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Hansen Dam
Norton Rally
November
2008
Every November the sourthern
California Norton club holds its rally at Hansen Dam (near Los
Angeles). My friends Joseph and Tom (both of whom are Triumph
riders) rode with me to the "Best Rally By A Dam Site" to take a look
at the interesting motorcycles that always show up for this event.
We had a bit of rain getting
over there, and it was overcast during the event (but that was okay, as it
made for more even lighting and better photographs). I thought the
rain might put reduce attendance, but there are no wusses in this
crowd...these guys are committed riders. There were as many people
or more than I've seen at any of the Norton rallies.
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| This is what it's all about...a
classic Norton motorcycle.
The rally attracts all kinds of interesting
motorcycles, though, as the photos below will show. |
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Checking out a very cool Norton,
with a fairing style popular on racing and cafe racer motorcycles in the
1960s and 1970s. |
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Another beautiful Norton - an
850 Commando. |
| One of hot mods 30 or 40 years
ago was to put a Triumph engine in a Norton frame. The Nortons were
known for superior handling, and the Triumph engine was state of the art
back in those days. The result was called a "Triton." |
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| A beautifully executed
Triton. That aluminum gas tank is really classy. |
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A closer shot of the Triton's
Smiths instruments. |
| A valve cover on a Vincent
motorcycle. Vincent was another British manufacturer. There
machines were the Hayabusas of their day.
I had a 50mm Sigma macro lens on my D200 (I
had been using it for a consulting gig), and I left it on for all of the
photos on this page. |
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An old flathead
Indian. |
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They did not come from the
factory like this, although Indian did offer a custom paint program.
You could get an Indian in any color used by any auto manufacturer of the
time. |
| Here's a modern Triumph, with a
Harley in the background. Triumph makes their Bonneville model,
which is similar to the Bonnevilles manufactured back the 1960s and 1970s. |
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The real deal...a 500cc BSA Gold
Star. In their day, these motorcycles were rocketships. |
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A closer shot of the Gold Star's
engine.
BSA stood for Birmingham Small Arms...the
company started as a rifle manufacturer. That's why their logo (on
the engine timing tower) is three stacked rifles. |
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A close-up of the Gold Star's
tank panel. |
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Triumph is the only British
motorcycle manufacturer today. The brand has a loyal
following...I'm one of devotees. |
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Another gorgeous 850 Commando. |
| Goofing around with my
reflection in a Triumph's oil tank. |
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Here's another one. |
| An old Triumph
Thunderbird.
Triumph made these up to 1964. It was
one of a couple of models known as a "bathtub" Triumph due to
the rear fairing.
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There were quite a few other
interesting bikes at the rally (not everything was British).
This is a 400cc four-cylinder Honda from
the late 1970s.
Those headers are awesome, and that's how
it came from the factory. |
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The bike with the sidecar is an
Earles-fork-equipped BMW horizontally opposed twin.
The bike on the right in this photo is an
old Ariel Square Four (it is an air-cooled 1000cc four cylinder, with the
pistons arranged in a square pattern).
The bike to the rear is BMW's newest -
their F800GS. It's an 800cc water-cooled twin, and you have to get
in line if you want to buy one - BMW is sold out in California. |
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BSA introduced a three-cylinder
engine in 1969, and this is it. This is the original Rocket 3.
BSA wanted to compete with the 750 Honda Four introduced that same year,
but the Honda was just too much of a better motorcycle, and BSA (and the
rest of the British motorcycle industry) folded.
The Rocket 3 actually was a better
motorcycle in some regards, though. Dick Mann and others owned
the race track in the late 1960s riding this motorcycle. |
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This is BSA's hot rod - the
Spitfire. Tommy Smothers used to ride one of these when they came
out in the late 1960s. |
| Another shot of the Spitfire. |
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And another.
They thought they were competing with
Triumph, but ultimately, all of the British manufacturers would be done in
by the Japanese. |
| Here's another mid-to-late 1960s
BSA 650 twin. |
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The Triumph logo up to 1965. |
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Here's a 1966 Triumph
Bonneville. My Dad had one of these. This one even has the
correct grips (white rubber, to match the tanks, instead of the black
rubber used previously). The seat is incorrect for the year, though,
as are the rear shocks and spark plug wires. It's still a great
motorcycle. In fact, the only thing I can see that's really wrong
with it is that it doesn't belong to me... |
| Triumph used to hold the world
land speed record.
