After 4 long years of COVID made the pilgrimage back to Kevin’s Tech Daze in Florida- The cheap motels got cheesier, road food even worse, and found out I can still log 10 hours a day behind the wheel. As always at Tech Daze the friends were the best, the campfires the biggest, the food easy and plentiful, and we fixed some bikes too.

But chronological reality is unavoidable- The last few months on Facebook Marketplace I’ve noted wholesale clean outs or at least thinning of the mechanical herds. One of our Tech Daze regulars had recently passed and left two pickup loads of airhead parts to Kevin’s stash, I was fortunate to be gifted an R80GS muffler that’s unobtainable new and a few smaller bits from the stash. The oilhead and two R100RS airheads on the trailer didn’t get much response, reputedly the oilhead will change garages but the airheads didn’t even get a 4 figure offer, neither was perfect but until recently airhead parts bikes were going for $1K at least. Talking to my fellow riders I found they too were riding less and a couple are facing serious medical conditions, hopefully they’ll get better.

So I’m calling it- The gearhead “bear market” has begun!

There will be sadness, mashing of teeth, and even tears as we elder gear heads are separated from our beloved machines. But the demographics are unavoidable- A whole baby boomer generational cohort is moving onward and upward and we can’t take them with us, even the folding scooters. But it also brings opportunity as thousands and millions of great cars and motorcycles become more affordable to younger gearheads.

BMW made something like a quarter million airhead bikes and most are still around. Other than the rarer or cult models, a good one can still be had for $2-3K, was less than a new 250. Parts are plentiful and theirs a whole support system of clubs with tech days, aftermarket parts, and knowledgable gurus great and lesser (like myself) happy to pass down our knowledge This “great downsizing” isn’t a problem, it’s an opportunity to pass on our faithful airheads to new generations of riders!

… But don’t stop me from tryin’:

Didn’t like any of the commercially available ramps for loading my tractor on the trailer, so thought I’d make my own- I’ve built a bunch of these plywood + 2by4 ramps over the years and they worked fine. Didn’t notice that all the weight on the trailer end rested on one point in the center and failed first load. Then I noticed that I had a pair of factory made service ramps that did the job just fine.

I’m not the only folk engineer f’ing up, the fender mounts that look suspiciously like surplus welding rod on my Motorvation flatbed sidecar that Motorvation denied any knowledge of broke, yet another example of bodged details on an otherwise well designed sidecar. Motorvation and it’s owners being no longer with us I had to myself bodge something together, and I eventually settled on a less than ten buck “Costco box” bolted to the salvaged cabinet wood floor and the fender bolted to that. So while others suffered in our latest “heat dome” which ain’t even supposed to make it up here I secluded in my shop and made this:

Test ride was successful, had so much fun I cranked it up to 65 MPH and enjoyed days cool air sans fairing. Doesn’t pull hard to the right so must not be a total aerodynamic disaster. Kinda tight clearance between tire and fender, but this ‘hack don’t have much wheel travel anyway and the stiff torsion bar makes sure it’d don’t get used much. Good enough for an old sidecar outfit that don’t wander too far from home or the trailer…

I hope!

Disclaimer: I’m quite aware that some riders and a lot or pickup and trailer drivers and miscellaneous wannabes make fools of themselves on native lands in South Dakota in early August, too.

Take a look at that picture- Dozens of riders, motorcycles, and tents and barely any 4 wheelers in sight!

And unfortunately, I’m to blame for the blue van back there, but it’s quiet inside was nice at the Britt, Iowa Hobo convention where the neighboring but not so neighborly motorhome inhabitants left their generator running all night in sixtyish degree “heat”. But the campground had a bit more space as seems most of the troublemakers have moved on to other amusements letting the keepers of the hobo traditions continue to educate and entertain us.

But the weekend’s peak experience was the Guzzi rally that draws riders of most every make from all over, with a near tie for long distance rider award at over 900 miles each!

Sidecars too, or course! This looks to be a Guzzi with an EML, IIRC the fairing is factory Guzzi with spoked (Guzzi?) wheels on the Guzzi and what looks like EML on the sidecar. T’was a late model Guzzi V7 with Hannigan sidecar in attendance too, it’s riders having ridden a fair distance from Michigan.

The “Airhead” riders were out in force too, classic traditional BMWs no doubt fitting in with Guzzis from a maker that changes for the better rather than because the “old” model is five years old.

