The BBC Knews The Voice of the British Biker Cooperative

Issue 3~ August, 2017

(read Cover Bike article on page 2 for more details)

Bill Pluess’ 1971,2,3 Norton 750 Commando

Calendar Disclaimer

Please be aware that while reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the

information on the calendar is accurate, there may be some changes that

occur after it is published. We use the best information that we have at

that time. Please check the BBC website, or individual event websites for

updated information before making plans. Thanks, Mark

BBC Officers and Directors

British Biker Cooperative Dedicated to the Preservation of the British Motorcycle

Long Live the Limey

BBC Officers

BBC Directors

Page 1

Page 2

Cover Bike Details

This is my 1971, 72, 73 Norton. In 1984 I traded a 1969 hopped up BMW

for it. Reason being, 1, I wanted to get back into Nortons having previously

owned two others and 2, the police officer in town claimed it was his, stolen

out of his driveway four years prior. So when this guy pulled in my driveway

on the Norton, we switched bikes and went for a ride, it wasn't long before we

looked at each other and said let's trade. After the paper work was all taken

care of I filled him in on the little problem with the local constable claiming it

was his bike, and by golly the picture in his wallet sure looked like it. The new

owner wasn't too worried about it, he was in the service and was being trans-

ferred to Fla. I thought cool, get that bike out of Wi. I found out later that the

cop retired and moved to Florida. Funny how that sh** happens. Anyways in

the last 34yrs., I've had this bike apart numerous times, the last one being a

complete tear down in Pat Hanson's class, Balanced the crank and everything,

(thanks Pat). It runs good, when I remember to put gas in it. It recently was

involved in a flood, Water up to the plugs, I'm on oil change no. 6 and I think I

might have all the water out now, took the clutch apart twice and changed the

tranny lube three times, but still going to check the wheel bearings and

anything else I can think of this winter. Hopefully she'll keep running till

then, Ride fast - take chances Bill

Page 3

Welcome to Our New Members

Andy Bickle Janesville, WI Triumph

Peter Bauman Waterford, WI Triumph

Ken Churchill Lakeville, MN Triumph

Wayne (Smiley) Hoffman Cambridge, WI Norton, Triumph

Tom Hribik Belvidere, Il Triumph

Bob Kaul Fond du lac, WI Triumph

Membership Forum

Remember BBC’ers that Dues are due in January.

April 1st was the deadline for paying your dues, otherwise you

will no longer receive e-mail updates, the BBC KNEWS, or

access to the “Members Only” section on our website. Also be

aware that there will be four issues of the BBC KNEWS this year.

We hope that all of our members’ information is correct, but if you see a mistake please contact the membership V.P. and it will get corrected. Email addresses, phone numbers and physical addresses tend to change fairly frequently so help us keep everything up to date. Thanks!

! Important Notice !

Pat Hanson

Mitch Klempf

Bill Church

Pat Connoy

Bob Kaul

Les Will

Michael Champion

Scott Cleary

Dave Kollmann

Justin Pluess

September 9th

September 18th

September 20th

September 27th

September 28th

September 28th

October 1st

October 8th

October 23rd

October 28th

Jim Ryan

Kathy Aretz

Chris Lee

Pat Mason

Les Lippert

Cory Klug

Dan Matte

Gary Ilminen

Steve Shelvik

August 4th

August 5th

August 9th

August 9th

August 10th

August 13th

August 23rd

August 24th

August 29th

Happy Birthday to You!

and Rockerbox show at Road America, the Run to the Sun and the BBC night at the Iron Horse. All of those events were very well attended by the membership. It was good to see so many BBCers at the Iron Horse. One of the more recent events for me was the Rally, so I guess since that is fresh in my mind, I will say a few words about that. I know that thanks have been given to many people for their efforts to make the Rally a success under difficult circumstances, and while I echo those thanks to all who helped to put on this event, I would like to extend my own thanks to some folks who helped me personally with an embarrassing dilemma of my own making. At this point I’m realizing that this story is becoming too long to fit in this column, so I will write it up in a separate article elsewhere in these pages. In each issue, I attempt to fill these pages with articles and photos that are relevant to club activities and will have a broad appeal to the members. Thanks to all who have sent me an article or photos. I apologize if I have not includ-ed something that you submitted in this issue, and renew my plea for articles or photos to share with your fellow mem-bers. Ride Safe! Mark Fredricks

