01-17-2017, 02:21 AM
In the late 60s, when I was young and weighed 163 pounds, I transformed my 1966 BSA Lighting into a café racer with a lot of fiberglass and alloy components from Britain. The bike was very fast for its day and fun to ride. The disadvantages on long trips I do remember are: sore wrists, sore lower back, stiff neck and difficult handling at slow speed because of the narrow clip-ons.
Girls didn't like it either. While I was bent over the tank behind a quarter fairing out of wind blast, they were not. They also found the wide thinly padded seat uncomfortable. So I was changing girl friends more often than I changed the bike's oil. I sold it a few years later when my government job was moved someplace else.
That summer I found a job working in a motorcycle shop that sold Yamahas. After a few pay days I felt confident enough to buy a new 1971 350 R5 that was on sale. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on café racing gear, I changed the bars and turned them upside down. What a hoot! Because of its light weight and low center of gravity the bike handled great and was capable of 103 MPH. All of the aches and pains I had suffered on my BSA were none existent because the bars were wider and could be adjusted for height. But girls still didn't like it.
Girls didn't like it either. While I was bent over the tank behind a quarter fairing out of wind blast, they were not. They also found the wide thinly padded seat uncomfortable. So I was changing girl friends more often than I changed the bike's oil. I sold it a few years later when my government job was moved someplace else.
That summer I found a job working in a motorcycle shop that sold Yamahas. After a few pay days I felt confident enough to buy a new 1971 350 R5 that was on sale. Instead of spending hundreds of dollars on café racing gear, I changed the bars and turned them upside down. What a hoot! Because of its light weight and low center of gravity the bike handled great and was capable of 103 MPH. All of the aches and pains I had suffered on my BSA were none existent because the bars were wider and could be adjusted for height. But girls still didn't like it.