Triumph Calendar

Just a reminder to all our friends that Wolfgang has TWO classic motorcycle calendars available this year. For over fifteen years I’ve produced a Classic Triumph calendar, first with Bobby Sullivan, then with Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle fame. This year we have a second vintage calendar: The Classic Norton Calendar, done with help from Baxter Cycle. Though one is filled with Triumphs and the other with Nortons, both calendars share the same format: 16 by 24 inches when open, printed on heavy paper, illustrated with pure motorcycles taken by yours truly. Rather than use studio photos, we like to shoot the bikes in their natural environment. Everything from rural Iowa to small-town Florida and scenic Nevada. Both calendars can be purchased at www.wolfpub.com, just click on Calendars on the upper left hand corner of the home page and the rest is easy.

A Weekend in Iowa

Sometimes it’s nice to get the hell out of Dodge for a day or two, and on Friday afternoon I put the mighty Ranger on I 35 with the nose pointed toward the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, instead of takin’ it all the way to the crescent city, I took a right turn at Des Moines, and continued on to the big metropolis of Marne, Iowa, home to Baxter Cycle.

A sunrise Commando in the wilds of Iowa.

Randy Baxter and I hit it pretty hard and pretty early on Saturday. First we parked a 750 Commando on the edge of a field, with dull yellow corn stubble in the background. Next up was a very neat little Triumph Bobber. The crew at Baxter Cycle started with an old Triumph frame equipped with a period correct hardtail section. After powder coating the frame red, they installed a unit-650cc engine and transmission that Randy scored at a swap meet last year. The rest of the pieces just kind of fell into place, but each one, from the aftermarket chrome tank to the chrome fenders and the handlebars, fit the bike perfect.

Randy Baxter’s little Bobber sits just right, and could easily have been built in 1970.

A 1977 Silver Jubilee found its way into the back of Randy’s work truck for the next photo session. Parked against an old farm building, the photo became a study of grey on grey. Half the fun of these little safaris is finding the old building or the nice backdrop, and making it work. Sometimes it means setting the tires on 2X4s hidden in the grass, and other times it means stealing planks from an old fence to make a platform for the bike.

Last, but as the announcer would say, “not least” is the yellow Norton. Though we missed the fall colors, we did find a few hardy Oaks it the nearby park that managed to hang onto their leaves. The muted colors of the Oak leaves really made the yellow jump, and we deemed the last photo shoot, and the whole day, a success.

Built in limited numbers, the Silver Jubilee was designed to honor the 25th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

Sometimes you just gotta borrow a picnic table from the obliging Parks Department.

As mentioned previously, for 2012 we have a new calendar to offer classic bike buffs. In addition to the Triumph calendar we’ve published for something like 15 years, we now have a Norton calendar. Using a format similar to our Triumph calendar, the Norton calendar measures 16 inches across and 24 inches top to bottom when fully open. This year’s bikes include classics like an 850 Commando as well as more obscure examples like an Atlas from 1966 and a 500T from 1951.

Though we mentioned the Norton Calendar previously, we finally do have the new calendar on the Calendar page and on the order form as well. Order early and order often.

The Rant
Labor Day started out pretty chilly here in the Northland. By about noon however, the sun popped out and the temperature made it all the way to almost 70 degrees, plenty warm for a nice ride down the River Road to Diamond Bluff, Wisconsin and the Nauti-Hawg saloon. The River Road is a twisty two-lane affair, all the better for a motorcycle ride, right? Except for the fact that there always seem to be a group of cruiser riders who like to sight see at about 50 miles per hour on the straights and something considerably less than that on the sweepers. I’m not saying they have to run 80, but I do wish they would extend a little courtesy to the other two wheelers on the road and pull to the right so those of us who want to ride the speed limit (a crazy idea) or a little more, can sneak by and get on our way. I do it for the kids on the ‘Busas, and I only wish Bagger riders would look in the mirrors once in a while - and then let another Bagger guy go by.

Though the Nauti-Hawg caters to both boaters and bikers (thus the name) on a nice day it looks more like an old-fashioned biker bar.

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.