Calgary Motorcycle Show

Well, the weekend has come and gone and I spent yesterday (Monday) just puttering around the house after four solid days at the Calgary Stampede Grounds in the Roundup Centre where the 2009  Calgary Motorcycle Show was held. This is a travelling  show that visits several cities at this time of year, providing a welcome break from the winter blahs, and while I haven’t seen the final attendance figures it was a very busy place in our corner of the building.

The local Rocky Mountain chapter of the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group (CVMG) had a large number of vehicles on display ranging from a 1935 BMW through to a 1983 Suzuki Gamma, and as Suzuki was featured this year, we had good selection of this make on hand. Front and centre on the RMS CVMG display was Wade’s immaculate and all original 1972 GT750 seen to the right. Also on display was Fred’s 1976 RE5 rotary together with a cutaway of the engine which we (mainly Janice actually) cranked over by hand for hours. It never failed to attract a lot of attention as you really need to see it operating to appreciate just how different an engine design it is, and many people are not aware this type of engine was actually ever used in a motorcycle. It was also very interesting to watch people’s faces as they walked around our display – clearly seeing these older bikes brought back a lot of memories for many people, and you constantly heard parents telling their kids about how they’d had one just like one of the ones on display. The other interesting thing was the number of folks who had been given their father’s or grandfather’s bike which had been sitting for the last who knows how many years in a garage or shed, and who now were looking for information and help to get them running again. Possibly a few of these will be on display next year !

Getting the bikes to the show for all of us was not a lot of fun on Thursday as it was -15 C and snowing, but everyone chipped in and helped each other to unload and push the bikes through the snow in the parking lot and into the Roundup Centre.  Fred set the record for most trips, but I think the one that came the furthest was the absolutely beautiful 1951 Vincent Black Shadow owned by a club member north of the city. Perhaps one of the biggest concerns (other than having an accident) was the amount of slop and road spray there was for those of us using open trailers – after the hours of shining and polishing, the last thing you want is slush, sand and salt spray all over your pride and joy ! Fortunately the cover I had worked well, and I had only a small amount of tidy-up to do once I’d unloaded.

My own contributions were my 1974 GT550, and my project bike with the burgundy tank seen to the left, and which a few of the members call a GTS750 as it is a GT/GS hybrid. For me personally, completing the project was the culmination of six months of very satisfying and rewarding work, and the perfect tonic as it took my mind completely away from cares, pressures and concerns of my former employment, and allowed me to fully disconnect and move into retirement mode.  All in all, it was a great experience, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s show.

Next on the agenda is to get the GT550 running and also do some work on my Yamaha YA6 along with the other usual household items – I suppose at some point I may consider looking for a part time job of some sort, but at the moment I’m not sure where I’d be able to find the time !

Suitably Retro

For the past several months, I have been looking for a suitable set of turn signals to fit the 1966 Yamaha YA6  that I bought earlier this year. I haven’t had too much trouble finding other bits and pieces – original style mirrors for example – but finding NOS turn signals from that era has proved to be a challenge. What are offered either from a dealer or after market reproduction supply, are examples of plastic and chrome ugliness that are closer to the look of more modern motorcycles than the older 1960’s look. I have seen a few custom lights intended for choppers and custom HD’s, but frankly the idea of putting Harley Davidson lights on a one eighth liter Japanese two stroke just didn’t feel right, and as well most of the custom lights are either halagon or LED’s which again just don’t match the era. A large part of the problem is that signals themselves were not a factory original item, but instead were offered as a dealer equipped option. As a result, finding a part number has not been easy, and in the past six months I have only actually seen one light for sale on eBay which went very quickly, and which just shows I’m not the only person with this problem !

The other day, I was puttering about the showroom of Universal Cycle in the north of Calgary while I was waiting for some tires to be installed for my GT750 project bike, and I literally stumbled across a solution.  Buried in one of the display cabinets was a light from a company called Emgo, and while this light wasn’t the same as what would have been installed originally, it did have that pleasingly ’Flash Gordon’ retro look that I was looking for ! I’ve included a photo to the right.  The owner, Don Fergin, was able to dig up another three to go with the one in the display case, so I bought the set of four and walked away a happy person !

I’m still debating whether to paint them black as the original lights would have been done, or to leave them as chrome, mainly because at the moment the new chrome really stands out and makes the rest of the unrestored bike look a bit tired, but I’m in no particular hurry. My longer term plan is to do a ground up rebuild with new paint etc., sometime next year so I’ll decide then, and perhaps powder coat them with the rest of the parts I’ll be doing, plus of course I’ll still keep an eye open for an NOS style set as it seems everything shows up on eBay eventually !

Way Too Busy !

