Monday, February 29, 2016

GK Vincent

I spotted this bike on the Greasy Kulture Instagram feed. I'm curious to see more. 

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Ran When Parked

1978 Yamaha YZ 125 - I've spent a fair amount of time recently getting our stable of dirt bikes trail-worthy. It's spurred some nostalgic conversation about Flathead Rob's old 1978 YZ 250. If you have a lead on one that's reasonably priced please let me know. I'm liking the "Hurricane Hannah" treatment this has gotten. I would killed for a YZ 80 like this one when I was 10!

The Maker

I'm not sure I've ever identified more with a video. It's not a choice... toast is my life.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

AMA Safety Award

V8 Power

Shorty after posting the photo of Doug Earle's V8 powered behemoth I stumbled across this photo of of EJ Potter's small block powered drag bike. EJ did exhibition runs at dragstrips with some version or another of a V8 powered motorcycle for decades. It seems the spectacle of 1/4 mile long burnouts never looses it's entertainment value

There's a way more to the EJ Potter story than I posted here. EJ went on to have a life-long fascination with building similarly excessive vehicles. See The Kneeslider for a great feature on EJ's life history.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Spokane Portland and Seattle 700

Our great grandfather was an engineer for the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway. I can witness it's been in his blood since I was born anyway. If Flathead Rob ever hits the lottery we are in real trouble...


V8 Power

To each there own but the Boss Hoss has always had zero appeal to me. 

Hoewever, my buddy Doug Earle has both the fabrication chops and imagination to make an automotive V8 meets motorcycle really compelling. I've seen this bike in person but have never seen it run. Now I really have to.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Lerners Albuquerque

I remember going in there a time or two with my Mom as a young kid.

Westfields Triumph


Evel Knievel at Graham Speedway

Here's yet another gem from Ernie Misner.

Bob Selden & Evel Knievel with Rolls Royce
 "Evel Knievel came to town twice in the 1960's. On the left is Bob Selden, owner of Cycle Craft. I worked at Cycle Craft in Parkland, WA in the '60's as a teenager. As you can see he crashed the first time. I got to meet him and helped rebuild his Triumph Bonneville after he crashed at Graham Speedway.  I still have his busted up old tachometer sitting here on my desk. Check out where Selden kept his pack of cigarettes."

"Evel called the newspaper right after his crash and told them he was going to cut the cast off and make that darn jump in two weeks. He did! Man his Triumph Bonneville (TT version) was gorgeous. Those were fun but crazy days!"

 I did a little digging and best I can tell Evel attempted to jump 16 Volkswagens at Graham Speedway on August 18, 1967. From Life of Evel: Evel Knievel

"Encouraged by his success, Knievel continued gathering momentum and moved on to clear 16 cars at the Ascot Raceway near Los Angles before attempting the same number again at the Graham Speedway near Tacoma, Washington. This time things didn’t go quite so smoothly and Knievel lost his balance on landing and parted company with his bike, sustaining a slight concussion in the process. Just under three weeks later he returned to the same venue to see the job through successfully, proving to his audience that he was no quitter and he would see anything through if he had given his word to do so."


Thanks again to Ernie for passing along his story!

Incidentally Ernie's other photo's are nothing short of staggering. While only a handful are motorcycle related most are shot in the PNW and are absolutely beautiful. Please check them out.

Johnny Allen Ad


Monday, February 15, 2016

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Hamilton Museum

During a recent visit to the Phoenix Arizona area I had the privilege of visiting the Hamilton Museum. Quite a collection and surely some of the finest Triumph restorations in existence. Thanks to Mr. Hamilton for taking the time to show us around.
1912 Triumph Single
1927 Triumph Model W
1935 Triumph Model 2/1
1938 Triumph Speed Twin 5T (my personal favorite)
1947 Triumph T100 Tiger
1953 Triumph Thunderbird "Blackbird"
Shell Blue Sheen x2 1956 Trophybird foreground
T120C / T120TT Row

