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Mid-South ride, eat, and meet

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Another variation, I'm at work in Memphis. Got the windshield, 1 piece crash bar, pin stripes gone, rear rack, nerf bars around the bags, rear back rest. Kinda laughing at my self, I coulda leave well enough alone. This was a happy time for me. Rode that bike just about every day, I couldn't get enough. Just about verywhere I went, it got some attention. Go in a store, start to exit and there one, two, group of guys standing around looking and talking about it. Lookin for me. Usually I would wait till they left. Once I started talking about it, I couldn't stop. Usually the questions were, what year, what size. I didn't know BMW made a bike like this. Yep, sure did, with a smile. Sportsters, are bigger than than your bike. Yes, it's bigger in displacement, but this BMW has much greater ability, endurance, and rideability. They would look at me in disbelief, it was over their head. I would get on the bike and start it. Dude, that bike is quiet. Yes, it ain't no Harley, Adios. Life was good.
 
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Rode down to Daytona back in the mid 90's. Rode back with Philip Johnson on his Cool R100R Legend's bike. Nice guy, cool bike, excellent ride. Last I heard he and his wife had a Campground on the Blue Ridge, I guess their still there.:dunno
 
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Riding in upstate N.Y. And Vermont. Crossing on the ferry, Can't remember if it's Lake Champlain or the Hudson River, by Fort Ticonderoga. Cool place, beautiful scenery, country, great riding. The R90 was a great riding partner, ran perfect, great memories, from the mid 90's. My smile says it all.
 
Same Trip in Vermont.

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Mount Mansfield, it's a ski resort in Winter.
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Smuggler's Notch.
What a beautiful area to ride, on a Classic BMW Motorcycle. What a great ride. One of those trips where everyone became a friend, yes I want to do this ride again and do it on my R90.
 
Vermont Teddy Bear Factory

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I was rockin down the highway, having the best time of my life. The R90 was just humming to the beat. The roads were pretty good, a few frost heaves here and there. We ain't got no frost heaves in Arkansas. Just zipped right on past the Teddy Bear Factory. Woah! Nelley! I kinda bore down on the breaks and kinda half ass slid down the side of the road to an abrupt stop. Looked around and back at that Factory. Light bulb kinda dimly lit up. What was that my girl friend told me when I left. Boy, your going to get lucky when you get back, in a matter of fact tone. OH YEAH!. Can't go back empty handed. Back to the Factory for a little surprise present of my own. Toured the Factory and bought the little Teddy Bear. Left the Factory and was just getting up to speed, Woah! Nelley!. Slid to a stop at the exact spot. It dawned on me, I would'nt mind one for myself. My relationships have a short life span. Get one for Mom and I'll get it later down the road. I know it's hard to think that way, but I know my track record. Oh well my ex, has her's and I got mine and I did get lucky when I got back home. True Story. :thumb:thumb One for each Teddy Bear.
 

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OK, I'll stand him up.
It was a nice little Factory and they have really nice Teddy Bears. And, she was a nice girlfriend while it lasted. I don't hold a grudge. You just move on. :thumb:) ps I think he enjoyed the ride.
 
Breaks- Brakes

Did I just do that, yes I did. I stopped when I did that. I hit the breaks, or correctly brakes. The old R90 has ABS. ABS is when I put both boots down firmly to help the single Ate in the front and the drum in the back. I modulate it by taking my right foot up and tap the rear brake, then the right foot back down to the ground. Works like a champ. The story about the Teddy Bears is true, the story about the brakes is a lie; but their both good stories.
 
Off Topic Car Restoration

I know, Y'all know I like cool cars. Every time I see one on the road, I post pics. Any way, I ran across some old pics from the time Leo Goff and I were connected to a vintage car racing and rally team back in the 1990's. I've mentioned that Leo had built a lot of different types of cars, motorcycles, boats, just about anything with an engine, foreign or domestic. I mean some really off the wall stuff. Stuff I had never heard of. Thought Ya'll might like to see a little of the process. Wish I had taken a few more pics, never thought I would be posting on the internet. Did'nt know anything about it back then.
 
