Rare long lost archival footage has recently been located. These rare images are a glimpse of times gone by..... Experience life as it used to be....(Summer 2013)..............
And there's a grapevine, a rumor mill , whisperings, and furtive glances, gossips......
Apparently, some where in the long lost footage that has been uncovered, there are ..hints......of BMW !
Sunday, 25 August 2013
NON MINI BLOG 9
No pics, no vids, and actually not much commentary either....
But someone has to keep the world UTD on matters Motorcycle.
Al, (Orange Bike Al) just returned from a week's ride in the Interior (BC) on my FLH ! Since I wasn't on the ride, there's nothing to blog about. I did, however, have possession of the Orange Bike. But since that Orange Bike causes me to have issues, there's no blogging about that either.....
Meanwhile, there's something BMW happening..................
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Mini Blog 8
The Orange Bike's days may be numbered:
Don't I wish .....
..just check out that Fat Boy ( ..the BIKE !! )
Al's new bike ? Couldn't get him off of it...
I think it's sold....
I smell a future blog here..........................a Honda blog.
Friday, 2 August 2013
Mini # 7
'74 850 Norton Commando :
...considered to be the best of the British vertical twins. The high point of the British motorcycle industry was the Norton Commando 1968-1976. First as a 750, then, in '73 an upgrade to 850. '75 models had to conform to left hand shift etc. and electric starting was added to compete with Japanese models. But these upgrades with after-the-fact engineering. Hence, the '74's desirability. By 1977, the industry was
in a downward spiral to oblivion...............Triumph carried on sporadically with oil-in-the-frame models (considered undesirable by some) 'til the very early 80's...... Books have been written about the demise of the British motorcycle industry. Sad.....
So, 2 old coots flashed up 2 old bikes, both with Insur. Corp. of BC "Collector" plates, and headed off into the sunset. AKA the 'circle route'. Al, on his demonic springer (#666) '88 Evo, and me on the Commando.
Sooke, Pt. Renfrew, Cowichan, Duncan & return.
Both bikes - "standards". No tools, no cell service, not even a roll of tape. Hot & sunny on the South Island, 'til Pt. R. Fog/mist/almost rain, and freezing cold. No windshields, no elec. vests, no gloves.
And............ nothing else to blog about. No incidents, no issues, no events. But we were famous guys for a bit while on the 'route" ....................Classic iron boys, trusting in engineering from a bygone era. Thumbing our noses at GPSs, overhead cams, adj. suspensions, tubeless tires, cell phones, windshields, saddle bags, elec. vests, water cooling, 6 speed trans., abs & t/c, & shaft drives...
We live the adventure !
Monday, 29 July 2013
Mini - #6
(and isn't it appropriate that this post is number 6 ? Talk about synchronicity.........)
This ain't no orange bike -
(if this video doesn't work, go to youtube &search "knightjfm")youtube.com/knightjfm
MINI BLOG ISSUE #5
The Beast
This issue isn't really an issue, it's an FYI. A little mini blog within a mini blog , if you will....
(if this video doesn't work, go to YouTube and search "knightjfm")
(is there a "blogging for dummies" ? Someone needs to enroll me...)
It looks like Issue 4 has been cut off just after the picture of Richard's Volusa (the silver bike).
Underneath that picture, in blue, it says "read more...". The rest of the blog resides there..
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
MINI BLOG ISSUE # 4
..BACK TO BIKES..
The run to Parksville to pay homage to Big Red
(I'm choking & gagging here - explanation to follow later )
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The fellas met at 10 (at the end of the driveway) for a rip up to Parksville. The goal was a coffee @ Timmy Ho's. John & Gary would be coming down from Campbel River for - what else ?- a coffee. (I do believe a concession occurred here - I suspect these gents are Starbucks's guys)
( I've had an ordeal wrestling with Blogspot/Google/Dropbox, and have given up trying to upload videos. So, instead, I've inserted a link(s) for video viewing. This link doesn't work in 'draft', so I can't test it until posted. If it doesn't work: go to youtube, search"olddogonahog" , when the list of vids comes up, then go to top where there is a picture of no picture, & click 'olddogonahog' - it's blue.
The vids are numbered and captionned 'parksville 13/6/8'. There are also previous blog vids that live here ..)
The photos below are at the 1st Timmy's stop @ Langford - just a mere 25 km from Sooke. Imagine,
a break after 25 km !! And how is it that when S. Bob (sweetie) orders a breakfast sandwhich, he's always served 2 ???
Life can throw curves..... We all deal with issues etc....
This is one such issue I deal with....
Even the dog, (Griz aka "Petal") seems to have an issue with this ....... and bear in mind that the above photo DOES NOT INCLUDE : flip flops, slippers, boots, or runners....
