A cool story, this is: An American (that would be me) goes to Western Australia to find vintage American motorcycles in a fabulous motor museum…or something along those lines.
I haven’t spotted any kangaroos yet (although eight of them did run across the front lawn of the Motor Museum of Western Australia while I was photographing this stunning 1920 Excelsior-Henderson). I missed my chance to photograph the ‘roos…but you can always get photos of kangaroos. How often do you encounter a 1920 Excelsior-Henderson?
The short story here is that Excelsior-Henderson made motorcycles from 1907 to 1931 in Chicago, they made the first motorcycle that could hit 100 mph, and they were done in by the Great Depression. Beyond that, I’ll let the photos of this magnificent motorcycle do my talking…
I am enjoying Australia immensely. Joe Gresh, you got it right…this is an awesome place. The western shore along the Indian Ocean, the food, the people, the scenery…it’s all amazing, and it’s not that different in feel, look, and climate than southern California. But the vintage motorcycles at the Motor Museum of Western Australia: Wowee!
Well, actually, it’s my story and my photos, it’s in the current issue of Adventure Motorcycle magazine, and you should pick up a copy!
I know…you can’t really read the print in the photo above, and that’s by design. Pick yourself up a copy of ADVMoto (it’s on the stands now). And if you want to see the blog posts from the Janus adventure ride, you can find them here.
Susy and Adrienne, then and now, meeting for the first time ever!
Everybody loves a good human interest story, and it’s hard to imagine one better than this. Sue and I are in Perth, Australia, and the specific reason we came here was for Sue to meet her lifelong pen pal Adrienne. Adrienne is from New Zealand, Sue is a California lady, and these two beautiful women have been pen pals for 56 years. Yesterday, they finally met in person for the first time. We had a great day, and I wanted to share it with you.
The Remington Classic 700 in 7mm Weatherby Magnum: An unusual, collectible, and as it turns out, extremely accurate rifle.
A short while ago I wrote about my Dad’s left hand 7mm Weatherby Mk V, and how Roy Weatherby personally helped me select it. Well, here’s a story about another rifle chambered for the powerful 7mm Weatherby Magnum cartridge.
About a year ago, I saw something unusual on Gunbroker.com. It was an ad for a Remington 700 Classic rifle chambered in the venerable 7mm Weatherby Magnum cartridge. This rifle is quite a setup and, I think, quite a score for me personally. I’ve been a huge fan of Weatherby rifles ever since I was a little boy, when my father chased woodchucks in New Jersey with a .243 Winchester Model 70. Back in the day, woodchucks were about the only thing you could hunt with a rifle in New Jersey. I grew up in a farming community (there’s a reason New Jersey is called the Garden State), and the farmers in our area gave my Dad free rein to cull the chuck population. Those little woodchucks did a lot of crop damage, and the farmers were grateful that my Dad was able send those critters on to their reward. As a little kid tagging along with Dad, it was grand fun. It was not at all unusual for him to take (and make) 400-yard shots, with his rifle resting across the hood of his ’65 F-100 Ford (there were a lot of powder burns on that old pickup truck). Like I said, it was awesome.
Just before I went to Korea, my Dad bought a 7mm Weatherby rifle for me as a going-away gift, and I loved it. I shot the barrel out of that rifle (yep, I shot it so much I wore it out) and then I had it redone with a Douglas barrel in 300 H&H. But the 7mm Weatherby Mag cartridge had its hooks into me, and they never let go. The idea is that a 7mm projectile is aerodynamically more efficient than a .30 caliber bullet (the 7mm is 0.284 inches in diameter; a .30 caliber bullet is 0.308 inches in diameter). For the same weight, the 7mm cartridge has a lower drag coefficient, so it retains more velocity downrange and it has a flatter trajectory.
All of the above is probably more theoretical than real world, but I still like the idea of a streamlined, hard-hitting, flat-shooting, hot 7mm. And that’s what the 7mm Weatherby cartridge is. It was one of Roy Weatherby’s first magnum chamberings, and it has been the fastest 7mm cartridge ever for many decades.