And being a Guzzi rally, the food was tasty and plentiful! Unlike the BMW rallies that practice “portion control”, seems the Guzzi rally organizers cook too much to make sure they don’t run out, then keep serving until we eat it all! For example, they froze the leftovers from Friday night dinner and then served them for lunch Saturday and delivered cheese and sausages to our campsites Saturday night. We had entertainment too, and it wasn’t burnouts- They had a live band playing classic rock covers Friday AND Saturday nights ’til 10pm!

And then the campground went quiet, should have left the bike in my van and just set up my tent. Especially since my saturday online Democratic Party meeting dragged out all day and I never had time to ride my bike beyond the campground. An easy eight hours sleep, then breakfast was served again with rolls, bagels, bananas, apples, coffee, and juices in any desired combination.

But the greatest feature of any Guzzi rally is the people- a friendly lot that happily volunteered to help this old gimp unload and load her motorcycle, with not a hint of shaming. This is what riding is all about- the best of bikes and friends!

Original plan was to head east and some degree of south to an Airhead motorcycle event: A campout and catch the Peoria Mile but heat indexes surged into triple digits or another group taking in the Oshkosh Air Show, damn near as overheated. When all else fails, the old farm shows come through!

Looked like much of the populace of Minnesota and places south had the same idea, first hundred miles up my secret “2 lane expressway” went pretty quick with little traffic, but the last 50 through the central Minnesota “lakes” area went a lot slower. First hint was seeing the normally barely occupied Swift Falls campground on a sleepy county road packed, when I stopped to pee at a park next county up was hard to find a parking spot. After slow traffic through downtown Alexandria I fortunately didn’t have to turn left into the blocks long traffic jam going to the most popular lakes but instead turned right into the woods and pastures.

Featured tractor this year was Case, yup just good ol’ Case with no IH, New Holland, IVECO, or FIAT added. Damn good machine they was, and a good variety of them in attendance:

And some freaks of nature from other brands too:

As we’ve now entered the realm of the one off “shop built”, a few videos from the pull:

Sorry, WordPress got cheap and won’t let me upload videos with a standard account anymore…

Another day in the climate change ****show… Heavy smoke haze all around here and nearest reporting station reports a PM2.5 level in the 170s, we rarely see over 100. Nice day so was gonna mow, but a few minutes outside… Damn, it hurts to breathe! Closed the windows and dug out the old Honeywell air purifier, looks like I’ll be spending what would have been a very nice summer day inside. Make a mental note to replenish the supply of N95s…

It’s becoming painfully obvious that Climate Change is already here, and virtue signals like electric cars will take too long to roll out to help. We’ve been trying to get to the perfection of zero emissions, and as usual perfection is the enemy of the good. So what the heck can we do in this crisis?

1. We’re going to lose the climate change battles before we win the war- We need to put maximum effort into reducing the damage and rebuilding from Climate Change’s disasters.

2. Concentrate on GHG reduction and quit wasting resources on “goal zero”- Total electrification is decades away if it can be achieved at all. But we can burn less carbon to do the same tasks and farmers can help us with renewable fuels and crops that absorb carbon. 

3. Burn less fuel- GHG production is pretty much a function of quantity of fossil fuels burned, so burn less fuel! That means promoting remote work, and 100 KPH speed limits for every vehicle that can’t beat 40 MPG highway. Maximize transit use and put all freight that’s going over 300 miles on the rails. Maximize use of renewable fuels- Make E15 the standard and E30 available everywhere for gas vehicles, and year round availability of stronger biodiesel blends and renewable diesel… Make every pump a blender pump! 

4. End mandatory mowing! I’ve cut back this year and have been pleased to see the prairie flowers make a comeback.

5. Your opinion?

Yup, the Mini project hasn’t progressed in the last year, parts availability is still iffy and when I checked the other day shipping costs from Great Britain are still more than the part’s price. So looked at the “20% off” sale prices from the now merged purveyors of Mini parts in Northern California and their “sale” prices were higher than the GB purveyor’s even after shipping, The Yamaha MX250 is 98% complete and turns over, and the 10 foot kayak hasn’t seen water since I got a 16 foot canoe two years ago and is overdue for a rest in the “grove” out back.

It’ll have to wait for the second trip to the grove in the loader bucket, after this Motorvation Spyder sidecar with rusted out reinforcements in it’s fiberglass tub and a busted axle makes the trip to the “rural warehouse”. And that disembodied Ranger pickup on the far left- Shoulda left it back there! The black Golf TDI runs, probably because I haven’t made a “project” of fixing it’s rust and the busted off glow plug stuck in the head…

If you’ve been following the weather at all you’ve noticed that we’ve been having a blizzard a week up here on the tundra, which should allow plenty of time for projects while hunkered down between weekly ‘tween blizzard supply runs. Let the projects commence! (or at least continue).

