Got some photos from my friend Phil from "back in the day". He moved outside Alaska a while back and it looks like he's been busy, digitizing some old prints.
In the late 70's, there was a group that hung around one of the local bike shops. While it sold mostly euro brands, their speciality was British bikes. Over time, the shop closed down, but the group still kept in touch. Sometime in the mid 80's, can't remember when, we got to talking about having a Brit bike ride, cause by then, almost nobody was riding their older bikes. So surprisingly, since talk often goes nowhere, it happened.
That first year there were only about ten Brit bikes with maybe 13 total. There was only one rule, while everyone was welcome, the Jap bikes had to ride in the back. Of course no one ever enforced it.
In the following years, there were a lot more bikes, the peak year had maybe 25, mostly Triumphs, but a good mix of others. The ride continued for almost ten years, but then ended as people moved away or just lost interest.
Norton Commandos were always a fine looking bike and a real popular ride back then. It's too bad that Manganese Bronze, the holding company that bought Norton, ran it into the ground.
That long haired guy on the left is finally restoring the gray/blue Triumph, (Heads Up 5/24/18), it's about time!
One year a group of Brit cars showed up. One of the Jags had a V-12, an awesome looking motor. The car guys were generally an older, clean-cut, more sedate group than the biker types. They didn't return.
On the way back to town, some of the guys would stage a "coasting race", shutting off their engines and coast down from the top of Cleary Summit, through the switch backs, and down to the bottom at Pedro Creek. Mike would have won on style points alone!
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