First post, first Harley, I finally "GET IT"!!! (long read)
#1
08-18-2011, 01:30 PM
First post, first Harley, I finally "GET IT"!!! (long read)
Hello HD Forums and fellow riders!
God I don't know where to start, and I warn you right now that this will probably be a long read, but I will do my best to keep it entertaining.
When I was born 31 years ago, my father picked me up in his arms and said "Christopher, I am your father, I love you, NO motorcycles".
No, I am not kidding, those were his first words to me God's earth.
As it turns out, my father many years before had bought himself a Triumph Bonneville, never really learned to ride it properly (he spent his youth working on a farm and wrenching on the hot rods of the day, but never was around bikers or bikes until he bought one), and scared the ever loving peepee out of himself a few times. He sold that bike and decided that all bikes were death machines. He also hid his ownership of that bike from his mother, parking the bike way down the street. (The men in my family have a bit of a "headstrong" streak which I certainly inherited.)
So, of course when I finally was out of the house and making money on my own, I set my sights on buying the two most important things to me in the whole world: A gun and a motorcycle. I'll spare you the details on my lifelong love affair with firearms (that is for a whole other thread), but I will tell you about the bike.
I knew I wanted something American, and I knew that I wanted something different from the 1970s Honda CB 350-four that I had spent many months learning to ride on. While most people take the MSF course, my girlfriend at the time (who later became my wife, and then ex-wife), her father is an amateur racer and Honda fanatic, and he was happy to spend a LOT of time with me teaching me how to ride well. Because of this, I was blessed to be able to spend probably about 80 hours in one on one instruction with an AHRMA racer, and that gave me a foundation for riding that has stuck with me ever since.
So...I bought a Buell Blast. It was the only American bike that I could afford new, and I was worried about buying used and possibly inheriting a bunch of someone else mechanical mistakes.
I loved that little thumper. I did a lot to it, and by the time I was done with it I had it making a lot more power. I had been wrenching on cars in my spare time for a few years at that point, so the transition to working on a motorcycle was a breath of fresh air....oh the joy of being able to see *everything* that you need to get to!
I still remember with crystal clarity, the feeling of that first bike. How my heart would pound in my chest when I put on my gear, the rush of adrenaline I would get when the engine turned over and "dum-dum-dummed" to life. I remember my first close call, my first clutched wheelie, and the first time I had a beautiful young woman ask for a ride on the back.
I have a feeling that when I'm lying somewhere dying, breathing my last breath, I'll probably drift back to those lazy summer afternoons on my first bike, as I cannot imagine a feeling more comforting.
There were certainly a few speed bumps with that bike. I distinctly remember riding down a rural country road when it felt like my left leg had caught fire. I looked down and saw that my entire leg was covered with oil and oil was spraying out from underneath the rocker box.
I added oil, limped it to my dealer who told me that this was a "known issue" that the MoCo was shipping these engines with a paper rocker box gasket. They replaced the gasket with a semi metallic one and I never had another issue with the new gasket.
As many here would tell a new rider, I did eventually outgrow that Buell Blast. And my father, who is a wonderful man who brought me up to respect hard work, morality, and what it means to truly be a "good man" still didn't know that I had a motorcycle.
I figured, if he kept his Bonneville from his mother for a few years, I certainly had a few years to keep my two wheeled adventures to myself also. (My sense of right and wrong has grown much more acute over the years and I would not keep this from him now, but back then I was still a young man, trying to figure out what kind of man I wanted to become).
So, when I finally was ready for another bike (after three wonderful years on the Buell), I looked long and hard at what Harley was offering, but for reasons that I don't understand as I look back on my life, nothing they made at the time truly called to me. I *wanted* to stay on an American bike, on a big bore, air cooled piece of American Iron...but nothing in the showroom of any Harley dealer I visited truly spoke to me.
