Passes & Canyons Blog

Today is warm and sunny and that’s a good thing. We still have ice on our street, and more importantly, we still have ice between our driveway and the clear part of the street. I need that to be gone so I can get out on one of my motorcycles. By tomorrow it should be clear.

It’s the day after tomorrow that I’m particularly interested in. December 31 is the date for the Last Brass Monkey Run, as I’ve mentioned before. I’m planning to ride this year, and I’ll bet there are a lot of other people making similar plans. It’s not always possible but this year looks like a good one.

Of course, that also means I’ll almost certainly be out on both my bikes the following day. I make it a point to ride both bikes at least once every single month of every single year, and at this time of year you have to take advantage of the first opportunity you get. The weather can change and if you don’t ride today, tomorrow may not be an option. With good weather on January 1 you can pretty much assume I’ll be out riding.

Looking ahead to the new year, I’ve got some great trips planned. I’ve decided this is the year to expand my horizons, and to that end, I’m planning on heading to Ohio for the AMA’s Vintage Motorcycle Days. I’ve never ridden out in that part of the country, so this will be a long trip and it will be something completely new. Plus, I have a brother who lives in Ohio and he and a friend are in the process of opening a biker-oriented cafe in Michigan and of course he wants me to come out and tell the world about it. It’s a dirty job and all that. I’ve never ridden in Michigan before either.

But first we have some cold months to get through. All I ask is just a couple nice days in each of them.

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Biker Quote for Today

Yes, I have a problem — that there are 50 weeks of the year without Dakar!

I just want to pass this along. If you have older two-stroke motocross bikes and you’re in or near Colorado, there is a movie in production that may want to use your bike. And you might get in the movie yourself.

Here’s the particulars, as passed along to me by Jerry Pokorny, with the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado. It comes from a guy who goes by Whiskyman, but I guess you’d need to reply to Jerry at jerry_pokorny@msn.com.

I have been in communications with the producer of some budget movies who is now filming a production dealing with a human interest angle on a motocross racer theme.

Production is here in Colorado at Thunder Mountain in Lakewood and another site a short distance away so it’s in our backyard.

To help him out, he has asked me to try and help him find two different bikes – as follows:

Early ’90s vintage 2-stroke motocross bike in very clean to mint condition. The bike will mainly be used as static prop and only ridden for 2 laps around the motocross track by a professional stunt double in the production so it won’t be harmed in any way. It will be used in 2 scenes to be shot in Early June. No limit on displacement or brand was specified so let me know what you have in your collection that you would be willing to make available for a couple of days. The producer is going to offer the owner of the bike a small walk-on part related to the movie main characters race team in support of the “works rider” (principal actor in this production). There is no other compensation but the ego trip of having your bike and possibly you in a movie – now how cool is that?

The other need is for a few mid to late 1980s vintage 80 cc 2-stroke motocross bikes to be used in a scene with the producer’s main character YZ – 80 as “other competitors bikes.” This will be shot in late June or July. No walk-on part for this but you will still have bragging rights on having your bike in a movie………..

Ok, let’s hear from you as soon as possible. Let me know what you have (make, model, displacement, year) and if possible send a photo. I will help screen candidates and forward the best options to the producers for his consideration.

This sounds like a heck of a lot of fun so please respond at your earliest convenience!

Ride fast, life is short

Whiskyman

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Biker Quote for Today

When in doubt, throttle out.

A very busy weekend, what with all the motorcycle riding I had to do. This is a dirty job and . . . oh yeah, you probably don’t want to hear it. OK, it’s a sweet job.

On Saturday, as I said I would, I went to test ride Zero electric motorcycles. Local Zero rep Chuck Pratt and a bunch of folks from the home office were on hand with a variety of bikes, offering test rides to all comers.

It was an absurdly windy day and there was no dirt to test ride the dirt bikes in, but it was still enough to get a feel for what an electric motorcycle is like. After being reassured that the thing really is running, as you sit there without holding a clutch in, squeezing brakes, or anything else, you twist the throttle and by golly you take off!

I’ll be giving a full report on Examiner.com about the Zeros, and I’ll come back here and link to that report once it’s up, but there’s one extremely interesting thing I want to share with you here. If you live in Colorado, you can have a Zero S (street) or DS (dual sport) for an incredible price.

