I must be getting old. I can tell because I purchased a Yamaha Majesty scooter! It is a single cylinder, 400cc unit. The garage is crowded, to say the least. Time will only tell if I like scooter life enough to keep it.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Skip ahead to the present....
....and I will blog on the in-between sometime soon. Since I sold my Honda Gold Wing late in 2009, I had been down to (only) one bike, the Kawasaki KLR650 that I rode to Alaska's Prudhoe Bay last July. That trip is well documented in the companion blog to this one http://larryherbert.blogspot.com/ and always makes good reading for me to refer someone to who may be thinking of such a trip.
During the Christmas vacation at my daughter's home in Indianapolis, I used my free time to scour the internet for motorcycles. I was especially looking for a new (to the U.S. market) model that Honda was offering, the NT700V, which has been offered in Europe for about 10 years as the Deauville. It reminded me of the Honda PC800 Pacific Coast that I had for a couple of years, only without as much in the way of plastic body panels. Shaft drive, built in saddlebags, adjustable windshield, fuel injection (throttle body style) and plenty of motor (680cc) for two up riding. Yup, it sure looked like my next bike. I decided to go with the ABS braking system which was an offering at an additional cost.
Speaking of cost, I also wanted to get the best deal without paying any of the "dealer fees" that are tacked on as so many places. I did a web search of U.S. dealers and found the cheapest, then emailed my local ones, asking if they could match these prices. I did find one just west of Orlando who did just that...here is the result:
During the Christmas vacation at my daughter's home in Indianapolis, I used my free time to scour the internet for motorcycles. I was especially looking for a new (to the U.S. market) model that Honda was offering, the NT700V, which has been offered in Europe for about 10 years as the Deauville. It reminded me of the Honda PC800 Pacific Coast that I had for a couple of years, only without as much in the way of plastic body panels. Shaft drive, built in saddlebags, adjustable windshield, fuel injection (throttle body style) and plenty of motor (680cc) for two up riding. Yup, it sure looked like my next bike. I decided to go with the ABS braking system which was an offering at an additional cost.
Speaking of cost, I also wanted to get the best deal without paying any of the "dealer fees" that are tacked on as so many places. I did a web search of U.S. dealers and found the cheapest, then emailed my local ones, asking if they could match these prices. I did find one just west of Orlando who did just that...here is the result:
Now I seem to be set for at least another couple of years, the normal time for me to own any one particular motorcycle. Among my cycling friends we sometimes talk about bikes we have owned, and, do we wish we had this one or that one back again? Of course, the answer is "Yes", but that never answers the question as to why we got rid of that one in the first place.
The Honda CB72 Hawk that you see as the first entry to this blog blew oil from every seam in the engine. The cause, which I was ignorant of at the time, was worn out piston rings causing blow-by and excessive pressure in the crankcase which made me add oil every 50 miles or so. What a mess that was, and I was on a 1,500 mile trip at the time. But, that is yet another story, which I promise will make it to these pages sooner or later. Or, how about the 1967 Bultaco 250cc Matador that I bought to make a better enduro rider out of me. I actually bought that bike new, kept it for 2 years, then sold it. I later bought it back and ran another enduro season with it, it was that nice a bike. But, it had a 2 stroke engine and lousy brakes, and Honda had just come out with a new off road bike, the XL250, so I switched yet again.
Can you see a pattern here? I told you so, but, for now, I will leave you here and let you ponder what bike I will come up with for the next posting of this blog.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
From the beginning...
Seems I have always been enamored to the two wheeled world. Of course, every young boy loves to ride bicycles, and I was not any different. I even bought a very high tech 3 speed "English" bike with money I made from my paper route which I opreated in my boyhood home in Sloatsburg, New York for a couple of years. I felt that I was something special while delivering the Nyack Journal newspapers to my customers on that great bike. I think I paid something like $53 for that brand new bike, a fortune to me at the time, but well worth it.
My first ride on a real motorcycle was when I was given a ride home from a teenager's get together when I lived with my parents in Rome, Pennsylvania. Ralph Towner, a high school clasmate of mine, had a used Harley Davidson, and offered to save me a 7 mile walk home with it. Only a few seconds hesitation from me and we were whizzing towards Rome from Bumpville ( a real geographic community). From that time on there was no turning back for me, two wheels were firmly implanted in my personality!
It took me another year to get my first motorized 2 wheeler, a 125cc Lambretta motorscooter, circa 1950 something. I had gotten my first post high school job as a trainee bank teller in Suffern, New York and this was my transportation. Luckily, I bought an automobile shortly afterward when it became apparent that the weather would not cooperate all the time and a suit and tie job at the bank was not the best match up with a two wheeler. The bank job only lasted 9 months, I was young and needed something more physical so I got a job as a surveyor's assistant. I wish I had a picture of that Lambretta that I could post here, but I don't. It had a two stroke engine and I was dumb as a rock about keeping it running. If someone had just told me to keep a pocket full of spark plugs handy I would have had a lot better time on it.