The 7mm Weatherby cartridge. Note the classic Weatherby double radius shoulder…the theory is the double radii act as a venturi, providing higher projectile velocities. It’s probably more marketing magic than real world measurable results, but I’m a believer.
I’ve also always been a fan of the Remington 700 rifle. They are inherently accurate, and when I used to shoot high power metallic silhouette competition back in the ’70s and ’80s, it was rare to see anything other than a Model 700 in the winners’ circle. I’ve owned a few of these rifles, and they are indeed extremely accurate.
Remington had a run of Model 700 rifles they labeled the “Classic” for a little more than 20 years, with the idea being that each year they would do a rifle in one chambering only. Remington stopped making the Classic series more than 20 years ago, and I always wanted one.
Recently, I saw an ad on Gunbroker for one of the rarest of the Classic series, the single year they chambered these fine rifles in 7mm Weatherby Magnum. That was a “must have” rifle for me. A Model 700, chambered in 7mm Weatherby. Wow. The rifle was advertised as new in the box, the cartridge is an awesome one, and unlike most of the Classics I had previously seen, it had killer wood. Hey, what’s not to like? I bought the rifle from Heritage Shooting Academy in Triangle, Virginia, and it was a great deal. If anything, the rifle was better than advertised, and I sure couldn’t argue with the way it shot (more on that in a second).
When it arrived, I was more than impressed. It was indeed new in the box, it was flawless, the walnut was understatedly elegant, and as I was to learn, it shot very, very well. The only thing that initially concerned me was that these uber-velocity cartridges generally give up accuracy for what they gain in speed. But that sure isn’t the case with this rifle. I reloaded different cartridges trying various powder charges using two different bullets, and the groups that resulted (all at 100 yards) were fabulous.
Whoa! Out-of-the-box accuracy!
My initial testing showed that the trick here was to load toward the higher end of the powder charge spectrum to more fully fill those big belted magnum cases. The theory is that doing so results in a more uniform pressure wave/flame front when the go-juice lights up, and I guess it worked that way for me. More powder results in more velocity and that meant more recoil, but wowee, the Model 700 provided great results! It shot phenomenally tight groups and the little bit of dispersion you see is undoubtedly more me than the rifle or the ammo. I am one happy camper!
Exotic, beautiful, sultry, rich, 17 hours away via nonstop air, a shopper’s paradise, foodie heaven, and an unending stream of photo ops: Singapore is all this and more. I love this place. I’ve been here six or seven times, and I’ll keep coming back. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking this time. I shoot better than I write!
Susie and yours truly, reflected in a big polished metal ball in a park along the Singapore River.Clark Quay (it’s pronounced key).A typical scene along the river. All the brightly-colored buildings on the left are restaurants.Tunnels along the river walk take you beneath streets. Artwork covers the tunnel walls on both sides.There’s a small noodle shop just outside our hotel. This bowl of wonton soup is about a buck. It’sAn artist painting one of Singapore’s classic bridges along the river walk.Amazing architecture along the bay. These three buildings include shopping, a hotel, a casino, and more. The upper deck is styled like a ship; the concept is that the buildings are the waves. All of this is built on reclaimed land. Singapore is a small nation; when they need more land, they create it in the ocean!At a seafood restaurant along the riverwalk.Lobsters along the riverwalk. I’m going to add this to the collection of ExNotes blog banner photos.Tiger on tap. Muey bueno.That’s one way to get old bikes off the road, I guess.
And there you have it. Fun times. Another secret mission in the bag.
The right bike and the right clothes make for good traveling, and this is especially important when you’re riding Baja. Travel light and travel right is the way to go. What you don’t want to do is travel like I did on my first Baja trip. On that one, my Harley looked like that opening scene in The Beverly Hillbillies (you know, the one with everything strapped to Jed Clampett’s old pickup, including Granny in a rocking chair on top).
How not to do it. My old Harley was way overloaded on this early Baja trip.
