Thanksgiving in Ct. is often a great time to ride.  The roads are generally clean as the leaves have been blown off and the sanding hasn't started.  With the leaves off the trees, one can see farther, whether that be around corners, distant vistas from the tops of hills, or deep into the woods to check out the great rock ledges.
Brother Doug and sista-in-law Amy and I went on a 60 mile ride on Thanksgiving Day.  Doug rode his '65 Benelli 260, Amy rode her '71 Cl 350 Honda, and I rode Doug's '65 CZ 175.

Doug led us on some great roads west and north through Durham  and Middlefield.  When we got back, Doug drained the gas and oil from the Benelli and Honda and we put them down in the basement.  I left the CZ out as I had a ride planned the next day with Rich Hosley.
Friday was another beautiful day, not quite as cloudless as Thanksgiving Day, but slightly warmer--mid-to-upper 50s as opposed to low-to -mid 50's.  My one complaint about Thursday's route was there was no dirt roads.  I made up for that Friday on my way to meet Rich, discovering the most direct route to our meeting place included some great dirt roads with almost no houses on them.  Rich rode his '49 Norton International 500.  He led us west through Madison, Rockland, Wallingford, Hamden, Cheshire, to Prospect where his friend Peter Thiel lives.  We toured his pile.  Rich and Peter probably knew each other through his Norton Commando, but Peter was working on a CB 360 Honda and owned a 4 cyl. Goldwing, which he and his wife had ridden to Nova Scotia and Cape Bretton and now had leaking fork seals.  Peter has an interesting B-50 BSA with clubman bars and a high front mudguard.  When I called him on that, he said he had a second set of wheels and high bars to convert it into a scrambler.
But, Peter pulled out his tiddler, a '75 CB 200 Honda, to join us on the ride.  Pete led us skirting Waterbury, Naugatuck, through Beacon Falls, Bethany and Seymour to the Blue Check Village restaurant in Woodbridge.

But, the Blue Check was closed, so we backtracked in a round about way to  Guerra's Sandwich shop in Seymour, which we had passed on the way to the Blue Check.  They had an overwhelming selection on hand written signs taped fairly randomly around.  Rich and I went for 'The Bomb'.  I managed to pay and get out before Rich and Pete had a somewhat unpleasant exchange with a rather surely cashier.  Great sandwich, but surly and no restroom.

Pete's CB 200 has CL 175 pipes on it to replace the rotted out originals.  Peter Thiel photo

 Conversation revealed that Pete and I had been born in the same hospital in New Rochelle, N.Y. and we both had a brother named Douglas.

Peter Thiel photo

Pete followed us part way, then peeled off to go back to his house and Rich and I carried on through Bethany.

In Hamden, at Quinnipiac University, Rich and I switched bikes.  Quite a contrast between a little, idiosyncratic two stroke and a big, older four stroke thumper.  I found the International delightful, slogging from low rpms with slightly ponderous handling.  Rich had a lot of problems with the CZ.  The steering head bearings had loosened off creating symptoms similar to a overly tight steering damper causing one to over correct and weave.  The CZ has and automatic clutch release where moving the shift lever (which is also the shift lever and therefore long and with a long throw), disengages the clutch.  So, one doesn't have use the handlebar clutch lever when one shifts.  In fact, it shifts better when you just bang the shift lever and don't touch the clutch lever.  After a while, Rich had had enough and we switched back, incredulous that I had been able to keep up comfortably on such an odd ball bike.  I think that once you get used to it, the CZ is great.  Plus, Douglas has put a modern, electronic ignition and 12 volt charging system on it, so I was able to plug in the electric vest and glove liners.  But then, I think they are almost all great.

Left to right: Peter Thiel, Rich Hosley, and DR.  Pete got a Harley guy who arrived as we were about to leave to take this photo

Rich led me within 10 miles of Haddam, then peeled off.  The bike when on reserve about half way from there, so there was little to drain out before Amy and I lowered it into the basement in the waning light, having ridden about 140 miles that day.  Another day in paradise.

Rob Iannucci reminded me recently of another photo sequence of a crash.

 This was the 6 September 1989 Senior Classic Manx Grand Prix when I was racing the Team Obsolete '59 Matchless G-50.

 On the 2nd lap of the 4 lap race, I noticed my friend, the inimitable Dick Miles, spectating on the hill after the Verandah and before Bungalow Bridge.

The race seemed to be going well and I was feeling good.  So, on the third lap, as I went by Dick, I took my right leg off the peg and waved it at him.