Well, the 2017 Rally is behind us and no doubt it was a memorable one, espe-cially for those lucky people who were there early in the week and experienced the worst of the storms. Jean and I ar-rived in a light but steady rain on Friday, just in time to work our shift at the entry gate. Not much to do at first due to regis-tration materials not ready because of the weather related delays, but pretty soon the rain became much harder and some riders began to pull in from some fairly far off places such as southern Illinois and Minnesota. I applaud the large num-ber of courageous riders (and passengers) who braved the elements and arrived just as wet underneath their rain gear as they were on the outside. Especially since I try to not even let my bike get wet (more on that later). Also behind us since the last issue are the vintage motorcycle races

Page 4

The Editor’s Points & Plugs

Page 5

Cory Klug Waukesha, WI Triumph

Bobby K Kulbacrki Grafton, WI Triumph

Chris Lennon St. Charles, MN BSA, Norton, Triumph

Les Lippert Oconomowoc, WI Norton

Paul Lulas New Berlin, WI Triumph

Bob McInnes Milwaukee, WI Norton

Fred Mitchell So. Milwaukee, WI Norton

John Paluchniak Waterford, WI Norton, Triumph

Jim Ryan Wabasha, MN Triumph

Ken Towers Grangeer, IN Triumph

Will Wiegler Lincolnshire, IL Triumph

Dennis Worthy Franklin, WI BSA

Welcome to Our New Members (continued)

Another successful and very eventful rally is in the books. I’d like to Thank

all of the BBC members who stepped up and helped out under some very

severe conditions. My biggest Thanks go to Wes, his family/employees and

the volunteer Blue River Fire Dept. The Fire Dept. was there almost

immediately to check on us and open up the roads (twice) before they went

on to take care of the rest of their homes/community. If you would like to

send a Thank You to the Blue River Fire & Rescue 201 Exchange Street,

Blue River, WI 53518 or their Facebook page link

https://www.facebook.com/brfire/

I’d like to send a big Shout Out to our 2017 BBC Rally Sponsors. They are

Schlossmann Motorcycles of Milwaukee, Team Triumph, Klempf’s British

Parts, Dale’s Cycles, Pop My Dent, Brit Iron Racing LLC, and Team

Winnebagoland. As always please support our sponsors and let them know

that you are from the BBC when you are in their shops or buying off the

internet. A BIG THANK YOU to all of our Sponsors!

This year we are electing new Officers for a 2 year term. We are in

desperate need of new people to step up and take an active role in the

management of the BBC. If you would like info on what each Officer does

feel free to contact me Kasper.peggy@gmail.com or 262-514-2073

Thanks again for all your help at the rally, Peggy

Page 6

The President’s Address August, 2017

37TH ANNUAL BBC RALLY and SHOW

The Year of The Monsoon

Well, the 2017 BBC Rally has come and gone. I think it will be put down in

the archives as one of the more unforgettable rallies, even though we may

want to forget about this one. Kathy and I got there on Monday afternoon in

the rain and I don’t think it stopped raining until Saturday. Sunday was

warm and sunny so everyone could go home . . . dry.

But this rally was memorable even though it was the most wet rally that I can

remember since 1994; which is the first rally I attended. I think it was

memorable because it demonstrated how resilient everyone could be in less

than ideal circumstances. The “First Responders” in the aftermath of several

storms was the Blue River Volunteer Fire Department. They were on site to

Eagle Cave twice, clearing roads and paths so vehicles could get through. In

my mind, those guys were heroes to come out and did what they did so

quickly. We owe them a ton of gratitude. The second group of responders

was the BBC. Eagle Cave Campground looked like a war zone on Thursday

morning but by noon, it was all cleared. I watched while so many BCC’ers

helped Wes and his father get all the branches, tree limbs, and debris off the

tent site and roads. Just a testament of how our membership came together to

help everyone out. I am very proud to be part of this organization.

