There happened, today, an example of the 8th canon.
8. Airheads like to share time, knowledge, parts and camaraderie with other Airheads.
Today, a fellow airhead traveled to my garage to pick up a motor case and bottom end. Mark Burnett recently suffered a motor failure when a road hazard punctured the oil pan of his 1984 R100RT. He posted a question about the incident on Airlist. I saw his post, deduced that he was in Illinois, and contacted him about a 1984 R80 motor I had acquired which had dropped a valve. Mark came to my garage and we reduced the donor motor to the essential parts needed to restore his bike to functional. Local Airhead Ray Lott stopped by and we passed a few hours sharing "knowledge, parts, and comaraderie."
Pictured left to right; Mark Burnett, Ray lott, and myself. Here we examine the wrecked piston that created the donor motor.
former Airmarshal, IL.
Good to see, especially two out of three have some color left in their hair. A lot of gray beards like me in this club. We need to get the young(er) folks involved to keep these machines going after the older members riding days are over.
Here’s to them - Bring in the younger / next generation of caretakers - I have a challenge for all of us with multiple bikes. Find a young rider or wanna be rider and take them on a ride with you. I bet you quickly have a new Airhead on your hands.
My 19 year old son is now an Airhead rider for life. I now need to help him develop the other Airhead skills - wrenching and Camaraderie. But we need more young guys and gals in the crowd, or I just hear - “I don’t want to hang out with a bunch of old guys talking motorcycles”.
I know one day he will learn to apricieate that aspect too.
Tim
MA Airmarshal
Y'know Tim, I want to bring in everyone. In the picture, I am the youngest at 57. Mark and Ray are closer to 70. How cool is it that Mark wants to save his RT from the scrap heap? I want to help him. To my mind, this is what the 8th canon is all about. I always promote the ABC to anyone who will listen. Stories like this one build the lore of airheads. The beauty of Airheads is that young guys learn from old guys. In this way we pass along our legacy. I am always looking for members to help/instruct regardless of their age or their plans for any given bike. I might suggest to an owner why it is ill advised to do a "cafe" treatment to an RT, but I still want the ABC to relevant to these persons.
former Airmarshal, IL.
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