Finally, out of frustration I dragged myself down to the local metric dealership, and to my complete and total surprise a bike caught my eye. Well, to be totally honest, it didn't just catch my eye, it grabbed me by the ***** and said "I AM YOUR MOTORCYCLE".
The bike was a Yamaha Roadstar Warrior. Over 100 cubic inches of air cooled power. 100+ft*lbs of torque. It was a freaking monster, and I was completely enamored by the sleek lines, the blend of modern and retro styling, and by the totally unique look of the bike. I still feel that the original Warrior is one of the few truly unique metric bikes in the "cruiser" category that exists today. Its a shame that so many are really just clones of American Iron, because the metric bike makers could really do well if they could approach all their designs with the unflinching creativity they used for the Warrior.
I immediately signed up over at rswarrior and met with a HUGE community of other Warrior riders who were just as enamored with their bikes as I was with mine. The Warrior community is truly a community unto itself, VERY similar to the Harley community in its sense of brotherhood, and of being set apart from "everyone else" who "just doesn't get it".
As you can imagine, the factory "bazooka" exhaust had to go. I installed a set of Samson ground pounders that were ear shatteringly loud. I set car alarms off routinely with that exhaust, and I'm pretty sure at this point, that I did some permanent hearing damage to myself. I customized a lot on that bike, even fabricating a lot of relocation mounts and parts that I couldn't find for sale anywhere.
Then, one summer, I decided to take a trip on my Warrior to the Tail of the Dragon, and my whole perspective on riding changed. I went with a group of about eight guys, and we spent three full days on that mountain. This was back before local law enforcement had gone into high gear and started really cracking down down there, so things were still pretty wild.
I found myself sophomorically pushing myself and my bike to the limit of its handling, and my skills over that three day trip. I ground most of the bottom pipe off my exhaust, and I went through TWO sets of peg feelers and a rear tire in three days. Wheelers motorcycle shop saved my trip by having a new 280 section rear tire to install for me, and the right peg feelers (which I thought I might need in bulk).
It was at that point that I realized: I wanted to build some serious skills on two wheels, and my Warrior was not the right bike for me anymore.
In a heartbreaking act of sacrifice that I still sometimes regret, I traded in that Warrior on a Yamaha FZ-6. It was my first "rocket" and my first departure away from the big bore, air cooled engines that I had been on since I started riding. My Warrior never even saw the showroom, as two employees of that shop eventually got into a bidding war over who was going to buy it from the dealership. As of a few years ago, I still saw it around town from time to time, and every time I heard it roar past my heart would ache a little.
But I had other plans. I bought a full track suit, and I started booking days with the California Superbike School. I actually knew Keith Code from my professional relationship with the school, as he had hired me to instrument one of his ZX-6 race bikes for full telemetry. (At that time I worked for an American company who makes high precision, rugged field computers for fast data acquisition, so Keith hired me to gather every possible bit of data from his race bikes. Some of that data later ended up driving the 3D simulations used in the latest Twist of the Wrist DVD).
The days I spent with the California Superbike School changed my riding forever. I learned more about how to really ride well in those handful of days than I had in YEARS of trying to teach myself how to ride better from books and internet advice.
I did a few more trackdays around the midwest also, just to polish my skills and keep working on the exercises that I had learned under the watchful eye of Keith's amazing staff of instructors.
However...this new era of my riding came with a price: Once you go truly fast on the track and drag a knee....nothing on the street ever feels "fast" anymore...and when you do actually take the risks of going fast....it NEVER feels safe.
Frankly, it took all of the fun out of my very well mannered Yamaha FZ-6. I found myself riding less, and from time to time, wishing I could have my Warrior or even my Buell back so I could enjoy a simple ride out in the country.
That is the real problem with sportbikes, and if I may take a momentary diversion from my riding autobiography (if you are even still reading this, I realize that this is more verbose than an Obama press conference on speed), I'd like to say that I believe I know why so many "squids" exist out there on crotch rockets: They are just plain freaking BORING unless you are hanging off the side!
