The 555

Fine! If you think you can drive better.....

2010-11-01T16:11:00.002-04:00

I was unable to post while on the road so i will subject you to a trip recap now.

The Mayor (aka, Mike, Pearl, The Terrorist, etc....) and Slick trading places, 555 style. Easy? Sure. But on a folding rig? Not so much. However, look how easy they make it look. Those guys are so boss!

Drafting

2010-11-01T10:21:00.003-04:00

I thought that you'd like to see the underside of Slim's rig.....as we were moving down the road. In order to make any sort of time we drafted a good 60% of the way across the country. This was shot slightly wide so even though it looks close, they were even closer than that! I think Slim was trying to knock the camera out of my hand.

we done it

2010-10-25T19:11:00.001-04:00

After going thru a snow storm,high winds and lots of rain we just pulled in to sandy hut,ordered some food and sippin on some jameson.

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Group Photo...minus 2

2010-10-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

Pearl, Erock, Feat, Slick, Slappy and Slim in Boulder before Pearl and Slim took off to Oregon. Dic and Pistol were in Leadville when we were here I think.

2010-10-23T18:54:00.001-04:00

Thanks to jason weeks at pacatello honda dealer for staying late and helping me weld my sidecar back on.

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still running

2010-10-23T18:48:00.001-04:00

Id like to thank lambert performance cycles in jackson tn for the piston and letting us swap it out in your parking lot.

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made it to union motorcycle shop

2010-10-23T18:40:00.001-04:00

Going to do a valve adjustment and hit the road.

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just got to boise id

2010-10-23T16:55:00.001-04:00

If anyone would like to track us live go to cyclestoponline.com

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I'm just a doin my job, I'm the ...

2010-10-22T19:32:00.000-04:00

Apparently drafting old buckets of junk is frowned upon in Wyoming!

Slim figured out how to beat the Wyoming headwinds...

Idaho

2010-10-22T18:59:00.001-04:00

The boys have made Pocatello, Idaho. They are flying without passengers in the sidecars!

Pearl getting his exhaust fixed near Ft. Collins I think... Thanks a million Ed and Cindy!

Pearl riding the cow

And as for the rest of us, we're freakin great. It was an awesome time. We all wish we had 2 weeks instead of just 1 to do it, but regardless, it was amazing. We'll definitely plan a bit more time to do it in next time. Who knows what contraptions we'll come up with!

Here's a video of Pistol and Dic's adventure up to Leadville.

Quartered and halved

2010-10-22T14:14:00.000-04:00

Wednesday morning or afternoon, we all assembled in Dodge City and decided that Dic and Pistol could work on their bike and that the rest of us would press on. If they got it fixed, they would catch up. So we left sometime Wednesday afternoon and headed due west. Got into Colorado and had some mexican food that night. We rode all night...and it got cold...but we pressed on. At about 100 miles outside of Denver/Boulder, Feat and Erock's rear wheel bearings started 'making some noise'. An inspection of the chain revealed copious amounts of metal...but we pressed on, trying to get to Erock's brother's house in Boulder. Eventually the thing was howling and dragging the engine down...all we could get up to was 3rd gear....and the Boulder early commuters we're not very happy with us. Eventually we made it to Scott's house about 6:30am and got some sleep. Pistol and Dic did get their rig fixed and decided to head to Leadville to see a friend. I think they made it there last night (Thursday night), and then they were gonna ditch the rig there (since both have to be at work on Monday) and then get to Denver for flights back to Knoxville today. Just heard from Pistol that he already landed in Chicago....so obviously they made it to the airport today in Denver. Good work boys!

Reality set in when we woke up and realized that we weren't going to make it to Portland by Friday. Erock has to be back to Knoxville on Saturday, so he was 1st to say he was ending his part of the trip at Boulder and flying back to Knoxville out of Denver. I thought about going on without him, but Speedball has the trashed rear wheel bearing and also is burning through the tires on the sidecar and rear of the bike like crazy. So I'd need to get all new stuff before pressing on...and I didn't want to weigh the remaining guys down and I need to get back and open up the Public House, so Speedball is staying in Denver. Hopefully, a friend of Slick's will trailer it back to Knoxville sometime in or before December. Slick and Slappy both have to be back at work on Monday, so they decided to stay with us in Boulder and fly back to Knoville from here. Pearl and Slim are our remaining 2 on the road. Neither one has the pressing Monday deadline that the rest of us do...so they are gonna make it to Portland! Both have their own rig...just with nobody in the sidecar now. They are making awesome time now being 200lbs lighter! They left Thursday about 2pm and are already near the border of Wyoming and Utah. Go get em boys!

