Passes & Canyons Blog

This is a bit dated but it was a fun event.

More than 1,000 Cushman scooters and a variety of service vehicles (think golf carts and more) have descended upon Sturgis, SD, this week, for the Cushman Club of America’s annual rally.

Lured by the chance to “Come play where the big boys play,” the Cushman aficianados have responded affirmatively and are putting a very different face on this small town, which is generally associated with images of much larger two-wheelers.

“This is gonna be the meet to remember,” said rally organizer Jeff Bartheld, obviously savoring the arrival of the event he has put so much work into.

Registrants hail from 45 states, and one came from Australia.

Tomorrow, June 14, Main Street will be open only to scooters and at 3 p.m., when a group photo is planned, it should be engulfed in the manner Main Street is every year during the motorcycle rally. During that time, representatives of the Sturgis Chamber of Commerce, the Jackpine Gypsies, the rally committee, and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum will each pick five scooters to receive medals as the best of the bunch.

A second, juried scooter show will take place in the community center, with prizes to be awarded on Thursday.

On Tuesday the more rugged scooterists, numbering around 120, will make a grand ride through the Black Hills, presenting what is sure to be a memorable spectacle.

Maury LaRue, mayor of Sturgis, noted that it will be very easy for the town “to accommodate a three-day rally that wasn’t going to sprawl all over the town.” Because Sturgis has numerous buildings and facilities that are only used two weeks out of the year, for the biker rally, the town is making a major effort to attract other groups. The Cushman Club event is one, and in just a few days a club of Ford Mustang lovers will have their rally here. Then there will be a bluegrass festival.

“This is a very different crowd,” Maury said, referring to the Cushman group. “They’re here to look at Cushmans and to ride. They’re also not here to camp. They’re here in their RVs.”

Jeff Bartheld remarked that, “These folks are here thinking, ‘I want to relive my youth. Oh boy, here we go!'”

Biker Quote for Today

Only cool grandfathers ride motorcycles.

Biker Brotherhood: A Tale Of Two Breakdowns

My old 1980 Honda CB750 Custom gave me trouble the other day. Twice. And others bikers came to my aid. Twice. Thanks guys. Stopping and helping another biker is a time-honored tradition and it’s one of those things that makes our group special.

Starting out from home, I had only gone about a mile and she died. I knew I had switched to reserve near the end of my ride a couple days ago, but that should have meant I had plenty of gas to get to a station. But “ought to” and “should have” are meaningless in the face of reality.

Happily, as I rolled the bike onto the sidewalk to get it out of the busy intersection where it had chosen to die, another rider came along and asked if everything was OK. No, it was not OK. So Roger gave me a ride to my house to get a can of gas and then stuck around to see if that would do the job.

It didn’t. I poured the gas in, turned the key, and thumbed the starter and while it turned over just fine, that was all. The only other thing I could think of that might be a problem was the fusible link. This part of my electrical system requires removal of the seat to get to, which is not an easy proposition on this CB, so I only do it when I need to. I figured I needed to.

Roger stuck around meanwhile, and when I got to the link it was fine. So now what? As I put it all back together and put the seat back on Roger was fiddling with the gas line down under the tank. He called my attention to a translucent portion of the line, and how when he nudged it with his finger a bit more gas moved into the line. He did that several times and each time more gas filled the line until it was full.

“Try it now,” he suggested. I turned the key and pushed the starter and it fired right up. Wahoo! I would never have thought to look at that, and Roger swore he’s no mechanic but was just following intuition. Only once I was up and running again did he depart, having done a very good deed for a total stranger.

Problem No. 2
So I filled up and headed off to Loveland, where I was going to test ride some Triumphs. I’ll be telling you all about that soon but suffice it to say for now that I loved the Bonnevilles!

