Cars and Bikes in Lebanon

Taking things too personally, I am going to mount a serious smear campaign against the guy who owned that sparkling 1957 Harley Davidson that beat me out of a well deserved first place at Saturday’s Route 66 Rally in Lebanon. Like restoring a classic bike, from wheel-to-wheel, is any kind of real accomplishment. P-shaw.

An example of a 1957 Harley. The one in the show didn't

have saddle bags and was red and white with lots of chrome.

I suppose a second place to his red beauty is not so bad. It was a beautiful bike after all and he did ride it off the lot. No trailers for him, which I respect. I also respect the fact that he had a suicide shift and a kick start. I just know I’d kill myself with either one of those.

Lebanon was host to two events on Saturday: Ozark Harley-Davidson’s 10 year anniversary and the Route 66 Rally. There were cars and bikes on the lot at the rally, some works in progress and others pristine.

What the heck, I entered my bike in the show. I just got my 16-inch ape hangers, grips and chrome levers put on as well as a chrome nut for the toe shifter. Many of H-D’s bikes come with a heel-toe shifter. I just hate those things; they get in my way. I took the heel shifter off, but that leaves me with an exposed nut. So I bought a little chrome piece for it.

This is a heel-toe shifter. Notice, when you take off the
heel shifter, it exposes the bar. They make a chrome
piece just for that. I installed it in the parking lot of the H-D store.

The Route 66 Rally had an open competition with only two real motorcycle categories: domestic and metric. So there were all kinds of bikes – stock, custom, rat bikes and everything in between – competing against one another. I had 15-20 bikes in my category and felt good about my second place. Truth is, my bike had no business winning against that guy’s 57. It was something to behold. Second place is not bad for a first bike show.

My dad, and both parents-in-law went to Lebanon together. They ride metric bikes – he a slick 1980’s Gold Wing 1500 and she a Yamaha – so they didn’t stick around at the H-D anniversary. Not much there for them. But we caught up with them at the Route 66 Rally, where there were all kinds of bikes and cars. The father-in-law, Roy, used build and racecars back in the day. My dad raced too, but mostly in illegal street races with his daily ride. Teenagers.

(NOTE: I would have included pictures of the actual bikes and the rallies, but I forgot my camera. I am ashamed and disgraced. Pitiful behavior from someone who claims to be a blogger.)