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LOTS MORE THAN A SIMPLE HOW-TO BOOK, BONNEVILLE BY KEITH R. BALL–
How to Build a Bonneville Salt Flats Motorcycle
Keith R. Ball
Wolfgang Publications, Inc., 144pp, $24.95
www.wolfpub.com
www.bikernet.com
Reviewed by Bill Hayes
It?s generally a safe bet that any book that begins its title with ?How to?? is probably indeed a ?how-to? book. Keith Ball?s introduction to his newest book reiterates this incredibly perceptive logic: ?On the surface, this book is nearly a how-to. It covers dramatically how we built a bike, hauled it to the historic Bonneville Salt Flats, and attempted to set an AMA World Land Speed Record. Done deal. Let?s get started.?
But he quickly adds a caveat.?Ah, but not so fast?This book is about an adventure, a dream and the desire to see the vision to fruition.?And he is so right. The book accelerates rapidly into the ?adventure? side of things as the nuts and bolts and measured tolerances and fork angles?while still vital to the work as a whole?become secondary to the non-stop emotion of Keith ?Bandit? Ball?s Bonneville epic. This ?adventure? story and the passion that goes with it create a perfect portrait of the soul of this lifestyle?a portrait that goes miles beyond the hands-on building and racing of a motorcycle.
Right off the bat, the book?s adventure component centers on two legends: one living (Keith) and one (sort of) dead (the dry remnant of the ancient Lake Bonneville of glacial times, now known worldwide as Bonneville Speedway near Wendover, Utah).
Keith Ball was the editor of Easyriders magazine for two decades. He is a member of the prestigious Sturgis Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Everything Keith has ever done, currently does, or will do in the future is steeped in ?adventure, dreams and the desire to see vision come to fruition.? The words that he has written, the bikes that he has built, and the odysseys he has enjoyed over the years have proven this again and again.
The wild 159 square miles of Bonneville?s dead sea bed has been its own version of a hall of fame since the 1930s; immortalizing?by making or breaking?the great and the not-so-great drivers, riders, and racing machines.
How to Build a Bonneville Salt Flats Motorcycle chronicles the mix of this duo; two forces in this lifestyle meeting in a frenzy of fast fun?combining for another attempt at a hard line in the record books.
Bonneville?s historic legacy is laid out in Steve Thomas? foreword to the book. It sets one of the physical ?stages? for this adventure/production. In Chapter One, the curtain rises on another stage?the garages and the shops?when Ball introduces one of the main ?stars? of this show: the monster bike affectionately called the ?Assalt Weapan.? This bike is fittingly billed as ?the world?s fastest Panhead.? The hoped-for ability of this beast to break some speed records is the outward focus of the adventure?the quest. The stretched and silver big-inch bomb was given life in a couple of famous ?laboratories,? including Berry Wardlaw?s Accurate Engineering factory in Alabama and Ball?s own magnificent compound beneath the shadow of the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
Another star of this extravaganza is the pilot of the monster ride: the lovely, talented, and bad-to-the-bone Valerie Thompson. Gender is a non-issue when you can roll at 150 mph-plus on a Panhead.
There are many other stars. Keith?s entire 5-Ball Racing Team is a serious bunch of talented badasses who are bulletproof and blessed with high-tech brains and skill. The reader gets to know them all. The reader also gets to know members of this lifestyle outside of Keith?s hands-on racing team?s inner circle. Comments from bikernet.com?s audience, other builders, and a variety of additional sources add color throughout.
The third setting that is so important in this open-throttle drama is ?The Road??and it is here where the meat of this adventure becomes so savory. After the idea has been conceived, the bike has been designed, the team has been assembled, the machine has been built, and the millions of details have been attended to, the journey from So Cal to Utah is logistically arranged and undertaken?all the while looking at the clock, sweating the myriad deadlines that are part of the daily schedules. This is great stuff. It?s truly a hoot.
In the chapter titled ?The Deadline Approaches,? Keith notes: ?Facing the grim reality that only eight days remain before we roll toward the historic Bonneville Salt Flats, we feel like high school kids facing the potentially bad report card.?
You will lose yourself in this book. You?ll become a member of the team. You?ll be right there along with the 5-Ball bunch. You?ll be sweating, too, and looking at that damn clock:
?But we aren?t out of town yet. Instead, we sit in this rented fun mover in downtown Long Beach and count the minutes. We are burnin? daylight?we are screwed. Nyla, [Keith?s better and more rational half], and her daughter Karley, are inside the 100 year old bank, negotiating. Jeremiah [Keith?s buddy whom he describes as ?a local biker?a talented construction worker with a swarm of exes who harass him constantly.?] and I are parked illegally outside the plate glass windows with ski masks pulled over our sweaty faces. Nyla is attempting to have funds released into our account, but the bank staff isn?t budging. I tap the steering wheel while Jeremiah tells nervous jokes, and whistles.?