I headed back to Denver and thought the bike might not be running quite right about the time I got back into the metro area. It was rush hour and I was going south on I-25 right through the heart of town, so it was slow going. I was in the far-left lane right at the 8th Avenue exit when the bike just died. We were moving slowly so I coasted only about 10 feet before I came to a stop. Fortunately, there was a spot just 10 feet ahead of me where the concrete barrier dividing north- and southbound traffic separated, creating a space just big enough for two motorcycles to tuck safely out of the way. I rolled up into that space.

Clearly I wasn’t going anywhere any time soon on my own. I was stuck in the middle of the interstate with traffic not about to subside. Within just a couple minutes, however, a guy on a Kawasaki, whose name I did not get, pulled into the space (that’s how I know there was room for two bikes) and asked if I needed help.

Yes, I certainly did, could I use his cell phone to call for assistance. I made the call and also called my wife to tell her I wouldn’t be meeting her as planned. And then the Kawi guy took off, having done his good deed for the day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Long story short (and leaving out some interesting details), I was rescued and hauled off to the shop. There my bike remains as I wait to get the word on what caused the problems.

Bikers helping bikers
I have to say that this practice of bikers helping bikers is a very special thing. I know it arose out of the vagaries of undependable machinery in the early days but that it continues today, when bikes are much more dependable, is a testament to how people really can get along if they choose to.

We may not share political opinions and may have a lot of different ideas about a lot of things, but when you see someone stopped by the side of road you don’t ask who they voted for. You ask if they need help. And if they do, you provide whatever you can. What a wonderful thing it could be if we incorporated this attitude into the other parts of our lives.

Biker Quote for Today

When I hit the open road the ride becomes meditation, the sound of my pipes become music, the rolling through turns becomes a dance, and riding becomes a celebration of freedom!

I figure that considering I’m not riding due to my surgery, this is a good time to repost some more of these Examiner Resurrections. I wrote for Examiner.com for about eight years but they shut down and all the stuff I published there was taken down. Much of it is still good and relevant.

Motorcycles 101: Combatting Handgrip Vibration

People helping people. That’s one of the really nice things about online motorcycle forums, and here’s a good example. On one forum I frequent, a guy who goes by “bull 156″ asked this question: How to keep mirrors from shaking so much? Can’t even use them when going faster.”

I was one of a number of people who responded to his question, and I was very interested in the wide range of options presented. Enough so that I figured it might be interesting to pass them along.

Here are some of the answers.

• Weights inside the bars help. My Concours has weights that are attached at the very end of the bars. Rides very smoothly but I’ve been told without them it would vibrate a lot. (This was my answer.)
• http://www.barsnake.com/ — This URL was the complete response, and when you follow the link it takes you to a site where the sell something called the “Barsnake.” It’s essentially a weight to insert inside your handlebars.
• If the valves have tappets, they should be checked for proper gap. From the photos, it appears that it came with end weights in the handlebar; if they’ve been removed, the mirrors will shake.
• Try unscrewing the mirrors and put in a rubber washer; it might help absorb some of the vibrations.
• Or, install some nylon washers. With bar end weights, you should be good.
• I think you need to check the bike over for: bad bearing (front), bad axle, bad tire, bad or loose steering head. Does the engine run smooth or rough? If the roughness or vibration comes from the engine, cure that. That engine should run smooth as silk, if all is well. Might be carb sync, valves, bad compression, whatever would make it run rough.
• Here we have some roads that are smooth as silk, and others that are bumpy like gravel. The bumpy roads will make any bike vibrate. But you can tell on the smooth parts, no vibration.
• For standard or cruiser mirrors try J.C. Whitney shock absorbing chromed mirror mount: SKU 1JA 060517.
• I’m thinking maybe you’re shifting into a higher gear too soon.

So there you go. Got a question? Get an answer, fast. You gotta love online motorcycle forums. I do.

Biker Quote for Today

On the eighth day, God created motorcycles.

Money and horsepower do not produce winners in sidecar racing. It takes teamwork, and a good team can make a poor machine very, very fast.

