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A Message from Bib...

Update 1/31/12

Despite being rained out at Hansen Dam, we’re doing well and looking forward to a great riding year in 2012. We now have over 800 members on our email list! And, planning is proceeding for our greatest adventure yet, a ride in September from St. Louis to Santa Monica on old route 66. There’s still time (and a few spaces on the truck) to join us on the Mother Road.

The Mt. Palomar Ride in early December attracted 31 riders, mostly Brits. There was a “pucker factor” ice spot near the top of the mountains but lunch at Jeremy’s in Julian was great and we topped off the ride with a visit to the Doffo Winery (and bike collection) on our way back to Temecula. It’s never too cold to ride British in Southern California!

Witness our 26th Annual New Year’s Eve Ride. Around 300 bikes at Burger Continental for breakfast, 150+ at Newcomb’s and 50 or so for post ride cheer at Lucky Baldwin’s on Colorado Blvd. Temperatures at Newcomb’s were in the high 60s (versus 26 degrees in 2010).

We had 75-80 bikes at Café 50s for our “twenty something” annual ride to the Rock Store; a quick jaunt up PCH through Malibu and on to Dan Schoenwald’s collection in Camarillo. Increasingly, however, most of us now stop for lunch at the Rustic Creek Café, just off Kanan Dume Rd, rather than at the Rock Store – too many dentists and accountants on overly chromed Harleys.

Hope to see you this spring in Ojai (February 12), Idyllwild (March 18), Mojave (April 15), Mt. Baldy (May 6), and Big Sur (June 1-3) – more or less traditional routes with new twisties and turns. See Calendar for details and also note that we are posting BSA Club Rides (including dual purpose events) for those of you who may want a change of pace. It’s all about motorcycles, preferably British, but whatever you ride is fine with us.

Club meetings will be returning to the second Wednesday of each month on March 14 at Burger Continental, 535 S. Lake, Pasadena. That schedule will continue through the Daylight Savings Time months. Our so-called Café Racers meetings will be held at 2 pm on selected Sundays each month, when we don’t have a ride scheduled. Dates and places throughout central Los Angeles will be posted on the club website and on Socal Norton Club on Facebook.


Please get in the habit of checking both sites. Thanks to Bruce Branstad, Klaus Wiene and JC Matsuura for keeping us on-line. Also, thanks to John Gardner, Roger McGrath, Ed Cornell and Kelly Colgan for their recent “over and above” contributions to the club.

See you on the road!

Bib



Note: We have an inventory of new top quality long-sleeve black t-shirts showing the club logo and 2012 ride schedule and gray Run for the Roses shirts – sizes L/XL/XXL. We’re asking $25 per shirt including a 2011 Hansen Dam pin to keep your collection complete. Make it $30 and we’ll throw in a new or renewal membership.

We also have a variety of other club shirts and even 10 of Dick Symonds Hansen Dam shirts for the years 2000-02 and 2004-06. $20 includes shipping. How about a little support?



ROUTE 66 UPDATE

Planning is proceeding on schedule for our greatest/longest adventure yet, from St. Louis to Santa Monica, on old Route 66, September 8-16, 2012. To date over 40 potential riders have expressed interest in participating; and, 21 have made their $200 “good faith” deposit (refundable through April 30) against anticipated costs of $300 per bike to ship from Pasadena to St. Louis.

We have reached a tentative agreement with a major, reputable bike hauler to transport as many as 30 bikes to be picked up on or about August 28 in Pasadena and arrive in St. Louis no later than September 5. Club members will supervise loading/unloading at both locations.

If we have more than 30 riders, which is a good possibility, we have a long-term club member who may be able to have 15 to 17 additional bikes (at the same $300 cost per bike) AND would accompany us as a chase truck on the return trip. Several folks are meeting us in St. Louis and others will be joining us along the way who will also provide chase services. Any other volunteers?

I am arranging for “locals” to help us navigate old 66 in Missouri and Oklahoma. We will avoid the interstates whenever possible but some sections of the old highway are hard to find, too short to bother going out of our way, are dead ends, etc. The plan is to average about 250 miles – somewhat LESS than we usually do in a day on our current weekend rides. There will be several contingents of riders to accommodate varying types of bikes and riding styles – not everyone will be on a 75 mile an hour/all day Commando.

We’ll allow for at least one full break day for rest/maintenance and we’re making arrangements for dealer/shop support in several cities along the way in addition to the parts/spares we plan to carry in the chase trucks. Details on likely overnight stops will be coming soon.

We are talking with several motel chains – yes, I know – to guarantee a set price if possible along the entire route. I don’t want to deal with a different local desk clerk in every city along the way and our group may be too large for the typical mom and pop motels. Details to follow including where we will be staying as a group, in St. Louis on September 6 and 7. Lots to see and do there and we’ll be leaving early on September 8th!

