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(05-10-2021, 12:39 PM)GoldOxide_imp Wrote: (05-10-2021, 12:20 PM)decarmine_imp Wrote: Ref "ten dollar head...ten dollar helmet"...
Many years ago -- 1974, to be exact -- I had a rear tire blowout and dumped my CB750 on a Florida turnpike. While still in the air, and flying through my handlebars, the thought that actually went through my head was "I wish I had paid more than $10 for this helmet..." I had actually bought three helmets at $10 each during a clearance sale at S&K cycle, a Long Island cycle shop.
I am impressed one wore a motorcycle helmet in a 1974 Florida. From what can be reasoned this evening, it looks like all turned out quite well. 
I was actually a 30-year-old (at the time) New York resident on an "adventure" trip to Florida. I was not aware of individual helmet laws in any of the states I had passed through but continued to abide by NY law. I'm now a Florida resident but always wear a helmet as a result of the memory of meeting that pavement at 65 miles an hour in my $10 helmet. At the time I thought my head had not really hit the ground until I later realized the snaps holding the face shield to the helmet had been ground away from sliding along the pavement...
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(05-10-2021, 08:38 PM)decarmine_imp Wrote: (05-10-2021, 12:39 PM)GoldOxide_imp Wrote: (05-10-2021, 12:20 PM)decarmine_imp Wrote: Ref "ten dollar head...ten dollar helmet"...
Many years ago -- 1974, to be exact -- I had a rear tire blowout and dumped my CB750 on a Florida turnpike. While still in the air, and flying through my handlebars, the thought that actually went through my head was "I wish I had paid more than $10 for this helmet..." I had actually bought three helmets at $10 each during a clearance sale at S&K cycle, a Long Island cycle shop.
I am impressed one wore a motorcycle helmet in a 1974 Florida. From what can be reasoned this evening, it looks like all turned out quite well.
I was actually a 30-year-old (at the time) New York resident on an "adventure" trip to Florida. I was not aware of individual helmet laws in any of the states I had passed through but continued to abide by NY law. I'm now a Florida resident but always wear a helmet as a result of the memory of meeting that pavement at 65 miles an hour in my $10 helmet. At the time I thought my head had not really hit the ground until I later realized the snaps holding the face shield to the helmet had been ground away from sliding along the pavement...
Yikes! 
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Best $10 ya ever spent huh?
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(05-10-2021, 10:50 PM)The ferret_imp Wrote: Best $10 ya ever spent huh?
I've generally led a pretty sedate life but sometimes looking back I'm amazed I've managed to live this long...
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What a bunch of great responses! At that time, I was trying to buy a helmet from a roommate who wasn't riding anymore. He wanted too much coin for his, but another friend had a helmet for sale, a actual Bell, and all he wanted was ten bucks! I bought it on the spot and wore it for years, until marriage and kids. I sold it with the bike, the Honda CL450. This bike, with my then-girlfriend.
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Seeing the CL450 brings to mind my own '69 CB450 that I owned somewhere in the progression of bikes from my first CB350 to the CB750 that met its demise on that aforesaid Florida turnpike. I got the bike through a trade -- the details are a bit murky now but, as I recall, it involved a 500cc BSA, a minibike, a floor shift conversion kit, and a chevy 4-barrel manifold. No cash changed hands, but there were 3 people involved in the trades.
The bike had a six- or eight-inch extended front end, because that's what we did in the early '70s. Any pictures I might have had are long gone...
AND -- apologies as we have certainly strayed from the original intent of this thread.
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Nice classic image Charlie.
The front and rear tires look almost new. 
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(05-11-2021, 04:57 AM)decarmine_imp Wrote: Seeing the CL450 brings to mind my own '69 CB450 that I owned somewhere in the progression of bikes from my first CB350 to the CB750 that met its demise on that aforesaid Florida turnpike. I got the bike through a trade -- the details are a bit murky now but, as I recall, it involved a 500cc BSA, a minibike, a floor shift conversion kit, and a chevy 4-barrel manifold. No cash changed hands, but there were 3 people involved in the trades.
The bike had a six- or eight-inch extended front end, because that's what we did in the early '70s. Any pictures I might have had are long gone...
AND -- apologies as we have certainly strayed from the original intent of this thread.
Ah hell no... Keep it going. I am enjoying the campfire tales. 
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(05-12-2021, 01:08 AM)Whoops_imp Wrote: (05-11-2021, 04:57 AM)decarmine_imp Wrote: Seeing the CL450 brings to mind my own '69 CB450 that I owned somewhere in the progression of bikes from my first CB350 to the CB750 that met its demise on that aforesaid Florida turnpike. I got the bike through a trade -- the details are a bit murky now but, as I recall, it involved a 500cc BSA, a minibike, a floor shift conversion kit, and a chevy 4-barrel manifold. No cash changed hands, but there were 3 people involved in the trades.
The bike had a six- or eight-inch extended front end, because that's what we did in the early '70s. Any pictures I might have had are long gone...
AND -- apologies as we have certainly strayed from the original intent of this thread.
Ah hell no... Keep it going. I am enjoying the campfire tales.
Ah hell no... Keep it going. I am enjoying the campfire tales.
This is a ton of fun! Tires were nearly new. That bike taught me a lot. I kind of wish I still had it, but the CB1100 is a fine replacement!
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My CB450 probably saved my life!
Drove it from Cleveland to Long Island, in and out of rain all day, in T-shirt and jeans.
Encountered 11 inches of rain in New Jersey
Caught bronchitis from all the wind and rain
Days later, lying in bed, chest wracked with pain, cigarette between my fingers
Suddenly realized value of lungs
Quit smoking cold turkey that day!!!
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