Motor Cycles

I've been riding and wrenching on motorcycles since the early seventies, I was in sixth grade when I got my first bike. I paid fifty bucks for an old Honda CL100 that did not run. I got it running, and I rode that bike all over the place. I lived in a small town in southern Maine, there were trails to ride everywhere on. In the winter I rode on snowmobile trails. The motor finally gave up and threw the connecting rod out the front of the motor. I found a CB100, cheap, with a good motor, but I don't remember what became of the bike after that. Probably swapped it for another bike, or snowmobile, who knows. Maybe that's how I got the '68 Yamaha YR350, or maybe the Rupp 440. Anyway, after a fairly long list of Jap bikes, I acquired a black and gold 1977 Triumph Tiger 750. This bike had the five speed tranny, now, I can't seem to remember whether it had the right or left side shifter, but it did have the notoriously bad Lucas electronics. The bike, when I got it, was hard to start, the ignition switch was intermittent, and the clutch slipped. I fixed those three things and swapped the bike for a 1970 Ford Torino SCJ, with a 460 4 speed. (gas was cheap back then...) But I liked the bike better. My next Triumph was a '72 Tiger, 650cc, with the four speed tranny. I bought it for $500. It had a wild custom paint job, that started with purple and looked more like a custom painter's early seventies catalog of cliche's. But it ran great, was a blast to ride, really needed nothing but routine maintenance stuff.

Well, that situation did not last long...

First to go were the turn signals, some kids knocked the bike over while it was parked outside where I lived then. Then I went off the road on a turn and hit a stump, that crumpled the front fender, bent the forks and triple clamps, put a big dent in the tank and broke the speedometer. After I fixed that and got it running again, I found myself without a car in November, so I rode the bike to work for a while. To keep it running in the cold Maine weather, I had to use the choke, which is not good for a motor. The over rich condition washes the oil off of the cylinder walls, and at the same time the air cooled motor isn't designed for operation at such a cold temp, so the internal clearances are not correct. Or in other words, I smoked the motor... I rebuilt that bike, painted it red, and kept it for about 25 years... stay tuned, more later...

My current ride: 1988 Kawasaki Concours

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Building the Triumph Rocket III: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKEuzxC4eGc∞

http://www.dailymotion.com/related/x3dad/video/x60tvw_stunt-crash-stunt-compile_auto∞
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldjnUYEeDu0&feature=related∞

Tokyo Drift:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmmZSactoBs&feature=related∞

Why fat chicks shouldn't ride small bikes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhGut3Str4&feature=related∞
On the other hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h2fhd_O-Qg&NR=1∞
Oh!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1urbl0lh0y8&feature=related∞

Too much: http://www.snotr.com/video/1447∞

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The following 1 pages belong to MotorCycle:

ConCours

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Categories:
MotorVehicle