In the meantime, contact me if you have any questions. For those of you who have sent a deposit for yourself and “others”, I need to know who they are and how to contact them directly. What type of pre-1982 British bikes they will be riding etc.?

There is still time to sign up for this adventure … but, all future details will be sent only to likely participants. A Route 66 riders meeting will be scheduled in February or early March to assist in our and your planning. Get your $200 deposits in ASAP. Make checks to SCNOC and send to Southern California Norton Owners Club, P.O. Box 91132, Pasadena, CA 91116-7132. Call or email Bib: 626 791-0259 or E-mail



2011 Best Bike Awards

(Awarded at the New Year’s Eve Ride due to the Hansen Dam rain out)

Best Other – P11/Ranger, Tobias Glas

Best Norton – Custom Commando, Jeff Koskie

Best Triumph – Flat-Tracker, Art Madrid

Best BSA – A65 Lightning, Dale Naber

Best Custom – 650 Café Triumph, Mile LaFountain

Best of Show – 66 TR6 Triumph, Warren Stirling




NOTE OUR WEATHER POLICY!

The Norton club has never cancelled a ride due to a weather FORECAST. If, however, at the scheduled time of departure the folks who do show up for breakfast decide not to ride due to rain, snow or…, then the ride may be re-scheduled, most likely for the following week. Check the website or our Facebook page for the new date, call Bib at 626 791-0259 or E-mail.





2012 Norton Club Ride Schedule:

  • January 15 – Rock Store Rendezvous

  • February 12 – Ojai Pilgrimage

  • March 18 – Lake Elsinore/Idyllwild

  • April 15 – Mojave/Lake Isabella/Randsburg

  • May 6 – Mt. Baldy/Glendora Ridge

  • June 1-3 – Cambria/Big Sur Weekend

  • July 1 – Wrightwood over the Crest

  • August 12 – Prince of Darkness Ride

  • September 7-9 – High Sierras Weekend

  • September 8-16 – Route 66 Ride, St. Louis to Santa Monica

  • October 11-14 – San Luis Obispo/Central Coast Weekend

  • November 4 – 33rd Annual Hansen Dam All-Brit

  • December 2 – Temecula/Palomar/Julian

  • December 31 – 27th New Year’s Eve Run for the Roses
  • CLICK HERE FOR CALENDAR OF EVENTS AND RIDE DETAILS.


    SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA NORTON OWNERS CLUB

    Founded in 1979, the Southern California Norton Owners Club is one of the largest and most active classic motorcycle-riding clubs in the country with over 700 members on its current roster. Cumulative annual attendance at club rides/events since 2006 has exceeded 2000 participants per year. Ride routes typically exceed 2000 miles each year over Southern and Central California’s best back country roads, canyons and passes with occasional forays into Nevada and Arizona.

    While we prefer Nortons and other classic British bikes, whatever you ride is fine with us – although we don’t have a lot of patience with cruisers (whatever their country of origin) or so-called “trailer queens”. No club rules, officers, politics or causes – just rides and bikes!

    We have a ride every month and 3 to 4 weekend events each year, always including Cambria and Big Sur and the High Sierras and Yosemite. The club has sponsored California’s Hansen Dam All British Ride, “…the best ride by a dam site” since 1990 – one of the country’s largest gatherings of British bikes according to Cycle World. And, in September 2012 we are doing Route 66 from St. Louis to Santa Monica.

    Join us!

    SCNOC Membership

    You can join us anytime by making a donation of $10/year, payable to SCNOC, P.O. Box 61132, Pasadena, CA 91116-7132. If you ride with us at Hansen Dam or throughout the year, use the website to keep abreast of the British scene or occasionally need tech support/advice, we would most appreciate your help in keeping the club on the road. We are deliberately not organized enough to bill anyone. Members receive updates throughout the year via email only, so make sure you include a legible email address when you join. We do not share members email addresses with anyone.

    Club Meetings:

    Beginning with March 14, 2012, club meetings are returning to Burger Continental, 535 S. Lake, Pasadena.   Click Here to view map!!!   We’ll keep with the second Wednesday of each month at Burger C through the end of Daylight Savings Time in November. We meet informally from about 6 pm through 8:30. No “business”, just bikes, good food, and good cheer.

    Our monthly so-called Café Racer meetings will be held, typically, on designated Sunday afternoons when we do not have a ride scheduled at 2 pm at varying bike friendly locations throughout LA. However, on Saturday, February 25 we will meet at 1 pm at Fisherman’s Outlet, 529 S. Central Ave (between 5th and 6th) in downtown LA about ½ mile south of Little Tokyo. They are not open Sundays and close at 3:30.

    Any suggestions for a Sunday afternoon meeting local in your part of the city? All we’re looking for is no chain restaurants, secure/visible bike parking and good food at reasonable prices. Contact Bib at 626 791-0259 or E-mail Not a club member? Join us anyway!