Dirtquake 2015 has been announced in the UK....

Sideburn Magazine has announced this years "Dirtquake" ...July 17-18. If you reside on that side of the  'big pond'...you should check it out.  Dirtquake US will be announced as they secure dates for it at the track on this side of the 'pond'....which means I need to get busy and work on my little 'racer'.


Chris Thornley is the graphic artist who designed this poster, and if you do Instagram you can see more of his stuff  at 'raid71'.






                                       Some snaps from DirtQuake US 2014

Travis and Mike checking out Ben on a 350 Honda Chopper Class bike...

The Electric Brammo...which I hear will be back....

SeeSee's Pizza Trike....more toppings perhaps....?

January Fog has become February rain...at least for several days...

Rummaging around for motorcycle parts, and came across a box of old pics...here's one of Pete (the fellow this blog is named in memory of...) when he was still a growing lad. As usual straining at his climbing harness...the one a friend of mine sewed up from climbing webbing and actual rappel rings. This is sometime in the 90's...hard to believe...over twenty years ago. Found Pete when he was a starving abandoned pup...near death...nursed him back to health, and he hung around for seven years...and was pretty much a constant companion...even riding to work with me every night for several years in my various sidecar rigs. The harness was very handy for that...I had to carabiner his butt down to the sidecar floor...so he wouldn't try jumping in my lap.  Yeah...good ol' Pete...I found the harness the other day...looking worse for wear...suppose I kept it , thinking I'd someday have another dog...guess I'm still waiting for one to find me...

No bike stuff this post...but I did put up some automobile pics at my other blog, that is in the 'blog list' to the right. Back to rummaging.

Still January...nothing but Fog around here...

Too cold and damp to paint...just dreary weather...lots of foggy days...the cold damp kind...though the sun did shine this afternoon...giving hope for some sun this weekend.

When last we left the 350 it looked something like this (pic from before Winter)

Oh yeah....there's my late lamented Toyota before it was hit and totaled....now replaced with a Soccer mom model Honda Accord... 

I did strip the tank of a ton of old paint and bondo...to find some mild denting. Did the new bondo and re-primed it with a ruddy red primer... The tank is from a Honda 750 KO model...and if it had been pristine, could have been sold on E-bay for a tidy sum I suppose...but since it wasn't, it'll work for the 350. 

Yeah, if it is warmer tomorrow, I might rebuild the carbs and install the wiring, work on the front brakes...maybe even get it fired up with the old tank and seat....just to see how it runs... 

It's now tomorrow...

And the morning view out my 'office' window tells the tale...42 degrees, dreary, damp...making it feel much colder. Think I'll hang out inside and get some blogging and reading done...

It was amazing the amount of Bondo the previous owner of this tank had applied. I decided to not have badges...and applied a fairly thin layer of the plastic stuff...to take care of the smallish dents.

Thinking about trying to achieve a similar look on the larger tank...this is an early model CL-350 tank pictured here. For some reason Blue appeals to me these days, rather than other colors...

So... Wiring....carb rebuilding...caliper rebuilding...painting the body parts when it gets warmer...designing and fabricating a new exhaust system...building and covering a seat/tail unit...and thinking of fabricating a semi rearset footrest/shifter/brake pedal set up. Some where I have some new old stock Dunstall Honda 750 rear-set stuff...but it might be just as easy to build from scratch...rather than mod that stuff. Really want to get back into machining metal again. One of my goals this year is to get my lathe home...and up and running. I still have limited access to lathes at work...and my teacher friend Rich will let me use his milling machines. Trying to convince him to start up another Adult Education class in the evenings again.

 Always inspired by the work of Tim over at the "Loveless' blog...a link in "My blogs" list over to the right. If you haven't checked it out...you should. Recent builds of his include a beautiful 'modern' Bonneville, with many subtle modifications...with a lot of his own engineering...love his work. On the bench now, is a Ducati coming together, to be used at the 'TT' this year...can't wait to see this one together. A real 'ugly' duckling that was not treated so nice by a previous owner...but is becoming quite lovely in Tim's capable hands...yeah, check him out.

And what has become of my 'trusty/rusty' CB 550, you might ask? Well...maybe not...here it is last summer...before the head gasket decided to give it up and blow. But, to it's credit, it served me well as transportation when I was carless... It is going to get a complete strip down, and if the bottom end is sound...will be turned into something resembling the 'Cafe Racer' CB 500 I rode in my motorcycle mechanic days in the 70's...yeah another old guy reliving his youth...

And this is why I stay out of Motorcycle show rooms....

And, it's probably a good thing that Honda doesn't offer the 750 version of this bike in the states...70 plus MPG....tempting...

But no...under tarps and stored in various parts of this country...I have plenty of current and future projects. 

