Peyote Dreams #171 2013-05
By
Art Bone
“Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States.” – Porifiro Diaz
Since NN #170 our Norton world has lost two of its most enthusiast members. Joe Edwards passed from this earth on November 24, 2012 and Bill Bibbiani left us May 4, 2013. I count myself lucky to be able to say that they were both friends of mine, even though we were “long-distance, Norton club friends.”
Ironically, I met them both the same year at the same rally, the 1996 Quincy, CA get-together. I was president of the INOA then and Joe supplied the shirts for the event. I needed a ride from LA, where my brother loaned me his Norton, to the rally and Bibb offered a place on a truck hauling the Southern California Norton Owners bikes to Quincy.
Since then I’ve rallied and partied with Joe in Lumby, Torrey, north Georgia and the Isle of Man, to list just a few places. He was always a fun guy to be around. Below is an obituary for Joe, written by his long-time friend, Phil Dansby, and posted on the North Texas Norton Owners website.
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Joe Edwards, aka Dr. Norton
5/07/1933 - 11/24/2012
It is with great sorrow that I must announce the passing of one of my best and longest friends. Those of you will know him as Dr. Norton aka Joe Edwards. Joe passed away Saturday morning following a long hospital stay near his home in Washington State.
Joe was one of the founding members of the NTNOA and held the position of "Member #1." Joe was very influential and dedicated to the NTNOA in the early days of the clubs formation, always volunteering his time and contributing in any way that he could to further the club. He held the position of Vice President two times during that period again doing what needed to be done.
Although Joe moved away from the DFW area over twenty years ago he always attended the Lake 'O' The Pines rally every year no matter how far he had to travel.
The club has lost a great member and a dedicated Norton rider. He will be missed.
For those of you who sent cards, I sincerely thank you. They were pasted all over the wall in his hospital room and I know he thanks you as well.
Capt. Commando
RIP Joe
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After Joe passed I got a call from Phil, who hosted a remembrance of Joe at his restaurant, Up In Smoke, and in an incredulous voice, Phil said, “Art, I found out some things about Joe that I didn’t know. Joe Edwards wasn’t Joe Edwards. He changed his name from Grudza. All his kids, many of whom I have known for years and never thought to ask their last name, are named Grudza. Don’t you think in forty years he would have thought to mention that? He also was never in the military, as he claimed and never in any movies, as we were led to believe.”
I can picture Joe looking down on that gathering and laughing his ass off. Whoever he was, I still loved to be around him and I treasure the time I spent with Joe, Phil, and their other friends on the Isle of Man, after Joe had been diagnosed and undergone radiation therapy. There’s nothing like being diagnosed with cancer or being shot at to focus ones attention. Joe knew he was going out but he was determined to go out swinging.
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Bibb was, and I guess always has been, president of the Southern California Norton Owners and seemed to be a one-man show, planning rides and doing almost everything that needs doing in a club. The SCNOA is a very active club. Looking at the list of events on their calendar, I can’t see how one person could do it all. Any club that puts on a Route 66 ride from St. Louis to LA with nearly forty bikes and only has two bikes not make the distance has my respect.
I was not as close with Bibb as I was with Joe but I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him just the month before he passed. I was in LA for cataract surgery and had to spend three weeks there so I called Bibb and asked if I could come over for a visit. He graciously said “Yes” and Carol and I went over and visited with Bibb and Janet for about an hour. He knew he had some problems but he was still full of enthusiasm for bikes and riding. He told me about the ride the SCNOA did from St. Louis to LA last summer, the one they were planning for this year down the coast of California, and their annual Hanson Dam ride. He had garages and sheds full of bikes to work on. He was a happy man. We should all be so lucky.
I spoke to Bibb’s friend, Jim Armantrout, while writing this article and he said, ”Bibb was just a great guy. He WAS the SCNOA with some help from Janet. He made the whole thing happen. He will be missed.”
Our condolences go out to the families of Joe and Bibb. Godspeed.
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The forgoing brings me to a column I read by Peter Egan in Road & Track.
I read Peter’s column in Cycle World every month and I buy Road & Track just to read his stuff, since I can’t afford any of the cars they write about. R&T is just automotive porn for me. Kind’a like real porn . . . I wouldn’t know what to do with one of those models (car or girl) if I got my hands on it.
Anyway, he wrote a column a few months ago about Last Cars. It was about his dad’s last car and the fact he’s getting to the age where he’s thinking about what might be his last car.
That set me to thinking about what would perhaps be my Last Motorcycle. Might as well face it; I’m a lot closer to my last one than I am to my first one. Since about 2000 my tastes have ran more to the dual-sport type of bike for long distance riding. The Norton is fun but a three thousand mile ride on any Norton is more of a job than a fun thing to do. I still like to look at the crotch-rockets but I can’t even get my feet up on the foot-pegs of most of them.
In dual-sports, the choices have really gotten a lot better in the last few years. There seems to be a new model coming out all the time. I remember seeing my first Triumph Tiger in the early eighties and thinking, “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s way too heavy to be a dirt bike.”
Funny how things change.
Lately I’ve been thinking I may never buy another new bike. The plan now seems to be old bikes in many locations. I just bought a 2000 Kawasaki Concours from a friend in Brittany, France. He’s a very competent motorcycle mechanic and has a place to store the bike so that’s going to be our bike in Europe for the foreseeable future. CJ and I went over in April for our shakedown tour. We rode from Brittany down the coast, crossed the Pyrenees into Pamplona, Spain, then down to Malaga. There we joined an Iberian Moto Tour group for a tour of the Andalucía region. It was absolutely first class in every way. We stayed in hotels designated “Paradores” by the Spanish government. That means they are fit for the King of Spain to stay in.
I figured if they were good enough for the King we would probably find them adequate . . . and we did.
The bike did very well. I had to replace the battery because I didn’t think to service it before we left. I’ve had “maintenance free” batteries so long that I forgot they still make ones you have to add water to. Also, the seat/footpeg distance was quite uncomfortable for me. I’m having a seat made that will be an inch or so taller. I really thought about just sending them a picture of the seat on a Norton Interstate and say, “Copy that.” With bikes, if I’m going to be sitting on it all day, I have to make it fit me. The days when I could just jump on any bike and feel comfortable are gone forever.
Course, as I always say, when you’re on a motorcycle it always comes down to the weather. Good food, good wine, great roads, fantastic scenery; it all means nothing if the weather is bad. In this case it was cold and windy almost all the way south. At dinner the first night our tour guide, Martin, explained to the group that his grandmother had lit eight candles to insure we had good weather the eight days of the tour and, sure enough, we had spectacular weather the whole time.
It was raining as we loaded the bike for the return to Brittany and it rained the whole way home.
Wish Grandma had sprung for three more candles.
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Riding tips: I picked up a couple of tips since my last column that I would like to share.
- When approaching a tunnel, close one eye. When you enter the darkness, open that eye and you’ll be able to see much better for the few seconds it takes your other eye to adjust.
2. When riding with a large group, have a designated last vehicle. It can be a motorcycle or van, but it needs to be distinctive. When the leader approaches a turn he points to a spot for the next rider behind him to stop and wait where he can be easily seen. That rider signals for the rest of the group to turn until he sees the last vehicle and is sure the last vehicle sees him. Only then does he leave. This works much better than the old system where each person is supposed to stop and wait until the next person shows up. It lets everyone ride at their own speed without worrying about getting lost and the guy who waits, who is probably a fast rider, gets to pass as many of the group as possible before the next turn. Try it on your next group ride. It works really well.