They are listed at about $10,000 but thanks to state and federal tax credits for purchases of electric vehicles, a Colorado resident can ride off with one for only $5,100. That’s mostly thanks to the Colorado tax credit, which is the largest offered anywhere in the country. If I had room to park a third bike, and a normal job that actually paid real money, I’d be a fish on the line for them to reel in. You might want to consider it.

Old Bike Ride 8

Sunday was a whole other gig. Working through Norton Colorado, a group of local Norton owners, Bob Ohman put together this eighth annual ride of old bikes. The loosely structured–and completely unenforced, as far as I could tell, but who cares?–rules were you needed to be riding a bike at least 25 years old or be at least 65 years old yourself. I rode my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom.

This was a ride the way things used to be before lawsuit-happy Americans ruined things for themselves and others: no riding fee, no liability waiver–just come and join the gang and go for nice ride on a terrific day for riding. And there were Ducatis, Hondas, Nortons, BSAs, Yamahas, Harleys, at least one Laverda, and a bunch of others. Oh yeah, an Indian or two.

Heading out, the first thing we did was ride to the top of Lookout Mountain and then stop near Buffalo Bill’s grave for more schmoozing and ogling of old iron. Then back down the hill and up Clear Creek Canyon to the Peak to Peak Highway, and north to the Millsite Inn, outside of Ward, a popular biker stop.

After lunch and more ogling it was pick-your-own-route back to Golden and regroup, or head on home. Other than being more chilly than expected up on the Peak to Peak, we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to ride and it was a lot of fun. Last Sunday in May; put it on your calendar for next year.

Biker Quote for Today

I may be a poor rider, but my bike sure is SLOW.

I did a critique recently of “The Old Man and the Harley,” an interesting book in some ways, in need of better editing in others. I’m not sure if that was the trigger but I got an email more recently asking if I’d be interested in receiving the motorcycle books published by Motorbooks, Inc. and reviewing them. Of course I said yes.

So I got my first batch yesterday and I’m looking forward to digging into them. These are the four.
How to Restore Your Motorcycle, 2nd Edition
Maximum Control: Mastering Your Heavyweight Bike
Modern Motorcycle Technology: How Every Part of Your Motorcycle Works
The Vincent in the Barn: Great Stories of Motorcycle Archaeology

I’ll have a lot more to say about them once I get a chance to read them but I have noted a couple things already. First, three of these four would seem to be a good, complementary set. Read Modern Motorcycle Technology to understand how it all works, then read The Vincent in the Barn to see how old bikes have been rediscovered. After that, go out and get your own old bike and let How to Restore Your Motorcycle guide you in getting it back in shape.

One amusing semi-contradiction is that The Vincent in the Barn talks about discovering old bikes, whereas How to Restore Your Motorcycle states explicitly, “let me disabuse you of the notion that a lot of collectible vintage bikes are lying around in barns, basements, and garages waiting to be picked up for a song.” I suspect both are correct however; it does happen but don’t base your whole plan on it.

There are also more books coming that are not ready for release yet, and I’ll be looking at those as they come available. I think I’m about to broaden my knowledge in a number of ways.

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Biker Quote for Today

Home is where your bike sits still long enough to leave a few drops of oil on the ground.

I’ve been thinking lately about motorcycle museums, ever since it was brought back to my attention that there is one such place in downtown Denver that I have never been to. So I thought it might be interesting to put together a list of all the motorcycle museums around the country.

A quick Google search showed me that there are one heck of a lot of these museums. Not all of these are specifically motorcycle museums; some are transportation museums that naturally include motorcycles. After pooling lists from various websites, removing duplicates, and visiting numerous sites to see if some questionable ones should be included, I came up with 78 of them. I’m sure if I did a more thorough search I could uncover a few more.

Concluding that I didn’t want to just post a huge list here, I whittled it down to only those in Colorado and the adjoining states. That’s essentially those you can get to in a day’s ride. I also included South Dakota in the list because the Rapid City/Sturgis area is also within a day’s ride and they have several. Then it turned out that while some of these states are close, the museums themselves are at the far end. Oh well.