 Foot back on the peg, I pitched it into The Bungalow and the bike slid away and I went sky/ground/sky/ground.

 I ran over to the bike to see if I could restart, but it was a bit bent up and there was a puncture in the aluminum fuel tank.

So, I watched the finish of the race from the marshall's hut thinking I had just done a 'Schwantz', throwing it away when I had about a one minute lead.

 However, I was awarded the Milne Shield for the fastest lap in the race (102.52mph).  Months later, back in the shop in Brooklyn, I started working on the G-50 to get it ready for Daytona.  I took the seat off and found the two frame tubes were broken just in front of the top shock mounts.  One side was all worn smooth and shiny and clearly had been broken a while, where the other side was fresh.  I like to think that second side let go just as I pitched it into the Bungalow and that's why I went down.  It certainly could have happened at a lot worse place on the TT course.
We retired that frame (#1709) then and built all the rest of the bike into frame #1708. which Rob had acquired years before.  1709 frame was put aside until 2007 when we restored the bike to as near as we could to the way it was in 1984, when we won the Senior Historic TT, for the Centenary TT Lap of Honor.
I don't remember who took the photos but I think it may have been a photographer for one of the British newspapers(The Telegraph?????).

September, 1989

At Barber, I was introduced to Rolf Janssen by Ake Smith.  Rolf is the AHRMA Historic Production Heavyweight class champion on his 750 BMW.  I was looking for somewhere to spend Sun. night in Atlanta after I dropped someone off at the airport and before I picked someone up at the airport the next morning, and Rolf graciously volunteered.  Rolf is German born, but has lived in Atlanta 18 years.  Sun. we talked late into the night, and I got to know his story a bit.  He ask if I could identify a bike and I couldn't.  I thought some readers of this blog might be able to.

Ernst Janssen with the mystery British motorcycle

Apparently, Rolf's dad Ernst, had been fascinated with motorcycles as a young boy and had apprenticed himself to a bike shop, against his family's desire for him join the family carpentry business.

Ernst, in the late 1920s, on the right

Ernst wanted to fly, too, so joined the Luftwaffe before the war.

Ernst off to war, with his sister, one of his brothers and his parents and his beloved motorcycle

Early on in the war, he was shot down over the Irish Sea and, after being a P.O.W. in England, was sent to Barton Fields Camp in Canada.  After the war ended, Ernst was finally repatriated to Germany in November of 1946, having spent about a fifth of his life as a prisoner.  Rolf tells me his whole family loved strawberries, but Ernst never ate them because he had to pick them as a P.O.W. in Canada.  Ernst may have been in the Luftwaffe, but he was no Nazi.  Rolf remembers that as a young boy he went to a party where the kids given Dinky toys as presents.  Rolf was given a tank and, when he showed it to his dad, Ernst said that it was nice that he was given a present, but they didn't have that kind of toy in their household, and the tank disappeared.
Ernst courted Rolf's mom, Antonie, on a motorcycle.  One time, when they were returning from a trip, Ernst stopped and told Antonie that if he was going to marry her, she had to know how to ride a motorcycle.  He showed her how and she rode him back the rest of the way.  Apparently, this was Ernst's way of proposing to Antonie and her way of accepting.
They bought the ruins of a bombed out shop, rebuilt it, and started a motorcycle dealership in Hasselt in far western Germany, some 20 Km from Holland.

Antonie on the left and Ernst in the middle building their shop out of the rubble.

They sold DKW, NSU, and Horex.

Janssen's Hasselt dealership in Feb. 1953

Antonie picked up and delivered parts on her NSU Pony.  This was part of their marketing plan, showing people that anyone could ride a motorcycle, you didn't have be a strapping young man.

Rolf's mom, Antonie, with her NSU pony

 Ernst went from being a factory trained mechanic to to being a master technician/instructor.

Ernst instructing on an NSU Prinz transaxle

Another view of the Hasselt dealership with Antonie in the entrance way.  The shop morphed into an auto dealership which Rolf's older brother now runs. 

I don't really have any info on this photo other than that's Ernst and Antonie to the left of #102, which looks to be an NSU Max.  There must have been a road race in town.

So, if anyone can identify the British single in the first and third photo, please add a comment below.

