I had another weekend of motorcycling and airplane watching. Saturday was shaping up to be hot. I pulled the Vincent out about 8:15 AM. I got on the road 20 minutes later. I took Hwy. 85 to Hwy. 17. I turned off at Black Road. This takes a number of switchbacks and hairpin turns up to Hwy. 35, Skyline Blvd. I rode Skyline up to Skylonda and stopped in a the Skywood Trading Post and had a cup of coffee. It was still before 10:00AM, I had not had a single car in front of me all the way from Black Road! This is a fantastic ride when you can set your own pace. There were only about 8 bikes up at Skywood. I stopped and talked with one of the other motorcyclists for a while. As we sat there, all of these cars and big trucks started showing up all at once, in the period of about 10 minutes it became very busy indeed. Alice s Restaurant is still closed, there is evidence of some sort of work going on there, but no clues as to if or when they might reopen. I rode down La Honda Road (Hwy. 84) to La Honda then turned off on Alpine Road and took it to Pescadero Road. I road down to Pescadero and had breakfast at Duarte s. I gassed up across the street and rode Hwy. 1 all the way up past Half Moon Bay and through Devil s Slide. It was a beautiful, warm clear day. I continued on Hwy. 1 up to the junction with the 280 freeway and took that to Hwy. 85 and back home in one long high speed run. The Vincent took all of this in stride, hard to believe it is 45 years old! A ride like this would have caused most of its contemporaries to blow up.

6-8-97

Sunday I turned on to Alpine Road, took it to Pescadero Road and followed that down into Pescadero. The weather was nice in Mountain View, but there were clouds on the hills, turns out they retreated towards the coast as I approached, I was in sunlight the whole way. I pulled into Duarte s at 9:55 AM not bad for a 45 mile ride across the mountains! My friends had just arrived. He is building a Vincent and we arraigned to swap rides. He has a rotary Norton (Wankel powered) possibly the only one registered in the USA. This is the Interpol model built for the British Police. This bike was quite a contrast for me after riding the Vincent. It had a unique sound, sort of a cross between a two cycle motor and a rock polisher or tumbler. We rode back up Pescadero Road and turned off to the right and headed over to Butano State Park. We switched back to our own bikes before going in the park. I knew my friend would be surprised by the harsh ride of the Vincent, but he was very impressed with the power and smoothness of the engine. He is considering putting the Vincent engine in a Norton frame that currently has a run out Indian Chief 1200cc motor in it. The park was very nice, I plan to go back and spend an afternoon there soon. We headed up Gazos Creek Road until it turned into a dirt road. We turned around and took Gazos Creek Road to the coast. We joined Hwy. 1 about ten miles south of Pescadero. I parted company with my friends and rode up Hwy. 1 to San Gregorio and took 84 up past Skylonda and back down to Portola Road, Sand Hill, 280, 85 and home.

6-23-97

Sunday I rolled the Vincent out at about 8:30 and headed up to Alice s for breakfast. It was clear weather all the way, but very cold for June. Alice's is open, with a simplified menu and a new decor without a motorcycle theme. The food was fine and the service just as chaotic as always. I used my coffee cup as a hand warmer. My Dad joined me as I was finishing breakfast and we had coffee together. He is 68 years old, a long time motorcyclist and currently owns a 82 Yamaha Virago and a 77 Harley Low Rider (he's on his third Harley, I'm on my fourth). We went across the street to the Skywood trading post. I ran into a friend that was riding a 77 Triumph Bonnieville. We talked about bikes for a while and decided to ride together back to my place in Mountain View. We blasted down the road pretty fast, at one point it occurred to me to slow down because I though his bike might be shaking him a lot at the high speeds. What I didn t know was that he had a muffler break off and fall on the road about Magdalena Avenue. We proceeded to Hwy. 85. As we turned round the first bend after you join 85 from 280 traffic ahead was at a dead stop. My friend rode up beside me and informed me of his lost muffler. I found out my clutch was dragging. With the clutch fully in, the bike would creep along at just about the right pace for the barely crawling traffic. Turns out there was a 4WD truck upside down against the sound wall. We proceeded to my place and I loaned my friend some wire to wire up his exhaust to get him home. I looked at my clutch adjustment and decided I would consult Dave Malloy, Vincent guru, and he showed me how to properly adjust my clutch.

