Revenue Agents

The photo here may be the first wherein an official photographer (Adam Campbell) at a new-model introduction snapped a picture of an invited moto-journalist (yours truly) about to get a speeding ticket. Speeding tickets are not unknown at such events, but never before with official photographic evidence. The intro was of the Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 held up in northern California in April of 2009. [Read more]

SLO County’s Christmas Toy Run: Doing Good While Having Fun

That sort of rhymes. Sort of. Anyway…way, way back in 1980 the folks at Bernard’s Cycle Specialties, an aftermarket Harley shop in Oceano, a coastal town in California’s San Luis Obispo County, decided that their clientele should get on the road more often, wear out tires and chains and things, and organized a Christmas toy run. This was before every motorcycle club in the country put one on. The idea was to get a few of the boys and girls together, tell them all to bring a toy, go for a little ride, end up with a barbecue, a pin and a stack of stuffed animals and games that would be donated to an outfit that helped needy kids.

And this 2009 run was the 28th year–no mean feat to carry on for that long. Obviously it is a popular gathering. Traditional starting point is along the beachfront in the little resort town of Avila Beach, where the authorities kindly reserve the 100 yards of street for motorcyclists only.

This year it was pretty chilly, temps still down in the 40s when bikes began to gather after 9 a.m., but some 500 people showed up to drink coffee, eat doughnuts and see people they hadn’t seen in a long time. Lots of hugs and high fives.

About 10:15 the bikes, and a few trikes, began to line up; Harleys predominated, but European and Japanese marques had lots of representation. Ten thirty and they were off for the 40 or 50 miles depending on the chosen route to Creston, a little ranching town just north of the Santa Lucia Range, where the Loading Chute restaurant and saloon was efficiently set up to feed all the hungry riders. By one o’clock they had dished out tri-tip and trimmings to over 1,200 people, including many who had sensibly avoided the early morning temperatures, everybody showing up with toys and appetites.

A good time was had by all, even the few who got pulled over by the highway patrol Grinches.

San Mateo International Motorcycle Show

It was a perfect day for the show–sunny, warm, unusually clear sky, with the view right across the San Francisco Bay to Mount Hamilton nigh on perfect. The motorcyclists arrived in force at the San Mateo county event center. Free parking for the bikes, $8 for the silly people who arrived in cars. The IMS is always an occasion, no matter where it takes place. This was the second of 12 three-day events, with the first having been in Texas, the last going to be in Daytona during Bike Week, March 3-5, 2010.

Out in the parking area the demo fleets were set up, with Harley and Kawasaki and Yamaha/Star and Can-Am Spyder filling their rosters early on. The day was gorgeous, and to ride off into the hills on someone else’s motorcycle was a dream; unfortunately, you had to bring the bike back just when you were just getting used to it. The number of OEMs running demos was down a bit, since it is a very expensive operation and some companies were being overly nervous, but we trust that the economy should rectify itself in a few months. Remember, that old car will do for another couple of years, but you will need a new motorcycle soon.

The exhibitors filled the two big halls–and they are big–with a third, smaller arena housing vintage bike displays and a very attractive women-riders section, allowing the distaff side to see what the industry has in the way of genderized information, clothes, motorcycles, et cetera. The single biggest draw was at the Honda display, where the new VFR1200F was sitting on a revolving platform and lust was in the eyes of many viewers. BMW did not have its prototype six-cylinder bike on display, much to the chagrin of many, but the go-extremely-fast S1000RR almost made up for the absence, especially with the equally riveting high-heeled attendants on hand.

Along with big displays put on by nine manufacturers, there were dozens of booths showing the latest in helmets and clothing and luggage and anything you can imagine to enhance the motorcycling life. Lots of Northern California motorcycle businesses were present, from the San Francisco monthly City Bike magazine selling T-shirts to local leather vendors offering great discounts. And food was quite available for those who spent eight or more hours at the event.

One of these shows should come within a hundred miles of your house; check dates and places at www.motorcycleshows.com. However, at Chicago in February there will be no demo rides but those ice-bound mid-westerners will thoroughly appreciate the opportunity to wander the halls and dream of spring.

Why I Don’t Fix My Own Tubeless Tires

As the first photo shows, I used to fix my own flat tires. This happened to be on a dirt road in the Himalayas and the only work place was atop this stone version of an Armco barrier. Take the wheel off, take the tire half off, take the tube out, patch the tube, put tube back in, put the tire back on (careful not to pinch the tube), inflate. I still can do that when I have a tubed tire that goes flat, but 90+ percent of my miles are now on tubeless tires.

