| Author | Message | ||
     Jerry_haughton |
Oldog gets credit for this thread (HERE). i thought i'd offer up some pix of cool Buell shirts in my collection. if any of you want to do the same, please feel free.  Ferris  circa '95 or '96 (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 one of my most prized Buell possessions. this one was worn almost non-stop early on, and shows it, but these days has been long since retired. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 from the first Blue Groove in '96, the event that transformed me from Jerry Haughton to Ferris Bueller. it's all pretty much Court's fault. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 this would be from the second Blue Groove, held in the gold country of California's Sierra Nevada in the summer of 1997. i led a group ride down from Washington and Oregon for this event, one of my first attempts at organizing and implementing such a ride, and learned much about the "right" way of these deals, and also learned that you DON'T initiate a group pass at 100 mph thru a left turn only lane. (what the •••• was i thinking?!?!?!) my eternal thanks to Heidi Lauby for helping to pull my head outta my arse after that stunt. this was the site of my first BattleTrax (the first BX held on the west coast?) i'm proud to say i finished on the podium.  (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 from Blue Groove Northwest in '97, held in and around Portland, Oregon, including a massive group ride up the south side of Mount St. Helens. my ex-wife and i planned and organized this event, in conjunction with Reg Kittrelle and Battle 2win magazine, the Buell Motorcycle Company, and a half dozen or so Pacific Northwest H-D/Buell dealers. we had hoped for 50 participants. (the truth? i was trying to beat Reg's attendance from the first Blue Groove a year earlier.) we ended up with over 120 registered attendees, and BGNW remains to this day one of the largest Buell events ever. Erik Buell was there, which was MOST cool. Erik was then, as he is now, wonderful to pal around with, and made EVERYONE feel special. the late, great Fran Crane was one of our honored guests, rest her soul. she was in training for the upcoming Iron Butt, and rode all night from Santa Cruz, CA to make it in time for the opening "ceremonies." Court Canfield was another very special guest, and he earned my eternal respect when, after he found out he had to help set up the BattleTrax course at Portland International Raceway so couldn't go on the adventure ride, he asked me if i would carry his son Bryce as a passenger on the back of my S2 so Bryce wouldn't miss out on the adventure ride. that takes a lot of respect and trust, to trust your kid's life with another person like that. i appreciated that trust then, and i appreciate it to this day. successfully pulling off BGNW was one of the hardest things i've ever done. we were totally blown away by the number of people who attended, but we refused to turn anyone away, and this gig, to me anyway, was the stuff of legend. oh, yeah: it's still all pretty much Court's fault. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 an early PACBOG/Sport Bike USA shirt, low-buck (design on one side only) and home-grown. PACBOG, before Buell (corporate, i.e. Harley-Davidson, not Erik) made us change our name, was the Pacific Northwest Buell Owners Group. i had hoped to organize the half dozen or so Buell owners i knew of at the time in the northwest and maybe do an occasional group ride or something. the thing exploded beyond my wildest expectations. in '97 i was asked to change the name of the group, dropping the word "Buell" from the name. the Pacific Northwest Buell Owners Group thus became PACBOG, which made some sense anyway since we had grown well beyond the northwest (we had members in 42 states and seven countries at our peak), and PAC came to be synonymous for Passion, Adventure and Camaraderie. yep, you guessed it - it's all pretty much Court's fault. (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 an early Trev Deeley H-D shirt, well before the addition of Deeley's House of Buell to their fine establishment. circa '96? (Message edited by jerry_haughton on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
 | ||
| Az_m2 |
I like this one. Cool design.  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
more to come. FB | ||
| Court |
