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EVOLUTION DESK– The last sighting of Bandit was in the garage throwing tools around as the big bastard and NuttBoy began the final assembly of an Evolution-powered desk for Little Jon Buttera. Check it out in the Garage.
HELEN WOLFE UPDATE–Stan Sheppard sent this to me last week along with a photo order. Thought I’d pass it along – I asked his permission to do so and he said OK, so I figured I’d throw in a couple more photos of him. He won in the ET class in October in the AHDRA/JIMS Las Vegas Nationals. He also runs a Pro Gas bike, which he refers to in the article.
Haven’t heard word from Daytona yet. They’re in the thick of it right now. I am there in spirit. Been trying to astral-project – I think it’s working … gotta go!Helen WolfePhotos@HelenWolfe.com
AMERICAN IRONHORSE SALES INCREASE 38 PERCENT–American IronHorse Motorcycle Co. announced that its motorcycle sales grew 38 percent in 2000 to about $11.5 million, and that it sold 500 motorcycles in 2000, up 46 percent from 1999. American IronHorse also added 56 jobs and 17 new dealers in 2000.
NEW CRIME INC. WEAR–Watch in the next couple days as we pump up the line of clothing from Crime Inc. Flex-fit ballcaps that are comfortable as hell. Hooded, zip-up sweatshirts with thumbs in the sleeves to hold them in your gloves while riding–they’re killer. More tops for girls. Long sleeve T-shirts and all with the Crime Inc. logo silk screened or embroideried on each garment.
NOW, FOR OUR RELIGIOUS CORNER–A diagnostic is someone who doesn’t know whether there are two gods.If God is watching us, the least we can do is be entertaining.I am an agnostic pantheist. I doubt the existence of many gods.Never invoke the gods unless you really want them to appear. It annoysthem very much. –G.K. Chesterton
NEWS FROM THE BIKE WEEK SAND–Weather’s the big story so far; windy, steady 20 and gusting to 30-40 mph.That makes for a wind chill in the 30s, with plenty of sand blowing aroundif the cold doesn’t get to you first. Forget the beach, unlesssandblasting’s a favorite activity.
Talk is mostly about first year without helmet law, against last year’srecord fatality count of 15 deaths, although only 10 were bike-related. Asof Sunday, only two deaths, both involving bikes, despite numerous crashes.
Florida law requires riders without helmets have $10,000 injury insurance.They can’t pull you over to check unless there’s a moving violation,accident or DUI stop.
Preliminary investigation of fatalities by federal Centers for DiseaseControl concluded that, considering the huge crowd, the number of deaths wasn’tabnormal and that there wasn’t a trend.
Another item on the radar is noise. The chamber of commerce is funding a studyby the University of Florida to measure decible levels in variousneighborhoods. An uneducated guess is that they’ll discover it’s pretty damnloud during Bike Week.
Economic claims are for $250 million impact on economy, but that’s anyone’sguess. Still, it’s a lot.
–Agent Anonymous
V-TWIN HOLDINGS SIX-MONTH INCREASES TO 8.4 M–Although V-Twin Holdings’ total revenue for the six months ending December 31 was up compared to the same period in 1999, the company had a decrease in gross profit as a percent of total revenue. This is primarily due to the sale of motorcycles at lower margins during the second quarter ended December 31.
REMEMBERING THE OLD TIMES WITH RON FINCH–I have really enjoyed the interview series you have been doing for HOT ROD BIKES magazine. Your most recent about Ron Finch really brought back some memories of a time long ago in a place far, far away. Everybody in the Detroit area knew about Hatten, Carlini and Wild Bill, the paint gurus of the times in the early to mid ’60s. Ron Finch was tucked away in a little shop in Pontiac. He was just a guy who was getting started and liked to paint motorcycles.
I met Finch sometime in late 1965 or early 1966 when I was working at the first of the mega dealerships in Michigan, Anderson Sales and Service in Pontiac. They had it all, Triumph, BSA, Norton, Matchless, Honda, Ducati and Moto Guzzi. I worked in the parts department and rode a 1965 Triumph TR-6, (I couldn’t come up with the extra few hundred for a Bonneville) it was my first new bike and I loved it. That winter I finally owned a car and did not have to ride to work, so I took the bike apart to get some chrome parts done. One part leads to another and then all of a sudden it was time to shit or get off the pot, PAINT TIME. Finch was around the shop once in a while and we started to talk about what color and next thing I know I’ve got a candy blue metal flake Triumph.
I do vaguely remember Finch’s shop in Pontiac; it was so small you had to go outside to change your mind. There was a bunk or two, always a bunch of people and the refreshments of the era to enjoy. A weed of some kind I think and lots of wine. In 1967 I got tired of my Triumph and sold it to a friend of mine. I walked into Roy’s Harley-Davidson in Pontiac and bought a brand new XLCH ($1,514.00 out the door), the baddest thing on the street. The next day I rode to work at Anderson’s and was fired on the spot for riding a Harley.
My next job was at a shop in Detroit, Shores Motorcycles, so I just didn’t get out to Pontiac that often and hadn’t seen Finch since then. The next time I saw Finch was in 1998 during the Hamster ride into Sturgis, riding one of those weird things he puts together out of welding rods and whatever else he uses. I think it was in E.R. during your tenure, the bike with the tanks as part of the floorboards. I didn’t get a chance to talk with him but he sure looked the same, one of those people you just don’t forget.
Please, in the future stay in the ’70s and later. I don’t want to write you letters about Zundap Super Sabres, NSU Super Fox’s, BSA A-50’s and all the rest of my early bikes.
If I can find it, I’ll send you an article from 1968, I was on the front page of the Detroit Free Press complaining that bikers could not get served at Big Boy restaurants with a picture of me on my CH.
Thanks for the memory jog,
–T.L.
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