Biker Heaven

Museums come in all shapes and sizes, from little local ones operated by individuals to large national facilities. Home in Dartmouth, we have a little museum completely devoted to the “Happy Face”, and in our travels we have visited some that can take most of a day to explore.

In the Town of Maggie Valley, North Carolina I visited one of the best museums I have seen, called “Wheels Through Time”, devoted to the American Motorcycle.

This is an amazing museum with a wonderful collection of vintage and historically significant motorcycles. I spent two hours wandering through the history of the motorcycle in the United States of America. Of course there were lots of Harley Davidson machines, but most of Harley Davidson’s rivals through the years are also represented. Although I know a lot about motorcycles, there were a lot here that I did not know about. There were also sections of the museum devoted to many racing motorcycles from dirt tracking, hill climbing, enduro, drag racing and road courses. There was even one of Evel Knievel machines.

Not only are there motorcycles displayed all through the building, there are also accurate

The wheels time forgot?

depictions of various motorcycle shops through time. They were so well done that I did not realize that in one corner of the museum I was looking into the actual museum workshop where they actually restore and maintain the bikes in the museum. Also significant is the fact that many of the bikes on display are not restored, they have simply been rescued and repaired, so you see them as they were discovered.

While I visited the museum, there were no actual “guided” tours, and they are not really necessary with the detailed plaques explaining exhibits, but there were staff members who would suddenly engage groups or individuals with discussions of significant motorcycles. As well, Dale Walksler, the museum’s owner and host of the TV show “What’s in the Barn?” was always around tinkering and working on motorcycles.

If you are a “Biker” of any sort, this museum is without a doubt a “Must Visit” location. Put it on your “Bucket List.

Have not heard of "Marsh" Motorcycles

Hill Climb Tire

This is not the actual museum workshop

How about a Harley Davidson saw?

Some restorations

A rescue - no restoration

The Chopper graveyard

Back from the war

TOO Loud!

I like car shows, but discovered that they are not all equal. Driving home from an outing one day, I saw a poster on a light pole promoting a car show that was not too far away. Cars, Motorcycles, and “sound” the poster said. I saw, “Cars” and “Bikes”, but did not really focus on that “Sound” category.  I should have!

And it only had an AM radio

There was a1965 mustang, three motorcycles, and 10,000 speakers (A guess . .)

It seemed that the “Sound” category was all about how many speakers you can cram into a vehicle, and how loud you could play Rap music. For example, take a Ford Superduty F350 4X4 pickup truck, fill the front door panels with speakers, same with the back doors, use the entire rear seat area for the amps and controllers, add a hydraulic lift on the bed and fill it with speakers, finally fold out the bed sides and fill them with more speakers. There were four of these rigs. Or take a vehicle that no one likes, such as a Chevy astro-van  or an old Dodge caravan and fill it with speakers. Four door cars are not popular with customizers, but are perfect for “Sound” customs. You can fill all four doors with speakers, open all four doors and blast your music.

No one will notice the dents and rust . . .

You might think they would organize this so that each vehicle would get a chance to “perform” and someone would judge which system sounded best. No, they set all the vehicles in a big circle and everyone tried to out “Loud” everyone else. Now even this might not have been so bad if somehow the music was coordinated, but everyone had a different rap song that best showcased their system, and it was pumping. Ok, you get the picture. I kept thinking I wanted to hand someone a copy of Jimi Hendricks “Purple Haze” and see how these speaker systems really worked. Play that LOUD!

There were some custom cars, but most were in the “Gangsta” style. Big, long and bright with huge wheels and extreme low-profile tires. Most had hubcaps that did not spin when the cars were moving, but contained motors that spun them when the car was stationary. Although not my style, I tried to have an open mind, and appreciate some of the quality work done on some of these vehicles. There was some really beautiful detail work, but some were more about the drama than the quality.

I wonder how “Wild Thing” by the Trogs would have sounded?

No room for cargo in that truck.

Yup, a Chevy Astro-Van

I think it used to be a Buick . . .

Rebels on Three Wheels

If you have been reading my posts for a while you might recall a post I did back in 2014

about the amazing Golf Carts from “The Villages” in Florida. This year we went back to this interesting community to visit Joe & Gloria, good friends we met on a river cruise.

The Villages grows by aprox. 20 people every day and now has a population of about 115,000 people. It is a thriving 55+ community because every house must have at east one occupant who is over 55 years old. It is certainly an interesting place. Check out more about TheVillages at http://www.insidethebubble.co/82-cool-facts-the-villages/.

This year our friends showed me that the Golf Cars are not the only interesting means of transportation in the Villages. We went to visit one of the ‘Village Squares” where the “Village Wingers” were holding a gathering. Not happy with modified golf carts as a means of transportation, these ‘Senior Bikers” ride Honda Goldwing motorcycles. Now the Goldwing is the ultimate touring machine, and many have covered hundreds of thousands of miles, but these ones lead a more sedate life. I asked one rider where he rode and he said he made one trip out of state, but mostly his ride was used to go out to dinner once a week within The Villages community itself.