The man-cave where Chris the tech guy hangs out.

Like on my Honda ST1100. I hadn’t used it for a week, and the rear tire was flat. A close inspection found a nail with the head long since worn away. Apparently it was a slow leak, so I left the nail in place, pumped the tire up and rode the five miles to Chris Sidah’s mountain man-cave. External plugs are handy devices to get a holed tubeless tire back on the road temporarily until you can get to a shop that can fix the tire from the inside. But I never trust the external plugs for the long haul. Since this was a relatively new Avon Storm, I wanted a proper fix.

Just getting the wheel off a modern bike can be a problem, and the work is much easier done on a lift than with me crawling around on the ground. On the ST: remove fender extension, take off axle nut and loosen axle clamp, loosen bolt holding brake caliper and move caliper, find that axle won’t clear muffler unless you remove the muffler bolt and lift the muffler a half inch, pull out axle, do not lose spacer, remove wheel.

Blessed is he who invented the tire-removal machine.

Break the tire bead: no easy task, unless you have a hefty tire-bead breaker. On my DR650’s tube tire I can get the tire off the rim with the heel of my boot, but not on my ST’s tire. Chris’s machine provides a lot of pressure and the bead reluctantly gives way. Then he has a machine that greatly, greatly simplifies the task of removing the tire from the wheel, without having to use all those pesky tire irons.

Tire off, hole is located, and a Stop & Go Inside/Out Patch/Plug is used; this both plugs the hole and puts a patch over the hole. Put the tire back on the wheel, inflate, spray some water on the hole site to see if any air is escaping (nope), remount wheel, put axle back in (don’t forget the spacer), snug, only snug, axle nut, spin wheel to make sure all bearings are happy, tighten clamp, tighten axle nut, tighten caliper, replace muffler bolt, reattach fender bit.

Not a job I would care to do by the side of the road. Unless there was a chase with all the appropriate machinery.

Avila Beach Concours D’Elegance (ABCDE)

These car guys are beginning to get it…motorcycles are an asset to any automotive show. First those Pebble Beach fellows allowed motorcycles in earlier this year, and now the Avila Beach crowd has done the same. On Sunday October 25th some two dozen magnificent examples of motorcycle art rolled on to the 18th green at California’s Avila Beach golf course, ranging in age from the truly antique to the heyday of the classics in the sixties and seventies. [Read more]

San Luis Obispo Classic Motorcycle Rally

With the Half Moon Bay Legend of the Motorcycle concours gone, and no really big vintage venue left in California Coast, the Central Coast Classic Motorcycle Club (CCCMC) decided to take up some of the slack and put on a major show October 8th through 11th. It began with a gathering on Thursday evening at the San Luis Obispo farmers’ market, which always attracts a big crowd. Over a hundred motorcycles showed up at the parking lot venue, with Craig Vetter of fairing fame and Bonneville record-setter Marty Dickerson (who just set a new record at this year, at age 82, on a 55-year-old Vincent) in attendance. [Read more]

Old School

Last Saturday, September 26th, I was invited up to Roseville, California, where A&S Powersports, peddling Vespas, Ducatis and BMWs, was having an open house and vintage show. In typical Sacramento Valley weather for the first week of fall, the temp went to over 100, but A&S had a huge supply of cold sodas on hand, and free burgers and dogs.

I bored the attendees with a 60-slide vintage presentation, starting with an 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmueller, ending 70 years later with a Ninja 900 — all done in air-conditioned splendor. Then I had to go out in the heat and judge 80 vintage bikes, ranging from a 1912 Indian racer in original paint, to a Mike Hailwood Ducati. I judged on unusuality, bikes I would not expect to see, like a 1937 Triumph single and a 1950 Imme R100. I wasn’t threatened with a lynching, so I presume the losers took their loss well.

Pro Bono

I did my pro bono work for the month last night. The local library asked me to give a talk… subject of my own choosing. “Motorcycling in Alta and Baja California.” I brought in some slides, and a projector, and the publicity seems to have been decent as the room had filled up by 6:30. Had the fire marshall been on hand he probably would have shut us down, as all the chairs were full, people were sitting on the floor up front, and standing at the back.

Flattering. And they all stayed for the full hour-plus as I rambled on about the pleasures of riding the Lost Coast and Death Valley. Very flattering. Admittedly I was preaching to the choir, as only half a dozen members of the audience raised their hands when I asked, “Who does not ride motorcycles?”