On the way to Boulder we stopped in the middle of nowhere southeast of there and ran across the Portland 555 guys sticker. Unbelievable!

View from Scott's front yard

Speedball's sidecar tire....just a little chewed up

Last 2 guys leaving Boulder

Speedball's resting place in Boulder

2010-10-22T03:05:00.001-04:00

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rolling

2010-10-22T02:45:00.001-04:00

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Tuesday maybe

2010-10-20T22:26:00.001-04:00

So we tried like hell to get out of oklahoma but 2 machines (feat/erock's and dic/pistol's) kept screwing up just outside of woodward. Pearl and slappy actually went ahead to look for parts and the rest of us worked on just about every system of both bikes. Limped them into fort smith and worked for more hours into the night. Pearl and slappy went on to dodge city. We moved on to buffalo, ok where we worked into the middle of the night...like 3or 4am. We readjusted the valves, timing, carbs, and lots of other stuff. Ours finally started working but poor pistol rode their bike that was bucking like crazy...and after 26 hours of no sleep and tons of work...slim, slick, feat, erock, dic and pistol finally made it to dodge city at dawn. A few hours of sleep and off again west today. In lamar, co headed north towards boulder probably.

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New wheels 4 2 sidecars

2010-10-19T23:02:00.001-04:00

Slim/slappy and erock/feat had 5 snd 4 broken spokes respectively so we searched for new wheels in a junkyard nearby. After rummaging through mosquito infested poison ivy for an hour or 2, we bought the best crappy ass rusty wheels we could find. The guy's at the junkyard told us about Dave and sons shop in town so we headed there to see if they could help us put the tires in the new old wheels. Dave was awesome and did us 2 better by giving us Much better wheels that already had good rubber on them. Dave and his family earn a huge high five from the 555.
We made it a bit further before the effects of no sleep in 2 days got to us so we slept for 6 awesome hours in front of some under construction church. Up today and into the rain for 3 not so awesome hours. Dry now though. To the panhandle we go!

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Spokes

2010-10-18T13:01:00.001-04:00

Yeah baby. We're shedding 4 broken spokes from the sidecar wheel. Less weight. Woohooo!

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Getting a new sidecar tire for feat and erock

2010-10-18T12:54:00.001-04:00

We were just too damn fast in the corners and have already made our sidecar tire extremely bald.
We're at a cycle shop now getting a new tire in sallisaw, ok.

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Another gas stop

2010-10-18T04:16:00.001-04:00

After much screwing with slick (aka puss puss) and pearl's electrics, we've made it to bebe, ar. Headed towards fort smith and then to oklahoma. Hopefully we can push on through the night and make it by morning.

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Arkansas baby!

2010-10-17T21:28:00.001-04:00

Just made it across the old man and into Arkansas. Motoring on through the evening and into the night as long as the bikes continue to run alright. The bikes love the cold air even if we don't!

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racing

2010-10-17T20:12:00.001-04:00

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2010-10-17T19:28:00.001-04:00

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Rolling

2010-10-17T19:20:00.001-04:00

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Getting it all back together.

2010-10-17T13:30:00.001-04:00

Piston is in and motor back in the bike. Finishing up. Back on the road again in a few...hours maybe...or maybe even minutes.

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Bike coming apart

2010-10-16T21:15:00.001-04:00

Piston found in jackson. Replacing it now in the parking lot .

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Maybe a piston found?

2010-10-16T20:00:00.001-04:00

Slim and slappy in jackson and dismantling their engine outside of a cycle shop there. Rest of us on our way.

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Uh oh...

2010-10-16T13:45:00.001-04:00

Is an aluminum covered sparkplug bad?
Too bad we're not in pawhuska again when this happened!
Ok, we are 2 miles from dyersberg, tn. Need a 350 piston. Come on blog!

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Wittle pistol

2010-10-16T12:42:00.001-04:00

Moments after this video was taken, pistol accidentally kicked too hard and the bike fell over to the left. Wham! No harm done luckily! Currently in trenton, tn. Headed for dyersberg next.

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good morning

2010-10-16T08:44:00.001-04:00

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Mikey found a friend

2010-10-16T03:37:00.001-04:00

Huge thanks to boo who let us replace a had gasket at his house! On the road again!

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zzzzzzz

2010-10-15T23:54:00.001-04:00

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Seriously. Wow.

2010-10-15T19:28:00.001-04:00

Pearl and slick just pulled up in this. Thanks boo!

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Found a gasket.

