Of Motorcycles and Men II

(Update 2/27/14: Part I used to be on my Myspace blog.  I'll repost here soon.)

I've loved motorcycles since I was very young. I mean, when I was around 9 or 10, we began pretending we were riding dirt bikes around our property, or our vacation property at Hodag Lake near Rhinelander, WI. We would grab a stick about the size of a set of handlebars and run helter skelter all over the place pretending we were jumping, skidding, and even wiping out on our dirt bikes. We even had the sounds down with shifting and everything. As we got more bold, we began using our bicycles as dirt bikes - riding on dirt trails, jumping (I mean really getting a fast run and jumping over high road embankments). We're talking well before BMX bikes existed. We would strip down our Hiawatha's, taking the fenders and all other unnecessary items off so they were as light as possible. The only thing better would have been that they were motorized (we just didn't have the resources or know-how to do that).

My father was the real impetus behind me loving motorcycles, though. He used to tell us about a Harley 74 he had back in the '40's or '50's. A Harley 74 had a 74 cubic inch motor (around 1200 cc) - quite large for the day. It would have had a suicide shift (hand shifter along side the gas tank) instead of a foot shifter. He said he had it up to about 90 mph on a dirt road once, and it scared him to death. I don't know how long he had it after that, but he didn't ride motorcycles again until the early '70's.

In 1971 Dad got the bug enough to get a new bike. I guess by that time all my siblings and I were here on the earth, and they must have determined they weren't going to have any more children (must have figured 10 was enough). He went to the nearest Honda shop and brought home a brand new Honda CB350. That bike was much smaller than a Harley 74 (about 1/3 the size engine wise), but I guess he figured that after so much time of not riding a bike, he was better to start off small and work up. I thought it was the coolest thing (albeit it is quite a small bike to me now). I mean, I had never really been up close to a motorcycle let alone ride on one. I remember he paid something like $841 for it, which seemed to me like a million dollars back then.

Well, Dad and my older brothers all cut their motorcycle teeth on that (now) piece of history. He even taught my mother how to ride it - that was a nerve-racking proposition (and thing to watch). Us smaller children loved to go for rides on the back. The only mishap with it was when Kory laid it down in the gravel along a county road somewhere. I don't remember why he ditched it, but I remember Dad was pretty upset with him over it. Kory has always been quite adventuresome, and he always pushed things to the limit. I took after him in that department somewhat.

Well, the next summer Dad decided he was ready to move up to the big boy's toys, and he came home one day with a brand new Suzuki 750GT. It was the hottest bike going at the time. It was affectionately known as the "Water Buffalo", because it was a water-cooled motorcycle. No one had built a water-cooled production bike before, and this one just screamed. I remember it was purple and white in color, and it looked fast just standing still. It had a 2-cycle engine (at the time 2 cycle engines had much more power and speed than the 4 cycle engines had). All fast Japanese (called rice-burners) bikes were 2-cycle at the time. (For those people who don't know engines, the difference between a 2-cycle and a 4-cycle engine - commonly referred to as 2-stroke and 4-stroke - is that a 2-cycle engine has only 2 strokes of the piston for it to complete a "cycle". In other words, the piston goes up once for the air/gas mixture to be compressed for igniting by the spark plug on one side of the cylinder as it pushes the exhaust from the previous igniting out the exhaust port on the other side of the cylinder. The plug fires when the pistion gets to the top of the cylinder, which pushes the piston back down for the power stroke, and to take more air/gas mixture into the cylinder for the next cycle. A 4-cycle engine takes four up and down movements to complete the same thing. The 2-cycle engines do not have oil in their crankcase. The oil has to be mixed with the gas in order to lubricate the engine. 2-cycle engines have a distinct sound to them as well - a sort of extended wauh sound. Smaller 2-cycle engines have more of a wing-a-ding-a-ding sound to them.)

