A Man and His Motorcycle: The Movie

[cowpuc]

The State of South Dakota is known for many great things. For us bike fanatics, touring "The Hills" and riding to the annual Harley Davidson Sturgis Rally in South Dakota has been a way of life for many years and, perhaps for that reason, motorcycling has been one of the great things that South Dakota is known for. During the 40's, 50's and 60's and long before the invasion of the Japanese motorcycles onto the shores of North America, big air cooled, 4 stroke, chain driven motorcycles ruled the Territories. It was a day and age when American and European bike manufactures like Harley Davidson, Indian, BSA and Triumph dueled it out on race tracks, back roads and open Highways in direct competition to keep a foot hold in the ever increasing demand for motorcycles. It was also a day and age before modern electronics had taken over. Magneto/points ignition, REAL analog volt and amp meters, relay switches that were fired by a coil and chrome covered mechanical voltage regulators were all a common factor in those days. Primary and secondary drive chains had to be maintained, drive chains were commonly hand oiled by a maintenance minded owner of such a machine with oil seepage taking over for chain lubrication if the owner was not maintenance minded. . 50 weight oils and above were the norm as 1/2 thou tolerances were unheard of and the inner workings found inside the pot aluminum cases covering those air cooled engines would rattle like crazy on thinner lubricants when they got hot - the modern day precision Water Cooled shaft driven motorcycles were yet to come.

It is getting uncommon to rub shoulders with a person who actually owned and rode those early motorcycles and almost impossible to find a person like that who still owns the actual bike that he rode back in the day.. Last summer (2015) Tip, Tweeks and I were heading out for another adventure to the Sturgis Rally and before we left, I checked The VR Watering Hole for any messages from other folks who were also headed that way. I noticed a note from one of our VR members, a fellow named @Hoss, who had written an invitation for anyone passing by his home town of Brookings South Dakota to stop by and say howdy. I wrote down the phone number Hoss had provided in his invitation - just in case - and we headed west. A couple days later found us waking up in one of our favorite free camping spots along the western trail in a town called Blue Earth which is in the State of Minnesota. As we were strapping our tent on Tweeks back I announced to Tip that I thought we should take the long way around to the Pie Butt 26.2 that @bj66 had planned during the Sturgis Rally just to stop and take Hoss up on his offer - Tip liked the idea. After chasing the front wheel in a Northwestern direction on the back roads across Minnesota and mid eastern South Dakota we landed in Brookings and were blessed with making the acquaintance of and rubbing shoulders with one such man.

Grab a Hot Dog and some Pop Corn and join us while Hoss (aka Dan Blocker) and his gorgeous 1967 BSA Thunderbolt share their story with us!!

 

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2016 by cowpuc

[bj66]

This is awesome, thanks Puc, Tippy, and Hoss.

 

2 things that I cant believe

 

1. You were in Brookings, home of the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits and didn't end up with a cool SDSU cap. The jackrabbit logo is pretty cool, and they just played the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA basketball tourney a few years ago. We lost of course

 

2. MOST IMPORTANTLY.....SDSU has their own ice cream, and it is awesome. Never mind DQ when you are in Brookings.......

 

Also forgot to add, my son is a SDSU graduate. GO JACKS!!!

[Zzyzx]

Very cool Puc.

What an experience meeting Hoss and getting to see his bikes along with the background stories.

I've got to get out more.

Thanks!

[Guest Jamsie]

@ Cowpuc. as you know i live in washington Uk and twice weeky in the summer there is a big meet, that starts again next week .

1 bike that is a regular is a 1119 Brough Superior that has been handed down from father to son , and has never been restored . all parts on the bike are original, even the wiring.next time i see it i will take some pics , castor oil stains and all . these old bikes run on a constant loss system, pumping oil by hand as you ride

[slowrollwv]

Puc watching some of your videos makes me think that this song was written about you. Hope you enjoy.

 

[bluestar99]

Yes. I have to agree that Puc's stories are the best. I allways look foreward to reading them and watching the vidios. Good luck with your hand surgury tomorrow. I hope that it goes well. Take care and dowhat the Doc says. I am sure that you are used to that by now.

 

Sent from my SM-T800 using Tapatalk

[cowpuc]

Puc watching some of your videos makes me think that this song was written about you. Hope you enjoy.

 

 

You made me cry Roller,,,, it's an amazing thing in a man's life when someone comes along and show's they really understand.. I LOVED it brother - THANK YOU!!

 

You nailed Roller,,,,,, Heee's an ollldd Hippie just trying to adjust..

 

This reminds me of time not very long ago that @Stealthblade sent me the following song and said he instantly thought of Tip/Tweeks and I,, same deal,, brought tears to my eyes too...

 

 

And then there was the time my oldest daughter (Awahoo) and I were out at the Sturgis Rally - touring on my first 1st Gen that the kids named B.G. (Big Girl). We were playing around at Wall Drug and then I saw her standing at one of the song racks with a pair of those Head Phones on sampling music. She had tears running down her face, pulled the headphones off and handed em to me and said "Daddy,, they wrote a song about you".. By the time I got thru the first listen to I had tears running down my cheeks too..

 

It truly is an amazing thing when I man KNOWS that people really do get you...

THANKS ROLLER!!

Puc