February 14th

Corbis is the monkey

Lieutenant Leigh Wade (in the sidecar) and adventurer Linton Wells arrive in New York at the end of a trans-continental auto race. Image by Underwood & Underwood


Berlin, Germany: On Oct. 31, 1931, Fraulein Hanni Koehler, the well-known German motorcyclist girl, came back from her half-year Berlin-Ceylon-Berlin tour. Image by Underwood & Underwood


Soldiers use a motorcycle and sidecar during the invasion of the USSR during World War II. Image by © CORBIS


Syria Patrol Shriners wear fezzes and costumes with their motorcycles at the Nation Shriners Convention of 1936 in Seattle.Image by © Seattle Post-Intelligencer


1984,driver Niki Lauda, with his wife children in Ibiza. Image by Albane Navizet


1954, Isle of Man Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection
sidehacks from corbis

Knuckle head

by JOHN CHAOS

Old Trucks Asleep

friday after happy hour

after happy hour

Thompson & Indian

A side car equipped with a radio and a newly invented police automatic rifle firing 120 shots a minute is the latest for the N.Y. police force. The rifle has been invented by General John T. Thompson.
Image by Bettmann
CORBIS

fresh

1977, Cleveland, Ohio, USA --- Plumber Sam Green drives his customized Harley-Davidson
Image by Bettmann
CORBIS

six until nine

Long Way North

Our German crew getting pumped up for their Summer adventure. Ralf, Martin and Olli will ride from their town near Cologne all the way to the most Northern spot in Europe, Nordkapp.
To do so is a measure of how serious a biker you are. A task similar to riding coast to coast in America.
The end point is this globe on the cliff in North Cape.

I wish I could join them, but it ain't in the cards this year.

Surprise!

This sticker says,"Your brakes are retarded."
Started bleeding the front brakes on the Guzzi today and the bike has a linked brake system. The right front caliper runs off of the handlebar master and the left front caliper runs off of the rear brake pedal.
This may work fine for normal people, but my pegleg riding style prohibits the accurate use of rear brakes. I never use them. Now I have to plumb up a new front system and block off part of the rear.

The Big Lame

Go ride your bike.

Plate

Made in USA by real biker types. Screen printed on aluminum. $15 delivered. Pay Pal murdercycles@hotmail.com

Corbis Likes Bikes

1972, Stuntman Evel Knievel jumps 15 cars in San Francisco's cow palace. Evel Knievel lost control and broke his left ankle. Image by Bettmann


1938, England, Motor engineer Mr. H. Jenneret and a passenger try out his new motorcycle and 'oscillant' sidecar. Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection


1978, Kent, England, Eddie Kidd, the motorcycle stuntman, leaps over 10 British disc jockeys before crowds at Brands Hatch. Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection


Onondaga Hill, NY: Edward James of Elmira is thrown completely off of the motorcycle and hangs on to the handlebars in a hill climb of motorcycles held recently at Onondaga Hill near Syracuse, NY. Image by © Underwood & Underwood


David Copperfield Floating Beside Softail. Image by Amy C. Etra


1938 Couple In Convertible Coupe Stopped By Pennsylvania Motorcycle Cop. Image by H. Armstrong Roberts


1923, Kansas City, Missouri, Ralph Hepburn encircling the track at the limit of speed on his motorcycle. Image by Bettmann


needs more rake. Image by © SuperStock


flatty Image by Doug Berry


California Highway Patrol Officer Riding a Motorcycle. Image by Larry Mulvehill


Mike Hailwood, 1968. Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection


1935 The Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini on his motorbike. Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection


1985, Marseilles, France, Alain Prieur Beats World Record for Motorcycle Jumping Image by Pascal Parrot


1984, Seattle. Actor Kyle MacLachlan. Image by Christian Simonpietri


1932, UK A woman perches on a Royal Enfield, "Cycar", motorcycle while she asks directions from a Royal Automobile Club rider. Image by Hulton-Deutsch Collection


1976 Dude on a panhead. Image by Photo Media


Chicks like Harley-Davidsons. 1974 Image by Photo Media
pictures found at corbis images

160 today

February 1 and it was 50 something. Met a guy in the morning and sold him an old aluminum Evinrude motor. He owns a chrome shop in East Hartford and is going to trick it out.



Rolled up to Stafford to hook up with Nate for a ride.

We took the backroads just above the state line in Massachusetts. A wasteland of swamps, sandpits and pine barrens. No traffic, but just plain ugly to look at. Total opposite of the previous day's wanderings. Started to rain so we stopped at Barnstorm Cycles in Spencer, Mass.



After our visit we headed back into Connecticut and stopped at Turtle's for lunch.



The roads of Woodstock took us back to Stafford.
Nate asked me to give him a hand relaying his bike to his new apartment in Vernon. It got uncomfortable when his ex was already home from work. Sucks to be friends with both halves of a bitter break up.

Winter has been weak so far, and I approve.

NSU art

1921 from the Vintagent Blog

120F.U.W.mi.

Temps in the 40's today, so I took an after lunch ride. Explored the back roads between the Connecticut and Thames Rivers. Lots of colonial period houses, barns and narrow lanes. A couple even turned to gravel, but I was at explorer speed today, not Isle of Man speed.
Stopped at Giant's Neck Beach and grabbed a few sea shells for my kid. The coveted nautilus shell was in short supply. Every example had been previously pillaged by the hungry flock of seagulls loitering on the beach. Two high speed Acela trains passed each other on the bridge overlooking the beach.

As the sun got lower in the afternoon sky, it got a bit colder. I headed back to Mudville via Colchester. There was a small bike shop I was curious to check out. I haven't been there sine '99 or so. Back then it was a sketchy, unlicensed joint selling salvage bikes. Now the place is nice, with a selection of lightly used repossessions and a service department. There was a 1980 Guzzi CX100 Le Mans with a retro 850 Le Mans fairing, but the price was out of line. He wanted $6,000, which is the price range for a genuine 850 Le Mans MK1. Got home around sunset, then rode to work at 10pm, on the last day of January! So much different from last Winter.


Colonial Mill turned into country estate. Still had its own dams and millraces. I have never been on this Lyme road before. Lyme is famous for the deer tick disease.


Middle of Winter and the locals here still give you the hairy eyeball when you visit this beach.


Cool, but too expensive. Guzzis should always be cheap.


Clean Griso 1100.