The Slimey Crud Run

5/9/2017

The Blues Project, aka Project 12, is back on it's feet. I had to complete a shakedown run, of course, so this past Sunday it took me to the Spring 2017 Slimey Crud Run. It made for a perfect day on the twisty alphabet roads of southwestern Wisconsin.

This bike was in need of a replacement right-side mid-fairing and a fair amount of cosmetic touchup. I also updated the tires, added heated grips and braided brake lines front & rear. This is my second Wisconsin backroad trip on this bike and I'm still impressed with it's handling, velvet-smooth power and ripping sound from the Yosh slip-on. In fact, I believe it's the smoothest VFR I've sampled and the mid-range torque seems stronger than most, probably thanks to the freer-flowing intake, carbs and exhaust systems. It may not have perfect cosmetics, but the riding experience more than makes up for it.

THIS VFR700 F2 IS FOR SALE — $2200. Contact me!

The Slimey Crud Run is the informal kickoff (and end, in October) to the riding season in these parts. It's an unorganized mashup of bikes and riders from at least three surrounding states. Originally a small gathering founded by the Slimey Crud Motorcycle Gang, of which columnist Peter Egan was a charter member, it's taken on a life of its own so, natually, even the Harley guys have staged an uninvited invasion, complete with black vests, assless chaps and open pipes. There's two venues, one morning and one afternoon but the real attraction are the roads and riding in-between.

The Blues Project and I arrived in Leland, WI around 2:00 pm and I strolled around to see what's what. The most interesting item (to me) was the absolutely beautiful VFR1000R pictured above. I chatted with the owner and picked up a few details, though I totally missed his name. The bike has original paint and mufflers, and he even sprung for Arai's matching Fast Freddie commemorative helmet. Very nice.

The Crud Run has managed to preserve its down-home flavor and stave off tacky commercialism for all these years, but the appearance of this T-shirt vendor can only mean the beginning of an ever-expanding biker's flea market. It's probably only a matter of time till the molded ear plug and doo-rag booths show up. And that will be the end, at least for me.

Heck, someone's even given the run its own web site.

The county gendarme have discovered easy pickins' on the first Sundays in May and October, though they've taken to simply parking in the midst and strolling the grounds on foot. This interesting side hack outfit also caught my attention — the propeller is particularly intriguing (click on an image to enlarge).