Outside of the Heroics of Humanity during this rally, I noticed something

peculiar happening while it rained. We had more people under the tent on

Friday and Saturday nights than we had in years. I guess people didn’t want

to spend time in the rain on their camp site so they came up to the tent to

watch movies, listen to the band, and just socialize with one another. It was

really cool. And our Product Bitches pulled out all the stops and sold product

from their car under the tent on Friday night. And they sold a lot of product.

They are friggin’ brilliant.

The 2017 BBC Rally will go down in history, not as a disaster (although the

rain and storms tried their best to put us out of commission) but as a rally that

proved we’re going to have a great party no matter what happens. I want to

congratulate and tip my hat to all who participated and made it a great and

memorable time. Do I want a repeat of the weather? Hell No! But I would

like to see all the people up at the tent on Friday and Saturday nights drink-

ing, talking, and enjoying one another’s company in future rallies. Speaking

of future rallies, we haven’t yet determined our theme for the 2018 Rally. I

guess we need to put on our thinking caps to see what we can celebrate next.

Shouldn’t be too difficult. We always seem to come up with some very good

reason for a party.

Page 7

What’s up next? BBC Night at the Iron Horse was the Thursday after the

rally. I couldn’t be there because I had to work that evening. We have the

Northwoods Camp and Ride Weekend on August 18-20. Cruisin’ The Grove

British Invasion featuring the BBC in Elm Grove, WI promises to be interest-

ing. The BBC Color Ride is on Saturday, October 14th at Steve and Debbie

Shelvik’s place in Random Lake, the BBC Pot Luck Dinner in South

Milwaukee on November 11th and the final party of the year will be the

annual Holiday Party on December 1st and 2nd at the Best Western Waterfront

Hotel in Oshkosh.

Fun times ahead everyone. Hope to see you at one of these events.

Ride Safe but for God’s sake . . . ride.

Doug Aretz, President

British Biker Cooperative

September

1- 3 - FYI - AHRMA Vintage Racing - Utah Motorsports Campus, Tooele, UT

8 - 10 - FYI - AHRMA Vintage Racing -Talladega Gran Prix Raceway, Munford, AL

8 - 10 - FYI - Moto America - New Jersey Motorsports Park - Millville, New Jersey

9 - 11 - FYI - AHRMA Racing - Talladega Gran Prix Raceway - Munford, AL

10 - FYI - 34th Annual Battle of The Brits, Camp Dearborn

1700 General Motors Rd, Milford, MI 48380

15 -17 - RTR - Team Triumph 20th Annual Midwest Triumph Ride In. From Friday, Sept. 15th

at 3:00 pm to Sunday, Sept. 17th at 12:00 pm. For more information contact

Team Triumph website or Phone 608-741-9900 - 4747 E. US 14 in Janesville WI

16 - BBC - No Big Deal Picnic - CANCELLED due to scheduling conflicts

30 - RTR - Saturday Flat Track Racing - Elkhorn ½ mile, Noon Walworth County Fair

Grounds - 411 East Court St, Hwy 11, Elkhorn, WI - $10 admission - Swap meet

spot @ $20 includes 1 admission. Beer and food available. Possible “Run to the

Races” details to follow. (Bill Pluess)

Page 8

2017 Calendar of Events August

20 - FYI - 26th Annual Chicagoland Vintage and Antique Motorcycle Show, presented by

the Chicago Norton Owners Club. Hosted by Motor Cycle Center and located at

443 E. St. Charles Rd., Villa Park IL - For more information call the Chicago

Norton Owners Club at 630-661-0607 or contact cnoc.org

25 - 26 - FYI - Moto America - Pittsburgh International Race Complex - Pittsburgh, PA

