Gophers and Cheese

July was another fun bike night at Forgotten Star , hosted by The Litas Twin Cities .

The last bike night of the season at  Forgotten Star  was hosted by  The Litas Twin Cities  on October 7th.  The days may be shorter now but the weather was nice and dry so the resulting turnout was strong.  I brought the Evil Monkey, my Honda Z50 that's now sporting a new 125cc Lifan motor.

The Evil Monkey got a fresh upgrade!  I've had my 1976 Honda Z50 for nearly 10 years.  It came with the original 50cc motor that I bumped up to 88cc with a big bore kit quite a few years ago.  I've had a brand new Lifan 125cc (4-speed auto) motor sitting around that I was planning to use for another project.  I decided that I'm probably not getting to that other project for a while so I might as well put the motor to good use.

The last bike night that I attended in 2024 was October 1st.  It was held at Forgotten Star Brewing and hosted by The Litas Twin Cities .  It was particularly fun because my son and I both brought bikes.  I had the Evil Monkey (my '76 Honda Z50) and he had his Razor MX350.  Obviously we didn't ride them there, but we did ride around the parking lot and it was a blast.  The Razor was originally my daughter's bike and when she outgrew it, my son rode it a bunch.  Over the past few months, I built him his own custom bike and I'll get to posting about that eventually.

More photos from Pokey Tire Ice Racing 2025!!

Pokey Tire Ice Racing was held on Duck Lake in Madison Lake, MN on February 1, 2025.  It's been going on for a few years, but this was the first time I attended.  It was a cold, cloudy, and windy day out on the lake but it was a lot of fun!  The ice was solid, smooth, and very slippery as there was no snow cover.  I brought the Snowmonkey, which is the winter version of the Evil Monkey, my 1976 Honda Z50.  It has a studded tire in the back and banana ski up front.  It's been about 7 years since I've had it out on a frozen lake and it's as sketchy as it looks.  When I wasn't taking pictures, I did a bunch of laps and I even drag raced a newer 125cc Monkey... twice!!

How about one more event from 2019...   Motosota was held at Bauhaus Brew Labs  September 7, 2019.  It's the annual "farewell to summer", hosted by The Moto Collective .

The 3rd Annual Spare Arts Bike Show was held on August 27th, 2016 down in Austin, MN.  It was organized by Andrew of Hold Fast Motors.  Austin is a cool little town but is probably best known as the home of Spam and the Spam Museum .  If you haven't been, you should definitely go.  The show took place 2 months after Moto Mania 2: The Big Deuce so it was a bit of a reunion of sorts for many who were there.  I drove down to the show with my son and brought the Evil Monkey (my Honda Z50).  After the show we stopped at Elko Speedway for Eve of Destruction featuring (besides regular racing) drifting, figure 8 school bus races, a jet car melting another car, and a transforming robot dinosaur that ate another car.  Needless to say, it was a great day.

I threw the banana ski on the Evil Monkey (my 1976 Honda Z50) and rode around on Saturday.  The snow was deep so I carved a track with my snow thrower.

After watching Flat Out Friday live streaming last night, I think I was inspired to get outside and ride.  I carved a track in the backyard with my snowthrower, put my studded tire on the Evil Monkey, and had a blast.  My daughter took the riding photos.

Moto Mania 2: The Big Deuce coverage is on Chop Cult featuring photos and a write-up by yours truly. Go check it out here: http://www.chopcult.com/news/articles/moto-mania-2-the-big-deuce.html It was fun having two bikes to play with this time... ...but I spent most of time ripping around the track (and the infield) on my 1976 Honda Z50 "Evil Monkey". By far, my favorite photo from the day was this one I took of Nate.  It sums up Moto Mania perfectly. Lots more photos are on the Chop Cult feature and, in case you missed it, a few more are posted on CROIG .