Another project....this slightly out of focus shot of my last years "DirtQuake US" SL-100 entrant. There is already talk of this years "DirtQuake" in the UK....and as a date for the track in Washington state is secured....this years "DirtQuake US" will be announced. So time to get the clutch sorted on the SL 100...and try again. Even though we made it to Washington last year, we had to drop out from actually racing...due to the clutch problem. But I did get to take a few laps of the track the day before the festivities... and had a blast anyways.

Should probably charge up the batteries on the rest of the motor pool and run the engines a bit...yeah...too many projects!!  

It's up 3 degrees to 45 now....think I'll stay in for awhile...maybe try to put together a posting for that other blog I started...maybe post some old car and truck pics I've instagrammed recently, and while away some time reading other peoples blogs... stay warm people.(those that are experiencing Winter at the moment)

New Year...2015...checking ahead...checking behind...

It's snowed in California....in fact at Loon Lake...one of my favorite spots for Back-country skiing,  there is more snow here now, than there was in February of 2014. This trip made a good test of my 'new' vehicle...a 1998 Honda Odyssey that I inherited from my sister...198 thousand miles and still running strong. Good timing, as my CB 550 has blown a head gasket...and my Karmann Ghia needs some TLC...and the Jeep...well I'll be amazed if I ever get a smog certificate completed on it...don't want to get started about that...

A rare 'selfie' Happy to be out in the snowy woods playing...

                                                                The Loon Lake Chalet 

Rick heading up the trail

The lake is pretty low due to the ongoing drought

But enough snow to actually use, unlike last year.

Our lunch stop

Looking back as I have lately, I'm not going to set any goals too high or worry about them much. This year ended very tragically...my sister lost her husband of 38 years and her sons their father. It's been hard for the family to deal with...so even though it wasn't the best of years for myself...it doesn't compare to what they have been going through these last several months...yeah.

so....loose plans are to wrap up some unfinished projects...the Hondas 350 and 500...tear the 550 apart and see what ails it besides a blown head gasket... and I did mention something in the last posting about a certain Triumph project of mine that goes way back. And of course dirt bikes...want to get back into it...and do a little amateur racing. Maybe attend a few motorcycle events, as in shows and swap meets...catch a few AMA events...and do more street riding this year.

With any luck we will get some more snow this winter and make a dent in the drought...at least have a few more inches to play in and loose a few pounds...so...here's to a good year for all...keep on trucking folks.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

                               
       
                Found this on FB...and borrowed it. One of the projects I'm hoping to get back to
                is a 1957 Triumph 650 .

 Borrowed this from someone I follow on Instagram. The hardest part of the project will be restoring the frame of this bike. Actually the hardest thing is trying to do this post from my cel-phone !!!

Hope this finds all enjoying the holidays...and looking forward to a new year.

The Sacramento Mile....

The Sac Mile....has come and gone, and I better get with that post about it.  Hard to imagine hitting up to 130 miles per hour on that sand and clay surface up there....and then pitching it sideways to race around that corner.  Go fast....turn left.

That corner must come up so fast at this point...

(IMHO)  Two of the friendliest flat track racers in the AMA, Sammy Halbert and Doug Lawrence.

Sammy Halbert's XR's before the Main...

After the Main...

Got to meet another friendly smiling racer...this is Doug Lawrence...from Canada.He's not thirsty here...he was trying to flush some of that Sac Mile grit from his eyes before I got this shot... 

At this point I've realized I still have a bunch of missing shots filed...somewhere...but I do have a bunch of different shots of Doug's bike.

Think I'll go work on that DQUSA post, and when and if I find more Sac Mile stuff.....I'll post it.( It's in this infernal machine somewhere....)

Veteran's Day weekend...

Cruising down the road to the Monterey Coast area, coming up on Casa de Fruta...was passed by several bikes...managed to snap a quick off the steering wheel shot...thought,oh well...

Pulled into Casa de Fruta and as I parked my car spotted the two Harley's, and went over and had a nice chat with Gary and Lynn from San Francisco. Gary is a Vietnam Veteran, so I thought they would make a good subject for a Veteran's day post here at the old blog. Nice weather for riding this weekend, made me wish I was on a bike instead of the old 4 wheeler...

A couple of times a year I pull out my Dad's old stripes and old Army Air Corps patch...this might be the year I build a small display case for these and some other memorabilia I have. My father served in Korea and Viet Nam.

This Harley, I spotted at a truck stop earlier, had the oddest, widest handlebars I've ever seen...

Another off the steering wheel shot earlier on the road on I-5...Anyone out there able to ID this bike...some sort of BMW possibly...?

It's been about 3 months since the last posting here...various computer malfunctions, forgotten passwords...odd Blooger B.S. ...the usual suspects.... Have a belated Sacmile posting in the works, and a 'Part 2' for the trip up to attend 'Dirt Quake US'...so, check back in a few days, and the chances are good....there will be more stuff to waste your time with...