This week on the Motorcycle Radio Network, the Blockhead boys dive into the roots of a very influential genre of motorcycling that many riders in this country take for granted. Inspired by the incredible new hour-long documentary "Café Society", Bill and Todd B get into the historical elements of the Ace Café, Norvins and Tritons, and "doing the ton." Bill thinks the film (produced by Chet Burks and created by the crew that used to bring us the long-missed Two Wheel Tuesdays on Speed Channel) is fascinating and incredibly well done, and Todd B says it belongs right next to "On Any Sunday" as one of the great motorcycle movies of our time. Listen to our review of the movie on this week’s podcast here.
As the entire world knows, Bill is a die-hard Red Sox fan. Knowing this, Todd B showed up this week sporting an entire NY Yankees championship wardrobe (including a Johnny Damon jersey) just to get under Bill’s skin… Needless to say, it worked well. Maybe a little too well, as Todd was forced to take the pinstripes off before Bill would continue. Special thanks go out to Don and Peg Miller from Metro Racing for saving the day with a theme-appropriate solution in the form of one of their awesome vintage logo T-shirts. Even Bill had to admit that Todd looked great in his green t-shirt with the red and white "BSA Motorcycles" logo on the front. (Nowhere near as fabulous as the beautiful Linda looks in it here though…) Metro Racing offers a full line of clothing and accessories for the vintage motorcycle enthusiast, and if they can make Todd B look acceptable, imagine what they can do for you… Thanks Metro Racing!
On the Biker Help Line this week, Bill and Todd do their best to keep Rob’s right hand from falling asleep on his Honda Nighthawk. Questioning led to the conclusion that the vibration from the inline-4 was the primary cause, so Rob installed a Bar Snake to dampen the vibration in the bars, which it did very well. However, long highway runs still gave Rob trouble because he couldn’t remove his right hand from the throttle and stretch or flex it like he could with his left hand. Thanks to our friends at Marker Machine, we came up with a solution. We installed one of their custom-fitted ThrottleMeister heavy cruise control units and Rob can now relax his hand as he needs. Installation was simple and took less than an hour. Operation is simple (even the spectacularly-uncoordinated Todd B was able to master it in less than 1 minute!) and the unit is very solid and well-manufactured. For less than $200, bachelor Rob hasn’t had his hand go to sleep on him since the installs. We’ve not only improved his motorcycle, the Blockhead boys have saved 50% of his love life too…
In Motorcycle News this week, our friends over at Ultimate MotorCycling Magazine’s online site have pictures and specs on one of the coolest "tribute" motorcycles to come along in some time… this one from a highly unlikely source. In the iconic movie LeMans, actor and long-time Triumph-mounted competitor Steve McQueen wore a TAG Heuer "Monaco" watch throughout. TAG Heuer and Triumph Motorcycles have gotten together to memorialize their shared connection to legendary motorcyclist and actor Steve McQueen on the 40th anniversary of the TAG Heuer Monaco and the 50th Anniversary of the Triumph Bonneville. You can read the story about the Steve McQueen Special Triumph Bonneville here, and you can always get the latest on what is happening in the motorcycle community at Ultimate MotorCycling.com’s Motorcycle News page.
Listen: Motorcycle Radio Network 11/07/2009