The Geezer Pleaser….

I heard that term in a post on ADVRider.com yesterday and it immediately struck a nerve…

The context was a discussion about the 2014 Corvette. Chevy showed it for the first time this week, and the news has dominated the Internet gearhead discussion forums.

The 2014 Corvette...I think it is ugly

Most of the comments about the 2014 Vette that I’ve read haven’t been flattering.  My post was that it was the ugliest Vette I’d ever seen, and more than a few people agreed.  That’s when the “geezer pleaser” comment emerged on ADVRider.com, and it sure made me laugh.   For a lot of reasons, too.  I turned 62 this week, and I guess by some standards, that makes me an official geezer.   And, I have a Corvette.   Mine is a 2004 and I’ve had it for almost 10 years, so I naturally notice other folks who drive them.   Almost without exception, they appear to be geezers, too.

My 2004 Z-06...the best looking Corvette ever made

So what exactly is a geezer? According to the online Merriam Webster dictionary, a geeezer is “a queer, odd, or eccentric person — used especially of elderly men.” Hmmm. I’m odd and probably eccentric, and at 62 I guess I’m elderly (at least in some folks’ eyes). Other sources go on to say that geezer comes from the word disguise or disguiser and somehow in olde English “disguiser” became “geezer.” Whatever.

We’re finally getting some reasonable weather here today. It was bitter cold again at 5:00 a.m. this morning, but it is supposed to get into the 70s today, and this geezer is going to fire up the Baja Blaster and get out for a short putt this afternoon. I didn’t have a new photo handy of my bike as I was putting this together, but there’s another red Classic CSC 150 out in the showroom right now, so I grabbed an iPhone photo for you…

The ultimate bike...a red CSC Classic!

More good news…our good buddy Carla King is going to be in town this week, and she’s stopping by for a visit.  Carla rode a Ural around the US and wrote a great book about it (American Borders, a wonderful story…you should pick up a copy, and you can do so by clicking on this link).    I first met Carla on the Tahoe ride, and I really enjoyed that event.   She’s a great rider and a very interesting person, as you might imagine.

Carla rode another bike around China, and she has a book in work about that one.  I don’t know all of the details about that ride, but I believe it was on one of the Chinese BMW clones.   They are pretty interesting bikes in their own right.  When I was in China on my first trip about 10 years ago, they had four companies making these bikes.  

The Chinese did about the same thing as the Russians…they copied the basic BMW design and starting building their own bikes.   The Russians actually purchased BMW motorcycles and worked with BMW to create Ural; the Chinese kind of snuck the bikes into China and did an unauthorized copy of the BMW boxer engine.   Or maybe I have it backwards.   Anyway, just like the Ural is a Russian copy of an older BMW design, so are these old Chinese Boxers.  

Three of the four Chinese companies (at least when I was there 10 years ago) actually copied the pre-war BMW flathead designs.   Yep, you got that right…the flathead (and not the OHV version) of the BMW engine.  I believe the flathead Chinese bikes were based on the 1932 BMW design.  It was wild seeing current production flathead BMWs running around Shanghai and Beijing.   It must have been a real adventure riding one of those bikes in China.

Ride to live, live to ride...or something like that...BMW clones in Beijing!

A modern Chinese BMW flathead

Carla’s first book is awesome, and I’m going to ask her to sign my copy when she visits.   I wanted to ask her to sign my copy of her book on the Tahoe ride, but I forgot to bring it with me.  Old guy (geezer) memory deficiencies, I guess.   They say it’s the second thing that goes.   Can’t remember what the first one was.

So my plans for today…get on my CSC 150 and ride.   Find my copy of American Borders and have it ready for Carla to sign.  Good stuff, folks, and good times.   Especially for a geezer.