I was over at the shop one day and got a call from the boss, Barry there's a new car showing up at the shop this week. He gave me the car hauling company, tele. number. Be at the shop for delivery. No problem. By the way what is it? Nothing surprised me any more. It's a 1950 Kurtis Sport Car. OK, cool, Gotcha covered. Hung up, what's a Kurtis?:scratch :dunno
The car haulers showed up right on time a few days later unloaded the car. What in the world is this? Got it situated, then Leo calls. How's it look Barry? Well, Leo; it looks like a Kurtis Sport Car. I really did'nt know what to think about. I'll be over in couple days to look at it. 10-4 Good Buddy. :thumb. Leo, showed up a few days later with some tools and checked her out. Oh, Barry it's totally cool. We popped the hood, it had a 331ci Caddy V8. In about 30 minutes Leo had the carb off. I'm going to rebuild the carb, when I come back I'll reinstall it., drain the old rotten gas, fill it with fresh gas, add a battery and check the brakes. Let's go get some lunch. :thumb Ah, lunch with Leo; always an adventure in fine cuisine.
 
Right on schedule, Leo was back, carb in hand. We drained the gas, added fresh, Leo hooked up, and installed a fresh battery. Pumped the pedal a few times and that little engine barked a few times then pretty much kinda ran. Leo then set the timing and got it running half way decent. I was impressed. Be back tomorrow Barry to check out the brakes, if they kinda work, we're taking it for a spin. What? Leo was smiling ear to ear as he left. We're driving this tomorrow, Oh my.
 
Leo was back at the shop the next morning with some brake stuff. We got the car jacked up on all four corners. Leo was sliding under on the dolly. He barely fit, but it was just high enough. With me assisting, we got the brakes half ass working. We set the car back down and added air to the tires. Barry go find some thing for us to sit on, we're hitting the road. I came back with some milk crates set up front and folded up a couple towels on top, deluxe bucket seats. :). Leo was laughin and smilin. Let's go and we were off on the trial run.
 
Cool story, I'm really gettin into it and I was there over 20 years ago. We were cruisen around Memphis, car didn't run half bad, it smoked a little. Leo would look over at me from time to time, all smiles, giving me a thumbs up. Top down, it really didn't have a top to put up. We had our arms hanging out. All the other drivers were looking us all over, smiling and pointing. I could see them mouthing, what the hell is that car. But they liked it none the less. Off to a restaurant for lunch. Leo was, this is one really cool car. No doubt, Leo. Back to the shop, the resto was a go.
 
Some time later, the resto was on. Leo came over and pulled the engine and tranny, it was happening. Over at Leo's shop Leo rebuilt the engine.
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Looking good Leo. Hard to believe all the cars and motorcycles that were serviced, built, restored here. Engine was coming togather.
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Looking good Leo. Cadillac's first ohv V8. Pretty crude, but a step up from flat-heads. :)
 
Some time later, the resto was on. Leo came over and pulled the engine and tranny, it was happening. Over at Leo's shop Leo rebuilt the engine.
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Looking good Leo. Hard to believe all the cars and motorcycles that were serviced, built, restored here. Engine was coming togather.
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Looking good Leo. Cadillac's first ohv V8. Pretty crude, but a step up from flat-heads. :)
 
While Leo was engine and transmission building, I started gutting the cockpit. A lot of it was already removed. Did what I could. It was really simple stuff, but I wasn't sure of myself. I felt like a lot of it was one off stuff, didn't want to destroy anything. Moved on to the trunk. Pretty simple stuff, I could handle it. It was actually in pretty good shape. Getting the carpet and panels out. There was something stuffed up inside the crevasses. Old dried yellowed newspapers wadded up in balls. Took my time carefully removing them. Some were in pretty good shape. I wasn't planning on saving them, but they were readable. These Kurtis cars were were assembled in Los Angeles. These were L.A. Newspapers. I could read the front page of one day's paper. McArthur invades Inchon, North Korea. The Korean War was in full swing. Well this car was really in original condition, it hadn't been messed with. Those guys putting this car togather, were sitting their one mourning having coffee at the table, thinking we need insulation. They grabbed up all the newspapers laying around the shop and stuff them in there. I really thought that was cool.
 
As an aside, thought I would mention this little detail. I'm kind of a Korean era veteran. 7-27-53. The day they signed the Korean War Armistice, is my birth date. Being a history buff, stuff like that interests me. The goofy looking dictator of of N.K. is the grand son of the the dictator of N.C. that started that war. OK, history lesson over, back to the Kurtis. Feel free to luck up Frank Kurtis, interesting read on car development and car racing and the guy behind this car.
 
Engine Installation

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Leo hard at work on install.
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Watching Leo working on car and or motorcycle or engines and restorations was like watching a gifted artist paint a portrait. It's fun watching a 300+ lb man building a car and be poetry in motion at the same time. It ain't a joke, I mean it.
 
Aircraft Interiors

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These guys specialized in aircraft interiors and a lot of hi end custom cars. They are very good. This is at Memphis International Airport.
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This car build was quite impressive. Got to watch a lot of skilled craft people doing their craft.
 
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