So say the folks who ought to know, the sidecar racers I spoke with (and rode with!) at last weekend’s Bonneville Vintage GP and Concours.

Wade Boyd and Christine Blunck are the points leaders for both driver and passenger as this racing season nears its end, and they were the ones I chanced to strike up conversation with as I sought to learn more about this sport. I also spoke with Rick Murray, the outgoing president of the Sidecar Racers Association-West.

Wade got into sidecar racing unexpectedly when he showed up at the Isle of Man TT one year expecting to race in three events. Finding that he had been shut out of two events, “I told my girlfriend to find me a sidecar.” He had never ridden a sidecar before but she found a driver in need of a passenger and he agreed to take Wade.

“I had a dynamite time, and then for four years it was like I had my thumb out. I’d go without having anything set and I’d find someone who needed a rider. Then I got to drive . . .”

Christine’s first involvement with racing was as an umbrella girl at various races, but she had a friend who ran a motorcycle shop, and who said of sidecar racing, “We could do that.”

That’s often how it happens, says Rick. “Quite often you have two friends or relatives who want to race together. We have many husband/wife, father/son, sister/sister teams. We have a fairly high percentage of women in the sport.”

Wade concurs, saying “Where else do you get to take a buddy for a ride?”

Wade is a steel fabricator by trade and he built his own rig for the most part, although “Mr. Bill” Becker of Becker Motor Works helped him out putting the motor in and with some of the other big stuff. Mr. Bill is known by all U.S. sidecar racers because he helps nearly all of them keep their rigs running.

That sort of helpfulness is characteristic of sidecar racing. “We’re competitive but friendly,” says Wade. “We want you out there and I want to pass you fair and square.”

It’s all about teamwork
The key to running a fast race is the teamwork. Each team pre-rides the track and then maps out their strategy for each turn on the course. On most turns the passenger will hang their weight out to enable fast turns without the third wheel rising off the pavement, or floating. That loss of traction cuts speed. However, in some instances, “letting the chair float” allows the rig to cut the corner sharper in order to get up speed in a hurry for the straightaway.

The passenger needs to know his or her position on each turn and the driver needs to be aware of the passenger’s location. On occasion the driver will look back but usually, “I feel her, the ESP is strong,” says Wade.

The passenger also needs to make their moves smoothly and gracefully. Harsh, forceful moves from one position to another will negatively affect the handling of the rig. Wade calls this coordinated, smooth movement “high-speed ballet.”

Despite the seemingly dangerous risks the passengers take, leaning far out of the rig just inches above the ground, sidecar racing in the U.S. is actually very safe. By comparison, Wade says, at the Isle of Man TT “they put a bale of hay in front of a telephone pole. After doing the TT, this (the track at Miller Motorsports Park) is easy. We rarely touch, but if you do touch you’re probably going to spin out, and if you spin out the passenger can get launched.”

According to Rick, the last sidecar racing fatality in the U.S. occurred in the 1980s, and there have been only three fatalities since the 1960s.

Passengers do sometimes get “spit off.” Christine’s most memorable such occasion came in Ramsey, on the Isle of Man when her driver clipped a curb in an S-curve. “It spit me off and I flipped through the air and landed upright on my feet in some gentleman’s front yard. I said ‘Hi’ and introduced myself.” She adds that there are times when the passenger wishes he or she was a monkey, and had that tail as a fifth hand to hang on with.

Sidecar racing is an inexpensive way to race, Rick notes, because you split the cost two ways. Plus, using wide, slick tires, as modern sidecars do, the costs are low because a set of tires will last one to two years. And most racers run stock engines so reliability is very high.

Still, there aren’t that many sidecar racers in the U.S., and they’d love to see that change. That’s one reason Rick and others love to offer “taxi rides” to spectators when they can. These taxi rides let non-racers suit up and take two laps around the track with an experienced driver at the controls.

