Motorcycles and winter: the perfect combo

Why not? Don't give a damn about college football? Cabin fever? Need to escape the screaming brats who've been cooped up over the holidays and are bored with their Xmas booty already? Well, Bub, have we got a deal for you and here it is; the 2017 I-Cycle Derby in Minneapolis on on New Year's Day. This rally, only for the strong of heart, has been going on for 60 some-odd years. It's going to be a balmy 30-degrees and the sun is supposed to shine.

I-Cycle Derby 2017

And  for you mutants that like Facebook thang, here you go:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1309224395801790/

Merry Christmas, peeps.

Sorry, all the sappy images of fat Santa riding a Harley with a bag of toys and a Christmas tree riding bitch were all emptied out from the Department of Cliches for this holiday season.

Random Motorcycle Picture of the day

Uncle Burt pointing at what looks to be a sloppy weld. Hey, watch yer finger!

Hey look to your right...

We've added the blog Geezer With A Grudge to our list of fabulous Minnesota related motorcycle links. Doing our best to keep the masses entertained. (If yer too lazy, follow link below, too.)

Geezer With A Grudge blog

Don't panic

It will be 32 degrees by Tuesday. Tonight's 20-below is just a minor blip in the riding season.

Official Walt Ride 2017 announcement

The Exalted High Committee of the Red Wing Ironworks Motorbike Club has released Walt Ride 2017 dates: it's on the books for June 23 through June 27; destination Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Paul, Jr. is designing this year's ride. No camping; el rancho cheap-o motel is the way we're going. We're so excited, it's only six months away.

Exalted High Committee. Yes, they are twins. Really.

Not to ruminate ad nauseum about the weather

But today's snow brought an end to - what we've labeled all along - extended summer. But on the bright side the Winter Solstice is ten days away,  marking the shortest day of the year.  Seasonal affective disorder aside, there is an up to all of this. On Dec. 22 the days get longer. That's the start of spring in our book, Bub, and the beginning of the new riding season. See, winter ain't so bleak after all (lol).

And if yer still bummed out by the weather, you can attend this Saturday's Ton Up Club Winter Blot in Minneapolis. Go here for details:

moto blot

Random motorcycle picture of the day

In celebration of the seven inches of snow in the forecast today. Good thing it's motorcycle movie night.

Our hat is off to honor John Glenn

A true pioneer in every sense of the word.

What better way to celebrate the holidays?

Motorcycle Movie Night this Saturday at Christian's. Starts at 7 p.m., and don't forget to bring that white elephant gift. What better way to get rid of crap piled up in your basement.

Hey everyone, the Ditmeyers are coming, too.

Snow Schmoe

What's a few inches? Badabing, badaboom, ain't nothing.

Out in the boonies today.

Out and about

An afternoon of some back road gravely stuff with Sir. Robert. And, yes, there were STILL bugs out there.

Just because it's gonna snow a little bit today...

...doesn't mean we gotta get all boo-hooey about our riding season coming to an end. It means we get inventive and do stuff like this to tide us over. This will be fun and we plan on being there.

Time for an Octoberfest/Big Burn re-think?

This has sooo many possibilities. We have 11 months of planning ahead of us.

 

Triumph Bobber revealed...

...last night in Minneapolis at Tattersall Distillery in good ol' Northeast Minneapolis. We were there for the coverage with the presidential election action-force news team (they got nothing else to do these days...) with cameras at the ready. No movie stars; no famous peeps, just a great crowd of Triumph lovers and the like taking a gander at the marquee's new Bobber offering. Did someone say free drinks and a t-shirt? Yep. Reason enough to go. By the way, it is a pretty damn cool bike.

No clue who this is, but she liked the Bobber.

Triumph brought along some other models, like the traditional Bonnie. Nice orange paint.

Cool bike but check out that giant still in the background.

Fit and finish... and paint.... is spectacular on these bikes.

What better place to have a bike gathering than a distillery. Pretty cool.

Tim contemplating the future of his BMW.

Super models posing with the riff-raff.

Unveiled 9 days ago, the new Scrambler.

A tale of two bikes

Some washed....













Some rode....

It's not every day you get to park your ass upon a rare motorcycle...

But today was THAT day. Details of which we will not go into (no, it's not stolen...), a very rare Honda NR showed up in pretty ol' Red Wing. It was in need of some attention and an ex-AMA guy from Florida was flown in to get this 750 roaring again. I was happy at the chance to get some photo time with the bike but was limited to this location as the bike is not road legal. The NR race program goes back to the late 1970s but this example designed for the street is from 1992.It's famous for its oval pistons and eight valves per. Depending on what you find on the internet, Honda made approximately 300 examples of the bike, which retailed for a whooping $50,000. Most of these bad boys went straight away into collections, one would guess. Talk is, that this example may be the only one in the US of A. This bike is amazing when you see it right in front of you, and it sounds righteous. Here is a link with a good history of the NR. Enjoy the pics.

