Norton News 201A - Flipbook - Page 30
Peyote
Dreams
by
Art
Bone
“Poor Mexico, so far from
God, so close to the United
States” - Por昀椀rio Diaz
I seem to forget all the troubleshooting
I bike,
techniques I’ve learned over years of working on not
don’t know about you but sometimes, when I’m on the
only bikes but all kinds of stuff, cars, lawnmowers,
weedwackers, and more. When the bike’s up on the lift and
I’m equipped with all the diagnostic equipment, I’m pretty
good at 昀椀guring out the problem and the best way to 昀椀x it.
When I’m riding down the road and the Norton stops snortin’
or starts intermittently snortin’, I’m sometimes at a loss.
Case in point: Riding to the National Rally in Rapid
City, South Dakota in 1996.
I made it all the way to Douglasville, Georgia, all of
twenty-昀椀ve miles from home, before I stopped to work on the
bike the 昀椀rst time. I had loaded the bike the night before and
pulled out of my home in College Park, Georgia at 8 AM and
headed west to the International Norton Owners rally in
Rapid City, South Dakota, 1500 miles away. It was July in
Georgia and already about 85 degrees and expected to get
a lot hotter.
It was my 昀椀rst rally as president of the INOA and, of
course, I had to ride to the rally and, of course, I had to ride
a Norton. The bike I choose was an old workhorse, the Silver
Sow, a 74 Commando Interstate 850 I had been riding for
several years. It was equipped with a full coverage Phantom
3 Vetter fairing, not the best choice for touring in July with
Number 201
27
Norton News
