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select photo for larger image...
These photos were taken at the 21st annual Oregon Vintage
Motorcyclist (http://www.efn.org/~ovm/)
show and swap meet, held at the Benton County fairgrounds in
Corvallis Oregon on May 21, 2000.
This is always a good event, and this year was no exception. Each
year, I try to take a bike that has never been there before, and
this time my 741B was my choice. This bike only had about 50 miles
on it so far, so it would be a good opportunity to rack up a few
more. The problem is that the direct route involves freeways, and
even a well broken in 741 should never attempt those speeds. The
route I chose (about 90 miles round trip) took me through the farm
land, and wound along the river for about 20 miles, then connected
with a highway with bike paths, so I had lots of room to let traffic
pass. Everything was checked first, then off I went.
 The
bike likes to cruise at 40-45 without stress, so I chose that range
as my maximum speed to break the engine in. The route didn't have
any major hills, and relatively light traffic except through
downtown areas. I went about 4 miles before I decided to fine tune
the mixture adjustment, and all of a sudden the bike went dead. It
felt electrical, but I had power, so I looked around, and realized I
had hit the choke lever and the bike didn't like full choke! OK,
fixed that, lets get cookin' again. After another 7 or 8 miles, the
bike sputters and dies again. Checked everything and found the left
tank was now dry! When I left, I estimated that the tank was about
half full. Either I was wrong, or this thing is really a gas hog.
 Oh
well, I had the right tank, and about 10 miles to a gas station.
When I stopped for gas, I overfilled the tanks and had to keep my
glove on the right tank cap till I burned some off. Without further
incident, I arrived at the fairgrounds with time to spare. This
event seems to attract a few American bikes, and a lot of European
models. OVM is open to any make or model over 30 years old. I took
pictures of the nicest and most interesting bikes at the show, but I
only took one disc with me, so I only captured about 10% of the turn
out. This years featured marquee was Honda, but I didn't take any
shots of them (sorry). The winners in the American category were;
1st Black 348 Chief; 2nd OD 741B (mine); 3rd Gray 440. Indian swept
all the Harley's under the rug (where they should be).
The weather was in the high 70's and it turned
out to be another great OVM function.  As
always, you get to see people that you only see at repeat events,
and you get a chance to do some scrounging for old parts. The ride
home was uneventful, except for all the horn honking and waving as
cars went by. Some people just love OD Green I guess. Oh, I almost
forgot; they gave an award for the furthest traveled (on a trailer,
no less)! Almost reminds me of a HOG event!
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