Stampede News

I have just learned some news from the Stampede, it looks like Charlie The Nomad came in first. Chris Price came in second. It looks like 14 riders finished the race, 26 started. Weather caused problems this year, the riders had to dodge thunderstorms and tornadoes.

 

El Nomads bike was obviously well prepared. I think the engine is a late 70's Kawasaki 900 with a truly unique exhaust system.

Jim's KZ750 at the Stampede

I talked to Jim who had ridden from Alberta Canada to compete in the Stampede. Jim calls his Kawasaki KZ750, "Calamity Ensues" after the two female devils on the tank. Get it? Calamity and Sue, yes, Canadian humor.

Jim's bike had developed a intake manifold leak so he was in the motel parking lot with the carbs off using a little RTV to seal things up.

Jim took time from his repairs to talk with me and that's no small thing with the start of the race just hours away.
By now the Stampede is over, and though I don't know how anyone did, I hope Jim did well and had a good time.

The Brits Take on The Stampede

This is the sixth Stampede and there has never been a British bike entered, until now. This year with the Stampede off the Interstates, three Brit bikes, Norton, BSA and Triumph, stepped up to the challenge.


1970 BSA A65 Lightening #2

#5 1979 Triumph Bonneville

Stampede 2011

The Stampede 6 is underway.  The Stampede is a race for hardtail choppers.  No windshields or fairings, no hard saddle bags and no rubber mounted engines are allowed. This year the Stampede started at South Lake Tahoe, California and will finish at the Greenleafe Inn in Pine Bluff, North Carolina. As I write this entry the 26 riders who started are about half way across the country.

The course is not revealed until the evening before the race. It was known that this year the course would avoid the interstate highways. It was to be two lane highway most of the way. I snapped a photo over some one's shoulder as the course sheets were passed out.

The race follows Highway 50, the Loneliest Highway in America, for 3100 miles then turns south to finish at Greenleafe Inn.
The people who are riding in the Stampede come from all over, and they rode their bikes to get to the starting line. You won't find any trailers hidden in the neighborhood.

I've got a load of photos and as soon as I can I'll post more.

Honda CL-77

     We hear about barn finds all the time, but the real gold is in garages. So when I'm in the neighborhoods I'm checking out garages for interesting machinery. If you leave your garage door open, I'll take a peek.
     I was really surprised to see a Honda Scrambler in a garage just around the corner from my house. Since I'm not shy, so I stopped and knocked on the door. I met Spence, who turned out to be a really nice guy. He was happy to show me his 1977 Honda 305 Scrambler.

     The 305 Scrambler, designated the CL-77, was produced between 1965 and 1968. There were about 64,000 bikes produced during that time.

 

The 305 Scrambler had up swept side pipes for more ground clearance that ended in a stylish muffler. Most people removed the muffler and either put a baffle in each pipe or put on a set of "Snuff-or-Nots." Here's a photo from the Internet that should explain Snuff-or-Nots. I think the muffler looks very stylish especially when compared to the really ugly black box on the later CL-350. Spence says he plans to restore the bike and has been collecting correct parts. He also plans an electronic ignition upgrade. The bike only has 12600 miles on the clock and has a nice patina. I urged Spence bring the bike back to stock and clean it without removing the patina of age that it has earned.

Gordon Shuffles the Deck

 

XLCR-Out



My Friend Gordon send some photos of his new bikes. He sold his '77 XLCR, and bought a '75 Sportster XLCH which he turned into a (Then Came) Bronson bike.
 

XLCH-In, but changed

to a Bronson bike.

   



Gordon sold an Enfield, of which I don't have a photo and bought a '71 Triumph Daytona 500. 

 

Enfield-Out   Triumph-In



I think Gordon's latest adjustment to his collection is the sale of his XR883 in favor of XR1200X, which Gordon tells me he is going to set up for the track.

 

XR883-Out



 

XR1200X-In



While some eschew possessions in their search for perfection. Gordon nears that state of contentment as he continues to shuffle the deck in the eternal struggle to find motorcycling perfection.

Electra Glide in Motion

Hill Climb

     When my friend Dale called to see if I wanted to go to a hill climb, I fired up the bike and headed out. The event was held at an off road RV park in Carnegie, California. Carnegie is located east of Livermore, off of Hwy 580, and about 100 miles from home.

     The first thing you need for a hill climb is a hill. The hill never looks very steep when looking up from the bottom. However that is an illusion, the hill is very steep. Occasionally one of the course workers will slip, then slide 10 or 20 yards down the hill. You can tell how far they slide by the yard markers along the course.

      Next you need some bikes to blast up the hill. There are many different classes, from stock to highly modified. There were a couple of nicely prepared Harleys.

Some bikes use knobbies, some paddle track tires and some used chains, a lot like snow chains. Some used paddle track tires and chains.

There were all kinds of engines allowed in the different classes. Some large engines like the Harleys and some multi cylinder engines and some classes ran regular dirt bike engines.

To have a hill climb you have to have people. Not just racers but spectators. This is the heart of the sport. It's as much fun to people watch as it is to watch the races blasting up the hill.

This could be the happiest kid in the world.

I really enjoyed the day. I sat in the crowd and oohed and aahed with everyone as the racers blasted up the hill, sometimes making it to the top and sometimes not. I wandered around the pits looking at the machinery, I people watched, I got sunburned, it was a great day.

Death Valley

     Death Valley is not called the valley of death for nothing. In summer you can feel the hand of death on your shoulder. With the summer temperatures, a mechanical breakdown is no inconvenience, it's a life or death crisis. In winter death may not be so close, just don't do anything stupid.

We stayed at Stovepipe Wells Inn, which is about at sea level. Furnace Creek is about thirty miles away and is 190 feet below sea level. From Stovepipe Wells we took side trips around the valley.

    Scotty's Castle is about forty five miles from Stovepipe Wells. Scotty's Castle was built by a Chicago millionaire named Albert Johnson. In winter you can see the full beauty that Johnson saw, I doubt he was there much in summer it's just too hot.  

 We also took a side trip to Ubehebe Crater. It's a volcanic crater and one of the windiest places I've been. It's near a place called The Race Track, where rocks move across a dry lake bed leaving tracks. No one has ever seen these rocks move or filmed them, so while there are theories, no one really knows. 

I think that Death Vally is most beautiful at dawn and sunset.

Wildrose Canyon

     We turned from Panamint Valley into Wildrose Canyon, which is a gravel road. At the top of the canyon we decided to take a side trip to the Charcoal Kilns.

     After leaving Panamint Valley the road starts to climb. The gravel road to the Charcoal Kilns climbs steeply and the charcoal kilns are at about 6800 ft.. The road was closed just past the kilns due to snow but goes to Telescope Peak (11331 ft).

     The Charcoal Kilns were built in 1867 to provide charcoal for the mines and smelters in Death Valley. To make charcoal, the kilns were filled with Pinion Pine logs which were then set on fire and closed up to cut off the oxygen.

     The kilns were only used for 3 years and then abandoned.

     We left the Charcoal Kilns and headed back down the mountain to Highway 190. The Electra Glide breathed a sigh of relief now that it was back on pavement. We headed over Towne Pass (4956 ft.) and into Death Valley.