>>>> it's all pretty much Court's fault. Funny about the name change thing. There have 3 three really great groups that, over the years, I've had the good fortune to save the agita of dealing with the good folks at legal. I still have my notes from the day I got a call from a guy named Tat Marcy thinking about opening a "Buell supply business" and when Jay Hawley called telling me he wanted my advise about starting a group named "Buell Owners Club"....oooops. Also worked with Graeme Ware when R.O.B.E. (Riders and Owners of Buells in Europe) was commissioned and although it had about the same life span as some of the other groups, it also made a huge contribution to the future of Buell. The R.O.B.E. newsletters were, like the PacBog, impressive. Classic battle for the Buell name was when a company in another country was formed "Buell American Motorcycle, Ltd". This one got kinda good and there was (yes, I have all the original correspondence, files and news articles) a pretty good locking of corporate horns. Eventually this was one resolved by explaining to these guys that any Buell they EVER sold would never get parts or service. We won that round and went about finding the dealer who was supplying them (and got a Pegasus Award for selling bikes). I'm not sure anyone in Michigan knows or cares the Don, Phil and I at one time actually incorporated a group, filed articles of incorporation, by-laws, officers and minutes with the secretary of state, named "Buell Owners Club" about 5 years before Harley-Davidson, and the IP folks, ever hit the scene. It has, to say the least, been an interesting ride. Court | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
It has, to say the least, been an interesting ride. indeed. I like this one. Cool design. thank you! not my doing, the design anyway, but one of my faves. there's a great, comical story about that shirt design, one that Fireman Jim was a part of. remind Court to remind me to remind FMJ to tell you sometime. FB | ||
| Firemanjim |
I remember that tale well. Seems there was this big Buell event --The Southwest Regional Buell Rally as a matter of fact--that Jerry and I were hitting on our way across country to attend the first BRATPAC ride.It was a great rally with fantastic rides with Erik.And of course they had an event t-shirt. I pointed out to Jerry the design seemed a bit "familiar" and we had a good laugh.And to make things even better I had packed my Blue Groove NW shirt along.At the big dinner/awards banquet I made sure to wear the BGNW shirt and during the after dinner question/answer session I stood up and asked where they had gotten the cool design on the t-shirt.The Buell Co reps gave some answer like it was done up by the PR folks etc.I told them I did not think so and proceeded to point out the shirt I had on .There were looks of astonishment and mass confusion while we had a great laugh. | ||
| Oldog |
What amazing history FMJ glad your back safe & sound, I have not seen any results of "Thunder from Down Under", have you posted any? Court When you and or Dave Guess publish books please PM me I would like to get signed copies, as a relitive new bee this is an amazing thing, It would make a great 2hour discovery segment, Again Thanks Jerry | ||
| Court |
Now that. . . particularly since I have both shirts here. . . is a GREAT story I did not know. Frankly, given the lame stuff coming from GM at this time, I **WISH** they'd steal some stuff from the owners. By the way, that is not a slam on the GM folks. They are good, hard working people doing the best they know how to do. Their population of potential ideas is primarily HD apparel. They've tried to morph it as best as possible. They are in a tough position. | ||
| Rich |
Yep, salmon for breakfast, at the first BOG meeting I attended. When we all rolled into Siebkin's(sp), heads turned. | ||
| Rich |
Oops, sorry about the thread jack, great shirts Jerry. I have a few. | ||
| Diablobrian |
Cool shirts. I haven't been around long enough to acquire a collection like that. All I've got are: 1)a white one with the oval buell logo autographed by Erik (thanks Court) 2) A black long sleeve dress shirt with blue embroidered logos 3) A baseball shirt, white with blue sleeves 4) A black t with oval logo and appleton on the back (thanks DaveS) 5) a black t with the oval logo 6)An American Sport Bike t shirt (thanks Al) 7) a blue t with the white pegasus on the side. 8) a 65th anniversary of Daytona Bike week autographed by most of the Buell race crews and Pascal Picotte. 9) White Buell racing t featuring Jeremy McWilliams (thanks John Warr) 10 Black Buell racing t (thanks to Court Again) I guess I am Building quite a wardrobe! And I have more shirts coming as I type this. (Message edited by diablobrian on April 22, 2006) | ||
| Court |
>>>And I have more shirts coming as I type this. Big deal. . . buy a PINK hat and I'll GIVE you another shirt. Admit it. . . you can be bought! | ||
| Diablobrian |
Oh yeah, we all have a price, and I'm not too proud to admit I'm cheap. I was thinking about getting a couple of the pink hats for my daughters. This just makes it a little more enticing for me. I'll take you up on that Court. If I order 2 pink hats my son and I could both wear one at homecoming too.(what will the neighbors think?) I'll have to either add to my current order, or make a new one from DaveS  He still hasn't fixed that instant order delivery thing fixed  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
There were looks of astonishment and mass confusion while we had a great laugh. what was REALLY funny about this was what a big deal they made about how much time and effort went into the shirt design for the Taos BRAG Rally, to create a shirt special and unique to this event. this speech was given during the after-dinner festivities, to a group of perhaps 75 or so Buell enthusiasts, including Erik. what FMJ and i knew, that no one else (yet) knew, was that the t-shirt design was IDENTICAL to the Blue Groove Northwest event t-shirt from two years before. after this major build-up FMJ stood up and showed off his BGNW shirt to the assembled Buellies. the looks on everyone's faces was priceless. | ||
