President’s Corner, September 2011

For those members not attending our meeting September 6, you missed an excellent presentation by EMU member Neville McNaughton.  Neville’s program included excerpts from the “Worlds Fastest Indian” starring Anthony Hopkins as Burt Monro.  In addition were interesting pictures of Neville’s home town of Invercargill, New Zealand which is Monro’s home town as well.  Also included were pictures of: the hardware store (where Monro’s bikes are displayed), the bikes, the actual dance hall (where the fund raiser was held to help finance his trip to Bonneville), the beach where Burt tested his bikes, etc.   Neville also included photos depicting the vintage car/bike scene in his native New Zealand.  I would like to give a big thank you to Neville for the time and effort he devoted to putting this program together. 

We have two programs coming up in the next two months.  Bob Honz is on tap for October.  When you think of café racers you think of names like Triumph, Norton, BSA, Triton, etc.   Bob, however, is going with a different marque.  He is going to display  BMW café racers based on his own concepts.  Can’t wait to see them.  In November, Joe Brinkman is working on his program featuring board track motorcycle racing during the teens and twenties with a special focus on board track racing in St. Louis. We’ll have the opportunity to see films of races from that time.  These bikes were very fast with no brakes.  Racing one had to be an exciting endeavor.  I also want to thank Joe for making arrangements  for us to have a special tour of the Commemorative Air Force hanger at Smart Field at the conclusion of our fall club ride on October 22.  The B25 and the Avenger will be there that day.  Check out the web site at http://www.cafmo.org/.

On the subject of that ride, we will be meeting at the McDonalds in Alton located to your immediate right after you exit  left off the Lewis and Clark bridge coming in to Illinois.  The plan is to arrive at 9:00 a.m. and leave the restaurant at 9:30.  The ride will head north out of Alton and cover back roads on both sides of the Mississippi.  There will be ferry crossings, two pit stops and lunch at Mel’s Riverdock restaurant in Hardin.   The last pit stop will be outside Brussells at the intersection that leads to the Golden Eagle ferry.  For those going to Smart Field to see the planes, we’ll take the Golden Eagle ferry to the Missouri side.  For those not going to the airport, they can take the Brussells ferry back to Grafton, Illinois.  Many thanks to Dennis Spencer and Mel Heffron for putting this ride together.

On another club matter,  Mark Bosworth, our treasurer/membership chairman, went to the trouble to have our club logo digitized.  As a result, we can have the logo embroidered on almost any item of clothing for a modest fee.  Mark had the logo embroidered on his white polo shirt and it looked great.  He is also checking to see if we can order embroidered patches.  Mark is also looking into printing new business cards for the club.  The old ones list our meeting place as the Sports Page.  Obviously this needs to be changed.

I’m looking for programs for next year and volunteers to put on tech sessions (our Constitution says we offer tech sessions).  We’ve only had one recently and that one was on suspension set up.  There are a lot of mechanics, machinists, and engineers in the club so don’t be shy.  I’m sure Pete would let us have use of the shop with access to the bike rack if you need it for a session.  For those of you with the know-how, don’t assume we all know what you know.  For my part, I can change oil and plugs, check tires, lube my chain and adjust my headlight and  I’m sure that I’m not the only one in that category.  Share what you know with the rest of us.  If you’ve got an idea for a session, call me or email me. That’s all for now.  See you in October.

Ride safe,

Harlan Hock, President

Note: Dues are due!!

 If you’re not paid up for this year, please send your dues for twenty dollars payable to the Euro Motor Union to:

          Mark Bosworth

          7233 Crystal Lake Court

          St. Louis, MO 63129