Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Kodi-Chrome
Med and his 125* tearing up Dad's lawn sometime in the seventies. Bonus style points for the goldflake helmet. Thanks again for the pics Rob!*Rob remembers this bike as a 125 but a few of you have pointed out that it looks like a 250 Elsinore - and I have to admit I agree but either way - it's a great pic.
A Visit to "Joe's"
The workshop. Inside the '13 was taking shape.
The early beast.
Early twin, but not the one that will power the cross-country bike. Just another one from Joe's collection.
Joe shows Motoguru the finer points of the early twin primary drive system.
German mags await their fate. As with all of Joe's builds most of the parts will be NOS.
Everywhere you look there was another early sled - this one with original paint and rare options like the leaf sprung seat and gas fed light.
Joe gives us the salute in front of his laminated Mann.
The addition almost complete.
We shut the lights off and decided to head home...the temp was in the thirties and we had 40 miles to ride. It was time to get going.
Yesterday with the temps in the forties (warm for this time of year) Motoguru and I decided to take a ride out West to visit Joe, the builder of among other interesting bikes - the dual carb "Fancy Pan" which made the rounds through all the blogs a little while back. Joe is now building a 1913 Harley twin to do a pre -'15 3,500 mile trip from North Carolina to California this summer. Joe's place is hidden way back in the woods unmarked and off the grid. Joe showed us the "new" bike and a bunch of his pre '15 stuff. We also got a look at an addition he is building onto his log cabin (which is older than the motor company itself).Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Very First Hipster
Let's modify the joke. Q. What year was this picture taken? A. It's a pretty obscure year you've probably never heard of it.
Friday, November 27, 2009
265mph "Sportster"
Denis and his creation.
The "Monster".
The Hot seat.
In 1970 Cal Rayborn piloted this Denis Manning built liner which was powered by a 89ci nitro burning sportster mill they dubbed "the Monster" to a two-way average of 265.492 - good enough for the world record for Denis, Cal and Harley-Davidson.Recently Denis went back to the salt and grabbed the "worlds fastest motorcycle" record with his latest liner (#7) powered by a home made V4 motor. Chris Carr was at he controls when they broke the 350 MPH mark - good enough for the title and bragging rights. Cool shit.
"Crazy Harry"
Little did Jim Henson know he was about to create the most un-PC puppet in the history of puppets - until Team America of course.
Cycle Porn # 85
Snow is predicted for tomorrow here in the D. Break out the studded tires... This pic is from Med and was taken in Livonia in the seventies. It's Med, his father and his two older brothers. Great pic Med, we know you have more so don't be shy. The houses are tightly packed in L-Town - the neighbors must have been ecstatic.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Buell is back?
Well at least the racing department is...read more here: http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/22/salvation-buell-sportbikes-reborn-as-erik-buell-racing/
Vintage Salt #1
Found a collection of lovely period pics from the salt and lakes. I'll be rolling them out under the title above. The race cars are cool enough on their own but some of the other cars in the backgrounds are worth a look as well like that two-tone F-series on the left. Enjoy.
Sex Toy
Denis Manning's 500cc air cooled drop tank rocket. Never fired - I wonder where it is today? That thing looks the business.Monday, November 23, 2009
Destination Taos
A deserted diner somewhere on the great plains.
Rusty graveyard in Oklahoma.
Outside Amarillo route 66 begins to reveal her most romantic ruins.
Gas stations becomes few and far between in the Texas panhandle.
The farm was long gone but the wind driven water pump was still there and running, I wonder how many rotations it has made since it was set into the wind decades ago.
"TEXA TE"
Looking for Billy the Kid's (real) grave...
...found it. In (almost) the absolute middle of nowhere. 
Closing in on my target...
...the best place to find a warm bed and a cold beer all under one roof.
The Rio Grand gorge bridge. The only bridge that has killed more people (or rather the bridge that more people have jumped off of) is the Brooklyn bridge. 
You can't really capture it but that bridge is freaky high and it sways and buckles as semi's cross it making you lunge for guardrail.
This was a surprise as well...
This was not the mid-east - this was Colorado and it was about 75 degrees.
A few hours later I was freezing my boots off at the top of Rockey Mountain National Park. I had an uncontrollable urge to throw a snowball at someone but I was alone so I just sulked.
Critters up there too.
As the weather stations began to predict snow by the end of the week all I could do was begin missing the riding season. It made me think back (begin memory sequence) to trip I once took... Yea, why I remember it like it was only yesterday...A while back during my mandatory July 4th vacation I pointed the road queen West towards Taos New Mexico, one of my favorite places on earth. Pushed through Ohio along the Maumee until I found Route 66 (in Illinois). Than followed it all the way to Tucumcari where I turned north and found my home for a couple nights at the Taos Inn (stay above the bar in the cheap rooms!). When my time off dwindled to only a few remaining days I decided to head home via Colorado and a bevy of state parks and breath taking scenery. The odo read 3955 back in my driveway and I was beat but looking back at these images I remember that it was all worth it
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