2010-10-15T17:52:00.001-04:00

Slick and pearl are going to get it from boo. Thanks richard for the contact! Rest of us in a church parking lot in mt juliet dismantling pistol and dick's topend.

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Near nashville. Need some parts. Anyone?

2010-10-15T17:09:00.001-04:00

We have a blown head gasket. Anybody have one or just a 350 parts bike?

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Near nashville. Need some parts. Anyone?

2010-10-15T17:07:00.001-04:00

We have a blown head gasket. Anybody have one or just a 350 parts bike?

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2010-10-15T15:21:00.001-04:00

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stuck

2010-10-15T14:02:00.002-04:00

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Modification #1

2010-10-15T06:32:00.003-04:00

Miles traveled: 1 (to cyclestop)

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OK, let's do this.....

2010-10-15T05:20:00.002-04:00

just walked the dog and the skies are clear and the temp is perfect. I hope that this is a good omen for the rest of the trip. Freakout Feat just pulled in, time to go!

Temp check

2010-10-15T04:54:00.001-04:00

OK, it's only 42 deg out right now. Good riding temp, really.

Enjoying what could be my last good meal and cup of coffee for 5 days.

We got this...

2010-10-15T04:33:00.002-04:00

4:30 a.m. Friday morning and the other motorcycle juice is brewing of the press on the counter. It's around 40 deg outside and we're ready to roll. Our goal today is a laughable 800 miles. That means no breakdowns. We need to clear the Rockies before Sunday or our ass is grass as there's a wet cold front moving in and they're predicting snow in the passes.
Gotta finish packing............

Fueling up for departure!

2010-10-14T23:43:00.001-04:00

Tennessee motorcycle juice! Courtesy of tank.

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All 4 rigs together.

2010-10-13T23:36:00.001-04:00

Hopefully they'll all make it past monterey, tn!

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A bit more about the trip

2010-10-13T16:43:00.000-04:00

So the teams are Slim and Slappy, Pearl and Slick, Dic and Pistol, DoubleRinger/Erock and Feat. One of the rigs has a hard-mounted side car...like most normal sidecars, but the other 3 of them are setup so the bikes still lean...like a normal motorcycle...just with flexible chassis mounts mounting the sidecars to them. The sidecar wheels don't lean though, so it makes for some super funky turns. You get to know the guy in the sidecar really well in a right-hand turn. They're weird as hell to ride since the things want to jerk all over the place...and there's just a 350cc motor trying to pull all of that extra weight, but man are they fun!

This is Erock and Feat's rig ..... I'm tossing around the name 'Speedball' ...1/2 cocaine...1/2 heroin...pretty obvious which is which.

For you Doubters

2010-10-12T16:33:00.003-04:00

The tally for Cuatro:

1970 Honda 350 CL - $200
Tubing for car = $7.50
Three cars of paint= $3.00
12 voly aux plug = $12
Volt meter = $20 (I know, rich but I wanted a new one)
Solid two wheel dolly wheel to drive alt = $10
Chain and battery = $69.35
Points and condenser = $29.40
Launch light (ignition switch) = $6.00
High beam indicator = $$1.49
Spark plug (2) = $3.98
Fuel line = $2.99
Fuel filters (2) = $3.00
Hose clamps = $2.99

Grand total = $371.80

Stuff that don't count:
Three tires and the fee to re-title the beast

Stuff we got for free:
Alternator - I took this from my nephew's demolition car while he was out hiking the AT. We'll count that as a donation
Floor pan and 1/4" rod - Donation from Frazier Welding
Most of the tubing for the car - salvaged from Slim's old commercial rotisserie racks
Hemi joints - salvaged from Slappy's shop
Aluminum sheet metal body - surplus material from a job out of my shop
Swing arm and wheel- salvage/donated by Jack Parker- AMA race champ!
Alternator wiring advice from Gaby's Altenator - FREE

test run

2010-10-10T22:55:00.001-04:00

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2010 555!!!

2010-10-05T13:26:00.070-04:00

So the 2010 555 leaves Knoxville at 5:55am on Oct 15. That's right, this coming up Friday.

Same rules as the last one....1975 or older bike, 500cc's or less, and you can only spend $500 buying and fixing up your machine...and sidecar. Yep, we've added sidecars to the mix. Since buying actual sidecars would be too expensive, we fabricated 4 of them from spare tubing we had laying around our shops.

Chocolate Thunder and Face are sitting this one out, but we picked up 3 other knuckle-heads equally as dumbass as we are....Slappy, Slim and Slick. So 8 of us are riding 4 Honda Cl350's with homemade sidecars to Portland, OR.....for under $500 in the bike and sidecar TOGETHER.