Williston Cox just sent me a link to some fabulous photos of racing at Laguna Seca from the good ol' days.  Willie is the son of Madison Cox, who I had raced with in the BOTT and who I had miss identified in the crash sequence I previously posted from Laguna.
http://glennmorgan.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Laguna-Seca-Early-80s/22300908_xkWTtv/1781907407_bkJ36SG#!i=1781907135&k=pWgNcst
These photo have to be from at least two different years as we see Eddie Lawson on both Kawasakis and Yamahas and Freddie Spencer on a Yamaha and Hondas.  My guess is 1981 and 1982.  F-1, Superbikes, 250's, sidecars and BOTT.  There's one of you faithful scribe on the Team Obsolete, Rob North framed, 909 XR Harley  in addition to Jim Adamo on Reno Leoni's Ducati and a couple of Madison Cox on the Darkroom Ducati.  But, also great candid shots of such greats as Roberts, Spencer, Lawson, Baldwin, Cooley, Don Vesco and Dave Aldana, Kel Carruthers working on Roberts Yamaha out of the back of a box van and great overall shots of the track and crowd.

I finally got around to writing a Daytona report after dealing with hurricane Sandy.  I made out better than most with no flooding and no tree through the roof, but I do have some big limbs down and lost power for a couple of days.

I went on from Barber to Daytona, doing a little sight seeing on the way.  Wed. I went to the Hollingsworth family race shop in St. Augustine and changed the gearing on my bikes while Al plugged away at repairing Don's and Dick's 250 Sprints.Their matriarch and team leader, Myrtle, fed us and put me up for the night.  Thurs. morning, I loaded up and drove to Winter Park where there was an excellent exhibit of David Delong moto art.                                
 http://www.polasek.org/collections-exhibitions/exhibitions/current/
David was someone I raced with at Bridgehampton, Pocono, and Summit Point and probably other places back in the '80s and '90s.  I never knew then that he was an artist; he was just a motorcycle racer to me.  And, he was a real racer, racing into the last year of his life at age 70.  His widow, Harriet, has made a great effort to get David's work shown and has organized a terrific show at a lovely gallery in Winter Park that will run to next April.
From there, I drove up to Daytona, got my credentials and set up my pit.
The AHRMA Daytona event has gone from being a curious side show on amateur day of the March Speedweek, to being a huge curtain raiser for the 200 that attracted tens of thousands of spectators in the mid/late '90's, to being a huge anti-climax to the Barber event during the Fall 'Biketoberfest'.  Entries weren't great last year, when they first went to having the event in the Fall, but this year they were way down from that.  It seems unsustainable.
Fri. practice went well and I didn't do any changes before the races.  It didn't go so well for the Hollingsworths and Al's work was for naught in the case of the '66 short stroke (the last four stroke to win the Daytona Novice race).  When Dick was practicing on it at Daytona, it dropped a valve.

The Hollingsworth's short stroke 250 CRTT Sprint after it dropped a valve at Daytona

First race for me was F500/Vintage Superbike Lightweight/Historic Production Heavy Weight/250GP/Class 'C' Foot & Hand.  We had 22 starters among the six classes.  It was an amusing race for me as I diced the whole way with John Stephens on his 250 Ducati.  I got by him on the Dondolino soon after the start but he drove past me near start/finish completing the first lap.  However, he waited way to long to brake into turn #1 and nearly ran off the track trying to get it slowed enough to make the corner, letting me by.  Again, John drove by me near start/finish completing the second lap, but this time he brake way too early and I passed him going into #1.  Same deal on lap three.  On the fourth and final lap, he came by not long after the chicane and I tucked into his draft and closed right up on him but, when I pulled out of the draft, I couldn't pass him.  He beat me by nine hundredths of a second.  Not that it meant anything as we were in different classes and he won the 250GP and I was 2nd to Alex McLean on Bob McKeever's Norton in Class 'C'.
Next up was the 350GP/F-250/350 Sportsman/Classic 60's/Classic 60's 650.  There was a grand total of seven starters in the five classes and five riders finished the five laps.  I started on the pole on my 350  H-D Sprint ERTT and I didn't see anyone during the whole race.  Alex McLean's fastest lap was almost 2 seconds  faster than my fastest lap, but he started in the second wave on McKeever's Classic 60's Norton Manx and couldn't overcome that deficit.
Originally, I was scheduled to race the Dondolino again on Sat. and the ERTT on Sunday, but they changed the schedule so that both of my races were on Sun. with none for me Sat.  Then I discovered a broken exhaust valve spring on the Dondo and decided to blow off Sunday's race and leave Sat. morning.
I took no photos of my own bikes at Daytona, so I'll include a couple of more from Barber:

Bill Doll photo

my brother Doug and me with the '70 ERTT. Rich Hosley photo

Bill Doll photo

13-15 Oct. 2012 was the Barber Vintage Festival, clearly the biggest vintage event in the country.  I entered Class 'C' foot shift with my 1946 Moto Guzzi Dondolino and 350GP, for which I brought my '70 ERTT H-D Sprint and Mike Bungay brought his 350 Aermacchi.  We had some problems with Mike's bike stopping in practice, but that turned out to be just a clogged fuel filter.  I geared Mike's bike taller and mine shorter and, in the end, I went a little faster on Mike's bike so that's the one I raced, with mine ready if back up was needed.  When I last ran my Dondolino at St. Eustache, the magneto failed.  So, I installed the magneto from my Airone road bike.  The Airone has a smaller mag gear and to use the Dondolino gear on the Airone mag, required making a plate to raise the mag 5mm.  The other problem was that the original Magneti Marrelli MLA mag has a manual advance while the Airone MRC-4E 15 degree magneto has a centrifugal advance.  I couldn't see any way to fix the mag at full advance to time it, so I assumed the '15 degree' cast on the body indicated that's how much the ignition advances.  When I initially checked the timing statically, it was 20 degrees so, I assumed it would be 35 degrees at fully advance.  I figured this was close enough to the 38-39 degrees I had been using, to test it.  I tried to check it with a timing light, but couldn't see any marks with my toy light.  However, the bike started easily and seemed to run well, as much as I could tell in the tight confines of my secret test site.  On the track in practice at Barber, the bike seemed to run great and the spark plug looked near perfect, so I didn't change anything on it.
This year, all practice was on Thurs. and Fri., with no practice on the race days on Sat. and Sun.  So, on Sat., I was first up on the Dondolino in the Class 'C' foot shift.  The competition was Ryan Ambrose on Big D's pre-unit 500 rigid Triumph twin

Alex McLean on Bob McKeever's 500 rigid cammy Norton

and Jake and Rob Hall sharing this BSA

That BSA was idling next to me at pit out, but when we gridded up after the warmup lap, it wasn't there.  Turns out that there was a problem with the petcock and when he gave it throttle, it died.  Ryan was away like a shot, I stayed ahead of Alex briefly before he came by and I finished third of the 6 Class 'C' foot shift, ahead of the ten Class 'C' hand shift and ahead of half the of the 18 350 Sportsman bikes that started in the wave ahead of us.

Bill Doll photo

There was a fair wait until the 750 Sportsman, 500 Sportsman, 350 GP race, but I occupied some of this with spectating in the Century Race, a race for bikes at least one hundred years old.  Dale Walksler won it (again) on his 1912 1000cc Indian in great style, chomping on his cigar with his open face helmet. Joe Gardella was a close 2nd on his 1912 H-D on which he had recently finished the Cannonball run.  Many of the Cannonball bikes were there and they got to do a parade lap, too.

A 1909 Excelsior single that competed in the Century Race

 I got it the lead of the 350GP class quickly and any threat to that lead ended when Paul Germain's exhaust pipe broke on his DT-1 Yamaha.  I set about seeing how many of the rest of the field I could get through.  I ended up 7th overall of the 39 entries after starting in the 3rd wave.  Only 4 of the 750s and none of the 500s had a faster fastest lap than me.

Vic Moore photo

Sunday went much the same as Sat.  The Hall BSA did start the Class 'C' race, but didn't finish.  It looked like the race was going to be a barnburner between the BSA and the Big D Triumph.  Coming out of the last corner on the first lap, Hall was leading, but Ryan was pushing hard and, when Hall missed a shift, Ryan collided with him, knocking off his exhaust pipe.  So, Hall had to retire and once again I was gifted 3rd after McLean got by me.  My fasted lap was almost one and a half seconds faster than Sat., 10th overall, and Alex and I both finished closer to Ryan, so I was pleased.

Alex McLean (122) and I (7) check each other out on the grid.  Jerrett Martin photo.

Sunday's 750 Sportsman/500 Sportsman/350GP race went much the same as Saturday's except that Germain had the exhaust fixed on his Yamaha.  He finished 2nd in the class, but was almost 24 sec. behind.  I find this very interesting as at Miller I beat him by less the 3/4 of a sec.  I don't see a reason why Mike's bike should be faster of Paul's slower than then.  Is one bike or rider better suited to this track than that?   Or, does one rider happen to be 'on' or the other 'off' that particular day?  It's fascinating and the unpredictability of it keeps me coming back.  My fastest lap was only about 0.1 sec faster Sun. than Sat., but it seems most of the field was slower and only Jerrett Martin on the Big D Triumph 750 had a faster fastest lap and I finished 5th overall starting from the 3rd wave.

