotating in the rubber dampened clamp) needs to be welded on. The bars I have on the bike now (the ATV bars) are perfectly suitable for the time being. You might decide that you hate them anyway.


I was saving them for the '66 "H" project but will leave them on the bike so you can see what you think of the bend. Bars are pretty inexpensive and I wouldn't go to the expense of having these chromed. The last handlebar that I had chromed ran $50.00! I will squirt these a pleasing color so they won't clash until you can decide on a replacement set.
Very Best Regards, Jason

Same process with the amals on my old brit bikes. Just a light tickle till the gas just drips off the float bowl and a healthy kick. Personally I like that method better than chokes or 'fuel enricheners' on the modern carbs. Ticklin always works right off.

BTW, nice bike you're doing there. Did the motor NEED a rebuild or are you just doing it because.

Just a tickle worked in my college days. Now?
As regards the rebuild; Jason began doing it because he wanted a buyer to be aware that the investment was in reasonable condition. This, of course, was meant to be a thorough check out, inside and out. As he said in his e-Notes to me, it was just as well that he did do the teardown because he found seals as well as the plugged crank-pin. Jason enjoys these motorcycles and wants those of us who end up with one to enjoy our machines too.

I have to point out that, in the next year plus, I will be installing a set of road Dunlops, or the like, tires. To follow will be a European touring handlebar or a clubman-style bar. While the tank and fenders will remain the same, the seat may be changed to a racing saddle...

Toolbag, tankbag, and saddlebags will be brown saddle-stitched leather, but because of the cost, will be done a piece at a time. Later, the Laverda will get a similar treatment.

earlyWiz

Well, well, well. Here we are once again.

I never imagined I would find a porous fork slider! Just when I was certain that I had seen everything! Good thing I have one in reserve. I will expect to get the new fork seal on Monday or Tuesday, and will R&R the culprit the same day. If everything else goes well it will be ready to go home by the next weekend. I would like to ride it a couple of times and make certain all of the bugs have been exterminated.


I hope the bike has turned out just like you expected it would. Sorry the pictures aren't as crisp as they should be. I let the light slip away while I was beating my gums. I am actually pretty pleased with the finished product. I never thought I would like the RED frame and Green body work, but it looks really Italian.
Very Best Regards, Jason

Hi, Everyone,
So, Jason and I agreed to meet for lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant where we would have lunch after our six hour drive to Dallas, Oregon from the Mouth of the Rogue. Lady Whimsey and I waited for about fifteen, maybe even thirty, minutes before we heard the Walter Mitty "Pocketa pocketa pocketa" of a healthy single cylinder motorcycle working its way through one of the local main streets. We watched as it waited for the light to change, then watched as it, rider attached, mind you, popped down to where we were waiting.


Understand that Jason and I had been operating by e-Mail and telephone conversations. We were about to meet for the first time. Nothing could really go Arai, wearing a helmet this colorful. Still, Jason's rugged Northwest tan and movie-star features remained discretely covered by his "flash" topper with matching gloves, until...


...You mean to say we almost knew each other back in the old OMRRA days of the mid-seventies? Why, hell, it's almost like we went to
different schools together!

PART THE NEXT:
Now, Jason, that turned out mighty nice. Sounds pretty too. What th heck was Charley Ferguson thinking when he applied those decals all over that cute fuel tank, anyway? The word "Sprint" isn't too bad, but OMIGAWD! five white stickers announcing that it's a Harley-Davidson branded motorcycle...Sheesh!
Still in all, she's a sweet looking machine. Needs a name though. Don't you
think?


All right, folks,

...the last time I was in this position was in a BMW shop in Portland, where the salesman held a small fan in one hand, tossed dead bugs into the air-flow as the wind pressed against my face, all the while making vroom-vroom noises with his mouth hoping I could be talked into buying a new Funduro.
This is way more fun. I get to make my own noises; diet has much to do with sounding like a single cylinder. Lady Whimsey decided to take some pictures----------upwind!