There is absolutely nothing fun about a sportbike if you have to obey speed limits, especially if you live in a place where the land is flat, and roads never bend. Because of that, those bikes attract a lot of young men who are chasing the "high" of adrenaline that comes from popping a wheelie with a crowd of people watching.
My interest in riding waned. My girlfriend had become my wife, hated riding, didn't want to share riding with me, and I was frankly just depressed. My marriage was in the dumpster, and the bike sat for long periods of time in my garage without moving.
Then about a year ago I got divorced. To be honest, I never should have gotten married in the first place, and I feel that it was the last Great Mistake of my life as a young-ish man. The divorce ruined me both financially and spiritually, and I simply could not bring myself to get on my bike.
It used to be that riding my bike was like church for me. It was spiritual, solitary, and connected me with a feeling of hope so palpable that it was impossible not to look to the future and smile, even on some very bad days.
But my Yamaha sat in the garage, while I sat on the couch, or rode my cage to work and back. Sleep, work, TV, rinse, repeat. Fit your life into 8 hour workdays and three hour movies. Sleep poorly and when you do, dream of a better life, only to wake up and remember where you really are, and how disappointing it all is.
Then I met someone. I met a fantastic woman and she became my best friend, and later my girlfriend. I had the first truly *honest* relationship I have ever had in my life. (And I still have it.)
Being with someone who truly encouraged and supported my interests started to wake me up inside again. I got back into shooting and firearms with a new appreciation for it (the other great passion in my life), and as I slowly rebuilt my finances, I could feel this urge growing inside me to do something...but I couldn't figure out what it was.
Until late one night, not that long ago, I decided to check out the Harley Davidson website and see what they were making these days. I had all but given up on riding, even talking about hanging up my leathers forever and just settling into life in a cage...but something called me to that website to see, maybe to take one last chance at remembering what it was about riding that I had fallen in love with in the first place.
And then I saw it. The Iron 883 in Black Denim. Finally, a piece of American Iron from Milwaukee that wasn't dripping in chrome! (I don't mean to offend, but chrome and I do not mix, I'm much more of a flat black kind of guy).
I made it the desktop wall paper on my computer, hoping to look at it again and maybe even look at it in person, and I tried to go to sleep.
No luck. I could NOT stop thinking about that bike.
Finally, at 4am, I gave up on sleep, and hopped back on the computer. I took a hard look at my bank accounts, and confirmed that I did have room in my budget to spend money on myself (something I hadn't done in many years, especially during my marriage and my divorce), and then started scouring the internet looking for one that I could actually go sit on.
Well, I don't know if I believe in fate, but it seems that fate might believe in me, because one had arrived at my local dealer, just a few days prior, and had just made it onto the showroom floor.
I bought it the next morning. My first Harley. The bike I have always truly wanted, even since I was a kid.
I'm not a smiley guy. I live in "prepare for the worst" mode, twenty-four-seven. But I have to admit that when they handed me the keys and I fired it up for the first time, I could NOT stop smiling.
That feeling, that feeling that I hadn't had since those first lazy summers on my Buell came back to me in a rush that was so strong I almost tried to drive out of the parking lot OVER a curb! (I corrected my course at the last second, no harm no foul.)
So, I know that was a long read, but I have put at least 60 miles on this bike every day since I got it (my new Mustang Wide Solo can't arrive fast enough, damn those MoCo seats are hard on the tailbone!), and I literally cannot stop thinking about it.
I guess the reason I wanted to share all this with you, is because NOW I "GET IT".
I will admit that in years past, I have accused Harley Davidson of putting more energy into marketing than R&D. Into focusing more on selling a lifestyle than selling motorcycles. I have bad mouthed them for failing to innovate and then when they tried to do so, having to turn to Porsche to work out the kinks on their own design (The V-ROD debacle).
