Baxter Cycle

Regular readers might have noticed the missing blog last week, and assumed I was on vacation. You know what they say about ass-u-ming anything. In reality I used my “time off” to make a run to Marne, Iowa, home to Baxter Cycle. Being gluttons for punishment, Randy Baxter and I have decided that one classic bike calendar isn’t enough, certainly two would be twice as much fun – thus there will be a Classic Norton Calendar this year, as well as our standard Classic Triumph Calendar.

As of last week, we have the Triumph Calendar ready for the printer, the Norton calendar however is three months short. Which explains the run to Iowa, to fill those three missing months with images of beautiful Nortons.

2012 will be the first year for our new, Classic Norton calendar.

We got started about 9:00 a.m. on Thursday with our first victim, a 1971 Norton Hi-Rider. If this bike isn’t straight out of the early 70s then I don’t know what is. Check out that seat. Randy says it worked OK solo, but not so well for two-up. As he’s explaining this I’m looking at the seat thinking the shape is going to push your date right up against your back, and that coziness is always a good thing, especially when you’re 18 years old. Randy read my mind and went to explain that the downside to all this two-wheeled foreplay is the close proximity of the gas tank to certain parts of the male anatomy. Which means that by the time you and your lovely arrived at your lavish apartment, it’s likely all you could do is limp around in a bow-legged fashion with a grimace, rather than a wolfish grin - on your face.

A 1971 750cc Hi-Rider with a rather unique, period-correct, seat.

The Nortons I remember best are the 850 Commandos, my frequent nemesis in the stop light grand prixs that occurred back in the day. The one we photographed on Thursday didn’t snort or roar however, but it sure did look good sitting on the railroad tracks in Atlantic, Iowa.

The classic Norton hot rod, 850 cubic centimeters of vertical twin power, enough to make it one of the fastest bikes on the street at the time.

In between Norton number two and three, we had to run back to the shop and photograph an incredible collection of Triumph Bonnevilles, part of a 40 bike collection Randy purchased recently. Then it was back to Atlantic to bag the last Norton of the day – a 1966 Fastback. Today I plan to chain Jacki to her desk until she has the new Norton photos processed. Then all we need is captions - and enough money to give the printer a down payment on two calendars!

Photographing the collection of Bonnevilles meant I got to take a ride – up and up and up higher in the bucket of an old Oliver tractor.

More Triumph Bonnevilles than I’ve ever seen, and all in perfect condition.

A very sexy Norton Fastback from 1966.

Though it seems an odd time of year to photograph Triumphs outside, in Iowa, that’s exactly what I did last week. Randy Baxter, of Baxter Cycle fame, called and explained that he had a couple of special old Triumphs in stock, and maybe I should drive down for a day of photography.

Usually we do this fall run in October. It’s always a chance to take advantage of the proverbial fall colors. This year, though, it seems both Randy and I were consumed with other projects. For me, it was the death march to finish the Sturgis book (still at the printer I must add). So when Randy did finally call I had two thoughts: Yes, it’s a good idea to get a few bikes shot for next year’s calendar, but damn, we’re going to freeze our little asses off working outside when temperatures are in the teens, and what about the snow?

As luck would have it, they haven’t had any significant snow in Marne, Iowa so far this year. The weather report promised clear skies and temps in the thirties, not exactly balmy, but certainly better than teens or single digits.

Show this picture to your wife, tell her this is what you want from Santa - a ’66 TT bike.

I promised to be there by mid-afternoon on Wednesday, somehow thought it was nearly sundown when I finally pulled up at Baxter Cycle. Which left us precious little time to do reconnaissance for the next day’s photography. We did drive to Atlantic, Iowa, a nice little city of grain elevators, implement dealers and tidy small houses. There on Main Street we stopped for a moment to enjoy the Christmas lights, and both had the same idea at the same time.

The results of our nighttime photo experiments can be seen nearby. We might have stayed out longer and tried different positions for the bike, except that the photographer’s trigger finger was going numb, forcing us to seek shelter in one of the local steak houses.

The next day was way better. The trigger finger went numb again on the first morning shoot, but after that the sun came out, warming everything it touched.

The intersection of two kinds of power in the wilds of Iowa. Bike is a ‘74 T140B.

All in all, we did six complete photo shoots, pretty good for a one-day deal. You will notice that some of the bikes aren’t Triumphs at all, but rather, Nortons. Seems Randy is a gluten for punishment, and for 2011 we’re going to produce two calendars, one filled with Triumphs and the other with Nortons.

Some of the bikes we shot this year for the Triumph calendar aren’t Triumphs at all – like this ’74 Norton Commando.