September

September 2014
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS
THE PREZ SEZ
Check the website calendar
for further information
“ROLLING ALONG”
Fri 9/5 Chapter Meeting
Sat 9/6 Jackson w/Reno STAR Chapter
9/12-9/14 Lake Tahoe Overnighter w/
Hayward Fault STAR Chapter
Sun 9/28 Alan’s Surprise Chapter Ride
WHAT A MONTH!!! CAN YOU SAY FUN??!!
The key bond of the membership and friends of Chapter 186 is that we love to
ride, eat, have ice cream AND have fun!! August was an incredible month.
Starting with an absolutely beautiful ride to Gualala, for lunch @ Bone’s Roadhouse BBQ, to Jerry’s “mystery ride” to
Murphy’s for another great new lunch spot (and shopping spree), culminating with our Annual Summer’s End Member’s
BBQ at our house on the 30th, we all came together as one and shared a lot of great riding, tall stories, and laughter.
I would like to thank the ride leaders and tail gunners for the rides (hey … how about Jerry’s first time as Ride Captain?
he did an awesome job!  ) These folks know how to keep us safe, and have an enjoyable ride at the same time.
Barbara and I would really like to thank all you whom came to the BBQ at the house, and sharing the INCREDIBLE food
that you all prepared. We had 34 members and their significant others at the house, and even our Regional STAR
Touring Ambassador’s Joe and Annette Silvey from Modesto showed up for this event. It was great to see them again” it
had been way too long. This event was a great success, and made even more special by the grandkids, who couldn’t get
enough of the pool! I bet they all slept good that night.  STAR Touring is a family Association, and this event in
particular, was a perfect example.
What are we doing for September? Our Monthly Chapter Ride is the FIRST SATURDAY this month where we will meet
up with members from Reno Chapter, and all have lunch together. The following week (for those going) is the combined
weekend ride with Hayward Chapter to Lake Tahoe, and finally at the end of the month is Alan and Patti’s “mystery ride”
– this one outta be fun. Sept. 5th is our monthly Chapter meeting – back at TJ’s. OF NOTE FOR THIS MEETING : we will
start sharing thoughts for next year, so I would encourage as many as possible to come on out as we start working
towards November when nominations for a new President / Vice President will take place.
Hoping to see one and all during September. Let’s continue the momentum from this summer as we start to head into
the “fall months”.
Respectfully, Victor Tibbs Chapter 186 President.
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
23 Things You Never Knew About Motorcycles
(Hells Canyon H.O.G. July Newsletter)
There is, it seems, some debate as to what was the first ever motorcycle made. Some think it was the coalpowered SH Roper from 1869, while others say the first proper motorcycle was Gottlieb Daimler’s woodenframed gasoline engine version of 1885. I’m a sucker for trivia and useless information so I attempted to do
some research with books and the internet about this but instead found myself lost in a myriad of weird facts
and stories about motorcycles that took on a life all of it own.
Here’s a little of some of the more diverse things that I discovered, and whilst some of you may already be
aware of these, I was genuinely surprised about some of the things I learned.
The name Hayabusa, as used by Suzuki, is actually a Peregrine falcon as well as a World War 2 Japanese
Kamikaze fighter plane – the Nakajima Ki-43 known more widely as the Zero
Did you know that modern sports bike tires do not contain any actual rubber? The tread of a tire is composed
of synthetic rubber, which has been compounded to give a compromise between durability and traction.
The longest distance riding a motorcycle in 24 hours is 2,019.4 miles and was set by American L. Russell
“Rusty” Vaughn at the Continental Tire Test Track, Uvalde, Texas, USA, on 10 August 2011. Vaughn used his
own 2010 Harley-Davidson FLHTK Electra-Glide Limited for the attempt and completed 238 laps of the test
track and earned himself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
I didn’t realize in the world of cinema Steve McQueen’s infamous 65 ft motorcycle jump in the film The Great
Escape was actually done by American Triumph dealer Bud Ekins who did it in just one take.
Nor was I aware that in the 1970s TV cop series CHiPS, actors Larry Wilcox and Erik Estrada rode Kawasaki
Z1000s with BMW fairings and that prior to the show Estrada underwent an intensive eight-week course, to
learn how to ride. In 2007 it was revealed that Estrada didn’t actually have a motorcycle license during the
time CHiPs was in production, and he only qualified after three attempts, while preparing for an appearance
with a motorcycle on a later reality television show.
I tried to find out what happened to the motorcycles used in the 1970s cult film Easy Rider and opinions on
web sites range from both bikes being destroyed during filming to actor and Grizzly Adams TV star Dan
Hagarty apparently owning one. But there appears to be more Easy Rider motorcycles out there for sale than
were ever actually made for the film. So I got no further with this.
