Pandemonium!

I've had pan-envy for sometime and finally found the balls to pull the trigger. Our friend Joel has more good bikes and projects than anyone else I know. He was looking to thin the inventory a bit and had this all-HD 1960 Duo Glide. It's been a a while since I've owned an HD and unfortunately I can't afford both this bike and the Triumph, so expect to see that for sale in about two weeks. I'm not the kind of guy to hang on to things forever, more of the journey rather than the destination kind of thing. Or ADHD? Who knows. One thing I do know is that this jockey shift nonsense is pure fun. Having never ridden one I have to admit I was a little worried that I'd screw it up, but I've been tear-assing around in as much traffic as I can find just to get used to it. I've only stalled at a light once and it started right up (whew!) Man, it turns an ordinary commute into an adventure! Funny how easily these things get picked up and become muscle memory. Eventually I'll lose the Tokico on front but for now it makes excellent training wheels. Thanks Joel, for sharing this bike with me, I'll do my best to treat it right. As for the modification plans, it'll be pretty simple and kind of hot rod inspired. At least for now...

-Bill


The new EDR '08 Project. Thanks, Joel!

Smoking Section

You can see Temecula at the top of this map, luckily just sucking smoke.
This map was grabbed at 1530 hrs today.


Thanks to everyone for the calls, text messages and emails concerning the fires. It's a terrible tragedy for many folks not far from here and so far we have been very fortunate. The worst we've had to deal with is smoke and dust and the non-stop internet-fueled rumor mills.

The wind has died down a bit so hopefully that will allow firefighters like our friend Oscar to do their job a little easier.

The best source for info on the fires I've found is our newspaper's website, channel 27 on Fios or radio station 103.3 FM if you are local.

Everyone's a Winner at the 2008 EDR...

... but only five lucky Diablo Runners will leave Ensenada with a special trophy handcrafted by Rich Phillips, Breanne McLean or the good blokes at DicE magazine. In a show of amazing support, EDR sponsors Rich Phillips and Breanne McLean at Cycle Cosmetics have both volunteered to handcraft custom solo seats to commemorate victory in two different EDR Bike Show classes. As many EDR alumni will remember, Breanne's husband Trumpnut Nick won our Cucuracha award on the very first EDR. This trophy goes to the guy who braves the Mexican desert on the biggest cockroach in the pack. On the 2008 EDR, the top cockroach will be presented with a custom seat crafted by Nick's fair bride. Breanne is a talented artist and leather crafter, so we can't wait to see what she creates for this special award.

The Huevos Grande trophy goes to the man or woman who takes the biggest risk to go on our ride. Last year's winner of the "Big Eggs" award was Chicago Willy. The smooth roller from the Windy City braved a wicked case of gout to ride his Harley chopper all the way from Illinois. Swolen appendages and unreliable iron were powerless against Willy's will to party, and that's why he scored this award. Anyone tough enough to tackle similar hardship will be rewarded with a custom Rich Phillips seat in 2008.

As they did last year, Matt and Dean from DicE magazine have volunteered to commission special trophies for the 2008 EDR Best in Show. Last year Matt and Dean popped for custom Vans slip-ons that were tattooed by none other than Mike "Big Island" Castillo. We don't know what the guys from DicE will conjure up for the first-, second- and third-place trophies next year, but you can bet the prizes will be cool. Stay tuned to this blog for more news and photos as they become available.

Keep it Simple, Stupid

We kept is basic this year with shirts. Any color you want as long as it's black! They are printed only on the front using "discharge" instead of ink so the image is basically bleached out of the fabric. They have a nice "hand" which means "you can't feel the ink". We'll throw in stickers with each order as always.



Shipping included in the lower 48 of the USA = $20.00

Outside lower 48 = $25.00

We made some full-size man shirts this year so you big fellas get some love.

Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL

Please be sure to include your size so I know what to send you.

