Spring Lake Park

It’s Friday, 70 degrees and partly cloudy.  I can’t sit in the office on a day like this, so I took a lunch ride out to Spring Lake Park. Spring lake is a stump filled manifestation of lock and dam #2 on the Mississippi. The park is located on a southern bluff with views of the industrial landscape downstream of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

A lone black rain cloud found me while I was walking the parks trails, looking for a place to eat. The majority of the park is restored prairie but I did find a short bridge over a wooded ravine where I could take shelter under the canopy. If I were out in the open I would have been soaked to the bone. Under the trees, I was able to eat my Asian salad and peach in mostly dry comfort.

- Ride North

When I grow up…

Lord – let me never settle down –

Through failing riches and renown,

Ever keep alive in me

That gasping curiosity

That keeps me young, and all aglow

To see, to feel, to hear to know –

Though fate should smile on me or frown –

Lord – let me never settle down.

-Unknown

- Ride North

Holbrook, Tenney. From the Log of a Trout Fisherman. New York: Independent, 1949. Print.

Search for the source

Like a diesel truck at the drag strip, its mass is steadily building speed. The roadside attractions peacefully blur in my periphery. My cone of vision narrows. Time to check the clocks. Time to ease off the throttle. The flying brick calmly returns to earthly speeds. I can see why people like these K bikes but our American roads, drivers and law enforcement officers are not built to support Autobahn mode. As this is the only mode available, I hand it back to it's owner.

The big bike, big power experience is surprisingly fantastic but not always as fun as it should be. Back in the day, I put some miles on a 1200cc Suzuki Bandit. Even when holding back, that bike was fast. Almost annoyingly fast. I welcome the age of ride-by-wire and traction control.

Sport mode. Engaged. Crack the throttle and you're gone. Did you see that dirt road? Raise the suspension, soften the throttle response, curb the power and don't forget to signal you turn.Welcome to the modern age. If you want to relax a bit and play with handfuls of torque, the Multistrada can do that. If you want to drag a knee and carve apexes (at a track day), it has a mode for that too. I found myself in full sport mode or full rain mode. I just liked the consistent power delivery of each. Guess I'm not into peaky power, VTEC or touring mode. The owner of this fine machine prefers tame off-idle power delivery wile keeping full power just a quarter turn away. It's good to have options.

Day one: St Paul - Garrison - Brainerd - Walker 

The cast.

July seventeenth, six PM, a pair of crusty bikers roll up to my Saint Paul home. Wide eyed, my son presses his nose against the storm door glass. "Dad. What's Todd doing?" He knows to keep an eye on Todd. "Grandpa woo-hoo is here!" These are the crusty bikers we've been waiting all day to see.

The next morning, as the family sets off to work and day care, our crew of crusty bikers set off towards lake country; three days of bombing around in the woods and exploring the local bar scene in the evening. It's an annual event, traditionally organized out of a cheep motel behind Nigel's Pub in Wisconsin Dells.

This year we did a little freestyle exploring in Minnesota. Todd and my dad both live in the Milwaukee metro, they're just beginning to explore Minnesota. It was time to see what lay west of Highway 61, beyond the clay and waterfalls, into the unexplored lake country. We set out to find new roads, new people and new hotels (with vacancies). It was a successful trip.

The best roads from day one:

• The quiet two lane road that parallels 169 along the west shore of Mille Lacs,
• County Road 10 and 11 north of Garrison,
• and the road along the west side of Gull lake.

In Garrison, on the north side of town, we found a bar with seating on the water. The only thing on the menu was pizza. We ordered two.

"What's Todd doing?"
The billboard says: "Don't get a divorce, get a cabin. Counselor Reality" You can't make this stuff up.

Day two: Walker - Itasca - Grand Rapids - Virginia

Itasca: a lake that becomes The River.

Watching someone see the headwaters of the Mississippi River for the first time never gets old.

