Well folks, after 2 years and well over 6000 miles of transportation the RD 350 Cafe Special has gone to it's final resting place, or home, shall I say. Back in late July the raffle was held at the White Rose show. Many thanks to Tim McDowell for his help conducting the raffle itself.

The lucky winner was none other than Chuck Isackson of Hurron, South Dakota. Since the bike was transported all over the US and Canada, Rick Seto presented me with the raffle bike at Mid-Ohio during the Vintage Days Weekend. Thanks to your VJMC webmaster Stanley Shenko and my old friend Mike Alspaugh we loaded the bike up and headed for home late Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the Vintage Weekend.

The bike didn't look too awfuly good due to it's travels, rust and oxidation had taken a toll on the chambers and other fixtures all over the bike...she sure was in need of alot of TLC. After notifaction of a winner and several calls to Chuck the winner, arrangements were made and he was to arrive in Bellefontaine, Ohio two weeks later to pick up the bike. That was good but my work had only just begun.

You see, Chuck had a 1200 mile one way trip to make(!), so I wanted to make sure he was pleased with the bike when he arrived. That's one helluva long way to drive to pick a free bike!. So Saturday morning kept me busy! After moving the bike out into the sun and out of my parrents garage the bike was washed and polished. The chambers also came off for a quick repaint. Then out came the touch up paint, SOS pads, Armor All and Never Dull. It was 9:30am when I started and it was 5:00pm when I finished, or was at least satisfied with my handiwork.

The raffle bike looked brand new! So good in fact that I almost went out and bought a battery just so I could fire the bike up, but this was Chucks bike and the fun of firing the bike up since last started almost 2 years ago should go to him.

Chuck, being a hearty man of resource and coming from a state where the speed limit is 80 mph, made the long drive in a 1974 Vega station wagon with a homemade trailer bringing up the rear. Chuck did not make the trip alone and he and his wife arrived at 6:30pm as promised. I was so happy to see the expression on their faces when they saw the raffle bike for the first time. The oohhhh's and ahhhhh's and were just what I pictured Chuck's comments to be.

After fininshing up the details and giving the bike a general going over, we loaded up the bike and enjoyed a beer in celebration of a raffle bike won and a good days work getting it in tip-top shape. Chuck planned to ride the bike in an MDA chairty ride the following weekend after he got it home and he did. He truly enjoying the crackle of the chambers all day long during that ride and not one cough or burp out of the bike! As of this writing Chuck is still riding the raffle bike after some slight carb readjustments.

Chuck wants everyone to know the the bike runs good... really gooooood! Look for photo's soon on the web site. Hopefully this story and a photo will be in the next newsletter, too.