BILTWELL'S MOTORCYCLE TRIP TO THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
On paper, the plan Biltwell co-founder and OG Lowbrow supplier Bill Bryant cooked up four years ago seemed easy. Build a mil-spec monster truck, kit out some choppers for all-terrain abuse, enlist a team of similarly masochistic bike riders, then head to the Arctic Circle for four weeks of bikes, beers, bears, and mayhem.
What could go wrong, right?
With a tight plan conceived and the prep team assembled, Operation Numbnuts kicked into gear in the summer of 2019, with a jump-off date of August 2020 carved in stone.
In hindsight, and thanks to an overlanding animal named Yeti, Biltwell’s in-house wrench Rouser Rob, and master fabricator JD Sansaver, configuring Biltwell’s decommissioned US Army LMTV to do chase on the company’s Arctic assault was the easy part.
As Barnacle Bill and his right-hand man Josh Gilbow learned the hard way during multiple shakedown runs prior to their Alcan adventure, keeping “The Pig” running was more difficult, and required an engine swap to make things right
Fortunately, the global pandemic that made passage through Alaska and Canada in 2020 impossible gave Biltwell the extra time they needed to whip their porcine troop truck into shape.
The Pig
In another coup during that delay, Biltwell marketing manager Otto Deutsch convinced Harley-Davidson to loan a few Pan Americas for the adventure.
It took several thousand man-hours and an EXFIL-80 sized sack of loot to tie up every loose end, but The Pig and its cargo of food, bikes, parts, and gear drove onto a ferry bound for Alaska in August of this year.
The four-day ferry ride from Seattle to Fairbanks gave the hardy fools on Operation Numbnuts plenty of time to consider all the crazy shit that laid ahead of them.
On some Harley-Davidson PanAmericans
YUKON NOT BE SERIOUS
When your company slogan is “Ride Motorcycles. Have Fun,” trips like this are practically mandatory. The seeds for Biltwell’s latest two-wheeled adventure were sown in 2018 when Bill and his wife Carrie camped and kayaked out of their Toyota Tundra for a month along Alaska’s Alcan Highway.
Four doors, HVAC, and a custom camper with toilet and queen-sized bed made that overlanding family getaway downright luxurious.
Aboard Panheads, Shovelheads, and a well-used fleet of Harley media mules, Operation Numbnuts was less glamorous and way more unpredictable.
The Pig helped out a ton. In the middle of no where how else could you do a weld fix?
Despite everything—the blown motors, bear scat, ornery border officers, broken transmissions, dead batteries, faulty electronics, hot tempers, and cold feet—after nearly 3,500 miles no one spent the night in jail or hospital.
If that seems like a low bar for success, you haven’t ridden across Alaska on a 65-year-old motorcycle. Bill and the Biltwell crew have, and lived to tell their tale on Instagram, TikTok, and the Lowbrow blog.
Camp Biltwell
Congratulations and thanks to Biltwell for showing all of us how to ride motorcycles and have fun. You can see more photos and read more about the story on the Biltwell blog.
Photos by: Geoff Kowalchuk
PHOTOS FROM OPERATION NUMBNUTS
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