Anacortes Oyster Run

Are any forum members coming to Anacortes this weekend for the Oyster Run? The actual run is Sunday, but the town fills up for both days.

According to our local paper we had almost 30,000 bikers here last year, which seems a very big number in a town with a population about half that! Not very many British bikes showed up though. I did see a very nicely restored ES2 on highway 20 a few days ago.

I'll be going into town Sunday lunchtime to look everything over.

I was planning to, but regret - especially in light of the fantastic weather forecast - that I'll have to miss it again this year. I've got a project due next week that's spiraling out of control and need to spend the weekend in the office.

(That and I've got two nagging problems I've got to iron out. At the fuel line end, I've stripped the threads off of my reserve petcock. Also, I need to finish fabricating an exhaust hangar for my megaphone. People who've seen it say they're amazed it doesn't crack given how badly it vibrates. Glad they said something, 'cuz I can't see it while I'm riding.)

Weather permitting, I'm hoping to get over to the peninsula next weekend or the one after. Maybe we'll run into each other.

Have fun tomorrow.

David:

Shame you weren't here. You'd have been the only Norton rider in the whole shebang.

I spent a couple of hours wandering the streets. My guess is we had maybe 18,000 bikes, maybe 24,000 bikers. The weather was as perfect as it could be - gin-clear, warm and sunny (about 75F) and humidity low enough you couldn't measure it.

I didn't see ANY British Classics. There were maybe 6 or 7 current model Triumphs, which don't look like any Triumph I ever saw! Other Europeans were represented - a couple of hundred BMWs, 50 or so Ducatis, a few Aprilias, but nary a Velocette, Ariel, Matchless, AJS, or any of the other lesser marques.

There were some "specials" that had tires so wide, they didn't need a stand. The back tire was wide enough to let the bike stand up without assistance. I remember such a fuss when testing suggested we went from a 3.25 x 19 tire to a 3.5 x 19 on the Commando!

Our Director of R&D, the late Peter Inchley, came up with the idea of a tire with a truncated triangular profile, so when you're down on the footpegs in a corner, you still have a decent amount of tread pattern in contact with the street, keeping you from falling off.

Unfortunately for the UK, I'd say 60 percent of the bikes present were Harley types (including the Indians and Victory Harley-clones), another 25 percent were Japanese V-twin Harley wannabees, and the remainder were from the other guys.

My gut feel is that the number of people that hit town this year was so great that the city fathers may decide the event has gotten too big. The total population of Anacortes is around 16,000, with a large percentage of retirees. The number of "noisy" bikes and their riders may have distressed some of the old farts!

A 10-block long section of the main street was closed off, and bikes were parked head-to-head across the centeriline and tail to curb on both sides, leaving a lane just wide enough for bikes to travel down. About 12 blocks of the side streets either side of the main drag were given over to motorcycle parking and vendor stalls, and all of the parking lots of the businesses that weren't open were full of bikes.

Overall, the event was very peaceful. As far as I know, no rowdiness or public drunkenness arrests (that may change when the local weekly posts the Police Blotter) and only 16 accidents. One accident was fatal and a couple of riders are in intensive care.

I'll post a couple of pics in a day or so showing the bikes parked on the main drag.