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/honda/honda_nr750.htm

It ain't another day off from work, Bub

It's Veteran's Day and don't you forget it.

This just in from the Eastern Bureau

Winter has been cancelled. Continue riding your motorcycles. Story here:

extended riding season is swell for riders

Election Day America

Remember, head to the polls and vote Moe....

This post sponsored by the Seriously-This-Is-The-Best-We-Could-Do Political Committee.

Be careful out there....

A few crashes over in Wisconsin, one of them deer induced.

www.republican-eagle.com/news/region/4153763-three-injured-2-pierce-county-motorcycle-crashes

First motorcycle movie night is this Saturday

7 p.m., Nov. 12 at Little Timmy's.  A documentary? Action movie? Classic 60s biker flick? Rom-com? Who knows and who cares. Might even be warm enough to to ride a motorsickle to the event. Now, that would be a first.

What's good in yer tank beside gas?

This stuff. Seafoam, it's bad-assery in a can. Great when it comes to storing motorcycles for the long winter nap (We ain't there yet, so hold the stoopid comments, Francis.) And it's Minnesota made. Here, here. And it does so much more than a plain ol' gas stabilizer. It cleans shit, too. And if you ask nice, the company might even send you a cool sticker for your toolbox. We're whores for stickers around here.

https://seafoamsales.com/

Lawrence Welk... Motorcycle bad ass

Who knew? Just remember, you saw it here first.

Where to vote?

Doing our part to help out; here you go:

http://yourfuckingpollingplace.com/

There will be no excuse this weekend...

To not get out and ride. Weekend weather looks to be awesome with mid-60s and sun in the forecast. Get out there while you can.

Don't get all twisted in a knot, Willis

Yes, we know there is a cruiser in this video but it's our job to promote and report on all things motorsickle related that more or less happen in our fair city upon the river. Take your dose of Calm The F**k Down. It's in the medicine cabinet, upper right side. You'll be all right. It seems that Red Wing Shoe is partnering with Indian Motorcycle, also based in Minnesota,  to promote both boots and motorcycles. Well, imagine that, Cletus? Red Wing Shoes will make specially badged boots for Indian; and Indian will make a special bike for presentation at the Red Wing Shoe store in downtown Red Wing, which incidentally, is located right next to the Acme Incorporated Tower where - high atop - these very editorial offices are housed. Here is a link if you like to read stuff:

Red Wing Shoes and Indian Motorcycles

And here is a video if you like to watch TV...

We're no. 9

In Minnesota, that is.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/16/50-states-ranked-for-highest-motorcycle-ownership.aspx

Happy Halloween

Good advice........

Time Machine Travel only with....balls

Yep, that's right. This dude is gonna do 28 hours of riding in one day. Say what?  How can that be? Hey man, do the math. He did, and he is gonna cover 1700 miles in one calendar day when we convert to daylights savings on Nov. 6. Rider Paul Pelland will gain an additional four hours as he crosses the times zones of the US of Friggin' A. And guess what, Charles? He also has Multiple Sclerosis. So hows does that sit for having giant noogies? Pretty damn well, we'd say. Story here, yo:

Multiple Sclerosis Rider

Flux Capacitor my ass: we got daylight savings time.

Special Edition of Motorcycle Movie Night in February

The film Easy Rider will be screened at the Sheldon Theater in downtown Red Wing on Friday, Feb. 3 @7:30 p.m. This is part of the Sheldon's Film @ the Sheldon series. Come on down, see a Mutha of All Biker movies at the beautiful Sheldon. Seven bucks, you can swing it. Cheap. Who knows, there may be a pre-movie gathering somewhere, too. (Yes, there will be.)  And as a bonus, Rob has regular Motorcycle Movie Night on Feb. 11. Whud up with dat?

http://www.sheldontheatre.org/events/EasyRider

It's MEA weekend...

The wife has fled for the Windy City for a girls' weekend.
The damn dog wants nothing to do with me.
You can do but so many projects and chores around the house.
What's a poor boy like me to do?

For starters....
Raid the bourbon bunker.
Go riding.
And buy a shit-pile of motorcycle magazines.

So it's mid October, it's 75 degrees...

it rained today and it's sorta balmy-sticky out right now and we hardly seem to be of the mindset to discuss Motorcycle Movie Night, our annual rite of passage during the --ahem -- non-riding months. (Read that to mean Winter.) But progress needs to be made and the Politburo of the Ironworks Motorbike Club regime has laid out the following schedule for MMN.

Nov. 12 - Tim
Dec.10- Christian
Jan. 14 - Paul, Jr.
Feb. 11 - Rob
March 11 - up for grabs (or Bill, Scot or Paul, Sr.)
April 8 (TBD; Hopefully, we'll be riding already. Wouldn't that be nice?

