Dan Schoenewald Museum Ride

Today was the day of the Socal Norton Owners Club's annual Dan Shoenewald museum ride. Dan opens his amazing private museum for the ride every year. It's only a little under 10 miles from my house, so I try to go every year. Dan has my original PR race bike in his collection, so it's my chance to visit it and recall the glory days.

You can find a good description and pictures of the museum collection here:


These two pictures show my old bike, as well as some parts of the collection. It didn't look this nice when I sold it, after racing and modifying it for 20 years. But I sold it to a friend of mine with a local bike shop, and he restored it to original, and eventually sold it to Dan.





This is another picture of part of the collection, just to give a sense of the size of it.



Because of the weather, we didn't see the usual huge number of bikes in the parking lot. Its' usually full of bikes. A lot of folks drove their cars instead, worried about the predicted rain. We encountered one spell of light rain on our ride, and some wet roads, but nothing serious. This is a picture of the bikes in the parking lot around1:00 pm. There were probably a couple other bikes hidden by cars, but not many. But a lot of cars.



Last, but not least, the two Norton my grandson and I rode. The red 961 is mine, and the green one is my grandson's 883 cc MK3.



Ken

Wow, great looking collection. Looks like a small fortune in vintage iron of all makes. It's a little early to be riding up this way. I was out in the unheated shop working last week and it was 14 degrees out. I wore my down pants, down jacket, and gloves so I could handle a few hours work in the cold. I stepped outside in the sunlight to hone a cutting tool on a diamond impregnated plate and my spit froze on the plate before I could get the cutter on it... This week it's going to be in the 50's and rain.... It's going be a few months of doing winter stuff up here before my commando sees any pavement... Hope you're well!

o0norton0o said:

Wow, great looking collection. Looks like a small fortune in vintage iron of all makes. It's a little early to be riding up this way. I was out in the unheated shop working last week and it was 14 degrees out. I wore my down pants, down jacket, and gloves so I could handle a few hours work in the cold. I stepped outside in the sunlight to hone a cutting tool on a diamond impregnated plate and my spit froze on the plate before I could get the cutter on it... This week it's going to be in the 50's and rain.... It's going be a few months of doing winter stuff up here before my commando sees any pavement... Hope you're well!

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We are well . I work on the Norty on the street . Inside work prioritizes . No garage . That's unaffordable here . Skating all day in -8 C. , and likely tomorrow , on the flooded local rink . Off to Costa Rica soon , then onwards to Cuzco , Peru . I'll visit the former Norton Rats Tavern for history sake .

WINTER sucks,period!
Mike

My wife thinks Dan should join motorcycle anonymous. I think she is just jealous. Thanks for sharing Ken!

Son of Siredward said:

My wife thinks Dan should join motorcycle anonymous. I think she is just jealous. Thanks for sharing Ken!

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Tell her not all the bikes are Dan's. Some belong to a friend of his, but the great majority of them are Dan's. I should have asked him if he was just helping his friend hide them from his wife.

Ken

o0norton0o said:

Wow, great looking collection. Looks like a small fortune in vintage iron of all makes. It's a little early to be riding up this way. I was out in the unheated shop working last week and it was 14 degrees out. I wore my down pants, down jacket, and gloves so I could handle a few hours work in the cold. I stepped outside in the sunlight to hone a cutting tool on a diamond impregnated plate and my spit froze on the plate before I could get the cutter on it... This week it's going to be in the 50's and rain.... It's going be a few months of doing winter stuff up here before my commando sees any pavement... Hope you're well!

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Sounds like my neck of the woods. First it was 9 degrees for a few days with the high of 14 and then it warmed up to 39 degrees with rain all week. It's Texas winter. I know this is nothing for you all up north but for us, our houses are not built for it, our pipes are not buried deep and our winter clothes are a joke.

Much as I used to like to ski, I don't think I could manage the cold any more. Down here in Socal, I rarely see it get down to freezing at night. Right now, the daytime highs are typically anywhere from low '60s F to high '70s, with occasional days outside that. High today at my place was 66 with a low tonight expected to be 46. Tomorrow is supposed to be 61/48. It's been a rainy week, but only 7% chance of rain tomorrow, so I'm hoping to manage a good ride on the 961. I'll turn 82 tomorrow, and I've been making it a habit the last few years to do a birthday ride to celebrate my survival.

Ken