Sunday, April 17, 2011

2nd Annual Tucson Vintage/Classic motorcycle show & swap meet

Last week my dad and I headed down to the 2nd annual Tucson Vintage motorcycle show.  It's held at a local eatery called "Barrio Brewery".  You may remember a similar post I made awhile back.   These are the same folks.  They typically meet once a month to shoot the breeze and grab a beer.  This is their big event where they hold contests, people can swap old motorcycle parts, and you can even find old/restored bikes for sell.

The day before we had a small winter storm roll through.  It was still a little chilly so I broke out the chaps and leather jacket.  We're already hitting the mid nighties this weekend. The nice weather seems like a distant memory now.


My dad.  He used to have an old Honda in his college days.  I got to see an old photo of it yesterday.  I'm going to see if I can get a copy and post it here.  We saw a couple of bikes that were close to his that reminded him of the old days.

Great hard cases on this BMW.  Reminds me of the curves of a beautiful woman.
I had to look this one up.  It's a Maico. A West German company that went out of business in the 1980's.  I like their logo which you can see on the handle bars and headlight below.
Follow scrupulously!
Not sure why I'm drawn to Triumph's but they certainly are nice looking bikes.
And another!
Modern day Triumph badges are stuck on with adhesive.  It probably saves them money, but the company should really stay with screw on badges.  I bet there's a market for unique looking badges people could swap on and off depending on the look they want for their bikes.
Really nice looking Norton.

I can't remember who's logo this is.
Beautiful Sunbeam motorcycle.  It's shaft driven, no chain.
I saw these two Indians at the last vintage meetup.
Retro 70's.  Notice the suicide shifter.
I liked the look of the seat on this next bike.  There happened to be a guy standing right next to the bike and when I mentioned the seat his eyes lit up and he happened to own the company that made them.  His name was Ron and he is the managing director of Kontour seats.  (KonTourSeat.com)  The seat has a "Air Cooled" mesh on the outside.  So even when it's 100 degrees outside you don't have to sit directly on scorching hot black leather.
I saw this bike at the last show.  I believe it's a 2007.
Very nice MV Agusta F4.  The tail pipes are super sexy.
A 89 Honda Tourist Trophy.  It was named after a race on England's Isle of Man.  Apparently it didn't sell well in the US and had a short life span.



This bike had a unique suicide shifter.  It was a bat in a glass sphere.
 
 
 This guy put wrought iron over his drive belt to keep his pants leg from being pulled in.
This one's for Ed.
The seventies called.  They want their bike back.
This old BMW with side car was amazing.







That was pretty much it.  This was the 2nd show.  I hope it takes off and keeps building.  It would be great for Tucson to have a bigger and bigger bike show.  My dad and I grabbed some lunch and heading out to look at helmets.  Hope you liked the pictures!

Monday, April 11, 2011

Kitt Peak with the In-Laws (Part II)

Well it's been awhile. I caught some sort of flu/cold a week back and it laid me up pretty good. I'm still trying to get over the legacy cough. I was able to fire up the bonnie for the first time, in a long time, yesterday. My father and I took a trip to the second annual Tucson vintage bike show. But that's my next post. For now lets finish up my trip to Kitt Peak. To the waaay back machine!!

(Warning, not to many bike pictures. so turn away if normal pictures make you squeamish.)


This is a  type of sun dial they had in the court yard.  You'll notice the bar that runs across the top with a small metal ball.  The shadow of the ball marks the time.


Another variation of the sun dial.  There's a glass sphere on top and when the sun shines through it creates a focus point of light on the measured glass below.


This is the McMath-Pierce solar telescope.  It's a pretty iconic structure up on Kitt Peak.  It extends 300 feet down into the mountain and has a pretty cool history.  Check it out here.


Up close, the paint is pealing a bit. But keep in mind the exterior copper skin kept cool with circulated antifreeze and water to help the inner telescopes.  So I'm sure paint is a tricky process.


What's amazing is that you can just walk into the structure.  They have a little viewing area where you can see the mirrors inside with the light focused down into the ground.  The mirrors are on tracks and can be lifted or lowered according to need.



My in-laws with my nephew (in-law).


I don't even know how many different telescopes are up here.  Any way you turn you see another telescope off in the distance.



This is one of the telescopes we were able to go into.  There was a tour guide inside with a small group of people.  We got to hear a few tidbits of information and snap a few pics before we moved on.

 The 4 meter telescope was closed to the public the day we were there.  I believe this mirror is in the ~3 meter range.
 

The nephew was showing off his rock climbing skills.
After taking a break inside the visitor center it was time to head back down the mountain.  Quite a few bikers had shown up during our hike.


Overall it was a great trip.  I'll certainly be going again.  If for nothing else just to ride that nice road up the mountain.