Where old bikes come from

Pearl and Slick's ride

Figuring it out

Slick using his imagination

This is how the sidecars connect to the bikes

Slim and Slick

Gently persuade it

Don't need these....

Feat working on the clutch

I think these are some of our sidecar wheels

Erock welding

Fin off a 58 Fairlane...now on Slick's sidecar

3 frames started...end of day 1 of work

First fire of Dic and Pistol's bike...that ain't smoke.

Work is progressing...

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2010 work has begun

2010-09-06T11:12:00.001-04:00

Work has begun on the 2010 555. Here is my first attempt to post something from my phone. Hopefully this will work on the trip and I can upload photos and updates along the way.

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Arrrgh!

2009-10-09T09:26:00.000-04:00

Curse this rain. The 555 was going to head to Barber this weekend for the vintage racing and swap meet but the forecast of thunderstorms all weekend put the kibosh on that. Call us pussies but riding, camping and standing in the rain watching other people race just wasn't getting the blood pumping.
Good luck to local racer and reining AHRMA 200cc GP champ, Jack Parker and PDX555er Jon Munns in their quest for tarmac glory.
Wish we were there.

ooooo that smell......

2009-09-17T09:22:00.000-04:00

The fact that you here on this blog I know that the picture below stirs emotions so basic and simple and yet so complex that you are unable to convey them to your significant other or your parents.

Bought for a song by a PDX 555er just yesterday, I'm not sure if this dream machine wont be high tailing it across the desert next year on it's way to the as of yet undetermined 555 rendezvous point.

Starter fluid, the elixir of old bikes.........

Oh shit, it's on

2009-09-15T11:57:00.000-04:00

Toledo Hansen's partial article has reignited my 555 fire like a new ignition coil on an old RD 40o. It's time to start focusing on next years bike, a 1974 Husky 250 WR. Cost: $130

Being somewhat of a mechanical nimrod and not wanting to burden Pearl with carrying my mechanical dead weight like he did last year, I've tricked our buddy and local AHMA race champ, Jack Parker into clearing off a section of his work bench and allowing me to work on my Husky engine under his tutelage. I'd like to say that he has no idea what he's volunteered for but in truth, I think he does.

So the job is going to be: transform this

into a cross country runner for $370 additional dollars or less. Title and tires are not included in this amount and have never been part of the $500 limit. Let the hillarity begin. Stay tuned. - Erock

Inspiration

2009-09-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places. As you can tell from the infrequency of the posts on this blog, my mind and efforts have not necessarily been on the 555. Well, in truth, my mind is never far from the 555 but sometimes the rest of life interfears with the important stuff. However, yesterday I received both of the following reminders that there lies an incredible journey ahead for the 555. While neither falls squarely into the 555 rigid set of rules, one plays out close to home as it covers part of our planed route for 2010 and the second one is a truly awe inspiring dumnass adventure, I just wish that I had the whole article.

First is my friend's 10 day take on the TAT
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii94/glisade/TAT%202009%20TN-MS-AR/?albumview=slideshow

Second, this segment of a story found in a 1975 issue of Dirt Rider by PDX555 rider, The Shin. If anyone out there has access to the rest of the article, please let me know. I have a feeling that it only gets better.

Enjoy- Erock

Dumb Journey
by
Toledo Hansen

"No one ever told you not to go about crossing America on a dirt bike."