6-29-97

Sunday afternoon I went motorcycling with a friend. We had planned to take the Norton, but we neglected the first rule of riding my Norton. Never ride the Norton on a day you have ANYTHING else planned! My friend needed to be in Berkeley by four, we set out at about noon. The Norton quit at the end of the block. I did a quick check, gas turned on, electric power, and tried to start it. It started right up and we headed around the corner. It quit again at the next intersection. I decided I wasn t going to put up with this with a passenger with a time constraint. We headed back to the house and pulled out the Vincent. We had just returned the unreliable 1975 British bike to set out on the more reliable 1952 British bike! The Vincent started on the second kick and we proceeded down the street. It died as we approached the first corner! Seems I forgot to turn on the gas! Turn on the petrol cock, one kick and finally we were off! We took Hwy. 85 to 280 to Sand Hill to Portero Road to Woodside Road up to Alice s Restaurant. The Vincent displayed it s "marvelously flexible" engine to best advantage, it was nothing to the bike to be 85MPH with two people on the freeway or 25MPH behind a tourist on the curves of Woodside Road.

We rode down to the coast and turned North on Hwy. 1 and rode up to San Gregorio and took Hwy. 84 all the way up past Skylonda and back down to Sand Hill Road and home. I had been very careful to leave the Vincent in gear when I parked on the trip, it has a weak sidestand that can fold up and drop the bike very quickly. I didn't think to leave it in gear in my own backyard. I saw my friend off and talked for a while with my housemate and a friend of his When I went out back to clean up the Vincent and put it away I found it laying on it s side, slowly leaking oil into the dirt. The bike got off with slight damage, a broken mirror and broken clutch lever. Both the mirror and clutch lever are modern replacements, available readily with the application of cash. We examined the area, it appears the ground where the sidestand had been had broken up and the stand sank in into the ground about three or four inches. This was enough motion for the bike to roll forward and fold up the sidestand. I was able to get the ground to break up like this in several parts of the yard. Our backyard had been paved with asphalt (about the time of World War Two). The asphalt has been slowly hidden with dirt over the years to a depth of three to five inches. Between the dry weather and the weight of the bike the dirt just sort of came apart. Tonight I ll try to get a new mirror and clutch lever.

7-13-97

Sunday I had a good blast into Alice's were I had breakfast again . As always the Vincent collected acrowd and I explained the usual, were it was made, what year it was, etc.etc. I went across the street to the Skywood parking lot. I bought a cup of coffee in the market to keep them happy and watched people check in on a poker run put on by the "Filthy Swine" (no I didn't ask). My dad showed up on his Harley, and he showed me the latest changes and repairs he hadmade to it. I headed down the to coast on La Honda Road, and rode all the way to Santa Cruz. After doing the usual creep through town I headed up Hwy. 9 back across 35 and took 9 to Redwood Gulch Road, Stevens Canyon and on to Hwy. 85. I was taking the ramp from 85 to El Camino Real when the clutch suddenly would not disengage. I got the bike into second gear and hoped that the light at Hwy.237 and El Camino would be green. Well, it wasn't and the bike stalled when I tried to get moving again when the light changed. So I pushed the Vincent the last mile home at the end of a 150 mile ride. My luck had been kinda bad with my bikes the last week or so, but at least I got all of them home.

8-11-97

The problem turned out to be the clutch adjuster on the other side of the bike. This is a fine thread steel adjuster screwed into an aluminum sidecase. The threads in the aluminum had stripped out. I pulled the case off the bike and took it up to Dave Malloy, Vincent guru, to have a threaded insert installed.

8-12-97 I got the sidecover for the Vincent back. Before I put it all together I checked the condition of the countershaft sprocket. Turns out it is worn out, so I ordered a new countershaft and final drive sprocket (I have a new chain). I can ride the bike until the new parts arrive.

8-16-97 I was supposed to go to a Vincent club meeting Sunday with a passenger on my Vincent. I rolled out the Vincent to do a short test ride and fill it up with gas. The bike was unusually reluctant to start. As in most of these situations, I became less and less dressed the longer I kicked it. I finally held the compression release open, opened the throttle wide, and kicked it a few times like that. I was rewarded by an enormous BANG! that shook the barn behind me and had my ears ringing loudly. Shortly after that, the bike consented to start. I let it idle for a while and managed to get dressed and ready to ride again. The bike ran fine, and I gassed it up for tomorrow s ride.