I guess it all starts with the right bike, and for all of us, that’s the bike we have. I’ve ridden Baja on many different motorcycles, and they all worked for me. My preferred bike for Baja riding, though, is my CSC RX3, which I think is perfect (especially with its standard luggage). I’ve settled on a 250 as the perfect size for real adventure travel (your choice may be different, I’m not trying to pick a fight, and if my choice upsets you, hey, you’re young…you’ll get over it).
My RX3 early in its life. I can pack everything I bring with me on a Baja ride in its luggage. My bike also has a sheepskin seat cover, which makes for a more comfortable ride.
When I’m on the RX3, I can carry everything I need in its two panniers and the top case, with nothing strapped onto the bike with bungee cords. I don’t like to carry stuff outside the luggage, because everything is locked and I can leave the bike when we stop to eat or take pictures without worrying about anyone stealing anything. I’m usually carrying more than most of the folks I ride with, too, because I’ve got my Nikon DSLR, a laptop computer, the power supply and cord for the laptop, the recharger for the camera battery, an extra camera battery, and a laptop mouse. I need to keep the beast fed (i.e., this blog), and I blog daily from the road. The top case is devoted to the computer and the camera gear. I keep tools, spare parts (you can read about recommended Baja spares here), and chain lube in the right pannier, and clothes in the left pannier. Remember what I said above…travel light and travel right.
If I’m on a bike that doesn’t have luggage, my preferred approach includes an older Nelson Rigg tailpack and a set of Wolfman soft pannier bags. That’s all I need. These two items go on and off the bike easily and they are high quality items. I bought the Nelson-Rigg tailpack 20 years ago when I rode Baja on my TL1000S, and I bought the Wolfman bags from CSC when I rode Baja with my TT250. I’ve been impressed with both the Wolfman and Nelson-Rigg brands. Wolfman, especially…it’s good gear.
My old TL1000S (the first year for that bike…it was a ’97) and the Nelson-Rigg tailpack. The TL is long gone; the tailpack is still covering miles with me.My TT250 with my Joe Rocket gloves, HJC helmet, Wolfman soft luggage, and Nelson-Rigg Tailpack (the same one you see on the TL1000S above, but 20 years later in this photo). All good gear.
My helmet is another item I bought from CSC. It’s an HJC and I like it. It’s not heavy (which makes a huge difference when you’re covering hundreds of miles day after day) and it’s comfortable. I’ve tried others, but I keep coming back to the HJC line. I have a Scorpion, but it doesn’t have a visor position that allows opening the visor slightly for air flow. Others don’t form a good seal between the visor and the helmet, so when it rains the visor gets wet on both the inside and the outside. Nope, for me that HJC works.
The HJC helmet I currently use. It’s comfortable and it’s not heavy.
My jacket is made by Olympia. I like it because of the color (fluorescent yellow), and the fact that it is all one color. Most (maybe all) of the other fluorescent yellow jackets available today have black panels along with the fluorescent yellow and I don’t care for that approach. My jacket has a removable liner and it keeps me warm, and at night if it’s cool and I’m off the bike, I can wear just the liner as a light jacket.
A selfie showing my Joe Rocket gloves and my Olympia riding jacket. I didn’t realize it when I bought it, but keeping that Oly jacket on the road required more maintenance than the motorcycles.
I should mention that I hated the Olympia jacket the first two years I owned it. Olympia used cheap stitching when they had these made, and most of it came undone. Every time I washed that jacket, more stitching came apart. Oly wouldn’t make good on it (they were quick to point out that the jacket had a 1-year warranty). I paid a tailor to resew all the seams, though, and after that, it stayed together (even after repeated washings). It’s the jacket I wear most often now.
I always bring along my R Heroes 505 workshirt, an ultra-high quality sweatshirt I wrote about in an ExNotes blog a few months ago. I own two of these shirts (one of which has held up for 10 years now). It’s warm and it’s extremely comfortable. It’s also loose enough that if you’re carrying a concealed sidearm, it provides good coverage (don’t do that in Baja, though). I love my R Heroes shirts.
My R Heroes 505 workshirt. I love it.
