The Kneeslider has quite a few regular readers and commenters with interesting stories of their own involving the motorcycles they ride. I noticed, Kim Scholer, of Denmark, who stops by frequently, has a nice article in the June 2009 issue of Britain’s Classic Bike magazine that tells the story of his 8 week tour of Japan, on his 1950 Nimbus 4 cylinder bobber. I thought some of you might find it interesting, as I did. Many of us, if heading off for a foreign excursion, would be inclined to take something a bit more modern, but Kim’s Nimbus was recently rebuilt and he thought, it’s very reliable, works fine at home so why not in Japan?
The Nimbus is a Danish motorcycle seldom seen in the U.S. but still found in numbers in Denmark. Kim turned the stock bike into a bobber, a Harley saddle, some MZ switchgear, Harley 18 inch wheels, motocross bars plus other odds and ends and the finished bike looks great not to mention, it worked very well for the tour. He built a metal shipping crate that could be disassembled and carried along on the bike and sent the Nimbus off to begin his adventure.
Kim spent some time in the cities but much time riding mountain roads, where the 35 mph speed limit and loads of curves meant most days weren’t much over 130 miles but perfectly suited his bike and allowed for really enjoyable sight seeing. He had the opportunity to meet some wonderful and helpful people like shop owner “Crazy Pete” who has a very nice collection of vintage bikes, Shinya Kimura of Zero Engineering and Chicara Nagata, the very well known custom builder.
Kim managed some track time at the Time Tunnel Vintage Motorcycle Festival near Mount Fuji, where he shared the track with Norton Manxes, various vintage racers, even an old race prepped Japanese Rikuo.
Kim has a blog that details his trip, called, amazingly enough, Nimbus Motorcycle Trip in Japan, where he gives lots of detail of the whole experience, certainly not your average motorcycle trip. Check out the June Classic Bike for the article and stop by his blog. You just might get the urge to try something a little out of the ordinary yourself.
Link: Nimbus Trip in Japan
JR says
Very sweet looking bike! I love how simple it looks.
What are some other longitudinal 4-cylinder bikes?
BozoMoto says
The following is a link to a couple of guys from Norway that are currently doing a round the world trip on two 1937 Nimbus with sidecars. They have a very interesting and humorous blog with lots of photos.
http://www.kccd.no/home_en.html
John says
Parallel running flat steel for the frame,gotta have a lot of flex and two main bearings on a inline four,huh,well it is an old machine not meant to run real hard and it works for him.Good to see guys doin stuff like that,plus it’s great lookin.
lloydy says
Well done sir, plenty of people dream of having such adventures , and to do it on such a great machine must be a joy.
i love longitudinal fours as for others JR ,Bmw , Henderson.Sure there are many more.
FREEMAN says
Looks like a great adventure and nice bike.
kim says
Other fours with their engines mounted the proper way: BMW K-series (Germany), Ecomobil (Switzerland), Wiking (Sweden/Scotland), Indian Four, Henderson, ACE, Pierce, Cleveland, Militor (all USA), FN (Belgium), Brough Superior (UK). Add to these dozens of prototypes both from major manufacturers and private hopefuls. Alas, only Nimbus made it past WW2, while the first three mentioned are from the 1980s on.
As for the Nimbus frame being flexible, indeed it is, particularly with a sidecar attached. One gets used to it, I guess. Two-bearing crankshaft works ok because of low compression, will cruise all day at 50-55 mph if the engine is in decent shape. Keep it below that and the rod bearings will last 60K miles and the valves 30K miles.
Azzy says
Very nice. Does that article have more pictures of the portable storage crate? Im puzzled by the engineering in that one!
OMMAG says
What great adventure. Cool factor on the cycle is way up there in the stratosphere.
pabs says
damn that is a pretty bike
John says
Glad that you didn’t take my observations as criticism Kim.I was imagianing a modern version with a stiff aluminum frame and DOHC 4 valve motor facing the same way.That would be a nice bike.As is yours.
JR says
I keep coming back and looking at this bike. I am really starting to dig the shape of it, even the flat frame rails.
With a sprung seat like that, its probably fairly comfortable too… I’ve never ridden a hardtail, writing them off as too low tech, but I think I’d like to try one now.
kim says
Azzy: There are pics of the crate on the first page of the blog, and the disassembled crate strapped to the bike on the Nov. 21 entry.
Sticker Boy says
That is a trip I’d love to do… stop giving me ideas!