Back to San Francisco
— USA — 2 min read
March 17 - 22, 2010
On my way out of San Francisco the first time I realized I didnt take too many pictures of the city and snapped some off on Van Ness street. The War Memorial Opera House.
San Francisco City Hall.
Coming down Highway 1, buzzing along in the bright sun, thinking the trip is finally moving again and...
just south of Half Moon Bay, engine goes quiet and I lose all drive. Starter motor would spin but no turn over of the crank.
Looked insde the vavle area and saw the cam chain not moving and traced back with the help of my mechanic friend Gus on the phone that it was due to my miss-assembly of the cam chain tensioner when I was servicing the engine. Big oopsy. Lots of engine damage.
Shridhar called his friend Jul (Yule) to come to the rescue and take me back to San Francisco to figure out what to do. He's a bike guy, as well.
The next morning, I took the bike to Werkstatt to get their opinion on how serious the damage was and they recommended a new engine instead of trying to fix this one. Shridhar agreed to part with his DR since he wasn't riding it much. The bike was stuck in a shop, so in the down time, Jul took me around to see the other bike shops in town. This is Subterranean.
We finished the bike tour with a visit to Dudley Perkins Harley-Davidson, a very prominent Harler dealer with a few bikes there setup as museum pieces. This is a 1957 KR Roadracer.
A 1924 JD Harley-Davidson. The 1st twin cam hill climber engine. Built my Tom Sifton.
A 2 storey wall of Harley engine history.
Took a nice ride north of the Bay Area with Jul and his riding friends and this is at the Sonoma Lake overlook. Shridhar lent me his Suzuki V-Strom since he was out of town that weekend. Nice bike to ride.
Riding the awesome Skaggs Springs Road and other twisties in the area. Lots of rough, tight, technical turns.
During our lunch stop in Guerneville, a second Honda Trans Alp pulls up after seeing Jul's modified Trans Alp. The second owner said he had never seen another TA out on the road. Jul is quite the bike modifyer and has a motor from a Honda Nighthawk, I think 750 in there and calls his creation the Trans-hawk.
Taking a coffee break at Wild Flour Bread Bakery near Occidental, where they make some tasy artisan bread.
Jul and his friend Riccardo, who's studied Mexican law and told me to contact him for any legal help down there.
Stopping by Roy Brizio's shop, a well-known custom hod rod car builder. The shop is open for anyone to walk through.
Lots of famed history here.
A near-finished car (someone help me identify what kind this is).
A little earlier in the assembly stage: engine in the frame.
A classic pickup truck. And Jul said they were making their own stamped aluminum body parts.
Next: DR650 Engine Swap in San Francisco
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