Too much fun!
The complete building process and the whole pressure-cooker of an adventure is captured in a mass of incredible photos taken by a battery of photographers from the ?inside? of our special culture?artists who obviously understand what this way of life is all about.
And Keith ?Bandit? Ball? knows this lifestyle better than anyone. Sure, this book is a how-to in many ways?how-to build a screamer of a bike, how-to undertake a giant project in the spirit of fun and brotherhood?but most importantly, it shows the reader ?how to? enjoy an adventure, a dream, a desire to see a vision to fruition, and a look at life in general through the eyes of a true biker legend.
MOTORCYCLING UNDER ATTACK HIT WITH FRAUD–I do not know the answer to it so I am sending it out to see if someone does.
For a long time, I have wondered about the frauds that have been perpetrated upon the motorcyclist and motorcycling.
Helmets are fraudulent. They are a device that are neither capable of preventing crashes (crash helmet) nor are they capable of providing safety (safety helmet).
The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has failed dismally at education and failed miserably at lowering the death toll of motorcyclists upon our highways and byways.
Can the government on a state or federal level be sued for fraud or participation in fraudulent schemes?
–Rogue
Sturgis Freedom Fighters
Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Member 2005
www.bikerrogue.com
HANDBUILT CLASSIC CHROMED MAGS FROM CHICA–Here are the available size and price for our 5 spoke wheels,
21″ Spool Narrow $914.99(retail) $639.99(dealers)
21″ Single Narrow $957.99(retail) $669.99(dealers)
16×3″ single wide $1,014.99(retail) $709.99(dealers)
16×3″ dual wide $1,057.99(retail) $739.99(dealers)
16×4″ dual wide $1,057.99(retail) $739.99(dealers)
Chica makes these wheel with a variety of hub configurations from star hubs to late model, except 1-inch axle platforms. To visit us again, Please click the link below:http://www.chicacustom.com
Hitomi / CHICA CUSTOM CYCLES
7522 Slater Ave.,#126
Huntington Beach,CA.92647
PH:714.842.9587
FAX:714.842.9087
5-BALL RACING BONNEVILLE BIKE PAINTER, JIM MURILLO, PAINTS AND REBUILDS HIS OWN TRIUMPH–Heres some pics of my Triumph as it comes together.It’s coming out better than I hoped it would.
Next week I get some chrome back from Vernes chrome plating and can then put on the rear wheel.It should be running by next week.
–Jim
THE WOMAN’S CODE OF THE WEST– ‘Whatever you give a woman, she’s going to multiply. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal.
If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.’
So – if you give her crap, you will receive a bucket full of shit.
Love and appreciate all the women in your life.
BELIEVE IT!
–from Mary Ann Hart
FOUR LADIES AND FIVE RECORDS FOR TEAM KLOCK WERKS– MITCHELL, S.D.? Four ladies were riding for Team Klock Werks at the Motorcycle Speed Trials by Bub on the Bonneville Salt Flats this year. After a week of racing, Team Klock Werks came back with FIVE new National Land Speed Records! As a bonus, Laura Klock defended the ?World?s Fastest Bagger? record, and her daughters Erika (17 ? senior at Hanson High School) and Karlee (14 ? freshman at Mitchell High School) joined her as record holders on their own bikes, making the trio the first mother-daughter-daughter in history to set land speed records in the same year at the same event. At age 14, Karlee was the youngest female participant, and she set two of the five records in her rookie attempt.
Laura Klock faced the tough challenge of being a supportive and encouraging mother while trying to set a land speed record of her own. She was successful at both roles. Laura has piloted the WFB (World?s Fastest Bagger) to multiple records since her first attempt in 2006, and this year she reached a new personal best, and a new record. The WFB, #3338 in MPS-PF 3000, reached a top speed of 153.906 mph, with a new record on the books of 153.592.
The WFB utilizes many of Klock Werks signature series parts including the patent pending Flare Windshield. Erika Cobb returned this year after setting a land speed record on a 500 cc Buell Blast in 2007. Erika rode a 1995 Buell S2 for this year?s speed trials. She set a new land speed record on the Buell #455 in P-PP 1350 of 130.392, and her personal best for the week was 132.206.