Best roads for day two:

• Itasca State Park road - park speed but scenic, 
• Highway 38 from Talmoon to Grand Rapids,
• Highway 169 - driving into the Iron Range

Day three: Virginia - Ely - Duluth - Ashland  ( for me , it was a 6AM ride from Virginia to St Paul )

Best roads of day 3:

• I had to be in home by 10:00 and I thoroughly enjoyed my peaceful 6AM drive from Virginia to Cloquet,
• Pop's said Highway 1 from Ely to Finland was his new favorite road in Minnesota. I don't think anyone will disagree with that.
• Skyline drive in Duluth is always fun.

Skyline Drive

Pops A.K.A. the Rooster

As I rolled into the garage the trip meter was showing 776 and 9 tenths miles. Being crusty bikers, we left crumbs here.

- Ride North

Rooster's Rules of the Road -

The center of the face shield is reserved for the largest bugs.

Fear of the dark

It's been ten months since I acquired the Triumph and already the fork seal is leaking. Some things never change. To be fair, the bike is 20 years old with 42 thousand miles on it and I purchased it knowing that it needed some maintenance. I've never attempted to pull a fork apart so I was a little apprehensive about doing this job. Time to put up or pay up.

If I screw this up, it's going to be expensive or worse dangerous. But the real motivation for not screwing up is that I didn't want to walk into the dealership with my tail between my legs. (real mechanics love us pretenders)  "Go slow and do your homework" I tell myself. With most mechanical work, the trick to not breaking things is to not put yourself in a position to break things. Buy the special tools, do your homework and get help from someone you trust. (better yet pay a professional) Wrench like you ride, commit or get off the pot.

Keep it clean. My shop may be a mess, but it's a clean mess. Keep the parts in the order they were removed and do one leg at a time.

A homemade tool makes things possible but not easy. The dampening rod is at the very bottom of the stanchion and requites 2 feet of extensions to reach. If installed correctly, it's locked down with 40 foot-pounds of torque. It's not going to break loose easily, making for a sketchy situation. The key to not striping the top of the dampening rod is to keep your extensions in line with the fork leg. The torque you're about to put on it will twist the extensions out of line and can cause the tool to slip.

This is a good place to screw it up big time. Strip this out and it's game over.

Don't forget to replace the crush washer. And use a torque wrench! All sliding bushings and o rings can be replaced at this time as well. All the parts (aftermarket seals and dust covers) were about $120. Labor was inexpensive but slow. 

Three days and 700 miles later, the bike is handling great with no leaks.

There's not much you can't do with a little common sense and the internet, or a competent professional. Consider stress, time and risk before digging into any project. (You probably already knew that but some of us need to learn the hard way.)

- Ride North

Bike show weekend!

The Minnesota chapters of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America and the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club assembled yet another fine gathering of people and machines at the State Fair grounds this weekend. The annual Vintage Motorcycle Show / AMCA meet / VJMC show / Largest Antique Motorcycle Meet in Minnesota continues to be a spectacular gathering of motorcycle history.

The featured model this year included examples from every year.

Some stock. Some not.

The mighty CBX. 

It was interesting to see the changes over the years. They must have had some issues with the alternator because year two on was completely different. The only thing missing was the big hondaline fairing, which for some reason I find attractive. 

Talking paint. One of the many Q&A sessions. 

The National Motorcycle Museum  brought out this period, unrestored bobber. 

Black and gold. Good motorcycle colors.

This original and unrestored CL350 had a hand full of "best of" credentials.

I know an RD took home a prize, I'm guessing it was this one!

Another fast and furious CB550. Well done sir!

Out of all the bikes, this was one of my favorite, probably because it took me totally by surprise.

The Sears catalogs have been lacking in recent decades.

Some old race bikes to inspire your next "Street tracker" project.

A beautiful Hustler (this comment will ensure this post Googles well)

Is it just an old bike or an unrestored classic? 

I spent so much time looking at the bikes in Kawasaki Conner that I forgot to take a decent picture. 

Some top notch Triumphs 

Kawasaki brought in a 550 and 750 version of the Zephyr in the early 90s, cool bikes if you can find them.

An example of the signage present for most bikes in the show. 

Light weight carbon fiber rims made of the finest Canadian maple! 

A swap meet AJS with some bits missing.

An early sportster, one of my favorites from The Motor Company

I don't know how this snuck into the parking lot, but it did. Ooo the sounds.

The Guzzi 1000SP Spada, so much to like.

- Ride North