Will our old motorcycles out last us?

[Thruxton71]

Sunday, December 05, 2021

Shortly after I moved to Ojai, full of enthusiasm for the 'fixer upper' my then wife and I bought from my Uncle's family, I met what turned out to be a dear friend while shopping at the local hardware store (where else do you run into new people?). What drew me to him was the vehicle he was using, a rare in American Nimbus with a side car! This is a Danish motorcycle (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbus_(motorcycle)) and is both practical and extremely odd. Further encounters with my buddy had him with his two young children in the side car, heads bobbing around as he flew the chair for thrills.

The Nimbus was just the tip of the gear head ice burg, as my now friend turned out to be bit with that debilitating virus, love of old strange motorcycles, which matched well with my admiration of Velocettes. Over the years he has assembled and ridden a whole range of pre-Hinckley Triumphs, both pre-unit and unit, including a Rob North framed Trident. Not tied to the past, he also owned a modern Ducati (You probably shouldn't know about the Guzzi Sandwhich that Tetge and I wrapped him in on Lake Hughes road), and an assortment of modern off road bikes (very accomplished off road rider). He was so good off road that he took a Triumph desert sled on the Barstow Vegas ride, and according to reports, spent most of the time sideways.

We have had so many great rides and times together, words and memory fails me. Besides riding, we were known to sit in the back of my truck in the Costco parking lot, cracking open a bottle of wine and washing down fresh bread and Costco chicken, chucking the bones into the bushes. We watched our children grow and struggle and thrive, he did not desert me when I left my wife and brought my new Partner into the mix, all the while enjoying epic and not so epic rides all over Southern California. We bought out the inventory of a Triumph/BSA shop in the Santa Cruz area, almost ruining my new Tarus hauling the load back to Ojai. My friend has been trickling the inventory out on Ebay since then. I took what I needed for my 1970 Daytona, which I rode today.

He makes a world class Cesar salad, lots of garlic and anchovies mixed into a tangy paste. His knowledge of cooking is no doubt informed in some large part by his profession, and old fashioned pharmacist, known locally for his ability to 'compound' custom medications not available off the shelf. His memory is awesome, retaining minutia about dosage and type of drugs by patient, or cam types for specific Triumph models.

He is laying on a hospital bed in his Ojai house as I type, in the final stages of a cancer that started as prostate and metastasized to his bones, and now is consuming him. Every breath he takes could be his last, but you know what? He is still thinking about his very well curated and organized collection of Motorcycles and supporting parts. Some full bikes, some piles of parts intended to become a full bike, some just bits and pieces to use for the inevitable replacement on a running bike. Oh, he also is thinking about his family, and his wife who is soon to be a widow, having sold his Ojai house and bought a home in a retirement community. His children, who have traveled from far and wide, have spent time at his side, and that I know has brought him great comfort, as he loves them all.

But what is the illness that leaves us to worry about idler gears for his son-in-laws unfinished pre-unit Triumph project when we face the end? Or that the matching cases and frame for the TR6 project, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumph_TR6_Trophy) are they being set aside and not swept away in the massive shifting of parts to a dealer in Australia?

I rode my Daytona today, it was cool this morning, almost too cold to ride, but we warmed up. There were three Triumphs today, a t140 and two Daytonas, plus a Honda GB500, and yes a Miata. We rode out toward Santa Paula, took a detour up and down Sulfur Mountain road (Freshly Paved!!), and continued. I turned around and had a clean run, no traffic, all the way back into Ojai, including a descent down Dennison Grade, which Nimbus and I have negotiated so many times. So, it was a Triumph day.

Last weekend I rode my very uncooperative Velocette Endurace up to Lynn's leap and back down to Don Lalos. I think I need to put in a new spark plug and check the timing, as it was a bear to kick start. I had to send the other rides away so I could listen to the engine as I kicked it through. A Velo muct have just the right air fuel mixture for the engine's temperature, you have to get the piston in the right position, and the throttle just so. When cool, you listen for the squishy sounds of fuel in the combustion chamber after a generous tickle. No squish, no start. If you can kick it hard enough it will thunder into life. When there are running motorcycles surrounding you, none of these delicate states can be determined. This, my friend, is all part of the sickness that has lingered with my friend, along with the Cancer that is squeezing the life from him.

It make one reflective, seeing a friend or close one approach end of life. Sad, and reflective.

Ojai.

[Tetge]

Good write up. I still remember that day well that we might have fractured a few rules with two Guzzi's and one Ducati "touring" on some nice back two lane roads. I also remember a ride up the mountain with him, in Ojai, and his antique rigid Triumph, with a basically flat rear tire, and, unknown to me, a modern hotted up Triumph twin stuck into its lean framework. Your old friend, who appears to be nameless in your write up, scooted up the mountain, flat tire and all, at an alarming pace, as the all up curb weight of his rig gave him a really decent power to weight ratio, as a well tuned 650cc Triumph twin puts put decent numbers. It was impressive how hard he accelerated out of corners, but it was much more impressive how he speed wobbled through the corners on a flat tire. Of course, his crew owned that road, but still, crazy riding. And that assumes that it was only 650 cc, as old school mugs often add CC's along with all the other tricks that they do, while proclaiming their rides absolutely stock. He was indeed a skilled rider, and fearless, who, as the Guzzi's found out, did not back down from a good old fashioned ride about, at speeds that are best left undisclosed. Such rides, even many years ago, remain burned into the library of epic rides stored in my mind, as they were epic events for a gear head.

Sad and reflective seems appropriate as we lose another good person and another of the declining numbers of old school riders, who had a different approach and attitude than the new breed of sporting riders, all suited in leathers and packing big power that they use on the straights, and hanging off and dragging knees, etc.