...but now I get it. I understand why they are still using what is the same engine they have been using for the last 30 (or 50, depending on what details you want to focus on) years.
I get why they have steadfastly remained unwilling to change, or pursue major shifts in their design ethos.
So I'm here, making my first post on this forum, longwinded as it may be, to tell you all that I finally GET IT, and I could not possibly be more glad to be a member of this community.
I have fallen in love with riding all over again.
Thanks for reading this far, keep the rubber side down guys.
PICS:
God I don't know where to start, and I warn you right now that this will probably be a long read, but I will do my best to keep it entertaining.
When I was born 31 years ago, my father picked me up in his arms and said "Christopher, I am your father, I love you, NO motorcycles".
No, I am not kidding, those were his first words to me God's earth.
As it turns out, my father many years before had bought himself a Triumph Bonneville, never really learned to ride it properly (he spent his youth working on a farm and wrenching on the hot rods of the day, but never was around bikers or bikes until he bought one), and scared the ever loving peepee out of himself a few times. He sold that bike and decided that all bikes were death machines. He also hid his ownership of that bike from his mother, parking the bike way down the street. (The men in my family have a bit of a "headstrong" streak which I certainly inherited.)
So, of course when I finally was out of the house and making money on my own, I set my sights on buying the two most important things to me in the whole world: A gun and a motorcycle. I'll spare you the details on my lifelong love affair with firearms (that is for a whole other thread), but I will tell you about the bike.
I knew I wanted something American, and I knew that I wanted something different from the 1970s Honda CB 350-four that I had spent many months learning to ride on. While most people take the MSF course, my girlfriend at the time (who later became my wife, and then ex-wife), her father is an amateur racer and Honda fanatic, and he was happy to spend a LOT of time with me teaching me how to ride well. Because of this, I was blessed to be able to spend probably about 80 hours in one on one instruction with an AHRMA racer, and that gave me a foundation for riding that has stuck with me ever since.
So...I bought a Buell Blast. It was the only American bike that I could afford new, and I was worried about buying used and possibly inheriting a bunch of someone else mechanical mistakes.
I loved that little thumper. I did a lot to it, and by the time I was done with it I had it making a lot more power. I had been wrenching on cars in my spare time for a few years at that point, so the transition to working on a motorcycle was a breath of fresh air....oh the joy of being able to see *everything* that you need to get to!
I still remember with crystal clarity, the feeling of that first bike. How my heart would pound in my chest when I put on my gear, the rush of adrenaline I would get when the engine turned over and "dum-dum-dummed" to life. I remember my first close call, my first clutched wheelie, and the first time I had a beautiful young woman ask for a ride on the back.
I have a feeling that when I'm lying somewhere dying, breathing my last breath, I'll probably drift back to those lazy summer afternoons on my first bike, as I cannot imagine a feeling more comforting.
There were certainly a few speed bumps with that bike. I distinctly remember riding down a rural country road when it felt like my left leg had caught fire. I looked down and saw that my entire leg was covered with oil and oil was spraying out from underneath the rocker box.
I added oil, limped it to my dealer who told me that this was a "known issue" that the MoCo was shipping these engines with a paper rocker box gasket. They replaced the gasket with a semi metallic one and I never had another issue with the new gasket.
As many here would tell a new rider, I did eventually outgrow that Buell Blast. And my father, who is a wonderful man who brought me up to respect hard work, morality, and what it means to truly be a "good man" still didn't know that I had a motorcycle.
I figured, if he kept his Bonneville from his mother for a few years, I certainly had a few years to keep my two wheeled adventures to myself also. (My sense of right and wrong has grown much more acute over the years and I would not keep this from him now, but back then I was still a young man, trying to figure out what kind of man I wanted to become).
So, when I finally was ready for another bike (after three wonderful years on the Buell), I looked long and hard at what Harley was offering, but for reasons that I don't understand as I look back on my life, nothing they made at the time truly called to me. I *wanted* to stay on an American bike, on a big bore, air cooled piece of American Iron...but nothing in the showroom of any Harley dealer I visited truly spoke to me.
