Controlled slide - Jay Springsteen on the track

If you’re heading to Daytona Beach for the annual extravaganza that is Daytona Bike Week, February 27 – March 8, make plans to attend the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum’s annual “Friendraising” Breakfast on Friday morning, March 6, where you’ll have the opportunity to rub shoulders with the likes of three-time AMA Grand National Champion Jay Springsteen, nine-time AMA Grand National Champion Scott Parker, and legendary Harley-Davidson tuner Bill Werner, whose tuning skills took Springsteen, Parker and Gary Scott to a combined 13 National Grand Championships.

The Museum breakfast, a Daytona Bike Week tradition, allows attendees to mix and mingle with motorcycling's biggest names, as well as receive rare inside look at their lives and careers. The event is open the public and tickets are $49 per person. All proceeds support the non-profit Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum and its mission of telling the exciting stories and preserving the history of American motorcycling.

The talents and accomplishments of Parker, Springsteen, and Werner have led each to be inducted into the AMA's Motorcycle Hall of Fame. Parker, inducted in 2003, is considered one of the great motorcycle racers in the history of AMA racing. During his career, Parker was a nine-time AMA Grand National Champion and set an all-time record with his 94 Grand National Championship race wins, including 55 AMA National Mile wins and 35 AMA Half-Mile wins. Parker is also a three-time winner of the AMA Pro Athlete of the Year award. Like Parker, Springsteen is considered one of the best in AMA racing history. Inducted into the AMA's Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2003, Springsteen is a three-time AMA Grand National Champion with over 40 National Championship flat track race wins.

Scott Parker

At the 2009 Museum breakfast, Parker and Springsteen will look back at their astonishing careers through a discussion led by Bill Werner. Werner, one of the most successful tuners in AMA Grand National racing history, was inducted into the AMA's Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000. He offers a unique perspective on the careers of Parker and Springsteen, as he turned the wrenches for both.

To join Scott Parker, Jay Springsteen, and Bill Werner at the 21st Annual Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum "Friendraising" Breakfast, immediate reservations are recommended. The breakfast will be held at the Hilton Daytona Beach Oceanfront Resort in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Friday, March 6, 2009. Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. with breakfast served at 8:30 a.m. Parker, Werner, and Springsteen will host an autograph session following the conclusion of the breakfast. Admission is $49 per person. Sponsorships are also available, and all proceeds benefit the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum. To make reservations or learn about event sponsorship opportunities, contact the Museum at (614) 856-2222.

Wild 1963 Hungarian-built Pannonia will be offered at the
J. Wood/Bator International Daytona auction.

And don't forget to take in the J. Wood/Bator International 22nd Annual Daytona Classic Motorcycle Auction, which never fails to draw an interesting crowd of classic bikes and classic bike fans, and stands as the unofficial bellwether for the classic bike auction scene, buyers and sellers alike eagerly watching the sale for clues to the coming year's market. – Richard Backus 

Got your carbs figured out yet? Air/fuel monitors help,
but nothing trumps a basic understanding of fuel system principles.

As a general rule, motorcyclists have a higher than average understanding of what makes their machinery tick. For classic bike owners, part of the fun of owning older iron is the opportunity to learn more about their machines and how to keep them running. If you’re trying to sort out carburetion issues, a recent tech tip from the folks at Randakk’s Cycle Shakk will help guide you down the road to success – and get you back on the road.

The tech tip, Lean vs. Rich, is included in Randakk’s growing index of technical articles at the Honda GL-specialist’s website. Randakk’s stock in trade is early model Honda GL1000 through GL1200 Gold Wings, and while most of the tech info is directed at owners of these bikes, company founder and owner Randall Washington has put together an impressive collection of technical trouble-shooting guides to aide owners of just about any older motorcycle, with the possible exception of two-strokes, which can have their own unique issues.

Besides the expected emphasis on tips for GL owners are loads of general entries including the Lean vs. Rich article, which includes an excellent discussion of what it means to have a lean versus rich fuel condition (Randall even works in the word “stoichiometric combustion” to describe ideal combustion!) and why you should care. And he incorporates the discussion with a succinct and wholly understandable list of symptoms to help owners figure out – before they ever turn the first wrench – what condition they’re fighting, lean or rich.

Other tech tip entries include articles on cleaning carbs, gas tanks, tuning, reading spark plugs, testing ignition coils, voltage regulators and how to track down causes of hard starting. The assembled tech tips are a great reference for just about any old bike owner who fancies doing his or her own work, and are highly recommended. Know of more? Let us know, we’d like to assemble a special landing page devoted to resources like Randakk’s Tech Tip Index. – Richard Backus 

1959 BMW R69 to be auctioned by Bonham's May 9, 2009

Following the postponement of the 4^th Annual Legend of the Motorcycle Concours d’Elegance, Bonham’s, which held a successful auction at LOM for three years, has announced The Quail Motorcycle Gathering classic motorcycle auction.

Timed to take place at roughly the same time the Legend show would normally run, the Quail event is scheduled for Saturday, May 9, at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, Calif., a short drive south of the Legend show’s previous digs at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay.

This should go a long way toward filling the void left by the cancellation of this year's LOM, satisfying sellers and buyers alike who have become accustomed to a spring-time West Coast classic motorcycle auction. Although Bonham’s already holds an annual auction at The Quail, The Motorsports Gathering, that event is for classic and collectible automobiles and is timed to coincide with the annual Monterey “Car Week,” a mainstay of the classic car calendar. While The Quail Motorcycle Gathering has no similar event to hook into, the simple fact that collectors had quickly grown accustomed to Bonham's annual auction at the Legend show should give it a boost.

Bonham’s has yet to release a comprehensive inventory for the auction, but we’ll report on interesting bike heading for the block as we learn of them. We do know the auction will include a 1959 BMW R69 featuring a Haske long-distance gas tank and factory tach, a rarity. Bonham’s estimates the bike will cross the block somewhere between $25,000 and $35,000. As the economic downturn continues it will be interesting to see how this auction, and of course the Daytona auction in March, fare. Judging by results from MidAmerica Auction’s annual Las Vegas classic bike auction in January, interest in and sales of classic motorcycles continue to be strong. – Richard Backus