I wear Walmart jeans (I’m not into fancy jeans and I think anybody that pays big bucks for blue jeans is bonkers) and an old set of motorcycle pants. On warmer days, the motorcycle pants go into one of my bags and it’s just the jeans. On cooler days or if it’s raining, I wear both. My motorcycle pants are water resistant but not waterproof (if the rain lasts long enough, they’ll soak through). Every year or so, I’ll spray the paints with Kiwi water repellant to refresh the Scotchguard. I’m kind of embarrassed that I don’t know who made the motorcycle pants. I’ve had them for more than 20 years and the labels are long gone.
My gloves are Joe Rocket. Joe Rocket gear is reasonably priced and the quality is there. I have two pair. I cut off the right index finger tip off on one so I can work my iPhone when I’m using it as a nav system. I also have an older set of BMW cold weather riding gloves, and they work gangbusters. I think I paid a hundred bucks for the BMW gloves (everything that says BMW is big bucks), but on supercold mornings, I’m constantly reminded that was money well spent.
The last item I’ll mention are my boots. I’m not a big fan of any of the motorcycle-specific boots because they are too big, too heavy, and too uncomfortable when you get off the bike. I like military or police style boots, and my preferred brand is from an outfit called HAIX. They’re Austrian (the boots are actually manufactured in Croatia). They’re expensive (about $200), but they are worth it. The first pair I bought lasted 10 years. I bought a new pair a year or two ago, and I’ll get 10 years with them, too.
Good buddy Marty (with whom I’ve been riding for a long time) sent this email and photo yesterday…
Joe,
That is me, about 1954, on a 1953 Triumph T100C. It had a 500cc alloy engine, and (fanfare) twin carburetors (thus earning the C for competition). I loved this bike, it handled well, and for its time, was a road-burner. I ran it so hard that I collapsed a valve, and instead of fixing it, traded it on a 1957 Triumph Tiger 110 (which wasn’t as fast!). Good times, good memories.
Marty
Very cool, Marty, and thanks very much.
Marty and I have traveled a lot of miles together, including trips through the US, Baja, and the Three Flags Classic covered here on the ExNotes blog. This is a more recent photo of Marty and his BMW…
Our good buddy Carl Mungenast was in town yesterday and Susie and I had dinner with him and his grandson, Jason. It was awesome.
I know what you’re thinking, and no, we don’t use the same barber!
I’ve known Carl for about 10 years now, and it all started about the time I hooked up with CSC Motorcycles. Carl had an interest in the original Mustangs and he quickly signed on as an advisor to CSC. I mentioned him several times in CSC blog, and one of the best things ever was the Baja trip Carl, his charming wife Mary, and I did in the Starship Subaru. The company, the conversation, the scenery, and the whale watching were fantastic.
Carl and Mary, who officially became Bajaenos in 2012.
Good times and good company, and it was grand seeing Carl again last night.
Hey, I just got off an A380 after 17 hours in the air, so it’s just a short blog tonight (or should that be today?). Later, my friends.
A scan of a photo of a photo. I handled the original while researching the Gatling gun in the Colt archives at the Connecticut State Library and Museum in Hartford.
Yeah, I know…a Gatling gun is not a machine gun. It was a hand-cranked weapon back in the day, but it’s still a fascinating a bit of machinery and this Civil War weapon concept is the principle behind modern high-rate-of-fire systems on combat aircraft, helicopters, naval vessels, and more. I was so captivated by the Gatling design and how it extended from the Civil War to modern gun systems that I wrote a book about it (The Gatling Gun). You may have already known that.
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The Gatling gun and its transition from the 1860s to today’s modern combat applications is fascinating. To get that full story, you might want to pick up a copy of The Gatling Gun.
So how did it come to be that modern high-rate-of-fire gun systems use the Gatling principle?
Here’s the deal: Around the end of World War II, jet aircraft entered service, and the old .50-caliber M2 Browning simply didn’t fire fast enough. With the new jets, aircraft closing speeds in a dogfight might exceed 1000 mph (two jets coming at each other over 500 mph), and what was needed was a shot pattern rather than a steady stream of bullets. In searching for higher firing rates, the Army discovered that Dr. Gatling and the U.S. Navy had both experimented with Gatling guns powered by electric motors, and way back in 1898 they attained firing rates over 1000 shots per minute. In 1898, a firing rate that high was a solution looking for a problem that did not yet exist. So, the concept was shelved for the next half century. But after World War II, it was the answer to the Army Air Corps’ jet fighter gunnery dilemma. The U.S. military dusted off the concept of an electrically-driven Gatling, gave a contract to General Electric, and the modern Vulcan was born.
