Cliff Stering's 90th

Flathead Rob and I had the honor of attending Cliff Stering's 90th birthday surprise party. I'm not shy about admitting Cliff is a real-life hero of mine. I had a great time.

Understandably Cliff had a pretty full dance card. I did get the chance to sit down and chat with him for a few minutes. I was able to get him to autograph a really nice photo as well. I can't wait to hang it on the racer autograph wall in my garage.

The Pacific Northwest Museum of Motorcycling prepared a ton of poster sized photos from Cliff's racing career for decorations. They did an absolutely incredible job!

I had to include this photo of Flathead Rob. I didn't realize 1930's motorcycle racers (or guys that dress like them anyway) where so tech savoy.

The pinnacle the event was getting to sit down and chat at length Donna Walters and her husband. Donna's motorcycle obsession began at 5 when she saw a neighbor ride by. A short time later Donna got a ride on it. She then started waiting daily for her neighbor ride by returning from work so she could catch yet another ride. Fast forward 1949 and at 22 Donna purchased her first bike, a lightly use 1949 Harley 45. This later blossomed into racing, many years of employment as a motorcycle courier and loads forging uncharted territory for women in motorcycling. We heard nearly an hour of the most incredible stories.

Here's one example. She told us about interviewing for the first motorcycle courier job. She dropped in directly from her day job as a music teacher "dressed as a girl." She left the interview concerned they would doubt her riding ability. and not hired her. She rush home, changed into her motorcycle clothes a broad-slid into a parking space in front of the office. She got the job and being a union job then had to convince the Teamsters to allow here in...

 

The Pacific Northwest Museum of Motorcycling is preparing an exhibit featuring Donna Walters. I've seen some of the photos and thanks to Donna now know some of the stories that will be featured. It is going to be absolutely incredible. Be sure to watch for it at the 3rd Annual Marymount Motorcycle Week.

Happy Birthday Cliff! Thanks for allowing us to help share in your day.

The One Show

Next weekend. THE1MOTO.COM

Date and Time
Friday, February 13th  - 6 p.m. – 1 a.m.
Saturday, February 14th - 11 a.m. – Midnight
Sunday, February 15th - 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Location
831 SE Salmon St.
Portland, OR 97214

The Car Cheap - Charlie Chaplin

Troll Gixxer

From Buck Harness' Biscuits 'n' Gravy.  It's impossible to know the Fremont Troll and not love this photo.

Lucky Teter

From Speedboys. Just in case Jimi opts to use a car instead.

Lost in New Mexico

TSS Motorcycle Parts

I hatched a plan to visit some of the Portland motorcycle sights during our visit for the PDX Motorcycle Film Festival. One of the places I planned to visit was TSS Motorcycle Parts. I've seen their presence on eBay before and have had good luck the few times I've purchased parts from them. I had no idea if they had an actually storefront and wondered if they parts inventory that wasn't normally listed on eBay (such as used parts, Pre Unit parts, etc.). It's always nice to have a parts source near home.

I ran into TRAP pack leader at the first night of the film festival and asked him if there were any vintage Triumph sights I had to visit. I was planning try to find TSS but he said the local Moto Guzzi dealer was the source of Brit stuff. Seem a little weird but OK. Later I noticed they shared the same address.

The guys at the shop were really accommodating and showed us all around. When I saw the Cycle Hub sign it really peaked my interest. See a guy named Cliff Majhor (of Cycle Hub) purchased seven 40-foot truck trailers full of new parts originally from Tri-Cor of Baltimore, MD and Triumph motorcycles of America (formerly known as Johnson Motors) of Los Angeles, CA in 2002.

If you've never seen photos of this parts cache they will absolutely blow your mind.

Apparently Rick, the owner TSS, bought some portion of those parts and has them stashed away offsite.

Wassell NOS

 Incidentally, this BSA will be for sale soon. If you have any interest contact TSS. He might be a source for some amazing NOS parts.

Kelly's Olympian

While running around downtown Portland Rob spotted a '47 Indian Chief in a bar window. Naturally we had to circle back to check it out. Both the staff and and patrons present when we went in midday were super friendly. The quality of all the memorabilia is quite impressive too. Something tells me the Cossacks have found a new hangout whenever they are in Portland. The history is pretty cool too. From the Kelly's Olympian web site:

Kelly’s Olympian is Portland’s third oldest continuously opened and operated bar/restaurant. It has gone through a number of evolutions throughout the years, and has consistently been one of the locals favorite gathering places. It is truly a colorful part of Portland’s history.

In the early days, it was a popular gathering spot for locals as well as visiting timbermen, sailors, shipyard workers, longshoremen and others passing through. In addition to being a popular bar, it had the reputation for having one of the most well known card rooms in all of Portland…and was truly a landmark.

 

 

PDX Motorcycle Film Festival

I have really wanted to see the movie "Out of Nothing" ever since seeing the trailer a little over a year ago. I was particularly interested as the subjects of the film are also local to the Seattle area. Being aware of this, my wife decided to see if she could find it playing anywhere or if it was available for purchase as a DVD/Blue Ray as a Christmas gift. It was this search that made her aware of the PDX Motorcycle Film Festival.  She bought me tickets to fulfill that gift pretty much the minute they became available. I did our course finally get to see "Out of Nothing" as a result. I'll put together another post specifically about the film some time soon. In the meantime it's safe to say I liked it.

The primary goal of the PDX Motorcycle Film Festival is to raise funds for much needed motorcycle safety equipment for Portland International Raceway.  Like many road racing courses PIR's bread and butter is car racing. A lot of the safety controls are designed to protect those drivers. Cars fair much much better than motorcyclists when hit tire walls or concrete retaining barriers. One best ways of addressing the problem is a special barrier called Air-Fence. These bales cost about $2000 a piece so the OMRRA needs any help they can get to fund them.

The actual film festival is hosted at a wonderful old theater in Portland Oregon. The Hollywood Theater was originally built in 1925.

The following is a partial list of the films shown across the two evenings.

Out of Nothing
Speed Mud and Glory
Somewhere Else Tomorrow
Ride Report
Driven to Ride

I can genuinely say I really enjoyed them all but I did have a clear favorite. I don't identify with adventure riding as much as some people do so I wouldn't guessed it would a favorite before seeing it. If Ride Report appeals to you at all I'd absolutely encourage you to check it out. 

My brother, his wife, my wife and myself all went down as a group. I was worried it would be more motorcycle crap than our wives could bear. I was surprised how well all the movies stood on their own merits even without having a total motorcycle obsession. I'm confident all four of us will be there again next year!

I can't thank my wife enough for buying the tickets. I had more fun this weekend than I've had in a long time (even factoring in the Seahawk's Super Bowl XLIX loss).

Sam Oppie Special

The folks over at The Machine Files are featuring the Sam Oppie Special in their most recent issue. The Machine Files distribution model is kind of unique. You can download the issue electronically right now for the price of a couple of iTunes songs. The photo spread is beautiful. It's incredibly comprehensive and detailed. The entire issue is this bike. If you spend much time searching the Internet for JD cut-downs you'll find almost every photo you can find is a relatively crappy snapshot. From that perspective buying the issue download is a total no brainer.

For any who may not know, in addition to being a JD two-cam cut-down hot rod building legend Sam Oppie was also Seattle Cossacks member #32. What a cool legacy for both Sam and the team.

Sleeper

sleep·er noun \ˈslē-pər\ - Outwardly common looking item, that possesses something special or unique inside.

A 990HP 392 Hemi? Explain to me again why Richie never wanted to be seen driving Mr. Cunningham's DeSoto?