Another Ironbutt Association Member Amongst Us

Congratulations Brett. He nailed the Saddle Sore 1000 on Walt Ride 2016, racking up 1040 miles from Duluth to Scottsbluff via Pine Bluffs, Wyo. His certificate confirming his ride arrived today.

Hiawatha Rally, right here, know whut I'm saying?

Haven't been to this one in some time but it's a darn good rally in a great area to ride a motorcycle. Can't say enough about riding Hwy. 4 and Hwy. 10 in Houston County.

Hiawatha Rally flyer

Buell..... Remember them?

Closing again. Elvis has left the building to the tune of the fat lady singing.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2017/01/27/ebr-motorcycles-shutting-down-again/97132200/

Random Motorcycle Picture Of The Day

Scattershot: it's a nice word to learn

And it aptly describes this evening's post. Here you go:

While we thought that ol' Dodger pictured above was the original moto-dog here at the Ironworks Clubhouse, archival evidence has been found to the contrary. Little Timmy has unearthed this photo of Jacque Henry Pierre III atop a moped-ish looking bike in Scottsbluff. He claims its the first bike he and his brother Tracy co-owned.

Also, some of us, who live in St. Cloud, went out for a shortish 130 miler on Sunday. The snow is disappearing, can't ride a snowmobile; might as well ride a motorsickle.

Where the snowmobile trail used to be. How ironic.

Yes, it's a ski hill in the background.

Motorcycle Movie Night for March: Ponch? John?

To be released March 24.

Motorcycles on frozen water?

Why, that's called ice racing, baby. Our Northern Correspondent was there to cover the action in photos at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on Friday night. This event is part of the World Championship ICE Racing Series.

http://icespeedway.com/

Officially endorsed music event in RW

Yep, the Bad Bad Hats will play the Sheldon Theater Saturday, Jan.28 at 7:30 p.m. The Sheldon seats about 450, so there is not a bad seat in the house, and the tickets are cheap. Really, you have no excuses not to go and catch this up and coming indie rock band from the Twin Cities.

Sheldon Theater - Bad Bad Hats

Bad Bad Hats website

Nigel Tufnel Approved: Bad Bad Hats at the Sheldon, a definite 11.

Our man in the field files final trip report from Africa

Greetings from Entebbe, Uganda --

Pretty much done with reporting and now we just have to kill time before our flight about 31 hours from now.

I have given out Ironworks Club biz cards to some boda boda riders. Our driver, Saul, explained to them I like motorcycles. I don't think they understand that people ride motorcycles for fun. They are used for work,  like horses.  BTW horses have a hard time surviving this part of Africa because of various nasty viruses and parasites.  I have not seen a single horse, mule or donkey since being in Africa.

He says most of the boda boda guys will not have access to the internet; smart phones are too expensive for most people. The funny thing is Africa is way ahead of the US when it comes to using cell phones to pay for the things.

Motorcycles outnumbers cars about 15-1. Most are Indian or Chinese. I saw one BMW GS in Nairobi and one big Yamaha cruiser in Uganda. Everything is about about a 125cc. A bike like that costs about $1200 USD or 4,260,000 (Ugandan shillings). Per capita income is about $700 USD a year.

I missed the photo of the bike carrying a moderate-sized refrigerator, but I attached one almost as good

Sad news to report

Little Timmy's brother Tracy passed away yesterday following a two-story fall on Jan. 1 while working a job in Deadwood, S.D. We're saddened to learn of his passing. We all got to meet Walter Tracy Ford last summer during the annual Walt Ride to Scottsbluff, NE, Tim's old stomping grounds of yore. As usual, it was an older brother who got the younger brother hooked on motorcycles. During out visit last June, it was fun to hear the tales of Tim and Tracy ripping around the bluffs on dirt bikes and of  other two-wheeled high jinx in western Nebraska. In talking with Tracy, it was clear he had a passion for motorcycles that he helped instill in Little Timmy. Our hat is off to you, Tracy. Godspeed. This 2017 Walt Ride will be dedicated to Tracy's honor.

Todd, Terry, Tracy and Tim.last June.

Winter reading

From the NY Times....

Mansplaining motorcycles

More from Africa

Good morning from Nairobi --

Thought I'd send some a couple more photos before our flight to Entebbe, Uganda in a couple hours.

