Volume 38 / Number 4 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 • $5 18th Annual Concours d’Elegance WHAT’S INSIDE: Oregon Vintage Ride, Show, & Swap Meet 24th Annual Death Valley Rally Callaway Reactor Ride Honda 1961-65 Sports Cub OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA, INC. IN THIS ISSUE Features EVENTS: VJMC at the 37th Annual Ore- gon Vintage Motorcycle Ride, 6 Show, and Swap Meet EVENTS: COVER STORY Second Annual Dreyer Bike Show 18th Annual 10 Riding Into History MAINTENANCE Concours d’Elegance & RESTORATION: .............................................................. 42 A Motorcycle 17 Towing Primer ODDS & ENDS: You’re Invited! Barber Vintage Departments Festival 2017 PRESIDENT’S LETTER: 21 Take 40 Rides this Summer .................................................................5 RIDES: 24th Annual BACK IN THE DAY: Death Valley Rally 22 Lauren Levey / Yamaha RD350 ..........................................................8 EVENTS: FROM THE EDITOR: VJMC Mountain Zen and Now .........................................................................................9 Motorsports 3rd Annual CUSTOM CONNECTION: 29 Bike Show Kai Zen ................................................................................................. 13 EVENTS: 2017 Bill Brown Vintage Motorcycle FEATURED BIKE: 30 Picnic Honda C72 .......................................................................................... 15 PROJECT BIKE: KICKSTANDS UP AT DAWN: A Dream Come True The Manuscript, the Meaning, the Moral, and the Magic: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ............................... 27 35 FIELD REP FOCUS: EVENTS: Bikes on Central Missouri Ride Series: the Beach 2017 The Callaway Reactor Ride ............................................................. 32 38 TECH HELP: EVENTS: Tech Tip #20: Handy Things to Have in the Shop ......................... 53 The 2017 KCVJMC First Friday at ADVERTISER’S SPOTLIGHT: the Kansas City 40 Arts District Dubya Wheels .................................................................................... 59 EVENTS: 7th Annual CLASSIFIEDS .................................................................................... 60 Spring Rally 46 at Donnell’s ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ................................................................... 61 Volume 38 / Number 4 HISTORY: AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 • $5 On the Cover The 1961-65 Honda C110/CA110 18th Annual Billy Aldrich’s Sports Cub RC162 on the Hall of Fame circle 49 Concours d’Elegance at Riding Into History WHAT’S INSIDE: MAINTENANCE Oregon Vintage Ride, Show, & Swap Meet 24th Annual Death Valley Rally Callaway Reactor Ride & RESTORATION: Honda 1961-65 Sports Cub Shoe Polish Trick cover photo: 58 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE VINTAGE JAPANESE MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF NORTH AMERICA, INC. Mike Fitterling VINtage JapaNese MOTORCYCLE MagaZINE 3 PRESIDENT’S LETTER Take Forty Rides this Summer Official Publication of the VJMC elebrate the fortieth anniversary of the VJMC by taking forty AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 rides before winter. I recently made an executive decision not Volume 38, Number 4 C to hit the rear of the Silverado that cut me off and chose to lay PRESIDENT Tom Kolenko my bike down instead. After spending most of June on crutches, 770-427-4820 the pain is starting to go away, and I can’t wait to take those forty [email protected] rides. I was lucky and get to play another day. New lessons were EDITOR learned, and hopefully I’ll have another twenty-six year gap like I Michael Fitterling 863-632-1981 did after my last accident. [email protected] Our Pigeon Forge rally and Mid-Ohio AMA Vintage Days built on fortieth anniver- DESIGN DIRECTOR sary significance for all in attendance. Pete Slatcoff and his rally team created great Nadine G. Messier [email protected] fun for all members and guests in Tennessee. Sean Carrigan’s team at Mid-Ohio com- manded the largest infield club tent with the AMA’s support. Jim Townsend and Ellis CLASSIFIED ADS Gary Gadd Holman kept the swap meet tradition alive at Mid-Ohio in its second decade. Thank 817-284-8195 you to all these folks and their teams who represent the VJMC so well. [email protected] It’s not too late to add the West Coast Rally, Barber Vintage Festival, or the AIMExpo MAGAZINE DISPLAY ADVERTISING DIRECTOR events to your 2017 bucket list. Jack Stein and Bob Leonard are planning a great West Bryan Bentley Coast Rally in September in Southern California. Pete Slatcoff’s AIMExpo team will 864-923-0559 [email protected] be in Columbus, Ohio, in September. The Thirteenth Annual Barber Vintage Festival rounds out the year in October, featuring our largest VJMC bike show at motorcy- MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Bill Granade cling’s Mecca. We have had more events in 2017 at the national, regional, and local 813-961-3737 levels than ever before. [email protected] Recently, a member sent me a Fox News/Hagerty article covering the most popular CHANGE OF ADDRESS Please direct these requests to motorcycles for millennials that bodes well for our club’s