26 - FYI - Lumberjack Days - Tigerton, WI - last weekend in August

28 - BBC - “Cruisin' the Grove” British Invasion featuring the BBC. Austin-Healey club

and MG club and BBC booth and bikes. 13275 Watertown Plank Rd., Elm

Grove, WI - 5:00 pm -? - A short 5 minute ride will leave from Mark’s house,

arrive around 4:00, leave @ 4:55. Mark - thefreds@wi.rr.com -

Indian/Colette/Peggy kasper.peggy@gmail.com

31 - 9/2 - RTR - Davenport Antique motorcycle swap meet and races - Mississippi Valley

Fairgrounds - 2815 W. Locust St., Davenport, IA www.chiefblackhawk.org/

October

1 - RTR - SCMG Slimey Crud Café Racer Run - Pine Bluff to Leland

5 - 8 - RTR - Barber Vintage Festival - 6030 Barber Motorsports Parkway

Birmingham, AL - AHRMA Racing

7 - RTR - Team Winnebagoland Fall Color Ride to Door County

www.teamwinnebagoland.com

14 - BBC - Color Ride and General Membership Meeting - Officer nominations Steve and

Debbie Shelvik, W8017 Mink Creek Drive, Random Lake, WI 414-861-8041

15 - FYI - Walneck’s Swap Meet, McHenry County Fairgrounds -11900 Country Club Rd,

Woodstock, IL 8:00 am – 2:00 pm. Admission $9.00 / Vendors, $40.00

November

11 - BBC - Pot Luck Dinner and General Membership Meeting - American Legion Post,

920 Monroe Ave., South Milwaukee, WI - Officer Nominations - Jim Ziemann -

414-481-6960 - jimz1951@yahoo.com

December

1 - BBC - Officer Elections - Best Western Waterfront Hotel, Oshkosh, WI ?5:00??

2 - BBC - Christmas Party and Banquet - Best Western Waterfront Hotel, Oshkosh, WI

(Mary Lange)

Page 9

BBC Holiday Party December 1-2nd 2017

Best Western Premier Waterfront Hotel & Convention Center

1 N Main Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901

http://oshkoshwaterfronthotel.com/

BBC Awards Banquet – Saturday December 2nd

Ground Round Happy Hour 3PM - 6PM $1 OFF all drinks

6:00pm Cash Bar

7:00pm Dinner

8:00pm Awards & General Membership Meeting

2nd Ground Round Happy Hour!

9PM – MIDNIGHT $1.99 Original Margaritas & Long Island Teas

DJ and Ugly Sweater Contest

The Banquet is $15 per person. Each member may bring one guest.

Banquet reservations must be made in advance:

mlange@langelearncomm.com

Indian & Colette Lendowski 414-651-4550

Deadline for Banquet – November 29th

A special rate & block of rooms has been secured for us Friday & Saturday

$76.00 per night (plus tax) single or double occupancy

Make your own room reservation - call hotel directly

855-230-1900

Deadline for room block November 10th

After November 10th –discounted BBC rate is subject to availability

Peace Santa Bring a Date!

Page 10

Colette and I would like to thank everyone who came down the BBC night at

the Iron Horse Hotel. It was a beautiful evening to look at bikes, enjoy a brew,

and talk to our friends. We sold $121.00 worth of product and signed up one

new member. Special thanks to, Mark and Jean Fredricks, Steve Baker, Jessie

and Julie Castillo, Bill Church, Bill Pluess and his pal, who’s name escapes me

right now.

Sat. Aug 12th was a car, bike and tractor show in Union Grove where we also

set up a booth. It was a gorgeous day to show some bikes and Bill Pluess, Steve

Baker, Tom Rasman, and I did just that. Thanks guys for coming down and

showing some support for the BBC. We sold $80.00 in product and signed up

two new members. That’s all for now. Indian & Colette.

BBC Night at the Iron Horse Hotel

Page 11

Calling All Officers

I started this letter a few times. I first tried to be rational. Nah! Then

I tried to be delicate. Nah! Then I tried to be threatening, Nah! A third

time. What I’m trying to get at is, the BBC Membership seriously

needs to consider doing something about this situation . . . we need

officers for the 2018-2019 Officer term.

