A couple of months ago we received a letter from, the Southsiders MC Chief, Vincent Prat that read as follows:
Cher amis,
This is the Grizzly Call!
We shall ride for 3 days. We will cross snowy mountains and camp in the desert. Please make sure your machines will be fully ready to use: cables, spark plugs, additional lights (if you know what I mean…)
We will provide the tools and the gasoline jerrycans
Please bring a sleeping bag and for those who can, a matress or a “military battle field” bed.
This ride-out is reserved to old jalopies and choppers only
Will send you GPS coordinates soon
21st Century Cowboys; Julien; Vincent & Jerome. We will never be able to thank you enough for the love & dedication you put to celebrate and magnify freedom & creativity on two wheels
How exciting!@#$% The Grizzly Ride Out is already a tradition, and its become the perfect celebration of the spring equinox. A great occasion to ride hard with dear friends from around the globe and invigorate the spirit of Wheels & Waves
My Panhead was all set, and in better shape than ever, to tackle whatever the Southsiders were going to throw at us this time. Almost new clutch, rear brake, shocks and even some ultra exclusive SUNDANCE™ internals for the front forks were set to do the job… but… WTF!@#$ My never 100% safe, 60 year old, gas tanks always had problems to keep fuel safely inside, but this time they were ready to leave me driving the van
It was friday Morning and the rendezvous was in the parking lot of a little french ski town. We all met, hugged, did all the homo shit mature bikers are expected to do and unloaded the bikes. Checked the gear and started kicking the fuckers. Retard the Advance, open the fuel, 2 kicks without ignition to settle things up… 1st kick… Pqtafffff… 2nd kick patapoffff pofff pofff… 3rd Kick POW!@#$ FIREEE!@#$%^&^%$#@!@%^&^%$# I’ve always known that Harleys are prone to catch fire, but was not prepared for the meter high flames that were suddenly bursting from under my tanks! WTF!@#$% The whole bike was a fireball!!!!
Luckily enough I was just a couple of meters from the Wolf Van and the Mercedes Benz OEM Fire Extinguisher was there to put the fire to an end. In less than 90 seconds the whole bike was covered in white and my ride was jeopardized but with the Pan almost intact! Can still imagine what if this had happened 10 minutes after? My fate would have been very very different and my 1958 old girl would have burned to the bare bones.
The Pyrenees have some of the best European roads a motorcycle can dream of, all condensed in a couple of hundreds of kilometers
It’s so cool to see our denim aging well and showing its history on our bikes
Also in the van, we had hauled La Sal del Diablo for our big wolf Filo, so we shared it during all the weekend. A good way to say good bye to our lil’ Triumph before she joins her new wolf family in Miami
Filo
Riding into the Spanish desert
Motorized cowboys with David & JR at the helm
Alberto Garcia-Alix has the most beautifully aged El Solitario Rascals we’ve ever seen. Alberto doesn’t have a car license and for the last 50 years he has been everywhere on the bike, regardless of the distance or weather conditions
Vincent adjusting the points on the Comando on the side of the road
Olivier and his THX1138 Inspired Bosozoku-Racer. I rode it for an afternoon and had a blast. Maybe 4 cylinders aren’t that bad after all if you manage to emboss a real attitude on them
Fred Jourden sits and takes a deep breath at sundown, in front of the multicolored zombie gang. I already miss these fuckers!@#$
Fred Olivieri rode all the way from Corsica on his crazy new artifact. An Ural Sidecar with a BMW R1150 Motor and frame combo. Totally nuts, crazy scary and one of the best rides of my life, riding bitch with him trying to find the way to the camping spot in the desert at night AWOOOOOOOOOO
Juan Ramon took care of the dinner flawlessay as only a proper gentleman could do it
Sleeping in the desert was fucking epic & Fred’s outfit killed the Cool-O-Meter
#Bromance and #Brotech was overflowing
One of my favorite bikes of the trip was Nick Ashley’s Cheney Triumph built with Bud Ekins in California 30 years ago
Riding the Cheney was fucking Rad. Light & powerful, everything was just on point with no frills or surprises
One of the sidecar wheel hub’s was jammed and totally wrecked. It was quite a mess to get the wheel out but we finally got it all going and back on the road
Cristophe Canitrot was like a 5 year old in Disneyland. You rule man!
Alberto Garcia-Alix’s first ever Harley Davidson. Purchased new in Madrid in 1980. This XLCR has seen more than probably most of the bikes in the trip combined
What a place!@#$%
Ride a Pan! And even better if you do it fast
Vincent leading the pack on his mighty Pan
Dedicated to my brother Danny for taking us all back to the roots and making the time in the Van so fucking rad. Love you mofo!
All photographs© by Laurent Nivalle, Herman Head and Polo Garat
8 Responses
Fid told me about the conflagration, you’re one lucky Galician motherfucker. Thing is, motorbikes do occasionally have a habit of bursting into flames, never happened to me, yet, though I once shorted the battery on one of my bikes with a metal side cover too close to the battery terminals (a lot of smoke, wiring loom fucked etc, fixable). I take it the old girl will be sporting a small fire extinguisher strapped on somewhere next time I see it?
Julius!!!!!
Fucking big flames indeed
A fire extinguisher will accompany me from now on
ahhahahahahaha!!!!
all the love mate and see you in in Summer!!!!
Glad to see a sidecar hack/rig featured seeing as how a ” Series of Unfortunate Events ‘ has recently relegated me to either trikes or sidecars [ I’m ‘ leaning’ towards sidecars … pun intended Here’s hoping for a few more here since everyone else [ with the occasional exception of the Egli-Vincent site ] seems to be ignoring sidecars completely . Thanks … all the way from Corsica .. inspiring to say the least .
There will be more sidecar action coming soon 😉
Pushing hard with #blacksidewolf with you on my Side was a blast. The atmosphere, The light and The color of sunset Made The all thing unforgettable. Love U bro❤️
#BROMANCE!@#$
:))))))
In light of this tip, it makes me think of how much s$&@ surrounds us in our daily lives the magic of going back to the roots is to identify where you’re going wise people in the Oldwest always said you need to know where you come from to know where you’re going. Lonewolf, this is a trip that I’ll never forget the trip that I started the fire within my soul to always keep writing and be part of that Wolfpack. The Wolfpack on the greasy ride was a particular pack people from all walks of life with that fire burning inside of them to ride to ride the Windee road. I would like to thank the Wolfpack. This has certainly become a true yearly tradition
DMC
SE TE QUIERE CHIQUITIN!!!!!!!!!!!@#$&*()(*&^%$#@XXXXXX