For a small show the range of bikes on display was very good going from the obscure (1957 Zundapp flat twin) to the slightly odd (Suzuki's mid-70s Wankle rotary engined bike, the RE5) to the truly elegant and sublime in the form of a Brough Superior SS80 and a 1913 Indian board track racer.
I got a description from one fellow on the starting procedure and "under way" tuning of the 1913 Indian racer. I commented that it would be great fun to ride such a bike once. He said his son had ridden the bike and it was a huge pain to start and not a little dangerous to ride, even casually. Imagine a choke with only three preset positions "way too rich, too rich, too lean." Once underway rich/lean was set by reaching down and turning a slotted barrel on the carburetor, the throttle was on the left and rotated forward -- not back, the right grip was spark advance and I recall something about being able to fiddle with cam timing manually. Oh, and don't forget to pump the total loss oil system hand pump on the front and back straightaways at 100 mph during the race. Definitely not a simple run and bump and do a easy lap sort of procedure. The guys that raced those old bike were iron men, all of them!
If you are not familiar with the "board track era" in American motorcycle racing do a little Google work and read up on it. Imagine a race track a mile around with the highly banked surface made up of 2x4 lumber turned up on edge and nailed or bolted together. No rocks or gravel thrown up by the bikes, just splitters of wood hurled upwards at 100 mph. Some years ago I had the privilege to speak with Jim Davis who raced for Indian Motorcycles in 1916 and he told stories of pulling off the track with splinters pierced through the leather of his lace up racing boots.
Other highlights that were great fun to see: The "Grumph" Greeves/Triumph hybrid, the odds 'n ends at the small swap meet around the back of the building, and also meeting a couple of on-line motorcycle buddies in person for the first time.
The rest of the pictures, 100+, are on my Webshots page.
Enjoy!
3 comments:
Wow! That looks like the show was a blast! I Love that Board Tracker. I was just reading about the board track racers in the new issue of "Ho Tales". (Including a Poster with a pic of Jim Davis from the 1920 Harley Team). Very Interesting!
Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful bikes and pics. I liked the story so much I linked the story to www.oldbikenews.com Come on by and check it out.
Great show, great bikes, great photos. Kudos for the coverage and the awesome page! The layout of this page is a work of art. Congratulations!
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