Open Mike Blog – Sept. 23, 2014

Funny how with the leaves here in Western Pennsylvania just beginning their fall color show, how precious riding becomes. When you live and ride in a state where the riding season is limited by Ma Nature’s whims, the realization that you’ve only got a few weeks left to do the crazy throttle twisting thang really hits home. The impending four or five months of cold, wet or worse yet, snowy roads means we’re hustling like an eight-armed juggler to fit in all the road testing, product evaluations and fun we can before the defecation hits the rotary oscillator, so to speak. This time of year, however, does yield some incredible riding. For instance, on Sundays, while just about every other living soul in the region is glued to their TV sets for football games, the roads are very much wide open with even the State P0-Po absorbed in the Steelers, leaving speed-crazed petrolheads free to enjoy unbridled thrust. The coming winter also means we’re eager to get back at some of our long-term project bikes, which have been ridden hard and put away covered in bugs since spring. Next issue (Dec./Jan., 2014) one of those very bikes, our 1978 Suzuki GS 750E should be reaching running condition and we’re eager to air the fully-rebuilt four out while there’s still time. This is the same GS that was “customized” during the “$1,00 Build-Off Challenge” episode of Velocity’s Cafe Racer TV back in 2010 and the changes the old girl endured were nothing short of amazing.