Blast From The Past

[2017EX_imp]

Glad everyone seems to be enjoying the story an pictures. I have also enjoyed hearing that many others have had similar experiences. Maybe it is a "two degrees of separation" sort of thing when it comes to motorcycles? From my first bike through my 750, they all had rubber fork gaiters. I loved the look, as well as protecting and keeping the fork tubes clean. We did not have ArmorAll or any of the other dedicated rubber treatments back them, so we used silicone spray on all the rubber parts ( sidewalls only for the tires ) to keep them looking new. My friends and I were just as fanatical about our bikes, and keeping them clean back them as I am now. The running joke among ourselves was "a clean bike goes faster than a dirty one".

[use2b_imp]

2017EX your bikes all looked in exceptional condition and i even use tire foam on my seat and rubber parts . your high piped bikes were some of the best looking bikes of the day back then and a Bridgestone 350 gto was the baddest thing on my block with the high pipes. like your group photo i was regulated to the back of the pack with my 2 strokes and envied the two strokes when i had a Super 90 and my friend had a Yamaha twin jet 100 with electric start , wow that thing was fast . another had a Suzuki 125 stinger with that great looking engine and high pipes looked so sweet. from my Goldwings , hayabusa's , BMW's and so many other brands i got to enjoy it is great to hear from fellow enthusiast who grew up in the finest era for owning motorcycle .
your photo's are pure gold

[Nortoon_imp]

Since we are wandering down memory lane....

I started riding motorcycles in 1966. I worked as an electrical power house operator for the local paper mill for $105 per week. As I only paid $25 a week for room and board at home, I had money to spend. I bought a 100cc twin cylinder, Yamaha 2-stroke for my 20th birthday. I was so excited my younger brother had to ride it home with me on the back. On the way home a police car pulled up beside us at a stoplight and told us to “be careful on that thing”. It was our uncle Harry. At that time a licence or helmet were not required to ride a motorcycle, and training was not available.
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I met a number of other bikers on similar bikes at a downtown hamburger joint. Although the Yamaha was quicker off the line, the 90cc Honda had a better top end. As both topped out around 60 MPH, we were limited to riding within the city.

During that summer the Honda riders began to show up with Honda CB 305cc Super Hawks. The Yamaha part of the crowd, myself included, bought 305cc YM1s to keep up. Now we could venture out on the highways to dances in some of the local towns. Leather jackets ($40) and open-face Bell helmets with visors ($35) became necessary because girls did not find guys bugs spattered all over them attractive.
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In the winter of 1966 I left my $105 per week paper mill shift-work job to join the Federal Government. My paycheque was now $95 every two weeks. Good thing I was still living at home. After the second weekend I had to borrow $25 from my mum so I could afford to go to work. It took a while to learn to give her an extra $25 from my paycheque so I could afford bus fare and lunches until payday on Wednesday.

That summer riders in the group began showing up on British motorcycles. It didn’t take long before the Yamahas and Hondas were replaced with Triumphs and BSAs. As I had already received a promotion, I was able to buy a second-hand 1966 650cc BSA Lightning for $700.
[attachment=7305]

We quickly found the big noisy motorcycles were girl magnets. Girls headed to the beach would wave us down for a ride. Their mothers should have warned them about bikers. BSAs and Triumphs had fuel taps that could be pushed closed with your knees while riding. A couple of blocks a later when the bike stalled, we asked if they could provide a buck for gas. After opening the fuel taps we proceeded to the nearest gas station. A BSA Lightning had a 2 gallon fuel tank and gas was 25 cents a gallon. But my buddies and I pocketed the change for a later ride to the local tavern where two small glasses of draft were 25 cents. No wonder bikers of that era had a bad reputation.

The other advantages of a larger bike: you could strap a two-four of beer on the back of the seat for parties, and visit places like Laconia, New Hampshire during the annual bike bash. I think they also had motorcycle races there, but we were too busy drinking and partying to see them.

That winter I took my BSA apart and made a café racer out it. It looked similar to this Bonneville with a Paul Dunstall red fibreglass front fender, quarter fairing, 5 gallon fuel tank, and seat.

But I added a Cibie headlight, alloy fork yoke, clip-ons, high compression pistons, Barnett clutch plates and heavy duty springs, carburetor velocity stacks, central alloy oil tank, capacitor battery replacement, rear set shifter and brake, Dunstall decibel silencers. Silencers? You could hear them a mile away on a quiet summer’s night. Probably paid more for these accessories than I did for the bike. But I had fun over the next few summers dusting off all the Bonneville and Commando riders.

But all good things must come to an end. In the spring 1971 my job was relocated to New Brunswick, and I found myself unemployed. So I sold the BSA. A month or so later I found a job behind the parts counter of a local Yamaha shop. During one of their summer sales I bought a Yamaha 350 R5. Flipping the handlebars upside down was all it took to turn it into a café racer.

I took a lot of ribbing riding a small Yamaha 2-stroke in a large group of British motorcycles. But they quickly found out that this light, 5-speed bike was very fast and nimble. It was also a harbinger of things to come.

