I had just finished the restoration of a 1972 Rickman-Montesa, and naturally sent pictures to a few friends. “Wow—that’s nice! Are you gonna ride that?” My friend hit upon The Big Issue in the vintage motorcycle hobby/community: “Ride ’em or hide ’em”. There are some that feel strongly that vintage bikes should be ridden, to […]
In the past we’ve looked at several motorcycle collections on the east coast (including, most recently the collection of “Yankee Bob” Fornwalt), enjoying a walk through both the artifacts particular enthusiasts have chosen, as well as the manner in which they’ve elected to display them. Most of us seem to have assumed that The Garage […]
I made it to Carlisle once again. I say that as one who for years didn’t make the trip to Carlisle events, but, with Hershey 2020 cancelled, Carlisle once again became attractive. And there’s no reason not to travel to the Fall Carlisle auto show, if one is into vintage motor things: it’s a great […]
Oak Motocross Park swung open its gates/cow fence this past weekend for another great time in the country! Oak MX Park (Coalport, PA—west of State College, PA) is an enthusiast-owned (the Ecklund family) venue that retains what might have been the best of motocross. There’s low fees, a good, varied dirt track, food trucks, and […]
Part 2: Harley-Davidson enters my life Harley Davidson were having problems marketing their entry into motocross during the late 70’s. They produced a 250 two-stroke, designated the MX250. This was Italian, designed by Aermacchi. The project started well, winning the 1975 Baja 500, and having the most powerful engine (barring the Can Am 250) of […]
The Accident Waiting to Happen A brief history and description What is Motorcycle Grass Track Racing? Dubbed as “an accident looking for a place tohappen,” the sport evolved in the late 1920’s, with the abolition of racing on the publichighway in the UK. Like scrambling (motor x, as we call it) it moved from the […]
Saturday, June 11th was the second running of the new “Motorbike Day” at the Antique Automobile Club of America (AACA) Museum in Hershey, PA. The museum has, in the past decade, become much more of a recognized location for vintage motorcyclists, and has been featuring excellent motorbike exhibits, beginning with 2009’s joint AMCA/AACA Fast from […]
Our good friend Pete Noneman—who you may know from his work supporting the Legends and Heroes program—was recently fortunate to avoid the northern cold for a bit and be in Daytona, Florida. Pete attended the 4th annual Daytona vintage motocross, run inside the famous stadium. Besides the usual mixture of interesting motorcycles, Pete is one […]
Part 2: Combat Time If you haven’t read Part 1 of our series, where, as mostly Maico restoration guys, we ‘Enter the Combat’ zone with equal parts excitement and trepidation, you can read the first installment HERE. Planning “A little planning never hurt anyone.” I don’t know whether it was the US military or my […]
Preparations started months—years—before, of course. There were discussions with local government and corporations, evening phone calls, maps and diagrams, disagreements, more phone calls. Retired club members worked out the plan with busy younger members—who later enlisted even younger volunteers to help with the grunt work, as well. Thousands of theoretical little two-dimensional squares on paper […]