8-17-97 My backseat rider was unable to make it, so I took the Vincent to Pescadero by a more direct route than I originally planned. I headed up to 280 freeway to Sand Hill to Portero Road to Woodside Road(Hwy.84) and over the summit on to La Honda Road (the other part of 84) and down to La Honda. I turned off at Alpine Road and took that to Pescadero Road and down to Duarte s in Pescadero. I was a little early so I talked with some motorcyclist s as they were leaving from their breakfast gathering. I was able to take off some of my heavy riding gear after the meeting as the fog had burned off and we had a beautiful day. I then rode up Hwy. 1 to San Gregorio and up La Honda road to Skylonda in hopes of seeing my Dad up there. As always, the Vincent drew comments, stares, and questions. My Dad wasn t there, so I took off down Hwy.35 towards Santa Cruz. I turned off at Black Road and took that down to Hwy.17 and took Hwy.17 to Hwy.85 and home. Last year they finally built an overpass at Black Road and Hwy.17, before that crossing the highway was a life endangering experience!

8-23-97

During the week I was successful at having the chain and both sprockets replaced on the Vincent. I thought this would be a good weekend to check out all the work I had done to the bike lately. Saturday I went to Coffee Society with the Vincent and met up with one of the women that works there. She had been interested in going for a motorcycle ride. The weather was rather variable, it started raining two or three times and stopped, and started up again. It only rained enough to splotch up the wax job on the Vincent. My friend had only ridden on a motorcycle once before, it turns out she made a good passenger. With the weird weather there were only about 15 or 20 bikes up there. I fended off the usual crowd from around the Vincent, answering questions about it s age, where it was made, etc. etc. The bike ran well, I m quite happy with how the various changes have turned out. From there we rode south on Hwy. 35 (Skyline Blvd.). The weather had cleared some, with patches of cloud and sunlight. Traffic was light, and we flew down the road to Hwy. 9 and took that to Redwood Gulch Road. I usually come up this road. I always forget just how steep this road is. The drum brakes on the Vincent require careful management on a long, steep, downhill to avoid having them fade out. One of the important points to remember with this bike, it is easy to forget how old it is at times (until you try to stop!). Today I had the additional weight of a passenger as well. We got down to Stevens Canyon Road with some brake remaining and back to Coffee Society. My passenger seems none the worse for the experience and may want to ride again another day.

That afternoon I managed to get my Norton down to my mechanic to replace a broken primary chain. I took a chance and rode the bike down there. The Norton always seems to run it s best when it is headed into the shop! My housemate Carl had gone with me to give me a ride back. We saw mutual friend at the shop. He was picking up one of his bikes, an old Indian/Velocete. This is a rather nice British single cylinder bike marketed under the Indian name after the Indian company had quit making bikes. The Vincent was also marketed through Indian in it s later years. My Vincent had originally been shipped to the "Indian Sales Group" in Oregon in 1952.

8-24-97

Sunday morning was much sunnier than Saturday had been. I pulled the Vincent out and was on the road by 9:00 AM. I stopped at Coffee Society and had a cup. From there I took Hwy. 85 to Hwy. 17 and went up Black Road to Hwy. 35 towards Alice s Restaurant. The weather was just about perfect. It was cool enough for my leather jacket to be comfortable and no cooler. This is one of my favorite routes, this time of day I often have the road completely to myself. I was not behind a car until I was past the intersection with Page Mill Road, most of the way to Alice's. From Alice s I headed down La Honda Road to Alpine Road and down Pescadero Road to Pescadero. I rode North on Hwy. 1 and turned up Hwy. 92 towards San Mateo. It was still early enough the road was fairly open going East. West bound was already a long line of traffic extending out of Half Moon Bay and well up towards the junction with Hwy. 35! I turned on to Hwy. 35 and rode back to Alice s and the Skywood parking lot. I got off there and stretched my legs. It was now about 1:30 in the afternoon. There were now well over a hundred bikes up there, and traffic in and out was nuts. Guys riding by doing wheelies on their crotch rockets, swerving around cars, cutting people off, all the stuff that gives bikes a bad name. I didn t see anyone get clobbered, but as I was leaving, emergency vehicles started heading down La Honda road in large numbers with sirens and flashing lights. I had not realized how much craziness I was avoiding just by getting up early in the morning!

Listen for the sound of a Vincent