Finally, out of frustration I dragged myself down to the local metric dealership, and to my complete and total surprise a bike caught my eye. Well, to be totally honest, it didn't just catch my eye, it grabbed me by the ***** and said "I AM YOUR MOTORCYCLE".
The bike was a Yamaha Roadstar Warrior. Over 100 cubic inches of air cooled power. 100+ft*lbs of torque. It was a freaking monster, and I was completely enamored by the sleek lines, the blend of modern and retro styling, and by the totally unique look of the bike. I still feel that the original Warrior is one of the few truly unique metric bikes in the "cruiser" category that exists today. Its a shame that so many are really just clones of American Iron, because the metric bike makers could really do well if they could approach all their designs with the unflinching creativity they used for the Warrior.
I immediately signed up over at rswarrior and met with a HUGE community of other Warrior riders who were just as enamored with their bikes as I was with mine. The Warrior community is truly a community unto itself, VERY similar to the Harley community in its sense of brotherhood, and of being set apart from "everyone else" who "just doesn't get it".
As you can imagine, the factory "bazooka" exhaust had to go. I installed a set of Samson ground pounders that were ear shatteringly loud. I set car alarms off routinely with that exhaust, and I'm pretty sure at this point, that I did some permanent hearing damage to myself. I customized a lot on that bike, even fabricating a lot of relocation mounts and parts that I couldn't find for sale anywhere.
Then, one summer, I decided to take a trip on my Warrior to the Tail of the Dragon, and my whole perspective on riding changed. I went with a group of about eight guys, and we spent three full days on that mountain. This was back before local law enforcement had gone into high gear and started really cracking down down there, so things were still pretty wild.
I found myself sophomorically pushing myself and my bike to the limit of its handling, and my skills over that three day trip. I ground most of the bottom pipe off my exhaust, and I went through TWO sets of peg feelers and a rear tire in three days. Wheelers motorcycle shop saved my trip by having a new 280 section rear tire to install for me, and the right peg feelers (which I thought I might need in bulk).
It was at that point that I realized: I wanted to build some serious skills on two wheels, and my Warrior was not the right bike for me anymore.
In a heartbreaking act of sacrifice that I still sometimes regret, I traded in that Warrior on a Yamaha FZ-6. It was my first "rocket" and my first departure away from the big bore, air cooled engines that I had been on since I started riding. My Warrior never even saw the showroom, as two employees of that shop eventually got into a bidding war over who was going to buy it from the dealership. As of a few years ago, I still saw it around town from time to time, and every time I heard it roar past my heart would ache a little.
But I had other plans. I bought a full track suit, and I started booking days with the California Superbike School. I actually knew Keith Code from my professional relationship with the school, as he had hired me to instrument one of his ZX-6 race bikes for full telemetry. (At that time I worked for an American company who makes high precision, rugged field computers for fast data acquisition, so Keith hired me to gather every possible bit of data from his race bikes. Some of that data later ended up driving the 3D simulations used in the latest Twist of the Wrist DVD).
The days I spent with the California Superbike School changed my riding forever. I learned more about how to really ride well in those handful of days than I had in YEARS of trying to teach myself how to ride better from books and internet advice.
I did a few more trackdays around the midwest also, just to polish my skills and keep working on the exercises that I had learned under the watchful eye of Keith's amazing staff of instructors.
However...this new era of my riding came with a price: Once you go truly fast on the track and drag a knee....nothing on the street ever feels "fast" anymore...and when you do actually take the risks of going fast....it NEVER feels safe.
Frankly, it took all of the fun out of my very well mannered Yamaha FZ-6. I found myself riding less, and from time to time, wishing I could have my Warrior or even my Buell back so I could enjoy a simple ride out in the country.
