02-18-2021, 04:25 AM
I had a friend from high school (whose name escapes me) who enrolled in a EMT/Paramedic internship program with the Northfield, IL Fire & Rescue after graduation. At the time, I-94 was in the midst of a huge reconstruction project: at least 2 years long with lane closures and lots of traffic with nowhere else to go. Northfield bought two Kawasaki KZ400s to get EMTs to accident scenes on 94 as quickly as possible and he was learning to ride as part of this initiative. I really liked the way those bikes looked with the windshield and hard cases. My buddy let me sit on the bike and I felt then like this was something that would be a lot of fun. I remember asking my dad about getting a motorcycle. He said "no". [Holy crap!! Retelling this story, I just realized that this was not "the moment"! It was four or five years earlier. More on that in a second!]. I couldn't argue much with him on this since we had a boat, he had bought me a car, and I pretty much was living rent-free in a fairly affluent suburb of Chicago. I remembered those bikes, though. This link should take you to the only picture I could find of the bikes http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com...0924135226
When I was in 7th grade, I had a buddy that was into BMX racing, but no one called it BMX in 1974 around Chicago. His dad then bought him a Suzuki (I think) dirt bike -- Maybe 125cc, but I don't recall. I thought that trail riding would be a fun thing to do at our summer home. I asked my dad if we could get one or two dirt bikes. He said "no". I got a small sailboat as a graduation gift the next year along with a Peugeot U08 10-speed bicycle as a birthday present that year, so again, I couldn't really argue about my situation.
I didn't own a motorcycle until 2010.
My brother who has similar "moments" from his youth and received similar "nos" from our dad, just bought his first bike a few weeks ago. He's 67 years old.
When I was in 7th grade, I had a buddy that was into BMX racing, but no one called it BMX in 1974 around Chicago. His dad then bought him a Suzuki (I think) dirt bike -- Maybe 125cc, but I don't recall. I thought that trail riding would be a fun thing to do at our summer home. I asked my dad if we could get one or two dirt bikes. He said "no". I got a small sailboat as a graduation gift the next year along with a Peugeot U08 10-speed bicycle as a birthday present that year, so again, I couldn't really argue about my situation.
I didn't own a motorcycle until 2010.
My brother who has similar "moments" from his youth and received similar "nos" from our dad, just bought his first bike a few weeks ago. He's 67 years old.