Monday, November 7, 2011

Royal Flairs on YouTube

Couple of oldies but goldies from the hand of the Old Man (as well as the rest of the band, 



Yep, that's the old man playing the drums..I was raised on this and his stack of Chess, Sun, Roulette, and a million other 45s, as well as my Mom's Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett, and other R&B stuff. Some great tunes for a little kid...JC, Chuck Berry, Joey Dee, Ray Charles, with HIS records sandwiched in there...I miss being that age of musical discovery. I've been chasing that monkey every since.

For more interesting history of the band, go HERE


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

You can't BUY cool

Some older pics my Mom sent me the other day....


These are > 1966, before me, in the Royal Flairs days..

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Swag and a lonely store front

I had to go back to Landis to pick up the last of my stuff...and ran across this. I think just about every biker in three counties had one at some point. 

Stopped by the shop for a farewell pic. Notice my headlight...my stator gave up five minutes later and I had to pack the shovel into the Penske.

Woulda fit right in when Cyclone was around..and I'm good with that.




Sunday, May 22, 2011

Thanks to HIRO!

Thanks for the great write up on your blog, man! More pics coming soon, I promise..just kickin' back.



 

Saturday, April 9, 2011

A couple from Jay

ZZ Top inspired, paint by Jay

Beauty and the Beast

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Youth is wasted on the young

Chris says:

"My older brother and a friend of ours went to Vietnam. Before they left, the friend had willed me his '67 Shovel if he didn't come back. Well, that's exactly what happened; his family contested the will, and his brothers got it....and wrecked it, which is why it wasn't willed to them in the FIRST place. Anyways, a local patch holder I knew told me he was sick of me moping around (I was 16 at the time) over this lost friend, lost shovel, bad feelings..so, one day, he told me to come with him to his barn, eyes closed and everything. When I opened them, here was this beautiful 1947 Knuckle. He told me that I could have it, provided I pay him $50 a month until $3000 was payed. Don't be late and don't pay short, sort of an offer you can't refuse. I did, and struggled with kicking and tuning that thing until, after going down one time, my parents made me sell it. I still regret it."




THANKS, CHRIS

Friday, March 25, 2011

SEND ME YOUR PICS

If you have any unpublished motorcycle or motorcycle oriented pics from the 80s or older you'd like to see up on this site, shoot them to me at cyclonemike86@gmail.com. A little bit of back story on them would be extra cool.

Time to bring back the 80s..they've been gone too long.


Thursday, February 24, 2011

Dad Story 2

Here's another story from 1969-70 that my dad wrote a while back:





"Well California was a breath of fresh air compared to Chicago.My friend from the Marines (Galbraith) got us an apartment in the same building he lived—Torrance Calif.—he was working as a mechanic for an airline—cant remember who.—He had a 57 chevy convertible with a 283 power pack engine—4 speed with solid lifters—always loved that car—but he would never “punch” it—he was kind of a mamas boy—called her everyday—he was a 7 day adventist—married to the same and treated her like she was his mother.—never seen him this way when we were in the Corps.—they tried to get us involved and I refused nicely.—After he showed me his collection of porno books I figured he was a hypocrite--Fuck that shit—I believe in what I want to believe—he accepted that answer.
Anyway—the Yenko went in the apartment garage—I was hired at McDonalds as an asst. mgr.—I only had to work 55 hours a week—compared to what I was working in Chicago it was a God send.
Good job—free time on my hands and decided maybe its time to build up my “driver” to be a little more competitive with the California street racers.
Dragged you —regularly—after I studied the procedures to getting classed—staging and what happens in competition—I went to the 76 gas station and met Dale Armstrong—and Gary Wells (Wells Cargo)—I asked him what he could do to the Yenko to keep it in a competitive class with out having to go up against Grumpys Toy and still drive it to work everyday.—he said “I will curve it in the distributor 41 degrees total advance—said it would sound like its missing all the time till I punched it—very flat sound that was way too cool—then he said he would notch the plenum chamber in the intake to more evenly distribute the fuel and suck it in faster—he said these were all legal tricks—then he said the rest is up to me—pick the right slicks—get some correct headers and then come back and I will tell you what plugs to run and what to set the gap at.
Sooo—you and I went to Hooker headers where they were built at the time(think it was Concord Cal.)
told them I wanted headers installed on a 427 camaro—they said it would be a challenge since they hadn't done a 427—but said there was someone there at the time that might be able to help---they put the Yenko on the rack and all stopped work to come over and look---a short dude with glasses extended his hand and introduced himself as Bill---he said we will get this right—you and I just hung out and ate junk food and walked around—about 3 hours later---they dropped the car down and fired it up—it sounded like “life was re-born”---they made collectors—welded and bolted them up and gave me the bill--$150.00---I paid—thinking holy shit thats a lot of money—but the sound –even thru the mufflers was so thundering I wanted to live in the car.----they said it would not have been done if “Bill” wasnt there to coach them thru it---I said who is Bill anyway---they said that was Bill Grumpy Jenkins—he designed the fit for this 69 Camaro.
He had already left—I felt stupid for not even realizing who he was—he was one of my favorite guys—I used to watch him race the 409’s back in 1963—he always ran against dyno don who was racing the 409 also at that time—pretty sure about that—memory fades—but I think it was Dyno Don"

Part one can be found HERE

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Black Sabbatical

I'm getting thin on pics and time, so I'm gonna let it sit for a little while..thanks to you who've been looking in..



Sunday, January 9, 2011

Road trip to somewhere...

Hotel room parking. This idea wasn't invented by The Horse Magazine, believe it or not.


Calvin Plyler's Shovelhead.  Calvin aka Wildman in the background. He came to an unconventional end by rolling off his roof and breaking his neck. Interesting character to say the least..


 I see Tate and Bill Mickey...I think the blond is Pansy, Bill's girlfriend, wife or significant other. Never really knew WHO was married or not, never really cared. Last look at Tate's magenta pan.