That is the real problem with sportbikes, and if I may take a momentary diversion from my riding autobiography (if you are even still reading this, I realize that this is more verbose than an Obama press conference on speed), I'd like to say that I believe I know why so many "squids" exist out there on crotch rockets: They are just plain freaking BORING unless you are hanging off the side!
There is absolutely nothing fun about a sportbike if you have to obey speed limits, especially if you live in a place where the land is flat, and roads never bend. Because of that, those bikes attract a lot of young men who are chasing the "high" of adrenaline that comes from popping a wheelie with a crowd of people watching.
My interest in riding waned. My girlfriend had become my wife, hated riding, didn't want to share riding with me, and I was frankly just depressed. My marriage was in the dumpster, and the bike sat for long periods of time in my garage without moving.
Then about a year ago I got divorced. To be honest, I never should have gotten married in the first place, and I feel that it was the last Great Mistake of my life as a young-ish man. The divorce ruined me both financially and spiritually, and I simply could not bring myself to get on my bike.
It used to be that riding my bike was like church for me. It was spiritual, solitary, and connected me with a feeling of hope so palpable that it was impossible not to look to the future and smile, even on some very bad days.
But my Yamaha sat in the garage, while I sat on the couch, or rode my cage to work and back. Sleep, work, TV, rinse, repeat. Fit your life into 8 hour workdays and three hour movies. Sleep poorly and when you do, dream of a better life, only to wake up and remember where you really are, and how disappointing it all is.
Then I met someone. I met a fantastic woman and she became my best friend, and later my girlfriend. I had the first truly *honest* relationship I have ever had in my life. (And I still have it.)
Being with someone who truly encouraged and supported my interests started to wake me up inside again. I got back into shooting and firearms with a new appreciation for it (the other great passion in my life), and as I slowly rebuilt my finances, I could feel this urge growing inside me to do something...but I couldn't figure out what it was.
Until late one night, not that long ago, I decided to check out the Harley Davidson website and see what they were making these days. I had all but given up on riding, even talking about hanging up my leathers forever and just settling into life in a cage...but something called me to that website to see, maybe to take one last chance at remembering what it was about riding that I had fallen in love with in the first place.
And then I saw it. The Iron 883 in Black Denim. Finally, a piece of American Iron from Milwaukee that wasn't dripping in chrome! (I don't mean to offend, but chrome and I do not mix, I'm much more of a flat black kind of guy).
I made it the desktop wall paper on my computer, hoping to look at it again and maybe even look at it in person, and I tried to go to sleep.
No luck. I could NOT stop thinking about that bike.
Finally, at 4am, I gave up on sleep, and hopped back on the computer. I took a hard look at my bank accounts, and confirmed that I did have room in my budget to spend money on myself (something I hadn't done in many years, especially during my marriage and my divorce), and then started scouring the internet looking for one that I could actually go sit on.
Well, I don't know if I believe in fate, but it seems that fate might believe in me, because one had arrived at my local dealer, just a few days prior, and had just made it onto the showroom floor.
I bought it the next morning. My first Harley. The bike I have always truly wanted, even since I was a kid.
I'm not a smiley guy. I live in "prepare for the worst" mode, twenty-four-seven. But I have to admit that when they handed me the keys and I fired it up for the first time, I could NOT stop smiling.
That feeling, that feeling that I hadn't had since those first lazy summers on my Buell came back to me in a rush that was so strong I almost tried to drive out of the parking lot OVER a curb! (I corrected my course at the last second, no harm no foul.)
So, I know that was a long read, but I have put at least 60 miles on this bike every day since I got it (my new Mustang Wide Solo can't arrive fast enough, damn those MoCo seats are hard on the tailbone!), and I literally cannot stop thinking about it.
I guess the reason I wanted to share all this with you, is because NOW I "GET IT".
