Snowbum Snobum photo gallery #4

I raced 350 & 500 Norton Manx's, and Vincent's, on paved racecourses. I was also into dirt racing in So. California .....mostly Husqvarna's; although I had other bikes, such as a Triumph TR6. I have also owned two different Harley's.

Racing at Bonneville:

In 1971 I raced at the Bonneville Salt Flats. My first time there. This was on my NOR-VIN, Norton frame, Vincent engine. I set a new record for my class that was not broken for 6 years; even then, it took a Harley FACTORY-sponsored team. My Nor-Vin bike was quite bastardized, with a Norton frame, Honda brakes and wheels, Vincent front fork. It was made from the various salvaged parts in my shop and that of David Furst.

Here are a few lousy scans from some magazines, etc:

The race-suit is white leather, was custom made for me. I still had it until 2017, when Penny convinced me to sell it at our garage sale, since I no longer wore it. This bike is actually street legal when mufflers were re-installed. I did ride it on the street, even on quite a few trips. No, no STP in the engine, I don't believe in nor use the stuff. I put the sticker on the headlight, because the Rules said you had to have something to protect 'the course' against broken glass! Things were more relaxed back in 1971-1972.

Later I modified the engine ...and the suspension a bit more (proper suspension is important in getting a 'grip' on the salt flats surface) ...and installed a home-made high-extraction reversionary exhaust system. For a lot of information on intake and exhaust tuning, read the entire article: https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/InExTuning.htm

Why the above photo of a Honda??
This photo is from two years prior to my racing at Bonneville. I had Honda 160's & 175's to do short jaunts around town on, & gave one to my wife, Jonni. In August of 1971, my pit crew and I used them as go-fer-bikes, while at Bonneville. Jonni & I also had a Trail 90 for awhile.

Below is the Vincent-Manx-Norton as I rode it on the street. I rode this bike on the street, and I raced it, at various tracks, and at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

I had little to do but change tires, remove the muffler, & change jetting, gearing, and tires, to get it ready for racing. I designed & built the bike specifically for the Bonneville Salt Flats runs & for paved-track race-courses, and to be able to quickly convert to street use. This bike was, I think, the fastest street bike in Los Angeles at the time. It also carved canyon roads rather nicely.

It has wheels & brakes, all modified, from a Honda. The tank is a fiberglass custom combination fuel & oil tank. Two Smiths 5" instruments (I made the tachometer from a speedometer), a flat racing saddle. My butt would tolerate a couple hundred miles on that hard seat, way back then. The front end is the famous Vincent cast/forged aluminum adjustable forks. I had air horns; some 'fun stuff'. Maybe you recognize those mirrors. Note the Honda Cub saddlebag (put on the bike to tease and annoy some friends), my sleeping bag on the back, poorly fastened with bungees, ...here, I am about to ride from Los Angeles to Yuma, AZ. Yeah, we all used to use unsafe bungees...and did lousy packing.

R90S, one of the 1976 Daytona race bikes. For a long article on this bike, with a lot of information about it, including the racing, contact, for the new address for the article, https://vintagebmw.org/

Note, I saw the R90S at Johnny's BMW in Bakersfield, long before Johnny died. He would never sell it, he said, certainly not to me! It's another long story.

Below is a photo of the type of studs used for ice-racing in Europe. You sure do not want to fall off a bike and have such a wheel(s) run over you. These are not the type of studs for street riding on ice.

Two photos of an experimental BMW-powered snowmobile, in 1939. Some literature says it could be between 1936 & 1939. A BMW engineer by the name of Riemerschmidt built this as a personal project, AFAIK. Powered by a R-12 engine & the sidecar is a Steib TR-500.

My 1984 R100RT & the 2006 HP2, on trailer, awaiting new wheel bearings for my friend Alan's trailer wheels hubs, & lots more. Together with much of my Airhead tools, parts, some smaller jigs, etc. . ...all left with Alan ...on 01/07/2014. We were both not feeling well, with serious head colds, and, yes, that is snow to the left. I thought, then, that this was the end of a many decades long era for Snowbum. It took until May of 2015 for me to go crazy-enough without an RT, to get another.

Yes, these are my Roundels, and the centers deteriorated. My "fix" for the top two did not hold up well.

I applied, through my local BMW dealership, for my 600K badge, Summer of 2014. Received these in March 2015, which I put in this digital frame for you. The smaller metal roundel was one I had never seen before; all the rest were the large ones in the photo above.

Snowbum's BMW Motorcycle Repair & Information Website