| Az_m2 |
That is funny. I can see how that design could be easily adaptable to a southwest event, the sun rays look familiar.  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
here's another story from the Taos, New Mexico BRAG Rally. Saturday morning we all headed out on the highly anticipated adventure ride with Erik Buell. this event was very well attended, i.e. we had a TON of bikes, and the roads we were gonna ride that day were alleged to be the absolute bomb. and they WERE, but we ran into an immediate problem. at almost the exact moment the first road got REALLY fun, a twisty, windy mountain road just made for Buells, we overtook a pick-up truck, and the bastard would NOT pull over and let us by. Chick, the owner of Albuquerque H-D/Buell, was leading the ride, Erik was his wing man, me 'n FMJ were slotted in third and fourth, and we musta had another 50 Buells or so stacked up tight behind us, snapping and snarling and itching to GO! trust me when i say the road was PERFECT, but the truck was dawdling along about 10 under the posted limit, and seemed oblivious to the noise and pent up v-twin fury behind him. Chick had a problem, to be sure, what with everyone bunched up tight on his arse willing him to go around the truck, but he COULDN'T - there were no legal passing zones on this stretch of road (altho there WERE plenty of places to pass), and he couldn't take the risk of (and incur the liability of) initiating a pass, knowing that the ensuing chaos behind us could easily turn into carnage. as much as i wanted to get around the truck and enjoy the road, i knew in my heart that Chick was doing the right thing by holding his position, and as the next 30 or so miles rolled slowly by all the rest of us could do was dejectedly follow Chick's lead. well, we motored into some tiny little northern New Mexico town which i can't remember the name of, and i saw Chick's right turn signal come on, to indicate we were turning east onto another road. AT LAST, we finally get to lose the truck! to my horror and chagrin, the truck's right turn signal came on right after Chick's. i was crestfallen. the thought of being stuck behind this guy any longer was simply too much to bear. there was a gas station/convenience store on our right at this intersection, and i decided to act. as our parade was gearing down to make the turn i hung a hard, quick right, blasted thru the gas station's parking lot, and exploded out onto the new road. all this had to happen like RIGHT NOW, and it did, and i ended up directly in FRONT of the pick-up truck with just a few feet to spare. my heart was pounding and i was filled with rage. i turned around in my seat and pointed my finger at the driver of the truck, pumping my arm furiously in the direction of the shoulder of the road, indicating in no uncertain terms that he was to pull over, NOW!!!!! to my relief, he DID pull over. i slid to a stop, jumped off my bike, and waved the group on by. Chick seemed a little hesitant at first, not really knowing what he had just witnessed. i made it clear via hand gestures that he was to continue on with the group, which he did. i knew i could catch up. now then, to the task at hand. i stormed up to the driver's window of the truck, ready to take a life. i was absolutely FURIOUS! well, he turned out to be a little old gray-haired man, probably in his 80's, out on a leisurely Saturday morning drive with his wife, equally advanced in years, and they were both the sweetest, kindest folks you'd ever want to meet. i wanted to grenade on them, but i COULDN'T - they were just too adorable. the poor old guy REALLY shouldn't have been driving anymore, and when i explained to him why i'd pulled him over, he was shocked -- he had no clue that we had all been stuffed up behind him for the last half hour. not once had he looked in his mirrors, and apparently his hearing was so far gone that he'd not noticed the tremendous racket we were making, either. i quickly defused myself, realizing that hammering on this guy would serve no purpose. he WAS guilty, in a way, but he was innocent, too, and he and his wife were truly sorry when i explained what had happened. in the end i wished them a great day, and set about regaining the ride. it took awhile, and then i had to carefully pick my way thru the group, but finally i was able to slot back up into the #3 position, right behind Chick and Erik. the ride from then on was a LOT of fun! at the after-dinner gig that night, after we all had some fun with the t-shirt design fiasco, Chick gave me an honor by introducing me to the crowd and giving me props for taking the initiative that afternoon to make the "citizen's arrest." it was a great BRAG rally, and from there me 'n FMJ headed cross-country, east to Franklin, North Carolina to hook up with JB2, Henrik and the gang for the first BRATPAC rally. fun stuff! FB ps: it's all pretty much Court's fault. |
