MODS VS ROCKERS RIDE, 2008

Well, Mods AND Rockers would be a better description, as the animosity between these groups got left behind somewhere in the 1960's, and an awful lot of classic bike owners have scooters in their garage! I've been guilty as well, with Lambretta, Vespa, and Velocette scooters having sat alongside the motorcycles.
The setup is simple; Mods meet at one end of the Embarcadero (Red's Java Hut) in San Francisco, the Rockers meet at Pier 23, we mill around until it's time to GO, then we pretty much have traffic our own way for the next couple of hours...




Then it's off to the beach; not Brighton but Ocean, and as this is the Pacific ocean, there's just a lot of chatter in the parking lot, before we light off again through town, ending up at a big party inside the SFMC clubhouse.











Mike, Joe, and Pete.

















Mike Shiro and his '64 Norton Atlas 750cc twin - the precursor to the Commando, with a proper Featherbed frame. The Commando has a rubber-mounted engine to deal with the vibration of this big twin engine - on the Atlas, the rider must deal with the vibration.... I was riding one as well (from 1965).

















Jeff Wu with his nicely restored 1937 BMW R6 sv, which he showed at the Legends this year.


















Sweet 1954 Triumph Tiger 100 500cc, one of my favorite Triumphs, with the all-alloy engine, and fine-pitch fins on the cylinder barrel and head. This bike was originally
taken from England to Indonesia by it's pilot owner, and eventually restored there, before being imported to CA in the 1980's. It sat for quite a while before being resuscitated by it's current owner.














Several motorcycle clubs were flying colors; the SFMC and the Vampires were the most numerous, pictured here in front of a BMW R69S.












I hadn't seen Danny's Triton before,
which is built from a unit Bonneville engine in a Slimline Featherbed frame. Some interesting contemporary features include the plastic rear fender (front from a Ducati?) and Harleyesque headlamp. Sounded great.





No excuses for this photograph...


















Baby Kawasakis grow up to be big Kawis eventually....

















When he was a lad, he used to fit into his father Geoff's sidecar; now Niles wrenches on Paris-Dakar racers, among others
(although this year he was stranded in Spain when they called off the race...next year it will be run in South America).



















On to the tunnel of love... Joe looks like he's enjoying himself! Smiles all around
.
















Another tiny bike!






















To the beach... my Norton Atlas with another silver two wheeler, a Lambretta Li175. Enough talk - enjoy the photos...