Prefer paypal to billb67@verizon.net but you can always send real money (no checks) to:

EDR SHIRTS
27570 Commerce Center Drive #129
Temecula, CA 92590

Thanks!

Smoked Out

Whew! What a weekend. We had a great time riding to and from the Horse Magazine's second annual Smoke Out.

We camped in a cool spot in Blythe called McIntyre park, complete with grass and a nice river called the Colorado to bathe in. I blew the tranny in the team van pulling a little grade in Glamis. Luckily it ground to a halt right in from of the Glamis Beach Store which had plenty of overpriced water and beef jerky. AAA, U Haul, a giant wad of cash, some terrorist transmission shop and all was well.

We made it to Cottonwood with only one ticket, one crash (not us, some jackass on a bagger who was riding over his head, imagine that...) and only minor mechanical issues. Our friends Kim, Fredo, Joel, Erik, Big O and a couple other guys rode with us and put up with all of our crap, thanks guys, hanging out was the best part of the weekend. It didn't rain this year which was nice, but it got down to 20 degrees one night at the ironic Dead Horse campground. We have to consider hotels one of these days. We lugged all our crap in to the dustbowl of a fairground and set up the Biltwell kit each day. I think next time we might just pass out catalogs from a helicopter or something. Sitting in that dusty field was not the most fun I've had all year.

Thank God there were lots of cool bikes to look at, of course the Chop Off bikes plus a few real stand outs like Kutty's rose-covered Triumph. Lots of people took lots of pics so I didn't even bother this year, I'm sure they are all over the innerweb by now. Speaking of the Chop Off bikes, our friend and EDR sponsor Wes White from FOUR ACES won the Chop Off and we were really stoked for him. I thought Brew Dude's bike looked like it would be super fun to ride and he obviously knows what he's doing building that crazy 45 magnum motor. He also happened to be a super nice, down to earth guy. Didn't spend too much time with the Chandler bike and I'm sure it had some cool stuff going on, it just wasn't my style. I'm sure we'll see full write-ups on all the bikes in future issues. I don't know who won the other ten awards but it had to have been difficult to pick, as there were quite a few gems to choose from.

We also had the pleasure of hanging out around the fire a little with Trumpnut Nick who's wife Breeanne just had a baby boy and is sponsoring the EDR with Cycle Cosmetics, her new leather working venture. Good to see you and your welder as always, Nick. Please bring you friend "Butthole" on the EDR if he lives that long. That guy was top shelf.

The highlight was Riverside Erik racing over to the burnout pit in a pair of fuzzy purple t-back undies he got from McGoo. What McGoo was doing with these and what lady they came from we'll probably never know, but it was worth the $138 we rustled up for Erik to mock those who think it's so cool to do a burn out against a wall. Hold your front brake man, or do a wheelie or something. Light yourself on fire, something, anything but wallouts. Anyway....

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the booth and hung out, hopefully we'll see a bunch of you in San Felipe! Here's a couple random pics.



Joel, the prince of soul.


Chris needs new pants.


Purple rain, purple rain...


Wes' winning bike.


Paint by Nick-O-Teen.

EDR Pre Run in November

Bill, Chris, Mike D and I are doing a high-speed overnighter to San Felipe and Ensenada on the weekend of November 10-11, 2007 to square up with our various host venues. You know the drill: prepay for fish tacos, put in our order for cerveza frias, reserve palapas for EDR sponsors, eat cheap tacos, get baracho grande on coco locos, the usual BS. We're taking Bill's A-Team van--not motorcycles--for this hit-and-run endeavor, and any SoCal Diablo Runners who would like to follow us in their own cage for a quick weekend of good times should contact us via email. San Felipe is beautiful in November, and the Sea of Cortez is still warm, so bring your trunks and plans to spend a couple hours under the Mexican sun at both venues. We'll post photos and info after our recon run to help everyone with advance planning. If you haven't booked your palapa or hotel room, we strongly suggest doing so immediately. I have a feeling things are going to book fast this year.