Firstly, BIL ( Hale) will not be co-authoring this, the fist issue of Mini Blog, as he's 4500 km away. Some will miss his travelogue type prose, interlaced with some emo; others - not so much.
Secondly:
He ain't got no Hog no more.............Thus, should he even be contributing to 'Old Dogs on Hogs' ?
So, finally, on the 3rd, a 'heat wave' moved in, a real scorcher. And in prep. for a real blog, or rather an extention of last year's blog, a dry run ,so to speak, is called for.
In other words, a practice blog. Ain't got no help from the tech-savvy co-blogger BIL. Can't remember how to upload stuff, or remember passwords to flicker, dropbox, blogspot, youtube etc. May try to utilize facebook (somehow) but I only have 9 friends. Of course, that's more friends than tech-savvy BIL has.
Guess that means there's hope.......................
Anyways, to start off the 'trip' season, decided on completing the Circle Route. Sooke/Pt. Renfrew/Lake Cow./ Duncan & back. About 250 K. round trip. Hwy 18 Duncan to Lake Cow. is 100 k speed limit so it's a "blast" up to Lake Cow. However, from Lake Cow. to Pt. Renfrew - this is a now paved logging road - much much slower going. And the road from Pt. Renfrew to Sooke..................well you know what they say: Pt. Renfrew may not be the end of the earth, but you can sure as hell see it from there....
Departure was 10:00 on the 5th and the att'd vid. shows Rob and Rich arriving from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE (don't ask) . Al then showed up, and drove up like he owned the place, although admittedly he did build it. There's a comment about the orange bike - but that's much too long of a story for index finger typing.
that orange bike
250 Ninja, 900 Volusa
First stop, Timmies, just 30 k down the road. The ride up to Duncan was uneventful. Hwy 18 to Lake Cowichan was awesome - up to 140 kph on the Versys. (awesome bike) In Lake Cow. a rest stop. Interestingly, there were 2 Boss Hogs tucked in a parking space. 1 was worth $70,000. Who does that ?
Now, at this point, I feel it incumbent to exercise every bit of ambassadorial, diplomatic, and politeness skill that I possess, and mention that the rest stop, and the back tracking, stretched well past an hour. At the word "mention", I'm inclined to mention the word "Youbou" (I'll leave it at that, eh Rob/Rich?)
( This blogging stuff takes a long time (index finger). One (me) has to be dedicated, with a very high level of perseverance and determination --to the point of stubbornness. It's taken from the 5th (today is the 11th) to get these 3 vids uploaded successfully. Since they don't seem to want to play in the "edit" mode or "save" mode, I'm stopping the blog at the point and "posting" it to ensure the vids actually work ! )
Mini Blog Issue #1 ..... to be continued .........................
Con't....
The Circle Route road from Lk. Cow. to Renfrew is....in the middle of nowhere. No residences, farms, driveways, ....nothing. BC wilderness at its famous finest ! The scenery is spectacular, except of course for the clear-cut areas and the desolation/destruction that this type of logging leaves behind. Next to no traffic at this time of year. Snow on the mtn. tops. And everything green, unlike mid summer forest fire season. The road is in good cond. for a paved logging road - some slow going areas, some nasty bumps, but only because you can't see them coming.
At about the 1/2 way point, we stopped at the 'Harris Creek Spruce'. Can't see it from the road, but down the path only a few yards - there resides a monster ! There are no other 'big' trees around it (unlike Cathedral Grove where they're all big) so that the 2nd/ 3rd growth trees surrounding it actually enhance the size of this old growth magnificent tree. Hard to imagine an entire coast of old growth monsters, and why this tree spared the saw ?
Had a bite in Pt. Renfrew. Few tourists, mostly bikers doing 'the Route'.
Renfrew is the jumping off point for the West Coast Trail . World famous for it's challenge/ruggedness. We passed a S&R team practising their craft, no doubt getting ready for the rescue of tourists who think the Trail is just an extended hike.
The West Coast Road back to Sooke has had some upgrades. The road/a bridge used to wash out at least once a year and isolate Ren. for a couple of weeks. The world's nastiest switch back is gone, replaced by a nice new modern bridge. ( 180 degree turn, downhill, single lane bailey bridge, broken or no pavement, no shoulder, & hairpins at each end -one uphill, one downhill.)
By the time we hit Jordan River (surf capital of Cda, along with Long Beach in Tofino) we were desperate for a coffee. (ie Timmies) ... May - nothing open yet .
So, all in all, a most excellent trip for a run this early in the season. Rob's 250 Ninja got a real work out. And Rich's plate made us look like long distance guys from Ont. (newly arrived BCer from Timmins).
Oh yea.........and Rob wishes for an early Xmas gift - a GPS !
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