Denton Part 3 - Ted Erickson

Ted with "Motorcycle Mike" and the "Rotten Canadian"

Ted Erickson on one of his Nortons

Close up of the Ariel Engine...like a jewel..

The Goldstar

Norton Flat tracker in a modified Harley KR frame

As I said in my first post about Denton, It was great to meet new people from down South.

I noticed this gentleman setting up next to me and I helped him put up his EZ Up Tent. Well that was all it took...he put me to work for the rest of the meet! This gentleman's name is Ted Erickson, former motorcycle dealer and Expert racer! He built and raced the bikes in these pictures. One of my favorite jobs that Ted gave me was starting his BSA Goldstar race job! I could not kick that thing over to save my life (this was no ordinary Goldstar). We broke out the rollers and I sat on the bike in third gear as a couple guys held the back and Ted hit the button!

He told me when that bike starts Harleys shrivel up in fear! He was almost right (being a Harley guy I can't totally agree). Man, that thing was awesome! I sat there with the bike running beneath me and Ted says, "First gear is all the way up"...I looked puzzled and he said "Go ahead". Well I popped it into first and took off like a pro for about 100 yards til I stalled it and had to push it back. He said "lets do it again". This time I blasted around the park grounds and even got it a bit sideways! What fun!

Even more fun was listening to the story's that he told about how he built these bikes and raced them. Turns out Norton didn't have a good Flat Track frame so he built one out of a KR Harley frame, check out number 39 in the pictures. The other Norton (no number) has a special frame. And shit that Ariel is cool as hell... among many other modifications he axed the tank and welded the half's back together to narrow it!
He told me he had to mess with everything and could not leave anything stock, he always had to make changes to see what worked better.

Too bad I didn't get into any of the pictures with Ted...being the one that takes 'em I'm rarely in 'em.

Ted had a bunch of cool story's that I'll try to post...I'm all posted out for today...