Average CB1100 Rider Age

[Olyrider]

Oh

I haven't really introduced myself since signing up three weeks ago, so this seems as good an opportunity as any.

This thread is about age, so I'm 63 yrs old. Retired financial advisor that now works at a Honda store near Seattle because I'm an addict, and I get a great price on parts! (And my favorite riding buddy owns this store and another)

I "wanted" to buy my first bike, a Honda, in the summer of '69, a couple of weeks after we (us, the USA) landed on the moon. Told my dad (a surgeon) I was doing just that the next day with the money I had earned and he said absolutely not. Fear for my safety. Instead, he gave me the keys to his Mercedes with the understanding I would pay for its upkeep. I was devastated. Not a single kid in Spokane would have been caught dead driving a Mercedes in 1969. Malibu's, Camaro's, Mustangs, Split-Windows for the rich kids, Sprites and MGAs and the occasional TR3 for the cool kids was all you saw on the streets. I lost a lot of street cred with my "61 220s! It usually stayed parked.

Anyway, in college my friends were passing around a basket-case Victor 441. Couldn't keep my eyes off of it. My next job paid for that...$175. Didn't tell my dad. Had to take it 30 miles away to a shop that could get it running. While riding it back to school (my first ever ride on a real road) I discovered that the license plate and tail light, and the piece of chrome fender they were mounted to, had vibrated off somewhere along the way. Retraced my route and found it in once piece by the side of the road.

It wasn't very reliable, so when my dad offered me a graduation present of a Rolex Submariner watch, or what it cost ($350) in cash, I took the money and bought a used CB450. He never knew that. He died not knowing that. My mom made me promise he would never find out. Now, but not then, the CB450s are known as "Black Bombers", black frame with a chrome panel on the fuel tank. Nostalgia significantly colors the perception of its prowess on the road! Attractive, almost sexy, but coming up far short in performance.

Fast forward to the nineties, and I enjoyed riding Triumphs for years. Thunderbird Sport, Trophy 12, Daytona 955, Sprint RS, and Speed Triple. The dealer stated selling Aprilia's and I bought a 2002 Futura. Only bike I regret selling. But I did, to buy a BMW 1200-GS. Thus began a love affair with Dual Sport riding that consumes me to this day. I now ride an F800GS, and a street-legal KTM450 XCW. I also have an ST1300abs for highway miles, and a Trials bike to maintain my balance and coordination.

The 2013 CB1100 was my destiny. Our store sold it to a recently-retired gentleman two years ago. Sadly, he passed away earlier this year from cancer. His widow brought it in to sell on consignment. I had enjoyed looking at the 1100s in the store, but had not ridden one. No room in the stable so why bother? On a whim, I decided to take it around the parking lot in my street clothes. You know where this is going, don't you? Trying to do a steering-lock turn on a rain-soaked parking lot, some moss below the big fir tree, and slippery shoes resulted in an extremely slow-speed drop on the right side. I heard the pop-pop the moment my back hit the ground and thought "This really hurts like hell!!! I think I just broke two ribs." But, before anyone could snap a picture, a customer rushed over to see if i was OK. I begged him to get the bike up first, but he didn't. The sales manager, thirty years my junior, came out, didn't say a word, and turned around to go back in the store shaking his head theatrically. I told him, the words spilling out between gritted teeth, that I would pay for the damages. He added them up. $1,500 for a 1 mph drop. Did you know that 200 lb anchor called a muffler is $800? Brand new Hepco Becker crash bars with a fingernail scratch another $200. Bar-end and mirror, and I forget what else. So...I bought the bike. Seemed like a sensible thing to do at the time. I haven't been off it since. Except to adorn it with RLETs. Speaking of which....20 seconds, not minutes, to put on with nothing more than contact cleaner. On Thursday the kids in the shop are helping me install the Yosh exhaust system. I'm going to do the ECU re-flash next, and if the budget allows, the Olins chrome rear springs with remote reservoirs. I can't afford any of the fancy stuff from Japan, so I'll have to settle. Other than that, I'm good. BTW, can't believe what a difference the RLETs make. True game-changer!

Sorry this has been so long, but I've lived a long time, and I even skipped 20 years of stuff.