Rubber_Side_Down's blog

Oops. Sorry for the lengthy delay - being unemployed is a lot busier than I thought.
I last wrote that I was planning a motorcycle camping journey to Joshua Tree National Park, and I accomplished that about a month ago.
It included a stay at the luxurious Motel 6 in scenic Mojave, two nights of camping in the park, another night in Mojave and back home. I was actually planning three nights of camping, but I miscalculated the night temperatures at Joshua Tree. The first night was perfect, and the second night my shivering registered 4.8 on the earthquake scale. So I retreated to my palatial suite at the Motel 6 in Mojave a day early.
Having been born and raised in northern Illinois and schooled in Minnesota, I would have thought I was acclimated to such temperatures, but the tent, sleeping bag and several layers of clothes weren't enough to get comfortable.

Ummm...I don't have pictures to post of last Saturday's Triumph Demo Day, because both my digital cameras were on loan. One was at work chronicling opening day at Oakdale's t-ball leagues, and the other is seeing duty in a kindergarten classroom. Priorities, I guess...
I did however, consume two delicious polish dogs and ride a Triumph Sprint ST at the Cycle Specialties event.
The Sprint is a sport touring bike, with the emphasis on sport. With a three cylinder, one-liter motor, it's way faster than my current ride, revs quickly and makes really nice sounds. The only thing stopping me from trading in is the $12,000 price tag, and the fact that I don't have any money. Details...
The ergonomics were a little aggressive for my aging body, as well. The slight forward lean put too much of my considerable weight on my wrists.

Yo hivers! Just when you thought the world was safe for Democracy, Rubber Side Down has returned.
I ain't gonna dish as Hall_Monitor anymore, but I may bloviate about motorcycles and such now and then, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I just won't get paid for it anymore...
So now that I have some spare time, I'm planning a two-wheeled trip or two, in and around applying for work. (Put in a good word for me, eh?)
The first destination is probably Joshua Tree National Park, because it's warm and dry down there this time of year. I hope to camp, shoot some pictures and maybe post them here, if I figure out how to do that.
Before I do, however, I' m gonna head over to Cycle Specialties Saturday, for Triumph Demo Days. It happens to be the day after my birthday, and I won't say which one, other than to note that it's twice the age at which Bob Dylan said I couldn't be trusted. And Bob wore that iconic Triumph shirt on the album cover of Highway 61 Revisited...

Triumph motorcycles are making an, um, triumphant return to Modesto.

Cycle Specialties, the local BMW motorcycle dealer, is adding the Triumph line, which includes a full range of bikes from cruisers to standards, tourers and sports bikes.

The most outrageous bike in the line is the Rocket III, a cruiser/tourer with a 2.3 liter engine larger than several cars I’ve owned:

My personal favorite is the retro look Bonneville, which just seems to me to be the way motorcycles are supposed to look:

The Triumph Tiger has a more contemporary sporty look:

This is a return of Triumph, because Modesto Honda/Kawasaki briefly carried them several years ago, before deciding that there wasn’t a big enough market here for the Brit bikes.

The fact that I love old motorcycles probably says something disturbing about my age and personality. But I did have fun at the Classic Japanese Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet over the weekend in Auburn.

And my son enjoyed the show as well, so maybe it doesn’t mean I’m a hopeless old…guy.

So here’s some of the pictures I took:

This is a Suzuki Titan, a 500 cc two-stroke twin back in the day. It was considered the upper limit of two-stroke size, until a couple of 750 two-strokes appeared.

This is a Yamaha RD 350, another two stroke twin that had considerable racing success. It reportedly had a power band like an on-off switch – mild in the low and mid range rpms, and then sudden and insane acceleration at the top.

So now that I’ve sold my classic Japanese motorcycle, I think I will head up to the Classic Japanese Motorcycle Swap Meet and Show in Auburn this weekend.

The show runs Saturday and Sunday (July 26 and 27) at the Gold Country Fairgrounds.

I’m hoping to see a few Honda Superhawks and Scramblers, Suzuki Hustlers and Titans, Kawasaki H1s and Z1s, and Yamaha RD 350s and XS 650s.

The fact that I remember these bikes fondly is probably a sign of impending senility. I have in fact owned a few of them, including my recently departed Superhawk, a 305 Honda Scrambler, and an XS 650 Yamaha. I also owned at various points in my life a Honda CB100, a Honda CB500 Four, and a Honda CB750F. There was also a Honda VT500 Ascot, but I don’t think that one counts, because it never actually ran…

The Yamaha was my favorite of the bunch, because it felt and looked the most like my mental image of a motorcycle. The Honda fours were technically better bikes, but they were too refined.

With all the talk about the Modesto Police Department profiling motorcyclists, I’ve been asked if I have ever been harassed or pulled over for no reason.

I have to answer no, and the reason is simple: I’m a motorcycling equivalent of a geek, and I dress like one.

The club and/or gang folks are easy to spot, it’s almost a uniform: leather vest with insignias on the back, beanie or novelty helmet, stomper boots, studded belts, sleeveless shirt to show off those biceps. The bike is an American made V-Twin cruiser, with custom touches.

Most of these riders are harmless guys who just want to look a bit like an outlaw. The insignia is likely to be of a H.O.G. chapter, which stands for Harley Owners Group. And then there are the real outlaws, who are bad  guys. They dress that way because they are anti-social and want to instill fear.

Me, I ride a BMW, which is the motorcycling equivalent of, well, a BMW. They are well-built, but tend to be eccentric looking. The cylinders stick out the sides, the headlights are kind of cockeyed, they are built for traveling rather than looking cool.