Bonneville Report, BUB Speed Trials 2011

Got back Friday from a full week on the salt at Bonneville with the BUB Speed Trials, the world's premier all motorcycle Land Speed Event. Records were not broken, they were SMASHED as the surface conditions and weather were superb for record runs.

Two goofballs having too much fun in the sun:

How it's done, full time:

Denis Manning's Dual engined Norton Streamliner, the last salt rocket he raced in:

Brough Superior!

A tremendously fast flat-track Triumph:

Stuart Hooper's "World's Fastest Velocette" broke 145 mph!

Nice Record Setting BSA from Auburn before its record run:

Big Sid's "Lola"

Salty Sunrise:

The "World's Fastest Indian Trailer"

James "the Comet"'s James Comet, World Record Holder:

Team Sodium Distortion, featuring "Super Rat". Great guys, super fast bikes, good friends to have out there:

Troop getting schooled on how to go fast in a Land Speed La-Z-Boy:

Vincent Black Lightning at sunrise:

Troop's Birthday Ride -- Report

Had a great turn out and some fantastic weather to celebrate Troop's birthday on Saturday. 30+ of the worst ne'er-do-wells to ever lay tire to tarmac turned out for an 80 mile jaunt through the foothills.









Miles were lain, beers were sipped, and one friend "Mittens" went down and earned himself a nickname. Recovering with minor damage to self and major damage to cycle, Mittens will ride again soon. It was a good day, with everyone counting their blessings by the end. Throwbacks thank everyone who made it out to Grass Valley or supported someone to do so. We'll do it all again soon.

Throwbacks Wrench Party - Day 3

Sunday.

It was just Vorhese and Pops for a bit. After some breakfast, we hit the garage and started setting up the day's fabrication. Doug decided to head up from the Bay to help out.

Gratuitous spark shot




Troop showed up so it was 4 of us working. We spent quite a while cleaning up the fender, Pops welded up the foot brake brackets, Doug and Pops worked on the front brake stay, and Troop continued to work on motor parts and modified the seat, making his preliminary parts list of all things Triumph.



We got the fender mostly mounted before Vorhese had to pack up and head home.


So Vorhese's preunit was left there. He'll be heading back in another week to finish things up. Pops took the hard tail in and TIG welded all the brackets, those weld porn shots posted earlier. It couldn't have been done without the support and love of the Throwbacks. The combined knowledge, skills, penchant for nonsense, dubiousness, hospitality, and comaradery makes it a blast to do what we do.


Too see all the photos...

Throwbacks Wrench Party - Day 2

Saturday.

All 3 of us woke up feeling like we ate bad sushi and eggs the night before. The pancakes Pops made us helped a little. But pretty much the whole day was spent feeling nauseous and uneasy. It ain't easy being green.


Vorhese sporting matching pjs.


After an eternity of getting the 18" wheel together and another bitter struggle assembling the forks we had a roller.


Troop reassembled and modified the drive line to get all the spacing right.



So we had a roller


With all our painstaking attention to detail, a second opinion and advice was required on a couple things. It also gave us a chance to pay a visit. We loaded up the truck to see local guru Robert Cohelan.


Robert has been there, done that, seen it all: British, American, Italian, German, etc. of pretty much any vintage. he rides and maintains a breathtaking example of the John Player Norton, one of the great original Big Tobacco sponsored repli racers of all time. We caught up with Robert while he was working on Travis' '51 Triumph Thunderbird show-and-go custom.




Advice given. Advice taken. No fees, no heartache. We headed back to Pops' garage and started working on the seat. Pops made some new bungs while I made a new front pivot bracket. Troop was working on tearing apart the transmission.






The seat was mounted. And we called it a night.

Throwbacks Wrench Party - Day 1

What a weekend. We got a lot done, and yet we still have so far to go on Vorhese's Triumph. A good time was had by all.


Friday.



Our friend Francisco lent his truck to get Vorhese's heap out to GV from the Bay. Alongside Vorhese's preunit rode his friend's mostly original 1957 preunit. After a 4 hour drive (it should be around 2-1/2) through horrible traffic full of people trying to get to the powder-covered mountains, Vorhese rolled into Grass Valley and greeted everyone. We had some 'za and hit the garage.



Friday was mostly setting everything out and going over a game plan. After Pops got over laughing after looking at my welds and Troop did an overall inspection, we made a to-do list. A big one. (That's what she said.)

And christened the start of the weekend.


You might notice how great some of these pictures are. The good ones are courtesy of Sarah Butcher of SB Photography, a friend of the crew who stopped by and snagged a few of us acting like regular buffoons.

That night we got the basic mockup together and started talking things out. Since Vorhese took the suggestion to change to a shorter rigid section everything he'd done to that point had to be redone. Despite all the "wasted" work everyone agrees it was the right decision. Everything just fell into place, proportionately, stylistically, and functionally.




The rest of Friday was spent just drinking. We'd pay for it on Saturday.

Look forward to installments covering the weekend's work over the next few days...