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Website Links:			Latest & Greatest: 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
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