Moose And Squirrel

Being a child of the 60s, I grew up with Rocky and Bullwinkle... and Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale and Fearless Leader. At the end of each segment, the announcer would say "tune in again for our next episode...". One of my favorites was "Flaming Arrows, Or Bullwinkle Meets His Match".

Whenever I meet a young woman from Russia, I ask her to say "Moose and Squirrel". Some of them sound exactly like Natasha.

Tonight, I present for your consideration... WingHouse hostess Anna... from Russia.

Clutch Replacement... It's Not Pretty

I must be rough on the equipment. Parts wear out. Parts must be replaced. In September 2006 I had flown home from Columbus, Ohio to retrieve the Police Bunny Bike to ride back north so as to have something fun to do on weekends. I had joined the Buckeye Beemers BMW Club in Columbus and attended many of their events and meetings which included Wednesday dinners at rotating locations and the weekly Sunday morning breakfast at the Flying J Cookery Buffet in Delaware, OH. The bulk of the membership arrived on two wheels while I arrived on four. It's like bringing a knife to a gun fight... the guys with the guns have all the fun. I wanted to have fun too. Each month the Buckeye Beemers headed out for a day ride after Sunday breakfast.

I had secured a storage unit for the BMW based upon the recommendation of a fellow Buckeye Beemer. All was set. I flew from CMH to BHM on Southwest where Mrs. Bunny picked me up for the final leg of the journey to the Bunny Cave. After a few quality days at the Home Cave, I fired up the Police Bunny Bike and headed north to Columbus. As I took the exit ramp to I-65 north in fifth gear accelerating to interstate speed, my engine started spinning faster than the drivetrain. The clutch was slipping. This was not good. I'm ten minutes into a ten hour journey and the clutch is taking a dumper. I tried that fifth gear roll-on a second time with the same results. I didn't do that again. There was no similar slippage in lower gears, so I pressed on to Columbus and safely to the Columbus Bunny Cave with no further mechanical excitement.

I had no prior service-related dealings with the two BMW motorcycle dealers in Columbus. I tend to work with folks I know and I knew Oscar and Mike at Miami Cycle Works in Cincinnati. They had hired BMW mechanic Greg after the Cincinnati BMW dealer closed. Miami Cycle Works eventually took over the building housing the former BMW Of The Tri-State. I had a major service done at Tri-State during the May 2000 Skyline Chili Presidential Lunch and Greg did some of that work. I called Mike and scheduled a clutch replacement along with the installation of new clutch and throttle cables. I rode from Columbus to Cincinnati early on a Saturday morning for an all-day sit-and-wait. The clutch replacement on a BMW Oilhead involves the complete removal and separation of the rear half of the motorcycle. It's an eight hour task... four hours off, four hours on. It's not pretty. Greg did a great job and the Police Bunny Bike has performed flawlessly for the past two years.

I thought to write this because the other BMW in my garage, the R1100RS, is exhibiting the same clutch slippage at high speed and high load. With less bodywork to be removed, a clutch and cables replacement for the RS should cost slightly less than the $1200 I spent for clutch, cables and labor on the Police Bunny Bike. While the bike is apart, it's a good opportunity to replace the cables which stretch and wear out over time. Having to replace the cables separately would require billable labor time to disassemble bike parts which are apart already for the clutch work. Why pay twice?

My Other BMW

The second BMW in my garage is a 1995 R1100RS. It has the same engine and drivetrain as the Police Bunny Bike with a more sporty and aggressive riding position. It also has a rear seat. It's a great summer bike but I don't get a chance to ride it as much as the other BMW. Low mileage has its appeal, but I must get it out on the road more often.

I traded my restoration project, a 1974 BMW R90/6, for the R1100RS in November 2000. I gave up a cool vintage airhead with crappy brakes for a oilhead engine and modern ABS brakes. It has Chrome Yellow paint with white pinstripes. I heard that it ended up in New York.

