More KTM

Jesse Rooke KTM

Saw this a while back at Stafford Speedway Super Moto races.

Propane Advice

We were riding back from a night of drinking on Main Street during Bike Week. Jake had just rebuilt the engine in the Black Pearl and wanted to heat cycle it. So we pulled in to a 7-11 and let the bomb cool down. In between coffee cups full of Bud Light and some Girl Scout cookies, I saw this sage wisdom written on the propane rack.

"Don't Speed. 12/23/08 I ran from FHP on my 07 GSXR750. 167 mph in a 65. They took my bike! and now I am sitting at 7-11...with no ride Jake Jooley"

The Wednesday Ride

Every Wednesday of Bike week, Ricky's Hog Farm Crew takes a leisurely paced, back road ride up to Saint Augustine. It is usually the best day of Bike week. No traffic, posers, cops or worries. Here the group leaves the Riverside Park stop.

Drillbit Flathead

Who Built It? How long did it take? How many drill bits died? Amazing workmanship.

Tara

VOLVO P544 my first car

Pops towed it in abandoned, still ran.
14, Gram's farm, 4 speed, Sunday Mornings, Richard Petty, Fuck Yes.

Turbocharged Kawasaki KZ1000

Bike week is overrun with lowered, extended Hayabusas. I mean, there are so many they are now as boring as a store bought chopper.
This bomb stood out it the crowd. Speed in the pre fairing era. It was at the DeLand show.

Avid Motorcycle Blog Reader

You know this guy spends a lot of hours online (just like me).
Seen at Willie's Tropical Tattoo Show.

Breakdown

Rolling with our crew and the questionable hunks of crap we ride, you are gonna spend some time in the breakdown lane. Here are the bikeweek emergency wrenching highlights.






All the bikes, except the VW chopper, survived and provided service all week. Jake had ignition point troubles and a broken clutch cable, the shark broke a tail light after 100MPH vibration and a throttle return issue, Ricky's pan broke a wire and shredded a primary belt. The VW ate up the distributor shaft and needed some heavy machining to fix. Rory couldn't find a machinist in the area proficient to do it. He will do it himself this week. Marc's FL had a gravity attack at 3 am, but it was pilot error.

The best $5 you can spend at bike week

the first 24 hours of Daytona

Daytona Bike Week 2009

Kicked Ass.


More to come

Greene Acres, DeLand, Florida

Tomorrow's Mission

We expect our journey to be relatively U-Boat free, but will be bringing depth charges just in case those pesky Kriegsmariners try to fuck up the program. Hopefully I can get some decent pics of titties, alcohol abuse, reefer madness, and general motorcycle based debauchery during our stay in Flo-Rida. I will update as long as I can get some internet access in the White Power orange groves of deLand.

Tanks for the memories.

the half off pile at TSI

Road Trip 1986

I had been on a couple road trips before. The usual family, bonzai drive to Florida in the back of Dad's 72 Grand Prix. A Car Craft national meet in Illinois with the guy who worked for my Dad. I didn't get to drive on those runs. A weekender at Watkins Glen, NY for a Car Craft event was a good training mission. The first, true roadtrip of serious magnatude was in 1986.

Todd was this kid who was a mechanical genius. While I was still trying to figure out how to use a tire machine, Todd had built a complete 39 Ford Deluxe Coupe with a 302, c4, pinto front end and a granada rear axle. It came out mint.

Three carloads of dudes headed West for a Hot Rod Magazine event in Indianapolis. I rode with Foof in his 66 Catalina, Todd & Bert rode in the coupe and Scott Kvadas had a nova.

We did the car thing in Indy, then I got shotgun in the Ford. The other crews had to be back home for work, but we headed South.

Driving a red hot rod during the ZZ Top Eliminator days was quite a trip. We wandered down the Interstate to Florida. The strong feeling of freedom. No rules, no schedules, no parents, and no job for a week.

Spent a week at Daytona beach, a place I had been to several times. You can drive your car up and down the beach. Like cruising the local Parkade strip mall times 1000. Girls were hot in the big 80's. The coupe had a loud radio. It was quite a week of Body Glove bikinis and Coors.

Met a big, black Georgia State trooper on the way home. I can still hear his words as we both thought we were busted and the rod dragged off by some hick tow truck.
"You gotta mighty fine looking car heah, Tom Junior. And I knowse you wanna be spendin' yo' money on paintjobs instead of speedin' tickets. So why don't you do us boff a favah an' keep it under sixtyfiiiive in the State of Georgia."

We also snuck in to the Smithsonian Air & Space museum after hours on a Sunday and checked out the cool shit for an hour or so before security asked us to leave.

It was a great trip and has been the inspiration for the million miles afterwards.