It has been a busy couple of weeks ! Since my last note, we have managed to successfully bring the newest addition to the stable across the border into Canada. The little Yamaha YA6 was given an inspection by the US and Canadian port authorities at the Wild Horse border crossing between Montana and Alberta. I’ll admit, I was really very pleasantly surprised with both how helpful and easy to work with the folks were on both sides of the border. It was such a different experience to that of a couple of months ago when we had some ‘discussions’ on the Canadian side of the border at Midway in BC. The Midway Canadian border agent was quite rude, and appeared to resent the the fact he actually had to do some work ! In contrast, the Wild Horse (and you have to admit it is a great name for a border post eh ?) US and Canadian border folks were great, and they have restored my faith in government employees. The funny thing, is that without Google Maps, we would never have known of the place, and we would have missed out on both a good experience, and also some great scenery. When I pumped in a request for directions on the best way to get from Delaware to Calgary, that was the border crossing that Google automatically selected. It is actually quite an isolated location, and I suspect possibly doesn’t get a lot of traffic as it is in the southeast corner of Alberta, just south of the Cypress Hills Provincial Park area. At any rate, once the paperwork had been completed, the tax paid, etc., we stopped to take a photo to mark the occasion of the YA6’s entry to Alberta !

The round trip from Calgary to the east coast and back again, covered 9,085 km. In contrast to the outbound trip , the average speed on the return was 89 km/hr and the average fuel consumption rate was worse at 12.8 l/100 km or about 22.1 mpg (imperial gallons). The fuel consumption no doubt was impacted by having to cross through the Appalachian hills (they call them mountains, but they are actually just hills when compared to what you see on the west coast), the crawling along for half a day in road construction through Wisconsin, and I have to admit also due to enjoying the pure exuberance of the 75 mph limits (the traffic was actually moving along at over 80 mph) in the mid-west states of Minnesota and North Dakota ! The average fuel cost on the US leg of the trip was just over $1/liter for premium, or roughly 70% of the cost of the same fuel in Canada – I’d say the Americans really have nothing to complain about when it comes to the cost of gasoline ! As on the outbound trip, we saw lots of wildlife – many more prong horn antelope (typically in the same fields with the cattle as you can see to the right), but also quite a few deer.

Since arriving home, the Yamaha has had an oil change and a minor tuneup, and is now running a bit better. Over the next few months I will likely pick up a few eBay sourced bits and pieces, as well as talk to the folks here in town at Walt Healy Motosports and elsewhere to see what they have in the way of NOS parts and bits. The Walt Healy shop has been in business here in Calgary since 1931, and the staff have been helpful the few times I have gone in to talk to their parts counter people.

The next project I’m about to start is the restoration of another GT750 Suzuki water buffalo – the ‘home’ site for the project will be here. – busy times !

125 cc’s of Nostalgia !

Many years ago – actually many, many years ago – I bought my first vehicle.  At the time, I was 18 years old and I most definitely did not have my parent’s permission – in point of fact, my Dad had expressly said ‘no’ to the idea. The vehicle in question was a 1966 Yamaha YA6 125 cc motorcycle which was in much less than ‘good’ mechanical shape, but did at least run and was plated. The school friend I bought it from coached me on how to drive it – driving along side of me on his motorbike down Bayview Avenue north of Richmond Hill, shouting out ’shift’ whenever I had to change gear as I had never driven a standard before. This was complicated by the fact that at that time, Bayview wasn’t really paved  and was a mix of gravel and pot holes, as well as the fact that the shift lever was missing and in its place was a pair of vise grip pliers ! I also didn’t have a driver’s license valid for a motorbike, although I did have insurance. At any rate, I managed to drive it to a friend’s house where I hid the bike as I couldn’t take it home. This worked well for a few weeks, but eventually it leaked gasoline on his driveway and his father demanded it disappear, so I had to take it home and face the music from my Dad.

I put a lot of miles on that bike, and even took my driver’s license test on it eventually in early winter and in several inches of snow – not my choice actually. I’d been caught by a friendly police officer who gave me a bit of a break as I did have a drivers license for a car – he gave me a couple of weeks to take the test etc., and it was just unfortunate that we had an early snowfall. At any rate, lots of good memories, including driving it up to King City to see the girl I’d eventually marry.

I’d been watching for a decent YA6 to come up for sale over the past year or so but they were all in the US and generally too far away to make buying them feasible. When I recently found this one (photo to the left) near my brother’s place on the east coast of the US, I jumped at the opportunity as we owed them a visit and as well we were going to be ‘in the area’ for our son’s graduation in Ontario so it seemed like a great opportunity. My brother was good enough to pick the bike up after I bought it, and then store it at his place (which is a lovely home) till we were able to get there this week.

The bike is in really good shape for a 42 year old machine . It runs, although it probably could use a bit of a tuneup, the paint is good and to cut a long story short, I’m really happy with it.

Now all we need to do is get it home !