Wisconsin

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.

In Minnesota we’ve survived the storm of the century – again. Mother nature dropped fifteen and more inches of the white stuff on the Minneapolis/St, Paul area over the weekend. Which kind of brought everything to a halt and put a lot of people one day farther behind on their Christmas shopping. The only good thing about the storm was the timing. At least on the weekend most people don’t have to go to work, and it’s easier to use the excuse of the storm to create a forced day of leisure around the house. Some fools did insist on driving in the snow, but I’m glad to report that I only got stuck three or four times on Saturday night - you’d think I’d know by now. By Sunday the snowstorm was long gone, replaced by wind and very chilly temperatures. Other than the occasional patch of ice, the roads were pretty decent, and I made a quick run to the No Name in Prescott, Wisconsin. Not only were there no bikes parked in front of this biker bar, the city of Prescott had trouble finding places to put the snow, and just left a lot of it piled into a huge windrow that ran right down the middle of Main Street.

This is Sunday morning in Minnesota, after the storm and the first round of plowing.

The storm didn’t force me to stay in the house, but it did kind of push me into the garage, where the faithful Henry J sat waiting patiently for my attentions. Before I could manage to do any useful work though, I had to clean up the clutter that had pretty much enveloped the poor old beast. I flattened all the cardboard boxes and stacked them up for recycling, and threw out anything that wasn’t really necessary. Then I could get down to work.

It’s a lot of snow to move – so the city of Prescott just left if piled in a five foot high continuous pile that ran all the way down Main Street.

Between Saturday and Sunday I did manage to bolt the steering column in place, and mount the driver’s seat to the floor. In order to make sure the steering column is well mounted, my friend Yup and I ran a piece of flat steel along the lower edge of the dash the last time we worked on the car. As I tried different seating positions on Saturday, I discovered that the column doesn’t move one bit in a side-to-side direction, but there is still some up and down movement. So before I reinstall the dash cluster, I’m going to install one small bracket on the backside of the dash to eliminate any up and down movement of the column.

Maybe the pending holidays will nudge me into the garage again, and I can install the support bracket and drill more holes in the floor to mount the other bucket seat.

PS: Last I heard the Sturgis 70th books are still due here on December 17th.

The column is bolted in. Painting the floor is on my list, but it’s hard to paint when the garage never gets above about 50 degrees.