I returned to the government after the bike shop closed. The following spring I sold the R5. Then two friends and I bought 1972 Kawasaki H2 Mark IVs.

That was the end of ribbing about 2-stroke motorcycles. With the advent of the Honda CB750 and other Japanese large four-cylinder motorcycles, that was also the end of the Golden Years for British Motorcycles.
….. to be continued

[JimTT_imp]

MORE ABOUT THE TRIP

Hello all I am the "best bud" Bill is referring to and road the gold CB350 on that 'adventurer' which as it turned out, it really was. I was set with a Brooks Leather jacket a Bell helmet a wool blanket , spare U-wear and not much more, plus maybe $20. The first big thing that was noteworthy for me was our gas stop in Battle Creek Mi. when I took a quick four mile detour while Bill and George stayed at the Standard Station and drank Cokes. The house I fist lived in but had not seen for 12 years (it seemed like longer than that) looked just the same and it was somehow mystical seeing it if that is the right word. As we progressed towards Ann Arbor Bill's Suzuki started to have trouble which I now know was minor sizing; once the motor cooled it was fine (well not fine) and would run OK. A trip to Ann Arbor Suzuki the next day did nothing to clear up the mystery and we all were not sure the bike would make it back until it actually did. But other than that we had a wonderful high energy ride, I can still hear the combined sound of engines creating a wonderful harmonic drone; we did not use no stinking ear plugs.

When we arrived at the friends house three things struck me; his sister was cute, the parents were no where to be seen (and never did surface as I recall) and the kids had a section of the house all to themselves. When we entered one of these lower rooms the Girl (Julie) was playing Cheep Thrills by Janice Joplin, a record I had not heard but liked a lot. I did not know it then but I would be almost inseparable form Julie all weekend. Bills friend's (can't remember his name) Dad was a doctor and they had a really nice house where we all kicked back and got to know each other while trying to talk over very loud music.

So that evening we all headed to a liquor store to try a "will you buy us some beer" play, which never works but did that night. Local kids hung out in a very hilly park which I think they called the Grove. And it was there we headed with our case or Blue Ribbon Beer, wow have things changed. I had tasted beer before in my life but had never drank beer and as it turn out I did rather well as Bill and George spent a good part of that night bowing to the porcelain god. A lot of what went on that weekend I do not remember but is was all good and that I know. I do remember Julie pointing where to turn from the back of my bike when we at one point had ditched everyone else. We wound up on a isthmus that jutted out into a river which cars could not reach. I was laying on the ground and remember her hair was like a waterfall; oh the wonders of nature. This all happened Saturday night after the battle of the bands where as Bill said were treated like we possessed special powers. Saying goodbye on Sunday was a bit of a bummer but I was past it after about 35 miles and life was moving forward. It's better to let go than to suffer the hurt of what might have been. All I remember about the way home was a section of RT 12 in Indiana (before I-94 was complete) when we pasted about forty 3%'s , all on Harley's and I do mean real hard core bikers, it was an sight to see.

I still think of that weekend with the fondest of memories; it really was a case of the planets aligning. I called Bill earlier today and he told me about this thread so I thought I would chime in. I also own a CB1100 among other bikes; Bill and Me were both members of this forum but didn't know it for quite a while. JIM

[Cormanus]

Great addition to the story, Jim. Thanks.

[emptysea]

Great story, Jim and Bill. Are you both in the Chicago area now? The picture with the white fence looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place it. Northshore someplace?

[Vic_imp]