This perfectly good corn/pellet stove has warmed my little abode for a dozen years now, it’s a great piece of “folk engineering” from AES (American Energy Systems), one of the midwest inventors that birthed and raised these biomass stoves in the late years of the last century. But 12 years is old for a biomass stove, and the parts list for a rebuild came to around a thousand $$$$.

At the feet of the “cherry picker” engine (and everything else heavy) hoist is my newest heating acquisition- A high(er) tech wood pellet stove that can reputedly turn itself up and down and even start and stop itself to maintain a heat setting. Price about the same thousand $$$$ as rebuilding and the 26% tax credit will pay for new vent pipe for it. Ordered around thanksgiving, and when it arrived a couple weeks later I installed it in the garage and tested it for a couple hours, worked as advertised. Unhooked the vent pipe, stove was still on it’s shipping pallet on a cart so I wheeled it out of the way while I decide where to permanently install it.

Now this is my 5th stove- 1st was a great Canadian made wood (log) stove that warmed my Minneapolis garage before it got trashed by a squatter then rebuilt and relocated to my garage out here (in Florence, MN) a couple years ago . 2nd was a USC corn/pellet stove that was a poor copy (parts even interchange) of the 3rd that’s served me so well, still works but I don’t trust it so it’s stored as a spare and parts source. 4th was an American made wood stove installed in 2021 after I noticed the rebuilt 1st was rusting and it’s more efficient, burns cleaner, and got me another tax credit too, and now a 5th…? Fortunately(?) these stoves don’t do ductwork and my most humble abode has three sections- living/dining/kitchen and a 1/2 bath in the center, 2 bedrooms/storeroom/library/bath on one end, and a big double garage and storeroom on the other. The trusty AES corn/pellet stove has resided in the center section for it’s entire 12 years, the wood stoves in succession have warmed the garage and with the door open provide power failure heat for the whole place, and the bedrooms are cold. Not a big deal as I found during the pandemic that I could zone off that section, sleep on the couch, and the AES stove would heat this “efficiency” living space on low setting for $100 a month of pellet fuel.

So I’ve got homes for 3 stoves and a 5th shows up, at my behest. In the spirit of “home improvement” I decide it’s time to retake possession of those bedrooms, heating costs be damned. So I roll the new pellet stove down the hallway on it’s pallet, can’t make the turn into the chosen farthest bedroom. Back up the hall, turn it around, still can’t make the turn. Slide the stove a bit on the Cart and and after slewing the offending end around on a floor jack it makes the turn… And it’s a quarter inch too wide to make it through the door. Knock off for the day…

Next day I fold up the “cherry picker” so it’ll make it into the living room, unfurl it, and lift the stove off the pallet so it’s a couple inches narrower, and success as it enters the bedroom! Then fold it up again, unfold it in the bedroom, and lift it from the cart to a lower dolly as I scope out the best final positioning. Now this bedroom has had a mold problem in abatement thanks to winter’s cold and bleach, but thought I should check the sheetrock’s backside first before I put the stove in. Found a scrape that’ll have to be repaired anyway, cut a thumb size sample out, and damn… black on the backside so need to replace that sheetrock before I put a stove in the way!

Knocked off for the day, so in 2 days I’ve managed to move the stove 50 feet and it’s gotta move again. Per usual, project expands like too much expanding spray foam insulation… Now I’ve got a wall of sheetrock replacement problem too. Sleep on it… Could just leave the new stove on the cart where it’s vents height would now match the height of the old AES stove in the living room? Or maybe in the garage for a low effort alternative to the wood stove, easy to poke a hole for the vent where there’s no sheetrock! Or maybe in that empty alcove in the bathroom and vent it through the fan vent?

Really should just haul half these cars, stoves, etc., and parts thereof out to the “grove” and forget them… But snows too deep!

It kinda sneaks up on you…

I wish there was more “new”, less weight, more HP and AWD… But this is an “end of life” generation that don’t even sell 100K a year. Otherwise I like…

Styling: The Mustang has grown up and isn’t a punk kid anymore, and should look the part. This Mustang has all the overhead cams, IRS, aluminum castings, and tech you’d expect in a Euro GT car for a fraction of the price, and there’s clearly some Aston Martin inspiration in the styling. 

Performance: I was underwhelmed too, until they talked racing and capped it with Bill Ford’s promise to return to LeMans. So while the hardware now is just a few more tweaks on the current Mustang’s, Ford will do whatever it takes to win LeMans and match the performance of any other automaker’s fastest… 

Legacy: The IC Mustang isn’t going out without one helluva fight!