Nobody it seems knows either what exactly happened to Marlon Brando’s Triumph 650 Thunderbird
motorcycle from the film ‘The Wild One’. Some people claimed that it was Brando’s own motorcycle that he
agreed to ride on the set. Thereafter the trail goes cold. Surprisingly Johnson Motors, which imported Triumph
to the USA, was at the time very unhappy about the Triumph logos being seen on Brando’s bike and asked
unsuccessfully for them to be taken off the gas tank when filming started.
The first company that advertised its motorcycle’s top speed of over 100mph was Brough Superior that made
the claim for its SS100 in 1924. Considered even today to be innovative and beautifully designed machines,
Brough motorcycles were the first to have prop stands, twin head-lights, crash bars, interconnected silencers
and 1000cc v-twin engines. Every SS100 was road tested (yes on public roads) to check that it could reach
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
100mph. If it didn’t it was returned to the factory for further work. Engineering genius and owner of Brough
Superior, George Brough, also wrote all of his company’s advertising copy describing his motorcycles as
“atmosphere disturbers”.
Some of today’s motorcycle companies are more diverse than you would ever believe. Many started from
humble beginnings such as Ducati which was a family-owned firm that opened in Bologna, Italy, in 1935
making parts for radios before building motorized bicycles fitted with a 48cc SIATA engine. By 1950, more than
200,000 of these Ducati ‘Cucciolos’ (Italian for puppy) had been sold and two years later the company started
making its own motorcycles and engines.
Aside from making bikes today Kawasaki also manufacturers personal watercraft, ships, electronics,
construction equipment tractors, trains, helicopters, jet engines, missiles and space rockets. While rival
Yamaha began life in 1887 as a piano manufacturer, today it is a multi-national conglomerate which still
produces musical instruments, but also boats, car engines, swimming pools, industrial robots, wheelchairs,
RVs, electronics, and golf carts, amongst other things, and motorcycles.
Suzuki began life at the turn of the 20th Century making weaving looms for Japan’s then burgeoning silk
industry. However, company founder Michio Suzuki wanted to diversify his company and began an
engineering firm that started making small cars and its own engines during the 1930’s. The first Suzuki
motorcycle appeared in 1952 and was really a motorized bicycle called a Power Free. It was fitted with a twostroke 36cc engine and was unique at the time as it featured a double-sprocket gear system that allowed the
rider to either pedal with engine assistance, pedal without the engine, or simply disconnect the pedals and use
the engine. Today, aside from the production of motorcycles, Suzuki makes cars, marine engines, wheelchairs
and is Japan’s second largest manufacturer of small cars and trucks.
In 1946 Honda began selling pushbikes fitted with two-stroke 50cc generator engines originally designed for
use with army field telephones. And 46 years later on it launched arguably the most technically complex
production motorcycle ever made with the 1992 Honda NR750. The NR boasted oval pistons with two con
rods and eight valves per cylinder. Designed initially as a race bike, Honda made 300 road-going versions of
the NR available to the public and at the time it was considered one of the most expensive motorcycles you
could buy.
The gearshift lever on a motorcycles was invented by Harold Willis, of Velocette Motorcycles, in 1927 prior to
that motorcyclists relied on a system of a foot clutch and hand shifter.
In 10,000 miles the average four-cylinder motorcycle engine will have completed 100,000,000 revolutions and
it’s estimated that a con-rod of a modern sports bike engine at full revs withstands 10 tons of compression
and tensile forces 500 times a second.
BMW was the first manufacturer to patent and use telescopic forks on its R12 in 1932, yet ironically does not
use the system on its big bikes today.
And although BMW claims it has been making Boxer twin engines for its bikes since 1923, production actually
stopped for a few months in 1986 when the company thought all of its bikes in the future should have triples
and four-cylinder engines. Customer demand persuaded BMW to continue with the Boxer and the production
line was re-started again.
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
Recognized around the world as a leader in crash helmets manufacture for both on the race track and road,
ARAI was actually a hat making company founded in Japan in 1926 making headgear for the construction
industry. Company founder Hirotake Arai was once a motorcycle stunt rider and the company is still privately
owned today and run by the third generation of the Arai family.
When I started out on my research to find out precisely the first production motorcycle ever made (which incidentally is
purported to be a 1488cc 2.5 hp Hilberand & Wolfmuller built in Germany from 1894–1897) I never envisioned I would
get so distracted by the huge amount of facts and figures out there about motorcycles. But I did learn a thing or two.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
2014 NW STAR-B-Q
Aug 11, 2014
by Pauline Carlton
View Album
Play slideshow
NW STAR-B-Q Lin, Janet, Alan / Patti and
Connie from the Napa Chapter left
Monday, August 11th and got back home on
Monday, August 18th covering about 2300
miles. These are just my photos from the
trip.  ENJOY.
