VINTAGE BIKE OC NEWS

Huntington Beach, Calif. - 80° in March, who could ask for better weather? We had another great meet today with 124 bikes showing up at Beach Burgers. Many new people and many new bikes including the only steam powered motorcycle I've ever seen.

Bike of the Month
Eugene Garcin of Hollywood took First place with his 1952 BMW R67/2. Eugene won the $20.00 Beach Burger's gift certificate provided by Beach Burgers and The Scooter Solution. Eugene is no stranger to winning, he's won twice back in July and November of 2012 always with a mid 1950 BMW's.

Second Place
Grant Lappe of Huntington Beach took Second place with his 1963 Honda 305 Superhawk custom. Grant loves to stuff larger engines in his bikes, this one had a 1975 CB400 inline 4 in place of the original 305. Grant also took first place back in July 2011 with his hot rod Honda Trail 70.

Steam Powered Third Place
First timer Chris Smith of Costa Mesa took Third place with his unique 1963 Montessa steam powered motorcycle. The bike was converted to steam by Chris' late brother R. J. Smith who passed away in 1977. The bike has been in storage since then.

Fueled by kerosene, paint thinner or diesel fuel, it has a large water tank on the right side and a flash tube boiler on the left. At first glance, these appear to be some sort of home made mufflers, but they aren't. The flash tube boiler builds 350-500 psi of steam which powers the converted two-stroke. It utilizes a radiator to condense the output steam back into liquid for re-use through the system. This allows the motorcycle to run for extended periods of time without loosing steam.

According to Chris, the steam engine creates enough torque to get the wheel off the ground in second gear. This is by far the most unique motorcycle I've ever seen at our meet.

Bill Haley - Cycle Rescue
Many of us including myself have been rescued by Bill Haley, he operated Cycle Rescue in Orange County for many years. Mike Gregor of Motorcycle Transport told me today that Bill passed away from a sudden heart attack back in January. He served many motorcyclists over the years and will be sadly missed.

We had a great meet today. Thanks to everyone for showing up and making this another great event. Thanks to Debbie and Tom Hopkins for helping with the ballots, Brian Tink Tinkler for helping with the photos and my sister and brother in law Ann and Bruce Frechen for coming out from Michigan to help.

Our next meet is April 13, 2014. For me this conflicts with the Long Beach Grand Prix, another organization where I've volunteered for the past 14 years. Brian Tinkler and Debbie and Tom Hopkins will handle the meet next month and I promise to have the web site updated within a couple of days.

Keep On Ridin',
Joe Kagerer