Detroit blitz

 

Brad messaged me Friday on his way out of work to meet him down town at Two James for some urban exploring.  Something I've been wanting to do for a while so I cleared up my schedule and off I went.
 I cant express the feeling of riding around in Detroit but its allot like a post apocalyptic scenario.  Everything is deserted, 4 lanes of asphalt are yours to ride on how you see fit and the once bustling infrastructure of the city make for some amazing yet creepy places to ride.
 Living in the suburbs of Detroit, you can't so much as rev your engine without Johnny law extracting $200 from your bank account and treating you like a menace to the human race.  Part of the allure of riding there is for this reason alone.  It gives the feeling of freedom that the motorcycle was meant for. The feeling that warms your soul as you twist your grip and leave all your thoughts in your wake. I was grinning ear to ear as I shifted at 15000 revs, let the music sing out of the tail pipe and outran my troubles.
 We stopped at the site of the Edmond Fitzgerald memorial just a stones through away from Canada where we relaxed and watched a few freighters cruise by.  From there we detoured through some questionable areas to get to Mexican town for some dinner where we had burritos, tacos, spoke of future projects and the state of current ones.  
 I cant wait to go do it again soon.

Went to Wauseon

Mini and I rode to Wauseon over the weekend and these are the only 2 pictures I took.

We had a blast.  The swap meet was good although I didn't buy shit.   I have some stories of the parts that got away.

Saturday

I made it out to Brads early ( for me ) on Saturday to go for a morning ride.  It turned out to be much more.  We stopped at a couple of bars, had a beer and a cheese burger along the way, drag raced on a country road and complained about these chopper seats hurtin our asses.   Somewhere in the middle of all this I snapped my clutch cable....... twice     Brads tank mount gave way to vibration.  With the help of friends and a cool little hardware store and some bungee cords we were on our way. 

 Terry has to be one of the nicest stand up guys I have ever met and his flat head fuckin hauls ass not to mention he is a wrench wielding mechanical Merlin ( actually looks like Merlin) on these old bastards and we are fortunate to have met him.     I cant thank you enough for your help and beer and burger and buying that extra cable repair barrel.

Battle of the Brits

Top: Gino's new shovel, he is super stoked with his first Harley.

The next 2 down are the scene outside of the Zen Den . We met at Diesels around 11 , it was a sight to be seen up his driveway . The weather was absolutely awesome . Got to see some friends . This is the most important time to get out with friends for me because winter is coming and you can expect to see me in the shop allot more.

The bottom 2 are some shots from the show. only a couple of bikes really stood out to me but I wasn't able to capture their soul with my phone camera, I will save it for those who can. The swap meet stuff wasn't bad though, some good deals nothing over priced like I've been seeing at these vintage bike gatherings.

Some stuff from Wauseon

Top, Greg showing me whats up.

2nd down, Marcel, Valerie and no pants Lance to his right.

3rd down, that's Gabby about to poke out Greg's eye or something.

4th down, I have often thought about this solution to the generator / regulator problem myself.

5th down, I have a sweaty hole in the #4 on the turbo bike. I expected this and brought a bunch of plugs. The motor is a bit tired, I do have a extra engine that I plan on building specifically for the turbo but for now this will have to do.

Bottom, A shot of the camp. One of the biggest groups there I think.

Wauseon was amazing !

The Henderson above is one of my dream bikes and this one was flawless. What is amazing is that there are so many antique , rare and beautiful bikes at this thing that you forget just how unique this event is. I rode the turbo Honda down with mini-b without to many problems

Wauseon this weekend

I'm seeing what I can do to get my ass down to the Wauseon classic motorcycle event this weekend. I'm thinking of leaving Saturday afternoon , make it there around 3:00, setup our tent somewhere and check out all the stuff for sale then party with friends as long as possible. Mini-b should be going with me I hope, probably on his sporty since we are having electrical issues with the Sprint. I will most likely take the taint splitter although the turbo bike has been running well.

Anthony's new KTM 900 adventure bike

Leave it to family to rub it in....
My closest cousin Anthony just picked up a new ride and he wrote.... "New KTM Adventure, $14998. Hard luggage, crash bars, heated grips, additional $1600. Riding your dream bike to the top of Taylor Pass (11,400ft!) Priceless!"
Anthony and I are like separated brothers and friends from birth, he still lives in Aspen Colorado, so this is his daily view. I miss it out there and I need to visit as soon as I can.

The Dirty Sanchez

Billet proof was cool.
I spotted the motoguru there but he vanished before I could say hi.

My favorite picture of me

My wife snapped this pic in 06 at a small horse ranch shack right behind mt. Rushmore. We stayed here when we did the Stirgis rally. The Trip was great , logged a ass load of miles on the the most twisted mountain roads ever.