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F
or any current or new members that want to become a Star Vet, you can go to the National website
www.startouring.org to get the Star Vet Application (DD Form 214 required) as well as the form to get
Star Vet Patches. (Veterans Resource Center available on the Chapter’s website VETERANS button)
On our ride to Murphy’s, I had the good fortune to meet a great friend of Warren’s, Samuel Mac Nicoara, whom has
ridden with us in the past. Talking with Samuel over lunch, it became very obvious of his passion for this project, but
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
more importantly, the purpose and timing towards this project. As a Chapter, we will do what we can to support – and
spread the word – regarding this needed Tribute. Thank you, Victor Tibbs
THE TRIBUTE WALL
Why do we need the Tribute Wall?
Because it is a symbol through which collectively we will pay particular tribute to our countrymen who stepped forward,
put their lives on the line and defended the many freedoms we cherish. It’s because of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and
Marines who never returned home to their loved ones that we must never forget the importance of the Tribute Wall.
We need the Tribute Wall because it is an affirmation of our respect and gratitude to the men and women who died in
the service for our country. Soldiers such as Sgt. 1st Class Nathan Chapman, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s own 1st
Special Forces Group. He was the first American soldier killed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan
on Jan. 4, 2002.
This soldier, and the generations who came before and after, exemplify the very best in all us. Like him, many have
served with honor and put the welfare of the nation before their own. They remind us that real freedom comes with a
high price.
We need the Tribute Wall to remind us that we must never be lulled into a false sense that today’s world is safe and free
from all-out war or despot leaders. In the early 1920s, a young Winston Churchill cautioned his countrymen about this
attitude.
“War is too foolish, too fantastic, to be thought of in the 20th century,” he wrote. “Civilization has climbed above such
perils. The interdependence of nations in trade and traffic, the sense of public law, the Hague Convention, liberal
principles … common sense have rendered such nightmares impossible. Are you quite sure? It would be a pity to be
wrong.”
We need the Tribute Wall to remind us of the fallen and keep the spirit of our heroes alive.
We need the Tribute Wall so we never allow our Gold Star mothers and fathers to fade into obscurity. They represent
the legacy of their sons and daughters who died in the service of our nation.
They carry with them a grief that most of us will never know or understand. However, in the midst of their pain, they are
beacons of sunshine. They strive to keep the memory of their soldier, sailor, airman or Marine alive by working to help
veterans, soldiers and their families.
We also need the Tribute Wall so that we never forget the more than 80,000 American military personnel, dating back
to World War II, who are still missing.
“We will never leave a fallen comrade.” This sentence, from the soldier’s creed, speaks to every American and our duty
to ensure we never give up and never forget our sons and daughters who are missing.
As citizens of this great republic, we have not lived under tyranny. We have the right to voice our opinion, the right to
vote and the right to worship how we choose.
Freedom is an accepted norm, but it comes with a high price. As the war in Afghanistan winds down, we cannot let our
patriotic fervor die. We must never let the sacrifice of the thousands who gave it their all be forgotten. We cannot lose
sight that our country has committed our greatest treasure — our sons and daughters — to defend our freedom.
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
We must never forget that the American Soldier is a part of the
fabric that makes us the greatest nation on Earth.
We must never forget why we need The Tribute Wall...
Samuel Mac Nicoara
President/CEO
Tribute to America's Fallen Foundation
925-895-3535
Please support the Tribute Wall... Contact us if you want to pledge...
Www.tributetoamericasfallen.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tributeto.americasfallen
"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's
friends"
-o0o-
PV LEATHERS/Repairs
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Patty Van Horn
Leather alternations,
emblems, patches
Cell phone: 925-998-6325
Pager: 925-753-2717
3622 Mt. Diablo Blvd.,
Lafayette, CA 94549
September
1st – Barbara Mederios
7th – Julee Hamilton
11th – Debby Bridges
12th – Marisa Hummel
21st – Mike Prawicki
26th – Pearl Nelson
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org
____________________________________________________________________
2014 STAR Touring – Mid California Chapter Website and President Information:
Mid CA State Ambassadors
Modesto, CA - Chapter 294
Tony Bush
(209) 450-5730
[email protected],
View Chapter Web Site
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002130255694
Annette and Joe Silvey
(209) 602-7281
[email protected]
http://www.facebook.com/groups/102010963214410/
Hayward Fault, CA - Chapter 103
Jeff Robinson
(650) 678-9670
View Chapter Web Site
[email protected]
http://www.facebook.com/#!/StarTouring103
STAR Touring and Riding
http://www.startouring.org
Main Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/groups/356031510640/#!/startouring
Santa Clara County Chapter 209
Kimberly Henkel - President
408-472-1735
[email protected]
Monterey Bay, CA - Chapter 161
Tamara Badano
(831) 233-1778
View Chapter Web Site
[email protected]
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Monterey-Bay-STAR Chapter161/170281492399
Contra Costa County, CA - Chapter 186
Victor Tibbs
415-706-7421
View Chapter Web Site
[email protected]
http://www.facebook.com/groups/356031510640/
Riding in the Sticks with #186 www.star186.org