I thought I would write something about my motorcycle beginnings, that might bring back fond memories to older riders, and maybe a smile to the newer riders. Back in 1967, between my Freshman and Sophomore years in High School, I worked all summer on the graveyard shift at an all night restaurant washing dishes and busing tables, to make roughly $300 for my first motorcycle. I was 16 at the time, and wanted my own transportation, primarily to and from school. I bought a new two stroke Blue 1967 Suzuki K11 Challenger Sports single cylinder 80cc. A couple of weeks later, I let my best buddy ride it briefly, and within a couple of weeks after that he bought a new Honda CL90.
By 1968 between Sophomore and Junior years, we were both on a quest for more power. Back then, by law, the minimum displacement for use on the freeway was 160cc. My friends pockets were a little deeper than mine, and he traded his CL90 for a new 1968 Honda CB350. I, on the other hand, traded my K11 for a used Blue 1967 Suzuki TC200 Stingray 200cc twin street scrambler. Oh the "street scramblers", high chromed exhaust on both sides with chrome vented heat shields! The street scramblers all had steel skid plates under the crank case that had to be removed ( if you didnt remove it, oil always found its way onto the top side of the skid plate ) to do an oil change, which was a pain though.
The two strokers were always more affordable than the comparable displacement 4 strokes, and were almost always kick start. Yes, I did envy my friends electric starters. My parents surprised me by having the dealer add turn signals to the TC200. When 1969 rolled around, me, my Best Bud, and another friend lived, ate drank, and and slept motorcycles. We lived in the suburbs of Chicago, and I had a friend that lived in Ann Arbor Michigan, which is not far from Detroit. The three of us decided it would be an adventure to cut school on a Friday (with parental approval ) at noon, take our bikes on a road trip to Ann Arbor, crash at my friends house for the weekend, and return Sunday afternoon. This was a time when Easy Rider had just come out, and a very young Jack Nicholson was in a movie called Hells Angels On Wheels. So, in the spring of 1969 the three of us hit the freeway one Friday at noon with two 350cc and one 200cc motorcycle/s.
The trip was about 260 miles one way, and now I would no more think of getting on the freeway on a 200cc motorcycle than I would think of flying, but we were young and felt invincible at the time. Cruising speed then was 60 to 65 mph., so with stops for gas, about 4.6 hours one way. Then too, back then those displacements were reasonable for the time unless one went with a Harley, British twin, or Moto Guzzi. We considered the Moto Guzzi an unattractive beast, and both Harley and the British twins of the day leaked oil as well as being somewhat unreliable. Then there was safety gear. Other than helmets, our gear was what we could piece together, mostly from generic use items. I had a Buco 3/4 helmet ( full face really did not hit mainstream motorcycling until the early 70s ), with a flat shield, a borrowed leather jacket, plain leather gloves, jeans, and ankle high leather shoes with a strap across the instep. We all had bed rolls with clothes and sundries rolled up inside, in order to sleep on the floor of my buddies room at his house. Just before the trip I bought a cheap sissy bar for my bike, just to strap the bed roll onto, and took it off right after we got back.
On the road, little kids in Mom and Dads station wagons would give us the two finger "Peace Sign" in admiration. That weekend in Ann Arbor there was a Battle of the Bands at a local teen hangout. When we rolled up to the event on our motorcycles with out of state plates, we were instant celebrities. When we got back, my Father took a picture of the three Road Warriors on our bikes in the driveway of my house. I am on the left, and my best Bud is on the gold Honda. We had taken our helmets off for the picture, and our third friend had already taken off his jean jacket as well. We also had a certain amount of celebrity back at school for a while, once word of our escapade made the rounds.
Shortly after the trip, I sold the Blue TC200, and used the proceeds to upgrade to a used Black 1967 Suzuki TC250 X-6 Hustler street scrambler. That is one of only two of the many different motorcycles I have owned over the years that I wish I still had. I did not know it at the time, but very few of the street scrambler versions of the X-6 Hustler were ever imported to the U.S., and consequently aside from being a very slick machine, is now a high dollar collector bike. The other bike I wish I still had, was my 1974 CB750 Four in Freedom Green. The 750 was right after college, and I can remember putting up the title to my 1972 Ford Pinto Hatch Back (horrible car, but it was what I could afford at the time) as collateral with the bank for a loan for the roughly $1,500 the CB750 cost. I rode my 750 everywhere weather permitting, so much so, that I had to park my Pinto on a hill to coast pop start it because the battery would go dead from non use.
I have attached pictures of the Blue K11 that started my love of motorcycles, the road trip Blue TC200, the Black TC250, and the return of the three Road Warriors. Sadly my pictures of the 1974 CB750 all disappeared over the years. I had a Harley Soft Tail Springer Limited Edition CVO for the past 10 years before I traded it for my 2017 CB1100EX. So, now I have come back to the closest thing there will probably ever be to my beloved 1974 CB750, albeit a more technically advanced and superior version. The Harley weighed in at around 750+ pounds, and now at age 65, was getting to be more than I was comfortable with wrestling in local traffic. The CB1100 is a joy to ride in all situations, and it was the right move at the right time for me.
I Hope that my stroll down memory lane will stir similar memories, and be enjoyed by my fellow CB1100 enthusiasts.

Nice. 2 stroke rider here too. Cross country trip from Boulder CO to Yellowstone WY on my Yamaha RD400 - solo - in those days. Youth was fun!

[JimTT_imp]

Great story, Jim and Bill. Are you both in the Chicago area now? The picture with the white fence looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place it. Northshore someplace?

I am still in the Chicago area, Bill is in Texas and we reconnected because
of the CB1100 which we both own.

[the Ferret]

Great story, Jim and Bill. Are you both in the Chicago area now? The picture with the white fence looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place it. Northshore someplace?

I am still in the Chicago area, Bill is in Texas and we reconnected because
of the CB1100 which we both own.

How cool is that?

[2017EX_imp]

Great story, Jim and Bill. Are you both in the Chicago area now? The picture with the white fence looks familiar to me, but I can't quite place it. Northshore someplace?

Jim and I both went to the same High School in Hinsdale Illinois , but most people dont know where that is unless there is familiarity with that area. Hinsdale is about 14 miles SW of Chicago, so I usually say I/we are from the Chicago suburbs. Jim lives in Naperville Illinois now, and I live in Arlington, Texas. We reconnected a year or two ago, and found that the enthusiasm for motorcycles we gained back then, never left either one of us. The white fence belonged to the neighbor next door to the house I grew up in.