|
|
| The Paddock Welcome to the forums! Come in, introduce yourself. Talk about motorcycles and riding here! |
 |
| | LinkBack | Thread Tools |
09-30-2009, 04:47 PM
| #1 (permalink) |
| Throttle Jockey   Join Date: May 2004
Bike: several
Location: Decatur, GA
Posts: 3,365
|  26 years ago today...
I went over to a buddy's house and traded him my old dirtbike and $1000 for his 20 year old, chopped out Harley Sportster: my very first street bike. I was hooked the first time I rode street, and never owned another dirtbike. Probably only owned a car 5 of those 26 year too. It was all black (as in there was so much rust and so many mis-matched body parts and bondo that we spray canned the whole thing with BBQ grill paint), with a rigid frame, extended springer front end, peanut gas tank, king and queen seat, kick start only 1000cc motor, and a strange 1 up, 3 down shift pattern from using a 1960s-something transmission. I never changed the oil, just added some each week, and tried to park where the leaks would not kill dad's grass. Lost count of the number of times I ran out of gas, or it died on the road due to wet points, bad wiring, or something vibrating off, but I was always able to get it going again and get home. It was a total piece of crap, but it ran OK, and while everyone else at school was driving mom's station wagon to the prom, I was on a chopper. LOL! A little over a year later the motor blew up, and I decided I wanted to go faster and lean in the corners on those New England mountain roads. So I traded that old thing to a friend for a Japanese bike, a Honda CB750. Traded that in a month later for a new 1986 Yamaha Radian, and then traded up again for a used Honda Interceptor. Sort of had it in my mind that all cruisers were as uncomfortable as that old chopper LOL! Wrecked the Interceptor pretty badly out of utter stupidity, rode a friends Kawa 454 LTD, and fell in love with cruisers. Spent a long time working in the industry too, so I got to ride, test, and own a bunch of different bikes from Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Harley. Test rode probably 200 different bikes over the years, and owned 30 different bikes in that 26 year span, some for years and some just for weeks. My old shovelhead FLH is a keeper, and nothing goes down the road like my 2007 Electra Glide, and that Intruder 800 is a blast in the twisties...but I still sort of miss that old chopper sometimes. Wonder what happened to it? Every now and then I get the urge to build a rigid rat chopper out of swap meet parts, just like that one. Well, but maybe a touch more oil tight and reliable. LOL! Anyways, I raise my glass and toast that old beast of a chopper, for introducing me to the joy of being in the wind for the last 26 years. And hopefull, the next 26 also.  |