The other interesting thing about these Goldwings was that there were more with three and four wheels than just two. Some had serious trike conversions and had full differentials driving two rear wheels, but many featured a two out-rigger wheel kit to support the machine but retained the original motorcycle drive wheel. Considering that probably all these riders are over 55, and a lot looked older, I suppose, bad knees, hips and other ailments we all get as we get older make these options a wise choice to keep these Village “Rebels on three wheels” still able to hit the road and feel the wind in their hair. More power to them – keep on riding!

How to "Stage" your Motorcycle

Kurt & Steph - Tour Guides

I found a local “Hot-Roder” and his girlfriend and convinced them to take me to the Gosford Classic Car Museum today. I spent the afternoon wandering around a huge collection of classic and exotic vehicles. The museum has over 450 interesting cars and other vehicles. Again, rather than tell you about all the great cars there, I am going to just include a series of pictures. This is a little different, I have taken a series of pictures of the various motorcycles featured in the museum, but if you look carefully, you will see some pretty exotic cars in the background, making these motorcycles look their best. I know that many of my friends will not be interested in this post, but I’m sure my car friends will enjoy trying to figure out what cars are hidden behind the motorcycles.  

Gears & Levers

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Train Parts

I love anything mechanical. Give me gears, cogs, levers and any sort of engine and I love it. I love cars, motorcycles, boats and trains. If it moves with an engine I like it. So when we discovered a museum of transportation here is Glasgow, it was on my “must-see” list.

Glasgow has always had an image problem, seen as a working town with its neighbor Edinburgh being the “interesting”  city. As a result Glasgow is trying to improve it’s image for visitors. One way it has done this is to make most of the city attractions free. Most of their museums do not charge to visit them.

A wall of cars

The Riverside Museum of Transportation is one of the best and most interesting museums I have ever visited. It is in a beautiful setting right on the River Clyde in a beautiful modern new building. Although a ways from our hotel, it was on our "Hop-on-hop-off” tour bus route, so getting there was easy.

The most interesting thing about this museum was how they presented things. For example I have visited many excellent car museums with impressive collections of vehicles, but here the cars were displayed on a wall or parked on an incline two stories long. In addition there was a special display of a Mini, an Anglia, and an Imp There was a whole room devoted to engines including a Beetle that children could climb under to see the engine. There was a display of a new Mini used in safety testing and a Ford Cortina that was sold as original, but was really two cars welded together.

South African Steam Locomotive

There was a wall of motorcycles, four massive steam locomotives including one that had been built in Glasgow, shipped to South Africa, returned to Scotland 100 years later and restored, A tiny trailer where hippy protesters of Nuclear war lived, a presentation on the first ship sunk during WWII, a room about subways, a revolving carousal of model ships, a number of displays about bicycles and many other different topics and displays. Outside docked on the river was a three masted tall ship also open for exploring.

Although I walked through the entire museum and saw everything (I think . .), I did not have time to spend the amount of

Part of a steam engine

time I would have liked with all the displays. I spent a lot of time with the old steam engine from South Africa, and I spent a lot of time on the wall of motorcycles, but the police pursuit vehicle could have used more time, as could the Hillman Imp.

You can see why this museum appealed to me, but Regis also said it was the most interesting one she has visited as well.

Vancouver

STOP, I saw Kibble on sale back there . . .

We were looking forward to arriving in Vancouver, because it meant we could spend some time visiting our friends, and we were looking forward to a break from the RV, as we were invited to stay with them at their apartment, overlooking Vancouver Harbour. The  RV is a nice comfortable “home away from home”, but it is still small, so a chance for a real bed, a real bathroom, and a bit of extra room (their apartment is a “Vancouver” apartment), was a welcome treat.

We have visited Vancouver a number of times, and always enjoy this vibrant Canadian city, and always look forward to seeing what the city has to offer. One thing that Vancouver had lots of is some of the best “people watching” in the country. Spending time sitting in the many outdoor sidewalk cafes around Vancouver, and you definitely see evidence of Southern California’s eccentricity creeping north into BC.

The first night in Vancouver, we were walking back to the skytrain after a fabulous meal at the Alibi Room in Gastown, and in a group of people walking towards us was a young woman casually walking along completely topless. She was just walking down the street chatting with friends, but had decided not to wear any shirt. She wasn’t flaunting her toplessness, she was just out walking. I might have missed her except for my propensity for “people watching” - Regis completely missed her.

There are lots of homeless in Vancouver, as would be expected of a city with a warm relatively pleasant climate, but they certainly have adapted a different attitude towards the “homeless” here. A news story in the paper this morning tells of a fellow who has been banned from a local community. The people having “homes” there report that he doesn’t meet the minimum standards for “their ’homeless’”, who know how they are expected to act, and are therefor allowed to be “homeless” there. Huhhhhhhhhh????