While both Erika and Karlee have traveled to the salt with the team since 2006, Karlee was unable to participate simply because she wasn?t old enough. This year she was able to get a valid driver?s license from the state of South Dakota, where it is allowed to be licensed at the age of 14, and participate. Karlee rode the Buell Blast that Erika piloted in 2007, which means that she went after her older sister?s record.
Karlee not only broke the old record on the Buell Blast #3333 (110.724 mph in class MPS-PG500), she also set an additional record by running the bike in another class by removing the fairing (107.391 in class M-PG 500). Her personal best is 111.580 mph.
With Karlee?s land speed records, she will join her mother and older sister in the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum?s ?First Ladies of Motorcycling? exhibit as the first mother-daughter-daughter trio in history to hold Bonneville National Land Speed Records in the same year.
Also new to the Klock Werks team was Michelle Mielke, who is the wife of Klock Werks service manager, Joe Mielke. Michelle was riding her 2000 Yamaha V-Star 650 bike #415 in M-P 650 and set a land speed record of 102.1. Her personal best was 102.389.
All of these land speed records are under AMA (American Motorcycle Association) sanctioning and are subject to final verification. Records on the Bonneville Salt Flats are an average of two passes ? one being a qualifying down run and then a return run. A rider must be at or above the existing record speed to qualify for a return pass. The Bub Speed Trials are sponsored by AMA so the return pass is made in the opposite direction on the course. The speed is an average of how fast you pass through a measured mile (which is the middle mile of the course). There is no separation between male and female or by age. Bikes are placed in classes based on their frame, fuel and motor size.
Team Klock Werks came home with more than just land speed records. The Team also won an award sponsored by www.landracing.com
Team Klock Werks mentions that they feel so blessed to have the team that they have which includes all who were out on the salt with them and everyone taking care of things back home. Some teams travel to the salt for years and years and don?t come away with the number of successful passes and records that Team Klock Werks has. The salt was in great condition this year and the weather was amazing. The team did face mechanical challenges and some humbling experiences as most teams do, but is ALWAYS an event to remember.
Team Klock Werks would like to extend congratulations to High Country Harley Davidson of Frederick, Colorado and rider Kevin Edgmon for their true efforts with their Road Glide at the Bub Speed Trials this week. They got a record in their own class, MPS-PG 2000 if 143.409, and they were rockin the Klock Werks Flare Windshield, a product designed for downforce and born on the salt.
Thanks to our sponsors ICON, Avon Tyres, S&S, Baker Drivetrain, NOS energy drinks, Drag Specialties, Dynatek, Pingel, Baron Performance, Crossroads Performance, and Buell Brothers and Sisters.
UPSCALE HITS AN ALL-TIME HIGH– Ever seen a Lamborghini with a towbar?Now that’s what I’m talking about!!
–from Jim Waggaman
D&D GOES DEALER DIRECT–If you want tough, performance tested and tuned hot rod exhaust find the D&D dealer near you. If you don’t see one on this list hit their web site for a full list of dealers nation wide.
Here are the new dealers from last week
1) Cycledoctor 217 Avocado St # 4 Costa Mesa, CA 92627 949-645-1235
2) Hog Valley 1525 NIH 35 Georgetown, TX 78628 512-930-5475
3) Clinton Cycles 6709 Old Branch Ave Camp Springs, MD 20748 301-449-5900
4) Shumate H-D Spokane 6815 E Trent Ave Spokane, WA 99212 509-928-6811
5) Performance H-D 807 N. Geddes St Syracuse, NY 13204 315-471-1157
6) Legend H-D & Buell 9625 Provost RD NW Silverdale, Wa 98383 360-698-3700
7) Souhegan Valley Motorsports 459 C Rt 13 S Milford, NH 03055 603-673-6007
8) Dick’s ATV Tires & Acc 96 State St Presque Isle, ME 04769 207-764-8313
9) Wauken Power Sports 208 HWy 9 SW Wauken, IA 52141 563-568-4025
10) Crossroads H-D 5118 Route 309 Center Valley, PA 18034 610-797-7979
–Jennifer
Vulcan Engineering Coil Brackets FROM CUSTOM CHROME–These billet aluminum coil brackets come in both powder coated gloss black and chrome and are designed to work with two post style Dynatek or RevTech coils in single tower design. These gothic style brackets are destine for overnight success and fit all Big Twins with coil mount top motor mounts.
Check with your Custom Chrome Dealer for all the bitchin Custom Chrome, RevTech and Jammer Products, or click on this banner to research their web site.
BAD COP REPORT, Ex-deputy charged with stealing tiny dog–PALATKA ? Authorities say a former Putnam County Sheriff?s deputy stole a teacup Chihuahua named Princess from a San Mateo pet store.
