Vintage Rider News - Rench's Rap for July 22, 2017

[renchinrider]

Hi, Everyone!

It's been a warm (actually, downright HOT!) weekend, but that didn't slow the pace of events at all!

On the not-so-bright side, Garry's Norton blew its engine shortly after departing to return from the International Norton Owners' Rally in Buena Vista.  On the bright side, he and RJ were traveling as a duo, so once Garry got his bike recovered to a safe place, he was able to pile into the John Player Special with RJ and return safely home.  Also a bright spot, RJ's motor home ran like a champ the whole way, and returned home without incident.

In another bittersweet story, Mike Long sold his beloved BMW, "Scrappy" last week.  On the bright side, the bike went to another Vintage enthusiast, and will remain in the family, so-to-speak.  Also, Mike recovered his lost exhaust baffle for his Titan--a bright spot for his neighbors, a disappointment for all of us noise lovers!

Most of you probably saw Scott's and my ride report on Facebook and BamaRides following yesterday's visit to the Natchez Trace Parkway.  We had an awesome time, and we showed that two vintage guys (at least speaking for me!) and their two vintage bikes can make a great, 240-mile day of it! 

Here are our upcoming activities, along with some updates resulting from discussions at last Saturday's breakfast:

July 29th:  CMA Breakfast Ride.  Members of the Huntsville CMA Chapter are heading out to Western Sizzlin' in Scottsboro for breakfast, KSU at 7:30am from Dunkin' Donuts.  All are invited to join the ride.

July 30th to August 5th:  Loretta Lynn's Amateur Motocross championship in Hurricane Mills, TN.
http://mxsports.com/welcome

August 3rd (Tentative):  We'll depart from breakfast at Blue Plate and travel to Barnett's Cycles in Lynchburg for our monthly Garage Crawl.  As soon as I have positive confirmation on this event, I'll post here and on our Facebook page.  Many of you have visited this shop before, and all reports are that this is well worth the trip.

Sunday, August 13th.  Bama Rides' "Nice Goat" is hosting another of his popular "Rides for Pie".  This will be an all-street, family-friendly ride on mostly two-lane back roads --- no interstate.  Ride will start at the Waffle House on Walker Chapel Road in Fultondale at 8:30 am.  There will be opportunities to cool off in Turkey Creek and take a short hike to Welti Falls (1/2 mile, not difficult).  Feel free to wear a swimsuit under your riding gear and/or bring tennis shoes for the hike.  The ride will end up in Cullman, where we will have authentic Mexican street tacos for lunch at Las Cebollitas ("The Little Onions").  Route will look something like this:  https://goo.gl/maps/5KUXrQX124T2 In the event that the restaurant does not serve pie, it might become a "Ride for Churros/Flan/Helado/whatever."   Here's the link to the BamaRides thread:  http://bamarides.com/ride/index.php?topic=1941.msg16587;boardseen#new

NOTE:  We don't currently have a monthly theme-ride planned for August.  But I'm open to any suggestions, and look forward to your responses.  In the interim, I'll continue to relay any invitations that Gordon Byrd posts for his weekly rides.  I'm also going to work with Gordon and see if we can select a Saturday in August to originate a ride from Decatur.  Once we settle on something, I'll get notice out via Rench's Rap and our Facebook page.

As we look to September, a flurry of activities awaits!  There's something big every weekend of the month!  Here's what I'm tracking:

Two Wheels of Suches is hosting a Nostalgia Weekend September 1-4.  The event is focused on "celebrating Japanese and European 2 and 4 stroke superbikes of the 70s, 80s and 90s..."  TWoS is definitely the place to be over the Labor Day weekend!  http://twowheelsofsuches.com/event/vintage-2-stroke-bike-weekend/?instance_id=90

The very next weekend is AHRMA Series (Vintage) road racing at Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in Munford, AL.  http://www.roadracingworld.com/2017calendar/

On the same weekend is the Lynchburg motorcycle rally, which runs from September 8 - 10.  Pat and Spring, owners of Lynchburg Outdoors, emphasize that, along with all the usual fare, there will be Vintage Bike categories in the bike show, etc this year.  http://www.lightningcustoms.com/events/event_47737.html

Then September 15 - 17, the MotoAmerica AMA/FIM North American Road Racing Championship will take place at the Barber Motorsports Park.  http://www.motoamerica.com/barber-motorsports-park

...And then on to October!

It goes without saying that all of us are blocking our calendars for this year's Barber Vintage Festival October 6 - 8!  http://www.barbermuseum.org/events/barber-vintage-festival/

Three other items of note:

There's a new Indian Motorcycle Owners' Group forming in Huntsville.  For more information on date/time and location of the next meeting, please reply either to me or to Todd Yeager.

Allsport Cycles has announced plans to launch a Royal Enfield Owners Group.  Contact Campbell92 on BamaRides for more information.

Linda Robinson still has a quantity of NAVMC goodies available.  Either join us at breakfast at Blue Plate II on a Saturday morning, and select what you want from Linda's stock, or PM Linda on Facebook and arrange with her to acquire the NAVMC gear that will set you apart as one of those few who are meticulous, skilled and determined enough to catch some wind on an old bike!

As always, please send me info on anything I've missed.  See you Saturday.

LET'S RIDE!!!

Marc