As I pulled onto the Harbor Freeway, the traffic was light. I had nowhere to knock wood, so I kicked it up to 80 mph and settled into the diamond lane. From there I got on the 91 and began the blitz to the edge of town, which is almost at the Arizona border now. At about 75 miles I spotted my Van Buren turn-off. I hadn’t hit a lick of traffic. A holiday weekend without myriad drunken accidents? I couldn’t believe it. From there it was a series of rambling roads and highways to Idllywild — Van Buren to the 215, to Ramona Expressway, to 74 to 243 to Jack Daniels. There was a sliver of a moon slicing the pitch black night as I pulled up in front of their gate.All day Saturday we chainsawed everything in sight. We danced the dangerous dance of dodging creaking timbers that would have broke both my legs in a heartbeat if it had shifted the wrong way. With NuttBoy’s wife, Debbie, doin’ the jig on the creaking log with drinks and munchies, we cut from dawn to dusk and finally cut that sonuvabitch from stem to stern. I kept thinking of the movie “A Great Notion.” The next morning I rode back, stiff and sore. I needed the touch of a woman and the smell of salt air to relieve lungs full of 2-stroke fuel. Let’s get to the news:
THE AMA IS ABOUT TO ANNOUNCE ITS NEW HALL OF FAME LINEUP– The AMA is adding to the list of legendary figures in its Motorcycle Hall of Fame. The 28 new inductees include racers, tuners, engineers and media figures. The Motorcycle Hall of Fame recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to all aspects of motorcycling. Check the Web site for the results, and join ’em or join the local motorcycle rights group. We need to keep these organizations strong.
GUY WALKED INTO THE CORNER STORE– with a shotgun and demanded allthe cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag,the robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind the counter ontheshelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but he refusedand said, “Because I don’t believe you are over 21.”
The robbersaidhe was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because hedidn’tbelieve him. At this point the robber took his driver’s license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. Theclerk looked it over, and agreed that the man was in fact over 21 and he putthe scotch in the bag.
The robber then ran from the store with his loot.The cashier promptly called the police and gave the name and address of therobber that he’d gotten off the license. They arrested the robber twohourslater.
CHROME SPECIALTIES PANHEAD ENGINE–That’s right, Chrome Specialties and Keith Ruxton are building a series of performance Panheads. Next week we’ll speak to Keith upon his return from his vacation and get all the particulars. Watch for it, or if you need one ASAP, check the Chrome Specialties Web Site Here.
INDIAN TO CELEBRATE 100 YEARS–ALMOST–This is a tough one. Indian will commemorate the brand?s 100th anniversary with a cross-country ride June 16 – July 4, 2001. The 5300-mile ride will begin in Springfield, Mass., where the original Indian Motocycle factory stood and will visit various Indian Motorcycle dealerships across the U.S. en route home to Gilroy, Calif., where the current factory is located.
The problem is that finding an Indian from 1955 until now is tough. Even the current bikes are not Indians per se, but they’re trying.
HELEN ORDERS DSL–Helen is our main drag racing correspondent and photographer. Watch our drag racing page, it’s coming alive.
“I ordered DSL today. Mailman thought it was a good idea to free up the phone line and have the high speed access.??So it’ll be ready about the time I leave for Denver. Hopefully Garrett (my kid) will have the bugs worked out of it by the time I return home.?? The modem is an Intel USB external with no extra power cord to worry about. Got it for free and it is totally plug and play.
I don’t figure I’ll spend any less time behind this monitor, but I’ll get a lot more accomplished while I’m here. And of course I can send erroneous e-mails at the speed of light to the wrong people.
Oz told me today that I needed DSL to speed my ass up. Suppose I’ll look into it–Bandit
Holy shit….. did you two blow the dust off the candles you use to light and heat your homes while you were at it?–Digital
A FELLOW– was invited to the home of some old friends for dinner. His buddypreceded every request to his wife by endearing terms, calling her Honey, MyLove, Darling, Sweetheart, Pumpkin, etc.
The guest was impressed since the couple had been married almost 70 years,and while the wife was off in the kitchen he said to his friend, “I thinkit’s wonderful that after all the years you’ve been married, you still callyour wife those pet names.”
His buddy hung his head. “To tell you the truth, I forgot her name about tenyears ago.”
–Helen Wolfe
ALL-NEW PATENTED CHALLENGER BAFFLE FROM SAMSON– Samson has developed a new performance exhaust system called Challenger, which has a patented baffle. The baffle is a unique reverse cone that forms a nozzle to create velocity while drawing exhaust away from the head.
The notion came to Kenny Price, president and founder of Samson Exhaust, in the middle of the night, while two naked women jumped up and down on his heart-shaped bed, shouting, “Mr. Samson hired us. We want Mr. Samson.? Oblivious to their shrieks, Kenny was well aware that velocity creates torque, so he tried the reverse cone. The holes in the cone allow gases to evacuate. The system also allows the owner to adjust for sound. “The second baffle can be removed, but the real magic is in the reverse cone,” Kenny said.
“We wanted to create a gradually shaped outer cone,” Kennysaid, describing the exterior of the new muffler. “Some manufacturersof tubing said that it wasn’t possible, but we created a hybrid conewith a gradual taper to conceal the muffler appearance.” The diameterof the pipe increases only 1 inch in the 24-inch-long muffler.”It’s a subtle cone,” Kenny explained.
Kenny is manufacturing complete systems that incorporate theChallenger muffler to fit Softails, Dynas and Sportsters for Twin Cam and Evolution models.
Samson bolted this revolutionary system to a stock Twin Cam andlet ‘er rip. “With an out-of-the-box model, we baselined the bike at50 horses. With our system in place, including reversion cones, weexperienced 57 horsepower and an additional 10 pounds of torqueconsistently.” The system comes with the torque cones, full coverageheat shields and all the mounting hardware. “Plus our pipes aredesigned to fit perfectly,” Kenny said.
Installation of the complete exhaust system ($499) is a breeze. For more information, check out the Samson Web site through Bikernet.com.
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