Temp check

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...

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!

Tennessee motorcycle juice! Courtesy of tank.

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All 4 rigs together.

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

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A bit more about the trip

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

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

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2010 555!!!

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

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!

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.