Hooters I Have Known

I made my bi-weekly solo appearance at Hooters for dinner. Of the four in town, I chose the Southside Hooters which is the closest to the Jacksonville Bunny Cave. Teenie (second from the right in the group photo) who served me during my last visit was my Hooters Girl for the evening. I sat at a six-top at the entrance and saw the comings and goings of hungry and thirsty patrons guided to their tables by the attentive staff.

My steamed shrimp was served hot with drawn butter... those little shrimp guys didn't stand a chance.

Biscuits v Suns

My hometown minor league baseball team, the Biscuits, were in Jacksonville to play the Suns. The daily thunderstorms in Jacksonville these past few weeks has not been favorable for baseball. These guys don’t play in the rain and the thunderstorms seem to hit around game time. I work across the St. Johns River from the baseball park, so if it’s storming here at 6pm it’s storming there too. Somehow, the Suns get the games in. I have passed on several opportunities to attend a game only to find the next day that they played to completion. Not sure how much of a delay was involved, but since I am in Jacksonville to work and not to have fun, I cannot invest in a late night game and get to work the next morning. I have my priorities.

The Biscuits won Tuesday night’s game with the Suns. The promotion that night was fifty cent hot dogs. How many of those can one eat… $1.50 worth? The promotion for Wednesday night was far more attractive. Show a Sam’s Club membership card and get $2.00 off of the ticket price. The first one thousand folks through the gate received a Phil `Knucksie` Niekro Hall Of Fame baseball and a certificate for one of the free giveaway goodies being offered for `Christmas In August`. It was an opportunity to clean out the prize closet at the ballpark. The items displayed on the table were puffy soft baseballs, flip flops, plastic water bottles, flashlights, mini personal battery-powered fans (which had LEDs that spelled out `Jacksonville Suns` as they flashed across the spinning fan blades), coin purses and bobbleheads. I chose the commemorative Nolan Ryan bobblehead. I could not determine from his stats when he played for Jacksonville but my bobblehead Nolan Ryan is wearing a Suns #34 uniform so it must be true. Minor league teams change affiliations from time to time and the Suns are currently a Los Angeles Dodgers team.

I wore my Biscuits hat to the game and saw some other folks wearing their Biscuits t-shirts. The Biscuits were up two runs to one after the first inning. It stayed scoreless until the bottom of the eighth when #16 hit a two-run homer. The game ended with the score Suns 3, Biscuits 2. The Biscuits are in town through Saturday but I will not be. If the weather holds out, I may try to see tonight’s game. My next opportunity to see the Suns will be in two weeks when they have their final home stand of the season with the Birmingham Barons.

Daytona Speedway Videos

Our 4:30pm track tour.



This was the first lap of the SCCA session. At 1:01 in the video, the black car which passes closest to the wall appears to have blown an engine. It sprayed those of us standing there with an oil mist. It was not pleasant.

Daytona 500 Experience

While in Daytona Beach, I experienced the Daytona Speedway "Experience". My main goal was to take the track tour and to see the NASCAR IMAX 3-D movie. The admission price of $24 covers it all.

I got in line for the 4:30pm track tour which turned out to be me and two other young fellows. Since the Sports Car Club Of America (SCCA) was racing that day, we did not get to ride on the track. Our driver stopped at the infield gate and escorted us over to Victory Lane for a photo (which could be purchased once the track tour concluded). I would have preferred the track portion of the tour... maybe next time. Upon the tram's return to the starting point, the queue was full of folks for the 5pm tour. I don't know where they came from and why they missed out on our tour. We had plenty of available seats.

Back inside the building, I stopped by to see Ryan Newman's winning Dodge Charger from this year's Daytona 500. The winner of the race loses his car for the season. They roll it into the building to be displayed just as it came out of Victory Lane... complete with oil, grime, confetti and champagne stains. Several cars were on display including Malcolm Campbell's Bluebird and one of Dale Earnhardt's #3 GM Goodwrench cars. I ended my day with the 3-D IMAX movie.

