enzo temko

Why don't you quit fooling around and get a Guzzi 1200 Sport? Actually, I've seen the Dors and like them a lot.

US/NATO far worse than Nazis. Read on my blog.

Guzzed-out. Here is a video from the bike: https://enzotemko.wordpress.com/

If you'd like to see what the Seattle area looks like in the Summer, I posted a couple photos today of my local trip yesterday.

Where is everybody around here? That is a great bit of editing. It reminds me of how un-funny Saturday Night Live usually is.

I thought this would be a nice way to display adventures. It allows me to post some large photos and throw in maps and stuff. I like it. If you want to follow some of my Guzzi and non-Guzzi adventures, click on this and follow it with the RSS feed. Comments are all welcome. http://enzotemko.wordpress.com/

When the current round of 'stimulus' cash dries up in two years, no one under the age of 60 will be able to get a loan. Guzzi should continue to do well.

I stopped at the bookstore today on my way out of town. I wanted to get an old book called 'The Coral Island.' Didn't have it. So I asked for 'Endless Horizon.' Didn't have it. Settled for Peter Egan's 'Leanings.' Really like it.

Why ride a motorcycle when you can watch Angry Birds on your cell phone?

It was the smooth variety.

Yes, it's the Mongols from S. California. They are basically Mexican/Americans who served in Vietnam. The cops should love all these groups. All they seem to do is beat up each other - and they are all super right-wing pro-military types. They are mostly losers who don't have jobs, so it gives them something to believe in. And it gives the cops and spy nerds something to do - they get to pretend these groups plot against the country or are involved in big time criminality, which they are not. They are small time drunks and hoods. And, it gives the media something to scare the public over. It's win-win for everybody.

Sonny Barger was the head of the Oakland Hell's Angels.

This book was written in 1966. I've never read it until now. I suggested it for my wife for her trip to Texas. Figured it would be interesting as she is a book-a-day speed reader. I ended up reading it myself. Thompson lived with the Angels in '65 and wrote his 'embedded' account. It is interesting to me, not so much because I ride a motorcycle, but the book reminds me of the backdrop I grew up in as a kid. And, I really liked the book for it's review of the American culture of the time. It is a great study of human beans and their common universal douchebaggery. I love Thompson as a writer. It doesn't even matter what he is talking about; he has a way with words. He is also a true loner who sees things as they are. I think he hates all groups. Most books like this would take a strong view of its subject one way or the other. But Thompson does not romanticize the gang; he attempts to describe them as they are. And what they always are is a mix of good and bad (or maybe bad and not so bad). Or, in general, things are not as bad as many say, and maybe worse than the fans think. Yes, the Angels are prone to bad hygiene, poverty, stupidity, drunkenness, dope, violence and lewd behavior. But they are not the organized cross-country mongrel band of Nazi Hun bent on killing and raping square people in the heartland. They are not the source of all the dope crossing the boarder from Mexico. They are not the cause of all riots. The book is interesting to see how the media skews and distorts things. How they created the myth of the Hell's Angels. How the Hell's Angels were transformed from a loose band of drunken drop outs to the rock stars the media formed. Hunter throws in actual newspaper accounts of events he attended - and how miserably wrong the press is about all the fine and important detail. They don't care. It's a good reminder that you can't believe what you read or hear on TV. Seems no one takes this seriously. Most everyone I know - and even college guys - seem to believe what they read. The book is a study not only of the motorcycle gang, but of the cops and squares who fear and hate them with all their cowardice and hypocrisy and their own brand of hateful violence. He discusses the emergence of the new hipster dope generation of Commie douche bags and poets. Strange and fantastic that these two polarized groups of anti-social drop-outs would party together. The hipsters romanticized the Angel's as the new free spirits who were rejected by society to ride their iron horses across the prairie as the nobel Indian. Really, they just get drunk and throw pills in their mouths while pissing on each other. I remember all this stuff growing up. The German helmets, Iron Crosses, Swastikas, sleeveless vests and leather on these guys. The fear this caused in Christian America. I remember the entry of the hipster dope culture. The wide-spread anti-government feeling. The experimental life styles. All this while Vietnam was going on and JFK was having his head blown off by dark insiders. It was a crazy time for people my age. It's all in the book. It is full of little things that send me back: A six pack of beer is $1.25. $400 buys you a bike. A dude making $200 a week had a very sweet job... And then there are the bikes. Mainly stripped down Harley 74s. A Harley in factory trim is a 'garbage truck.' They had to be stripped down, modified and personalized. British bikes are mentioned, but they are frowned on as a ride for the group. The riders are dirty and greasy, but their bikes are spotless. Ducatis appear as a superior machine, but unsuitable for an Angel who had to be on an American machine. The group as a whole are good riders who take frightening risks all the time - wrenching every last bit of speed and performance out of the loud machines. Seems like they crash them all the time with horrible results. A badge of honor with them. You learn a little more about why people join groups and gangs. Why so many groups still want to go to Sturgis and parade around like an outlaw. There is some great slang. You really see how the country has changed. I suppose the Hell's Angels are very different today. I would be curious to know what things have changed. I don't think the cops have changed, though, besides becoming a hundred thousand times more powerful and less willing to even let little indulgences go by without infiltration and confrontation. At least the cops in this time looked the other way when it didn't really matter. It might be a good read for those of you who have never read the book, or maybe haven't looked at it in a long time.

Question: What direction does the flywheel turn on our Guzzi? If you are sitting on the bike (or from a place behind the bike) and could look down in front of you to see the flywheel, what direction is it spinning? I think it goes counter-clockwise from this perspective (which is also clockwise as seen from the front of the bike looking toward the rear). Is this right?