"Good grip," says one.
"Good Grief!" says the other, "Does he ever stop talking?"
"Is she really mine?" says the first.
"Paid and delivered," says the second, "I'd kinda like to have the tires back after you find some that you like."
"OK!" replies the first one.
"Shake on it!" responds the other, "It's a deal. then?"
"Yup!"


The little Aermacchi, with the Hardly-Wobbleson "Hard-To-Guide" foot peg, gear lever, and brake rubber covers and fuel-tank stickers, is at last loaded into the Frontier for the six hour drive back home to Gold Beach. Once there, Lady Wimsey and I will celebrate with a meal at Sector's "Barnacle Bistro". [http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=404729&highlight=gold+beach] Fish & Sweet Potato Chips washed down with "MonkeyFace" Porter, or Evan's Reuben Panini with a glass of real honest-to-goodness Southern Oregon Foris Vineyards pinot.


Racin' Jason returned to his planet, via his finely crafted flying craft, where he would rejoin the cadre of imaginary internet friends who regale or assail me from afar.
Thanxxxxxxxxx! Jason Winn, this has been a great experience. Next, I shall prepare to learn starting procedures and how to ride.

"....and they lived happily ever after."










:)

"And they lived happily ever after!"

Not quite, Kismet, not quite.


While Lady Whimsey wasn't looking, I took a Virgin Tour around the neighborhood about two months after the Aermacchi came to live with us. What took so long? you ask. It took me that long to remove the Harley-Davidson and AMF (American Machine & Foundry) decals from the fuel tank. Also, the motorcycle needed several starting lessons. I know, I know...


Lady Whimsey arrived home in time to tell me to go around the block one more time. At my age you get used to having been around the block. She smiled, I so full of myself there wasn't room for a glass of water, away I went.


Upon my return, I staged the photo-op grin, heartened by the strong idle sound like a Fairbanks-Morse stationary engine, and...


...checked the brakes for the first time. The Forester and the Solara inhaled their respective posteriors before collectively exhaling their combined relief that the brakes did, in fact, work.


Behind the dry-toothed grin that my dentist and my periodontist have sculpted out of bank accounts and promissory-notes, lies the psycho-cybernetic processes best left to Dell, Micro-Soft, and Apple. A right brained artist who once passed himself off as a mechanic wondering, "Why did I have to push this thing up the hill back there?"

Fortunately, Lady W. wasn't the wiser until she noted the puddle of perspiration that soaked through the shirt and the vest I chose to wear for working on the foundation drains, before she left for town.


Ala d'Oro, Ala Verde, Ala Nero... among the names borne by Aermacchi motorcycles. Gold Wing, Green Wing, Black Wing... I may have to settle for "Ala Inominata", "Wing with No Name"

Jason believes that the thirty-plus year-old clutch plates (dry-clutch, I might add) might just have disintegrated. "They looked pretty, but were probably pretty dry. Time to get in touch with Moto-Italia in Petaluma..

As of this entry, I am still teaching the "Nameless One" more about starting procedures.

Thanxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!
Earlywiz

I completely enjoyed this drawn out resurrection of a great looking Italian bike.

Thanks

So, there we were, looking at what appeared to be a completed Aermacchi 350, gloating, mind you, at the fact that it turned out beautiful and sounded wonderful. A problem with the clutch kept the little motorcycle, now named "Michelina" after my middle daughter, limited to short forays around the neighborhood within pushing distance of the garage. Adjusting the clutch I am getting good at, just like I am getting extremely good at starting the machine. I am not even kidding about starting; I learned over a protracted period of weeks that one does not have to launch a smart downward attack of a heavily booted foot. That, of course, is the point that the motorbike kicks back with arrogance and throws one off balance. No, this Italian simply wants to be slowly stroked through one firing pass at a time. But she truly desires a proper clutch.