“I tell people you’ll love it or hate it,” says Rick. “I’ve never seen anybody go half way. They’re either ‘Get me off’ or ‘Where can I buy one?'”

And if you do love it, says Rick, “You can spend $4,000 to $5,000 and have something to have fun with.”

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes your knight in shining armor turns out to be a biker in dirty leathers.

This experience was a real highlight, so I’m happy to run this as an Examiner Resurrection.

“Grab this grip with your left hand and never let go.”

I figured that first bit of instruction was the most important of all. Especially when ignoring it could result in my hitting the pavement at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.

I was going for a ride on a racing sidecar.

If you watch sidecar racers scream around the curves, often with the passenger hanging much of their body out of the car and inches from the ground, your first impulse is to say “Those guys are crazy.” Well, crazy or not, I wanted a piece of it and I was going to get it.

I went to the Bonneville Vintage GP and Concours last week with antique motorcycles on my mind but was quickly caught up in the excitement surrounding the sidecars that were also there racing, both vintage and Formula 1 and Formula 2. And as luck would have it, the sidecar guys love to take other folks on what they call “taxi rides” for a couple laps of the track. Where do I sign up?

So Rick Murray, with Team RGM, who would be taking me for a ride in his rig, was explaining to me what I should, and most importantly, should not do. As you move around from left to right to center, the right hand moves from grip to grip. But the left hand never moves from its grip. A lot of the rest I was told was forgotten as soon as we got out on the track but I did remember this.

Then Christine Blunck, with Subculture Racing, walked me through the entire track, showing me how to roll on my legs from left to center, where to brace my feet as I moved right, and what move to make on each turn in the track. She noted that sidecar passengers at times wish they were monkeys so they would have that tail, that fifth hand, to grab on with.

Wearing my own helmet and gloves and a borrowed leather suit, I was mounted and we were ready to roll out on the track. There would be one other taxi rider on the sidecar ahead of us. Let’s go.

Around the track we looped, through turns with evocative names such as “Gotcha,” “Mabey Y’ll Makit,” “Agony,” and “Ecstasy.” If I remembered anything Christine had told me about each turn it became moot as I quickly lost track of where we even were on the course. Initial thoughts of shifting left to right and back to left were dashed at the realization that, oh yeah, sometimes you have two lefts in a row, or two rights in a row. Guess I’d better pay attention to the track.

But even then it got confusing. I’d be figuring that I needed to be going right and I’d look ahead and the guy in the car in front of us was going left. Who was correct and who was confused? I know I was confused even if I was correct.

Of course, in all honesty, it didn’t matter if I screwed up. We were not going at full race speeds and Rick told me he could run the whole course at that speed with no problem regardless of what I did. And afterward I asked him if I screwed up and he just said, sort of noncommitally, that “You did fine.”

So we did the first lap and were well into the second when I heard the engine rev and felt us picking up speed. I knew Rick was opening it up to give me a taste of real race speeds and I hung on tight to enjoy the sensation. I have no doubt that my own personal land speed record was set at that moment.

Then we swept again through the clubhouse turn and into the pit lane and off the track to a stop. I stood up and realized I was breathing hard, not to mention feeling like I’d just had a work out. And I’m sure I was smiling. Here’s your leathers back, and thank you for the pin that reads, “I rode a racing sidecar.” Thank you, thank you, thank you. When can I do this again?

Biker Quote for Today

I have no interest in living a balanced life. I want a life of adventure.

A love affair with chrome.

What else can you call it? There is not another material that is used as much by bikers to make their bikes their own. And particularly if you are of the Harley-Davidson persuasion, there are chrome parts to be had for pretty much every bit of your bike.

The ultimate has to have been the bike I saw quite some years ago up in Lyons, CO. This custom Harley didn’t have one square inch that I could see that was not done in chrome. I’m sorry I didn’t have a camera with me.

