#bamarides

  My father in law was gifted a rebel 250 from his brother a couple years ago so he could learn how to ride. Well, like everyone who starts off with a Rebel 250 he moved on quickly to a bigger "better" bike.  He didn't sell the Rebel but instead left it in his garage only to be forgotten about while his nice shiny BMW 650 GS got all the attention.  As we all know a sitting bike is a bad bike.  One day I was up there and told him I wanted to go on a ride and for him to show me all his favorite roads around the Rogersville area where he lives.  I would leave my DL1000 behind and give the Rebel a little loving.   First impression, I was shocked about how  bad this bike was.  I couldn't get up to 45mph. It died on me in the middle of the road so I put it on reserve and made it to the nearest gas station. 

   Ok, good to go I thought but it still wouldn't run.  To make a long story short I ended up chasing the 650 with the Rebel on full choke and not getting above 40 mph.  Every time we came to a hill it felt like that children's book The Little Engine That Could.  I think I can I think I can.  

A friend of mine Reid, was looking to buy a Rebel and so he asked my father in law if he would sell it to him and he did. I was kind of sad about that because I was hoping to teach my wife Abby how to ride on it. She was already doing pretty good.  

Reid told me that it's running like crap and has to run with the choke on.  I told him to bring it to my shop and I'll take a look at it.   First things first. The spark plugs looked like this.  

I changed those out.  Then I took the carb off and disassembled it, dipped it in pine sol over night and cleaned it with a wire brush.  Then I rinsed it in water and used compressed air to blow out all the jets and miscellaneous parts.  

After getting it back together I took it out for a test ride that turned into a ride ride.  Wow, I really fell hard for this bike.  I rode all over town and there was nothing but a huge grin on my face.  It was some of the best fun I've had on a bike in a long time.   

I am willing to bet that Alabama has one of the best motorcycle communities in the country. Unknown to most outsiders, Alabama is a great place to own and ride a motorcycle and people here for the most part, actually ride them. The weather pretty much permits year long riding. It gets a little chilly down here in the winter but it’s nothing a few layers of clothes can’t fix. There is something for everyone here. Sport bikers dragging knees on highway 25, dual sports getting dirty in the Talladega National Forest or just cruising on that big Ultra Glide on North Alabama back roads. There are also numerous locations for those dirt bike guys to go tear up some single track and maybe break a leg, a collar bone, their bike or all three.  There are micro communities within the larger community but everyone gets along and rides together. Even the big bad 1%ers are pretty nice dudes around here.  I had one flag me down one time on I459 to tell me my back tire was going flat. Thanks bro. 

I would like to mention a few people I think of that contribute a lot to the community here in good ole Alabama. Some of them I know well and some of them I don’t know at all or have only met once or twice. These are in no particular order. 

1. Don Redman:  AKA The Yeti

Don is the mastermind behind the website and forum bamarides.com. If you ride a motorcycle in Alabama and are serious about it or want to become more serious about it you need to go to this website, sign up and start participating ASAP. I contribute bamarides as the number 1 link between all motorcyclist in Alabama.

2.  David Haynes

David Haynes knows just about every great road and path in Alabama and wrote a book “ Motorcycling Alabama ” to share them with us. He travels with his Golden Retrievers next to him in his side car. He has lead many group rides one of which I have been on. I didn’t know where we were half the time during the ride which meant it was worth riding with him. He is an avid motocamper something that I enjoy very much. 

3. Doug Wothke

This is Doug on a Harley bagger with sidecar tackling the Trans America Trail. I could probably just stop here and you would get the picture but his journeys extend to all over the world on his raggedy custom built bikes. He does things like travel across Europe and the Middle East on an old Harley Chopper not the usual BMW GS or KTM. Doug’s Website

4. Donovan Gravlee 

Gravlee is one of those guys who is not scared of doing what most of us only dream of doing. He spends months planning and organizing his trips around the world and often uses small cc custom made, Frankenstein dual sport bikes to do them. He takes pride in making routes that no one has ever done like the “American Flesh Eater Route”. He was a founding member of the Dirty Dozen Duel Sport Gang and would organize the Ass Kicker Ride and Camp (AKRC) through the Alabama forest. Many would start but few would finish. He lives the life that every hard core motorcyclist wished they could have. Luckily for the rest of us he makes his rides available for us to read and day dream about. Go to his website when you have time to spend a few hours reading and soaking up all of his reports. I regularly check it and wait impatiently for the next entry.  

Donovan’s Website

5. Larry Pierce 

Unfortunately the Alabama motorcycle community lost Larry a few weeks ago when he was killed in an ATV accident. I never got the opportunity to meet him but from what I know he was loved by many and was friends with all. He owned and operated Garage Company Customs and built some pretty amazing old school style choppers that were nationally recognized. He was a huge influence and friend to the next entry.

6.  The Haints 

 The Haints “are a bunch of dudes with good bone structure that like to hug and get along.” If you are driving around anywhere in downtown Birmingham you are more than likely to see one of these bearded 20 something year olds in skinny jeans popping wheelies on old leaky panheads and ironhead choppers. They throw bodacious parties at their shop The Dojo, complete with kegs and thrash bands. Everyone is welcome and everyone should go at least once. I’ve been to several and it is always a good time. Visit their website cautiously.  (It’s awesome)  The Haints

7. Kyle Peterson

Kyle is simply a nice dude who knows how to ride a motorcycle…really well. His bike is a DRZ 400s held together by strip ties and duct tape. He is committed to helping people become less bad at hitting cones at the GP8 that he puts on almost every Thursday in the parking lot at The Grove in Hoover. He is also really good at fixing things and he will always lend a hand if you need help.  Side note, if you are ever around Kyle, don’t leave your keys in your bike because the second you turn your back on him he will be on your bike doing circles and figure 8’s scraping your shiny chrome floor boards up to pieces.

8. George Barber

   Last but definitely not least, George Barber.  Alabama should be forever grateful for this man opening up one of the greatest motorcycle museums in the country, The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. There are over 1200 motorcycles in this museum with around 600 of them on display at any given time. It is also home to a top notch track that hosts events like The Vintage Festival and The Triumph SuperBike Classic. The track is also available for amateurs to get off the street and grab some track time on their bikes.