Roger Cox photo.  He has more Barber photos on his website in addition to some of industrial decay

But, it could have been very different.  On the cool off lap as I went through the chicane on the back straight, I thought I missed a shift and tried it again.  And again. But, I had no drive and I look down to see that the chain had come off.  Inspection after I coasted and pushed in showed that the axle adjuster was broken, but which was the chicken and which the egg?  Luckily, it didn't jam in anything and lock the rear wheel and luckily it didn't happen a lap earlier.

The broken axle adjuster after we had put the chain back on.

Right to left: Mike Bungay, his son and pit crew Brennen Bungay, and me with Mike's beautiful 350 Aermacchi.  Rich Hosley photo

Last Sunday was the USCRA's Pewter Run.  This is a road ride for pre-1950 (and some 'like design' post '50) motorcycles.  I had done this a few times in the past on my '53 Moto Guzzi Airone Sport, which is substantially the same as when this model was revised in 1949, but it's apart at the moment awaiting my attention at the end of the racing season.  But, Mark Gibson, founder of the Pewter Run, came to the rescue.  He arranged a ride for me on Tony Lockwood's 1936 Excelsior Manxman 500.

Tony Lockwood and me with his '36 Excelsior Manxman 500

 Tony is an ex-pat Brit who has lived in this country many years.  He brought four beautiful bikes to the Run this year.  He rode the oldest, a 1913 Motosocoche 2C7, which edged out Mark Turkington's 1914 BSA as the oldest bike in the event.

Mark Turkington's 1914 BSA

Tony let his friend ride his 1925 Norton 16H.

1925 Norton 16H in the forground and 1913 Motosocoche behind 2C7

Tony's daughter Melanie Herman, rode his 1955 Norton Dominator 500, and won the long distance award, coming from Virginia for the event.  I sort of feel that I got the pick of a very fine litter.  Tony says the Manxman's 2nd owner bought it in 1938 and, while he was in north Africa during the war, dreamed of how he was going to modify it.  So, in the late forties, he replaced the girder forks with Matchless telescopic and made his own plunger rear suspension.

The Matchless forks required a special brake anchor.

Home made plunger rear suspension which eliminated lugs for the prop stand, so this period accessory stand was added And he installed a Vincent seat.

Tony had rebuilt the motor using a VW Beatle piston (1mm oversize) and had replaced the points in the magneto with an electronic trigger.
There were three length courses depending on how old the bike was and how far you wanted to ride.  I rode the longest, which was nearly 50 miles.  We started in light rain, but it stopped raining toward the end of the route.

ready for to start.  Bill Burke photo with Bill's NSU Max Spezial in backround

The motor was superb: very flexible but quite quick when given some throttle.  The Albion gearbox worked well and had good ratios.  The riding position was very comfortable.  The suspension, while not plush, was undoubtedly better than original (though I'm curious to try an original now).  The brakes were O.K.
The route was great fun and very well arrowed, and I didn't look at the route sheet once.  The colors hadn't peaked yet, but were getting there.  I passed a cop going the other way early on and he waved to me.  Once I got familiar with the bike, I gave it some stick and rode it the way it was intended.  Therefore, I was the first to finish the long route, despite my number being 26, and was promptly DQed  for being too early.  No bother; it just gave me more time to smooze with the riders who had already finished the shorter routes.  One of these was Carlton Palmer who rode a terrific 1928 Norton CS-1 that had come out of Portugal years ago.

Carlton Palmer's 1928 Norton CS-1.  Bill Burke photo

After everyone got back, we had some lunch in the Penacook Historical Society bldg., then prize giving.  Tony won his class and the oldest combined age of bike and rider.  Carlos won his class on his 1928 Indian 101 Scout.

Carlos Escudero's 1928 Indian 101 Scout

This is a bike he found in Pawcatuck, Ct. that had been sitting in a basement for 40 old years.  It has some period mods and Carlos had to repair the fuel tank, but is largely as he found it and as it was last ridden in the '50s.
Rich Snyder won the '39-'49 class with his 1949 Matchless G-80S.

Rich Snyder's '49 Matchless G-80S

Pierce Reed was 2nd in this class and won the Good Sport award for best period attire.

Pierce Reed on his 1946 H-D EL. Bill Burke photo

Mark Gibson, who was riding the Pewter Run for the first time since Shane Rivet had taken over running the event from Mark, won the Hard Luck award, and the magneto failed on his Brough Superior, and he came back on the sweep truck.

Mark Gibson with his 1934 Brough Superior 680SV

Thanks to all who made this event happen.  It's a joy to see these old bikes used.

Carlos Escudero photo