When men were men and Harley was king.

[xs650mike]

Courtesy of my neighbor, retired dirt track racer Hal Kenyon, comes this spectacular pic of Sam Arena winning the 1949 Modesto, CA hillclimb 80" (1300cc) class.

Note the "safety" gear: puddin' bowl, boots, leather britches and a cotton jersey. Those guys were tough!

[GNEPIG]

.. that is a bitchin finish, look at the crap these guys had to ride back then, these guys were some tough mutha hunchers

[excess11]

Thin line between bravery and stupidity

Stupid is, As stupid does!!!!!

[xs650mike]

A lot of racers back then rode their street bikes to races and hillclimbs and simply removed the lights and front fender, added number plates and went racing. In fact the old TT scrambles rules often required riders to ride their bikes to the race! Hal Kenyon has an old pic of Hap Jones arriving at the Lakeport TT here in Lake County on his open class knucklehead Harley race bike with his wife on the back. They rode over 100 miles up from San Francisco and returned after the race, which Hap won IIRC.

[Wet Rock]

In the photo it looks the dude got his @ss kicked off the bike at the end of the run. Wheel sure looks in odd position compared to hub. Are those white stringy things about the tire the spokes?

OW!!! my ache'n arse

[excess11]

Hill climb

Thin line between bravery and stupidity

I wrote this earlier because there is a Motorcycle hill climb about 15 minutes from my house. The hill climb is like 300 feet tall and at a 70 degree angle. One year I watched 2 riders in a row leave in an ambulance. You would have to be nearly insane to attempt to go up that hill.

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by Wet Rock
In the photo it looks the dude got his @ss kicked off the bike at the end of the run. Wheel sure looks in odd position compared to hub. Are those white stringy things about the tire the spokes?

OW!!! my ache'n arse

Front wheel was airborne as he crossed the line. The stringy things are the finish line tape broken by the rear wheel. He's running a monster rear sprocket, pretty much standard in hillclimb which makes the rear wheel look off kilter. They usually have the finish line before the crest of the hill to allow time for the rider to slow before the top but in this case it was right at the top so any rider who made it all the way up got big air. Took nerve!

[xs650mike]

Originally posted by Wet Rock
In the photo it looks the dude got his @ss kicked off the bike at the end of the run. Wheel sure looks in odd position compared to hub. Are those white stringy things about the tire the spokes?

OW!!! my ache'n arse

Front wheel was airborne as he crossed the line. The stringy things are the finish line tape broken by the rear wheel. He's running a monster rear sprocket, pretty much standard in hillclimb which makes the rear wheel look off kilter. They usually have the finish line before the crest of the hill to allow time for the rider to slow before the top but in this case it was right at the top so any rider who made it all the way up got big air. Took nerve!

[xs650mike]

How'd that happen?

Hey my post got posted twice!

[Pat Kelly]

And I see Mike's # of posts isn't going up. They all say 996 posts

[excess11]

Wacko's

They usually have the finish line before the crest of the hill to allow time for the rider to slow before the top but in this case it was right at the top so any rider who made it all the way up got big air. Took nerve!

You have a romantic view of bravery and nostalgia in these hill climbers . I think they are just plain crazy

[xs650mike]

Lotta folks thing were wacked to ride at all!

[excess11]

Hill climb events

White Rose MC CLUB This is a link to the schedule of events at my local MC club. It includes several hill climb events!!!!!