Every new Triumph back in the day shipped
with one of these decals on the gas tank. |
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The headlight and instrument
cluster on a 1960s era Triumph.
Smiths made instruments for all of the
British manufacturers. |
| This is a 1969 Triumph
Bonneville. |
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A happy camper. |
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A modern Triumph Tiger. I
have one in blue. These are great motorcycles. |
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Triumph went belly up in the
early 1980's, and then a guy named John Bloor bought the rights to the
name and revived the marque. The current Triumph company is not a
continuation of the old Triumph; it is a new company.
This is one of the early new Triumph
models...a 1200 Trophy touring bike. It has a four-cylinder,
water-cooled engine. |
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Another early Triumph, in this
case an 885cc Sprint triple-cylinder. This is a gorgeous bike. |
| Here's another view. They
were still trying to figure out how to route the three-cylinder exhaust in
those early days (check out the plumbing shenanigans in the pipe from the
center cylinder). |
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Here's a cool head-on shot of
the Sprint.
Like I said, we had a bit of rain. |
| Here's a guy on a late 1960s
Triumph (one of the pre-Bloor models). The chrome on the upper
forks, the oil tank, the rear swingarm, and the rear brake is not stock,
nor are the megaphone mufflers. These were all the kinds of things
that riders did to their Triumphs back in the 60s, though, and from that
perspective this is a pretty authentic motorcycle.
Megaphones were the hot ticket back in the
60s. You could run them wide open (for a rich, deep tone), or put the rear
baffles in for a crackling bark. Either way, they were plenty loud. |
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Seeing double?
Two Triumph Tigers from the late 1990s. |
| More Triumphs.
That's a 675cc Daytona in front, with two
2300cc Rocket 3 Triumphs behind it. |
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More British iron. |
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Here's the bike that did in the
Brits...the Honda 750 Four. This is an early one (it's either
a 1970, 1971, or 1972). The turquoise color was not as popular as
the other colors (candy apple red, gold, or brown). I had a 1971 in
candy apple red. |
| I chatted with this guy for
awhile, but I didn't get his name. Seemed like a sharp dresser and I
admire people who keep their bikes rolling a long time. This old
Gold Wing had a big GM alternator mounted near the front of the engine,
with a pulley mounted on the front of the bike's timing case. It was
a pretty cool solution to what I assume was a charging problem, and it was
well engineered.
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Check out the Gold Wing's
straight pipes. |
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Here's a modern Triumph Rocket 3
with a great-looking custom exhaust. |
| This is a very cool
motorcycle. It's an early-1960s Triumph Bonneville in the
original colors. |
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There are always several Moto
Guzzis at the rally.
This is one from the late 1960s or early
1970s.
I'd love to have one, but there are very
few dealers around. |
| This is Moto Guzzi's latest
model...their touring model, the Norge. |
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This guy is having an identity
crisis. Check his ride, and then his T-shirt. |
| There's another great-looking
400cc four-cylinder Honda. |
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This one was funny.
The owner saw me admiring it and asked "Ya know what you're looking
at?"
"Yep," I said, "it's a 1978
SR500 Yamaha, right?"
It is. Yamaha's 500cc
single-cylinder, modeled loosely on the BSA Gold Star shown earlier on
this page. |
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A Triumph chopper. |
| Riders on a couple of modern
Triumphs. I think they are just putting their gloves on, although it
looks like they are synchronizing their watches. |
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An unusual rat bike (a rat bike
is one that is made to look trashed out). This is a 305cc
Honda from the 1960s. |
| Checking out an early British
single. |
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| After spending a couple of
hours ogling all of the classy early motorcycles and some of the modern
ones, it was time to head back to the ranch. I always enjoy going to
the Hansen Dam Rally. It's an incredible collection and
display of vintage motorcycles, and nearly all of them are still being
ridden.
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