The Bike That Got Away

If you ride long enough and swap bikes often enough you will inevitably have a motorcycle that you regret letting go of. I’ll share mine if you tell us yours!

My bike that got away isn’t a Harley, it’s not a V-Twin, and it was old when I got it. It was a Yamaha XS 850 Midnight Special.

That’s the bike in all its glory. It was a unique combination of modern and retro smashed into one. It had a 3 cylinder motor, magnesium wheels, a shaft drive, front and rear disc brakes, and pull back handlebars. It couldn’t decide if it was a cruiser, a standard, or a touring bike.

The other odd feature was air assisted front forks. You could tweak the ride and plushness with a little hand pump.

Despite all the weird bundled into one package the thing that really got you about the bike was the 3 cylinder (triple) motor. It sang when you got on the throttle, burbled when you let off and made power everywhere. It wasn’t super fast by modern standards but it had grunt. That low end thrust that we all love about a stomping V-Twin.

There are other variations of the 850, and an 1100 Midnight Special but they weren’t the same combination of awesome. The other 850s were too plain and the 100 was heavy and cumbersome with brakes that may not stop you.

So that’s my bike that got away. What’s yours?