You drive up to the gate of the track at dusk… And instead of the usual shakedown for expensive tickets and smuggled beverages and vittles, you just show them the downloaded waiver app on your phone and you’re welcomed in! Pick a parking spot with a decent view of tomorrow’s races, in the second row because you’re driving a van and that’s just good manners. Too early to sleep, so you go for a walk… Is this the pits or a party? But come 10pm and it all quiets down, and so dark I didn’t even need to put the windows all the way up or install all the window covers.

Woke up at first light to activity all around me, with a small army of volunteers putting the finishing touches on the “track” and timing while hordes of drivers took a more than ceremonial “track walk”- One of the two courses is over a mile long and both have dozens of turns to learn.

‘Bout 8ish the drivers started their races against the clock, and with near 1200 drivers getting 3 runs each over 2 different courses the action was as hot ‘n’ heavy as “wheel to wheel” racing. Heck, maybe more so with no passing needed! That’s 3600 runs on each course over 4 days, so to get done at a decent hour both courses ran with another driver flagged off every 30 seconds or so. At one point I counted 5 cars on the courses at once, and it damned near looked like and sure as heck sounded like a race!

Meanwhile back in the pits, hands grasped wrenches instead of last night’s microbrews as street tires were swapped for DOT certified track “gumballs” and the odd tweak was made.

But all was not sweetness, light, and blinding speed betwixt the cones…

Having done my last autocross in a Corvair back in 69, I got a soft spot for them. So I chased this one down and got a talk with one of it’s drivers, a 70ish gentleman whose been driving Corvairs since 1963 and racing this one for a couple decades. Despite having not even 3 liters of engine that GM abandoned development of near 6 decades ago versus the 5 liters and up of the Fox body Mustangs and Camaros in the same class, this Corvair just like in the 60s was competitive against the V8 pony cars that couldn’t put their power to the pavement… Until the SCCA allowed 2 inch wider tires and made the V8s at least 10 seconds faster!

SCCA has a tire problem…

No surprise that internet race tire emporium Tire Rack had the biggest tent and put on a feed for a thousand, would have partook myself but got there as the caterers were packing up. Biggest trailer award went to Falken tires, and looked like another tire purveyor took 2nd place. Now makes sense that a ‘Vette or 911 demands high performance tires, tire wear isn’t a big deal if you can afford six figure cars, and when the roads get slippery supercars cower in the garage. Being working class, any car of mine has to be able to haul home a Costco cart size load through a blizzard and the 200 Tread Wear “summer dry” tires required to be competitive in even the “Stock” classes in SCCA autocross wouldn’t get me outa my driveway half the year. Now SCCA could make everybody but the tire merchants happy by requiring the kind of All Season 400+ Tread Wear tires even GTIs come with and every competitor would be on a level playing field… But Nooooo! So add $1200 worth of tires and wheels to the new helmet needed to satisfy the SCCA.

(Don’t get me started)

Besides some enjoyable race spectating, I came to the SCCA Autocross Nationals hoping to get some of my questions answered and decide if I want to go auto crossing. I’d considered entering just to get some experience, but chose not to risk the $195 entry fee as I wasn’t sure if my helmet or car would pass tech, never mind be competitive. My helmet is an EC approved motorcycle helmet that is well regarded by serious motorcyclists because of that certification, but because I bought it here in the U.S. it has a DOT rather than EC approval sticker, but the manufacturer’s website says every helmet they build meets EC and DOT standards. It gets worse- SCCA won’t allow EC helmets next year because they say they can’t date them, but my helmet was introduced in 2011 and SCCA is OK with 2010 Snell helmets. So I need to blow some $$$ on a “Snell Certified” sticker helmet to go SCCA auto crossing, good luck finding one within 150 miles of here, and I know better than to sizing gamble by buying a helmet online.

Then there’s my “daily driver” and potential autocross racer, a Golf 7 TDI with 150 roaring diesel horses trying to lug 3300 pounds around. That’s 30 less horses and 300 more pounds than the late model Honda Civic that dominates the H Stock class my TDI ends up in, and it’s the SCCA’s slowest class. Yup, you need less than 20 pounds for each of your horses to haul to be competitive in SCCA autocross, otherwise may as well stay home.

And does SCCA even let diesel cars autocross? Hoping for answers I looked towards tech inspection, who were either MIA or too busy to be bothered weighting every car as it came off the course. Come noon break I had no answers to my questions and global warming was making the shadeless slabs uncomfortable enough that a nice two lane drive home was more attractive and I left, for good.

