List Tribute To RTN, aka rainman, aka Bob Peloquin
We will always Remember That Name.
(Where did the nickname come from? I don't remember every bit of it specifically. The gist is this:
There was a new member who said something or asked about something. Bob answered in a way that got him quite butthurt. He wrote a post complaining about Bob, and the guy was so new he didn't even realize Bob was a very well-known member. The guy bitched about what had been said to him, and finished by "exposing" Bob: he said "His name is Bob Peloquin. Remember that name!"
That of course brought on much levity in the group, the guy was gone (of his own accord, I believe), and "RTN" became Bob's newest nickname.)
- Jeff Livacich
I'm at a loss for words that aren't all 4 letters. Bob was an amazing character and an endless knowledge source, of both bad jokes and electrical wisdom. He helped me out many times, and was always sincere and happy to do so.
I recall one evening, not motorcycle related at all, where I had to call him from a ladder in my kitchen at 2am. I was replacing a ceiling fixture, but didn't have the ability to trip the circuit breaker. Working on 100 year old knot and tube wiring, 8 wires all the same color, and trying not to fry myself. He talked me through the testing with a multimeter and all was well.
We didn't ride a lot together, but it always rained.
He will be fondly remembered and dearly missed.
- George Henry Overcamp
May he rest in peace and ride in that undiscovered country, from once born, no traveler returns. Ride with the sun at your back and the rubber on the road faithful Maggot. His knowledge and help provide many a maggot with useful information solving problems on the sabmag list server and here. I did not know him except through the internet and list server, he will be missed.
- Roger Whitelaw
This is a great picture of him in his obit. He was definitely among the most curmudgeonly of us, and this pic well embodies his usual look of disdain and superior intelligence.
Knowing Bob, he was probably still arguing with the heart surgeon about the proper way to do the procedure and he just ran out of time. We all know Bob would rather die before losing an argument. 🙃
I dug around through my pics and came up with this one. We'd stopped for lunch during a SE OH ride, and everyone was walking away from the bikes when we heard the sickening sound of a motorcycle crashing to its side. At that moment I realized that the first thing you do when you hear this sound is immediately freeze and assess your deniability. Fortunately for everyone except Bob, he'd parked his VFR on a slight downhill slope and it rolled forward, off the sidestand.
Given that this was a short while after Jude had showed up at the Bock's event and managed to destroy two motorcycles consecutively loaned to him in the same day, Bob decided that Jude's ghost must've somehow been at fault in his mishap as well:
- David Ryder
I remember the second or third NOE. The Zimmermans had a new cordless phone and, gasp, the pelican couldn't figure out how to make it work. Mal"cool"m and I were watching this in disbelief and enjoyed telling the story for years after. RIP Bob, he's your Malcom again.
- Frank Cantelmo
that's just plain sad, he was a character for sure, I will miss him ripping it in his replies, keep the shiny side up Bob 😢
- Steve Ingram
I'm thinking it was 2008 it was after Paul had his off-road Excursion in
Northern New Hampshire taking the V-Strom for a adventure and a flip. I
think it was a call from the zims or it might have been an email that it
explained what had happened so my first thought was to reach out to Pelican
as a copilot for a speed run up into New Hampshire. Little did we know I
think it was Hurricane Ike was coming right through the area so loaded up
the truck and the trailer and headed to Northern New Hampshire right
through the middle of the hurricane it was quite an adventure between the
lightning the wind and not being able to see but we picked up tall Paul's
bike without too much trouble got it loaded and strapped down and the tow
operator didn't even want to accept any money for the tow and just wish
that everybody was going to be okay after the accident. We headed back
south and dove into the horrible weather again but yeah there was a
tremendous amount of rain and thunder for the entire trip in it rocked the
truck something fierce I blame it all on pelican
- fast ST
Sogg peed Bob. Give Linda & Malcoom a hug and get real with Rindercella and our other lost maggots.
Otherwise I'm beyond words. Somehow getting my Sabre back on the road seemz less likely.
What a huge loss..... .
- Matthew D Jewett
Felt like I never got to know him well enough in person, but when I had the Geeper, he was selling (or possibly giving away) a set of Givis and said he'd hold em for me. Rode up from MD Friday afternoon. Good meal, beer, conversation, slept on his couch, woke up the next day, getting ready to go and I slapped the cases onto my hastily installed rack and turn signal relocation kit, and he visibly winced at my attempt at wiring. I thought he was going to be sick... pretty sure he did, too.
- Jeff Conlin
So a long while back, Pelican asked me if I could help build a road, without checking I said sure where, grabbed the bulldozer on the whilte whale and headed off to someplace where the power lines and paved roads stop. He was a member of the Aldrich Astronomical Society and they had been donated a field without a road and wanted to fix that. The original plan was 8-10 feet wide. I had one suggestion, make to 20 feet wide or better to allow RV's and firetrucks/ambulances and such access in case they need to, project manager agreed. The little dozer faced a 4-5 foot jump up off the roadside, climing up a few more feet to meet a rock wall and then a good drop off. Pelican secured a nearby farmers tractor, the dozer gouged out the shoulder of the road, pushing it aside and then we tag teamed, Id push the rocks off the wall into the tractor bucket for Pelican to relocate. Once the good rocks were gone the rest got pushed into the small ravine along with all the dirt from the !
edge of the road to start making a driveway. Ended up hooking two rocks both about the size of an upright piano, after flaring out the driveway entrance I pushed one over to the side and got it to stand upright and the other up into the field resting on edge for some future use. Seems they found a future use!!
https://www.aldrich.club/?s=peloquin
https://photos.app.goo.gl/PWH1a8kGBG3JPBxu5
https://photos.app.goo.gl/MB3NUeGc3hrMs6BY9
There was one tree in the field in the way of the road and the owner said he didn't want anyone dropping trees with a saw. Gave Pelian the winch cable and a shackle and held the ladder while he grabbed the tree as high as possible. Turns out you can't outrun a 100 foot tree with a 60 foot winch cable and also, the crash shield on a dozer really works, but getting hit by a tree is loud! Pelican almost died laughing that day, fun times!