Our party is the best party, yo. Unibrows not required.

Say what?

Riding on Sunday?
Yep.
Presidential race got you down in the dumps?
Did the dog crap on your new naugahyde divan?
Is your mother-in-law coming over to show you fabric samples?

Well, Bub, do we have news for you;
Sunday, 9 AM
Caribou Coffee, Red Wing
Kick stands up around 10 AM
Direction TBD.

Chase away trouble, go riding. There it is.

This post sponsored by Creepy Clowns, Inc. Putting-the-Scare in the Masses since 1958.

It's a long way to the bottom

It's not how fast you are moving, but how high off the ground your noggin' is that determines how hard it will hit the ground; GIF below, illustrates:

https://gfycat.com/GrizzledFlickeringAlbertosaurus

Good reminder of why we ought to wear skid lids every time we're on two wheels, even if you're riding slow.

So da boy, for my birthday, long ago in the summer, scores tickets to see Dinosaur Jr at First Ave on Friday. Pretty dang cool, sez I. Dino Jr. performed great, awesome show. The opening band was Steve Gunn and the Outliners outta Brooklyn, NY. Intriguing band; reminds me of Television, a little bit like the Velvet Underground to some extent and Luna. So I bought the CD "Eyes On The Line." This is one of the better CDs I've heard in a very long time. Can't stop listening. Found a video of one of the songs cut from the CD on YouTube and -kabaam - it's got a damn motorsickle in it. What the? How freaking cool is that? If you like music a little off the beaten path, catch this guy next time around.

And to think that I saw it on Central Avenue....

This morning found me on a couch in a house in Minneapolis and just a few blocks away from Diamond's Coffee shop on Central Avenue, which is the de-facto motorcycle coffee hangout in Nordeast Minneapolis. To my surprise upon exiting Diamond's was a beautiful old BSA, possibly late 30s/early 40s Gold Star, though there was no badge on the tank. Always fun to visit Northeast Minneapolis as there's always a cool, old bike parked somewhere.

Must be a bike show going on somewhere in the world

All kindsa stuff  being showcased here....Save yer pennies and go buy one. We need to save the economy.

new bikes. Duh.

Dorkglide

Here's your chance to do something fun on Friday....

Yeah, we think that Red Wing gets a little stodgy sometimes. Seriously, how many times can you  watch an oompa band play in the local park in one summer? This Friday at the Sheldon Theater the Caravan Du Nord comes to town. Sponsored by the Minnesota Music Coalition, it's a fantastic way to showcase some up and comers in the world of Minnesota music in the alternative set, more or less. Take that to mean you ain't gonna see any of this:

So, here is a link for the details and it's cheap. Don't be stodgy; get off your ass (we know, it's a horse in the photo...) and go.
Caravan Du Nord

Big Burn, the movie

Video of Ms. Ironworks '68, our very own trophy girl work of art, going up in flames at the annual Big Burn/Octofest.

The beer is tapped and on ice

The weather is perfect, and Fair Marie is cranking out food in the kitchen. Going to be an excellent night for the annual Big Burn/Octofest.

Miss Ironworks "68 and the official hooker-upper of the high tech beer tap system: Little Timmy.

Motorcycling is good.

Duh, we knew that all along as we learned that philosophy from Andy Goldfine, who developed the Aerostich Roadcrafter riding suit. And he's been named motorcyclist of the year by Motorcyclist magazine. Congrats, Andy. Well deserved. Your gear earns pretty high praise down at the Red Wing Ironworks Motorbike Club house in downtown metropolitan Red Wing.

Nice story in the Duluth News Tribune, here:
Goldfine motorcyclist of the year honors

Mr. Goldfine, right, gets to know some of the riff-raff from our humble club.

I do believe this is what they call....

the great expanse.

Random motorcycle picture of the day

Pan-O-rama of the recent Konawerks bike show in Minneapolis.

Big-Burn prep work.....

1) Two kegs of Rush River Beer (for the record, Unforgiven amber ale and Bubblejack IPA. Good shit, Sherlock.). In the house and ready to rock. Check.

2) Thirteen kiln dried pallets read to burn. Check.

3)Fair Marie making food prep plans already. Check.

4) Jumbo pack of Solo cups. Check.

5) Motorcycle themed sculpture built and ready for combustion. Check. (Thanks for the chairs, Scot.)

6) Forecast for Saturday: sunshine and 70. Check.

Damn near good to go for the 123th Red Wing Ironworks Motorbike Club's Big-Burn/Octofest.

Test run of the custom made beer drinking table
 constructed of scrap wood reclaimed from the city dump.
That's 'Merican ingenuity, right there, all right.