I had hopes of finding some new amusements in SCCA Autocross and cities haunted by street racing could use the SCCA’s experience to get the racers off the streets and into safe competition. But if the SCCA doesn’t have an autocross home for this old white lady and her diesel car, how are they going to welcome more diverse racers?

Used to be that Labor Day marked the end of summer’s heat and we had a good September’s riding before the glaciers returned to the northern tier. Now with CO2 having passed 400 PPM with no hint of slowing its rise gearhead events have fled July’s heat and probably soon June and August too.

Been debating my Labor Day direction for a couple weeks now, as with politics out here becoming an exercise in frustration I don’t do parades much Labor Day weekend or any other anymore. Looking at my options theres the legendary Rollag Steam Threshers Reunion 200 miles to the north, The Chief Blackhawk antique motorcycle show, swap meet, and race 450 miles east southeast in Davenport, SCCA’s week of Autocross championships 275 miles south on the big slab in Lincoln, and an Airhead Tech Day/Get Together in Hot Springs, SD 450 miles to the west= Tough choice!

Tough choice in normal times at least, but our weather long ago ceased being “normal”, with new records set almost daily. When defining the range of temps we humans find comfy, it helps to use the centigrade system, where 20 degrees C (Centigrade) or 68 F (Fahrenheit) seems “just right”. Were’ still pretty comfy at 10 degrees C either side of that, from 50 to 86 Fahrenheit. But below that range we need bulky clothes and motorcycling becomes a losing battle, and above all the sweating we can manage can’t keep us cool and comfy. So I tend to look for destinations where the weather will be within that 10 to 30 C range. Now in the last century I ran into 0 C (freezing) temps around the north side of Lake Superior and across Colorado in early September, but for the last few years with this changed climate you’d have to approach the Arctic Circle to find temps that cold.

Instead Davenport, Lincoln, and Hot Springs will see temps above 20 C and in some cases well above, making the 450 mile ride or drive to Davenport and Hot Springs out of the question. Lincoln is iffy, especially since my sympathy for SCCA is waning as I find out how expensive it will be to race in even a supposedly low budget amateur class with them. The Lincoln airport’s slab is devoid of shade for obvious reasons, but the weeklong event runs through next Friday so I’ll probably pop down for at least a day or night though.

But Rollag’s getting a cold front tomorrow that should keep the temps below 25 C, so I’ll be making my first trip to the Steam Thresher’s Reunion !

May be gettin’ a little weird, but the hobo’s are alive and well as anyone despite a lack of trains suitable for ridin’. First time I made the convention in Britt, Iowa a couple decades ago we were graced with some surviving depression era hobos who taught us their life lessons before they “caught the westbound”. A few determined hobos still ride the rails, but with “side door Pullmans” (box cars) missing from todays open to the elements unit trains and competition from Amtrak’s cheap Rail Pass, most of us have become “hobos in spirit”.

The classic hobos took pride in their willingness to work, and their reason for riding the rails was often to find work. Today work is plentiful but the cost of living and especially rent has outrun wages, and old & cheap cars and trucks have taken the place of the “side door Pullman”.

Truth is, every night millions of homeless Americans are forced to seek shelter in cars, busses, old RVs, and the trucks they drive for a meager living as well as the tent cities within our cities.

And a few tasty gearhead delicacies…

Had some of the usual great hobo entertainment too:

But all was not sweetness, light, and up cycled mom’s minivans… The “formal” convention activities centered around the shelter building, cookhouse, and campfire circle had shrunk further during the reign of COVID to the point Friday supper didn’t happen. Instead folks were spread in a bunch of smaller circles around their own campsites “doing their own thing”. And while it was nice to see the queer folks and minorities getting their place in the “jungle”, at least one of these little encampments seemed to have a different uniting theme… Suffice to say there was considerable all night foot traffic to and fro that encampment. Booze and drugs has long taken too many hobos, and the hobo’s convention needs a place for us drunks and addicts to find sobriety and serenity.

“You, along the road, need a code… That you can live by” (song lyrics, CSNY)

Hobos and the working class survived the depression with solidarity- A sense of unity that turned powerless individuals into an overwhelming political force. That solidarity pervaded the hobo jungles, uniting all in a fight to survive poverty and abusive authorities through the depression, and in the following World War that defeated fascism. That solidarity survives in the good folks of Britt who see beyond small town isolationism and welcome the hobos to Britt and the hobos that return there every year to carry on the proud traditions of the hobos. But sadly our numbers are dwindling…