Scars on Scars



1972 BMW R75/5 Kick Start Lever

 

We have a match.

Leg

Chilly Billy Memorial Run 2011

After weeks of perfect weather the Rip City Riders, 6th annual Chilly Billy Memorial Run began under cloudy, threatening skys. Attendance for the poker run seemed good, Rip City Riders gave ride pins to the first 700 riders.

Marie and I signed up for the poker run at Michael's Harley Davidson. Then we hit the Redwood Cafe in Cotati where me met our friends for breakfast. Rocky was riding his wife's V-Rod, because of a slight malfunction of his own bike and Lance was on his Suzuki Hayabusa after a major malfunction of his Electra Glide. So, after coffee we headed north on Highway 101 to River Road.

River Road follows the Russian River and it's a good ride but heavy traffic and bicycles made sightseeing a passenger activity. Our first stop was at the Rio Nido road house, a good choice as there was plenty of parking. I drew a six of diamonds, not a great start for a poker hand. 

Our next stop was at The Blue Heron in Duncan Mills, after I drew my card my poker hand was pretty well shot and the people in the bar showed no sympathy.  After leaving Duncan Mills it was a few miles to Highway 1, then south to Bodega Bay and east to Petaluma. 

  



We arrived at the Petaluma fairgrounds and the weather was warming. There were a lot of people there. The local newspaper said that 10,000 people showed up for the bike show, car show, vendors, food and of maybe a cocktail.

If they could find the bar.

I really liked this sweet little Triumph. Simple and clean, I couldn't stop staring at it.

The Rip City Riders put on a great show. This was the 6th annual Chilly Billy Memorial run and the event gets bigger and better every year. Everyone had a great time, and funds were raised for two local carities, Zero Breast Cancer and Mentor Me Petaluma.

Famous Road Signs

 Zzyzx Road is on Highway 15 near Baker, California. I had a theory about what a Zzyzx was but I was wrong.

The Town of Locke

The town of Locke, in the Sacramento Delta, was built by the Chinese. If you look up information about the town, you will find that it was founded in 1915 by Chinese businessmen after a fire in the Chinese section of nearby Walnut Grove. In 1934 Al Admai opened a restaurant called Al's Place, later called Al the Wops, and Al only served steaks. 

If you dig a little deeper into Locke's history you will find that Locke in the 1920's and 1930's was a rockin' town with Opium dens, gambling parlors, and of course girls. I have good information that Al Adami served more than steak. In the back room Al's "Ladies" were busy. Locke's close proximity to Sacramento, the State Capitol, gave our lawmakers a much needed break from the rigors of their lawmaking duties. The only door bell in town was wired to the gambling parlor to warn if the Sheriff came into town.

Now Locke is pretty tame but it's a fine ride to good destination where you can get a good meal but it sure would be interesting to see it back when.

The Real McCoy and the J-Mack

Lee and I took a ride to the town of Locke for lunch at Ed the Wop's.  Locke is on one of the hundreds of "islands" in the Sacramento River Delta.  There are several ways to get to Locke, I like to go by way of the Real McCoy and the J-Mack.

From Rio Vista on Hwy 12, we turned north along the main shipping channel.  After a few miles on the levee, we took the car ferry called the Real McCoy across Cache Slough to Ryer Island. 

We rode around Ryer Island to a smaller ferry named the J-Mack on Steamboat Slough.  The J-Mack is one of the last operating cable ferries.  A cable ferry pulls itself along a cable that is fixed between the banks of the river.  The ferries are free and even though the rides are short they are a lot of fun.

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.