Passes & Canyons Blog

by Matt Wessels

The Vintage movement is in full force and old motorcycles are finding their way back to daylight and backroads in record numbers. This year will mark the 5th annual Vintage Motorcycle Show in Golden, Colorado.

Heritage Square will host the event one last time before they close their doors at the end of 2015, and all of their facilities will be operational for the show. Those facilities include bathrooms, restaurants, and a bar.

Erico Motorsports, GrandPrix Motorsports Indian and Foothills Triumph/BMW will be there showcasing some of the factory retro motos. Last year they had a half-million dollar Vincent show up, by the name of the Black Prince. It might make a re-appearance at this year’s show.

The show (Sunday, June 7) is open to anybody with a vintage motorcycle following the structure of a controlled open floor. To enter, respond to the evite and drop a comment so that Bob can get an idea of how many bikes there will be. Being a part of the show is just as free as attending it. They are taking donations for Hospice care, so bring some stray bills to support a good cause!

Much like the show being a celebration of all that was good and right in the motorcycle world, the Hospice donations are a celebration of good people who make it their life’s work to increase the quality of life for those who can not completely provide it for themselves. The idea was started when a friend was immensely impressed with the Hospice workers who take care of his mom, and wanted to give back.

The VJMC is also giving back by footing the bill for the event and wants all motorcycles from all backgrounds, manufacturers, and styles to attend. This isn’t a profitable endeavor, this is simply two enthusiasts who want to bring like-minded people together and celebrate good bikes, good food, good talk, and good experiences.

If you missed the link up above, go HERE to register for attendance. IT’S FREE!

For any other questions or comments, please reach out to Bob @ superhawk65@gmail.com

Many of the same folks meet at the GB Fish and Chips on the first Thursday of every month for Old Bike Night. There are a few other Old Bike Night meetups around the front range area, but not all necessarily connected with this one.

Bikes on top of Pikes Peak.

Motorcycles used to be pretty undependable. From what I gather, at least, breaking down alongside the road used to be pretty much an every day occurrence. If you were a rider, you were a mechanic.

Out of that reality a brotherhood developed where it was just unacceptable to pass by a brother alongside the road who might be in trouble. That ethos continues today, although I think it has gotten weaker. Bikes are more dependable now, you don’t have everyone looking at a rider alongside the road and thinking “that could be me” and stopping.

I know I’ve been stopped and very definitely having problems and watched in annoyance as other motorcycles went right on by. I particularly think about a couple BMWs one day . . .

The ethos seems to remain the strongest among Harley riders. There have been a number of times when I have had problems and a number of other times when I was just stopped to shoot some pictures. And more than one Harley rider stopped to check on me. I really do thank you guys.

Well it happened again Saturday but this time I wasn’t even on a bike. Judy and I were down in Colorado Springs for a wedding reception and we decided to drive up Pikes Peak. We were in my car.

So we got pretty high up the mountain and the car started dragging. It had no power at all. It’s fuel-injected so the altitude should not have been the problem the way it once would have been. But something was definitely wrong.

There we were just stopped on the road up the mountain; the car would not go forward. I had my flashers on but it took a while for the guy behind me to figure out that I wasn’t just stopping to shoot a picture or something, and he finally pulled around. We’re sitting there discussing what to do and a couple on a Harley coming down the mountain pulled into our lane and stopped directly facing us. We wondered what the heck he was doing until we saw that he was letting a car that had come up behind us get past.

Once that car got past the folks on the bike pulled alongside and asked if we were having trouble. You bet. So thinking quickly, I asked him to just block the road momentarily for us so I could roll backward and do a Y-turn and head back down the hill. Which he did, and as soon as we got pointed downhill the car was ready to run just fine. Had the gas just not been able to reach the fuel pump on this steep uphill?

We didn’t need any more assistance and after going a little ways we pulled over to assess the situation. The folks on the Harley pulled over and checked and we said thanks, we’re fine now, thank you very much. And they rode on.

That’s what I’m talking about. We weren’t even on a bike, they had no idea we ride, but they stopped to help. And they were on a Harley. Wasn’t there a slogan years ago, something like “You meet the nicest people on a Harley”? Kinda? Sorta? Well you do, even if you’re not the ones on the Harley.

Biker Quote for Today

Happiness is finding you still have more throttle.

As I reported on Examiner.com, Harley-Davidson has signed on to be the chief sponsor of the 2011 Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. What I didn’t mention in that report was the wave of skepticism that immediately followed that announcement.

For instance, Todd8080 has been to several such reports with his comment saying:

Have traffic laws in all of the lower 48 states suddenly changed overnight? Up until now it’s been illegal to race any vehicle for money on public roads in every single state.

You can call Hoka Hey an “endurance challenge” or anything else you choose, but the fact remains whoever gets to the finish line first wins the cash, and that’s called racing in any language.

No one has the right to jeopardize the driving public (in 48 states no less) by conducting an illegal race on public roads. Last year’s Hoka Hey was fraught with death and serious injuries, and not just to the race participants.

Over on Cyril Huze’s blog, Grayhawk offered this:

One might surmise that this sponsorship might put HD at the top of the grief list and the deepest pocket if the 2011 event repeats itself in confusion, issues, deaths, publicity, etc. from their 2010 effort no matter the assurances it will be different, your words from an excerpt above specifically, “stretching the boundaries”, may be deemed by some as encouragement to extend man and machine past it/their capability to reap monetary rewards. Event insurance alone may not suffice the negative impacts if this event goes south, just asking.

Now, with Harley as the sponsor, it would not be surprising if competition was limited to H-D riders, and that may be the case but it may not. The Hoka Hey home page says “The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is open to riders of Harley-Davidson motorcycles” but on the Entry page it says “This year’s event will be open to riders of V-twin, air-cooled motorcycles.”

The general opinion on that limitation, if it is in fact the case, is just fine: He who pays the piper calls the tune. Again over at Cyril Huze, TommyBoy remarked:

So, the Hoka Hey is now supported by Harley and only Harley motorcycles can participate!!!!!! Surely, the boys Harley & Davidson are looking down and smiling as once again The Motor Company eliminates Indian from what could have been a tremendous advertising/growth opportunity.

Some of the objections to the Hoka Hey right from the start have come from members of the Iron Butt Association, many of whom consider the Hoka Hey to be dangerous and badly conceived. I suspect they also fear it may have repercussions that will damage their own events. A commenter on my Examiner page, who oddly chose to identify himself by the name “IBA,” had this to say:

I knew it wouldn’t take long before the IBA whiners started chiming in. You have your rally, so go away already. If IBA was so great you would be the one with the big sponsors and prize money events rather than making your riders do all the documentation and work then pay too much for a patch they can get made for $2. IBA is a great idea in the hands of the wrong people.

So the Hoka Hey is back for 2011, and whatever its merits or deficits, it’s getting a lot of attention. I see this first hand when I check my Google Analytics statistics for the three days since I posted that sponsorship article. In that time fully one-third of my readers have been to that story, and its readership outstrips the No. 2 story 15 to 1. Yikes!

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Ohio’s Iron Pony named 2011 Dealer of the Year

Biker Quote for Today

As I get older and more fragile, my bikes get bigger, heavier, and more powerful….Another beer please!