Like I said earlier, the Gatling gun and its variants are used on many different combat systems. One of the earlier ones was immortalized by Puff, the Magic Dragon, in The Green Berets.The Green Berets is one of my all time favorite movies and the scene I’m describing shows up at around 1:20:
The first Vietnam-era gunship used old World War II C-47s (that’s what you see in the video above). Then the Air Force went to the C-130, a much larger aircraft, because it could carry more cannon. Then, because they couldn’t get C-130s fast enough, they turned to old C-119s. When the Air Force did a range firing demo to convince the folks who needed convincing at Eglin AFB, the gunship Gatlings fired continuously until they had no more ammo, and I’m told it was so impressive the project managers secured an immediate okay to proceed. The bigwigs viewing the demo firing thought the sustained burst was all part of the plan; what they didn’t know is the control system malfunctioned and the aircrew couldn’t turn the Gatlings off. Hey, sometimes things happen for a reason.
I know a fascination with Gatlings is unusual, and you might wonder how it came to be. It goes like this: When I was in the Army, my first assignment was to a Vulcan unit in Korea. To ready me for that, I had orders to the US Army Air Defense School’s Vulcan course in Fort Bliss, Texas. Vulcans were the Army’s 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and on the first day of class, the sergeant explained to us that the Vulcan gun system was based on the old Gatlings. Whaddaya know, I thought. The Gatling gun.
Then things got better. After a few weeks of classroom instruction, we went to Dona Ana Range in New Mexico to fire the Vulcan. I thought the Vulcan would sound like a machine gun…you know, ratatat-tat and all that. Nope. Not even close. When I first heard a Vulcan fire I was shocked. If you’ve ever been to a drag race and heard a AA fuelie, that’s exactly what a Vulcan sounds like. I heard one short BAAAAAARRRKKK as the first Vulcan fired a 100-round burst at 3,000 shots per minute. Jiminy! The effect was electrifying. We were a bunch of kids yammering away, and then the Vulcan spoke. Everyone fell silent. We were in awe.
At the Dona Ana range, the effect was even more dramatic…there was the soul-searing bark of the actual firing, and then an echo as the Vulcan’s report bounced off the distant Dona Ana mountains. Then another as the next gun fired, and another echo. And another. Cool doesn’t begin to describe it.
A Vulcan firing at night. Think that shot pattern is impressive? Hey, you’re only seeing every 7th round (the combat mix was one tracer every 7 rounds). This is a US Army photo included in The Gatling Gun (along with many others).
After I left the Army, my next job was on the F-16 Air Combat Fighter, and it used the same 20mm Gatling as did the Vulcan. After that it was General Dynamics in Pomona, where I worked on the Phalanx (a 20mm shipborne Vulcan). Then it was on to Aerojet, where we made 30mm ammo for the A-10 Warthog’s GAU-8/A Gatling. It seemed that every job I had was somehow tied to a Gatling gun variant, and that was fine by me. I loved working with these systems.
And there you have it. If you’d like to more about the different systems using Gatlings today and the early history of the Gatling gun, you can purchase The Gatling Gunhere.
I am enjoying Australia immensely. Joe Gresh, you got it right…this is an awesome place. The western shore along the Indian Ocean, the food, the people, the scenery…it’s all amazing, and it’s not that different in feel, look, and climate than southern California. But the vintage motorcycles at the Motor Museum of Western Australia: Wowee!
I know…you can’t really read the print in the photo above, and that’s by design. Pick yourself up a copy of ADVMoto (it’s on the stands now). And if you want to see the blog posts from the 
Yep, I grabbed a bunch of photos today. Beezers, Harleys, Indians, Triumphs, Nortons, Velocettes, and more (much more, actually) to follow.
Joe,