There are many openings with no volunteers at this point. We have

openings for the President, VP of Membership, VP of Property, the

Editor, and VP of Product. That’s half the positions. I look around at

the current officers and I’ve been working with them for 15 to 20 years.

We have one new face and that would be the current editor. Most of us

are in our sixties and several of us are retired. We would like to retire

our responsibilities with the BBC. We want to “party what is left of our

brains out” without responsibilities of running our Co-Op.

The BBC celebrated its 40th birthday this year. If we don’t get offic-

ers, the Board of Directors will have to determine what to do with the

Co-Op’s status. Not sure what that means at this point but I do know

that without officers, we can’t have the organization that we have now.

And it has taken this level of participation as officers and directors to

keep the BBC going at this level. Without it . . . who knows.

Guilting people into these positions is not the way to go. We need

volunteers who want to see the BBC keep running. It’s worth it. We

have fun together and we accomplish a lot and its rewarding.

So pony up, everyone. Let’s keep our Co-Op going. You’ll be glad

to be a part of this group.

Ride Safe, but for God’s sake . . . ride.

Doug Aretz, President

British Biker Cooperative

Page 12

Considering the fact that the Rally this year included torrential downpour,

a tornado and a steam bath on Saturday the attendance was quite good.

There were 134 paid admissions this year, down from last year. The Rally

for next year is set for July 20, 21, and 22, 2018. We have the date set to

give everyone whose plans were confused because of the change of date for

this year a chance to make plans ahead of time. With the exception of a tree

falling on Kat Bach’s car, there were no major incidents. We passed the hat

to help Kat cover the cost of repairing her car. A big round of applause to

the Blue River Volunteer Fire Department and EMTs who helped clean up

the campground after the tornado, also applause for all the BBC members

who pitched in too.

Nothing is set yet for a theme for next years rally, though “Year of the

Daytona” and “Year of the Trident”, are 2 suggestions that have been

offered. Anyone is welcome to comment on these suggestions on Facebook

and if you have any others to offer, please do so. We are in need of

candidates to fill officer positions.

Elections will be held at the Holiday Party in December and nominations

will be accepted through the date of the Pot Luck Dinner.

Thursday, July 27 is BBC Night at The Iron Horse Hotel. Come on out and

show the flag. Also give Colette and Indian a hand. Product sales at the

Rally were very brisk. It was decided to cancel the campsite awards.

August 18,19, and 20 is the Northwoods ride, put on by Pauline Forrest

and Rudy Wheeler. For more information you can contact Pauline at

715-851-2719 or Rudy at 920-471-4097. To reserve campsites log into the

Marathon County Park website.

It has been suggested that in next years Rally booklet that we print a list of

services in the surrounding area that can be of use to rally attendees. For

instance if a attendee needs a new battery for his bike where he can go to

find one. This was thought to be a good idea and bears further looking into.

Submitted by Jim Ziemann SR.

Secretary’s Post Rally Notes

Page 13

Wanted: Stock seat to fit a 2006 Triumph America or Speedmaster. Indian 414 - 651 - 4549

BBC Classified Ads

1) 2013 Steve McQueen its number 1021 of 1100 made I have all the original papers from the

factory that authenticates the bike,( rumor is that 350 of these were brought into the USA howev-

er Triumph will not confirm that number) . The bike is completely stock except for the bar end

mirrors and the pedestrian slicer on the front fender ( same license number as the bike in the

Great Escape movie). I have the original mirrors and the pedestrian slicer is a bolt on , there are

no holes in the fender and it can be easily removed. Mileage 18 miles .