When one beholds certain truths under the influence of peyote, one must pay a price. Ingesting peyote is against the law. Some tribes of American Indians, ignoring the law even before it was on the books, ate peyote all the time. Of course, the Indians were deadbeats, their minds so glutted with the poisons they didn't have the sense to develop the land they loitered upon into something worth-while. They sat on rocks staring at rivers for hours on end. They settled homes anywhere they wished without benefit of deeds. I could go on, but you can see how peyote can ruin lives. Look where the Indians are now.
In 1969 I dropped out of college and began work in a factory, printing beer cartons on a gravure six-color web-fed press. By the time I had worked my way to assistant pressman I was unexplicably miserable. For the first and only time I ate peyote buttons at the advice of a friend. Shortly after the experience, and certainly as a result of, Los Angeles had been revealed to me as the oppressive, paranoidal nightmare it was: I saw millions of people every day, none of who you should trust with anything sharper than a hotdog - millions of people thundering about tons of machinery an [sic] in all different directions. Often I'd see a ton of liquid north-bound try to occupy the same space (at the same time) with two tons of powdered southbound. It got to be an eyesore.
So I retreated to Ventura, 60 miles north of L.A., and tried not to think about it as much. For two years I made food money by selling stories to various publications. I merely sat at my typewriter and made up facts and sold stories [Becky, isn't this your dad?]. It was easy.
I also wanted a horse to roam around the hills on. I used to like riding horses until I got tired of trying to outguess them. I have enough trouble keeping track of my own mind and care not to concern myself with the thoughts of a second dumb animal [No, this is *my* dad].
In 1972 I walked into a motorcycle shop in Goleta, told the man of my needs, and bought a Matador. Nice name, nice looking bike. He taught me how to mix gas and oil, told me to clean the air filter now and then, gave me some extra spark plugs, and I rode home. The next day I rode back to the shop and bought a helmet and goggles. The helmet gave me a headache but removing a couple layers of gauze I acquired by not having the helmet in the first place made things more comfortable.
The next three days I went riding in the hills over to the Santa Clara River. In the sand it felt awful. I fell down a lot. I had a hard time starting it. I wasn't having as much fun as I thought and decided to get my money back and go to Europe. I put an ad in Cycle News:
1972 BULTACO MATADOR
$1,000 brand new I just bought it
and now I need the money to go
back East and besides I don't like
it at all. T. Hansen, General
Delivery."
Two weeks later and only one reply came in the mail, from New Jersey. "Mr. Hansen, your ad stated that you were coming back East. They are out of Matadors back here so why don't I buy yours and you can bring it out? Very truly yours, Darryl Gookins.
I wrote back,"Yes I can deliver the bike if you deliver me $1,000 first - as a token of good faith, of course."
He wrote back,"Are you mad? Do you think I'm a sucker?"
I called him from the train station, collect, in a rage. "Listen, you scum sucking tightwad, I'll be goddamned if I'm going to gallivant my motor-cycle all over Kingdom Come just so you can look at it and say 'Ugh, take it back, the paint's scratched!'" I hollered into the receiver. A train was going by for effect. "You had better goddam well send me $500 by Monday or I'm going to take that bucket of vulture snot Matador you want so bad and shove it into a ravine and let it rust a few years!" I slammed down the receiver.
I got my money along with a note of apology from Darryl Gookins. He said he was looking forward to seeing me in 30 days, that we would have fun going riding where he lived. He sounded like a fruit.
I prepared for my trip east and the delivery of Darryl Gookins' new Matador. It never dawned on me to tell him the Matador is the only form of transportation I own.
I spent the better part of the morning filling a day pack with food and oil, filling my army-surplus jacket with every tool I could find that I might need, and carefully choosing supplies common sense dictated: first aid, a tire patch kit, a good book (Cat's Cradle), and traveler's checks. Since I didn't have a driver's license or business card or anything, at least traveler's checks might make me look good.
At about 11 that morning I left Ventura, rode up the Santa Clara River and headed for New Jersey. I had a compass: East.
I stopped a [sic] Castiac Junction for gasoline, the first time I'd ever had to mix gas in the Matador. The gas station man asked me where I was off to. I told him New Jersey. He called me a smart-aleck. I pumped in 2.4 gallons. Lessee, I thought, 32 ounces to the quart, 64, that's 128 ounces to the gallon. Twenty-to-one, hmmm, one-tenth of a gallon is 12.8, so one-twentieth is 6.4 - that's it, six point four ounces of oil per gallon times two point four gallons is... carry the two... fifteen point three six ounces of oil. I opened a can of oil and started dumping it into the tank. "Tell me when it looks like fifteen point three six ounces, willya?" I asked the attendant. He called me a bastard.
By nightfall I hadn't made it to Palmdale. I was sore and kept falling down, more than usual. Something felt funny on the Matador. I was going to have to average two hundred miles a day to make sure I got to New Jersey in thirty days and was already behind schedule. I slept soundly and proceeded the next morning without breakfast, then wasted a lot of time in Palmdale finding a motorcycle dealer who could help me out. He said my throttle was sticking because the cable was ruined and called another dealer to see if he had one. I told both dealers where I had been but didn't want to tell them I was riding to New Jersey; they acted as if what I had done thus far was a strange thing to do.
Heading out of Palmdale across the Mojave Desert, I watched some other motorcyclists play in the distance. They stood up when they rode. It took me a while but I soon could stand up, too. I wondered how much I didn't know about motorcycle riding.
By nightfall I had made Adelanto for gasoline and continued across the desert by the light of a full moon after my lights stopped working. Probably a fuse. I felt like an Indian as the perfect desert air flared my nostrils. I crashed in a ditch sprained my wrist [sic]. I laughed. The sand in the ditch was cool, soft, and I slept.
The next morning I looked at the map while chewing on beef jerky and felt my nostrils flare some more. I still had dirt in my mouth from last night's fall. It wasn't very smart of me to leave the Matador lying on its side, either - it must have taken me an hour to start the thing. I had to wrap my wrist, using all the gauze in my first aid kit.
I had decided to cross the San Bernadino National Forest and stay close to - but a safe distance from - Interstate 10. Having to rely on gasoline supplies was taking fun out of the trip. I discovered an interesting series of trails running up into Big Bear Lake. I was practicing standing up when riding when the Matador belched once, then stopped running.
It had stopped. Stopped running.
It had never done that before. I couldn't believe it.
I sat down and waited for it to start running again.
I said,"Tell me what you want and I'll fix it."
It was dead.
I rememberd the spark plugs. I put a new one in good and - urk - tight. The Matador ran again. Now that everything was back to normal, I rode off towards Big Bear Lake. I decided to buy lots more spark plugs. Lots.
In less than a mile it stopped again. I put in my last spark plug and made it (urk!) good and (urk!) tight. I hit the starter, it fired, made a vulgar sound my mother would have spanked me for, and died. I didn't know what to do. I sat on the trail and waited for someone with more spark plugs to come along. I pushed uphill for two hundred feet and collapsed. I heard bells. No, wait, shhh, did you hear them? Real bells. I saw a mare and a stallion, the mare with a bell tied around its neck. I could ride one of them to find more spark plugs. I snuck up on the one with the bell and leaped to its back. She just stood there. "Giddyap," I commanded and dug my heels in. She started bucking, and on the third buck she flung me off towards my Matador. I knew right when I landed I was going to die, which is what you always think when you get the wind knocked out of you. Both horses ran behind some trees and laughed at me.
By twilight I had hiked into Fawn-skin and started asking anyone, "Do you know anything about motorcycles?" Finally one guy said,"What motorcycle?"
I said, "Bultaco Matador." He said, "A two-stroke? What's the problem?
"It stopped running on me. I put in a new spark plug and it ran for a little bit, then stopped. I put in another one and it made a vulgar noise my mother would have spanked me for making, then died."
"Sounds to me like fouled plugs," he said. His knowledge gave me comfort.
"Like these?" I said and handed him two. He looked at me with raised eyebrows for two, four, sixteen seconds.
"Like those," he finally said. "How long have you been riding?"
"Three days. I started in Ventura, rode across the desert and came up the backside here."
He was silent for a long time, then sat down to explain to me how my air-filter was clogged, and how I should learn to clean it more often. "Clean it often, once every day if you can. Be good to that bike and, hell, it'll take you all the way to Georgia and back if you want."
Those were his last words to me. He understood.