The pet shop owner told deputies that 39-year-old John Lee May had been wearing a heavy jacket in the store on Saturday and that another customer?s son saw May put the dog into his pocket. He was arrested Monday and charged with grand theft. He was later released on $1,004 bail.
A spokesman for the sheriff?s office says May had already been fired last week following an investigation into a domestic violence complaint involving his former girlfriend.
Before resigning, May had been a K-9 officer in the school resource unit.
–from Rogue
Bikernet Crime Desk
PHOTO ART EXHIBIT OF THE WEEK–Only a classic shot to brighten your day.Whipalsh Photo Art – Live it up!soffordphotos@comcast.net
BOBBER MONKEY BARS FROM PAUL YAFFE–Paul has been making the killer looking Monkey Bars for sometime now for his “Newstalgic” choppers and bobbers. In the past we made them one at a time, by hand, in a very labor intensive process.
The demand for these bars has been so overwhelming that Paul set out to find a way to make them for half the cost while maintaining all the quality that PYO products are known for. Well, we did it, and we are passing our fantastic new pricing on to you!
Each bar measures 7″ in rise from the center of the riser bar to the center of the grip area…. 9″ in total height. They are 11.5″ wide at the base and 32″ wide from tip to tip with a 6″ pullback. These bars are intended solely for custom applications so there are no internal wire holes and the bars are shipped in primer, ready to paint to match your project, powdercoat or plate.
Part # BMB $199.00
Paul Yaffe Originals / Paul Yaffe’s Bagger Nation
Ph: 602.840.4205
Fax: 602.840.2569
www.paulyaffeoriginals.com
www.baggernation.com
DOUGZ Pro-Tour ?X? featured on Torque TV– During the S&S Cycle 50th Anniversary the good folks at Torque TV were on hand interviewing various builders about the bikes they built for the competition. Saturday afternoon they spent a half-hour with Mark Platt and I going over the finer points of the Pro-Tour ?X?. While you?re surfing the net follow this link to Torque TV. http://www.torque.tv/?player=TorqueTV_27_copy&ct=1&ids=231136 You?ll find a video of the interview and a short segment of Mark and I collecting the ?People?s Choice? award. What an honor for the Pro-Tour ?X? to be chosen as the favorite bike of thousands of people who came to La Crosse in June and to be picked by Torque TV as one of their Top 20 bikes of the event!
I see a Pro-Tour ?S? in the future?As many of our ?regular? visitors know, we are in the early stages of another build dubbed the Pro-Tour ?S?. What we?re doing is creating a bike that will have many of the same characteristics of the Pro-Tour ?X? but we?re basing it on a Genuine Sportster chassis as our platform. We?ve dropped the seat area 3 ? inches to put you in a nice pocket (only 24.5 inches off the pavement!), stretched the swingarm 6 inches to give the bike ? inch MORE wheelbase than a full size dresser, added StreetGlide air shocks, built an oil tank that?s cradled between the swingarm horizontals and set the battery just above the oil tank.
What you end up with is a Lightweight, long-wheelbase, low center-of-gravity, drop seat Hot Rod with many attributes of a purebred Drag bike and it includes the racy yet functional fairing, the side covers that double as storage compartments, and of course our exclusive ?clamshell? rear fender/storage area that is found on the Pro-Tour ?X?. With a seat height 2 inches LOWER than a Standard Softail or Sportster ?Low? and a full 3 inches lower than a StreetGlide even a person with the shortest of inseams will sit comfortably flat-footed on this scoot. Plus the added benefit of being roughly 200 lbs. LIGHTER than a StreetGlide!
Keep checking the DOUGZ website as we?ll begin adding progress images real soon in the ?Custom Built Bikes? gallery.
Doug Wozney
DOUGZ Custom Paint & Fabrication LLC
2323 Palace St. La Crosse, Wi. 54603
(608) 783-3684
doug@dougz.com / www.dougz.com
CHRISTMAS HANG-UPS FROM SOFTBRAKE–No matter if you?re looking for a really cool gift or need a place to hang your jackets and keys in style, these new bike deco RACKS from SoftBrake are just the ticket. Distributed exclusively by North County Customs, these extremely hot hang-ups are as functional as they are eye catching. Each COAT RACK is laser cut from 10 gauge cold rolled steel while the KEY RACK is cut from 16 gauge.
Available powder coated in your choice of silver, blue, red, black or white; SoftBrake RACKS are pre-drilled for easy mounting. KEY RACKS retail for $25.00 each and the COAT RACK goes for $35.00.
Better yet, you can get a matching pair for just $55.00. For complete details and ordering call 714-680-0911. www.softbrake.com
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