A stop by the gift shop was mandatory. All the major drivers had buttloads of branded merchandise. Put a number and a driver's name on crap and you can sell it... the Jeff Gordon juice box holder, for example. That's why a juice box comes in a box... it doesn't need a second box to hold the first box. Tony Steward, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and a few others had items you could buy for your dog... bowls, leashes, sweaters and dog cookies... all with the driver's number. They had mouse pads and cell phone caddies and shot glasses and window flags (don't you get a thrill from those folks who drive at interstate speeds with their window flags just a flappin'?). I bought son Jonathan a Tony Steward #20 Camry shirt. Jonathan drives a Camry and `Smoke` will be the owner and driver of his own team next year and it won't be in a Camry. Wear a true collector's item. In the mid 90s, Dale Earnhardt would qualify for a race at Talladega and fly in afterwards to our local Chevrolet dealer. He was at that Chevy dealer for several years but later moved on to some other dealer in the state. The year he won the pole and the race at Talladega was the last time we saw him in person. He signed the Dale Earnhardt special edition Monte Carlo on the showroom floor. We spoke to him at the autograph table and got several signed photo cards. Dale noticed that Jonathan was wearing one of his shirts and stood up to lean over the table to sign it. I discouraged that by telling Dale that "if you sign it, he will never be able to wear that shirt again". So it goes.

I left the gift shop a few bucks lighter, resisting the urge to buy needless stuff. I did buy a track pin, but I do have a rather large pin collection from NASCAR tracks I have visited.

I'll be back for a race someday now that I know my way around Daytona. As an added bonus, the Daytona Hooters is across the street from the speedway.

Presidential Lunch - Daytona Beach, FL

I traveled from Jacksonville to Daytona Beach for the day. I met up with President David at BMW Motorcycles Of Daytona (www.BMWCyclesDaytona.com) where he had gone to buy a new battery for his 2004 BMW R1150RT.

I drove along the famous Main Street as he pointed out the sights in Daytona Beach. Our first stop was at the legendary Boot Hill Saloon (www.BootHillSaloon.com) where their slogan is "Order A Drink And Have A Seat... You're Better Off Here Than Across The Street". The cemetery is across the street. They were having a sale on BikeToberfest t-shirts but they did not have one in my size, so I bought a 2008 Bike Week shirt. I have seen many Boot Hill Saloon t-shirts in my travels and now I have one.

Our journey continued along Atlantic Avenue past the gift shops and scooter rental places. I had brought my riding gear and wore my kevlar jeans in case I got the urge to rent a scooter. Rain had fallen and time ran out on me, but I did stop to visit one of the newer rental spots and spoke with the owner. The rates on the 50cc scooters were quite reasonable and Atlantic Avenue is a great street to scooter upon (many others were) so I will make plans to return another Saturday.

President David and I continued on to our Presidential Lunch spot for the day... Racing's North Turn (www.RacingsNorthTurn.com). The restaurant sits at the north turn where the early Daytona Beach stock car track transitioned from the beach to the pavement. Their menu specialty is seafood and I had the bacon-wrapped scallops with a side of onion rings. David had the Mahi Mahi. We sat at the edge of the indoor seating overlooking the deck, the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Toward the end of our lunch, the live musical entertainment commenced with two fellows playing some tunes from the "grooveyard of forgotten favorites". I spotted a bucket on the floor in front of the stage, so David and I left a buck each as we departed. It was worth at least that.

The tour continued south to Ponce de Leon Inlet. The lighthouse, completed in 1887, is Florida's tallest lighthouse. You can read more about it at www.PonceInlet.org . August 7th was National Lighthouse Day, so my August 9th visit "missed it by that much". We toured other neighborhoods and marinas in the area. If I had a spare million or two, the Daytona Beach area would be a nice one in which to retire (as 70% of residents already have).

I returned President David to the BMW dealer for him to retrieve his BMW and I continued on to the Daytona Speedway. David and two other riders from the area will be joining me in two weeks at the next Presidential Wings in Jacksonville.