Well, this screaming purple people eater would easily top 100 mph. In fact, Kory (of course) and I were riding on it one day (I think just for a joy ride), when he asked if he should punch it. I told him to, "Go for it!" We were doing 103 mph in no time flat! Now, we're talking well before the days of the crotch-rockets most youngsters have nowadays. This bike would have been coveted by most of them by today's standards.

Dad had one major mishap on the Water Buffalo. One night, he was travelling home from a church meeting some 22 miles away from home. Remember, we lived in the woods, so all his driving was through wooded countryside. He was just 2 miles from home, and turning onto the road that goes by our house. He was coming in the back way, and the road was more of a "Y" than a real turn, so he did not have to slow down much - just lean left and he would be on the road. Just as he was about to bring the bike back upright, he saw a dark flash in front of him, and "POW" he was down and all over the road! Fortunately for him he had installed highway crash bars to help protect his legs, and he was wearing a motorcycle jacket (even though it was vinyl, it still protected him pretty well). All riders were required to wear helmets back then, so he was wearing his headgear. He had hit a coyote. Had the bike been more upright, he might have survived not having to go down on the pavement. No one really knows what might have happened. I think it cost something like $350 to put the bike back together again, and it was as good as new. I wish I could have said the same thing about his motorcycle jacket. However, Mom put some vinyl patches over the worn through holes, and he was good to go again. He eventually got a new leather jacket and handed that patched one down to me.

Over the next couple of years Dad ended up selling the Suzuki (maybe he thought it was just too dangerous - I don't know). He bought a 1972 BMW 750, which was much better suited for travelling - which is what he started to do with Mom. In 1974, he traded off the Honda 350 and bought a new Honda 500. That was one of the best bikes I ever drove back then, but I ended up totalling that one out (not my fault), but that's a story for another day.

To this day I still love getting out and riding a motorcycle. Part of the reason is that all during my teenage driving years, during the summers at least, a motorcycle was my main mode of transportation. In 1976, I wanted to buy a car of my own. I was planning on college in the fall, and wanted a car to use out there. I had picked out a 1968 Mercury that a friend wanted to sell. It had just 80,000 miles on it (a lot for cars of those days), and he only wanted $250 for it - something I could actually afford. Dad didn't really want me to own my own car (I've never really figured out why.). He began to elaborate on expenses - insurance, maintenance, etc. He encouraged me to consider a motorcycle instead. I was greatly disappointed that he didn't support me in getting a car, but I reluctantly looked around for a motorcycle. It wasn't reluctance because I didn't want a motorcycle, we already had two or three in the family, and I could have access to one just about any time I wanted, but it was because I really wanted a car. I found and settled on a little Yamaha RD200 that had been owned by an elderly man who didn't drive it like a 2-cycle motorcycle should be ridden. In those days, Yamaha made some of the fastest street bikes around. Since they had 2-cycle engines, they had to be taken out on the road and really wound up periodically to keep from having carbon buildup in the engine and exhaust. To make a long story short, the bike ended up being a lemon for me, and I was finally able to sell it a year later. I've owned a few other bikes in my time, and lamented not having one during the years when I didn't have one. Spring was especially the hardest time, because the warm weather would bring out the bikes and I would get "spring fever".

I have a newer bike now (2001 Kawasaki Vulcan 750), so I am at least content to be able to get out and ride on the open road. It's not my ultimate ride, but it's great for commuting back and forth to work, and for short trips on nice weather days.

Update: I sold my Vulcan 750 in April 2010, and bought a 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan VN1600.  Lots more leg room, much bigger bike for long trips, and electronic fuel injected.  I've already put more than 13,000 miles on it, and am riding it on good days in the winter.



Additional update: In April 2017, I was finally in a position to purchase a new motorcycle.  I wanted to get the best.  Since Polaris Industries purchased the Indian name and rights, they have been producing some great motorcycles.  I looked at the Harley CVO Road Glide Ultra Classic, but it felt much more top heavy than the Indian.  So, after a couple of test rides of the Indian Roadmaster I pulled the trigger and bought one.  My oldest son made a deal with me to trade for my Vulcan.  So, he now has another bike, and I have my dream bike.