WWII Norton
Rare WWII 3HW Triumph Single
1961 Triumph T120C
1960 Triumph Bonneville
Bonneville Alley
Original paint 1959 Triumph T120 Bonneville
Honda CB550 flanked by Triumph triples
Bonneville Alley reversed
Stunning 1965 Triumph Bonneville
lots of 500's too
Ogle "breadbox" Trident & Vetter Hurricane
Perhaps (with a very sound argument) the very last Triumph to leave the production line

Friday, February 12, 2016

Red & Skippy Farwell

I was sent easily the coolest Seattle related photo in a long long time recently from a guy named Ernie. There's an incredibly cool story behind it too. As some may know I'm always stoked to find anything Red Farwell related. It would be a complete injustice not to leave the story in Ernie's own words:

 My Uncle, Tex Miller, was good friends with Red Farwell and took it hard when he died, as did a lot of people here in the area including the Tacoma Ducks MC Club and the Blue Barons too I think.  In the attached photo, Tex's son Randy Miller is sitting on his little bike with Red Farwell's son, Skippy, sitting on the back.  I think that is Red behind them.  Please keep your eye open for anything about Skippy, or if he is still with us.

The Ducks had a flat track between Tacoma and Puyallup back in the '50's where this was taken.  Randy and Skippy would ride their small, hand made motorcycles around the track at intermission.  Randy's bike is built around a Whizzer, 4 stoke flat head engine.  Great old photo anyway.
I couldn't agree more.

If anyone knows anything about Skippy's current status (living or deceased) Ernie would love to hear from you.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Seattle Dealer Decal

I have been building a photo collection of Seattle area dealer decals. Here's a new one, Aurora Cycle. It came on a Suzuki TS75 Bill Metteer brought home. Pretty cool.


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

BMX Takeover

From the Phoenix Supercross. Most of the freestyle BMX demo guys were staying at the same hotel as us. I love that all the pro freestyle BMX guys can now openly keep their bikes in their hotel rooms. I always had to sneak my bike up the back stairway when we traveled for races years ago. A team van/trailer loaded with bikes tends to draw the wrong sort of attention.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Ride365 Giveaway

Here's a tie in to my previous Ride365 post. You now have a chance to win a replica of one of the Ride365 factory Honda supported team bikes. Sign Up Here

Ride365

One of the aspects I was most excited about when we decided to relocate to Seattle was the chance to regularly attend a Supercross race. We made it to two races and then Seattle was dropped from the race schedule. When the 2016 schedule was announced (and Seattle was not on it) I naturally pouted like a toddler. Since my wife, well... rules, she made all the arrangements more than 6 months ago to attend the Phoenix race. We finally made that trip this weekend.
The trip and race was absolutely amazing but my favorite part happened right in the beginning. Shortly after landing we hopped a shuttle to the rental car facility at PHX. We shared the shuttle with a group of people that appeared to be affiliated with one of the teams. As we made small talk one of the guys mentioned being Team Manager for the Ride365 team. He was a super friendly guy and ultimately offered to take us through team trailer. When we arrived at the track for the pit party we took him up on it. He took us through the entire trailer (a pretty generous move given the rider effectively live on it and have their stuff strewn about). The shop facility in the trailer is pretty amazing. The amount of parts they carry is quite impressive too. The team campaigns two 250cc riders but the probably carry parts for 6 bikes. We deliberately didn't take too many pictures but these photos of similar rigs give you an idea what they are like.
The trailer tour and all the people involved were incredibly cool. It was a generous offer and my whole family very much enjoyed it. Ride365 is a team made up of two Western Region 250 class riders, Kyle Peters #40 and Chase Marquier #212. The team is backed by the Honda factory and team coach/mentor Motocross legend Guy Cooper.

Needless to say we are now diehard fans. Both riders had fantastic starts in Phoenix and both made the main. I typically don't care all that much about the 250 LCQ's but having a rider you are cheering for in one changes it a bit. It's going to be fun routing for a couple of riders that don't have all media support some of the other guys have.

Thanks for hospitality Dayton Daft et al. We'll be definitely routing for you!
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