-Jason
I was reminded of Bob Peloquin today and thought I would share the tale.
I guess it must have been spring of 2002. I was still riding my Sabre, and wearing the Combat Touring boots. They had held the water at bay for a year or so, but that spring I did a 700 mile day in heavy rain, and they leaked. I dried them out and put some kind of coating on them, maybe Sno Seal? And I was optimistic.
So there I was, going out to my new employer in Massachusetts for two weeks training. On the bike of course. And it rained. Lots. I remember much joking about the Rain Man being nearby. And that it was fun hanging out with RTN and Ripaldi. I don?t think I met Kate out there until later.
Anyways, it turned out that once the Combat Touring boots leaked for the first time, that was it. They never kept the water out again, even in a short rain ride. Commuting in them in those conditions kept them constantly wet, and the inside layers split and cracked and became very painful. And I thought, I am hanging out with a rain expert, I will ask his advice.
The Pelikan led me to a small store called Acton Motomarket and convinced me I needed a $500 pair of boots. The Daytona GoreTex. I don?t think he could have talked me into that if I wasn?t in such dire straits with my existing boots. But RTN was wise in the ways of rain.
I had dry feet for the life of those boots. Which ended abruptly when I spent a weekend in Madison with a rider from the V-Strom forum who took me on a walking tour of his town. I later estimated that we walked at least five miles. And yes I was perfectly fine walking that far in my boots, they were perfectly comfortable, but I walked right through the soles!
When I bought the second pair, I had a long chat with the Acton Motomarket owner. He was not formally a dealer. The exclusive USA distributor was Helimot, but, he said ?They never have any boots!? I went to the Helimot website many times and it was true. They were listed there, but perpetually out of stock. This guy in Acton went on trips to Germany and bought the boots in retail stores to bring back.
Eventually Acton Motomarket closed, and Daytona switched their distribution agreement from Helimot to Revzilla. Revzilla doesn?t stock huge quantities either, half the sizes are always out of stock. But the pair I have now came from there. The only thing that has changed since that first pair, is they now have more durable soles.
Nowadays I can?t do what I used to do. I can barely put the boots on let alone challenge their waterproofing and take five mile walks. But I married a man with the same shoe size as me, who also rides, and he has been wearing out my riding boots. And complaining of bikes with too tall seats. And I remembered, years ago, in Acton, trying on a pair of Daytona GoreTex boots with camouflaged heel lifts in them, the Daytona M-Stars. In fact I think Pelikan wore M-Stars. Revzilla had them but they were out of stock, as usual. I signed up to be notified when they came in. Three times in six months I was notified, before I was fast enough to get the boots. So much for getting them for Christmas! But last week, I happened to be right there looking at my email when the Revzilla message came. Within 30 seconds I put them in my shopping cart and entered my credit number as fast as I could!
There is never a Daytona sale, but despite tariffs Revzilla has not raised the price. In fact I paid about the same for this pair as I paid for the first ones back in 2002. I suppose Acton Motomarket, having paid retail in Germany, had to mark them up above MSRP, while Revzilla gets them wholesale and doesn?t have to mark them up as much.
The boots arrived today and so did the sun. Steve had his first ride of 2026 today and reports that it is great to get his entire foot down at stops.
Anyways, I owe 20+ years of not having wet feet to the Pelikan and I am thinking of him today. Remember The Name.
No one is really gone while we remember them.
- KB
That was a good store, mostly filled with Beemer and Triumph people. They
even tried to make it a coffee shop, but they were one of the first ones to
fail due to people buying on line. Bob for some reason loved that place.
One summer day, I think I was living in Marlborough at the time. He asked
if I wanted to take a ride and use that as our destination. At the time I
had bought a helmet with the peltier cooling thing in it and wanted to try
it out. Anyway, about 10 minutes into the trip I bail from the road and
start to pull the helmet off as the cooling became heating. Bob was beside
himself laughing with the "I told you it wouldn't work" face.
A few years later I got my revenge when he bailed off his bike when he was
running that water cooling contraption and it started to pump hot water on
him. I returned that same look to him.
If it weren't for Bob I wouldn't have good gear that holds up in the rain.
All that time I spent on the road with him trained me. Remembrances of Bob
pop up pretty often. Just the other day I was thinking about how he would
show up to help me move during the time I seemed to be moving every 6
months or so.
Thanks for the memory. As weird as it may seem. I do miss the
weirdo. (He was known as Weird Bob across my friend circle)
- Ripaldi
A moniker that applies for much of the population of SABMAG.
- Haydt
To Steve's remark, (He was known as Weird Bob across my friend circle)
John Huffed, A moniker that applies for much of the population of SABMAG.
[Carl]: Pbththth or thankyew thankyew verrimuch :^)
Carl (thankfully weird) in Merryland
Ah Jesus fucking Christ.
- The Woodpecker