And next month [Dirt Rider, May 1975]: MAKING THE BORDER

Lois and Austin Have Left the Building

2009-08-02T10:59:00.000-04:00

Lois Pryce and Austin Vince took a few days off from their cross country tour to swing by and visit the 555 this week. Riding a Ural Patrol sidecar outfit, which Ural USA loan the couple for this trip, they rolled into town on Wed for an evening of jawin', food, beer and a little TN motorcycle juice. This was the first time that we actually met. Up until then, we'd only known them through their books, DVDs and a few email exchanges. However, that did not prevent Austin from releasing flatulence that sounded like sound effects from War of the Worlds the entire evening. We knew we'd found one of us.

Lois, Mike and Austin

Tennessee Paella, better than the real deal.

(yeah, you heard me)

The following day, Thursday, was spent recovering from the previous night's gorging, libations and Austin's gaseous releases and preparing for a presentation that there were scheduled to give at the Time Warp Tearoom. Technical difficulties aside, the show went off without a hitch and all who attended were treated to an incredible evening of Lois's bold travel stories and Austin's funny as shit, Benny Hill driven, travel log. Ewan McGregor's ears must flame up and burn to a crisp every time Austin does this talk....and I thought that the 555 made fun of Ewan.

Austin self documents all of his travels with both digital video and Super 8 film so Friday he took advantage of having a chase vehicle at his disposal as well as having stunt doubles Dic and Tina available to stand in for Austin when the riding got really hairy. What's it take to double for Austin Vince, you may ask yourself; nerves of steel and a custom pair of coveralls, of course. I guess tits and a heavy beard can cleverly be disguised or edited out during post production.

The Tree Austins: Austin, Dic and Tina

Being a 'concrete nerd', one of Austin's desires was to do some filming at a TVA dam so Dic and I took him up to Norris were we were tantalizingly close to the Norris water shed and the off road trails that lie within. After bagging the footage he wanted, we headed up High Point which was a bit muddy after a week's worth of rain. I'm hear to witness that the Ural is everything it advertises. We never once got stuck and we never used the two wheel drive option.

