Some Folks Call It Hell, I Call It Hades

It was hot yesterday at Vintage Motorcycle Days. It wasn't just hot, it was BLISTERING HOT! Instead of a racetrack located in Lexington Ohio, I believe the event, through a tear in the space time continuum, was some how taking place in Central Angola. Let's just say the heat and humidity was just a tad uncomfortable. There was so much chaffing going on, half of those in attendance, appeared as if they were on their way to a gunfight.

At this years event, the swap meet was as crowded as ever, and there was no lack of vendors. J.J. made out like a bandit, scoring several hundred dollars worth of bits and pieces for his various Harley's. But on the bike side of things, there just didn't seem to be as many "interesting" bikes as in years past. You can usually find a ton of clean bikes in the swap area, but there were few to be found. Even in the Concourse section, there seemed to be less. There was still plenty to do, bikes to check out and parts to find though. Here are a few that caught my eye.

A very trick H2

A KH350 I believe, If anyone knows for sure, straiten me out.

A very nice Sporty Tracker

As well as a sweet XS650 Tracker

Toss in a GS1000S Wes Cooley Replica

A CBX in Super Bike Trim

A very trick CBX, the detail put into this bike is incredible.

it looked factory.

A well thought out Z1 pro streeter.

A tatty ELR, but a true ELR none the less.

One of the racers sorting his shift linkage in the pits on his

very tidy SR.

A FLH with a wild ass Vetter fairing that looks to be an

AMF production piece, neither J.J. or I had ever seen one

of these. Any one with info on this fairing, please drop me a line.

Finally, a nice retro job on a Honda 50.

more to come.

Till Next Time.............................

It's That Time Of Year Again

You guessed it, Vintage Motorcycle Days is once again upon us. My group will be there all day tomorrow Saturday the 23rd. If you heading there, here is what you can expect, nicked from the AMA's VMD site. Hope to see Y'all there, it truly is a great time. For more info, click on the pictures.


Till Next Time.............

Time to Call My Cardiologist Again

Because this bike just made my heart stop. Two of my all time favorites blended into on eye poppin' pulse raisin' sweat producin' machine. First take a Harley XR1000R mill and slip it into a modified '02 XL1200 frame and fit it with '77 XLCR body work and you have one sexy ass bike on your hands.

They call this the Super XR-CR and this is the best looking bike that I have come across in quite some time. Sundance Enterprises came to my attention a few years back when their Daytona Weapon blipped my radar screen. Michigans own Jay Springsteen piloted Golden Balls to Sundances first race win in the '97 BOT F2 race.
Enough about that, I'm absolutely smitten with Sundances Super XL-CR. This is about as close to motorcycle perfection as I can imagine. If I hit the lotto tomorrow, the first call I would make is to Sundance and throw a pile of cash at them for this bike. I have to go call 911 now and have the EMT's get my vitals back to normal. WOW that is one RED HOT BIKE.

Till Next Time.........

Keep an Eye on The Woods Your Hand Upon Your Brake Lever

I was recently reading a post over at Your Crazy Uncle, where Unk recounts an encounter he had with a deer on June 8th. Unk lives in the boonies, so you can expect a deer or two to cross your path every now and then. That doesn't diminish the effect of having a deer pop out right in front of you whether your in a car or a bike. Nine out of ten times you won't get but a half seconds warning of an impending collision. This experience left Unk with his heart rate way higher than he likes to have it.

This doesn't happen to me on a regular basis, but it does happen way to often for my liking. I live in the most populated part of my State (Michigan) so one would gather having a deer cross your path is a pretty rare occurrence. I leave for work pretty early, and not too long ago I turned the corner from my sub to head to the main drag and there standing right in the middle of the road was a good sized Doe. As I approached he she jumped the fence and then wound up on a trampoline in the backyard she was in looking at me.
Each year I usually see two or three deer a year round the neighborhood and just recently spotted one in the clover leaf of the northbound I-75 entrance ramp at Fourteen mile. That is about the last place I would expect to spot a deer as this is one of the most densely traveled areas in South East Michigan.

The thing that gets the hair on the back of my neck is, riding in North Oakland County, Macomb, Lapeer, Livingston or Monroe counties in the early morning or late evening hours. With Oakland county, the one I reside in, having the second largest instances of deer vehicle collisions. These areas are literally infested with our delicious four legged friends. I really prefer to do my deer hunting with a bow, not my bike.
So when I'm riding in these areas, I am always scanning for signs of movement near the side of the road. This doesn't always work because of the dense foliage on quite a few of the back roads I like to ride. And if you see one and you think your in the clear think again, like most bikers, they like to travel in groups. So if you see one, slow down, cause more than likely there are a couple more waiting in the wings to jump out in front of you. This activity really picks up in the fall, but like alien abductions, can happen any time of year.

The video at the beginning of this post kinda runs trough my mind as I ride in the evening. It doesn't stop me from riding, but makes me bring up the rear in the group.

Till Next Time...........

More Motorcycle Porn

Like the RC30, the NR750 raises my pulse like few other bikes ever did. Honda's desire to squeeze a V8 motor into a package the size of a V4 resulted in the bike in the video above. Honda wanted to build a four stroke bike that would compete with the two stroke gp machines of the time. A V8 would do nicely if it wasn't so bulky and heavy.

They came up with the oval piston as a solution. The NR500 put out 130bhp at twenty thousand rpms. It was fraught with teething problems and Honda was burning through semi loads of cash developing it with less than stellar results at the track. Fast Freddie managed to get one up to fifth place at the '81 British GP before the bike went out for a sandwich.
But Honda didn't abandon this technology, especially after spending the GNP of a small country bringing it about in the first place. So what the hell boys, let's whip up an endurance racer, bump the displacement up to seven hundred fifty cubic centimeters and see if she'll have a go. The resulting bike weighed in at around three hundred twenty pounds and put out a buck fifty in the horse power department. Entered it at Le Mans, but decided it was in need of a french dip, and did not finish the race.

So the next best thing was to make a road going version, bristling with cutting edge technology and price it so as schlubs such as myself would not have the opportunity to see one, much less purchase an example. I believe the entrance price to be in the Thirty seven thousand dollar range. But exclusivity ensured prices were in the fifty to sixty thousand range. They only made around three hundred of them, and did not ship any of them to the states. That meant I have a better chance of talking to one of the Keebler elves than actually casting my gaze upon one of these rare instruments. So I'm subjected to viewing these bikes through the eyes of others, like some sort of two wheeled peeping tom. Thank you YouTube.

Till Next Time................