All Clubs Day - Stockbridge

Amongst the lakes and rolling fields of southern Michigan sits the quite village of Stockbridge.  Once per year this community wakes to one of the most comprehensive displays of classic and interesting motorcycles in the region.  Hosted by the Norton Owners Association and supported by community organizations, the event includes a wide range of motorcycle makes spanning from the early 1900's.

This was an impressive collection of Harley Davison flat track bikes 

including the 1957 KR750 in the foreground.

On the way to the All Clubs Day event Sunday morning I rode past the farms and corn fields, catching a glimpse of two deer dashing into the stalks of corn to my right.  The air was cool and the sky was cloud covered.  I typical fall morning in Michigan.  Stockbridge is only about 15 miles north east of my home in Jackson County so it doesn't take long to work my way through the countryside to get there.  I chose a winding route through Munith to get a little extra time on the bike and to scout for a future breakfast destination.

Arriving a little after 8:00am the things were just getting started.  People were arriving with the machines and setting up "Pop Up" shelters to provide a little protection from the anticipated rain.  The event didn't actually start until noon, but the notice mentioned a breakfast at the local church in the morning to feed the early arrivals.  I always take a ride for breakfast on Sundays so this seemed like a good place to eat this particular morning.  And I expected it would be easier to get some good pictures before the larger crowd of people arrived.

At breakfast I had the chance to talk to some of the locals.  One woman told how Suzzy, who is the power behind the event, had come to the church seven years ago to see if they would be interested in feeding the morning arrivals.  The story of this event begins with Suzzy from the Norton Owners Club in the area.  For many years she had given a party for the club that gradually grew from Norton owners, to British bike owners, and finally to just about anyone who owned a bike.  Eventually the party got big enough that the neighbors began to complain.  So Suzzy's solution was to convince the entire village that an organized event could be a good way to draw business to the local community.  The idea took root and now the event is a village institution.

The minister also stopped by, as I ate my pancakes and bacon, telling me about his brother's Ducati adventures, traveling from Michigan to the state of Washington and about evolving life in small town America in the age of big box stores.  It is becoming hard to maintain the commercial core of businesses that make a village a village.

Shortly after breakfast, I left the event with the intent to return later in the day when the full compliment of machines would be available.  Just before leaving, talked to a father and son team from Checked Past Cycles who were unloading two very cool Hondas.  One was a CB400 road race replica, the other was a hybrid custom bike built from an old Honda 3 wheel ATV.  The 250 2 stroke is part supermoto, part flat tracker, and part street bike.  Both the hybrid and the road racer were very nicely fabricated.



Another noteworthy bike I spotted in the morning was this merger of an Ariel Square Four and a Norton feather bed chassis.  This "Square Norton" was absolutely amazing.  You could have easily believed it was a nice restoration of a production machine from the 50's.   The proportions and style were perfect and it made you wonder if the concept could have been a great success in the day.

 "Square Norton" 

Returning later in the day, I  had the chance to talk to the owner of this 70's "CBX1147".  Starting with the original 1047 engine, he had bored out the engine, leaving "paper thin" liners.  Apparently the original displacement of 1047 cc wasn't enough so the gentleman on the right desided to up kick it up to 1147cc.  Beyond the engine work, he has grafted on a single sided swing arm and modern upside down forks for the suspension.  The original Honda "chrome star" wheels were replace with cast aluminum pieces.  The 6 to 1 exhaust leads to an enormous race can muffler.  Finally, it is finished in a convincing Honda motif that looks like it came from the factory in Japan. 

This is 75 year old Roosevelt Lackey who ran this vintage Triumph racer to a class record of 140.87 at Bonneville in 2012.  He has been attending Speed Week regularly since 1969.  The team of Lackey and Sperry has been an institution in drag racing and speed trials for four decades.  In 2007, at 70 years old, he set a speed record over 193 mph on an MV Augusta.   One of the two runs, to achieve the average for the record, was over 195.   Check out his story on Youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7nmDfp3nYQ

From another gentlemen, I was told of the Harley KR story including brief overview of the evolution of one of the most successful racing machines in history. The tale took a winding route from the "Michigan Mafia" to Cal Rayborn and the English Match races of the early 70's.  The he talked about many well know Harley riders, including Bart Markel, Mert Lawwill and other flat track legends of the 60's and 70's.  He also mentioned that the XR750s of today are essentially KR750s with overhead valves.   Apparently, the old side valve engine engine continued to win races into the 70's even after the AMA rules changed to allow 750cc overhead valve versions of the engine. 

There were lots of other eye catching machines see below for more.