OK, guys...let's get back on track here....no pun intended.
Here's an addition to my orginal post on this thread. The photos of Mike and Dave's shop I took during race week a couple of weeks ago didn't turn out very well. Too bad since I wanted to show where we bunked for two days and highlight the Carter's garage. For many of us here in Florida, the Carter Brother's Garage is a cool place to head on a Saturday or Sunday. So, for those of you who don't know the Carters, here's a repost of a ride I took on Labor Day last year and little treat to the fun that happens every weekend.
The high point of my Labor Day weekend was a visit to the Carter Brother’s Garage (aka Casa de Carter) on Sunday. It’s a 270-mile round trip from St. Petersburg to Altoona so me and “Norton Billy” got an early breakfast in at Biff Burger,
www.biffburgers.com , a classic joint that’s been around since the 50's and hosts two awesome bike-night events every week.
After tooling up I-75 we got off the Interstate and headed east over some great country roads and soon arrived at the shop. The new sign at the entrance is a welcome sight after a few hours on the road.
As usual, the shop was a humming beehive of activity...with numerous great projects on the shop floor in various stages of completion. The sheer size of the place is unbelievable!
Mike had just changed out the Anals....errr, I mean Amal carbs on his gorgeous BSA with a new set of Mikunis and, true to form, demonstrated a one-kick start and steady idle. Really surprised at the deep throaty growl from the old girl.
Here's a few shots of some of the finished and in-progress bikes around the shop. Dave Carter’s smoking Combat which sports some ungodly compression and consumes 114 octane dragon juice. What a sound out of those Dunstall pipes!!
Hands down the neatest ride in the shop is their classic Royal Enfield. There’s a great story behind Mike’s purchase of this bike that has to go down in the pages of scooter history. Puts out a whopping 24 horses and is a dream to ride.
A couple of shots of my bike and Billy’s. Here’s Billy’s ‘75 850 “Inter-Continental”, fresh back from his Smoky Mountains trip last month.
And my Combat...4100 miles (updated) since GP's restoration.
Good friend and regular visitor, David, was up from Naples. He’s about halfway done with a custom build on his ‘71 750. This is going to be a gorgeous bike when it’s completed...sporting gold anodized rims from Buchanan’s and a bunch of other customized goodies. FYI, David’s the guy who is making / selling those great looking Dunstall and Manx tanks on Ebay...check ‘em out!
Dave Carter and Billy, both expert machinists, had a few trade secrets to share during happy hour. Don't pay attention to the clock...it's 5 o'clock somewhere. Dave is absolutely amazing at the custom bits he fabricates for specialty applications.
All in all it was a great day. Lots of laughs, stories and tall tales on top of the always present hospitality from the Carter Brothers...a great down-home Florida tradition...it's definitely a must-stop if you're in the neighborhood.