So here’s what I came up with, and the way I figure it, you may not want to make the trip just to see these places but if you’re on the road anyway, and going near any of these, you might plan to make a stop. Rather than add a world of details on admission fees and hours of operation, I’ll just provide the links and if you’re interested I’d suggest you go to their sites for that info.

Colorado – 4

The Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame is in Colorado Springs, sitting right in front of Pikes Peak Harley-Davidson, at 5865 N. Nevada Ave. I’ve been to this one a couple times and it’s a very interesting stop. Jerry Manka is the curator and he’s a character. You definitely want to talk with Jerry while you’re there. Indians and Harleys dominate but there are a variety of other bikes as well.

Vintage Motos, at 2762 Walnut in Denver, is the one I haven’t been to yet. Their site says they have more than “190 Two Wheeled Wonders for Your Viewing Enjoyment!” They ask that you call ahead just to make sure someone is there when you arrive. The phone is 303-547-7389.

The Forney Transportation Museum at 4303 Brighton Blvd. is one of those I mentioned. The last time I visited the Forney Museum was at least 25 years ago, and they have moved since then, so I don’t know what they have but their site does say motorcycles.

Then there’s the Mathews Collection, which is the iffiest of them all. Located at 5889 Lamar Street in Arvada, their website shows a lot of really hot, fast cars, but just two motorcycles. If you like hot cars you may want to go to this place for the cars, with any bikes being icing on the cake.

Arizona – 1

The Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson Museum, in Phoenix, is just what the name implies. It’s located in the Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson dealership, at 13850 North Cave Creek Road.

Nebraska – 1

There’s no website for Chevyland U.S.A. – Auto and Cycle Museum, but it’s located in the town of Elm Creek. Elm Creek is just north of I-80, a little west of Kearney. With no website it’s hard to find out much about it.

Kansas – 3

Yesterdays Museum is located in the lower level of the Topeka Harley-Davidson dealership. Like the Buddy Stubbs museum, it showcases Harleys. It’s located at 2047 SW Topeka Blvd.

The Kansas Motorcycle Museum is home to more than 100 vintage and rare motorcycles of all various makes and models. It is also one of two motorcycle museums in the small town of Marquette, in south-central Kansas. Go figure. This museum was originally built as a tribute to local racing great Stan Engdahl and has a lot of posters, photos, and memorabilia related to him. It’s located at 120 North Washington in Marquette.

Just one block south of there is Steve’s British Motorcycle Museum. This museum exhibits more than 40 British, BSA, and Triumph motorcycles and other memorabilia.

South Dakota – 4

The Freeman Heritage Hall Museum is located in Freeman, which is a little west of Sioux Falls. This is another that does not specialize in motorcycles but the website says they do have some. They’re located at 748 S. Main Street in Freeman.

Motion Unlimited Museum is in Rapid City, at 6180 S. Hwy 79. They feature 100 motorcycles on display along with memorabilia, wall murals, gas pumps, and gas station memorabilia. Their special claim to fame is a Webley Vickers, which is said to be the only one in existence.

Pioneer Auto Show is a giant tourist attraction just off of I-90 featuring cars, motorcycles, tractors, a “prairie town,” and rocks. They have Elvis’s old Harley. Murdo, SD, is the locale. That’s right on I-90 in about the middle of the state.

Not surprisingly, Sturgis is home to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Their website lists more than 100 bikes on display, plus a lot of memorabilia related to the Sturgis rally. You’ll find the museum at 999 Main Street in Sturgis.

Oklahoma – 1

The Route 66 Vintage Iron Motorcycle Museum is in the town of Miami, in the far northeastern corner of the state. This place features more than 40 vintage bikes, including “The World Famous Steve McQueen Collection, Evel Knievel Memorabilia, 1950’s style gas station, replica board track, one of the largest vintage motorcycle photo collections in the world, a huge one of a kind vintage helmet wall, and much more……” The museum is at 128 S. Main in Miami.

