Not "no" ...

But "fuck no"!

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., the largest U.S. automaker, has asked the Treasury Department for financial aid to help complete a merger with Cerberus Capital Management LP's Chrysler LLC, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

...

$10 bln worth at last count.

Didn't we just hand the U.S. majors $25 bln last month so they "could modernize in order to be competitive"? Fuck them. Sorry you decent, hard working folks who work for GM, I feel for you, but enough is enough. GM and the other major U.S. auto houses have made one bad business decision after another since 1978 and I'm tired of bailing them out.

The reason they can't compete is because they refused to learn from the Japanese and Europeans, even when the writing's been on the wall for the last 25 years, longer for the more perceptive.

Fuck them. Let 'em drown.

Off to work on their crap ...

Cross-posted at the Brain.

Split Precision

I have so many aspects to my personality that this it what it looks like when I go for a ride.

Erzburg Rodeo

I'd never heard of this event before, but I done found it. It's sort of a cross between Free Style and a Hare Scrambles, held in a quarry in Austria. This is the gnarliest bike race I've ever seen.

I think 'Erzburg' is Austrian for 'Turn a $10,000 motorcycle into 10,000 beer cans in 35km'.

Later. I gotta go watch 279 more of these. Fixer, you might like this one. This video is from 2006.



Update:

Here's the 2008 event. Good video, strange music for anyone older than about 15.

Motorcycle Rider Training in 1959

And a spin down Memory Lane as well. Found this at The Kneeslider:

Yes, we’ve come a long way with motorcycle rider training and safety courses. I was digging through The Kneeslider research library and came across this Jawa training motorcycle in an old issue of Cycle. It was powered by a 250cc 2 stroke engine and had complete dual controls. The instructor sits in back and has fully functioning handlebars connected by rods to the front fork with a throttle, front brake lever and clutch. He had a rear brake pedal and footshift for the 4 speed transmission and there was also an ignition cutoff.

That had to be an odd experience for both student and instructor. I wonder how many of these they sold.

Not many. I actually remember these things, and I could be wrong, but I think there were two of them. The other one is probably still in its crate somewhere.

From memory, the photo was taken on the sidewalk (Great place to learn how to ride a motorcycle! Could (and has. Heh.) come in handy...) in front of Clymer Publications on Alvarado St. in L.A. to where I pedalled my bicycle every Saturday when I got my allowance to buy back issues of Cycle. The lady is Cycle staffer Carol Sims, and the guy on the front seat is another Cycle staffer whose name escapes me, although I will probably remember it at 3 AM and sit bolt upright in bed. The grinning gent on the back seat is Jack Snyder, at the time the general manager of Cycle Imports, the JAWA importer on La Brea Ave., and later the sales manager at Bud Ekins Motorcycles from whom I bought my brand new '69 Triumph Tiger. Nice guy. A coupla years later, Jack gave me my first job in the motorcycle industry, also at Ekins' shop. I remember that he brewed his own draft beer and had a tap in his den.

I did a little more digging and found this page from Motorcyclist:



Still Jack on the back, but in front is Clark Atkinson, a friend and schoolmate who already knew how to ride but just happened to be at Cycle Imports when they needed a photo. The blame, or credit, for my love of motorcycling is all on him, as he gave me my very first ride on a motorcycle on his own 175cc JAWA circa when the above photos were taken. I haven't seen him in forty years, but the bike thing has kinda stuck.

More Flat Track Porn

Here ya go Gord.
I wished you had been there, you would have thoroughly enjoyed it.
I know I did, what I can remember, whoo, did I get hammered for three days!

The guy on the left is the one who owns the two silver Nortons, quite the character.
The Two on the right are Ma and Pa Knuckles.














What can I say?
These three sisters were all over the place.

Muy Caliente!

Here We Go

Click on them.












There are more to come.

Busy

Update;

Here is The Beast.







Crap, I been as busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

I went to do a post last night over at the Ornery Bastard and fell asleep right in the middle of it.

I busted my ass all day Saturday, drug a 3/4 ton truck up onto a trailer with a come along and some help and then brought it to work and stripped it down to the frame and the cab. I think I popped a rib out of joint yarding on that damn come along.
Then I took the service body box off of my old Ford and swapped beds so at least it looks halfway decent.Of course I broke the back window out of it during this process, luckily the one I was stripping had the same window glass.
I had a buddy stay after work and help me put that back in too last night, then I spent two hours last night getting the bed bolted down and some of the wiring hooked up, cleaned all the crap out of it that I have been storing in it and put the canopy on it.
I still have a TON of work to do to this thing.
My Boss is on vacation so I am trying to get as much done as I can INSIDE of the shop instead of OUTSIDE in my gravel fucking driveway.
I still have brakes to do, a major tune up and the whole exhaust system to be replaced with headers and Flow Master mufflers.
I also still have to drill the frame so I can install the tow hitch assembly and put the back bumper on it.
That will at least make it street legal.

Much work to do, again, no rest fer the wicked!

Just A Little Teaser

I have asked my Dad to try and find the rest of the pictures I took at that Flat Track race I went to a while back, I did manage to find a couple.

I am currently unable to enlarge these, I am waiting to see if Pops can resend the whole batch and if I can't play with them then, sorry!




Here are a couple of old Nortons that were right across the road from us.


I am looking forward to this event next year already.