2) 2009 50th Anniversary model number 184 of 650 made worldwide I have all factory papers

that authenticates the bike ( again same rumor that only 350 were brought into the USA (not

confirmed by Triumph). The bike is basically stock ,it has bar end mirrors, pedestrian slicer

( Her Majesty's Ship 184)performance pea shooters and a small non Triumph rack on it. All

changes are bolt on and I have all OEM items. Mileage 750 miles

Asking $12000. Each or best offer (shipping must be arranged by buyer will be happy to assist )

Chuck Hooper, Renton, Washington - 206-883-4144 cell

Page 14

2017 BBC Rally and Bike Show at Eagle Cave

Page 15

Shelter from the Storms

Page 16

First of all, I would like to say that I would much rather be printing your article here

than writing one of my own, although as I stated in my “Points and Plugs” column, I do

want to thank a few people. So here’s my story:

After removing the tarp from the Trident in the back of my pickup truck I discovered

that just like many of the soggy riders that took shelter under the registration tent, the bike was just as wet under the cover as outside the cover, (I only care because after 46

years of wear and tear, there is little to no plating left on most of the nuts and bolts on

my bike and they rust very quickly after getting wet). Oh well, not the end of the world.

A worse discovery awaited me. A phone call home confirmed that the keys to the bike

were hanging on their hook at home! I was not a happy camper (actually, I’m not a

camper at all but that’s beside the point)!!

My first thought was to hot wire the ignition and with that in mind, I sought out Wes

to see if he could find some wire for me. Wes cheerfully obliged and found some wire in

his shop. Once I removed the battery cover and exposed the switch, it occurred to me

that I had no idea what I was doing and further action could yield less than desirable

results. I needed help. Since Pat Hanson was not available, I went looking for Steve Baker, hoping that he would know which wires to connect. I explained my dilemma to

Doug Aretz, and based upon his previous experience in a similar situation, he suggested

disassembling the ignition switch and removing the tumblers; effectively turning a lock

into just a switch. Indeed, this seemed a better path to follow and I went and removed the

ignition lock from the bike. The location of each of the four wires had already been

marked on the switch from a previous dismantling and refurbishing many years ago.

With said switch in hand, I walked back up to the main tent and plopped myself

down on one of the picnic tables to commence my locksmithing. Of course these locks

are not really intended to be taken apart, with the metal housing being crimped in several

places to retain the phenolic back plate and internal parts. As luck would have it, Les

Will and his son Adam were sitting at the next table and possessed not only the exper-tise, but also the necessary tools to accomplish the task. As I said, I have had that switch

apart before, but not to the extent of removing the tumblers, springs and the spring

loaded steel ball that indexes the switch into it’s four discrete positions. We all worked

together, carefully removing the five tumblers along with their tiny springs and taping

each tumbler to a paper plate and noting their proper location.

Needless to say, a picnic table sitting in grass is not the preferred work station for

such a delicate task; at one point, the 1/8” diameter steel ball was on the loose and rapid-

ly making it’s way toward the edge of the table when a quick hand recaptured the slip-

pery sphere. We reassembled the switch, re-crimped the edge of the metal housing and I

reconnected the wires. Several attempts to start the bike produced not as much as a sput-

ter, so off I went in search of Wes again and hopefully a volt meter. Once again Wes came thru with a volt meter and a spot on his workbench for me to disassemble the

switch for a second time, and this time, a much more careful re-assembly. Back to the

bike, reconnect the wires again and............Vroom Vroooom!! It’ just that easy!

The Moral of the Story:

Don’t forget your keys! But if you do, hopefully you will encounter some people smarter

than yourself who are willing and able to lend a helping hand. My sincere thanks to

Doug, Wes, Les and Adam for their friendly and enthusiastic assistance. Without their

help, Jean and I would have loaded, hauled, unloaded, and reloaded the old Trident for

nothing. Long live the BBC! Mark

More Ramblings from the Editor

Page 17

British Motorcycle(s)

Marque Year Model

Occupation:

How did you hear of the BBC?

Would you like to participate in the organization of activities in the BBC?

For more information, contact the BBC VP of Membership @ 262-521-0760

or visit our website @ http://www.britishbiker.net/

Send annual membership fee of $30.00/$35.00 (check or money order) to:

BBC ~ P.O. Box 371021 ~ Milwaukee, WI 53237-2121 U.S.A.

Name: Nickname:

Address:

City: State: Zip code:

Telephone: E-mail:

First Year of BBC Membership: Date of Birth:

Dedicated to the Preservation of the British Motorcycle

British Biker Cooperative

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Please check here for renewal with no changes. Check for hardcopy of newsletter. Add $5.00

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