Above is a file photo of a 1957 250 cc Maico Typhoon, identical to the bike I rode while at Wichita University. It was a 2 stroke bike so you had to premix the oil into the gas. I put a lot of miles on that little bike, mostly traveling to Topeka and back to visit my mother and to far western Kansas to visit my father. I graduated from Wichita in 1960, and went on to the University of Colorado to work on my first Master's degree. I sold the Maico when I left Kansas. See my blog post series "Motorcycles: A Magnificent Obsession" where many of these bikes are discussed.
The pic above is a friend's restored 1968 Triumph Bonneville 650 cc like the one I bought when they first came out in the Fall of 1967. That bike was my first new motorcycle and my first large bike for long distance touring. It was also the first bike I truly loved and I traveled all over the eastern half of the US on it. It had over 80,000 miles on it when it finally wore totally out. My first big motorcycle love sometimes let me down but was always a thrill to ride and, after I traded it in, I always said I would get another Bonneville some day. I did.
The pic above is from the internet of an unrestored 1968 Montgomery Ward Riverside 250cc someone is trying to sell. Good luck. Not. While we were riding our regular bikes Montgomery Ward had an ill-fated affair for several years with Benelli Motorcycles from Italy. When they broke up Ward's offered the remaining 250cc "Ward's Riverside" bikes in a sale catalogue, sold unassembled, still in the crate, for less than half price, plus freight. As I recall they were about $199 plus a few dollars freight. I talked Earl into buying one also which led to some odd and pretty funny times. They were totally awful bikes, really evil little bikes. The pic above is off the internet, before restoration. Ours were red. Like the blood we spilled trying to assemble them. I will do a blog post on that disaster in the motorcycle memoir.
By 1972 I had thoroughly worn out the Bonneville and I traded it in on a Suzuki GS550 cc, like the one pictured above. It a strange but very hot bike, 2 cycle, automatic oil premix, three cylinder. It was smooth and a good tourer but, as I was to learn, once you own a Bonneville nothing else has quite the appeal. I did quite a bit of touring on this bike and it was much smoother than the Bonneville. To me it was almost too smooth, to easy going and too bland, even though it was wickedly quick off the line. From about 1974 through 1978 when I sold it and moved to NYC I rode it far less than I had the Bonneville. I was busy with my work; my marriage had failed, and I developed an interest in sailing on the Chesapeake which reduced my riding a lot.
This file photo, above, is of a 500 cc Triumph Daytona. As I moved up the ladder in the federal government and traveled almost constantly I rode the Suzuki less and less. When I finally got out of government service, had a short stint with private industry in NYC, and later settled in St. Louis, I bought a used Daytona around 1980, two years after I sold the Suzuki. I intended to restore it but ended up not having the time or the money. Sue and I were married in 1983 and, while my memory is poor on just when I sold it to a friend who restored motorcycles it was around that time. I do remember going over to his garage and seeing what a beautiful bike he had turned it into. Today, both old Daytonas and old Bonnevilles fetch top dollars in the restoration market. They are considered very desirable classics and are highly sought.
After I graduated seminary in St. Louis in 1994 we moved to Ottawa, Illinois to take the pastorate at my first church. I was once again without a bike. Then, after moving to Ohio to accept an appointment in Port Washington in 1997 I delayed getting another motorcycle until I had finished the work on my doctorate and we had moved out of the parsonage and settled in our own home in Newcomerstown, Ohio. With no further detours in my way and our lives settled into a routine where we intended to put down some permanent roots, I started looking for a used motorcycle. The 1979 KZ650 Kawasaki was the first bike I got. It was a perfect size for my "re-entry" into riding and I liked it a lot. Ultimately I lost patience with having to take the carbs, 4 of them, off what seemed like dozens of times to change jets and move shims around fix an aggravating lean condition hesitation at about 4500 rpm. I never could solve that problem, nor could the best bike mechanic in these parts, so I ended up selling the bike.
Above pic: Sue was still riding pillion behind me at that time and I was pushing our rides further and further. After one long day on the Kawasaki we stopped at a Burger King still 70 miles from home and she informed my that her rear end would not let her go any further, and I could ride home and get the car and come back to get her! Well, she did ride the rest of the way home on the bike but only after I told her I would get something more comfortable for us to tour on. The result was the 1981 Honda Gold Wing Interstate that you see above. It had some miles on it but was not in terrible shape and had about all the bells and whistles you would want in a two wheeled living room. And I kept the KZ650 for solo riding. We rode the Gold Wing for a couple of years and I decided I wanted to upgrade to a newer Gold Wing with a bigger engine. So I sold this one to a fellow in northeast Indiana.