I will admit that in years past, I have accused Harley Davidson of putting more energy into marketing than R&D. Into focusing more on selling a lifestyle than selling motorcycles. I have bad mouthed them for failing to innovate and then when they tried to do so, having to turn to Porsche to work out the kinks on their own design (The V-ROD debacle).
...but now I get it. I understand why they are still using what is the same engine they have been using for the last 30 (or 50, depending on what details you want to focus on) years.
I get why they have steadfastly remained unwilling to change, or pursue major shifts in their design ethos.
So I'm here, making my first post on this forum, longwinded as it may be, to tell you all that I finally GET IT, and I could not possibly be more glad to be a member of this community.
I have fallen in love with riding all over again.
Thanks for reading this far, keep the rubber side down guys.
PICS:
Last edited by parabellum_9x19; 08-18-2011 at 02:24 PM.
#3
08-18-2011, 01:57 PM
I have been riding a long time and though I do not now, or ever have owned, or want to own, a sport bike, I respect them for what they are. Not necessarily some of the asshats that ride them, however.
Learning how to ride with Keith Code really brings up the skill level, so riding a Sportster should be easy for you to handle.
Glad to hear that you get it about Harleys. When I was younger, I rode a lot of Brit bikes (miss them), but riding a Harley is just different.
By the way, CB350 was a twin, not 4 cylinder. I bought a used one back in 1970 (or was it 71???), green and white.
Learning how to ride with Keith Code really brings up the skill level, so riding a Sportster should be easy for you to handle.
Glad to hear that you get it about Harleys. When I was younger, I rode a lot of Brit bikes (miss them), but riding a Harley is just different.
By the way, CB350 was a twin, not 4 cylinder. I bought a used one back in 1970 (or was it 71???), green and white.
#5
08-18-2011, 02:08 PM
I have been riding a long time and though I do not now, or ever have owned, or want to own, a sport bike, I respect them for what they are. Not necessarily some of the asshats that ride them, however.
Learning how to ride with Keith Code really brings up the skill level, so riding a Sportster should be easy for you to handle.
Glad to hear that you get it about Harleys. When I was younger, I rode a lot of Brit bikes (miss them), but riding a Harley is just different.
By the way, CB350 was a twin, not 4 cylinder. I bought a used one back in 1970 (or was it 71???), green and white.
Learning how to ride with Keith Code really brings up the skill level, so riding a Sportster should be easy for you to handle.
Glad to hear that you get it about Harleys. When I was younger, I rode a lot of Brit bikes (miss them), but riding a Harley is just different.
By the way, CB350 was a twin, not 4 cylinder. I bought a used one back in 1970 (or was it 71???), green and white.
I did accidentally lean it over a bit too far to the right the other day and put a tiny scrape on the exhaust heat shield, but I'll replace the shields eventually anyway. I may replace the whole exhaust and Stage 1 it at the same time.
As for the Honda, I guess I should have typed "CB 350f", that was the 350-four model I was referring to. I guess without the "F" on the model number, they were all twins back then. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB350F
Thanks for reading guys, I'm glad to be here.
Right now the mod list looks like:
Mustang Wide Solo seat (on its way).
Progressive 12" 441 series rear shock/strut combo (I'll do this later this year).
I figure that raising the rear up 1" wont' mess with the handling much, and the extra inch of travel, combined with the progressive shock will improve the overly stiff rear suspension on the bike right now.
Trending Topics
#8
08-18-2011, 02:13 PM
All I have is the camera on my phone right now, but I'm going to go out and snap a pic right now.
Pics uploaded to OP.
Last edited by parabellum_9x19; 08-18-2011 at 02:25 PM.
#9
08-18-2011, 02:52 PM
Road Master
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Posts: 825
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
#10
08-18-2011, 02:55 PM
Welcome. I think you have to be a member for a certain amount of days and have a certain amount of posts before you can post pics, though I am not 100% certain. Good for you for figuring out what you've been missing. Ride safe...