Just to see how far this can go, I stopped in to a Harley dealer and made a partial list of the chrome parts they were hoping you’d like to buy. Fortunately, they all had names on their packages; otherwise I wouldn’t even know what to call some of these things.

• Switch caps
• Fuel cap and gauge trim ring
• Headlamp trim ring
• Tail light visor
• Speaker trim
• Fuel tank mounting hardware
• Cylinder cover
• Air baffle cover
• Voltage regulator cover
• Radio trim bezel
• Instrument gauge bezel
• Fork slide covers
• Windshield trim
• Air cleaner insert kit

You get the picture. I quit taking names at that point.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t always sit and listen to my Harley, but when I do, so does the neighborhood.

Working at Bonneville Speedway last year was a real kick for James Moore, of Manningtree, Essex, UK, but he was only able to watch, not participate. This year was going to be different.

Before heading for the States again this year James looked around for a motorcycle to take to Bonneville. He found it in pieces, a 1952 James Comet. It was a basket case. No problem.

He sand-blasted the frame and then nickel-plated it. A friend spray-painted the tank. He found copies of the original decals and put them on. Then he shipped it in pieces to Bonneville, where he was again hired as staff. In his off time he put it all together.

When the time came for time-trials the Comet was ready, sort of. James entered it in the 100cc Vintage Modified Gasoline class and went out and set a world record. His speed: 35.926 miles per hour, give or take a few thousandths. And he never could get the bike into second gear.

OK, 36 mph is not exactly scorching, although the bike’s top speed at sea level is supposed to be 40 mph. But this was in first gear. James says he would put it in second and it would pop out so he just jammed it back in first and ran the mile. James plans to run the bike in November he’ll run it at the raceway at El Mirage dry lake bed, and, with second gear working, hopes to break that early record.

Following the time trials, James had his Comet on display at Saturday’s Concours d’Elegance at the Bonneville Vintage GP and Concours, at Miller Motorsports Park.

Obviously, the 100cc Vintage Modified Gasoline class is not a high-powered–or high-speed–racing class, or the most hotly contested. But when was the last time you took a basket-case motorcycle and turned it into a world-record holder?

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Your motorcycle doesn’t get upset when you forget its birthday.

I go out of my way for terrific motorcycle roads and coming home from Tooele, UT, last week was no exception. I wanted to revisit American Fork Canyon and the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway, which provide a great alternative route to Heber City and U.S. 40, which was my road back to Denver.

I’ve been this way before more than once. The OFMC discovered this road years ago thanks to a tip from a local and we ride it whenever we can. If you’re out in the Salt Lake City area you should make a point of riding it, too.

Fortunately, in the farflung reaches of the Salt Lake City metro area, the American Fork Canyon is easy to find, provided you know it exists. From I-15, exit east onto Utah 92 just south of Point of the Mountain and follow this road arrow straight to the cleft in the rock that is the mouth of the canyon. Then kiss the city good-bye, there’s none of that ahead.

You’ll quickly reach an entrance station for Timpanogos Cave National Monument but if you’re only passing through there is no fee. Should you pay the $6 fee and visit the monument? I have to admit we never have, but here’s what the official website says about the place.

Timpanogos Cave National Monument sits high in the Wasatch Mountains. The cave system consists of three spectacularly decorated caverns. Helictites and anthodites are just a few of the many dazzling formations to be found in the many chambers. As visitors climb to the cave entrance, on a hike gaining over 1,000 ft in elevation, they are offered incredible views of American Fork Canyon.

Make your way through the canyon, which is pretty spectacular in its own right, and then bear right to head on up the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway. This is a winding, twisting, amazingly narrow strip of asphalt that loops up to Alpine Summit and then on down past Sundance Ski Resort. It hits U.S. 189 running through Provo Canyon and a left will take you up to Heber City and U.S. 40, or a right takes you down into Provo.

Biker Quote for Today

God makes the lightning, bikers make the thunder.