The beautiful white Gold Wing is a 1997 Aspencade 1500 cc. After I sold the old Gold Wing I gott this one from the original owner with only 9000 miles on it. It was always garaged and well cared for. It was a smooth, beautiful, classic touring bike, the model winner of every major motorcycle "best touring bike" contest. We were so pleased that I got a very excellent price and that this model was so highly respected that we were certain we would love it. And we did. Until we actually toured on it.
We took it on a trip to Springfield, Il. for the most famous motorcycle dirt track race on the planet: The Springfield Mile. It is held twice a year, once on Memorial Day weekend and then again on Labor Day weekend. We went to the one in May and were very excited about it. The wind, however, was blowing out of the north, both going out and coming back, at 30 mph, gusting to 45 mph.
That beautiful white fairing that makes the bike look so sleek is also a TupperWare sail in a cross wind. Gusts and coming to the end of a wind break or out from under an overpass would strike the bike and push it two or three feet sideways in an instant. This bike weighs over 750 pounds plus our weight, but it made no difference. I was tense and grumpy all the way out and all the way back. When we got back we looked at each other and said, in one voice: "Let's sell it!" Interestingly, I got enough more for it than I paid to cover the titling and taxes and came out a little better than even. So this was one motorcycle love that was short lived, ending in a quick annulment.
While this was going on I decided I wanted a small bike to ride to and from the church, about 12 miles each way, that was easy to ride, used almost no gas, and did not require any struggle getting turned around in the garage. I found, literally in a small barn, the small 200 cc Honda CB200 you see above. It has suffered from benign neglect, needed a battery, new tires and a paint job. That was it. I got it for $400, put $150 into it, rode it, often two up with Sue on vacations to Florida and Myrtle Beach when we would bring it down with us on a motorcycle trailer we built. It was a fun and indestructible little bike. We kept it a few years but when our 1 1/2 wide garage filled up with Sue's car and 4 bikes something had to go. I sold the "little Honda that could" to a nice guy from Columbus and he loved it. I got back what I had in it, but that little bike will always have a place in my heart as the best example I can think of that a bike doesn't have to be new, powerful or big to bring a lot of pleasure.
After the disappointment with the beautiful Gold Wing I decided I wanted a traditional bike - the kind that the wind can go through, not push over! I was looking around a dealership up in Canton and came across the bike above. It was a 2001 Triumph Thunderbird, 900 cc, 3 cylinders, and only a few thousand miles on it. Since the dealer did not move many Triumphs and was a huge Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki dealership, I was able to help him unload the Thunderbird for 2/3 of what he was asking for it. I added a touring seat, saddlebags, wind shield, luggage rack and some odds and ends and I had my traditional tourer.
The doctors said I could not ride for a minimum of three months until my bones and body healed. Three weeks later I saw a bike in the paper that I knew would be just the right physical therapy. It was the pretty little 1983 Honda NightHawk 550 cc you see above. Sue drove me up to Sugarcreek to look at it. I somehow talked her into test riding it, even though she could just barely touch the ground on both side with her toes.
Above pic: During the Fall and Early winter after the deer accident I started looking for a larger replacement bike for the ThunderBird. I was still interested in Triumphs and still had great memories of my first new Motorcycle, the '68 Bonneville. Triumph had gone under in the late '80s, and had been resurrected in 1994 by an new owner with new manufacturing facilities and a whole new line of bikes.
After I bought the Bonneville and sold the Honda NightHawk and the little blue Honda and there was room to actually walk around in the garage, I decided to buy another old motorcycle as a project bike to give me something to do over the next winter. Sue's bike was fine, the Bonneville was new, and I wanted something to tinker with. In Columbus through Craig's List I found a neglected classic 1975 Honda Gold Wing complete with a period Vetter fairing system.
As a surprise present for Sue for getting one of the highest scores in the Motorcycle Safety Course and for getting her cycle endorsement, I went looking for the right size bike for someone 5" 3" and yet big enough to tour on, with the capability to easily cruise at freeway speeds. I found a 1997 Yamaha Virago 550 cc in nearly perfect condition in a small town north of here.
As you can see above, after her two year holdou, Sue finally agreed to trade in the Virago on a new Kawasaki cruiser. Once she got used to the new bike Sue became fast friends with her new 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan 500 cc that we bought in early 2007 at a good discount.
I thought you might like to see what the bikes look like when we are on a week long tour. This pic was taken when we were on a tour of the Pennsylvania Wilds area and US Route 6, which is a favorite motorcycling vacation road. The only things not in this picture are the magnetic tank bags that sit on the gas tanks, between the rider and the wind shield. Those cream things on the seats are unsheared sheepskin throws that are cool in the summer, and behind them are large seat bag waterproof luggage packs. Beyond that are luggage bags hooked to the luggage carrier, and on both sides are snap off, carry in saddlebags.
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