Lemay Vintage Motorcycle Festival 2014

As expected Flathead Rob and I had a pretty good time at the Lemay Vintage Motorcycle Festival. Great turnout and the bikes on average were incredibly high caliber. We met some really cool people as well.  I find to some extent I have to force myself to snap a few photos at events like this because I don't feel like dealing with the destination it requires. Luckily Rob shot some photos too.

I had two thoughts after studying this photo for a few second. 1) I'm not that convinced she actually cares about the detail he's pointing out and 2) I'm not sure the guy with the hat and moustache is staring at Olivia

Birth of a Dream

The concern written on people's faces when a kid starts climbing all over show bikes is palpable. The funny part is the kid may well own the bikes he was climbing on one day

The Triumph turnout was unreal!

Indian Specials

I've had a bit of an Indian bobber obsession lately. They are such an incredible platform and yet you don't see many around that are really right. Here are a couple I spotted on Righteous Cycles that are well... righteous.

Telescopic forks on Indians are normally a total deal breaker for me. This photo is too small for me to tell for certain but this might well be a Triumph front end (forks, wheel, headlight, etc.). Whatever. I like it. The fork covers absolutely make it. I'd love to see better photos of this bike.

This Chief is a total keeper too.

Pre-Unit

Ran When Parked

1948 Indian Chief - Barn find original paint. From the listing:  

1948 Indian Chief "Un-Restored Original", Indian Blood Red, 4813 Original Miles, Serial # CDH 5563 B, This probably one of the finest examples of an un-restored original Indian's around, This motorcycle just received a full Indian Motor Works service, Including a new battery, tires, and carburetor float. and that's it! and it runs and rides beautifully. Always stored indoors in dry climate conditions. First year for the Stewart Warner 120mph Speedometer, and the first year of the aluminum oil pump. and still has the left hand throttle. It is truly a special Indian.

Betcha Flathead Rob watches this video more than once just to hear it run.

Scout Bobbers

Someone started an Indian Scout thread on JJ.Pretty killer start so far.

Oliva Paint

I stumbled across this photo again recently. Damn the Lucky's Seven paint is beautiful! I remember being absolutely floored the first time I saw this photo.

Moore's Cycle Center

I became a very loyal customer of Keith Moore and Moore's Cycle Center while I was working on the restoration of Emma, my 1951 Triumph T100 Tiger. Keith provided a lot of priceless advice about about building an early Pre-Unit, had all the stuff I needed at a very fair price and made ordering parts something I almost looked forward to. In my case building vintage motorcycles is something I'm supposed to be doing for fun, yet a lot of the places I've done business with often seemed annoyed by your call to order stuff. Keith was always cool and genuinely valued his customers. That's really worth a lot to me and really sets a shop apart in a world of eBay that totally removes customer service from the whole equation. I was incredibly bummed when Keith passed considering I'd never actually met the guy.

 I know the doors at Moore's where closed for a while when Keith passed but I don't know how ownership/management was transferred. Admittedly I was concerned that Keith left very big shoes to fill.

I haven't bought much in the way of parts for a while but given how much I really liked Moore's in the past I reminded my self that they really deserved another shot. Week before last I placed a small order of miscellaneous parts. Moore's had always filled orders for me really quickly so I had that in the back of my mind. It eventually occurred to me that a little more that a week had passed since I placed more and decided to call to check the status of my order. We pretty quickly determined the shipping address was wrong, I honestly don't know if that was their mistake or mine. Were super cool about the whole thing and quickly called me back to say the whole thing was sorted out.

 I received the replacement order before I know it. When I looked I noticed immediately that the package had been sent 2nd Day Air. I very pleasant surprise. I opened to package and confirmed  I have gotten exactly what I ordered. When I unpacked the order I also found a handwritten note on the invoice again apologizing for the mistaken (which again might well have been mine mind you). I found a Moore's patch in in the box as well. The point is the folks running the shop now have well preserved the customer focus that set Moore's apart.

If you are looking for Triumph parts I'd really encourage to give them a shot. Based on maybe two orders so far the Keane's seem to be doing a topnotch job.