Parts to be painted.

Lacing.

John in action.

Pistons and cylinders.

Engine.

The choice of motorcycles was pretty simple. Tormod thought any fool could ride from Norway to Singapore on a new bike, but doing it on a 70 year old name would take A Real Man. Actually there is a certain logic in using a Nimbus for such a trip, as it is one of the most reliable motorcycles from the 1930s and it is easy to maintain and repair. Besides that, Tormod had grown up with Nimbuses, and ridden them from age 11.

Nimbus motorcycles are Danish, built by the vacuum cleaner company 'Fisker & Nielsen A/S' from 1934 through 1959 (actually they built another one from 1919 through 1928, but that is irrelevant here). Nimbus was modern at least until the outbreak of WW2. This is one hell of a bike with a 750 cc overhead cam straight four and shaft drive. Valves and the rocker arms are exposed, so one can see them in action. The frame is made of high quality flat steel strips and has, of course, no rear suspension. It was also the world's first production bike with a telescopic front end, beating BMW with one year. For more info check out www.nimbus.dk

Bike # 1 - The Infernal Machine – was caught in Sweden in November 2005. According to the registration papers it's a 1937 Sport, but like with most Nimbuses a lot of parts have been changed, so now it is a purebreed mash-up Nimbus. It was restored following time-tested theories stating that if it's nice an shiny on the outside, the internals must be ok too.

Bike # 2 – The Bitter-Sweet Chariot – also has papers claiming it to be from 1937. The frame is a military one, the engine formerly of the Danish police force. Basically the bike is a motley collection of parts from God knows which years and models. Actually it is quite cool to completely build a bike from a pile of parts, because you learn a lot in the process, and you also get to go on a lot of very nice trips to gather the missing bits.

As mentioned already we use the same motorcycles as we did on KCCD 2006, two 1937 Nimbuses with sidecars. We’re not all that sure exactly why that is the case, it is just the way it ended up.

First step was to tear the thing completely apart, down to individual molecules. Everything was then washed in Holy Water, looked over, tolerances checked, evaluated, repaired or replaced. Many parts were taken to resident Nimbus King John Carlsen of JC Nimbus in Copenhagen, so he could bless them.

The motorcycles have only done 20,000 kilometres since the major overhaul right before the trip in 2006, but for a number of reasons we'll start over again from scratch.

Nimbuse engines usually run 100,000 kilometres before being totally clapped out. This means we’ll get awfully close to the limit before returning home, probably meaning we’ll be doing repairs at ever shorter intervals, in Africa no less, where Negro kings and guerillas are shooting all around us while we’d be standing fixing stuff, in order to squeeze the las few k’s out of our stallions.

The motorcycles have to be in 100% top condition so we can avoid having to bring more than the absolute minimum of spare parts. This translates into identical cylinder bores, same diameter on crankshafts, same type pistons, same type of air in the tyres etc. Stay updated on our preparations by reading the blog.