Biker Quote for Today

From the artistic viewpoint, it (the motorcycle) is three-dimensional: a composition of many elements of form, design, and aesthetics, always reflecting the time in which it is conceived and produced. — Richard Gaul

The coolest thing about building a career as a motorcycle journalist is getting to go to a lot of terrific events. I’ll be heading out on Thursday to cover the 4th annual Bonneville Vintage GP and Concours, in Tooele, UT, Sept. 4-6. Of course I’ll be telling you all about it.

So what exactly is this event? I’m still learning about it myself but I’ll tell you what I think I’ve figured out so far. It seems to be in essentially three parts, vintage motorcycle racing, sidecar racing, and a vintage motorcycle show.

The American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) is sponsoring the race events. Motorcycle Classics magazine is sponsoring the show.

There will be a two-stage “Battle of the CB-160s,” featuring two-time World Superbike Champion Doug Polen. Polen also offers a racing school on Friday. Saturday and Sunday, the two main days, will both feature a “Vintage and Legend Bikes Parade Laps” event, after which the day’s racing begins. The vintage bike show is on Saturday.

The location for all this will be Miller Motorsports Park, just outside of Tooele. That means it’s about 30 miles from downtown Salt Lake City. The venue is billed as “the newest world class racetrack – the largest in North America – that will very soon . . . also be legendary.”

Beyond that, I can’t tell you much – yet. Stay tuned.

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Biker Quote for Today

My theory, you only get one chance, go full fucking throttle, all the way, all the time.

I picked up a flyer yesterday as I was dropping my Kawi Concours off at Mountain Thunder Motorsports for new tires. It tells me there will be a vintage motorcycle swap meet on Sunday, July 26, 2009.

Vintage Indian motorcycles

That’s cool. It’s free to buyers (or lookers) and I’m guessing there will be some interesting bikes to check out. Who knows, someone may even be selling that elusive left side panel I lost from my 1980 CB750 Custom all those years ago.

The thing starts at 8 a.m. and the flyer doesn’t give an actual address, just directions on how to get there: Take I-70 to the Ward Road exit, go north to 48th Ave. (the north service road), and go east on that to Van Gordon. Presumably you’ll recognize it when you get there.

The event is being put on by Legends Motorcycles, which is a bit of a story in itself. I used to live just off Federal Boulevard, up north, and Legends was a couple blocks south of me. It was a convenient place for me to take my CB in for work, and they were very accommodating. I haven’t lived up that way for 13 years now, however.

Recently I was collecting information for an article I was writing and figured I’d call them with some questions. Turns out, they don’t work on bikes at all anymore, they are strictly an online parts company for older models. And apparently they’ve moved now. I guess you have to adapt or die. Glad they were able to adapt.

So, sounds like fun, but it just occurred to me I won’t be able to go. The OFMC is leaving two days before that on our summer week on the road. Dang. Bad timing. Oh well, that shouldn’t stop you.

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Biker Quote for Today

This one’s interesting because the crankshaft is the front axle, and the motor rotates around it. It’s interesting because if you stop, it stalls. So it says in the manual, when you come to a red light, you should “orbit,” and it shows someone riding around in circles.–Jay Leno on his 1920s Mergola

Have you ever seen a 1957 Aermacchi Chimera? How about a 1953 Moto Guzzi Galleto? Or a 1956 Moto Rumi Formichino Little Ant? Have you ever heard of those bikes?

If you want to see some cool motorcycles and get out of the heat of summer, I strongly recommend hitting the Arvada Center for their Summer of Cycles exhibit.

Rather than talk about them I’ll just show you some pictures. The exhibit runs through September 7, it’s free, and the Arvada Center is open 9-6 M-F, 9-5 Saturday, and 1-5 Sunday.

This next one is the 1956 Moto Rumi I mentioned above.

Here’s the 1957 Aermacchi Chimera (Dream)

This one is a 1958 Cushman Eagle.

There are a lot of others, too, including a 1998 Boss Hoss with a 350 cubic inch Chevrolet engine, 1999 Harley-Davidson MT500 built for the British military, and a 2006 Harley-Davidson VRXSE Screamin’ Eagel Destroyer, which is set up for drag-racing.

All in all, a pretty good show. Definitely worth more than the admission!

Biker Quote for Today

Park the latest Ducati, Harley, Honda, or BMW on a street corner in any city or town in the world and a crowd will gather. — Thomas Krens