To A Special Place

[cheesy]

Here, in Anamosa, IA.


A fellow Twisted Twin owner and I rode the 350 mile round trip from my place to the National Motorcycle Museum, and back, today. Dave has a 1983 GL650 but opted instead to ride his 2009 Suzuki Bergman 650.


There aren't many pics of the ride itself, it was pretty cold this morning and the fully charged battery on my Olympus crapped out after the first shot. So, I fell back on my new "I am still trying to figure out Galaxy S4".
But, back to the ride.

Dave and I met at my local Marathon station at 6am this morning, gassed up and hit the road. The route was along IL64 and IA64, two lane state secondary roads, so traffic was sparse. The temp was in the mid 40s and didn't get much better. We headed west for about an hour and stopped at a McDonalds for hot coffee and a toe thaw.

Next stop, where the above pic was shot, was a combo coffee and pee stop. The two sort of go together. BS'd with some Harley riders while we were there. Both the Bergman and CX got nods of approval.

We hit our second gas stop in Savanna, IL. Mostly because Daves' Bergman has a smaller fuel tank and gets less mpg than my CX. I have a 4.9 gallon tank and only took 2 gal after 107 miles. Not too shabby.

After a 'butt pucker' crossing of the Mississippi on an old expanded metal surfaced bridge, we hightailed it the next 60+ miles to Anamosa.

Let me tell ya, if you have never been to the National Motorcycle Museum, add it to your bucket list. We only took two hours, but it deserves a weekend. Talk about eye candy overload. These are just a few of the pics I downloaded from my phone.

What you see when you walk in.


Indian Bicycle with a Smith Motorwheel attachment.



Mustang. My Dad had one of these.


1966 Ducati Falcon 50. A year older than the one I had.



1950s Ruiko 750. The Japanese Harley. Built under license.


And a Honda CX500R. One of a kind.




The majority of the bikes are fully restored but many of the race bikes are not. Never saw so many Aerials in one place.

As todays ride beat the snot outta me, I'm just posting enough to whet yer whistle. I'm beat, I'm going to bed.

More eye candy tomorrow.

[FastDoc]

Sounds like a great ride and a great destination. Tell us more about the 500R. That looks like a 2 stroke V Twin built on a CX500????

How cold was it?

[Weldangrind]

Looking forward to more pics, particularly a complete view of the CX500R.

[cheesy]

A bit more.

Doc-That's the same engine in my Honda. And it never did hit 60F. I did some checking on my Honda today to see why the it felt odd in the bendies yesterday. Turns out that I still had the rear shocks set on 'wife'.

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of the complete 500R. Some of the racing machines were packed kind of tight and I would have needed a WA lens to get this one in. Anyway, the only thing that was CX about this bike was the engine. It was mounted sideways in a CB750 frame and running a chain. Dave tells me the fuel tank was from an XR175.

Few more pics.
A homage to Von Dutch


Von Dutch's VW powered bike.


How many of us had this 'Big Daddy' Ed Roth model kit as a kid?


Steve McQueens' Indian


Board track exhibit.


John Player Special


Excelsior Hill Climber


OMG


Last one for now. Ever pass up something that seemed like too much money at the time. Well, in high school, I passed up a basket case bike because it was just an old bike and I had better things planned for the $25 I had. This is what I passed up.


Idiot.

More tomorrow.

[Weldangrind]

So much eye candy!

Was Von Dutch's VW motor connected to a BMW trans? I can't see the final drive.

I saw Jesse James riding that Steve McQueen bike in one of the Motorcycle Mania videos. I'd love to see that old Indian up close.

I think that SBC-powered bike is the Widowmaker that was ridden by E.J. Potter, but I'm not sure.

I have the "Tales of the Rat Fink" DVD that is sort of a wierd documentary, but is quite interesting to me. I loved the models as a kid.

I would love to see that museum!

[FastDoc]

An amazing museum, and a great piece of history, and close to where you live!

60, huh?

It's cooling off here too a lot. I don't like it. I've seen whre this goes and I don't like it.

[cheesy]

Weld-I couldn't tell you about Von Dutch's bike trans. I didn't even know it existed. And you could be quite right about everything else. I have a 30 year gap in my knowledge. Fly into Des Moines and it's a 2.5 hour drive.

Doc-Close is a relative term. We took the most direct route from my place and it was still 4 hours each way. Saturday was just harbinger of things to come. In the mid 70s the rest of the week.

Ready for some more eye candy.

Yale


Export 1928 Harley


Morgan


Little NSU


Excelsior aka Schwinn


Very, very early Indian



I'll finish up with this Thor. I saw this bike about 25 years ago at a local show.


More later.

[FastDoc]

Eye candy is right!

That was a Golden Age of motorcycling to be sure. So many innovative comapanies went down in the Depression.

I especially like the Yale. I was a doctor there for 4 years :-)

[SpudRider]

Thanks for sharing the great photos, Cheesy.

It's nice to know some of those old bridges still span the Mississippi River. I fondly remember riding across the girder deck of the bridge spanning the bluffs near Keokuk, Iowa in 1979.

[katoranger]

I am going to have to plan a visit. Shouldn't be too far from my brother's place in Pella. Casey's Donuts?

[cheesy]

Originally Posted by katoranger

I am going to have to plan a visit. Shouldn't be too far from my brother's place in Pella. Casey's Donuts?

I hope their donuts are better than their coffee.

[cheesy]

A few more.

Servi-cycle


Sears


Take a look at these two Douglas Bikes. Both have opposed twins.
1930


1947


I know I mentioned Aerials, but this is the only in focus pic.


Various versions of Vincents.


My favorite Guzzi.

[SpudRider]

I like the 1947 Douglas T35.

[katoranger]

Originally Posted by cheesy

I hope their donuts are better than their coffee.

Yes. Their coffee is generally not too good. Unless you can find one of the new version Casey's. I had a cup yesterday with my donut.

We didn't have Casey's in GA so it is nice to be back to the midwest. QT has better coffee.

I think almost every small town in Iowa has a Casey's store.

[FastDoc]

Awesome bikes.

I especially like the Norton JPS and the Ariel Square Four.

Guess I still like the Brit Bikes;-)