2023 Slimey Crud Café Racer Run [Fall Edition Coverage]

November 1, 2023

2023 Slimey Crud Café Racer Run: Crowd — The weather was sunny and warm, so attendance was huge. This shot shows only about a third of the crowd on hand.

The month of October here in the upper Midwest can be more than a little cantankerous when it comes to weather. In fact, my very first Slimey Crud Café Racer Run featured snow flurries by the time the riders began showing up at the traditional destination in Leland, Wisconsin.

With balmy weather, the well-ventilated Icon Hooligan jacket Airform helmet were perfect gear for the ride.

Happily, the opposite end of the weather spectrum greeted a couple thousand riders for the fall running of the bi-annual event on October 1. Crystal-clear blue skies were overhead all day, and the temperature soared to the upper 80s by the afternoon. Indeed, it was a perfect day to put the Icon Hooligan perforated jacket and Airform helmet to the test.

This custom was the best example of rolling artwork at the Crud Run.

By 10 a.m., there was a massive crowd at the ride start in Dane County’s Pine Bluff. The crowd included my long-time riding buddies, Dean Massoglia and Tony Fransen. Dean came all the way down from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Tony joined us after cruising south from Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin.

At the opposite pole of the custom motorcycle world is this extreme Harley-Davidson Shovelhead rat bike.

Despite the absence of advertising or any corporate sponsorship—no beer/energy drink/oil/parts/accessory signs—the Slimely Crud Run has attracted ever-larger numbers of riders with each staging. The Crud Run commences annually on the first Sunday in May and the first Sunday in October.

People stopped and did double-takes at the antique look of this thoroughly modern Janus Halcyon 250.

Traversing rolling southern Wisconsin farm country, the Crud Run starts in Pine Bluff and finishes in Leland in Sauk County. How you get there is up to you. There are no ride captains, tail gunners, or prescribed route maps. There are many route options, and nearly every mile of each is well-paved, curvy, and scenic.

A lot of seats have a metal pan, but the best extreme rat bike came with metal medical bed pans for seats! That gives the term “Iron Butt” a whole new meaning.

To those who really want to ogle motorcycles of nearly every description, the Crud Run is a cornucopia. There is no brand or configuration snobbery. You name it, it’s probably there someplace. You’ll find everything from rough-edged rat bikes to slick customs, high-tech sportbikes to original survivor classics, and common-as-dirt commuter iron to rare collector items.

The next Slimey Crud Café Racer Run is scheduled for May 5, 2024.

Photography by Gary Ilminen