Fast forward right now about one year. I have just completed Air Force basic, then training as an electrician and got stationed at Walker AFB in Roswell, New Mexico (keep your alien jokes to yourself). I had bought an old '53 Ford, but kept it downtown at a friend's place since I did not have enough money to pay for insurance and the air base required it. The long trip to town just to access my car was short lived, and I found an ad for a 1955 Indian motorcycle in the local newspaper. Hey! I can afford the insurance for one of these! So, not even knowing anything about riding a motorcycle except what the Lambretta had taught me, I plunked down the $150 the fellow wanted for it, and, after many false starts trying to figure out the starting procedure and shift pattern for the gearbox I was able to ride off into Roswell's traffic and happiness.
This Indian was a single cylinder bike, underpowered, under lighted, under handling, and under just about anything else that modern motorcycles take for granted. I loved it! This was one of the first bikes that the Royal Enfield company of England manufactured with the Indian name after the original Indian company of Springfield, Massachusetts went belly up. They dropped the Indian name after a few years, then sold off the whole shootin' match to an Indian concern. You can still purchase a bike that looks amazingly like my '55 Indian 250cc, and even have the privilege of riding on a bike with 1950's technology. Talk about longevity!
My first ride on a real motorcycle was when I was given a ride home from a teenager's get together when I lived with my parents in Rome, Pennsylvania. Ralph Towner, a high school clasmate of mine, had a used Harley Davidson, and offered to save me a 7 mile walk home with it. Only a few seconds hesitation from me and we were whizzing towards Rome from Bumpville ( a real geographic community). From that time on there was no turning back for me, two wheels were firmly implanted in my personality!
It took me another year to get my first motorized 2 wheeler, a 125cc Lambretta motorscooter, circa 1950 something. I had gotten my first post high school job as a trainee bank teller in Suffern, New York and this was my transportation. Luckily, I bought an automobile shortly afterward when it became apparent that the weather would not cooperate all the time and a suit and tie job at the bank was not the best match up with a two wheeler. The bank job only lasted 9 months, I was young and needed something more physical so I got a job as a surveyor's assistant. I wish I had a picture of that Lambretta that I could post here, but I don't. It had a two stroke engine and I was dumb as a rock about keeping it running. If someone had just told me to keep a pocket full of spark plugs handy I would have had a lot better time on it.
Fast forward right now about one year. I have just completed Air Force basic, then training as an electrician and got stationed at Walker AFB in Roswell, New Mexico (keep your alien jokes to yourself). I had bought an old '53 Ford, but kept it downtown at a friend's place since I did not have enough money to pay for insurance and the air base required it. The long trip to town just to access my car was short lived, and I found an ad for a 1955 Indian motorcycle in the local newspaper. Hey! I can afford the insurance for one of these! So, not even knowing anything about riding a motorcycle except what the Lambretta had taught me, I plunked down the $150 the fellow wanted for it, and, after many false starts trying to figure out the starting procedure and shift pattern for the gearbox I was able to ride off into Roswell's traffic and happiness.
This Indian was a single cylinder bike, underpowered, under lighted, under handling, and under just about anything else that modern motorcycles take for granted. I loved it! This was one of the first bikes that the Royal Enfield company of England manufactured with the Indian name after the original Indian company of Springfield, Massachusetts went belly up. They dropped the Indian name after a few years, then sold off the whole shootin' match to an Indian concern. You can still purchase a bike that looks amazingly like my '55 Indian 250cc, and even have the privilege of riding on a bike with 1950's technology. Talk about longevity!
Of course, the Indian was not "cool" enough, and a friend's 1963 Honda Hawk (CB72) came up for sale for a very reasonable $400, so thanks to an understanding shirt tail cousin who co-signed a loan at the AF credit union, I was off and riding!! My cousin was also stationed at Walker AFB as a co-pilot on B-52's so I will blame every happy mile I have ever put on motorcycles after the Indian on him. Thanks, Paul!!
I rode many a happy mile on this Hawk and spent many happy hours hanging around the motorcycle shop, getting in the way I am sure, but also learning lots about proper motorcycling, maintenance and the comraderie that those people at Korky's Motorcycle Shop taught me without me even realizing it. In a future blog I intend to go into some of my memories of this place and the people who influenced me there. I owe them much, so, "Thank you very much, Ralph Coen; Bob Dove; and rest in peace Korky and Doris".
I have many pictures in my archives, I will pick the best and most interesting ones and include a few in the future postings.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)