I shot these photos of boda bodas being repaired not he side of the road while on our trip to photograph fruit bats, that didn't pan out.

We got stuck in traffic and were running late. We get there and the chief wants to chat while daylight was fading quickly. 

We had to hire three police officers and village chief to accompany us in this slum after dark.

This was a place where even our Kenyan researchers guiding us were threatened recently by a mob of people high on glue and weed.

Anyhow, it got dark and the bats weren't cooperating.

Then we went out to dinner and local culture with our Kenyan researchers. Went to a place called Maxland's.

We had a traditional dinner of an entire roast goat, there's not a lot of meat. It's bland, very well done and served with what I think was bland mashed potatoes. It took a while to get dinner so maybe they were chasing it down.

It might have been in one the goats I photographed yesterday.

The surreal part was dinner. We were the only people of European descent, but no big deal. The funny part was the guy singing country western songs in Swahili. I even recognized Kenny Rogers' song "The Gambler".

Spanning the globe to bring you the latest.

Our Man in the Field filed this motorcycle update from Nairobi:

Greetings from Nairobi --

The guy in this photo is sleeping on his boda boda which is a motorcycle taxi. There are thousands of them in this city of three million people and you be amazed how they handle the city's notorious traffic and crappy roads. By the way, I read a story the other day saying the Kenya has the highest motorcycle fatality rate in the world.

These guys are the toughest riders in the world.

Number crunching

Our friends over at Superbike Planet crunched the numbers for all time winning percentages in Moto GP. A very good read, indeed.

http://superbikeplanet.com/2017/Jan/sp4/20170108-1702.htm

The only GP related photo I could find in the vast Ironworks Archives this AM.

Hey boys and girls....

It's Motorcycle Movie Night at Paul, Jr.'s this Saturday night. It's going to be swell; all the cool kids will be there. As usual, the stoopid stuff starts at 7 p.m.

Maybe we'll see this gem?

And then there were two.

The Mother Ship (Polaris) has pulled the plug on Victory Motorcycles.  We're late to the party as I am sure most of you have read this elsewhere already. Sad to see the company go. I have two well-worn Victory t-shirts that I received from various test rides when the bikes first came out. Better keep them from the rag bin now. (By the way, Victory did offer freaking great test rides on its bikes.) The battle royale between Harley and Indian returns, just like the good, old days from the 30s and 40s, right Gramps?

Victory kaput

Victory Sports Cruiser; for a larger bike, it was a hoot to ride.
Too bad there was never an audience for it.

From the Way Back Machine, Sherman.

A few more pics from Sept.'s Northshore Shindig, a must do adventure ride. Get off your butt and make plans now; it's a fast nine months away, Cletus.

Out in the wilds.

Sir Robert, but who could tell.

Roadside tire repair. Bring tools. Yes indeedy.

What, you don't like 70 octane? OK Bub, ride 50 miles thata way to the next town.

Varied bike line up at day's end.

Rickety bridge that you only see in 3rd World locales... Not really.

Shindig HQ: Wildhurst Campground.

What to do when it's gonna be 9 below zero?

Go to the old standby: another Random Motorcycle Picture of the day post...

Random Motorcycle Picture of the day

Because we don't ride snowmobiles, that's why

Scenes from today's 69th annual - yes, 69th annual - I-Cycle Derby in the Twin Cities. Derby HQ is Roy's Repair in Minneapolis with routes spanning across the Minneapolis and St. Paul. Could not ask for a better way to start 2017. This ride ain't about speed, it's all about timing and getting the lowest score. Think golf on motorcycles. We were happy in simply not getting lost. We managed. No matter, Team Strange put on a great show.

You meet the nicest people on a 70s era Honda scoot.

The second check point in St. Paul. Derp,skyline in the background.

Written instructions. Shouldn't be too hard to follow and
better than the instructions you'll ever get with that Ikea bookshelf.

Good assortment of bikes. Harleys to Vespas.

At the start line.

Very nice Suzook.

Sidehack with Mr. Happy.

Battle scooters.

Tribute to Steady Eddie or work in progress?  Both at Roy's Repair.

Heading for home with 70's era Vespa.

Lined up and ready to go.

Sir Robert on the line on the able KLX250. It's a beasty.

I do believe this guy won something. And he brought a passenger.