The Driving Thread

Agreed until I hit a biker who ran a stop sign and he flew 100 ft. Car v bike is no contest. Why I do convertible.

 

There are three kinds of motorcycle riders: riders who have been down; riders who are going down; and riders who are going down again.

The trick is to ride mindfully, and never get tangled up with a car.

 

I was fortunate. I rode for about 10 years and never laid it down. Of course, I didn't ride to go fast; I rode to go slow. Harley.
I ultimately got rid of the bike because my wife really started liking to ride.
When I was solo, the only thing on my mind was the relaxation of the ride. I never considered being on two wheels.
With my wife on the back, my focus was on making sure I didn't do something stupid and hurt her, not enjoying the open road.
I don't blame her at all. I'm only saying it is just different when you are concerned for the safety of someone you love.

 

It all started up the street. 1967 or so. A neighborhood kid got one of these for Christmas:

 

Oh, I pined for one of those.

 

My uncle had one of these, in red. Fun little putt-putt bike. My cousin had a Honda trail bike, which was junebug green with gold trim and went faster. A real motorcycle!

I had a go-kart that I broke so many times the welder couldn't repair the frame anymore. Then my father, assuming it would take out some of the wildness or something before I got my driver's license, got me a Yamaha MX80 trail bike. Not too powerful but enough to go fast. I treated it like a Moto GP bike and wanted more. Friend of mine had a Kawasaki 125 trail bike that scared the shit out of me. I knew motorcycles weren't for me after being on it a couple of times.

I don't drive as fast anymore. Age, wisdom, family, $200 speeding tickets, so on and so on.

 

The kid up the street - whose parents were divorced - went through these as well, all of which I rode, too.

 

Mini-bikes, motorcycles, I grew up around those my whole youth, dirt tracks when you're 10-15 is a blast, motocross was huge. (Buddy though was a huge racer then one day showed up at school in a wheelchair after doing a header and having both legs get caught up in the spokes, shivers just remembering it). Rode buddy's Ninja 750 in college, that was a blast! Yeah always loved that feeling of acceleration and freedom, until I saw the consequences first-hand. My mantra has always been "I'll ride a motorcycle if everyone else around me was riding a motorcycle."

 

The place we stayed at in Maui, beach cottages in Kihei, the road went in front of the place. We heard this loud, high-pitched whine and we were bracing to see a motorcycle or sports car come whizzing past at 80 mph. When it finally got there, it was a 300-pound guy one one of these. The WHINE was producing about 10 mph.

 

My first ride ... and I still remember the day I got it.

My family had a cottage "up north", where my brother, cousins, and neighbors -- all about 5 years older than me -- rode their dirt bikes all around the various wooded trails. I would have to ride on the back of my brother's bike, or even better, try to keep up on my Huffy.

December 1983. My dad randomly takes me along to the local power equipment dealer. Me thinking he's just there to get our snowblower serviced or shop for a new one. We browse over to the dirt bike area and my eyes light up, especially at the sight of the Honda Z50R pictured above.

He says, "Go sit on it." I race over there ... and thankfully didn't tip it over as I jumped on it. Asks me how does that feel. "Awesome!" I reply. "Can I get it??"

He looks at the price tag hanging from the handlebar but also sees a "SOLD" tag right next to it.

"Aw, I'm sorry. This one is sold." Me, immediately bummed, gets off the bike. "Look at the SOLD tag and who it's sold to," he said.

It's our last name. 7-year-old me traded in my Huffy for a Honda Z50R and I could now finally keep up with the bunch. Even threw a reflective #7 on the front and side plates.

Still have a few scars on my legs from that bike ... all worth it and a story behind them.

That's a story I'll share at my dad's funeral someday in the hopefully distant future.

 

nice

 

May as well enjoy the wait.

God bless the hot dog cart.