This is the clutch that came out of the low mileage Aermacchi when Jason took it apart to rebuild the whole thing. Low mileage, after all those years, was under 5K. It was difficult to imagine why it didn't have more. I have just discovered the reason. This is an early 350. The bikes after 1968 are supposed to have a different clutch pack that includes a special dished and serrated drive plate at the top of the stack; a major addition of pressure on top of the five clutch springs already extant. Indeed, 'twas the reason for all the slippage and inability to master a gradient of "Slope degrees".

I will now order proper parts, vintage redux tires, lower European style bars and the like.

earlyWiz

Although it is certainly possible to meander back and forth through the Ashtray Aermacchi thread, I offer a summary of how the 'Cast-Iron Maiden', Michelina, has changed in three years.
From this:

To this:

Finally, making her maiden return to daily riding dressed like this and named after my middle daughter, "the Cast-Iron Maiden" on Saturday 7 July 2012!

What remains to be seen? I believe a different style seat is in the works, and there is the possibility of a 'pedestrian-slicer' identifying this as an Aermacchi rather than a Harley-Davidson 'Sprint'.

What next? She becomes like the Garden Gnome that travels to far places to post photos of its adventure. Only, in this particular case, Michelina gets to wander in and around the "ADV Pacific Northwet" venturing farther each time from the Barnacle Bistro in Gold Beach. I am, after a long wait since 1977 when I sold the sidecar, returned as a vintage rider enjoying a vintage motorcycle.

Thank you, Everyone and All! See you in the "Pacific Northwet".
earlyWiz

Cool bike. Great pictorial.

There you are. Finished for this year since I have house and property projects. If I change something else? Hmmm. It is at this juncture that I should admit to having the "Cast-Iron Maiden" kick my right ankle and nearly breaking it. The bruising is deep and painful. This time to poddle away to the garden. Right? I'll be back later to work on the handlebars.

I asked myself, "So, a short motorcycle and thirty-six inch long arms, where do I want the bars?" Since the bars are clamped in rubber and made to stay in place by welding a tab to the center of the handlebars, I will begin by inverting the bars.

Nice stance but not the right ergonomics for my wrists.

At the least, the cables and wiring still managed fairly graceful turns.

It came time to try my favorite size(seven inch) Clubman bars. Very nice lines.

Cable and wiring bends had even less stressful curves, and the wrist ergonomics were right. But...

...As nice as the lay-out proved to be, an ugly balance problem made itself known. Whilst attempting to latch onto the bars and balancing on the left foot to use the right foot to jab at the kick-start lever, I was only too aware of the tendency to nearly pitch forward and over the high side of the machine.

And now for the resolution. Yes, drag-bars, tab welded into place, cables and wiring settled, and the ergonomics are alright if not totally perfect (I prefer a few degrees more of droop, say between five and ten).

There is NOT "Happy Ending" to this tale. In 1980, while moving a Snap-On top-box tool chest from my truck-bed to the loading dock of a television studio warehouse, I twisted my pivot knee with a resounding POP! that echoed from the walls of the buildings around. Over the course of those intervening years it has been manageable to quite fine. A few days back, from when these images were produced, I went to start the Aermacchi. Balanced on the left foot, I kicked the starter through twice. On the top of the third swing my knee ran off to the far left. I tumbled forward, it was the only way I was going to fall anyway, twisted the handlebars full right and caught the motorcycle on my wrist, elbow, and the inside of my now really-screwed-up left knee. Right! I did not want to damage the new bar-end mirrors, the fuel tank, nor the battery box; I thought of all that in the seconds it took to fall...

I have to suppose that, if I want another motorcycle, I may have to consider a vintage two-stroke twin like the T500 Suzuki, of perhaps devolve to an electric-start Twin of some sort. Whatever the final choice, let me say this. The thing has to be light enough for me to roll up on the lift. I had the neighbor come from next door to help move the motorcycle and the lift around for these finishing photos. I am a few months from seventy years old, upset, and embarrassed as I have ever been to have to solicit help in this manner! Goodbye, All, it has been interesting to say something positive.

Hello Wiz! Nice job on the bike. Sorry to hear of your physical malady. That sucks. Hope you heal up quickly with as little pain as possible and that you find the bike you seek.