There was the guy with the long white snake this morning, another guy all dressed on orange - shoes, socks, suit, everything. There was the woman completely covered with paint or tattoos, sitting in the coffee shop as if this was perfectly normal. There was always someone interesting to see whenever we went out to explore the city. Oh, and it wasn’t only the people - there were two dogs riding along with their owners on motorcycles.

We really enjoyed our time in Vancouver, and it’s interesting and eccentric people certainly adds to the city’s charm. 

Driving in China

As a long time “car-nut”, I always notice the particular vehicles in the countries I visit. I filled a media card in Cuba taking pictures of all the old cars, I enjoyed the old Volkswagens in Brazil and Mexico, and was fascinated by the way Japan has embraced the downsized cars, as well as their unique “Chopperized” scooters. I had not idea what to expect in China.

The first thing I noticed is that there are NO old cars at all. Everything is relatively new, I'd say most are less that five years old. I thought I might see some older communist era vehicles, or some older Japanese cars, but everything is new. This might be because I am living in a very modern area with lots of upwardly mobile successful people, who can afford new cars, but you would think there would be an occasional old car. The other thing is that there is very little individualization of cars. I do not see many options added, fancy paint, racing wheels – no customs at all. Really, other than seeing some models I have not seen before, the automotive scene in China is pretty boring.

I was also surprised at the amount of cars from Europe. I would have expected lots of Toyota, Honda Nissan, Mazda, and Hyundai, but although there are lots of the Asian brands, the Europeans certainly seem to have the market share. Almost all the taxies are Volkswagens, and the brands Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagens, Peugeot, and Citroen all seem to do well here. I saw one Cadillac, one Chevrolet, but all kinds of Buick – what is that all about? There were also some brands I did not recognize, assuming them to be home grown Chinese makes.

Now if the vehicles are not particularly exciting, I'd say driving certainly is. The road system is really very good, and their traffic lights are the best I have ever seen. Every light has a counter, that tells you exactly how many seconds you have remaining to get through the intersection. This makes it easy to know how long you have to wait for the light to change. Even the turning arrows have separate counters. Those red lights back home seem to take forever to change, but here I see that the longest you have to wait is about 30 seconds. Now this is a good idea – no actually it is a great idea, but it would help if the drivers actually followed the lights. Because you can see when the light is gong to change, drivers leave early, and many keep coming through the light even thought they can see they only have 2 seconds left. Fortunately I did not see much speeding, which is good, because there was lots of very slow drivers. I suspect that there are many new drivers who are not really that confident, so they drive slowly. Parking is obviously not included in any of he driving lessons. Drivers park anywhere, often double parking, and parking on the wrong way on a one way street – did he back all the way down there? Corners seem to be a favourite place to park; just nose into the curb and get out. Perhaps it is then harder for anyone to park behind you.

The horn seems to be the most important part of vehicles here in China. Everyone makes maximum use of their horns to warn people where they want to go. When overtaking another vehicle, they lay on the horn to get the slower vehicle to move out of the way, and even if they are turning on a red light, they blast the horn if someone is in their way. Of course the interesting thing is that because everyone is constantly blowing their horn, no one listens to them. On a bus ride from the airport, the driver would madly flash his lights and blast the horn when a vehicle was in his lane, but he always had to change lanes and find a way around, because I never saw anyone actually respond to the horns. It just seems to be habit now.

Drivers do not seem to look where they are going. When they want to pull into the road they just pull out. I have almost hit a couple of cars while riding a bike, as they turned corners or pulled out of driveways, and the rule of “catch the driver's eye” is useless, because they all just seem to look only forward. I noticed this particularly when walking. Even if you have a “walk” signal, drivers will look straight ahead, ignoring pedestrians. The “walk” signals certainly do not mean it is safe to cross.

Now if the cars are not particularly interesting, the scooters and bicycles more than make up for them. Here is where you see the old vehicles. There are probably more scooters in China than there are cars, and the variety is amazing. You can buy them for less than $1000.00 and they come in every imaginable colour from pink to lime green. Most of them are electric, and there are very few gas motorcycles. They vary from simple bicycles with electric motors added, to fancy high end models with plastic wind shields & skirts, wooden floorboards, and chrome wrap-a-round bumpers. You see anyone riding them, from young people, to grandmothers, city workers, to business women in fancy suits and high heels. They do not drive on the main roads, sharing special lanes with bicycles, and I don't even think they need to be licensed or registered, as they all seem to have the licence plates I saw on the showroom models.

One of the first things you learn when arriving in China is to watch out for the scooters. Pedestrians have to be very careful. Crossing a road involved first getting across the bicycle/scooter lane before you can even think about the cars. These scooters run so quietly you cannot hear them coming, and they can go quite fast. In addition, they do not seem to follow any traffic rules. They go through red lights, turn against the lights, and even drive down the bike lane on the wrong side of the road. Looking at the condition of some of them I'd say this is a problem for them as well – many are scraped, bent, cracked, and dented. Looking over the rows of them locked up in parking areas all over the city, very few are without some damage.

I brought my international driver's licence, thinking I might want to rent a car. I think for now I'll stick to two feet.