Monday, August 22, 2011

John Ciccarelli's Indian Hillclimber at Brookfield 2011















I spotted this Indian Hillclimber in the back of a pickup that was pulling into Brookfield on Friday morning. I followed it until it stopped and asked the obvious question...the answer was No.



So I asked the next obvious question...the answer was Yes, I know who rode it...my father John Ciccarelli... Jack Ciccarelli, John's son, brought the bike out to display at the meet.



Now, having done a bit of research on Hillclimbing and knowing a few of the old timers, I recognized the name. I dropped a few names of guys I knew or knew of and off we went exchanging stories. Jack spent a lot of time with his dad at the Hillclimbs and knew a bunch of the old riders that I knew. He had interesting stories and details regarding the bikes and the riders.



It was great to "shoot the shit" with another Hillclimb enthusiast...especially one that was there!







Sunday, August 21, 2011

Brookfield 2011

Pulled out as soon as the down pour stopped on Thursday morning




The Dragon Fly I picked up last year on the ride to Brookfield was ready to head home after hanging in all year through many miles of rain, snow, sleet, etc.



The Tap Room Marshall's Creek PA



Outside the Tap Room Marshall's Creek






Quick stop at Peck's Pond PA







Above the urinal at Pat's Bar Hawley PA (Haulin' Ass...a classic!)





Brookfield NY Matt and Billy arrive in style



Brookfield had it all... from Scooters to Air 'O' Planes and everything in between



Bolt-On and Billy display their matching 1967 Capt. America helmets



Bolt-On, Rick and Mike pose in front of Barry Brown's Ford (driven down from Canada)




06:00 Tent's Eye View...







The apparition at the end of the tunnel is none other then Biker(Panhead) Billy's Pan on the road since '76!





A "well used" Sportster







Mixed Grill




Billy




Indian Hillclimber (more to come on this one)







He made it!







All kinds of weather (mostly great)



The afternoon hale storm was intense







Marble size hale came down for an hour




The line up in the barn









Todd's Indian actually got the handlebar bent this year at Brookfield. He did a hole shot and it jumped 10 ft in the air and bucked him off! He's still hurting!























Petey and Blue Sport at the Crosstown Tavern on the ride home yesterday. The Boy's had the old Sportsters out this time.




Ran into another Sportster guy at The Pines Tavern in Lake Swollenballsack PA






Brookfield 2011 turned out to be a great time as in the past.



It was pouring Thursday morning as I prepared to head out. Thunder, lightening, the hole nine yards. Then just about 09:00 it stopped and the sun broke through. I jumped on the '50 Pan and hit the road north.



I was to meet Sam at the Tap Room up above the Delaware Water Gap in Marshall's Creek PA. It was about 1 1/2 hours north of me. I arrived and waited on Sam. He showed up almost an hour later, joined me in an adult beverage and we got going.



The ride and weather were fantastic! We stopped at the usual watering holes along the way. One of our favorites, The Rockdale Inn in Rockdale NY was closed, so we hit the next one up the road. It was a biker bar owned by a guy named Ty. Hell, they even sold oil and spark plugs! We bullshitted with Ty for a while and it turned out we had mutual friends...small world. Ty ended up riding up to Brookfield the next day on his Shovelhead.



The meet itself is getting bigger every year. Soon I hope it will be back to it's former greatness. There were plenty of cool bikes and parts to check out. The line up in the barn was impressive and folks turned out from as far away as New Hampshire, Florida, Canada and even California!



Some of the regulars didn't make it for various reasons but we had a good showing from Jersey.



We all hit Flick's Tavern as usual and spent the evenings getting "reacquainted" with the locals. Nobody got hurt this year and we all had a great time (and that's all I have to say about that). I avoided the invitation to the local arm wrestling competition that was going on at one of the tables. That has been known to end badly...



Saturday came and after the heavy fog burned off, the weather turned to perfection. Sam and Bucky decided to head west. I hooked up with Petey and Blue Sport and headed back toward PA. The ride back was beautiful...the roads, weather, company and "rest" stops made the trip! And by the way, I put about 500 miles on the '50 and didn't have to open my tool bag...that's two years in a row to Brookfield! (the year before that was another story).
I have a few more pics to post coming soon...




Wednesday, August 17, 2011

50 Pan Prep Work




Don't you love it when your bike looks like this the night before your heading out for a long ride.



Ernie and Mary Do Germany!
















My friends Ernie and Mary from NY State took a trip to see Arno in Germany recently. I looks like they had a hell of a lot of fun!

You may know them from the Brooklyn Invitational and Ernie's wild Dual Carb Knuckle.

Thanks for the pics guys!

From Ernie and Mary:


"Mary & I spent 3 weeks in Germany going to MC club parties, and Bike shows with Arno & Yola....thought you might want some pics.
We got a trophy from the Black Death MC club for the longest distance, to the club party."


Sunday, August 14, 2011

Weekend in Luxenburg




This just in from Arno:


"hi,greet from Germany and Luxembourg, :)Party on Weekend in Luxenburg at the Harley Brothers Luxenburg,and people from http://garagehangout.blogspot.com/Pcture for your Blogg :)we see you in Jefferson ?arno"

Friday, August 12, 2011

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Hill Climber's History - Phil Franz Jr.




I found this in a 1966 Modern Cycle Magazine that I got with the stuff from Jerry Franz. This is his cousin Phil Franz Jr.

A Hill Climbers History - Larry Franz Sr's Brother





I found these pictures while fumbling around on the Internet. After a conversation with Jerry Franz it turns out this is his uncle Phil. The 34 Factory Climber was restored some years back. I am not sure who posted these pictures originally. They were on a seemingly dead blog from 2007.



Monday, August 8, 2011

41 FLTT - Exhaustion

Crude but effective



Getting there! (see "41 FLTT Exhausting" post)


Done and suitable for mounting...




Needed a Squash pipe...found a donor





Made things right with a suitable replacement




Back to the exhaustion...had to grind out the mess they left in the WHY?! pipe. Time wasted! Just make it right!!!! Then I had to find an original chrome squash pipe. I found some nice crusty ones in great shape and had to swap one out the one on my other 41 Knuck...it had usable chrome. I replaced it with a crusty silver painted one and it blends right in...
Now I have all the pipes ready to go... but I need suitable (I think that's the third time I used "suitable" in this post...oops that's four) clamps and bolts...I hate building clean bikes!