Lois, Dic and Austin (giving the finger to the local union and OHSA dicks)

Saturday saw them heading off down the road to their next stop.

If you are reading this and you have not read their books or seen their DVDs, you owe it to yourself to do so. Between them they have three books and a slew of DVDs, all inspioring works of what they call 'DYI travel' and what I call 'pure adventure'.

http://www.loisontheloose.com/

http://www.mondoenduro.com/

Don't be an idiot, go...

2009-07-22T09:02:00.002-04:00

The 555 presents badasses Austin Vince and Lois Pryce at the Time Warp Tearoom!
Vince and Pryce will be giving a talk and slide show about their worldwide motorcycle travels. TWT is located at 1209 North Central in Knoxville, TN.
If you've never heard of their adventures, check it out:
Pryce's site http://www.loisontheloose.com/
Vince's site http://www.mondoenduro.com/
Seriously, missing this show will reflect poorly on your intelligence.

Tonight's the night

2009-07-02T13:21:00.000-04:00

Tonight's the ni-i-i-i-i-ight......

Pistol, Dic, Pearl, Feat, I think Thunder and a few of the local boys are headed out to Johnny Walker's place for a night of eating Mexican food sitting around the campfire talking trash. Our Goal? To pay the PDX boys back with a few jars of the shine. But first, An update from the boys on the road:

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout, a Popo escort into Tennessee for our friends from the Northeast.

For those of you interested, we should be at the Backroom sometime Friday night if you want to come on down and have a drink with these guys. If you don't know where the backroom is, just put your nose in the air, it should be obvious: unwashed dudes and one girl, leather, beer, whiskey and lots of gas. I'm sure you could follow the oil slick, as well. - Erock

Just like old times

2009-06-30T22:47:00.000-04:00

With the imminent arrival of the Portland 555 guys to Knoxville via Johnny Walker's farm in Monterrey, I decided the only decent thing to ride to the party was my original 555 bike.....Phily Joe Special (1974 Honda CL450). The fact that it wasn't running as of 2 days ago necessitated my own private wrench party in the basement on Sunday night. I'm pretty sure Pearl was doing the same thing over in his garage, but I don't think he took pics. Anyway, last year in Portland I had discovered Phily Joe's electrical/charging problems had been the result of the chain cutting all of the wires going to the stator/alternator. My "fix" was on the street in front of Face's apt in the evening before our big Beulehland party and included using electrical tape to splice in some extra wire to bridge the huge gap left by the chain slashing and wrapped it all in duct tape. Not the best solution of course, but I just wanted to ride to the party. I always intended to get home (or break down on the way home) and actually solder the connections or get new wires.
Fast forward 1 year.....not once have I even looked at the wires. I've just kept riding it around town with Sneaky Pistol's ever impressive mantra of "Hey..Yo...I'll get around to it" (spoken with a accent somewhere between Rocky Balboa, Tony Soprano, and Emeril Lagasi).

As you can imagine, about a month ago Phily Joe barely got me home and I promptly parked her and rode some other bikes around. But alas, the grand arrival of the Portland 555 gave me the kick in the ass I needed to work on Phily Joe and get her running again. See you on the road!

What is the 555?

2009-06-25T08:32:00.000-04:00

Whoa, a deep philosophical question for this crew and one that doesn't necessarily have an answer. I like what one of the 555 copycats, Cryin' Eyes, said when asked by a Knoxville writer "Why are you guys seeing the Knox555 as inspiration instead of the bad examples they so obviously are?"

To which Cryin'Eyes replied: "We have spent years doing stupid stuff as fast as possible but the Knoxville guys turned that whole concept upside down by showing us that stupid stuff can be done much, much slower and be equally fun."

Speaking for myself, the 'doing stupid things slowly' was a by-product of something more altruistic and rational. More accurately this whole thing came about as a big equalizer. It's no fun riding distance when one rider is at a woeful disadvantage in the cc or the reliability department. In our case, we simply defaulted to the lowest denominator which was Chocolate Thunder's Honda CL450 which was bought for $100 and an offer for a punch in the neck from the seller for even considering riding it across country.