future growth. These 20 to Bill Granade: 35-year-olds identified bikes from the 1970s as most popular, due to their low cost, [email protected] 13309 Moran Drive, Tampa, FL 33618 ease of maintenance, reliability, and good parts availability. Vintage Hondas accounted Membership check renewals: for twenty-nine percent of the millennial buyer interest over the past five years, with 1 year - $30 / 2 years - $55 / 3 years - $80 Outside North America: 1 year - $50 Yamaha capturing eleven percent and Kawasaki at six percent. Seems like the “kids” get it too! ADDITIONAL COPIES In order to minimize unnecessary expens- It is important to thank members like Jay Bennett for representing the VJMC at the es to the club, VJMC prints a limited number Oregon Vintage Bike Rally, Al Brotz (Field Rep-WI) staffing a VJMC booth at Rocker- of each issue of Vintage Japanese Motorcy- cle Magazine. However, we would be glad to box 2017 at Road America that signed up eight new members, Craig Long (Field Rep- accommodate any requests for additional copies IL) for securing sponsorship for Rockerbox T-shirts, Todd Tagatz’s team (Field Rep- from members. MN) for staffing the Minnesota VJMC bike show, and Ellis Holman (Field Rep-IN) for These requests must be submitted before the 15th of the month preceding each issue. For representing at the Dreyer Honda Bike Show. Signing up new members at great events example: for the October/November issue re- is the best way to add to our ranks and share our passion for Japanese motorcycles. quests must be received by September 15. We often hear the refrain that “nothing VJMC ever happens in my area,” especially MISSION STATEMENT: The purpose of this organization is to promote from locations without active field representatives. You can change that. Volunteer to the preservation, restoration, and enjoyment of become a field representative by going to our website and downloading the application vintage Japanese motorcycles (defined here as those 20 years old or older). The VJMC also will and confidentiality statement and sending it to me. Great events tend to be simple, promote the sport of motorcycling and camera- local, and accessible. derie of motorcyclists everywhere. It is with great regret that I announce that our National Field Representative Coordi- © 2016 Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club of nator Sean Carrigan is stepping down due to health concerns and new job demands. North America, an IRS-approved Not-for-prof- it 501(c)(7) corporation. All rights reserved. We thank Sean for his contributions to the VJMC field rep program and as lead orga- No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted without permission. All articles nizer of the infield VJMC displays at Mid-Ohio in recent years. Replacement candi- copyright by their respective authors. dates can self-nominate from the field representative ranks after one year of service for Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine is pub- consideration to this open Board of Directors post. Contact me directly if interested. lished six times per year, in February, April, June, Keep riding until you get your forty rides in for our 2017 anniversary celebration. August, October, and December. The views and opinions expressed in letters or other content Ride safe and often, are those of the author and do not necessarily represent VJMC policy. The VJMC accepts no lia- bility for any loss, damage, or claims occurring as Tom Kolenko a result of advice given in this publication or for claims made by advertisers of products or ser- VJMC President vices in this publication. [email protected] VINtage JapaNese MOTORCYCLE MagaZINE 5 6 AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2017 EVENTS VJMC at the 37th Annual Oregon Vintage Motorcycle Ride, Show, and Swap Meet by Jay Bennett / [email protected] ut on by the Oregon Vintage Mo- Ptorcycle Club, this is a two day event held each year at the fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon. People come for the weekend or for the day, and there is a wide variety of motorcycles to see and enthusiasts to talk to. The event has been going on since 1980 and keeps growing every year, with about 800 in attendance this year. On Saturday, there was an eighty-five mile ride with forty-two bikes going through the beautifully green spring countryside. There were all brands and countries represented on the ride. For the Asian category, there was a Suzuki rotary-engined RE-5, two Honda CBXs, and a Yamaha two-stroke/two-cylinder and others. Many bikes were thirty to sixty years old. The ride was great fun, seeing all those old and rarely seen bikes on the road. Many townspeople stopped what they were doing to see My pretty and helpful wife and I talk- the gaggle of old bikes going by, and we ed to people about the VJMC and the SHOW CLASS WINNERS even got some thumbs-ups. benefits, such as the kinship with others in restoring and keeping old bikes run- 1ST PLACE The weather was awesome, with clear Michael Roberts skies and low 80s on both Saturday ning. Our table had VJMC brochures, 1975 Honda CB 400F and Sunday. Normally, weather for this the magazine, key rings, and side stand event is overcast, cool, and even heavy coasters to hand out.