It was an interesting concept. In the day and age of $25,000 adventure bikes, deep pockets and everyone striving to be Ewan McGregor in the Long Way Around, could seven guys (one who had no previous motorcycle experience) spend three weeks traveling large for around $2,000 including the bike, gear, fuel, food, beer and umm.....more beer. Obviously, they can...and did....and will do again. So by default we were regulated to taking the Slow Way Around, which to state the obvious, gives you time to take more of everything in.
I've traveled in different levels of comfort and luxury but nothing comes close to the experience of traveling cheap and slow. - Erock

2009-06-22T13:05:00.000-04:00

Wow. That about sums it up. 24 hours after Germ blew his cheater bike up, some guys in the Idaho Vintage Motorcycle Club found him a free, yes, FREE CB200 to run into the ground. 555pdx is learning what we learned on our trip and that is that if you throw yourself out there into the unknown, lower your guard a bit and allow yourself to be a bit vulnerable, people will show you their good side. Here's to the IVMC. http://idahovintagemotorcycleclub.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

Just as important, if you look closely at this photo, you'll see that all present have a beer in their hands. Ah, the universal language of beer. Where would the 555 be with out it?

2009-06-22T08:50:00.000-04:00

Reminding me a bit like this commercial from my youth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLrTPrp-fW8 ,Germ attempted to fool The 555 and has paid the price. You see, Germ left pdx on a Honda XL 500. While abiding by the first two rules (his bike is at the top end of the cc allotment [but non-the-less it makes it] and we trust that he didn't invest more than $500 into it) Germ attempted to fool mother nature by riding a bike that failed the third and really, most critical rule. A quick check of Al Gore's biggest contribution to mankind and one finds that the Honda XL500 that Germ was riding was introduced in the very futuristic year of 1979. It's no wonder, really, that his bike shit the bed. The 555 is not surprized.

Although I'm sure he dosn't think so at the momment, Germ's a lucky man. Had he shown up in Knoxville on a bike made in 1979, he would have been shuned, ridiculed and made to sleep outside with our dog Otis who's breath and general stench could make even someone named 'Germ" retch. However, if at this early stage of the game, he's successfull of locating a real bike and is able to pilot it to Knoxville, it's zero to hero and a couch for the Germ! Go Germ!

Check back for more updates on the pdx555 - Erock

2009-06-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

The new book in the growing stacks of the 555 library is a book sent to us by Pearl's friend and mentor, Captain Insano. I'm not going to subject you to a review of this book but in a nut shell, Lois Pryce rides an underpowered bike from Alaska to the southern most tip on South America, something that every respectable 555er has dreamt of doing. This is a good book, one worth reading. Also, her site is worth visiting www.loisontheloose.com

I'm not giving anything away by saying that in the beginning of book she meets and falls for a guy named Austin. Well, come to find out that Austin is Austin Vince of Mondo Enduro...the Mondo Enduro. We are already huge fans of Mondo Eunduro and now these two motorcycling powerhouses are an item. The small world of motorcycling.

If you are not familiar with Austin's work, you need to be. He and the rest of Mondo are as badass as they come. www.mondoenduro.com

Stay tuned for an announcement concerning these two, the States, the 555 (of course), hillbilly music and a possible visit.

-Erock

2009-06-20T12:24:00.000-04:00

If you see this strangely grotesque He/She out on the lonesome highways in the coming weeks, you've just spotted a 555 copycat. Some folks out in Portland, who primarily ride with the SFRC, picked up our thread as we embarked on our trip last year and became big supporters of the 555. Really, about the only thing they did for us was to get us absolutely loaded as we rolled (well, choking, coughing, spitting, pushing, limping, some with only first gear...), into pdx and then The Sandy Hut. Whisky flowed and so did stories. Come to think of it, that's all we really wanted from them, but I digress.

So this, our year off, is the year of the pdx 555 and they leave town today, headed for Knoxville and some alcohol fueled paybacks. If you see a pack of leather clad types rolling 200 - 500 cc machines in the general direction of Knoxville, give them the thumbs up, shake your fist at them, give 'em the finger, whatever.

You can see their site at http://www.motonw.com/

2009-06-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

Somewhere out there there are seven riders iching to hit the road again. Actually, it's the dusty trail that beckons them this time. In 2010, the 555 plan to head out on old, shitknuckle beaters to traverse the country and then the length of Baja, all on unpaved roads if all possible. The rules of the trail will be the same as the original 555 and bikes like this one will be pressed into service for the event. Hopefully, with more time that we had last time to work out the bugs, these steeds will be more faithful than some of the bikes on the last trip...but somehow, I doubt it. Bah, come hell or high water, or both, we'll ride these things to the Pacific and then some. Check back for updates as we bring this blog up to spead. - Erock

Test of The 555 on blogger

2009-06-17T20:24:00.000-04:00

Maybe this will allow all of us to blog about the 555.